Merry Christmas To All...

Just wanted to wish everyone here a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year…

May you all experience only the Good Things this Holiday Season!

You guys are all such a wonderful inspiration and encouragement to me… without you, I would just be “that crazy craft lady who can’t throw anything out”

but with your love and support, I am LAUGHING PURPLE GOLDFISH :)

I’ll be taking a weeny break over the next few weeks… taking the kiddies to the beach for a well deserved holiday! Unfortunately Mr Goldfish has to keep working, but we’ll do our best to enjoy the sun and surf without him…

Safe travels to everyone here xx

And see you back here again for more QUIRKY CRAFTING in 2012

Sharon

P.S. Here's a quick peek at a couple of the gifties I've finished in the last 24 hours...

The Blooming Flower Cushion is done:



And I made my First Ever Fabric Softy... a Unicorn for my New Niece:

Square Peg - Round Hole

They say that you can't fit a square peg in a round hole...

But I'm going to try!

Or a Square Cushion in a Round Cover, that is...



I have searched high and low for a round cushion - and not been able to find one anywhere!

First I was checking the Op Shops... then moved on to look for a Brand New One.

But still there was nothing in the Craft Stores or the Home Decor Places.

Apparently ROUND cushions are not IN!

So I'm having to improvise a little



I've taken a square cushion, and pinned out the corners... so it sort of rounds out a bit.



Fortunately it doesn't need to be perfect.

And I've made a cover for it...

Still need to attach the Blooming Flower to the cushion cover



In other news, the Creeper Cozy is complete:

A Creepery Christmas

It's a very Creepery Christmas around here...

Madly working at an iPod cozy for Master Twelve...

Almost done... Just getting the face in place. then adding a button...

Sorry, no time to chat.

That's A Very Nice Everything You've Got There...

Thanks for your comment yesterday Sam... I was starting to feeling like the only Minecraft Mum... but I can see that your household has been corrupted also!

As you can see, the Creeper is done.

Here He is with his skin on:



The pieces were worked flat in single crochet (US) working through the BACK LOOPS ONLY - which is what gives the ridged effect. All quite simple.

Then the skin was overstitched in place around the foam inserts.

Last of all, a felt face was added:



Resulting in this:



It's killing me, not to be able to embellish this toy any further!

I know that it already looks EXACTLY like it is supposed to... but it just feels TOO - DARN - PLAIN

Anyway, here's a profile shot



And one head on:



And here He is hisssssssssssing



Now - Back to finishing off more gifts

Hissssss....

The Creeper Project continues...

Skin is almost complete. Then I'll need to add a face.

Hurry... Hurry... Hurry...

This one is a Christmas gift for Master Nine

(Although Master Twelve saw me working on it today, and he is HORRIFIED that it is not for him)

Jeepers... Creepers...

My children are OBSESSED with an online game called Minecraft...

They've tried to share the love with me - but try as I might, I just can't get remotely interested in it!

One of the most easily recognisable characters from the game is called a CREEPER.

The Creeper is an infamous, green-camouflaged, near-silent exploding mob that will chase players and hiss for 1.5 seconds before blowing up. Unlike Zombies and Skeletons, Creepers will not catch fire in direct sunlight meaning they can wander around unharmed day and night, and are still aggressive. Underground or on the surface, creepers will spawn at night and in dimly lit locations with a light level of 7 or less.

http://www.minecraftwiki.net/wiki/Creeper

Did that jibberish mean anything to you??? No... me either...

But I don't need to understand exactly WHAT a Creeper is, I just need to know what they look like...

So I can make one, of course!

I've been doing my research, and even created a Pinterest board of images to refer to when designing the toy.

The Creepers have a very boxy appearance, so the original plan was to to purchase some foam rubber and have it cut into cubes to use as inserts for my crochet 'skin', but I really wanted to use something recycled.

Then when a parcel arrived the other day with some styrofoam packing sheets, I knew exactly what I was going to do.



First I glued the sheets together to form thicker blocks, then cut them into the required shapes using a Bread Knife (as you do)

The edges were quite crumbly, so I taped around them to hold it all together neatly.



You can see it starting to take shape now. It's time to start on the skin!

Crystal Clear Instructions...

Yes.

I'm still banging on about That Book.

So looking forward to working on some projects!

FOCUS WOMAN

Must... Finish... Christmas... Gifts... First...



But I really want to try these 'stocking faces'

Once you got the hang of how they work, there are so many expressions you could bring to life...

