Elmo, VooDoos, & Awesome Shoes!

The pan itself.

The moment of truth.... will he come out easy???

Huzzah huzzah, the cake came out practically perfect. Elmo looked like himself when it was all done. What a relief too, I'd never done something like this before. I don't do cakes that are supposed to look like a beloved character or anything specific normally. But this was a favor for my eldest sister. Her friends little girl is turning one and they are giving her a Elmo first birthday party today. So they asked if I'd do the cake if she bought everything I needed for it. And YAY it came out perfect.

I should have got a picture of the contraption we came up with just to transport this poor guy, but alas I did not. All I can say is he was ready of a cage match with our improvised "box". But we didn't have anything for him to fit into and we didn't want him to get ruined. Too much sadness if he had. But everyone was supper happy with his out come and thats all that matters in the end. 

Here is Elmo getting out of the pan and frosted. . . 

YAY he came out in one piece, a little extra flour on him for the pan, but who cares.

Getting the orange right took a minute.

Almost Elmo!

Almost done, but the frosting is a bit thin and trying to drip down the sides. So time to fix him up. Probably should have put the newly red frosting in the fridge for a little spell before I tried putting it on the cake, but it all works out.

Our lovable puppet is complete! Caging him in came next. . .

So this week I managed to make and complete 4 VooDoos. Love that I can do that. I also love that once the shell is done all five of the smaller parts fit nicely into its head. (Great for storing blanks to have on hand for custom orders.) These guys are usually about 4 inches sitting but I can also make them 6 inches upon request. (You can see the few I've done in 6 inches on my Facebook page.) These are simple creatures to make but I love making them, they are too much fun to dress up. I practically have this pattern memorize with how many times I've made these. SO much love!! And I've started to play around with yarn hair for these guys instead my normal embroidery floss hair. Let me know what you guys like best. 

This one I added two poppy flowers to.

A little punky with a mohawk.

My Dapper Dandy in his black bow-tie.

Psyched in blue!

Rating Time!!

•  Pattern readability- Super easy! 5 Yarn Balls
• Ease o f pattern- So simple. 5 Yarn Balls
• Adjustments- The original pattern was for a one armed VooDoo. And modifying it for a bigger doll was actually pretty simple. I give it 4 Yarn Balls.
• Final Product- Amazing little guy. . .  5 Yarn Balls
• Personal- I'd give these guys 5 Yarn Balls all day long. I love making these!
• Overall Score- 4.8 Yarn Balls 

 

SHOES!!!

This week I also went shoe shopping. These are my pretty new shoes for my friends wedding in June. This is my first pair of heels that I actually love. Still breaking them in of course, but they are so comfy (stairs are a little different in these then in sneakers). I never knew I could be comfortable in heels. I'm a sneaker and boots kind of girl with the occasional flat, heels and me haven't gotten along until now. This seems like a new beginning for me and heels. And who knew clogs were so awesome!! Well my neighbor up the street did. She's been wearing clogs for like ever. I have to say though I had to talk myself into buying them because of the price tag. These are most expensive shoes I've ever purchased before. But they're good quality and I'm not just gonna wear them once. So glad I bought them. Go try out some clogs people!!

This week I'm gonna make P.J. Pal(s). Not sure if I'll get more than one of these guys done, but I will see. I think this one is gonna be a cat. If I make more than one I'm not sure what other animal(s) I'll do just yet. Maybe a dog or a mouse? Who knows. Send me any suggestions y'all might have.

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Happy Crafting! 

Week 7, Oh My!

This week was a little jumbled. But I got most of the dachshund done. Still working on the other parts of this gift though and they seem to be going well, all be it a little more complicated than this pattern was. Plus I'm still plan parts of it out, which makes it more difficult for me at least. This pattern is a good one even if it comes out looking a little lopsided. So heres to the first ever rating!!!

▪ Pattern readability- Very readable, clearly written out with a key if needed, 5 yarn balls

▪ Ease of pattern- I found it quite easy, nothing to hang you up on. Just be sure to read carefully. 4 yarn balls

▪ Adjustments- Minimal: would try to get the body to line up with the head a little better, 4 yarn balls

▪ Final product- Adogable pup you get with this, 5 yarn balls

▪ Personal- In love with this patter, 5 yarn balls

Finally the overall. . . .  4.6 yarn balls. Very good pattern.

Look at that sweet face.

All in all a good pattern to work on. His head and body are worked as one piece so to straighten him out is going to take some finesse in working the rounds out right.
 He looks even cuter with his face on, and I shall dub him Rufus. To Be Continued Rufus, may you be finished soon and that you become loved.

Rufus pre-face.

Yesterday I went thorough my inventory to get ready for Woodburn at the end of May. I won't be there myself but my awesome eldest sister is going to sell for me since I'll be in Arizona for the wedding by then. So I took stock of what I had and what I'm gonna need to make before then, putting in the new items. And OH LORDY!! I have some work to do. I was gonna post my ratings for my past projects today as well, but after my inventory check they are gonna get their own posts with new pictures of the new additions with them. So there are gonna be some repeats in projects coming up but I'm gonna try to add some new flavor too, and lots of pictures if I can. Gonna see about some of the changes and ideas I've had in mind for them and I'm even doing a VooDoo Doll post too. Those babies are my big seller. So sorry in advance for repeats of recent projects, and I'll try to sneak some new stuff in where I can. 

