Ooh, thanks.  It worked.  I've been looking around at different programs it came with, but none of them re-sized pics, unless I just couldn't figure out how.   I have no idea where our scanner/printer or our camera software went   





Finally.  It looks a little tan (on my computer at least) but that's just because I didn't use the flash. It's a white bib.

I used popsicle sticks for the back speakers, pom poms for their heads, the audience the drummer's seat, the front amps and the colored part of the lights. I used pipe cleaners for their bodies, instruments, the framing stuff for the lights, and the audiences arms.  The floor, the bass drum and the lightning bolts are all felt, and the band logo was a photoshop add-on at the last minute   The drum sticks are toothpicks.  (The background is a horrid shirt of my husbands that he has never worn.)







I can't keep the entire thing because of my cats, they've already destroyed the light structure  but I AM keeping the drummer, he turned out so cute.

All the ideas just kept coming forme, and it was ALL so much fun to make because of each idea, I love working on details. I would've added hair, but it was so hard to keep their heads attached in the first place...  The lights were just bent pieces of pipecleaners w/ tiny pompoms glued to the ends.  The only thing I didn't get a chance to do was to draw a brand logo on the popsicle stick speakers - my husband had to run off to a wrestling show and took the camera. I had less than a minute to take the last picture!  (I had it all done a LONG time ago, but had to add the popsicle stick speakers today.)

I made these a couple months ago from Cross Stitch Crazy.  The bear was a free kit and the chart for the duck was in the magazine.  (posted already in completed projects)





Considering their names, they're from the same designer (is it that bad that I just noticed this?)  I just looked through the magazine and saw others, like a pink bear named Raspberry, and other food named animals. 

Wow, it's been so long since I've really posted.  I found out I was finally pregnant, and nothing seemed to matter anymore...not in a bad way, I guess I was so amazed at creating a human being it drained all my creative energy for a few weeks.   Anyway. I also finally finished my Santa cross stitch a couple weeks ago.  It got really hard towards the end because of all the fancy stitches like couching and braiding - I swear I will never braid again.     it's not framed yet, but I'm SO glad I finished it before the baby!  My mom still has a giant latch hook rug she never finished because of me.  For the past 26 years she's had 12 rows to go. lol

It was a Dimensions Gold Collection kit...they have the best detail and shading, but I don't know if I have the patience to try another one!

A little blurry, but I always seem to forget to take pictures when the sun's still out.




And Isis helping show the scale.  


I had to change one thing though.  The tree behind his pack has gold french knots.  The instructions told me to use five strands of metallic gold thread.  Didn't work unless the french knot is supposed to be three inches big with loops all over the place   That was the most impossible thing I've ever tried.

Hehe, luckily my time on the computer is limited to when my husband isn't home or else he hovers like a hawk with me as the little mouse (or whatever they eat).  But then there are the days when he's at work until 11 and I never get around to working on anything (like now).

Here's what I did for February, I've been actually making a lot of things, but none of them are x-mas gifts, this one is.



(It was so hard to get a clear picture of that...it's still a teensy bit blurry).  I got the pattern out of the Nov or Dec. issue of Cross Stitch Crazy.  It's a little cutesy, but I liked it...I love cartoon baby ducks.

Most of what I'll be making is without a recipient in mind (and some of it will probably just be kept).  This one I knew I was going to make one for myself and one for my mom.  I got a really cheap ugly frame for christmas last year, so I'm going to paint it a light blue/turquoise color and use it as a frame for this.  I may do something with silver paint, like paint it blue then silver and wipe off some of the silver, or the other way around.  I still need to experiment with that, which is why I just posted the cross-stitch instead of waiting weeks (months?) for me to finally finish the frame.

This is the other sewing thing I was working on last month...it's not technically a x-mas gift, but I did kinda give it to my husband to use with our camera.    lol. http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=82433.0

I made ornaments! 





Fuzzy needs his hair combed in the first picture...sorry.   For both ornaments I used clear frosted glass ornaments from Michaels.  This one I used fabric samples from Distinctive Fabric - white fur and some hot pink metallic meshy stuff.  Since the fur wasn't big enough to cover the entire thing, I used the hot pink. The hot pink peeks through in a few places when it's hanging up.





