New Camera! Whoo Hoo!

Yesterday I bought a new camera.  I was just having too many problems with my old one, and my mom’s good one seems to have “disappeared”.  So here’s my new toy.

I took these photos with my webcam, the irony.  It’s a Polaroid camera with 12.0 MP, 3x optical zoom, 5x digital zoom, image stabilization, face tracking, and 32Mb storage.  It does record videos with sound too.

The best part is that it’s pink.  I’ve always had a thing for pink cameras, and I was so lucky they had one left.  Did I mention I paid less than $60 for it?  I got it at Big Lots so of course the price was a steal.  And it works beautifully too.  Here’s some examples I took today, mind you I am a complete beginner with photography.

This last one I am particularly proud of because I have never taken a decent picture of flowers when they are this close.  It usually comes out super blurry.  Of course this means I have no excuse for posting blurry pictures anymore.  And maybe I’ll do things that require more photos in the future.  Any excuse to play with my camera some more.

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More Bunnies and Finished in Floral

Well, today is my nephew’s birthday.  He’s now four years old.  We had a small celebration with a cake his mother lovingly baked covered with cranberry sauce, his favorite.  His gifts were a puzzle from his sister, a “really cool” yo-yo from his grandma, a toy tool set from his mother, and…

…this from me.  A cute handmade stuff rabbit.  He seems to really like rabbits and bunnies so he loved this.  The shape of the body is quite unusual for bunnies as well as the face.  I tried my hand with some soft sculpture there, I could use more practice.  Anyway, he loves it and that’s all that matters.  He named it Longears, it’s a reference from a TV show on Qubo called Gofrette. 

After finishing the rabbit, I managed to finish the other projects from my list.  Including these simple wrist cuffs made from two kinds of lace, some bows, and elastic.

Of course I finished my Easter dress.  It took several days to finish because of all the trouble I had with the bodice.  I also had trouble finding the right floral print material, nothing looked quite right.  I ended up using a couple of vintage pillow cases I found in a thrift store for 50 cents.  They worked perfectly for the bodice and overskirt.  The rest of the dress is made with some pink cotton I had leftover which I originally bought at a rummage sale.  So my new dress is pretty and green. 

Here’s the updated list:

• Red shirt
• Red skirt
• Hair bows
• Clock
• Yellow shirt
• Headband
• Bag
• Big bunny
• Wristbands
• Little bunnies
• Easter dress

Eleven down and out.  Now I can sit back and enjoy the holiday.  Happy Easter everyone!

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Attack of the Bunnies

Currently writing this at the Laundromat.  I love our local Laundromat.  It’s really close, air conditioned, has cheap machines and has cable TV and free Wi-Fi.  I’m mostly here for the Wi-Fi.

Anyway, I’ve been working hard on the last few projects on my list, including these cute little bunnies.  I made them for my nieces and nephews.  Many of which are suppose to visit this weekend.  The bunnies are just the right size to fit in their hands.  I just hope there won’t be any arguments over them.

Here’s the updated list:

• Red shirt
• Red skirt
• Hair bows
• Clock
• Yellow shirt
• Headband
• Bag
• Big bunny
• Wristbands
• Little bunnies
• Easter dress

Eight down, three to go.  I should have the last few done by tomorrow.  There’s a special reason for that.  More on that later.

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Here Come Peter Cottontail

Since it is now less than a week until Easter, I thought I would share some links I found for last minute crafts and such.  Enjoy!

• Plastic Easter Egg Tea Cups—Instead of filling plastic eggs with candy, why not turn them into a cute set of tea cups.
• Egg Cups—A decorative use for that old egg carton.
• Egg Carton Chicks—Another use for egg cartons, you can fill them with goodies too.
• Nest Basket—Such a pretty basket, hard to believe it is made from a cereal box.
• Furoshiki Easter Basket—Another idea for an Easter basket.  All you need is a scarf and a shallow bowl.
• Carrot Cake Pops—Leave these for the Easter bunny.
• Carrot Treat Boxes—Fill these with candy instead of the eggs.
• Micro Fiber Carrots—More carrots, can’t resist a theme.  These ones are made with microfiber cleaning cloths.  Dollar stores carry them now.
• Easter Bento Ideas—Cute ideas to dress up your lunch for Easter.
• Jack Rabbit Softie—The day won’t be complete without a rabbit or two.

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Flowers for Your Hair, Flower Head Band Tutorial

I said I might have something special for this next project and I do.  A tutorial.  That’s right, my first tutorial.  Can you believe I’ve been blogging for almost 2 years and I have yet to do a tutorial?

This is for a floral headband for spring.  All that’s needed is:

• A headband, I got this one at Dollar Tree but these headbands would be great.
• A spool of ribbon.
• Small bunches of fake roses, the ones with the wire stems.  I got these at SAS for 50 cents each.
• A glue gun (this is the one I have) or a really good fabric glue.

First you need to pull apart the flowers.  They don’t need to be in bouquets for this.

Start attaching each flower by holding it on top of the headband and carefully wrapping the wire stem to keep the flower in place.

Keep on adding more flowers to cover the entire headband except for about an inch on both ends.  That part goes behind your ears and would be unbearably uncomfortable if there were flowers there. 

Now it’s time for the glue.  Dab a little glue to secure the flowers then glue some ribbon along the underside of the headband.  This makes it prettier and easier to wear.