Week 8 project: I think we'll start out with my famous VooDoo dolls. Might as well get these guys out of the way. My plan is to make up a few of these guys and now you'll get to see what goes into them.

Also I'm gonna post about an Elmo cake I'll be doing up this week too. A request from my sisters friend for her little girls First Birthday this weekend. Fingers crossed Elmo comes out looking like himself. 

As always you guys can find me on Etsy
and don't forget to like me on Facebook

Happy Crafting!!

New Dress & Project Update

Eeeekkkkk!  So my bridesmaids dress came in the mail today. My awesome friend Megan is getting married in June and picked out these beautiful deep teal twist wrap dresses for us girls. There are dozens of ways to make these dresses up and hundreds of tutorials on YouTube to show you. It's gonna be tough to pick a style that works for me. Next is to find some shoes for the wedding. And I just can't wait to get down to Arizona to see her! It's gonna be an awesome two weeks for me.

Project update now. . . . I started one project and intended to make another. But I started a dachshund pattern that I have plans for as a gift. Not sure if this someone is going to reads this blog so no details. But there will be pictures of it once it's done and given. I'm hoping he will look adorable. I wanted to work on a robot as well but that might have to wait till next week, we'll see. I still have some time. Should get back to crocheting, see you guys again on Sunday.

Happy Crafting!

Doodle Shoes: Weeks 5 & 6 project

In progress, just after discovering the uses of water with the ink.

So after discovering water was my best friend during the second half of this project, it was a game changer in the biggest way, I found my inpatients joined the little party and was not so welcome. Like in watercolors, drying between layers is key to avoid major color bleeding. I don't paint in watercolors because I don't like the waiting involved. If I have something in mind planed out I want to just do it and not wait between portions, its a flaw and I embrace it. But some times bleeding was unavoidable and even worked for what I was doing.

 Big bummer. . . . I was so close to the finish line I could see the end and I run out of ink for the edging of the shoes Friday night. I was going to leave them white but I wasn't as careful as I would
have liked to be. So I was trying something out. One shoe has a tie dye effect and the other was black. I ran out of black about 2/3 of the way through the shoe. The tie dying was alright but it didn't have the impact of the black. So yesterday I went out and picked up some more fabric markers (among a few other things). They weren't the same brand as the others I was using on the shoes but I wasn't driving to hell and back to get the right brand. Although I love my Stained by Sharpie brush tip fabric makers. Instead my local Michael's had Marvy Uchida Fabric Markers and they worked out great.

Here are some pictures of everything outlined and then what it looks like after I colored it in. Just outlining everything out in black makes the biggest difference in the world from the sketches that are in the last post.  

Outside Left Shoe

Inside Left Shoe

Inside Right Shoe

Outside Right Shoe

My Pretty Pretty Shoes!!! 

So nice to get to do this project. I just love to doodle and draw. All the work on these shoes are free hand, no stencils of any kind. A few pictures for reference when drawing but everything is done free hand. I'm in love with my shoes. I just hope they hold up to water like the markers say they're supposed to. Lots and LOTS of rain here in Oregon. And I found these black laces that just are the icing on the cake to replace the original white laces too.

Okay, enough about shoes. . . . .  Week 7 project???? Again I'm at a loss of what pattern or project in general to pick. I've pulled several patterns from my binder and I may even pull some from my pintrest board. Any suggestions on a project?? So once again it may be a mystery week. Tune in later this week or at the very least next Sunday for week 7's project. 

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Happy Crafting!

Project Update: Weeks 5 & 6

As you know I'm doing a two week project.

Doodle Shoes!

 Working on these was in spurts but I finished the sketching of what I want to put on them. A little artist block now and again, never fails to happen. Next is the outline and coloring. The fun part is to see how well these pens work and if I need to change somethings on the fly.

Left shoe

Left shoe

Right shoe

Right shoe

 I know the sketches don't look that awesome but thats what sketching is for right. Really excited to try out these pens!!! On to outlining and coloring.

MOVING ON!

So I did some thinking on my rating system.

▪ 1 yarn ball = poor

▪ 3 yarn balls = decent or passable

▪ 5 yarn balls = AMAZING

And I'll be rating on these categories:
▪ Pattern readability
▪ Ease of pattern
▪ Adjustments
▪ Final product
▪ Personal
And finally for an overall score I'll average them all.

If anyone has any suggestions on what I should be rating these patterns on or anything else, please leave me a comment. Also I'm still glad to hear from you guys about project ideas. Hope your Super Bowl was a good one.

Thats kinda it for this update. Final product due next Sunday.

As always you guys can find me on Etsy

and don't forget to like me on Facebook 

Happy Crafting!