A Guest Crafter

Hey there everyone! My name is Mel and I’m from Nowheresville, Nebraska 🙂

I’m a 30-something woman with the mind of a 15 year old boy. I have an adorable 10 year old boy who is a pain in the rear and a lot of tattoos. I like to read, write when I can, and do some fun little crafts to keep me occupied when I’m not working my behind off! No one ever tells you when you’re young that being an adult is a trap! I spend entirely too much time on my phone playing mindless puzzle games and scrolling Facebook. I lead an incredibly exciting life 🙂 

When asked what I am currently reading, I’d have to be honest and say not much. Life is crazy right now and that leaves very little time for recreational reading. I am in the middle of proofreading a book written by my best friend, Harper Bentley. It’s called The BFD and it’s a tongue-in-cheek hetero romance about a football player who everyone throws themselves at and the girl he’s involved in. It’s hilarious and perfect. Otherwise I spend most of my reading time in the M/M community. If I had to pick my favorite book, I’d go with the entire Harry Potter series because in my opinion, that’s the most magical and special world I’ve ever been a part of. 

Anyway, I’m really here to talk about some of the fun crafts that I’ve done recently. I make these really cute candy bouquet cups for some local fundraisers and Valentine’s gifts for the kids’ teachers and they turned out much better than I expected.

 

I also make diaper wreaths for pretty much anyone I know who is having a baby for their baby shower presents! They are super cute and very useful as you can take them apart and use all the items!

 

My most fun project to make and the one I’m most proud of are these Tinkerbell Fairy Lanterns. I made them for my best friend and my nieces for Christmas and they loved them! They are a little time consuming but totally worth it!

 

There are also various little crafts I do with magnets, signs, and tshirts and paint markers and all that fun stuff but I don’t want to take up too much of your time today! If you’d like to talk to me more about my craft projects or see any more pictures of what I can do, please feel free to get ahold of me on Facebook or email me at countryprincess43@gmail.com.

 

Thank you so much for inviting me to be a guest on your blog, Naelany! ❤

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On the Grid

Since I didn’t have any stuff (I forget what it’s called) to make a woven grid, I figured I’d try making one with a good old fashioned pencil. I’m not entirely sure how I feel about that particular way of doing things, but I am liking the whole grid thing.

I’m a lot further now, and I can definitely see why it’s a good idea to use them. I’ll just need to get my hands on other ways of making them because I’m a little worried about the pencil smudging the fabric.

Just Bumbling By

Hey, no idea what I’m doing; but, I’m Vicki Speakman.

Pleased to say I look younger than I am. I have an irrepressible love of skulls.
‘Originally from the Woodstock area of New Brunswick, Canada; but have lived all over N.B. as well as a few years in Halifax, Nova, Scotia & 17 years in gorgeous Victoria, B.C..
I moved back east 6 years ago in order to see my niece(s) grow up; since they moved back from England. ( it had been 1 at the time, now it’s 2 )

I crochet ( am loving the Bernat Blanket yarn ), make jewelry, and randomly write poetry.

I have been quite addicted to fan fiction since I discovered it. Currently reading mash-ups of Marvel Avengers/Harry Potter. Sad. I know.

My first thought when I saw my favorite story/book requested was: ” Are you kidding? I’ve literally read THOUSANDS of books and stories!” However, after thinking on it a bit, I’d still have to say Charles de Lint. He writes what’s best described as urban myth. His characters and situations are spot on in such a way that you feel sure if you went to Ottawa ( or wherever) You’d see it all for yourself and the characters would walk right out the front door.
**A warning on his darker stuff though. ( sometimes written under the name Samuel M. Key ) NOT for the faint of heart and chock-full of triggers.

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Baby dragon I made the mouth “wrong”, but found pattern from Vanja Grundmann on Ravelry.
Cupcake by Candy Van Sweet.
Used frame to make an earring holder, have done ones where I have refurbished the frame. The only earrings there I did NOT make, are the feathers and the pair w/ the red beads.#####

All The Hangover…

None of the fun. Yep, spent most of yesterday in bed with a migraine. Today at least I’m doing a little better on that front, but have the aftermath to deal with. Fun times, let me tell ya.

