Stuff I Made Recently

Remember me telling you about Beanis and his trip to BlogHer? Well, my willingness to parade around BlogHer with a giant crocheted penis has paid dividends in more than one way. First, I got to meet all kinds of fabulous people thanks to Beanis. Second, I've had the chance to make some money. And, third, I've had the delightful opportunity to embarrass the crap out of my children.

I can feel the jealousy rolling off those of you with kids. I know...how lucky can I get to make a little cash and embarrass my kids at the same time. Yeah, you guessed it. I'm making more Beanises. I got an order in early December for a Beanis. That one went in the mail to the great white North (Canada) right before Christmas. Now, I'm working on my second commissioned Beanis. It's so much fun watching my boys (especially Marty) squirm and beg for it to disappear every time I bring our Beanis to work on him,

Since I know y'all have to be dying to see my last Beanis, here he is in all his glory...the Gay Pride Rainbow Beanis

I've also finished up a scarf for my niece Kayla.

From Drab To Fab

Gabe, like most 6 year olds, is really rough on his clothes. These past 6 months or so, he's been especially rough on his shoes. He beat up the shoes that were bought at the beginning of the school year so badly that the soles have started peeling off. It's kind of sad because the rest of the shoe isn't in bad shape but he's messed up the toes so badly that there is no saving them. I was browsing online earlier today because I had a coupon for 30% off and then I remembered the cheap, plain jane white canvas sneakers I picked up on sale around the beginning of the school year. Well, I remembered the white canvas sneakers and my Stained by Sharpie markers - permanent markers designed specifically for fabric.

I took the sneakers from this...

to this...

My only complaint about the way they turned out was something that was entirely my fault. I found a cool technique using Sharpies and rubbing alcohol on pinterest and I tried to use it on the toes. I don't know if the thickness of the shoe canvas or the fact I was using the Stained markers made the difference but I didn't get the cool color effects this technique usually gives. I just ended up with a slightly blurry design on the toes of the sneakers. But, Gabe loves the sneakers and they were fun to make so I'm not worrying about them. In fact, I might have to get a pair of shoes in my size and decorate some for me.

Mr. Popper's Penguins DVD Giveaway

I know there are a lot of you out there who are disturbingly organized and plan way, way ahead and that means you're already ready for Christmas. For the rest of us normal people, I have a great giveaway for you. Y'all, it's time to enter to win a copy of the fabulously funny movie, Mr. Popper's Penguins,

and a super cool Popper's Penguins ice cube tray.

 

These would be really great family gifts or even stocking stuffers depending on your family's preferences. I already told y'all how much my entire family loved the movie but I have to admit I am really excited about the ice cube tray. I'm not planning on making ice cubes though. I found out that you can use the ice cube trays and similar candy molds to make your own shaped crayons. The only rub is that you can't use the ice cube trays for ice or the candy molds for candy after making crayons in them. If you gather up all the broken pieces parts of crayons and put them in the molds, you can then microwave them and melt the crayons into the shapes (click here to find complete instructions). You can either make solid colored crayons or multi-hued crayons. I can't wait to make some penguin crayons. They're going to be so cute.

Mr. Popper's Penguins becomes available on DVD on Dec. 6th, my birthday, and I thought I'd celebrate by ending my giveaway on that day. All you have to do is click the read more like and enter through the Rafflecopter form. And, just because I love crafty ideas and using things in unintended ways (like the ice trays and candy molds), I'll give you 4 entries if you comment and tell me your favorite crafty repurposing of a household object.

It's All In The Bag

Remember when I told y'all about the tote bags I was making fr my mom to sell at her church Christmas Bazaar? Well, I finally got the pictures edited and I can show them to y'all. I stumbled across the idea of these bags made out of jeans a while ago and dressed them up a bit for the holidays. All the bags are fully lined with Christmas fabric and the straps are denim on one side and Christmas fabric on the other. I love the little embroidered details and fancy stitching and I especially love that I didn't have to do any of it. I just bought all the jeans with bling on them from the local Goodwill store.

Do you love this idea as much as I do?

*I don't know why the colors are off in the second to last picture. The last picture shows the true color of that bag.

