Kristy's Owl

Evenin!

Whelp, in my last post, you got to experience just a little bit of my limited sewing skills. But the good part is that I'm still practicing! I really do enjoy sewing and making things, not gonna lie, so I refuse to give up on it just yet haha

Sooo, for one of my other dear friends [and she's my roommate to boot!] I decided to practice sewing a little more by making her this little fella:

I had some extra fleece lying around, and she really loves owls, so I thought it might be a pretty good fit.

I have quite a few things that I would like to change for next time, but for a quick project to whip up, I'd say it was a pretty good first try!

And he will be linkin' up to some of THESE parties!

Fringe Scarf

Greetings, compadres!

I think that my favorite gift that I made this year ended up being this one:

I made this fun fringe-y scarf for one of my very, very dear friends, Carolyn. And I really hope she ends up liking it! and if she doesn't... then... Idk. I plan on making one for myself anyway :]

AND WELL LOOK AT THAT. I took pictures so that you can make your own! Don'cha know.

So let's get started!

Step one: Find yourself three yards of fabric. I used a stretchy knit fabric in this pretty grey color, but I guess as long as you use something mildly stretchy and nice-feeling, this would work. Can you tell that I'm SUPER versed in all things sewing? [haha NOT EVEN. I just like to putz around with sewing...] But yeah. Take your three yards and fold it in half long-style. Then cut your fabric all the way down the fold you just made. Now you will have two long sections of fabric, but you'll only need the one to make the scarf.

Step two: LOOK, MORE OF MY INFINITE SEWING SKILLS SHOWING. Haha oh gosh. But yeah. On each side of the fabric panel, measure in about five or six inches. The measurement depends on how long you want your fringes to be. But since I'm terrible at making straight lines, I used a tape measure to keep the line straight.

Step three: Mark your straight lines with straight pins. This will tell you where to cut the fringes to. If you have a marking pencil [which I didn't] you could just use that if you want...

WARNING: This was where my cat entered. This was BY FAR his most favorite thing I have ever made... so if you have a cat, be aware that they LOVE to help with this project haha.

 Step four: Start cutting your fringes once you have both sides all marked out. I cut each of mine a half an inch each, but again, size is up to you.

Step five: Appreciate what a good helper you have.

Step six: Once you have all the fringes cut, turn the fabric once so that there is one twist in it, like the photo above. Then line up the two straight edges of the fabric.

Step seven: Sew up your edges, and you're ready to wear your new scarf! I hand sewed mine, but that's only because I'm not very comfortable with a machine. You can go ahead and machine sew it though!

 And there you have it: a fun fringe-y scarf :]
I very much enjoy odd scarfs, so I hope Carolyn enjoys it too!

 If you make your own, I'd love to see! I feel like this project can be much improved on, so I'd love to see if anyone whips up something fantastic :'D

And I'll be linking to these great PARTIES!

Christmas Cardin'

Hooo boy.

Lately I've been doing ALL THE THINGS. So much to do, so little time, yeah?
Since getting off of school last week, I've been trying to rush to get everything ready for Christmas. Baking cookies, sending cards, making gifts, you know haha.

But yesterday I ended up finishing making Christmas cards for everyone.

I ended up making quite a few this year. It's like... you start to make cards for a few people... and then you think of more people... and then the next thing you know you end up making eight thousand cards.

But it's all fun, right? We only get to do this but once a year... so might as well enjoy it :]

Now I'm off to go finish making a million other gifts I guess.

Linkin' up to THESE great parties!

It's good to be back :'D

Hi friends.
Have I ever mentioned that I greatly enjoy oil painting?:

I swear, that is the FASTEST oil painting I have ever done.... 2 and a half days.... 16 x 20 inches... I don't even. NOT SLEEPING IS FUN, YEAH?
Oldest brother has been bothering me for the longest time that I should paint him a picture of a cow for his house. EEEEVERY time I see him, he asks "Where is my cow painting?" And I, like the loving sister I am, blatantly ignore his requests [I'm terrible].

