Kira's Kitty Portraits

I simply MUST show you an amazing item I received from my swap partner, Kira. She asked me to send her pictures of my cats, and here's what she did with them:

She made this amazing hand-painted garland, which folds up to fit in a decorated matchbox!!

Look at those little faces!  I've never seen anything so cute!  I love the interesting texture and colors in the backgrounds too.

Kira is an artist (obviously), crafter and blogger; you can find her at Oops I Craft My Pants.

Morsbag Swap, Round 2

Last year, I organized the first round of the Morsbag Swap at Craftster; it was so popular that I decided to run it again, and the beautiful bags are currently pouring into the gallery!!

Morsbags are reusable shopping bags, made from a simple pattern; everyone in the swap was encouraged to do something "extra" to the bag they make for their partner, and that is what makes the gallery so interesting--each bag starts with the same pattern, but the finished products are all completely different.

In addition to the morsbag, we swapped one medium crafted item, or two small crafted items. Here's what I sent to my partner, Kira:

Kira said she loves "jewel bright" colors, so when I saw this fabric at the store, I didn't think twice--I quickly bought a yard of it!  It really is perfect. I personalized the bag with her first initial, which I cut using my Sizzix machine.

You may recognize this cute little zippered pouch from my last post:  I showed you the one I made for my Mod Swap partner.  I used the same simple bird pattern I had drawn for that pouch, but this time the fabrics I chose are more in keeping with Kira's tastes.

Kira said she likes small items because she doesn't have a lot of space in her house, so an embellished matchbox seemed like a good choice.  I've made these monsters before, and they seemed perfect for her because she is an artist and frequently draws cute monsters.

I felt like I wanted to add something else to my package, so I threw in this scissors fob, and a nice pair of my favorite Fiscars needlework scissors.



I am really looking forward to receiving my package from Kira, because she is an amazing artist and crafter--I was so fortunate to be able to swap with her!

Mod Swap

Last month, one of the first things the moderators at Craftster did to welcome the newest mods (including myself) was to organize a craft swap. Each new mod would be paired with an "old" mod in a mini version of a "Make a Friend" swap. We would exchange three things:  one thing we do well, one thing we love, and one surprise.

All the "old" mods are amazing crafters, and I had the fantastic good fortune to be paired with rackycoo. She tends to focus on paper crafts and assemblages, while I am mostly into sewing. That meant that I had to really dig into her Pinterest to figure out what to make for her--she didn't have a lot of sewn items there!  We exchanged messages, though, and she mentioned she would love some fabric baskets, so that's where I started.  Here's the whole package I sent to her:

The baskets are "the thing I do well."  I've done these before; there's even a tutorial for them HERE on my blog. Rackycoo's Pinterest was full of things that look old and worn, so I decided to use one of my cutter quilts for the heart and star on the front of the baskets.

I cut the bold words "happy" and "love" out of a piece of new fabric with an old look to it.  I left all the edges raw, so there are plenty of loose threads!  (Everything is securely sewn, though, so it won't be falling apart any time soon.)

For her "surprise" item, I made this zippered pouch (although it could also have been the "thing I do well", since I've made so many of these!)  This is the first one I've done like this, though, with both a pieced section and an appliqued section on both sides.  Rackycoo loves birds, and things wearing party hats!

In return, rackycoo made me some truly amazing items!  First, this elephant box that I requested; she started with a blank paper elephant form from a craft store, and with a lot of work she turned it into this piece of art!  I love it. (Yes, the box under the elephant does open.)

Altered tins are one of her specialties, so she made this one for me. The old buttons are still on their original card.  So cool!

The third item is actually three miniature treasures for my Blythe dolls.

First, she made this box of letters and post cards...they all have writing on them, and tiny stamps and post marks! The envelopes each contain a piece of paper with a letter written on it, to one of my dolls!  These are unbelievably detailed.

Next, there is this sweet terrarium.  The butterfly is a metal charm that she painted and somehow bent to give it a more realistic look.

And last, a clock!  This is so beautiful and elegant!

The back of the clock features this pretty picture, so it can be used with either side facing forward.

I jumped right into this swap but then started to feel nervous as I was crafting...but rackycoo is pleased with what I sent her, so that's all that matters!  I love what I received as well--thanks so much for the swap, Kristen!

Calling All Crafters!

I love being able to use my "craftiness" to help someone else, and I know many of you do too--that's why I'm writing this post.  

