Cushions, Cushions, Cushions!!

I felt the need to make some cushions of various textures.  These work great for MSD, YoSD and Playscale.   Complementary colours tie them all together.  They're SUPER squishy, too! :)

New Goodies for SnootyCow!

I've been having so much fun knitting, sewing and crocheting tiny things for the shop.  Also, I was really excited to get my first commission about a month ago.  Unfortunately, after I spent about 20 hours making the blankets, the woman who ordered them had an emergency and couldn't pay.  She was supposed to be able to complete the transaction by the end of the Feb, but hasn't done so yet.  I guess I could prompt her, but honestly, I don't want to be that pushy, because I understand that sometimes stuff just happens, and although I spent a lot of time making the blankets, I can still try to sell them in my shop if she just can't buy them.  I think what I'll do is ask her if she wants me to break it up so she can buy one at a time as funds allow, and take it from there.  All I can think is what if it were me?  I'd be so embarrassed that I couldn't pay, you know?  In the grand scheme of things, not making the sale is certainly something I can shrug off.  I sure wish I could get more sales, though, and more great feedback.  (EDIT - Just heard back from her!  She still wants the order!! :D  Hooray!)

Anyway, here are some of the things I've made and listed recently:

A lacy hooded scarf for MSD sized BJD

A set of knit and crocheted cushions
The big one works nicely for a floor pillow. :)

 

Another set of cushions, this time sewn from cherry blossom fabrics. Again, the large one makes a great floor pillow:

 

Some sweet slippers for Spring to fit MSD dollies.  The centre photo shows them on both Durango and Pippa so you can see how they fit both a manly foot and a more dainty one. ^_^ 

I've also been practicing with Shrink Plastic, because I would eventually like to roll out a line of kawaii happy snail items, and some snail flair, too.  Playing around with the plastic, I found that it gets much smaller than I'd anticipated.  Kiki scored a fun new necklace!

My only complaint is that the stuff I'm using has a rough finish when it's done.  I can solve that by doming with Diamond Glaze or Triple Thick, but I think next time I'll purchase a different brand.  The clear stuff I got comes out nicely so far, but I've only made one project with it.  There's definitely a learning curve to the shrink plastic, as well as decisions to be made.  What do you want to use to colour the images?  Pencil?  Marker?  I just got some markers from Dick Blick that I'm loving!  That's what I used for Kiki's snail necklace.  They're just the store brand, and are basically a generic Copic from what I can tell.  I got a great deal since we went to Blick on their 20% off day, and the markers were buy 4 get 1 free in addition to the sale price!  

Once you choose your colouring medium, you need to decide how to shrink your project.  Oven?  Heat gun?  Lately I've been using the heat gun for more control, but it does tend to blow the project away if you're not careful.  I've been using wooden chopsticks to help with that, but ideally, I think a little metal mesh screen would be handy.  I think I have something in our Chemistry equipment that I can use.

That's probably more than enough for now.  This evening I get to go pick up Mollusc in Detroit for SPRING BREAK!!!!!  Hurrah!!! :D  Happy March, everyone! :)

Knitting Sweet Nothings

I'm having a lot of fun doing knitting for people both small and large.  I'm making these mitts from a Ravelry pattern for my friend Claudia in Germany.  I have a lovely Crystal Palace yarn in a blue gradient that I'm using for these.  It's a really fun pattern so far.

I got some good pics of the Strawberry Sundae Afghan for MSD-sized BJDs.  I just adore this yarn!  It has shades of Chocolate, Strawberries, Vanilla and Cream, and it's soft and easy to care for.  On top of that, this stitch is super smooshy and wonderful!  I'm seriously considering making a Big People-sized one for myself with bulky yarn.  Pippa really enjoyed modeling for this one:

I made a little tufted mattress for her (complete with buttons!)  as well as a top sheet, pillow and pillowcase so that I can use them for photoshoots for blankets and afghans.  Oh yeah, and so that she'll have a bed.  Of course.

I've been listening (quite a lot!) to Marianas Trench's new album, Astoria.  It's everything I've come to expect from them.  I think each time they release a new album, they outdo themselves a little more.   Forget Me Not is just heartbreaking, but oh so good, and there isn't a single song on the album that I want to skip or rush through.

I must dash - I have an Epistle to write, Etsy stuff to post, and, yeah, maybe I'll even finish my rewrite. :-P

Remember, Remember

I'm not sure how it came to be the 5th of November already, but that's what the computer says.  I've been watching Black Butler lately and REALLY enjoying it.  I wish I'd watched before we went to Youmacon last weekend, since we met Vic Mignogna and Todd Haberkorn there.  They were super friendly and sweet. :)  The con was a blast!  I'm really looking forward to the next one. :)  We are looking at hitting Shuto Con in the Spring as well.