So, in my free time I finally painted him a Christmas cow.


Look out for more nonsensical artwork in the month to come, I guess :]




PS: Linkin' up to these great PARTIES.

DIY Designer Candles

Howdy kids.

So here's a thing. BEHOLD:

I made candles :]
Well, not really. I decorated candles. One of my roommates can only tolerate unscented candles, so I decided to make some boring, unscented candles more exciting:

Here's how I did it too-- Step one: Gather your materials. I used some tall pillar candles, microns [or any other fine point PERMANENT pens] tissue paper, push pins, and some sort of cutting apparatus [I used my trusty xacto and a cutting mat].

Step two: Use your candle to cut your tissue paper to the exact height of the candle, maybe even a tiny bit shorter. You can then wrap the paper around the candle to find out how long to make the paper. You will only need about 1/4 to 1/3 inch of overlap.

Step three: Lay you paper down on some sort of surface [I used just a piece of printer paper] because the pen has a good chance of bleeding through. Then go ahead and draw whatever you want!

Step four: Wrap your finished drawing around the candle and push pin it together. You can also use drafting tape or painters tape to tape it down, which I found actually worked quite nicely.

Step five: Pull out your trusty blow dryer and BLAST that baby. You have to get enough heat so that the candle starts to melt a little and adhere the paper to the actual candle. You will be able to tell when this starts to happen because the wax will start to bead up through the paper.

Step six: Let your candle cool down and dry!

And there you go! Some designer candles for way less! I don't really know if you can burn these, but I wasn't really planning on burning them anyway, just have them as a display piece. To bad there is most likely no room for displaying things at the apartment haha

Added tip of advice: It really helps if you have a little kitty helper to watch over all your activities :]
ENJOY!

ANNNDD I'll be linking toTHESE parties!

Art Post

So I took some pictures of some of the art I finished a little while ago. I'm allowed to share my art, right? Right. Otherwise it just sits in my sketchbook, which then proceeds to get thrown on the floor, which then proceeds to get sat on by Kitty.

This one was for my friend Ginger because she had a biiiiiirthday last week. So I drew her her pirate character, Senka. Pirates are always good, yeah? Seriously, it would be great to be a pirate for a week. Boats, swords, and SO MUCH FACIAL HAIR. Sign me up, man.

And then some time ago I drew my Betta fish Apollo as if he were a human. Cause he is always a Grumps McGee.

And I think I'm going to start sharing my art more regularly haha.

Happy World Cat Day!

I would not be a proper crazy cat lady if I did not wish you a Happy World Cat Day, now would I?
I just found out about this holiday and thought "OH, WELL THIS IS PERFECT."

So from me and my lazy, rotund little Kitty to you all, HAPPY WORLD CAT DAY.

Hahahaha I need a life.
Actually, no. No I don't.
I am perfectly okay with this xD

Pop Tab Bracelets

Well howdy.

Good news: I got a bit of craftiness done today:

Pretty cute, if I do say so myself. And goodness me-- I managed to take pictures along the way so that you can make some for yourself!

Step one: Get your materials, yo. All you need is some ribbon [preferably not too skinny], scissors, and some pop tabs. I used about 18, and I'd consider my wrist pretty normal human-sized.

Step two: Cut yourself two lengths of ribbon. I used a little more than an arm's length [again with the super precise measuring haha].

Step three: This bracelet uses a the same technique as the hardware necklace did, except you have two holes to go through this time. So starting from the back of the tab, bring the two ribbons up through the pop tab, laving about four to five inches of ribbon to the left. You will be working from left to right on this.

Step four: Bring the ribbon down through the holes in the next pop tab.

Step five: Bring the ribbon back down through the first tab and pull it taut.

Step six: Now bring the ribbon back up through the second tab, in the little space to the right of everything.

Step seven: Continue adding tabs in this fashion until your bracelet is long enough. Then tie off the ribbons on both ends so that nothing comes loose!

