Sorry it's been over half a year but hey look House shirts!

Okay first I must say that I am such a lazy bum about updating this thing but also with so much craziness and drama about it's easy to understand why this blog hasn't gotten any attention for over half a year. I kept meaning to update but I just never got around to it. I really really wanted to get this entry out last month in honor of the release of the last Harry Potter movie but never got around to it! But I took the pictures and was writing up the entry when real life called me away!

Last summer I went to the HP conference down in Orlando Florida called Infinitus 2010 and one of the things I did before I went was to make house tank tops to wear around. Since then I have worn them a few times and have gotten lots of positive feedback! Here is what you need in order to make them!

•   Shirts-remember to make sure the fabric is okay to use fabric paint or markers on. Also wash them before you paint them. And make sure they fit the way you want them to. 

•   Fabric Paint or Fabric Markers- make sure you read all the directions about how to use them properly or you could put in a whole lot of hard work and then end up having nothing to show for it !

•   Stencil plastic-I found this in the stencil sections in craft stores such as Michael's AC Moore and Jo Ann's. 

•   Craft cutting knife-make sure it's in good shape but also have replacement blades.

•   Craft cutting board or cutting surface- I found my little cutting board in the scrapbook section of the craft store but in the past I've used really thick cardboard over old thick plastic place mats my family was never going to use again as place mats. They are now my craft mats to use as not to get other things messy

•   Stencil design- I got mine from Leaky Crafts and downloaded it to re size properly then printed out. Make sure the design has clear dark lines for the edges and check that the negative space will all still be there when you cut it out. Sometimes things like the center of the letter O is left in by a tiny little line that is easy enough to paint in once the stencil has been used and taken off.

•   Tape-this is to secure things so they don't move about and keep in line with one another to prevent mess ups.

•   Painting surface and something to put inside the shirt so the pain doesn't seep through to the other side of the shirt. I use either wax paper or aluminum foil taped to the inside of the shirt. Some people use special boards or cardboard but it makes things easier if it stays put and doesn't move around.

•   Removable Mounting Putty (I also call it tacky stuff)- This is optional but I highly recommend using it with any stencil designs with lots of details and thin lines. Little tiny bits of this stuff helps keep them down while painting and it makes things so much easier!

1.             First find/create the design you want to put on the shirt. Check that you won't be cutting out any of the negative space when you make the stencil. Make sure the design is the correct size for not only your shirt but also your stencil plastic. I have yet to mind very big sheets of it yet so you are a bit limited in size.

2.             Attach design to plastic. Some prefer the plastic on top and others prefer the design on top. I have done it both ways but either way you do it make sure they are securely attached with no way to wiggle. Remember you can remove the tape when you are done. 

3.             Secure the attached plastic and design to your cutting surface. 

4.             Using craft knife carefully cut out design. Remember the part you are cutting out is the part you want painted on the shirt. 

5.             When completely finished cutting the design onto the plastic you can separate everything. Make sure the craft knife went completely through the plastic. I had a few places that were still a bit attached that I had to carefully cut again. Carefully check all of your design 

6.             Secure shirt backing inside the shirt so paint/marker won't bleed through to the other side of the shirt. Then secure shirt flat onto painting surface. This is where you have to be careful with the stretch of the fabric.

7.             Secure stencil onto shirt. This is where I used the removable mounting putty to secure the tiny little bits within my design to the shirt. That way I didn't have to worry about painting over where there should be a little line. 

8.             Following the instructions on your fabric paint or fabric marker paint design. Be really careful it doesn't move around too much or it won't look right. 

9.             Remove stencil and make sure you have the entire design. I remember added in lots of tiny little lines to make the correct shape here and there. Like painting over the little line to close up the O and things like that. 

10.         and let dry according to directions. Some fabric paints and markers instruct one to iron after it dries completely to insure it become permanent. Sometimes it can take over 24 hours for it to completely dry. 

