Obi-Wan Kenobi

Obi-Wan Kenobi
Originally uploaded by Novelty Kitten.

Dear Kelly,

The cape was a little more hobbit than jedi, but I didn't use a pattern for most of it, so all in all, I'm pleased with how Sam's costume turned out. The force is strong with this one.

Love,
Shayne

Ready for it?

Dear Shayne,

I'll end the suspense (cause I know you were just thinking about it all day, right?) and I'll tell ya what the weird craft was. Oh, and I also want to dispel any rumors that it was some kind of sex thing.

When I posted it with the guessing game I just thought it was funny looking. And since I knew what it was for, well... I guess the other things that might go in the hole didn't really occur to me.

Everyone who suggested that it looked like a hemorrhoid pillow was pretty close -- it serves the same purpose that a hemorrhoid pillow does, only for my... ear! This is so stupid and I probably shouldn't have even posted it, but I was just so proud of myself for having a problem, conceiving a craft to solve it, and executing it so successfully! Yay!

So what's my problem, right? Well, I'm not complaining, 'cause it was self-inflicted, but I got my ear pierced last week and now it hurts. Unfortunately, it was on my left side and that's my preferred side for sleeping. So I made this thing to strap onto my head at night -- the ear goes in the middle! (No other body parts, thankyouverymuch.)

Aaaannndd... it worked! The only trouble I had was when I flipped over to my right side and the strap would move, causing the pillow to move and touch my ear. I think a few bobby pins might cure that problem. I'll fill you in tomorrow.

Whew! This post contains a lot of words and no pretty pictures to take the edge off!


Sooo... I'll share the latest ATC I made that's been received. The recipient requested: "a feminine type theme that includes: woman, mothering, sexuality, mother earth, natur-y."

I was kind of at a loss on this one, but I had this great fabric with all of these 50's style moms on it. I cut one out and used a zig-zag stitch to outline her... it gave her a sort of shrine-like "halo" that I really like!

The person I made this for is a vegetarian... but she seemed to take it very well. Perhaps that's a Tofu Ham! ("Tofam"? Hrm.)

All right. Mystery solved. I'm going to bed right now... and I've got my ear pillow on! Oh, yeah -- it looks completely ridiculous on... like I've got one of Princess Leia's crazy giant hair buns. Seriously funny shit.

love,
kelly

Weirdest. Craft. Ever.

Dear Shayne,

It is after midnight here and I have just put the finishing touches on what is quite possibly the weirdest thing I have ever made.

It looks weird and the craftmanship (craftwomanship?) is horrible, but it is exactly what I wanted. In fact, this one was intended as the prototype, but came out so perfectly that I only have to make one. (Don't you love it when that happens?)

I am SO excited about this -- I hope it works!!

If you can't tell from the photo, it is a sewn item -- basically, a stuffed "doughnut" shape, about 5" wide, with a length of elastic sewn at both ends into the seam. I have made it for a very specific purpose and I will know tomorrow morning if it worked.

Before I tell you what it's for... do you have any guesses?

I'm going to go test it out now!

love,
kelly

PS -- I want to see a photo of those socks! You're not afraid to post a photo of your butt for the whole internet to see -- who cares about a few hairs? ;)

Slipper Socks

Dear Kelly

Today I made myself a pair of black polar fleece slipper socks. They came out rather badly because I am lazy. They are even square-toed due to my extreme laziness today. Why I decided to make slipper socks when I was so lazy is beyond me. I can't take a picture today to show you because they are already on my feet and I'd have to shave my legs to take a proper picture. And like I said, lazy. But hey! I was crafty today.

Love,
Shayne

Fingerless mittens

Dear Shayne,
Here are some fingerless mittens I made for a friend (Hi, Dawn!) about a month ago.

Boring flat shot:



















As modeled by my hand:





















Aaaand... action shot of Dawn wearing them:


Why the dinosaur, you ask? Right. Good question.

Dawn thinks she has "T-Rex" arms, so she decided to shoot her dino-y arms next to a little dino. I think her arms are just fine, but this shot is way more fun than my lame-o "Here's my hand" shot. Thanks, Dawn!

love,
kelly

Umm...I didn't mean it that way

DSCF0024
Originally uploaded by Novelty Kitten.

Dear Kelly,

So I was able to make it to my sewing machine. And I was inspired by my friend Winifred's fairy monster she's working on and thought I'd make a little shmoo shaped person. I don't think it came out shmoo shaped. Do you????

Love,
Shayne

P.S. I'm so glad my mother doesn't read this blog.

