The Art Swap Part 2: Hand Carved Stamp

Apart from the plushie I made for the art swap organized by Micki from The Secret Hermit, I wanted to make something a bit more personal.

I bought this lovely painting from Micki a few years ago, and I stil love it so much! It's standing on my nightstand, so I get to see it at the start and end of every day :) And because I love it so much, I decided to turn this painting...



... into a hand carved stamp!!



Pretty cute, eh? :) I'm pretty happy with the result!! Although I did leave out one little detail of the original painting for one very simple reason...



Carving FRECKLES is freakin' impossible.

:)

The Art Swap Part 1: A Happy Little Rainbow

When I first read Micki from The Secret Hermit was organizing an art swap I immediately wanted to join... and then I realized I'm not an artist :) Fortunately Micki didn't mind me joining the swap with my crafty stuff, so off I went making two things I thought she might appreciate: a plushie and a hand carved stamp :)

The plushie I designed myself - it's the first pattern I created with a result worth sharing here ;)

I already showed you the eyes...



... which turned into the little happy face...



... of a sweet little rainbow!! :)



Isn't it cute?? :) I really, really love this plushie - I had so much fun creating it and the very colorful end result makes me really happy! :)



The best part? Now that I have the pattern I can make as many as I want!! :) I also made a matching sun and a cloud which I might share soon. Something for the shop-to-be maybe?? ;)



Coming soon: The Art Swap Part 2: The hand carved stamp!!

Hand carved stamps!!! :)

Yesterday I spent the entire afternoon in a workshop learning how to make stamps. And it was so much more fun than I had expected!! I had expected to be complete rubbish at it, but I was actually able to produce something recognizable ;)



So as if I didn't have enough hobbies already...





... I'm now also addicted to making stamps ;)

Finished project: Destroyed Shirt Bunny :)

Q: What happens when your boyfriend leaves his favorite shirt on a chair that happens to lean against your pet rat cage, and then leaves for work?

A: Well, then the rats go to work as well, with a result looking something like this:



Yes, people. That IS a shirt with its sleeve gnawed off... :) On the bright side: my rats got a very comfortable bed made out of a sleeve, and I got myself some extra fabric!! ;)

And what to do with that extra fabric, you ask? Well, let me tell you: take a cute pattern...



... and make yourself a motherflippin' bunny!! :)



How adorable is that?!! :) Honestly, I think it's so cute...



... I might just start leaving some of J's other clothes next to the rat cage as well from now on - completely 'by accident' of course! ;)

Finished project: Pencil Case

Oh, how I love starting a new crafty project!! :) The process of choosing the right fabrics, prints and colors is almost rewarding enough in itself, isn't it? :)



I wanted to make the pencil case from Lisa Lam's the Bag Making Bible for quite a while now.



I love pretty lining, but I've never really used it before in any of my projects. So before I'm stepping up to making a bit more complicated bags, I thought I'd start with a pencil case ;)



I have to admit: I got a bit confused, so it took me two tries to get the lining on the INSIDE of the case ;) But here it is!!! :)



I really love it! The dots, the stripes, the soft colors and to top it off: the bright yellow zipper!! Perfect for pencils...


... or to keep my little crafty supplies in one place when I'm on the road!!! :)

My Kind of Kitty Cat :)

I CANNOT BELIEVE MY HOLIDAY IS OVER ALREADY!!! :( You would think three weeks would be enough chillin'... but it really, really, REALLY isn't...

So let's just look at the adorable, blue & yellow kitty cat I made the other day, to ease the pain a little ;)



It has dots. And a bell. And it's blue. And yellow.



Now, that's my kind of kitty cat ;) Want to make your own? You can find the adorable Poiny Kitty Pattern by Wee Wonderfuls right HERE!

Also: do you like the colorful frames I put my pictures in? I sure do :) I created them with a piece of scrapbooking software that will be the star of a wonderful GIVEAWAY next weekend!!! :) So be sure to check back! And have a wonderful week in the meantime!!