11.         After you follow through on all instructions from the fabric paint or fabric markers if it hasn't already told you to I recommend washing on it's own as well to make sure the design doesn't come off. Sometimes it comes out faded and you have to do another coat of paint. 

I did one tank top for each of the Hogwarts Houses. 

Hogwarts House Tank Tops!

Here is a closer look at each of them!

Gryffindor

Gryffindor Top

Hufflepuff

Hufflepuff Top

Ravenclaw using book colors

Ravenclaw (book colors) Top

Slytherin

Slytherin (colors reversed) Top

I can't promise the same results for everyone. Results do vary due to a number of factors. What works for some people won't work for others. I just put down what I did. They aren't perfect but they are perfectly fine for me to wear around in my opinion. 

Well that's it for now! Right now I'm in the process of planning what sort of knits I want to work on to produce in mass for purchase. I'm hoping on writing a post asking for input but I'm not going to promise anything with my track record of updating. Thanks for reading. And of course I welcome questions and comments. Thanks for reading after my long absence!

Knitting for the Craft Fair

Sorry about not posting last month. True I don't have a set schedule or anything for this but I feel as if I've been neglecting this blog.


So November was a month full of crafting for me. See I only do one formal craft fair a year (it was December 1st) and I've only done it a few years. I like the one I do because it's in a familiar environment and it's not too big but not tiny either. What I've done in the past has been mainly earrings but also some necklaces. I haven't sold a lot so most of my stock has been repeats from year to year though I always create at least a few new things every year (not earrings I already have way too many!). This year I made a few different color combos of a new necklace design I came up with while I was fiddling around with some pieces one night in November. My main addition this year was scarves.


Over the last 2 years a lot of interest has been expressed over my knitting. So after various things I decided to add them to my craft fair merchandise. I knitted two kinds of scarves. I kept my pattern simple (either knitting all stitches all rows or knitting whole row except last stitch I would slip) and used bulky or super bulky yarn that was machine washable and big needles. The first ones I did were all knitted out of Lion Brand Homespun yarn. I love the color variations in this yarn and the "painterly" effect they have! Each scarf is made with about half a skein of yarn including the fringe. They aren't that long and are skinny but they look great and can be worn in a variety of ways! I'm sure I'm going to be making more in the future! I finally managed to take a picture last night of the ones I have leftover from the craft fair:

There are 7 scarves in that picture. From Top to bottom there is 2 scarves in "Gothic", 1 scarf in "Painted Desert", 2 scarves in "Regency", and 2 scarves in "Barrington". I also had 1 scarf in "Waterfall" but it was sold at the craft fair (the only one I sold!) Here are some close ups so you can see the beautiful colors!

Then I knitted a few scarves using Loop & Threads Country Loom. For these I decided to to go ahead and knit the whole skein for each scarf (not including the fringe this time). Since the yarn was super bulky I used thicker needles. I love how these turned out and I'm getting lots of positive comments about them. The colors are lovely and I'm defiantly making more of these! 

Sorry these pictures are not as good but I couldn't fit the whole scarves when I tried to take pictures from above. I even stood on a chair. These scarves are longer than I am tall! From top to bottom the colors are: Merlot, Rich Blues, Snapdragon, Rich Granite, and Tapestry. Here is a closer look:

Now these scarves are for sale. All 5 of the long ones I currently have made are reserved though I'm not 100% about the order. It may be all 5 it may only be 1 or 2. If someone wants me to make one and orders in within the next week I can make them one in time for Christmas though I can only do a limited amount of these in total. Remember this is my hobby not my job so it doesn't have the highest priority for my attention and I insist on eating a few meals a day and sleeping at least a few hours a night. Most of my crafting is done after work, or on the weekends. The fastest I've knitted one of these is a 2-3 days but that's the shortest amount of time it has taken when I've had no other projects on my plate but with the Holidays I've already got a few projects in the works so my time is limited.  

