1st Leather Stamping!

This little cuff bracelet is my first foray into leather stamping.

Made for the Return to Hogwarts Round 9 Swap, my partner was 85%confusion.

(that's her username not state of existance. HA!)

"I solemnly swear I am up to no good"

Marauder's Map

Things I learned....

Metal Stamps CAN be used on leather 

but 

Leather Stamps can NOT be used on metal.

When stamping on leather a gentle tap of the hammer will do.

A brown fine tipped Sharpie is an awesome cheat

to make letters/motifs stand out better.

(wink, wink)

Doctor Who Painted Shoes!

Oh My Whovian Goodness, I painted a pair of shoes!

This pair was for my partner in the Doctor Who Swap: Round 9 on Craftster.

I've never done this before and it was really fun!

Kind of zen to use a brush and paint....

Ohm!

FiberAlchemist's (my swap partner) fave Doctors are 4, 7, 11, and 5.

I also LOVE these so I couldn't choose.

It was just killing me to even try, so I incorporated all of them.

As this was my first pair, I didn't feel comfortable enough to paint on the eyelets or tongue area.

(I'm sure there's some technical name, sheesh!)

I didn't get a picture, but I found some TARDIS Blue shoelaces to solve my dilemma.

Materials Used:

Walmart Special $5 White Sneakers

Acrylic Craft Paint

Grandparents to watch my kids

Krylon Sealant Spray

(which made the little touches of Sharpie Marker run in a few spots)

BIG THANKS goes out to chughes225 for letting me pick her brain.

She made some KILLER Harry Potter Shoes.

Here's the link to her project page....Harry Potter Shoes by chughes225 on craftster!!!

Stupefy Hoopla!

Here was a fun little Hoopla I did for the "Return To Hogwarts" Swap on Craftster.

Both she and I chose "Stupefy" as our favorite spell. 

I'm not sure how well the picture shows but those are french knots making up the letters.

Metallic Silver Thread French Knots!

While not the biggest fan of Metallic Embroidery Thread,

I think I loved using the knots for it.

I finally didn't have to stress about the thread twisting up on me! 

What's your favorite Potterverse Spell?

Rolling Pin Shower Gift!

My good friend Jessie got married last summer and what do you know....

I made her a gift that could also be entered into the Craftster Summer Nerd Games!

The prompt was "Romance v/s Horror"

I chose "Horror"

There was a Rolling Pin on her registry, I couldn't resist making a cozy for it.

But...

You've gotta have a little kitchen towel to match! Every good little housewife knows this!

This is where the HORROR comes in.

Becoming a happy homemaker was not on her list of "things to be". 

As a proud happy homemaker myself, I thought I'd sew up some snarky fun for her very traditional gift she herself had registered for.

Heh. Heh.....

Here's an action shot!

Here's the whole gift package I put together for her. 

Jessie's favorite thing when she was in her 'teens was Purple Rain.

When it purple rains, it purple pours!

I also included a little kitchen towel.

With my gel fabric marker, I drew a little snark onto it.

get it? tee hee!

I love making unexpected things.

I also give myself extra points for making myself laugh in the process.

Have a happy homemaker day!!!

Princess Leia Headband!

So, yes....this is what I believe is the best thing ever!

I made Morgan some Princess Leia Buns!

There was some yarn, a wide headband, and major amounts of Glue required for this little piece of head gear.

I mostly took my cues from Nicole over at Tikkido.com (here's the direct link )

The most inspired part is the felt circles to have something for the "buns" to keep their "bun-ie" shape on.

I both glued and tacked the buns to the felt.

Where I differed from the tutorial was the actual headband.

I wanted an allover look, not just buns sticking out from no-where.....

So I glued the beejeezus out of the top of the headband with little strips of yarn.

Actually, before I glued it on I cut my yarn strips grabbed a little strip of felt and machine sewed a seam (hair part) straight down the middle. A small detail, but I loved the effect.

Glue GLOBS were inevitable for me that day.

Here are some actions shots:

Even that Will got in on the act!

And so another cosplay item gets added to our ever expanding bin of dress up clothes.

May the Force be with you!

Max's Clean/Dirty Dishwasher Sign!

So it was well past time for a new Clean/Dirty Dishwasher sign.