Friday I finally finished my bears. 

Had to fudge things a bit, given that I messed up but I don’t think you can really tell. At least, I hope you can’t. I just need to find a frame for it now. And for this one, too. I’d completely forgotten all about this project, truth be told.

I only ran across it because I was looking for something else. Oops? No idea when this was done, but it really ought to get framed and shown off, don’t you think?

I’m waffling between working on a picture of Mickey as the Sorcerer’s Apprentice or starting on my map of the Netherlands. Both projects are going to be a pain in the butt because both kits have the thread bunched together without labels. I’m just supposed to know which colors are which, apparently. I’m starting to think that the Dutch are not very good at making clear-cut kits :-(. Ah well, I’ll figure it out, I’m sure. It not now, then at some point in the future.

Apropos of nothing, but have you ever listened to a book and wish you could copy and paste quotes from it because it’s just so damned relevant to the world around you? Yeah, I’m having that happen a lot while reading Asylum. I’m almost wishing I could get my hands on a Kindle version just so I can share quotes from it but I don’t think I could handle going through it again. Why? Because it’s an account by a Jew during WWII. Yes, you read that right. He wrote it whilst on the run and in hiding from the Nazis, so an easy read this is not. It is, however, a good read. An important read.

Craftastic

We’ll start out here with the blatant truth: I’m not a craft person. Until about a year ago, I didn’t even cook. I can’t sew a button, knit a square, or crochet my way out of a doily shaped bag. Nada. So, why I decided it would be a great idea to make stuff for my wedding, I have no idea. Maybe it was the same impulse that drove me to sign up for Match.com where I met my husband-to-be. If so, it’s an awesome impulse.

Our wedding is a low-key, baseball-themed affair in his parents’ backyard. Just like I’m not a craft person, I’m also not a big gala person. I don’t need a dress that’s going to hang in my closet forever – I’d rather have a new custom Cubs jersey. But – that’s just me, the dress route is awesome for other people. Our favors for the wedding, rather than the obligatory bride and groom bubbles, will be peanuts, Cracker Jacks, cotton candy, and Big League Chew gum. For which, I made a few things.

It started with an innocuous trip to JoAnn’s with my sister while she was visiting in July. They’d gotten me Cubs fabric from Chicago, and I was going to pick up Braves fabric. I had no idea, at that point, what the Hell I was going to do with said fabric since I can’t sew (see litany of shortcomings above). While we were there, I saw these unfinished crates and thought they’d be cool to put the peanuts and such in. I could just paint them, right?

Okay, now they’re painted. But, they still look kinda bland. I should put something on them so that people know what’s in them right? My sister also brought Mason jars with her, so I thought – ooh, theme – and grabbed Mason jar-shaped wood pieces which turned into the letters for the signs on the crates.

So, now what to do with the actual Mason jars? Hmmmm… People use them as vases, right? That’s a thing? And I have all this fabric. I cut the fabric into big circles and wrapped it around the jars, securing it with twine. Rustic and baseball themed – SCORE! Then, I cut the fabric into little circles and put them around the other half of the jars – silverware holders. Cool.

Want to see what the non-crafter came up with for crafts? Who knew it was possible?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Breathing’s Hard Work, Yo.

So this is the view from my home right now (and has been for far too long, in my opinion. Most of August, though this weekend’s been particularly bad). No, that’s not fog. That, my dear readers, is smoke. Lots and lots of smoke. While I love living in the valley, this is a definite drawback: smoke gets trapped and without a good wind – and one in the right direction, of course – it stays that way. I haven’t been able to enjoy my lovely patio all month because of the fires, I’m sad to say. And the smoke is so bad, you can smell it inside, even with the AC on to filter the air. So yeah, breathing right now is hard work, especially if you’re an asthmatic like me.  (the nearest fire, according to google maps, is 16 miles away, and yes the communities closer to it have had level 1 evac orders. Thankfully, that does not include my neck of the woods, so fingers crossed they get those suckers taken care of soon).