A Long Overdue Commitment

Most days I have great follow through. Most days, if I say I'm going to make/do something for someone, it gets done rapidly. Every now and then, something slips off my radar and life gets in the way. Then, when I remember it, I am usually shamefully behind and past due on the thing (whatever it is). Well, I finally finished one of those shamefully behind projects and I want to show it off to y'all. I finished the tote bags for the previous winners of my Book Challenge drawing. Mrs. Gamgee of Hobbit-ish Thoughts and Ramblings was the 2009 winner and Rebecca (aka Idgie) formerly of A Long and Winding Road now titled The Road From There To Here is the 2010 winner. I have Mrs. Gamgee's address and will need Rebecca's so I can get the tote bags in the mail.

I made a 3rd tote bag which was originally going to be mine but I decided it had my mom's name on it instead.

There is two outside pockets, front and back, and one interior compartment. I hope everyone likes them and I promise (bwahahahahahaha) to really, really try to be more timely next time.

Everyone's a Winner (maybe NSFW or little eyes)

I promised all my crafty readers a little present and it's coming up. I think really hope my yarn loving readers will especially enjoy it.

First off, I want to announce the winner of the EdenFantasys giveaway. The lucky winner is Dora of My Preconceived Notion. Check your email for details on redeeming your gift card.

Do y'all remember when I showed you the little crocheted sperm I made from the pattern I found on Ravelry? Well, that pattern was my inspiration. Back when I was doing the steamy romance novel giveaway, I decided the book needed a special bookmark to go with it. And, it would have to be a really special bookmark to go with a book titled Big Spankable Asses (yes, it really is a romance...erotica without romance is BORING). I decided to make a sperm bookmark. It crochets up super quickly. Here's the pattern and the pictures...

Spermity Sperm Bookmark
Make 2 using worsted weight yarn

Head
Rnd 1: Magic ring, 6 sc in magic ring, join to first sc with sl st (6sts)
Rnd 2: Ch 1, 2 sc in each st, join to first sc with sl st (12sts)
Rnd 3: sc2tog 6 times, join to first st with sl st (6sts)

Do NOT finish off.

Tail
Ch11, turn and sc in 2nd ch from hook (10sts); the tighter you crochet, the more the tail twists. Use the yarn end to close up and finish off the head.

For connecting cord (I used a thinner yarn for this)...leave a long tail of yarn on each end, chain 70, using darning needle, feed tail of long chain through the tip of the sperm tail, weave chain tail back into the chain, repeat at other end.

© Kristin Cruz and Dragondreamer's Lair 2011

X is for XStitch

or more specifically cross stitch. I learned to cross stitch in college. I think it was my sophomore year. There were a bunch of people in my dorm who stitched and one of my friends offered to teach me. Of course, I could line up all the people in my dorm who stitched and you would never, ever guess who taught me. Bobby was this big burly guy...half Japanese. He had the build of a football player (a little short though), somehow managed to get the university to allow him to keep two katanas over his bed, and he stitched the most beautiful things.

I quickly fell in love with stitching and my interest just grew and grew. I always have had the tendency to put my own spin on pieces I've stitched. I changed colors, altered design parts to make it into something I liked more, and eventually started designing my own pieces. Here are a few of the pieces I've done over the years (all pics are clickable for close up viewing)...

my house

mail art I designed...and, yes, I did send this through the mail

Creating, crafting, calm

For me, one of the important Cs in my life is creating. Growing up, there were always crafts around my house. My mom was my Girl Scout leader and there were the requisite bins of glue and paint and craft sticks. We had stashes of yarn and paper and empty cans or jars. It was nothing for us to have the kitchen table covered with whatever project we had going on.  By the time I was 10, I was taking a sewing class and since then I've made everything from casual clothes to prom dresses to Halloween costumes. And, learning new crafts and the creative opportunities they gave me continued into adulthood. I was taught to cross stitch by a guy named Bobby who lived in my form in college. I was taught to crochet when I agreed to let a friend who was grieving the loss of a child teach me. Who knew I would grow to love both crafts so much? I've taught myself to knit, do hardanger, and quilt.

My love and passion for crafting and creating has been a life saver. My love of cross stitching introduced me to one of the most wonderful group of women I have ever know. These women were my rock and my support when my husband and I were battling secondary infertility. Crafting and creating is also the best mental health therapy I could ever find. When I am designing or creating, my mind can't focus on the stresses of everyday life or the occasional major disaster. Watching a design evolve, watching the beauty emerge brings a type of pleasure I can't even explain. And, I feel such joy when I can create something for someone else.

