Fall Challenge - Danielle

I would just like to point out that it's sooo unfair to give me a challenge when I have houseguests!

That being said, I rose to the challenge.  It didn't quite turn out the way I wanted it to, but hey, I learned from what I did.  I learned that I need full access to my baking supplies to do justice to chocolate molding.  

Anyways.

Here is my offering for the Fall Challenge.  It's more Halloween than generic Fall, but it's tasty.  I used Wilton's Haunted Manor Cookie Candy Mold, orange and dark chocolate candy melts, and Oreo Double Stuf cookies.  I think that next time, I'll find my chocolate paintbrushes to apply the first color (you can see how the orange of the pumpkins spread all over), rather than muddling through with a spoon.  But the results were tasty!  You can see where I sampled the product ;)

Can't blog. Knitting.

No, seriously. I'm rushing to finish two baby blankets. Photos will be posted when I'm done. Promise.

Finishing things up

No photos this week, but I did manage to finish the second legwarmer that I showed you last week.  I also whipped up a crocheted dice bag for myself this past weekend.  That's really not bad, considering that I have no idea how last week managed to disappear so quickly!

I do have plans for upcoming projects - well, projects to finish, at least.  I've still got the baby blanket to finish for my niece, which I hope to work on this weekend.  I've got a baby blanket for a friend's shower on Oct 2, which will also get worked on this weekend, I think.  I've still got the many cross-stitch projects to work on, and I'm hoping to work on those during the evenings this week.  I want to get the Tinkerbell project finished soon, so I can wrap it up for Christmas and put it away.  Then I'll get back to Mom's stocking ;)  I don't know that it will get done this year, but I'm going to try!

And did I mention that I'm working on about a million dishcloths?  My office participates in "Relay for Life," and several of the women that I work with have suggested that I sell cotton crocheted/knitted dishcloths as my fundraiser this year - at least three people have already asked to buy them, so they're filling my in-between-things time.

You can see, there's no shortage of things for me to do!  I'll let you know what gets done next...

Half a set of legwarmers

Hello all!  It's been a crazy weekend full of traveling, but I managed to get some crafting done on the plane.  I made the first of a pair of baby legwarmers for my niece.  I used Serenity Garden Yarn from the Deborah Norville Collection of Premier Yarns.  It's a dralon microfibre yarn, and it's super-soft.  The color is called "Roses," and it fades from brown to bright pink to pale pink and back again.

I made up the pattern myself - the upper cuff is 38 rows of 5 sc through the back loop, then joined.  Then I did a single round of sc all the way around (40 st), then 19 more rows of a pattern stitch, one row with two decreases, five rows of pattern, one row with two decreases, then about 20 more rows of pattern.  (This is to remind me when I start working on the second one!)

Voila!

Danielle's Navy Dress

Hello!  I missed my usual Sunday post because I was off playing at Dragon*Con, the sci-fi/fantasy convention.  Since I was busy being a geek, I didn't get a chance to make anything new.  I did, however, wear a costume that I made myself.  I think it came from a McCall's pattern, and I modified it a bit.  Instead of a zipper down the back, I put in grommets and laced it up with a coordinating navy ribbon.  The lace and braiding were all hand-stitched, and I'm really happy with how it turned out.  In fact, because so many people liked it, and because two of my friends came up with absolutely lovely costumes of their own, now I'm thinking about sewing a new costume for next year.  I'm up for suggestions!

What I'm up to

Hello out there!  Karen and I didn't come up with a challenge for this week, so instead, I'm going to show you photos of the projects that I have on the go at the moment.  

First, a Christmas gift for a friend.  She may read this at some point, so I'm not naming names or telling you what it will be when it's finished, but it's a cross-stitch project with a recognizable (I hope) Disney character.

Next, a baby announcement for no-one in particular.  I had started it with my sister in mind, but then she became certain that the baby would be a boy.  This announcement is kind of girly, so I set it aside.  Of course, the baby ended up being the most adorable little girl in the world, so I could have given it to her.  Oh well.  Eventually, I'll finish everything but the name and date, so I can do the last bit fairly quickly once someone else has a baby.

This is the top part of a Christmas stocking for my mom.  I've always wanted to have a set of cross-stitched Christmas stockings, so this is the start of it.  You can see the birds, of course, but the blue thing is a hat, which will sit on top of a snowman's head.  After I finish Mom's stocking, I've already got one picked out for Dad.  Then I'll do mine, since I made a felt Tinkerbell stocking for Karen last year.  Then, if they would like some, I'll work on stockings for Karen's family.  Of course, it's taken almost a year to get this far (because I keep putting it away to work on more immediately needed projects), so this is a very long-term plan.