Next I either will post more about craft fair stuff, pics of some of my jewelry creations, creating for the Holidays or my other knitting projects in the works. I'm not sure yet but I am determined!

****I still have a ton of jewelry in my stock that is ready to sell and because I still have such amount of stuff I'm reducing my prices!. Mainly earrings but some necklaces as well! Contact me if there is any interest (In person, FB, or one of my more frequently checked email addresses is preferred! To tell you the truth I don't check this email as often as my other ones, probably because it's the newest one). I'm completely open to art trades if there is any interest in that as well! ****

A fun and busy October!

I can't believe it's taken so long to write another entry in here! This is a major fail on my part but hey October is a hard month for me in a few ways:

1. It was a year ago this October that what I'm going to call the big confusing work incident thing. In short I got laid off, & was rehired as a temp after a very difficult and confusing time. I still don't know the whole of the story and I at this point I don't even want to. Anyways, after that started I went to a bad place where I didn't eat much, sleep, pay much attention to much of anything except create stuff. It was the fastest I have ever knitted a long scarf, I made various Halloween costumes for people, I completely reorganized my sewing box, my yarn supply, my beads, my tools, etc. I just did a lot of crafting and creating in between my blank staring at things. So of course I was really afraid that the year anniversary was going to trigger something. (It hasn't by the way unless you count the stress of worry)
2. Since I've become more social in my life at home I've been getting out and about more. Which means I have less time to do other things. Also I have to take time to prepare for some of these things, and projects to finish.
3. October is the month of one of my favorite holidays HALLOWEEN! It's a holiday with candy and dressing up how ever you want! How could anyone not like this holiday? And I tend to go a little overboard, which takes up even more time

But I've been thinking about this blog and about all the things I want to write about! 
Over the last few years I've rediscovered the joy of creating costumes for Halloween. People tend to underestimate their creativity and abilities to create costumes but it's only hard if you want it to be. Of course I have major costume envy of the creations of people that are better at sewing than I am but I do what I can, learn what I can and just try and make things as best I can! So now I will give some costume creating advice:

• -When creating a costume it's always good to plan it out fully before you start your creating. This includes any tools you might use, the materials, and how you want it to look. Also measure things and don't just guess! That way you can perhaps see any potential problems. I've been known to have alternate plans for things because sometimes I attempt to do more than is in my current skills to correctly do. 
• -Never be afraid to ask for help on things. 
• -Don't get discouraged if things don't work out exactly how you wanted. Learn from your mistakes!
• -if you don't know what you want to be get creative! Always dressed nice, neat and professional? Slob it up! Hardly ever dress up? Dust off your old prom dress! Got a bunch of old T shirts? Create something new out of it (the Generation T books/website is a great resource for that!) Have a friend the same size of you but has a completely different style? Switch clothes! Also you don't have to limit yourself to the imaginary or character type costumes! My Grandfather has put on a NHL Hockey jersey I gave him years ago for Halloween and says he's the oldest player on the team! In 5th grade I went as an artist! Members of my family have been the following for Halloween in the past: Babar, Octopus, Monarch Butterfly, Broccoli, Scary math test, Scary spelling test, The national debt, IRS Audit team member, IRS Audit team member after the IRS was trying to improve it's image (added angel wings and halo to previous IRS team costume), The Spirit of Halloween, Spider, Smiley face, A die, Crazed Fangirl!, Waldo, Bug, Kick butt action chick and a computer bug(virus). Of course there have been more traditional costumes, like witches, bats, cats, princesses, Superheroes, fairies, Characters out of movies, books, plays etc. 
• -And always try and have fun

It's amazing what using fabric paint, or fabric markers can do to transform things. You can cut things up, sew things together, add decoration or remove decoration, pin things or tie things and come up with some really beautiful costumes that not only are fun to wear but you also have the pride of creating it yourself! People say the reason I love Halloween so much is because of it's theatricality and dramatic aspect. I somewhat agree but I also love the fun of putting costumes together, creating pieces, searching for that perfect prop, finding the right combination of things to put together a perfect look. Of course I love playing dress up and I'm not going to complain about the candy part either (especially after I discovered how much I love those orange white chocolate halloween Kit Kats that are only available around Halloween!)


