Okay, so I am not a pretty puncher... punch embroidery person, but my Aunt is. She has made Christmas stockings for everyone in the family. We use them every year. What is the problem you ask?

There are some new members of the family, namely by brother in law and my daughter.

She (my Aunt) really really wants to create a stocking for them like those she has made for the rest of us and we have had some major trouble finding the correct threaders. They are like a foot long, have a twist at one end and a little flag of plastic at the other.

The yarn is findable and I make her the patterns no problem, its just the threaders. Anyone have any suggestions? Is there a company out there that still makes the Pretty Punch Brand style threaders? I am afraid my Aunt won't be able to switch up needle types for what is still readily available... any suggestions?

So... Here it is!



I will simply list the five groups and names will get crossed off as their packages arrive and feedback is given!
If you see your name in red contact me ASAP!

Group 1
SpencerTwins2007
snazzlecraft
beeker
crazyda
psoupdesigns

Group 2
lady llanalla
fibreartist4life
koalascout
SpencerTwins2007
crazyda

Group 3
lady llanalla
Mrs.LindsayLoo
love2teach
snazzlecraft
musiclady

Group 4
kikigirl
psoupdesigns
fibreartist4life
koalascout
love2teach

Group 5
love2teach
SpencerTwins2007
psoupdesigns
Lady Llanalla
koalascout

Can't wait to see what you have made!

Play Food Sweat Shop Swap Dessert Round 1



Craftster member who is organizing this swap: Lady Llanalla
Sign-up date range: Today – 8/15/09
Date to send item by: 9/5/09

Limited to a certain number of people? No

Restricted to people who all live in the same country? NO

Age requirement 13

Swap Organizer himself/herself meets these conditions:
- Has fully read the Swap Info Guide: YES
- Has successfully completed two swaps as a participant: YES
- Is not organizing more than three swaps right now: YES
- Will recruit a co-organizer or give all details to a Swap Moderator if this swap has more than 25 participants: YES

Swap Organizer will check each participant to make sure they meet these conditions:
- Has been a member for at least one month: YES
- Has posted at least 15 times: YES
- Has completed one swap successfully before signing up for multiple swaps at a time: YES
- Is not currently signed up for more than five swaps: YES
- Does not have any negative feedback: YES
- Participant has agreed that he/she is at least 13 years old: YES
- Participant lives in the United States: YES/NO
   - If yes, understands that Delivery Confirmation number is required for this swap: YES/NO
   - If no, understands that a mailing receipt copy is required for this swap: YES/NO

Details of swap:

Are you ready to collect a plethora of fun, handmade, play food for your little one(s)? Here is how it will work. Everyone will be put into a group of four to six other crafters. Each person in each group will declare a dessert that they wish to create in bulk. For example: April makes chocolate cake, June makes Strawberry Shortcake, May makes Spotted Dick, Autumn makes Vanilla Pudding, and Summer makes Brownies. April will then make 5 slices of/individual servings of chocolate cake, and sends one to each of her partners and so on… this way everyone ends up with a fancy set of desserts. Please remember that we will be having a cupcake round very soon, so please no cupcakes this round.

Signups end  8/15/09
Partners/Groups will be given by 8/17/09
Dessert declaration due by  8/17/09
Ship outs 9/5/09

Your Dessert must be:
A)   Hand made of course
B)   Machine Washable
C)   Non-toxic (these things might get gnawed upon!)
D)   It must be a single serving or more… if you are making chocolate chip cookies I expect there to be at least three sent to each partner… who east just one cookie?

Also please do your best to make life sized desserts… a slice of cake is cool… a whole tart (tiny pie) is great, and use your imagination.

Also, please check with your partners about the fanciability of your Dessert. I know I made up a word, but how else to describe it? If the dessert you want to make is going to go into the hands of a toddler perhaps it shouldn’t have seed beads on it, but if its going to a 8 or 10 year old (or a fun loving adult for that matter) those seed beads may be just the thing to make your crafty dessert into a true objet d’art!

If you want to join this swap please fill out the following form and be prepared to participate!