Step seven: Because I enjoy clean-ness, cut the ends of your ribbons into nice, clean points :] Then all you need to do is tie it on an wear!

Tip of advice: I tied mine just big enough so that I could slip it over my wrist. Then I put a little tacky glue on the knot because I suck at tying bracelets on myself and wanted it to always have a nice clean bow haha

And there you have it! Pop tab bracelets! I love making things out of materials that I already have on hand :]



Annnnnnd, I just so happen to be linking to these great parties.

Paint Chip Art

Want to know one of the many reasons why I love the hardware store? All the free paint chips xD
Seriously, no one has ever questioned me when I have walked out of the store with two dozen different paint samples.
And there are so many things that you can do with them! My favorite is just to use them as backgrounds for my different doodles:

For example: Unicorns.

My friends Don and Ginger.

Or even some clowns. But in all actuality, I do not particularly enjoy clowns. I don't really suggest clowns...

See, paint swatches are handy for all kinds of drawings :]



[This week I'm linking to These great parties]

The Ameri-Blanket

This past school year, Miss Carolyn started a crochet group at our college called The Hookers of Yarnia. We would sit in the basement of our dorm building every Thursday night and learn to crochet things. One of our major projects was to crochet scarves for charities, but we also just crocheted some things for fun. It was at this point that Carolyn taught me the magic of the Granny Square.

Four months later, the Ameri-blanket was born xD

It started out as just a simple granny square, no big deal. I wanted to learn the stitch. But then it kept growing. And growing. And I decided "Oh heck! Why not just turn it into a super patriotic blanket!"

It really was not all that difficult, it just took forever to complete because I have such a short attention span.... and the nearest Hobby Lobby is an hour and a half away...

But now it's complete! Ahhh, such glory; such patriotism.


[And I'm linking this to THESE great parties]

Hardware Necklace

Long time no chat, yeah?

Anyway, I wanted to share a little something that I whipped up last week. I saw a necklace kind of like this one on Pinterest [that's right, I finally caved last week and made an account haha] but for the life of me I can't find it anymore! So I had to just go with it and make my own:

Whoop whoop, almost fancy, and super easy to make! 

Want to make your own? Here is how!

Step one: Gather your materials. You will need a pair of scissors, metal washers [whatever size you fancy], and some ribbon [also whatever size and color you fancy].

Step two: Cut a length of ribbon quite a bit longer than you want your necklace to be. I used a little longer than an arm's length of ribbon [you can tell I'm really precise, right?]

Step three: Place one washer on your work surface right side up. Then bring your ribbon up through the bottom of the washer. Don't leave your washer right in the middle of the ribbon though otherwise one side of your necklace will be super long and the other will be too short. I would move the washer over to the left more...

Step four: Place another washer right side up on your work surface to the right of the last washer. This time, instead of coming up through the bottom of the washer with the ribbon, come down through the washer with it.

Step five: Feed the ribbon back through the middle of the first washer, coming down with the ribbon.

Step six: Pull the ribbon nice and taut!

Step seven: Feed the ribbon back through the second washer, coming behind the first washer and up through the little gap on the right side of the second washer.

Step eight: Place your next washer right side up and feed the ribbon down through the center. Continue this process for as long as you want your necklace to be, but leave room so you can tie the necklace back on your own neck! haha

Step nine: This was just a personal choice, but when you get to the end of your necklace, you can cut the ends at points so they look nice and clean.

And there you have it! A hardware necklace! Hopefully, my brother didn't need any of those... but he should know by now that anything he leaves unattended in the garage instantly becomes fair game heh heh.

As a little tip, I left my ribbon pretty long, so that I could either wear it long or keep it short. I'm actually pretty partial to the short look :D

[and hoorah for fresh out of the shower pictures! hahaha]

Happy Sunday!

Linking to:
Keeping it Simple
Make it Great Mondays
Also, this is my entry into the Make it Great Monday party hosted by Appliances online and their best Range Cookers!
Cure for the Common Monday