This one I used the same ornament, and I disected a couple silk flowers.  The light pink was some kind of silk flower I got that was attached to a gift.  Then I used a few of the petals and the middle things w/ gold glitter on them (I have no idea what they're called) of a pinkish gold Poinsettia from Michaels and a couple of leaves glued to the back.  The leaves didn't work as well as I wanted them too because the plastic on them wouldn't bend and stay attached to the ornament, even with E6000 holding it on.  

One question...and I'll experiment with this on another ornament first, but should I leave the poinsettia ornament as is, or swirl some light green paint inside?   Maybe completely coated, maybe just swirled in a pattern I don't know yet.  I thought it might help the light pink petals stand out more.

Our calendar from last year was cheap and crappy, so that when you got past the staples in July the pages would curl over.  (One of those $1 calendars from Michaels).  I ended up taking it down in September.

But I recycled some of the pages in a collage I made about our wedding, it was a roses calendar, and it's the top left corner and the bottom right corner.

Finally finished.  I put this down for about a month, picked it back up and finished it in about a day.   I'm a little burnt out on Halloween so I'm giving myself until next year to finish the towel.  Plus I don't know how to sew yet, and I need some orange, purple rickrack to put along the edge.  I might add a couple other Halloween things too. 

They WON'T be in satin stitch though.  I was afraid of satin stitch. Now I hate it.  Practice didn't help, and this was a lot of practice. It's just annoying, bulky and it looks messy.  Oh well. At least the hard part is finished!

The image is from that retro clipart website - I canNOT think of the name to save my life right now though.   

This is probably my best Halloween costume.  The makeup is just regular makeup (didn't show up completely in pictures), the shirt was made by my husband with watered down brown and black paint and some fake blood.



Here's a closeup of some of the makeup.



Here's my husband, he was, uh...just a gory person.  He made the shirt himself (brown and black paint and fake blood mixed with vegetable oil).  Someone online made the mask, but at least it's not mass-produced.  (It's the guy from Banjo and Sullivan who's face got cut off in The Devil's Rejects).



This is his other one.   Another non-mass produced mask from someone online, but we did have to buy the robe last minute because it was two days before Halloween, and since I've never sewn anything in my life just yet (keep meaning to learn!) I didn't want to try to make it myself.





We spent the day at my parent's house since we don't get any trick or treaters at all.  My husband scared a little girl (didn't even have the mask on), when he opened the door she said "Trick....orr....... .." and just froze.  Poor thing.    

Then we went to a free show of a Misfits cover band that was crap.  Nobody even dressed up. Boring.

Yay, my first craft challenge, AND my first ever collage.     

Okay, here's the before picture of all the stuff I found at various places. As you can tell it ended up completely different from what I planned.



And here's the finished collage



Without flash


I used a piece of cardboard, painted two corners and used pages from an old roses calendar on the other two.  One of my favorite wedding pictures in the middle, printed out.  The red pages w/ handwriting is where I wrote out our vows and a poem that was read at the wedding, then copied it and blew it up (on scrap red paper, yay!).  There's an invitation (we had like 30 extra). A dried rose from a bouquet I got a few months ago, I was about to throw away the roses too.  I also used more of those stems as a border on the top left handwritten thing.  The names are stitched in black.   I also used a flower that was part of the wrapping on one of the bridal shower gifts from my mom.   The two rings I used those plastic rings on plastic water bottles and painted them silver.    The heart is left over from when I made our card box, the box fell apart and I took all the save-able stuff off and kept it.

More details.





The most interesting thing is how it all came together.  First I had a fall color scheme in my head, sad that it wouldn't be the colors we had at the wedding, but I was working with what I was finding.  THEN last night, as I was finishing it up I realize it's red and ivory/white, the same as our wedding.  Plus roses, which were the main flower, and my favorite flower.

I'm so glad I got to do this, my inspiration was the hair-dye samples, even though it didn't work well w/ the design after all.  I was planning on using it on the photo as me and my husband's hair.  lol.    I've been wanting to do something for our wedding forever, a cross-stitch, embroidery, and who knew it would be my first collage. 

There's a little spot near the rings, it's just a spot of glue that hadn't dried yet when I took the picture heh.