QUESTIONNAIRE TO ANSWER:
Play Food Sweat Shop Swap Dessert Round 1
Craftster username:
Email address:
Your real name:
Mailing address including the country:
Confirm that are at least 13 years old (yes/no)
Confirm that you WILL ship with a Delivery Confirmation number unless shipping outside your home country (yes/no)
Agree that you will communicate regularly with your group. At least one PM to each member of your group a week during the swap prep time.
Agree that you will post at least once per week during the swap.
Would you be willing to ship to an address outside your own country? Yes/No
I agree let the organizers and my partner know if I may be sending late: YES/NO
I agree to PM the organizers and my partner when I send and when I receive: YES/NO
I agree to post at least one picture of what I received in the swap gallery regardless of whether or not someone has already posted pictures of those items: YES/NO
What Dessert do you want to make?
Are you a chocoholic?
What is your/your child’s favorite dessert?
Is there a dessert item you love but can not seem to find?
Are you a baker, a buyer, or both?
Is there anything you do not want to receive?
Do you have any allergies (please include you or your child’s food allergies if you do not want them playing with something they can’t eat)?
Do you plan to be involved in any of the subsequent play food sweat shop swaps?
Will you be making felt food or knit/crochet food?
Are you interested in trading recipes with your felt desserts?
Do you wish to be in more than one group?


IF YOU WANT TO PARTICIPATE, REMEMBER TO SEND YOUR INFO TO THE ORGANIZER VIA PRIVATE MESSAGE AND NOT TO REPLY WITH IT HERE.


Also remember to read the Swap Info Guide to find out how to ship your item and other details about participating in a swap.

Previous round galleries include…
Fruit           http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=302379
Veggie         http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=311665
Sandwich              http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=314966.0

Signed up!
Lady Llanalla      Ice Cream Bars AND Brand Name Cookies AND Strawberry Shortcakes
Love2teach       S'mores AND Cookies AND ??
fibreartist4life     layer cake AND Pumpkin Pie slices
koalascout         brownie sundaes AND AND
snazzlecraft       banana splits AND chocolate covered strawberries
musiclady          Caramel/candy apples
beeker              DQ Super Sundaes
psoupdesigns      waffle cones AND ice cream sandwiches AND
Mrs.Lindsay Loo   slice of pie or cookies
Spencertwins      Swiss Rolls (Hohos) AND Cinnamon Rolls AND
Kikigirl            decorated candies
crazyda79          popcicles AND frozen bananas


Gallery UP!!!

http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=319651

Here is the place for all those pretty pictures!

I will cross off names as your sandwiches arrive at their destinations. Worry not unless your name is in RED!

Group 1
love2teach
fibreartist4life
cheiffa
psoupdesigns
SpencerTwins2007
Lady Llanalla

Group 2
Koalascout
musiclady
Mrs.Lindsay Loo
Beeker
Snazzlecraft
fochaux

Hope to see some awesome action shots!

I made these for a friend who is about to move to Ontario, Canada who thinks its cold when its lower than 60 degrees F, which means shes going to freeze her a** off 

They are reusable hand warmers... you make a fabric bag and stuff it with white rice then microwave to heat when you wish them to be hot. I wanted them to be useful for multiple reasons. I wanted her to have something to keep her boney little hands warm (did I mention the recipient closely resembles a Barbie doll?), and be reminded regularly that there are people who love and miss her here in the South west United States.

Here they are all together!


For Halloween (lord knows it will have snowed at least once by then)


For when she's feeling shy (yeah right)

Camouflage... get it!

For when she needs a fuzzy, sunny day


And for when she needs to kick butt!

A little spidey action!

What does anyone think?

OH! I almost forgot, Most of them have lavender in them as well. For a nice pick me up in the middle of winter...

She was given them while we celebrated her birthday at the Hofbrau House in Las Vegas and she dropped them on the way home (something about a beer soaked bag bottom falling out while stumbling back to a hotel room?) and they needed to be cleaned.

Cleaning option number one... surface clean with a warm wet cloth and let dry thoroughly
Cleaning option number two... surface clean with a cleaning product such as resolve and let dry thoroughly
Cleaning option number three... split a seam, dump the contents (its just a few ounces of white rice after all), wash in a washing machine, refill and re-stitch closed.

I guess this goes here? If not please feel free to move it wherever is most appropriate!

I decided that i wanted to MAKE a hoody towel for my daughter as I wanted something that wasn't so... gender bias? I have seen many cute things in the stores, but never what I want when I can afford to buy it, so... when the huge evil conglomerate that has been bringing down the real wage of the US worker sent me a flyer with its new "Back to College" stuff I had to buy a cheap set of towels and give it a try... the best part was I found some on clearance for even less than the advertised price! Yippee for me!

I started with pack containing 2 standard (too small for a "real" adult to use) towel, 2 hand towels and 2 wash clothes fro 8 dollars... I still have both of the wash clothes I did however cut up a few I had a the house. I always pick up cheap colorful wash clothes for house guests and the like. I also make soap covers out of them for gifty things. I used 1 towel and 1 hand towel for each of the following ducky towels as well as cutting pieces from pink, orange, blue and white wash clothes. I used the only orange wash cloth in the house completely between the two ducky towels I made. One is for a swap partner, the other for my DD.

Here they are...