(Oh My Goodness... I just noticed that in the photo above, you can see that they have even given the Victorian Lady NAIL POLISH! What a fabulous detail to include)

Anyway, the book claims to have Crystal Clear Instructions... and just looking at the illustrations, I'm pretty impressed.

For example... here's the guide to making our Victorian Lady's face:



And these instructions...



make this gorgeous face...



Must... Finish... Christmas... Gifts... First...

Do Great Minds Really Think Alike?

Or is it that Fools Never Differ?

I was reading through my 'New Book' last night, when I came across a pattern for The Frog Prince...


Fancy That!

A Frog which turns into a Prince...

And this book was published 20 years ago.

Yet two months ago, when I came up with the idea of making a Prince Charming Toy which changed from a Frog into a Prince - I thought it was a totally new idea!

I really did think that I was the Cleverest Bunny in the Woods.

But since then, I have seen several versions of my idea... ALREADY designed...

Oh well, as they say... There's nothing new under the sun.



I especially love the use of ric-rac on the pond.

Ric-Rac. Lurve me some Ric-Rac...

And you'd never guess to look at it - but there is RECYCLING at play here!

The body of the Frog and Prince is a recycled Lemonade Can... How awesome is that?

But wait, there's more...

This Doorstop Cat has a container inside, filled with sand or pebbles to really give it some weight:



The wings on these Christmas Fairies use transparent film from a gift box lid:



This Victorian Lady has a plastic bottle inside her, again filled with sand... to keep her balance on the Dressing Table:



The Victorian Lady above, and the Flying Witch below, both use scraps from pantyhose for their faces:



And these last two characters are made from socks:





Loads of ideas to try out now...

Easy To Make Dolls...

I had to take Little Miss Charlotte for her 6 month immunisations today...

Needles are never fun for Little Ones... or Big Ones for that matter!

But since I work in a Medical Clinic, it was a good chance to pop in and see everyone. I'm loving my Maternity Leave... but I do miss socialising with the gang at work - they're all such good value!

And as an added bonus, there is an Op Shop right across the road from work. It's a small country town, and the store is only open limited hours... but our timing was perfect today, and we managed to squeeze in a visit there too.

Now I know that a Proper Mother would take the Little Dot straight home for some serious cuddling after her immunisations... but it was much more fun to do a spot of shopping - and Charlotte didn't mind at all.

Anyway, I stumbled across this book... and decided to bring it home with me.

As I was flipping through it at home, I realised that I have bought an awful lot of books about making softies... AND NEVER STITCHED ONE!!!

I've knitted and crocheted millions of toys - but the machine stitched fabric softy has NOT been attempted.

Which is really ridiculous!

Somewhere deep down inside, I've convinced myself that I CAN'T make them... Don't know why, but when I really sit down and think about it - how hard can it be? You cut your fabric out... stitch the pieces together and stuff them...

NOT ROCKET SCIENCE WOMAN

(and the book IS called EASY to make dolls)

So I'm inspired to make some, but I'm trying to hold back until all my Christmas gifts are done.

Waiting is not easy for me...

One Gift Finished...

I got so carried away with the Advent Calendar, that I forgot to tell you about this finished gift.



The Lacy Flower Runner is completed... and blocked... and wrapped... and under the tree!



(it's a free online pattern... click here for the link if you're interested)

Soon to be Finished

Another batch of ornaments to share with you today:

Tammy commented yesterday that she loved the googly eyes... so I'll start out with this little mouse:



This is supposed to be a Church... but in my opinion it actually looks more like a house...



A drum:



I'm guessing that this guy is Rudolph, complete with googlies, just for you Tammy...



We have a candle:



And a dove:



That's 15 decorations down.. and only NINE to go!

Hurry Up

Serious work has begun on the Advent UFO

As well it should, since we are already at December 12 - the Advent is HALF OVER ALREADY!!!

So here's a selection of the Tree Decorations I've completed so far:
















And the Tree itself is almost complete...



Still need to number those pockets along the bottom, and add the buttons so that the decorations can be hung. There's also a heap of embellishing which I'd love to do, but I think I'll be waiting until next year for that.

Oh... and I need to scrounge around for another STICK in the garden for the casing along the bottom.

Master Twelve has already informed me that the 'stick' idea is an EPIC FAIL - but I love the character it lends the calendar...

When it came to the pockets, there wasn't really enough felt left - and no instructions either!

I was going to add each pocket separately, using random felts... but there wasn't enough space on the backing to do that. So I made some scrappy strip pockets instead.