This is a simple scarf that I'm working on for my friend Tanya.  It's really soft yarn, made with bamboo and silk.  The colors are perfect for her, too.  It's just knit and purl, so it's going pretty quickly.  It comes along in my purse quite often, and I've worked on it over lunch hours at work, waiting for the doctor, supervising theatre auditions, and pretty much any time I just have to be somewhere but not actually do much.

This is the latest project I've started, mostly because I loved the yarn.  It's a Bernat chunky baby yarn, and it almost feels like chenille.  It's REALLY fast to do, and once the body of the blanket is knit, I've got two balls of white to crochet an edging.

And what list of projects would be complete without the Riders blanket I'm making for Baby Bear?  I promise, Karen, it's further along than this.  I just didn't want to lay it out for a photo tonight.

Glitter, glitter everywhere!

I'm still not fully unpacked, so most of my awesome craft supplies are still in boxes.  I'm hoping to get them unpacked soon, but until then, I've had to buy new supplies for my crafting needs.  Of course, I'm not complaining - who doesn't want an excuse to buy more glitter??

This week's challenge was 'Glitter,' and I'm very excited.  Instead of just buying a single vial of glitter, I got a multipack at Michael's, and it was awesome.  I used glitter with two widths of double-sided tape, along with some stickers and rhinestones, to create two cards.

First:

I used 1/4 inch tape with 'Grape' glitter by Recollections, 1/2 inch tape with 'Raspberry' glitter by Recollections, and a strip of Recollections Adhesive Rhinestones, all on a Recollections Blank Card.  The sentiment was written with a Foray Stylemark 0.5 mm felt-tipped pen from Office Depot.  I have a 'hello' stamp that I think I'll use next time I make a card like this (once I've unearthed it!).

Next:

Again, I used the 1/4 and 1/2 inch tape, this time with 'Ocean' and 'Paradise' glitter by Recollections.  I also added Making Memories Glitter Stickers.  This was a Recollections Blank Card, too.

In addition to the four shades of glitter used on these cards, I got 'Citron' and 'Water' in the multipack - beautiful colours, but I didn't have any accessories to go with them.  But no fear!  They will be used!  

I learned a valuable lesson, too.  Glitter on a tv tray instead of a table results in glitter on the floor, the couch, me, and the dog.  And Mia (the dog) still has some glitter on her, because she refuses to get into the shower.  So I have a sparkly puppy.  It's awesome.

Danielle's Headband

Our first challenge was to make a headband - no restrictions on style, colour, or anything else.  Here's my take:

Here it is, in my hair!  It's made from felt and beads and an elastic headband - all supplies available at WalMart.  I searched online and printed out a few sizes of flower shapes, then traced them onto the felt, then cut them out. For this particular one, I cut out two 8-pointed flowers and one five-lobed flower.  I layered them, then stitched through all three layers and added three beads in the center.  I went through the beads a few times, to make sure they were secure.

Here's a close-up of the flower part.  I've also made them in multiple colors, and with contrasting beads instead of coordinating beads.  I used Scuncii brand elastic headbands for this project, because I found them on sale.  This one is a stay-put style, with the sticky stuff on the back.  I think that I'll get the regular ones next time, because they're a bit easier to put on.

This is a close-up of the back.  Once the flower was assembled, I cut a small rectangle of felt from the same colour as the bottom flower.  Then I stitched it along two sides, catching the headband in the middle.  This lets the flower slide along the the headband, so you can reposition it easily.

I hope you enjoyed my headband!  Check back on Friday for Karen's take on it!

Welcome!

Hello out there!

*crickets*

Welcome to our new blog.  I'm Danielle, and along with my sister, Karen, I'm going to share some of my crafting with the world.  We're both crafters, probably thanks to our mom, who is also a crafter, and the awesome 'craft cupboard' that we grew up with.

What is a craft cupboard?  It's a big armoire-type cupboard filled to the brim with stuff to make things.  It had pipe cleaners, yarn, knitting needles, embroidery floss, pompoms, googly eyes, construction paper, paper towel rolls, paint, glitter, stickers, jewels - you name it!  When we got bored, Mom would usually send us to the craft cupboard, and we would let our imaginations run wild.  It was great!

Today, Karen and I each have a craft ROOM, not just a cupboard!  Our interests cover everything from knitting and crochet, to stamping and scrapbooking, to cross-stitching and sewing, and everything in between.

On Mondays, I'll post my craft updates, and on Fridays, Karen will post hers.  And who knows, we might even get some guest bloggers from time to time!

We're going to start out with a challenge - headbands.  Come visit on Monday to see what I come up with, and on Friday to see what Karen did.