To finish it, just wrap the ends of the headband with more ribbon, gluing as you go.  Of course you also need to stop to admire your handy-work.  I think mine came out really pretty, and I had extra flowers leftover.

So I used them for this.  This was a straw purse I had gotten at Dollar Tree years ago.  It had an ugly lining, worse straps, and a ribbon bow that didn’t match.  I replaced the lining with white cotton fabric, added new ribbon straps, and decorated with some lace and the leftover roses. 

Now it’s my new favorite bag.  And it inspired my mother, she wants to make some for her granddaughters.  Maybe some headbands too.

Here’s the updated list:

• Red shirt
• Red skirt
• Hair bows
• Clock
• Yellow shirt
• Headband
• Bag
• Big bunny
• Wristbands
• Little bunnies
• Easter dress

Seven down, four to go.  More Easter stuff on the way.

Update: Since making this post I have successfully created several cute tutorials.  Feel free to browse through them.

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Clocked In

Been busy this past week, and I’m about to get busier.  Tomorrow starts the last week before taxes are due which means our office is about to get swamped with last minute filers.  For those who may not know, the due date for taxes this year is April 18th instead of the 15th, or have I mentioned this before?  Apparently the 15th is Emancipation Day which is a government sanctioned holiday in Washington DC, hence the extra few days to file.  Anyway, I managed to find some time to finish a couple more projects.

I got this clock about a year ago in a goodie bag from a picnic.  I had intended to do something with it, but never got around to it.

Finally did something with it.  First I drafted a quick pattern by tracing the clock face part with notebook paper and tracing around.  I used this to cut the fabric just right.  I glued the fabric on with Mod Podge being careful not to get it on the face.  After it dried, I used a glue gun to add lace around the front and also on the sides.  Finish off with some bows and now I have an adorable little desk clock.  I still can’t decide what to do with it.  Should I keep it, give it away, or sell it?  Any suggestions?

I got this shirt for less than a quarter at a small thrift store.  I loved it for the sunny yellow color.  Problem was that is was too big for me, plus I like to cute things up a bit.

I took care of this shirt sort of the same way as that red t-shirt (see Red?) except that I didn’t chop off the collar or add ribbon.  I did add lace around the collar and along the sleeves on the outside of the hem this time.  While working on this one I notice the washing instructions on the tag.  I think it’s a little odd that a cotton polo shirt needs to be dried laying flat.  I guess it could be worse, it could be dry clean only.

Here’s the updated list:

• Red shirt
• Red skirt
• Hair bows
• Clock
• Yellow shirt
• Headband
• Bag
• Big bunny
• Wristbands
• Little bunnies
• Easter dress

Five down, six to go.  The next one might have a little bonus to it.  That is if things go well.

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A Little Change, A Little Move

Ever hear of Zibbet?  It’s another online craft venue, sort of similar to etsy.  It hasn’t been around as long, but there are things that I find more appealing compared to etsy.  No listing or selling fees, a very friendly community,  good customer service.  So I have decided to move my shop over there.  I’ve already started the process of setting up and hope to get up and going by Saturday.  You should find it here if you want to take a look.  Anyone else making a change and selling elsewhere?  I’d love to see your new spot so please share.  And I should get back to my work and projects.

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It Lives

Remember way back when I mentioned something about a certain forum site that had pretty much died?  One that I was trying desperately to revive? (See Please Save My Planet)  I had pretty much given up on GetCrafty, until a few minutes ago when I got the urge to go check it out. 

It has REVIVED!

It has a new look, new admin, and new spam fighting software to boot.  Right now they are looking for moderators and stuff to help get the site fully back on it’s feet.  I thought about volunteering for it, except that might be putting a little too much on my plate what with all my other online obligations (blog, my forum, other forums, Poupee Girl, etc.)  For now I’m glad to see Get Crafty get back up again.

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Red and Pink?

I finished the skirt on my list, though the photo of it is pretty pathetic. 

A little explanation,  remember that red skirt I made last December? (See Cutting it Close)  I had plenty of fabric leftover.  Why not make another skirt?  I tried to keep this one simpler, just a ruffle and a couple of pin tucks.  Anyway, some stuff got on it, not sure what, and I tried to wash it off.  Now one of those things you are “suppose” to do when sewing is prewash your fabrics.  That’s something I don’t do as often as I should,  I made this from a previously own sheet so I assumed it had already been “washed” and that that would be good enough.  So while washing it I discovered it wasn’t exactly colorfast.  Thankfully the color of the skirt was unaffected despite the running (the stuff I was washing off was also unaffected), but I am concerned about that other skirt I made.  Part of that one is white, if I wash it will I end up with a red/pink skirt instead of red/white?  On the bright side, if it does turn pink I will have something really cute to wear for Valentine’s day next year.

As for the new skirt, I also made hair bows to match with no problems.  On a whim, I decided to use some contrasting thread on some of the edges, just for fun.  I attached them to hair elastics I got from Dollar Tree.  I really lucked out by finding a package of them that had colors that matched this fabric almost exactly. 

Here’s the updated list:

• Red shirt
• Red skirt
• Hair bows
• Clock
• Yellow shirt
• Headband
• Bag
• Big bunny
• Wristbands
• Little bunnies
• Easter dress

Three down, eight to go.  Now I’m off to do more “washing”.

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