In case you've never been privvy to them, they're those things which tell us not to mess up a whole clean load of dishes with a disgusting peanut butter knife. (sheesh.)

Here's our old one. It's so artfully handwritten (by the husband) on the back of an invitation dating about a decade ago. 

The invitation was brand new when we defaced it. 

Yes, we've held on to this ratty little piece of paper for way too long. 

And here's our new one (another laminator usage victory!).

I hung it on its very own hook above the garbage disposal switch. 

Oh yes, I should be very proud of the fact it fit a prompt in the Summer Nerd Games!!!

45pts

June Wordy

---Wordy: Many little nerdlings find their way to the Nerdyverse through reading.  Pick one of your favorite childhood books, and craft something inspired by it.  (Because I’m quite old, I rule that books that you loved from birth to teen counts as childhood.)

But enough buildup....

Here's what the 2-sided sign looks like up close and personal...

Materials Used:

LAMINATOR!

ATC card blanks

Scrapbook Paper Scraps

Colored Pencils

This sign makes me smile every time I glance at it.

I'll eat it up, I love it so.

It's a Thrift Store Miracle!

It's not often you find EXACTLY what your looking for at the Thrift Store....

Usually you wander in and fate takes over whether or not something catches your eye enough to buy.
But every once in a blue moon fate smiles on you.

Morgan and I went in looking for Junie B. Jones books and we found 8 of them!!!












Her 1st grade class is reading them and she's become enthralled. So much so we're now working on a Halloween Costume!

 

I found these "fake" "fashion" glasses at Target so we're well on our way!

What are you fine people doing for costumes in your house?

Harry Potter Howler Mitts!

I made these for the Craftster.org Return to Hogwarts Swap: Round 4; my partner: 85%confusion.

Couldn't find a pattern anywhere for them, so I decided to create one of my own. :)

Photo courtesy 85%confusion

Materials

Worsted weight Red

Worsted weight White

size 6 needles: dpn or 29 inch circs or longer if you like magic loop, for working in the round.

CO 36 stitches with Red, "long tail" method for extra stretchyness.

Join for knitting in the round

Rounds 1-10: K2, P2 for 2x2 rib

Rounds 11-20 Knit in the round

Rounds 21-30 Stockinette flat back and forth (Row 21 purl, Row 22 knit and so on)

Join for knitting in the round again

Rounds 31-33 Knit in the round

Here's where the "split" happens for the Howler's "lips"

Knit 18 stitches leaving the other 18 on a length of yarn for picking up later.

(If working in magic loop, just leave remaining 18 stitches on the cable) 

Knit 5 rows stockinette 

Bind Off loosely

Now for the other side of the hand.

Knit the remaining 18 stitches off it's Holder 

Knit 5 rows stockinette

Bind Off loosely

Then we come to the "Teeth"

Go to the "non thumb" side where the flaps start.

Count down 3 rows and on inside (wrong side) of mitt pick up and knit 36 stitches 

Knit 1 row

Knit 5 rows of 2x2 rib (Same as the wrist cuff)

Bind Off in pattern

Weave in ends and go give that Ronald Weasley the "what for" for stealing a Muggle Car!!!

 
Special Thanks to Melissa for being my hand model!
George Costanza has NOTHIN' on you!

This is the very first pattern I've ever written down and to my knowledge it's original.

Please throw me a message if anything is askew,

I am incredibly open to constructive critisim. 

Superman Skirt!

I was at the Thrift Store (surprise) and in the fabric/craft section (another surprise) when out of the corner of my eye I spied that tell tale combination of red, blue, and yellow.

Oh yes, it was superman fabric!!!
Not knowing at the time it was technically a quilt panel I thought "Oooo what a fun skirt this would make!".

I could also sneak it into the summer nerd games under the prompt of the "muscular" system.

---Textbook: Guts & Glory!: Pick a particular system within your body (muscular, digestive, nervous, endocrine, reproductive, circulatory) and craft something inspired by it.

Up, up, and away!

Check out that black trim. 

It's actually lace I got from my friend Lisa...

(the picture here doesn't quite do it justice)

and the amount I got from her was a perfect length to add to the blue plaid underskirt!

Thanks again, Lisa!!!

Also, thanks to my photographer Melissa!

I can't very well take sassy pictures of myself, right?