I long ago decided that my kids benefit far more from a mom who is calm and centered than a perfectly organized house. So, housework isn't always my priority. Sometimes, the den/playroom looks like a tornado struck but, my mental health is secure thanks to my creating.

Crafty Me - NSFW

Honestly y'all, I had plans to be witty and wonderful this week but I kind of feel like I'm struggling to keep my head above water. I am feeling a lot better but it's taken almost a week and my house is in chaos and I have so very much to catch up on. So, I hope you don't mind but I'm going to show off the crafts I told y'all about yesterday.
Spermity Sperm
Spermity Sperm and Beanis the 18+ inch Penis(BTW, don't you think the sperm looks sort of like a Snork head) Beanis the Penis - side viewPi Necklaceglove in progress
I hope y'all got a good laugh from this.

Monday Miscellany

I know I saw that title somewhere recently but I can't remember where to give credit where credit is due...sorry.

Welcome, welcome to all my old friends and to any new ones I may make during ICLW. I'm going to do my very best to have a great week commenting and visiting a bunch of blogs but my best intentions seem to get derailed lately. So, to kick off ICLW, here's a bunch of random stuff (Sorry, my brain is still too addled by germs and the time of night for much else).

I am still sick...boooo hiiiisssssss. I have a lingering cough that I just can NOT shake.  What makes this all the more frustrating is that next weekend I am suppose to go camping with Joey and his cub scout den. I really need to be well before then.

I stuck with it and finished The Lake of Dead Languages by Carol Goodman. This was the book I mentioned on Friday that I was having trouble focusing on because by chapter 5 I figured out who the bad guy was and another major plot twist. I am really glad I stuck with it because there was so much more going on in that book than I had realized.  It was definitely worth reading and I may have to look up some of the author's other books.

I've been being all crafty and stuff lately. For those of you who hang around a lot, I know I promised you pictures of Sheila's quilt but I've been having camera issues (as in it is still MIA) but she's going to email me some pics so I can share the splendor she is creating. Also, I made a Pi necklace...the one with the beads not the numbers. I'm going to have to make at least two more because my mom wants one and Joey wants one too. Also, do y'all remember my post about the adult themed crochet designs? Well, a dear friend requested a Beanis (the first crocheted item in the post) in the most inappropriate colors I could think of. I just finished her Beanis the 18 inch Penis and it has a bright red head, a blue/red shaft, and balls in varying shades of blue. She says she's going to display it in her china cabinet. And, I am crocheting a fabulous pair of gloves. It kind of sucks that I'll have to wait until next winter to wear them but it gives me time to get the design to work correctly.

I'd also like to ask for continued prayers for the family friend with pancreatic cancer...only, now we are back to not knowing if it's cancer or not. The doctor's at Duke couldn't decide if it was but wanted to start her on chemo and radiation just in case (because pancreatic cancer is such a bitch to treat). Well, that logic didn't sit well with her and she went off to Johns Hopkins for a consult with the two top pancreatic cancer specialist. Well, even they couldn't decide if it was cancer from the scans (and they even called in a whole team of specialists) so she is going up to Johns Hopkins this week to have a biopsy done. Evidently, there are a multitude (I think they said 11) of variations on pancreatic cancer and they all require their own specialized approach to treatment. So, hopefully the biopsy will not only tell them if the two masses on her pancreas are cancerous or not but, if they are, which variation needs to be treated.

On a lighter note, I am hosting a uPrinting giveaway of 100 custom printed postcards. Please enter.

Also, if you like to read, check out the info about my 2011 Book Challenge and, if it sounds interesting, click on the sign up page tab under my header. The more, the merrier.

Happy Pi Day Y'all

Hope y'all are having an awesome Monday and a great Pi Day.  Sorry I've been absent but we've had the creeping crud around here. Poor Gabe got sick Thursday night and had to miss his field trip on Friday and a friend's birthday party on Saturday. Gabey was feeling mostly better on Sunday. We had a glorious 6 to 8 hours where we could claim everyone was healthy and then Joey got sick. Poor Joey spiked a temp of 102.4 and couldn't hold anything down. He didn't get a whole lot of sleep last night but is doing significantly better today (no pukage in about 6 hours).