Deanna, a Craftster friend of mine (she's known there as bunny1kenobi ), is looking for crafted donations for a silent auction to be held August 3rd in Canada.  The money that's raised will benefit Deanna's cousin Lauri, who is fighting cancer, because her treatment is not covered by insurance. 

You can find a Facebook page about this cause, created by Lauri's daughter Candace (who is spearheading this effort), HERE.

If you would be able to make and send something for the auction, please contact Deanna at Ldsbunny1@yahoo.com for the mailing address.  If you will be mailing your crafts from outside Canada, remember to allow extra time for the package to arrive before August 3rd (it usually takes about 2 weeks from the U.S.)  

If you send something, I would love to hear about it in the comment section, below.  And if you send me a picture of what you make, I will post it on this blog.

I will be sending these two zippered totes for the silent auction.  I hope this fund-raiser will be a huge success!

Bracelets Featured at Mixed Kreations

Do you remember these Scrappy Fabric Braided Bracelets I made a while ago?

Currently, Linda at Mixed Kreations is featuring them on her blog!  She makes beautiful jewelry as well as other crafty goodies, so hurry over there and take a look!

Perler Bead Challenge

Now that I'm a moderator at Craftster, I'm organizing a crafting challenge.  I am happy to announce that the "Anything Goes Perler Bead Challenge" is now open!  All you have to do is make something--anything at all--using Perler Beads and then enter it on the challenge board between June 12th and June 18th.  That's plenty of time for you to get your hands on some Perler beads (also called Hama beads in some parts of the world) and get crafting!

Since I'm organizing it, I won't be entering the challenge, but after looking online and seeing all the cool things people are making with these beads, I wanted to try it myself. I started with something simple:  a coaster!

After I came up with a pattern, I placed the beads on the peg board (which is sold in craft stores, either separately or packaged with beads). I found that tweezers were very helpful for placing the beads.

When all the beads were in place, I carefully carried the pegboard to my ironing board (dropping it at this point would have been a disaster!) The beads come with a piece of parchment paper, which I placed on top of the beads before ironing. The directions said to iron at medium heat for 10-20 seconds; I found that I needed higher heat than that.  After the beads were melted enough that they were all sticking together, I flipped the coaster over and ironed the back, too.

Cute!

Okay, since that was pretty basic, I wanted to try something a bit more challenging (I am being inspired by a CHALLENGE, after all!) so I decided to try making a table for my doll house.

 It started the same way as the coaster, with a simple square, but I wanted it to have more depth when viewed from the side, so I also made two squares that were empty in the center, like a picture frame (hey--that's a good idea--I should make a picture frame next!), which I hot-glued to the bottom of the table.  Then I made four legs out of the Perler beads, and hot-glued them in place.  The extra layers of beads on the underside of the table helped to support the legs.

Here's the finished table. Alice approves!

 Any member of Craftster can enter the challenge, even if you've just signed up. It's a great community to be a part of, and I hope that if you haven't signed up yet, you will now, even if you don't enter the Perler bead challenge. (But I hope you will enter the challenge too!)

Yo Yo Garland

One of my Blythe friends, Susan M., send me a wonderful fabric pack of charm squares, and I knew EXACTLY what I wanted to do with it:  make a yo yo garland for my Blythe doll house!

Where did I get such a fabulous idea, you ask?  From Mollie Makes, one of my favorite crafty magazines! I love the magazine, and I love the name.  (Hmmm...maybe I should rename this blog Leslie Makes...)

I cut the fabrics into 3" circles, then sewed under a small hem and pulled the thread tight to make each yo yo. Then I lined them up on my kitchen table and, working a few at a time, I applied two drops of Aleene's Quick Dry Tacky Glue to the back of each circle.  I cut a long piece of baker's twine and pressed it into the glue to finish the garland.  It was dry and ready to hang in about an hour.

I have one tip that I want to share with you:  DON'T apply the glue in the center of each yo yo like I did, because then  the garland won't hang flat against the wall.  I learned that too late!  Instead, put the glue about 1/3 of the way down from the top of each circle, and you won't have to resort to tape on the back of your yo yo's to make them hang flat.

My finished garland is so pretty!  I love the colors in this package of fabrics!

Here's where I put it. This is the newest room in my dollhouse bookcase, and it was looking pretty bare and boring. It isn't finished yet, but this garland has made a big difference in the feel of the room.

Yo yo's aren't just for dolls, you know; you could easily make a garland of larger yo yo's to accent some part of your home.  They would look cute over a doorway or mantle. If you use yo yo's in your house, I would love to hear about it!