Obviously, I haven’t been spending much time outside, and I’ve been taking it very easy the last few days (no, really, breathing under these conditions is exhausting). I’ve managed to work a little on my bears, getting them into a bigger frame so I can work more easily on them. And yes, I messed them up. They’re a little fatter than they’re supposed to be (but that’s okay, so are hubby and I, so it fits, right?) and some of the garland isn’t as it should be either, but it seems to be coming along okay. I’m probably going to have to pick what little of the garland I did on the left, though.

I really, really, really need to figure out a better way of working on these bigger cross stitches, though. As you can see, I’m trying to do it several colors at a time, but it feels weird to me to do it this way and I feel like I’m constantly in my own way. I won’t take a picture of the floss itself because it’s horrible ratted and I’m ashamed of it lol, but suffice it to say that I’ll need to do that differently as well. I had intended on working on my big map of the Netherlands after finishing the bears, but I’m thinking it might be a better idea to do another one along the lines of this one first before tackling that so I can work on figuring out what works best for me. Not that I have a clue what that next project will be.

An Eclectic Crafter

Hi all! I was very honored when Karin asked me to write a guest post, but also slightly nervous as I’ve never written a blog or shared any of my writing before.  I’m usually up for a challenge, however, so here goes!

I’m Cait and I am a 28-year-old dog trainer, avid reader, and sporadic crafter.  I was born in California and subsequently lived in Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, England, and Maryland.  I have finally settled down just outside of Nashville, Tennessee with my husband and our three dogs.  I spend the majority of my time doing private training and also rescuing dogs in my work with Agape Animal Rescue.

I am fortunate in that I find my work incredibly rewarding, but it is also often draining and stressful.  I’ve struggled for years with anxiety and depression, so when work and life just get to be too much, I seek solace in reading and art.

I love learning—I was the “cool” kid in college taking 300 level math courses just for shits and giggles—and read a lot of nonfiction on a variety of topics including history, sociology, physics, biology, psychology, and spirituality to name a few.  My current favorite author is Brené Brown who researches and writes about shame and vulnerability.  When it comes to fiction and fanfiction, I tend to prefer fantasy, scifi, dystopia, and regency romance.  That last one doesn’t quite fit the general theme, but Jane Austin has been my go to comfort reading since I was 14 and when I am feeling down, nothing else gives quite the same pick-me-up.  I honestly can’t name a single favorite book, but I adore Harry Potter, LOTR, The Sword of Truth, The Handmaid’s Tale, The Grand Sophy and Pride and Prejudice.

I absolutely love being creative and artistic, though I often struggle focusing on a single project or media.  I love painting with both acrylics and watercolor.

I have a notebook full of quotes and watercolor doodles that I enjoy working in whenever inspiration strikes.

My most recent projects have involved working with wood.  I painted a set of galaxy coasters and a rhino clock.  I did have to get my husband’s help with some of the clockwork mechanics though…

I also LOVE pyrography—wood burning.  There is something so beautiful and exhilarating in the permanence of each mark you make.  Plus, it smells like a campfire the whole time I am working.  I just recently finished up this “Family Tree” as a present for my dad.  I think my favorite part of creating new artwork is giving it away to other people and seeing them enjoy it.  Also, my house would be overflowing with crafts and artwork if I didn’t make other people take my stuff!

I additionally dabble in baking, writing poetry, knitting, sewing, machine embroidery, sketching, cross stitch, and pretty much anything that strikes my fancy or that I think my friends and family will like.  My favorite craft of all time, though it was a few years ago, was making a Charmander costume out of an orange hoodie for a 12-year-old boy I nannied for.  That was a lot of fun!

Thanks for taking the time to check out my eclectic crafting habits and thanks Karin for hosting me on your blog!