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...