New Desk

New Desk
Originally uploaded by Novelty Kitten.

Dear Kelly,

This isn't crafty, and I didn't even put it together, but look at the lovely new desk that Randy put together for us...

Love,
Shayne

Skull beads in use!

Dear Shayne,
I'm sorry to hear that your lack of crafty space is putting the kibosh on your crafty mojo. Perhaps this (super easy) fun craft will inspire you!

Bill really liked those skull beads I got last week, so I whipped up a very simple little bracelet for him. It was just a length of leather strategically knotted, but I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.

The "closure" is nothing fancy. I just tied a knot at one end and shoved it through the knotted loop at the other end. It's a bit of a struggle for him to put on and take off himself, soooo... thank goodness he's got me! ;)

Sooo... there ya go. In other news, I finished another Christmas gift this past weekend. Yay! Oh, yeah, and I've completed 3 more ATCs. That means I've got 7 down and 2 to go. Oh, yeah... and the book. >shudder<

love,
kelly

Why I'm *still* not crafty

Dear Kelly,

Someone else's crap is still all over my craft room. *and* I can't even take a new picture of it because someone won't show me how to use my new hand-me-down Treo. Well, the getting pictures off of it part. Maybe tomorrow, I'll have something to share.

Love,
Shayne

Random McCrafty

Dear Shayne,

You ready for it? I'm about to bombard you with Tales of Random Craftiness. Here goes...

First of all, since we love talking about our bathrooms so much (how's yours coming, anyway? Yeah... mine too.) here's the latest awesome accessory to join mine.

My friend Jan (Hi, Jan!) gave me this sweet-ass little cabinet today. It's got little tiny drawers! I love me some tiny drawers! It's currently living on the back of the toilet. Not sure where it will end up, but it's looking pretty hot right there, so it might stay. Thanks, Jan -- you rock!

She also gave me some super-cool skull beads. I'm not sure yet what I'm going to use them for, but the ideas are definitely flowing. There's a pretty big hole in the middle of the beads, so I'm thinking of maybe stringing them on some yarn and then knitting them into something. Perhaps. We'll see.

Speaking of yarn, I got some new yarn today (cause really, that's all I needed). The first batch won't get used any time soon, as I have a lot of gift knitting to do in the next couple of months. However, when I finish with that, I am planning on making myself these awesome armwarmers. This yarn is sooooo soft. It's 100% baby alpaca, which I know is no good for your sensitive skin, but I am apparently made of rubber and can therefore take it just fine.

I will be using the dark grey for the body and the light grey for the snowflake/skull. Here's hoping that it's still semi-wintery by the time I finish, although it never really snows here... a more realistic picture for me would be a raindrop turning into a skull. But I like the snowflake. And "a raindrop's chance in hell" just doesn't sound as good. (Although, now that I think about it... a raindrop wouldn't last very long in hell either.) But I digress. Kick ass yarn and kick ass arm warmers. Something to look forward to starting at the end of December. Whee!

The other yarn that I got is for a certain unnamed friend of mine who likes pink and can't tolerate wool. I'll be making a kittyville hat out of this. Not sure when that's happening, but, ah, well... you'll know when it's done. Here's the teaser shot for ya:


You think I'm finished blathering on here, but I'm NOT. Last week, we bought an IKEA Markor bookcase from someone on craigslist. I had been wanting this for awhile, as it's much prettier than the stack of milk crates we've had in the office for the past year holding my crap. (It's from IKEA but it looks like real furniture!) And yet, it's about the same size as the milk crate stack. Easy switcher-oo. Plus, buying it used, some other poor sap already put it together. Whoopie!

At any rate, the bookcase was in good condition, but it didn't have a back. So I took the opportunity to get crafty and I glued some paper from Paper-Source (of course) to some posterboard I had.

I did learn a little crafty lesson on this one: PVA glue is a bit heavy for gluing paper to posterboard. Alas, I should have used the ever-brilliant This to That for gluing advice. For "an absolutely wrinkle free result," I should have used "Yamato sticking paste." (Yes, yamato! Hee hee.) I also could have used 3M 77 spray adhesive, but I have had spray adhesive disasters in the past (don't ask), so I probably would not have done that. I had PVA, so I used it. The whole thing got really wrinkly.

Fortunately for me, it was one of those all-too-rare crafty projects where, even though it's just about the sloppiest thing I could have possibly done, it didn't make a damned bit of difference... because you can't. even. tell. I LOVE that!