This is the first ducky... I had mixed reviews on the size of the beak, so I used the tiny bit of wash cloth I had left for the beak on ducky number 2

He has wing pockets on the outside...

and a pink tongue!


Ducky towel number two has a the afore mentioned tiny beak and all the other details!
From the side (as modeled by a lamp as my DD was not interested in being a model today)

and head on (still modeled by the lamp)


The eyelids are supposed to make him look sleepy... thoughts? I am about to make a couple of froggy hoody towels. Sleepy Eyes? Buggy eyes? Other thoughts or suggestions?

Here they both are... saying goodbye to one another and sticking out their tongues for the camera!

I have been running some felt food swaps lately and decided that playing "Store" with all these foods was inevitable, so why not some personalized "Grocery Bags" to go with the pile of felt food? Here is my first blank. I used only some Trader Joe's bags I had as inspiration... no pattern...

This is it laying flat on the dining room table


Here it is standing up


The view from above whenit is open.


The front and back sides of the bag are about the size and shape of a US standard piece of writing paper i.e. 8.5" by 11"

Now all I need is a name for the imaginary store my daughter, whose name is Aurelia or Ari for short, should "own" or visit when "shopping" with her bag!

Ari's Fancy Store is what I have in mind. Any better ideas?

Okay okay, so its a really long name for a swap, but it needed all those words to convey the real meaning.

Are you tired of being the only one with an almost empty stocking?

Do your kids look at you like "What did Mommy do to piss off Santa?"

Or are you going to be relatively without relatives this Holiday season? Why not fill a stocking for your fellow crafter who gets  gypped each year on the stocking front.

It might sound petty of me, but the child inside me (the one I let out regularly) looks at my stocking on Christmas morning and whimpers a little "how come me stocking is so empty?" the answer is I'm the one who puts the stocking stuffers together! I fill my families stockings full to OVERFLOWING with goodness and fun, which I love to do, but somehow each year my DH forgets that one little chore of filling mine. He does okay on the present front. Not great mind, but okay, except he forgets this area. My mom tries to help, but... well. I think it wold be more fun if I got to open some true surprises from some fantastic swapper.

The swap would have a lengthy form to fill out giving your partner a chance to have a good jumping off point and it would be a fairly large commitment. I think only 25% should be commercially purchased, including any and all food items. The rest should be hand made... we can decide on a number smalls for equalities sake and maybe a few mediums too, but all the items will have to be packaged so they can fit in a standard size stocking.

No stocking (unless you decide to do this with your partner outside the swap), just the filler. I am even toying with the idea of suggesting that we each give contact info for a responsible other (in my case my DH). Then ship to them so we can't peak before the big day. And we get to wake up in the morning to a fabulous surprise just like the kids  

To make this more open to any Holiday it might be fun to add a Hanuka and Kwanzaa option for those interested. Hanuka gifts are usually small anyhow, and Kwanzaa gifts are supposed to be hand made so its an easy fit.

What does anyone think? Anyone else up for it? I know its early for this, but I was thinking I would post sign ups in late September and have ship outs in early December.

The idea is for a group of us crafty types to make a count down calendar for the month of October in a Halloween theme. The Craftalong is to be followed by a swap, for anyone who would like to join, where we craft items to fill that calendar, so we gat a cute little surprise each day as we, nail bitingly, wait for Halloween!

I have a count down calendar that was given to me after I posted the idea for this on the new swap theme page (a very strange occurrence as the gift came from someone I know peripherally and have met only once).

I shall still be participating in the craftalong though as I plan to make one for a friend with an almost four year old.

I think this could be done in a multitude of ways. Whether your count down calendar is disposably made for use for just this year, or if you want to make something you will someday pass on to your great grandchildren is up to you. Glue 31 shoe boxes together and install them on your wall for a month... make a wooden shadow box with 31 one wholes in it from teak... fashion a wall hanging with 31 pockets... create a miniature graveyard with 31 graves ready to fill and then "disturb". It is all up to you and your creativity. I hope to see some fabulous photos!

Also, if you already have one and want to show it off, feel free to post a picture of it here and help us get motivated!

I will post the swap early next week in hopes of driving people to the craft-a-long!

OH!! I almost forgot. This is a picture of the calendar I was given...

Okay,

So I started this thing off the cuff. Its just a tube with two elastic channels made by folding the fabric. I am going to have to add a bit of elastic (she's not happy wearing it just yet), but other than that I think it needs something. Not too much as the pattern is so busy, but it does need something. A ribbon?

Ideas please... thoughts...

Here it is flat on the table...


Here she is hugging her Omi instead of posing. Sorry for the weird hair. I always seem to put here in these things right after her nap, (probably because its the only good time I have to sew!)