Tadaaah: a very colourful harddisk cover :)

About a year ago my computer 'died' - twice. I did not have any backups, so I was VERY happy when it was revived by the computer-doctors on both occasions!! Flash forward to the present, and I have made backups of my files and photographs... on a four year old iPod I drag with me EVERYWHERE.........

Not good, you say? I completely agree...

So - finally! - I got myself some proper backup-equipment: a Western Digital portable harddrive!



Amazing to think this little device can store almost 500GB, isn't it?!!

Of course, considering this is now containing some Very Important Stuff, it needs to be properly protected.

So... TADAAAAAAAAH!!!



A very colourful, very cute, crocheted harddisk cover :)



I absolutely LOVE all the bright colours! 'Cause hey, when you almost need to wear sunglasses to look at it...



... you KNOW it's good, don't you? ;)

The Sunny Sunday Sunshine Bag ~ update

Remember the Sunny Sunday Sunshine Bag I made last week? I was pretty happy with the result, until I started to feel like something was missing... I tried to figure out what could be wrong with a very happy, very sunny tote, and then it hit me: it was just too damn sunny! ;)

So I decided to add...



... some RAIN!



Okay, so it's cute, yellow, dotted rain...



... but it's rain nonetheless! And you know what the weird part is? I think this bag just got a whole lot sunnier because of it! :)

The Sunny Sunday Sunshine Bag!

I don't know if it was the sun or the scent of spring in the air, but today I felt like making a bag!!

Considering the fact I've never made a bag before, I decided to start slow and make myself the first (and easiest) bag from Lisa Lam's The Bag Making Bible: the Versatile Book Bag.



So off I went choosing fabrics...



... measuring, cutting, pinning, ironing...



... and sewing!



While Boots slept in the sun...



... I made a modest bag...



... with sunny handles...



... and sewed them together.



The result? One very happy...



... very bright...



... Sunny Sunday Sunshine Bag!!! :)



If I wasn't ready for Spring before, I surely am now! :)

Once upon a time...

... there was a practical, yet very ugly, camera bag.



Instead of throwing it away its owner decided to add a little colour to it, in hopes it would become Less Ugly. So the owner got out some tools...



... and made the Ugly Bag a beautiful happy strap!!! :)



It was yellow...



... and had dots on it!!!



And even though the bag is Still Ugly...



... they lived happily ever after anyways! :)

The (rather pointless ;) End.

The Sunburst Granny Blanket @ WhipUp!

I always think it's so cool when other blogs or websites link to one of my photos or post something about my blog!!!



So being included in a Flickr pool-mosaic over at the ever so wonderful craftsite WhipUp.net makes my day for sure!!! :)

Go check out all the lovely colourful pics they've selected! (Which includes an apple-shaped pin cusion and a button covered chicken!! :)

Finished: The Sunburst Granny Blanket!

~~~ UPDATE JANUARY 2013 ~~~

I have started a new blog called Nittybits where you can find a tutorial of the Sunburst Granny Square Blanket! It contains information about the pattern, how to join the squares and the yarn I used. Feel free to check it out here:

http://nittybits.blogspot.nl/2013/01/sunburst-granny-square-blanket-tutorial.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~

First of all: happy new year everyone! :) I hope you enjoyed the holidays and have a colourful and happy 2011!

Second of all: I am happy to say I can start this new year with a brand new finished project!!! :D

Remember those Sunburst Granny Squares I was working on back in August? (You can find the pattern HERE.)

I started with one...



... which grew into a pile...



... which grew into a whole bunch of them!



And a few months after I started, I had finished 36 squares!



Aren't they the sunniest, happiest grannies ever?! :D I absolutely adore them!



After lining them up in a pretty formation it was time to join them together...



... and there you have it: a brand new Sunburst Granny Square Blanket!!! :D



Am I pleased with the result? Sure! The lining was a bit wobbly, so I'll have to mind that next time. But on the whole this little, happy blanket makes me very happy!

All it needed was a pretty ribbon...



... and the Sunburst Blanket was ready to go to its new owner: our brand new baby niece!



Let's just hope she'll enjoy it as much as I would :)