Back to Pi Day...the geeky side of me revels in a day that corresponds with a mathematical term like Pi. In fact, if there were any justice in the world, I would be buying this necklace to celebrate Pi Day...

Sadly, the version this gloriously geeky necklace made by RGB Laboratory is only available in Japan and the version made by The Robert Christopher Company is way out of my budget. Luckily, I found a cool, and imaginative way to soothe my geeky need for Pi. A 7th grade math teacher came up with the coolest idea for making a Pi necklace. She had her students assign a color to each digit including zero and then they strung colored beads that corresponded with the digits of Pi. She also suggested using a larger or specialty bead for the first 3 in Pi. This is what she came up with to demonstrate the technique to her students...

I think I might have to make a Pi necklace (or maybe 2) today.

How was your weekend? What's on the books for you today? Are you baking Pi(e)?

Ooooooh My Gawd

This venture into Ooooooh My Gawd territory is brought to you courtesy of EdenFantasys where you canThe other day when I was scanning through the multitude of posts on my facebook wall, I happened across a little gem from EdenFantasys. They had a post up about a Crochet Club workshop. This totally snagged my interest because well, two of my favorite things...crafty fun and adult fun. I loved the idea of crocheting a bag to store an adult toy in but, sadly, I didn't make it to the workshop because it was my oldest son's birthday that night. The great thing about seeing this post from EdenFantasys was it got me to explore a part of their website I hadn't visited before...their clubs and workshops. Even though I missed the workshop on making a crochet toy bag, I think I'm going to have to check out the upcoming workshop on making your own massage candles and sugar scrubs.

Of course, after I left the EdenFantasys site, I had to head on over to Ravelry.com and see if they had any cool adult patterns. Here are the ones that tickled my fancy... The first is to display.  The second is for a drag king to wear.
The designer used the crocheted condomto hold his crochet hooks...hehehe, a condom for a hooker.Can't find the link to that boob pattern.
a crocheted dildo
a spermity sperm sperm
 this spermity sperm is a cute little condom holder So, I seem to remember mentioning something about a giveaway. As always, this is for the electronic gift card the lovely people at EdenFantasys give me for writing about their company. I don't need any new toys yet so I'm gonna let one of you go shopping. This is only open to grown ups...under 18 need not apply. So, tell me which one of these lovely little crocheted goodies you think EdenFantasys should host a workshop on next or tell me which one of their workshops you thing sounds most interesting.

The Good, the Bad, the WTF, and the Ooooooh My Gawd

Hey y'all...I have a bunch of stuff I want to share with you and it's all vaguely related under the crafty heading. Enjoy!

The Good
Remember when I showed y'all the quilt pattern I was helping a friend design? Well, Sheila has made some serious progress on the quilt and says I can share it with you guys. She has finished piecing the center block that includes the machine embroidered saying...

and she has finished the friendship squares that go in each of the four corners...She has cut out almost all the other pieces for the quilt which means I may get to show y'all another progress picture soon.

The Bad
Honestly, I can't bring myself to put anything here. What I like or find amusing, someone else might think is horrible or vice versa. To get your fill of this, check out Regretsy or Craft Fail.

The WTF?!?
Y'all know I love to crochet. I can even see using crocheting to create striking artwork. But, I just have to scratch my head and say "What the fuck?" when I see these...

created by Rome based artist Magda Sayeg...the web site calls this a knitted bus but Ms. Sayeg is known for her crochet work so I think it has been misidentified created by the artist Olek as part of an art exhibit
another Magda Sayg creation...it was driven through the streets of Rome
created by Washington, DC artist Theresa Honeywell
 created by Prague artist, Jitka Havlickova While I can certainly admire the artistry or the color splash offered by these, the mind simply boggles at the sheer number of hours it must have taken to do these.  All of them are full size and, in the case of the bus and the smart car, are driveable. Can you just imagine hopping into that smart car and taking it for a spin...truly odd. A shout out of thanks to Crochet Today! for bringing this fucknuttery to my attention.

Ya know, this post has gotten awfully long. I think I'll put the Ooooooh My Gawd craftiness in a post later today.  You might want to check back because there just might be a chance to win something in that post.