I'm not sure if it's because it's inside the bookcase and hard to see in there or what, but... it looked like hell goin' down and it looks great now that it's done. Sah-weet. Here's a close-up shot of the inside. Can't see the wrinkles at all. I wish I had more projects like that. Seriously.

Whew! I told you I had a lot to say! Have you unearthed your craft space yet?

love,
kelly

More ATCs

Dear Shayne,

I've got a couple more ATCs to share, now that the people I made them for have received. Wanna see? And read all about my creative process in excruciating detail? Great! Let's go!

The first one was for a person who has a "foreign countries" themed book. I had a few stamps from New Zealand from a friend who lived there for a year, so I thought it might be fun to do NZ. Even though, um, I've never been there and really know very little about it. Sure! Why not?

In my head, I thought: "Map of NZ and these cool stamps! Done!" Of course, it's never that easy. I couldn't find a map that I liked, so I "made" one. I printed an outline of NZ on the back of this green paper I had (it's green there, right?) and even remembered to print it backwards so it was going the right way on the front! Yay! Turns out, there are a lot of nooks and crannies along the coastline of New Zealand. Cutting it out was a total pain in the ass. I apologize now to the citizens of New Zealand for the shape your country ended up in. I'm not so good with scissors, so some details, sadly, got lost.

So then I horsed around with these stamps that I had for a good long time, but really couldn't find a configuration that I liked. It was bad. In fact, at one point, I decided to just do Paris instead (got plenty of Paris themed rubber stamps, ephemera, and whatnot -- why not take the easy road?) But then I went to Scrapbook Territory (which is, dangerously, right down the street from my nearest Paper-Source. It's like all of the drug dealers needed to be in the same 'hood.) (Oh, and don't let that cute little bear on their site fool you -- that place is hard core with the paper, rubber stamps, and all kinds of crafty goodness. Scrapbook Territory: it's not just for scrapbookers anymore.)

While there, I stumbled upon this cool New Zealand paper that had the picture of the NZ dollar on it. It had some other stuff that I thought might work, but I didn't end up using. It was the dollar that brought it all together. Hmmm... I guess that is often the way in life, isn't it? Yeah, I'm deep.

For the second card, my recipient requested "Old timey carnival." I really had nothing on hand for this, but, again, found something great at the Scrapbook Territory. Well, I had the tiger sticker. Then Bill said, "Kelly, this card isn't for you..." ('cause I like tigers), but I think tigers are perfectly appropriate at the carnival. So there.

At any rate, on this paper I got, the clown was part of a clown posse (hmm... I think that's a band, but that's not what I meant -- it was just a group of clowns and I like the word "posse.") I was going to use the whole group, but I found that cutting this one guy out was way creepier. And that's what I was going for: creepy. I also found the sticker pack with the cotton candy on it at ST. I loooove cotton candy (It's sugar! Spun! Spun sugar! Yess!) so I knew I wanted to use that too.

So I had the clown, the ticket (both from the same piece of scary-ass carnival paper), the tiger sticker (from my stash), and the cotton candy sticker. As I was arranging them on this card, I glanced down at the sticker pack that the cotton candy came from and... saw the crying child. PERFECT. Perhaps it was a bit heavy-handed, as the rest of the card already sort of said, "The carnival is supposed to be fun, but it's actually pretty scary," BUT... how could I resist the weeping child? Not even the cotton candy can brighten THAT kid's day!

Oh, yeah. I'm sick.

love,
kelly

Why I'm Not Crafty Right Now

Why I'm Not Crafty
Originally uploaded by Novelty Kitten.

Dear Kelly,

I can't be crafty right now because my husband has all his crap on my side of the basement. His crap and some kitty litter. I guess I should be happy there isn't cat crap there too.

I may have to take over some other part of the house.

Love,
Shayne

Halloween cards!

Dear Shayne,

OTB... what? Oh, yeah. I did a bit more on that this weekend. I set those nails, filled 'em with wood filler, and sanded the wood filler. Whoopdee-doo. I know you want photos, but what could be more boring than photos of filled nail holes?

Instead, I will amaze and astound you (or at least, hold your interest for a few minutes) with some photos of some Halloween cards I worked on yesterday. None of these are actually the ones I'm sending out, so I won't ruin the surprise for you, just in case you happen to, you know, actually get one in your mailbox.

The first one I made was of a cut out ghost. I had some cool fiber-y translucent paper that I cut him out of. He looked really cool when I first cut him out. Then I ran him through the sticker maker and he turned into a sticky, pain-in-the-butt mess.

