Red and Green

At work we’re having a little wreath decorating contest.  Sounds fun right?  Hence why it’s my first project for the holiday season.  Plain wreaths were provided free for anyone willing to decorate them, that of course includes me.  And everyone gets to vote on them and there are cash prizes for the best wreaths.
Here’s my entry, think I have a shot?  It includes fabric yo-yos made from and Edwardian print fabric and trimmed with buttons and eyelet lace, dark red velvety bows trimmed with rose buds of the same color, and one big bow with a button in the center.  I’m not sure the big bow came out quite how I wanted, but besides that I think it came out perfectly.
Here’s the updated list:

• Pouches
• Zip, zip, zip
• Red skirt
• Black skirt
• Bird skirt
• Hair accessories
• Ribbon fun
• Top
• Wreath
• Ornaments galore
• Bun-bun

One down,  ten more to go.  The next project will be up tomorrow, so look forward to it.

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The Finishing Touch, and Some Menswear

I was going to post this yesterday, but after waking up early and attending and singing for two church services, I was exhausted. 
Anyway, I mentioned before that the first two projects on my list needed to be done by the end of the week.  Rest assured I did finish them right on time.

The first is this little bitty bag.  I have already used this fabric to make a skirt and a dress and there is still more than enough to make another skirt or something.  So I thought I might as well make a matching purse to go with all these somethings.  It is about 7 inches in diameter, small enough to fit under my choir robe.  It was a perfect edition to my Easter outfit yesterday.

And the second project was the finishing touch to my Easter outfit, a wreath for my hair.  I had a different idea for it in mind, but that plan kind of fell flat.  This is plan B, take wire stem roses and twist them together to form a ring.  Then wrap green ribbon around to cover the wired part.  Loop on long hanging ribbons and it’s ready to wear.  It barely took 10 minutes to make, but it made quite an impression yesterday.

I got one other project finished this week, clothing for a “man”.  I wanted to make some doll clothes for my nephew, “Ken” doll sized ones.  It presented a slight challenge for me.  The clothes had to be just right to fit a Ken doll, be easy for my nephew to take off and put back on, plus look like something a guy would actually wear.  Sadly this meant no lace.  This translated to a pair of yellow elastic waist shorts, a white open top with a tank underneath and a blue messenger bag.  All easy to slide on and official approved by my nephew.  The shorts I made based on a store-bought pair I had lying around.  They are actually pretty quick and easy to make once you figure out how to do it.  There may be more in the future.  Much more.  By the way, the doll in the picture isn’t my nephew’s it is one of mine.  I got it years ago from one of my nieces,  She didn’t want it because the head kept on popping of which creeped her out.  I traded it for a doll with a more secure head, problem solved.
Here’s the updated list:

• Floral bag
• Wreath
• Doll
• Top
• Doll dress
• Gloves
• Black purse
• Tiny plushies
• Tiny “men” clothes

Three down, six  to go. The next one should be up by this Thursday.

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Cutting It Close

I said I would finish the list by today, and that’s just what I did, sort of.  I finished the dress on my list, but kind of forgot to take a picture of it.  I’ll have plenty of that up tomorrow.  Here’s the rest of it.

Everyone should know by now that I love to craft with corrugated cardboard and that includes making decorations.  Hence the creation of this cardboard wreath.  I cut out a bunch of circles with the help of my niece and glued them to a ring that was also cut from the cardboard.  After that all I had to do what paint it white and sprinkle glitter all over.  Then came the ribbon, I reused some ribbon that someone was going to toss.  They were going for more of a silver and gold look this year. 

This is a small doll of the main character of Sayonara Zetsubou-Sensei, a manga series my brother likes.  It’s only about 4 inches tall and made with scraps of white an black fabric, fleece, a few beads, some wire, and plenty of glue (for the hair and shoes).  Knowing my brother, he will probably point out the the colors of the outfit aren’t quite exact.  Otherwise, it probably came out okay.

I had a bunch of labels left unused and a whole bunch of rubber stamps, also unused.  Put them together and now I have a bunch of homemade stickers, perfect for stocker stuffers and such.

Here’s that skirt I wanted to make, I wore it to church Sunday since it was a special day along with…

…the tie I wanted to make.   Simple black bowtie, dressed up with a touch of lace.  It went perfectly with…

…this lovely hair accessory.  It was a little bonus that went perfectly with the skirt and tie.  There are fabric roses on both sides.  I actually got more compliments on this then the skirt and tie.

And with some of the scraps left from the skirt, I made this ruffled collar for Midnight.  We match!  It’s being modeled by my niece’s stuffed dog named Ruby.  Ruby could use a trip to the washer.

For the nephew who doesn’t like “girly” plush toys, a plush robot.  Made from an assortment of fleece scraps.  My mom thought it looked like one of those one little toys, I forget the name, I think it was Knac-knacs or something like that.

And last is a Christmas cracker for Midnight, or at least my version of one.  Wrapping paper rolled around a tube and filled with cat treats.  She usually gets one in her stocking most years.

Here’s the updated list:

• Doll jacket
• doll clothes
• Tissue pouch
• Pins
• Scarf
• Boxes
• Purse
• Ornaments
• puppet
• Wreath
• Sweatshirt makeover
• Mascot
• Stickers
• Robot
• Collar
• Red skirt
• Tie
• Christmas cracker
• Dress

Nineteen down and out.  Whoo Hoo!  Don’t forget, I’ll be putting up pictures of the dress tomorrow.

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