d20 Bag

I've put a lot of thought into what my favorite thing I've made is. It took some time because I've been crafting for awhile but after much consideration I've landed on this...

my first attempt at the the d20 bag. For all you non nerds a d20 is a twenty sided dice used mainly in tabletop role playing games. If you want to represent Dungeons and Dragons with just one object it would be a d20. It is the quintessential tabletop roleplaying item and the people at Evil Mad Scientist have given us the ability to recreate it in bag form. Not only have they given us instructions on how to sew your own d20 bag but also how to sew a d12 bag for all your favorite Barbarians and Great Axe wielders.

Now seeing as that particular one was my first attempt at it, not to mention one of the first things I ever sewed myself, it only came out sew-sew (haha get it.) It is floppy and doesn't have the nice edges of the one in the instructions, there are threads hanging out, and places where edges didn't quite meet up but I still love it. I've since learned from my mistakes on the first one and made a new one. 

It came out a lot better this time. As it turns out having a zipper foot for your sewing machine is a good thing to have when sewing in zippers, who would have thought. If anyone decides to make your own I have a warning for you: be aware of what you are getting yourself into. This bag requires you to cut out 60 pieces of material and that alone is time consuming, not to mention dewing all those pieces together. Make sure you use heavyweight interfacing if you want the nice crisp edges but if you like the floppy version just use some light or medium weight interfacing. I hope your first attempt comes out better than mine.  

Valentine's Day Cupcakes

I love cupcakes, but lets be fair who doesn't. Personally, I prefer them to regular cake because they can be eaten without a plate and a fork (Woo Hoo!! Two less dishes to do!) I'm a fan of the mini cupcake as well because they're adorable and you can eat like three of them to one normal cupcake. I know not all share my enthusiasm for the mini version of something that is already a mini cake ...

but let's just forget about them because these mini cupcakes I made are adorable and perfect for your special someone this Valentine's day.

For them I used a cherry chip cake mix and made it up as directed. Then I filled the mini cupcake liners to about 1/2 full and stuck a maraschino cherry in the middle. I made these for a friends birthday so I soaked the cherries in vodka for about three days before I used them. Even after baking they were still pretty strong. 

 

I baked them at 350 for about 15 minutes and then let them to cool. For the frosting I used my family's go to frosting for any cake: cool whip pudding frosting. It is not as sweet as most frosting is and doesn't taste nearly as sugary. The name tells you almost all there is to it to make it. All you need is: 

 - One small box of instant pudding, any flavor even the sugar free.  

 - 1/2 of the milk that is called for on the box of pudding

 - One normal size tub of cool whip

To make it just mix together the pudding and 1/2 of the milk called for on the pudding. Stir until smooth and then stir in the tub of cool whip until it is all incorporated. I used some food coloring to make it a lovely shade of pink and then frost your cupcakes however you see fit. This recipe for frosting will make enough for one box of cake mix. It works for a 9 x 13 cake just as well as it does for a dozen cupcakes or the 5 dozen mini cupcakes like I made. Happy Valentine's Day! Enjoy!     

Polka Dots and Bows

Dark Fairytales

I'm a tad bit spoiled as a crafter. My mom does everything crafty so I have access to all sorts of crafty supplies and machines. My biggest advantage has to be the embroidery machine she purchased a few years ago. I love it. Most of the things I have embroidered have been for costumes and other small crafty endeavors but when I saw the Dark Fairytales design pack on Urban Threads I knew I would have to use them to make a quilt.

I loved the color on the examples and wanted mine to be stitched out similar to them. I opted to stitch them out on black cotton instead of dark grey, mainly because I had a large supply of black cotton on hand. I used silver for all the outlining because metallic thread stands out so nice on dark material.

When I first embroidered the designs I didn't have a pattern for the quilt in mind yet but eventually I came up with something...and then I tweaked it a bit.

Once I finish sewing all the black and red strips onto the pieces with the embroidery they will end up looking like this.

Then all that is left to do is sew them together. Likely it will be then put into storage for a few years before I get to quilting it. 

Let's try this again...

So… it has been awhile… if you consider three years awhile. I literally laughed out loud when I read the part where I mused that writing a blog might keep me motivated to finish a craft that I’ve started. May I present...

Exhibit A.

That is the quilt I mentioned in my first post. It has been rolled up and sitting in that chest for about a year now. That’s not to say I haven't worked on it at all since my last post, in fact, I finished the top and have actually started quilting it. It’s a miracle I've gotten that much done considering how large of a quilt it turned into. I started out hoping to make it large enough for a queen size bed. Somehow it ballooned out to a size larger than California king. I will finish it someday but I can only sew so many straight lines at a time.

Please don't mind the clutter in the background. Its so large my basement was the only room with enough open floor space to roll it out.

I did make both the Magic: the Gathering etched glasses and the Mario mushroom cookies. Both came out just as I had hoped and were well loved by their recipients.

Since then I have made many, many dresses, both for myself and friends. One of my best friends got married and asked me to help her make both junior bridesmaids and flower girl dresses. I can't say no to any of my friends so I committed to helping her make four (4!) dresses in total. Of course, seeing how she was the bride, she had way too many things on her plate already and about 75% of the work fell to me. Despite the fact that they were not completely done until 3 days before the wedding they came out perfect and the little girls looked adorable.

I have since also started another quilt. I know, I know, “Bad Courtney! You should finish what you start!” Maybe someday I’ll be that type of person. More on the new quilt next week.

Magic glasses

I have a bunch of geeky friends, I suppose thats a side effect of being a geek myself. Anyway, when a birthday or christmas comes up I usually make them something related to something I know they like. Almost all the guys I know play Magic the Gathering, did I say play, I ment live Magic the Gathering. This usually makes it pretty easy on me as they will love anything Magic. I like to make things that are both neat and functional because in the end you can only have so many things that are just to look at.

So one of these guys birthday I decided to make a set of etched glasses with the each of the mana symbols on one side and logo on the other. They are currently sitting on my coffee table with everything cut out and completly covered in masking tape just waiting to be etched.

This coming saturday is Games Day at the comic book shop in town. All of us geeks get together to play various games. Since its so close to Christmas we wanted to have a party of sorts so I've been thinking about making christmas cookies for everyone. Back in highschool I would make music note shaped cookies for my fellow band nerds. Now that the type of my fellow nerds has changed I figure the  type of cookies I make should change as well. I think making the mushrooms from Mario would be both awesome and easy to make. So thats probably what I'm going to make. I think they would go over really well.

New to this...

I've seen I don't know how many craft blogs and figured, "Hey, why not jump on the bandwagon!" As I see it if I start blogging about what I'm making perhaps it will keep me motivated to finish what I'm working on. Usually I'm the kind of person who starts something, works really hard on about half of it, and then gets distracted by making something new and then it starts all over again.

Now that its the Christmas Season I feel like I'm swamped with all the things I want/have to make for people. Not to mention I'm worried I'll forget something or someone. To top it all off I have friends who want me to help them make gifts for other people. I'm really hoping it is only helping cause I have enough of my own things to make.

My current craft that is consuming most of my spare time now is the quilt I'm making. About a year ago I saw a picture online of a quilt that looked like a bookshelf and in that moment knew I had to make one. Thankfully, since I come from a long line of crafty women, my mom has everything I've ever needed to make the quilt. Including an embroidery machine that I've used to put the titles of some of my favorite books on it. I'm really happy with how its come out so far and there have only been a few minor mishaps. I'll post some pictures on here of it once I get it all sewed together.