♥Have a wonderful, awesome, fun filled Halloween!♥


Now it's getting to be quite late and I should be getting to bed. I'm not going to bother reading over this post now but I'll probably edit it tomorrow so I apologize for the disorganized rambling, spelling/grammar/punctuation errors, and the fact that I've probably forgotten some things. But I was really wanted to get another entry up before October was over and I'm cutting it pretty close to get something written and edited in time! So this is going up for now but after a nice night's sleep I'll defiantly be making some edits!


As always I welcome questions and comments! I'm not the best corespondent but no one is perfect, it would be much too convenient and probably very boring. 

HP House sets

Ok it's pretty well known among my friends that I am a Harry Potter fan. So of course when the first movie came out I noticed the house scarves and since I needed a project to do that wasn't school work I decided to try that. Now I've had some mixed results in my various efforts in creating house scarves. I never really followed a patten because it wasn't so much about making the perfect scarf. I'm not even really sure what it was about but I do know that I did need something to do that wasn't school related and I also needed something to do when I was watching TV or a movie. 


After a while I grew a bit more obsessed and decided got into costuming. I was determined to be Luna Lovegood for the book 6 release and decided that despite it being released in the summertime I was going to knit a Ravenclaw scarf. I started looking around online and I noticed a trend. People were making house sets consisting of a scarf, a hat, and a set of mittens or gloves. I also got into various color debates and the book colors vs movie colors for Ravenclaw. Eventually I found a wonderful pattern online at atypically.knit and I managed to get it finished in time but barely wore it and just carried it around in my bag because it just was much too hot to wear for more than a few minutes! 


After my success in knitting one house scarf I decided to knit one for each house. Each scarf has it's own little thing that is off about it but I love them all and I'm proud of the job I have done.

Gryffindor, Book Colors Ravenclaw, Slytherin, & Hufflepuff

While knitting my house scarves I thought why not knit my own house sets? Since I didn't wear a lot of knitted beanie hats I decided to knit ear warmer headbands and instead of mittens or gloves I decided on wrist warmers or fingerless gloves. 


I found  wonderful pattern via Ravelry for a double sided headband using double siding knitting. After a few bad attempts which were promptly taken apart I managed to get that finished as well. 

Then came the wrist warmers or fingerless gloves. I spent quite a while trying to find the right sort of pattern but the best designs that I found all required double pointed needles which have always seemed sort of intimidating to me. After asking the hp knitting LJ community I was greatly encouraged to try using DPNs and much to my delight and surprise I figure it out without too many problems. With that problem taken care of I decided on a pattern I found in Leaky Crafts and I think they turned out beautifully!

Now I finally had my own house sets!
Gryffindor:

Book Colors Ravenclaw:

Hufflepuff:

Slytherin:

And those are my HP house sets. If there are any questions about what type or color of yarn I used, links to the patterns I used, or any questions just leave me a comment!

Welcome Post

Hello World! Long have I said I'm going to start a craft blog and now I finally have! I have no idea about how often I'll post but I plan to use this blog to digitally document and share my various artistic creations, musings, ideas, tutorials, and probably so much more than I'll ever be able to think about at the present. Besides it would be much too convenient if I was able to list everything I might use this blog during it's entire existence.


First thing is I don't claim to be a professional at anything. I'm simply someone who is artistically inclined. I work in many mediums and have many interests. I make jewelry, knit, sew, draw, paint, and much more. I love all sorts of colors and designs though at times I go through phases of obsession. I mainly do this for myself though I love making things for others as well. At this time I will only take commissions from people that I know personally. I like to know and see that my work is enjoyed and appreciated by the wonderful people in my life. 


Now I know there is something else I wanted to say in my first post but my brain is a bit muddled right now. Until next time!