Crafty Pants!

A lot has happened in the past few weeks! I graduated college (with honors no less), moved out of my beloved yellow house, and moved back in to my parents house (temporarily I swear!). I am leaving for France in just three days, and I will be there for a month! I am so very excited, as this will be my first trip out of North America. After returning from France, I am moving down to San Francisco, to pursue a career in Software Engineering, and live with my college sweetheart. I am applying for jobs right now, and my future looks so bright!

When I was younger, I was scared of everything. I was scared to go anywhere and talk to anyone.  New experiences were far to frightening, and so I opted to stay home. That is why I became so crafty; I used it as a safe haven.  My, how things have changed! I don’t fear life anymore, and I am ‘chomping at the bit’ just waiting for new things to do and discover.

I feel that I owe this change within to my Alma Mater, my two best friends I made there, and my sweetie. They have inspired and encouraged me to really become the person I want to be.

PS. I’m still frantically trying to craft right now! I’m trying to finish my Light ‘n Lively before my trip:D

I made this stationary for the swap and thought I would share it. Just print it, cut it, and cut off the corners, and you have a fun pants-themed stationary set! I was inspired by an inside joke my boyfriend and I have, but I think everyone can appreciate the message. Although, some people might feel that the opposite is true! ;P
Here is the printable stationary:

Over at Craftster  I finally decided to participate in a swap. I chose the newbies only swap because it would be the perfect introduction to swaps.  My partner liked Nintendo and had a sense of humor so here are the things I made:

Crocheted Boo:

Gnome, Mario Mushroom and Boo. These guys are made from polymer clay and the gnome is about an inch tall:

Hand carved stamp:

Stationary. I made magazine envelopes to go with too:

Everything together:

I also made a wooden ring for her, which is not pictured. It is the beech wood with beeswax finish, like the ones available in my shop.

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Today was such a wonderful day. I wish I had been taking pictures but it was one of those days that you just don’t think about taking pictures. I can only manage pictures on holidays, if that.

Why was my day so wonderful? Well, I live in a big yellow house (really, we even call it the “big yellow house” when discussing it) and it has a porch. A real, live, southern colonial style porch.  We have a big comfy couch, and the railings are really benches. So it is just begging to have people lounge about. We also have a fancy-pants grill on this porch. Since it has been nice, my roommates and I have been having barbecues every day.  We’ve taken to saying that our life is, “one big, long barbecue”. Usually we raid the massive amount of meat our guy roommates left when they moved out, but today we went gourmet. 

We had:

• Fresh caught salmon straight from Alaska.
• Fresh salad with herbs from our wee herb garden.
• Homemade basil hummus with carrot sticks.
• Homemade lemon pudding topped with fresh strawberries.

Everything was phenomenal. Making the pudding and hummus from scratch was well worth it. I can’t believe how easy both are to make, and the difference in taste from store bought is well worth the extra effort.

All four of us girls spent the entire afternoon eating, laughing and soaking up the sun on our beloved porch. I wish every day of my life could be so wonderful!

 

I’m still inspired by my roommate. She bought the cutest mini garden gnome (it came with a book, too!) and I couldn’t resist. I had one very small block of white sculpty so I made the gnome a mushroom. But then I decided he needed another gnomey friend.

The guy on the left was my first try. I found it was far to hard to add detail on a 1 inch tall guy when all you have is a pencil. So, I made the guy on the right and painted the detail. His nose is lumpy because he got punched in the face. Actually, it’s because I couldn’t get it right and painted over it too many times!

What should their names be?

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More great finds! When I started this blog, I was doing it solely for my own use. I wanted a place to keep track of free patterns I was interested in making, and where I could make notes about the pattern. Since then, I have found so many amazing patterns, there is no way I can make them all! But I will continue keeping track of them, so I (and you!) have a place to look when I have a hook, some yarn, but no pattern:)

On to the patterns:

Amigurumi Bunny and Dress

The Ringed Seal of Saimaa

Cat and Mouse

Zequi the Bear

Cupcake

Little Fired Egg

Hope you enjoy these amigurumi patterns!

This Sock Elephants Pattern by L.B. Thoms is adorable! My local Goodwill has brand new patterned socks for only $1. I really should pick up a few pairs and give this elephant a try.

Are you hungry for something sweet? Crochet yourself some Delicious Fruit Tarts!

For those Dr. Who lovers out there, you can now crochet your own Dalek! When my brother was little, Dr. Who would give him nightmares. I’ve watched a few episodes of the latest Dr. Who and really like it, although I think I like the actor from the first season the best…