I ended up getting him down on the paper successfully, but realized I didn't want to deal with that BS for the rest of the cards, so we'll just call him the first Failed Prototype (AKA: Rejected Cards) (Poor little things -- think there's a home for them somewhere, away in the hills or something? You know, where they eat bologna sandwiches and drink Tang and make hand turkeys at Thanksgiving? That would be nice...) Okay! Moving on...

The next one I made was also ghost-y. This translucent paper went through the sticker maker a lot more easily, but it was kind of a pain to cut, so I knew I didn't want to make a whole bunch of these either. However, my favorite part of this card is the lower right-hand ghost dude. He's actually punched out of the front of the card, and his eyes make the word "Boo!" inside. Hee hee.

Here is a picture of that, in what is probably the Most Boring Photo Ever Uploaded to the Internet.

Open the card and: BOO! Hee hee. (I love that -- can't you tell?)

The final Rejected Card was the black cat with the Trick or Treat stamp. He actually looks pretty good here, but in person, you can see that I colored him in with a Sharpie. Perhaps I'll send him to someone with poor eyesight who can't see the splotchy coloring-in. I should have cut him out of black paper but... as you can tell from my other comments, I am lazy about mass producing cards.

Sooo... those are the cards that I did not make a bunch of yesterday. I finally found a design that was both pleasing to see and make and made a bunch of them, but... well, since you might get one in the mail, I don't want to spoil the surprise.

So, here -- enjoy my rejects! ;)

love,
kelly

Sam the Tiger Cub Scout

Sam the Tiger Cub Scout
Originally uploaded by Novelty Kitten.

Dear Kelly,

This is slightly crafty. I had to attach some patches on Sam's new tiger cub uniform. I bought a sheet of super sticky patch attacher stuff. Only one patch fell off during the meeting.

Love,
Shayne

OTB, ATC... ADD? No, wait...

Dear Shayne,

Yes, the caulk is DONE. It is the ugliest looking caulk job in the world, so I am not going to post a photo here, but... you know, the paint will cover it, right? Right?

Instead, I will show you a photo of the awesome skeleton handtowels a friend of mine gave me today. One black and one white! Aren't they sweet?! (Yes, I'm distracting you from detailed caulk-related questions... that's correct.)

I also filled the nail holes on the molding around the window. I'm pretty proud of the work I did there -- it doesn't look good, but, when you run your finger over it... it's smoooooth. Yeah, baby.

Unfortunately, our carpenter left some of the nails sticking out (Hello? This is why we paid someone to do this work. If I had wanted crappy workmanship, I coulda done it myself!) so I need to set 3 more nails, fill those, and then sand. After that, I guess it's... taping. Ugh.

In other Crafty News, I've made 2 more ATCs for my swap. I'll post photos when my partners receive. 4 down, 5 to go. 3 weeks till the deadline. Oh, yeah... and I also have to make a book. Denial? Who's in denial?

And I included ADD in my alphabet soup above because, of course, I can never be content with 2 or 3 (or 6) projects going on. The latest brainchild of mine is to paint/decorate Bill's wardrobe. At this point, it's all formulation, but I've got some ideas. It's this IKEA beastie. I think my biggest problem is the white, so I'm going to paint that (Paint? Over laminate? No problem!) (>sigh< I see much sanding and priming [and later, crying] in my future). Then maybe add some hardware to the doors?

I suggested funking it up a little by getting these letters in exciting phrases on the doors and drawer fronts and Bill agreed. Yay! Now we need to come up with something to put on there. I asked him what the lyrics to his favorite song were, but, erm, I think we're going to have to keep looking.

At least it's a start. In my mind. Is that anywhere near a start in reality? Most likely not, but hey -- it's my fantasy and I can dream if I want to, right?

Oh, whee -- here's another distraction! I made this hat for Bill's dad this weekend. The best part? It's for Christmas! Yay! Two months early!

I need to get a head form or something to take photos of hats. This thing looks like Blinky, the red Pac-Man ghost. Hrm.

love,
kelly

Brownies: Before

Brownies: Before
Originally uploaded by Novelty Kitten.

Dear Kelly,

In crafty news, I've started on Sam's halloween costume - Obi Wan Kenobi. I already had to take one sleeve off because I didn't manage to sew it on smoothly all around. Tomorrow I'll attempt it again.

Tomorrow night there is a PTA reception for new parents and I volunteered to make brownies. Here's the before picture....my favorite part of making brownies. I suppose a better picture would have been me with brownie batter all over my face.

Love,
Shayne