One of Mollusc's clay birds sold, and the buyer was delighted!  I was really relieved, because I gave it a last-minute glazing and was concerned about my Triple-Thick being too dry.

I have some new items to list in my shop.  I made a beret and an afghan from that lovely ice-cream parfait (as I think of it) yarn.

 

There's also a LOVELY, chunky (Big People-Sized!) scarf  that I made, but I really need to get good pictures of everything.

Most of my Blogging has been over at Estrangement Epistles, lately.   I need to find bogging balance. ^_^  And the latest book that's been cooking in my head is coming along really well.  I have to get back to Random and send it off, but honestly, I'm so sick of it that it's hard to do.  First World Problems, LOL! 

Sweet Lolita and a Free Pattern

I am a closet admirer of Lolita fashions.  They aren't something I could ever get away with wearing, but I would love a world where you could see fabulous dresses like that as a matter of course.  Fortunately, my BJDs *can* get away with it, and I'm having fun making sweet little things for them.  I just put some new hair clips and a scarf in my shop.  Here's what the clips look like:

There are a few more shown in my shop, but you get the idea.


And here's the scarf: 

 

 I'd never tried the "cross stitch" before, but I adore how it looks, and I'm in love with this yarn, too.  Here's how you can make your own:

Needles: #2 (2.75mm)
Yarn: Bernat Softee Baby Little Bo Peep (or any #3 / DK yarn)

CO 7 stitches
Row 1: Slip the first stitch Kwise, *Knit into the BACK of the 2nd stitch on L needle.  Without dropping the stitch from the needle, Knit into the BACK of the 1st stitch on L needle and let both drop from L needle.*  Repeat steps between *s to end.
Row 2: Slip the 1st stitch Pwise.  *Wyif Purl into the 2nd stitch on L needle on the side NEAREST you.  Without transferring stitch, Purl into the 1st stitch on L needle on side NEAREST you, then let both drop from L needle.* Repeat steps between *s to end.

Repeat rows 1 and 2 until your scarf reaches the desired length.  Add fringe to both ends! :)

In case my description is tricky to understand, here's a good video.

It's in the Bag!

Now that it's back to school time, I thought some kawaii bags were in order, so I made a bunch of cute star bags for 1/4 and 1/6 size BJDs.  I got some adorable plastic chain to use for the straps, though some of them will also have really cool anodized aluminum chain.  I used sterling silver jump rings to attach the straps to the bags.  These were super fun to make! 

Wow, I really need to decide on a name for my sweet girl.  

I spent most of yesterday tearing apart the BILLY bookcases in the living room and rearranging everything.  Dags helped me disassemble and reassemble one that MuNKi and I had put together partly upside-down years ago. :-/  Although you could only tell by looking at it from the stairs or loft, it's good to finally have it fixed, LOL!

And now that it's Fall-ish, I've restarted the Harry Potter series AGAIN.  Love, love, LOVE that world!  

I'm still fixing up a shelf for the doll's home.  It's really coming along nicely!  And my use of The Secret for bringing in cash has bagged me another birthday party gig at the dojang.  Huzzah!  Now to sell some star bags! ^_^

Pin-Up Girls

I was tired of only finding oversized (for my taste) hair clips for BJDs, so I made some adorable little hairclips with sweets on them.  So far, I've only listed the biscuits, but I really love how they turned out.  The clips are only 2 cm long, and with the added embellishments, they still come in under 2.5 cm!  They're lightweight, too, so they don't weigh down the dolls' hair.  I'm really tickled with them!  The others have little cakes, doughnuts, popsicles and waffles.  I'm hoping to get some pics and get them listed tomorrow.  The biscuit clips (pictured) come in Candyfloss, Chocolate, Lemon, Grape, and Mint.  Pippa and her friend really like them. :)  Yeah, the little one badly needs a name.  I just love her to bits.  I haven't settled on her eye colour though.  She came with violet, but I may switch them out.  In fact, she may get Pippa's, and Pippa might get green. Or brown.  Or. . . ^_^

In other news, it's time for finalizing loans for Mollusc for the remainder of her tuition.  Gulp!  And we need to get a wee laptop for Gordo to use for note-taking, and make sure that he and Kacey have everything they need for school.  Orientation is THIS FRIDAY! O_O

I recently listened to the Ruby Red trilogy (by Kerstin Geir) and now I'm listening to Book 2 of the Dust Lands Trilogy.

We're also watching Fullmetal Alchemist.  I've read up through book 22, but I'd better finish before we catch up on the vids!

Tiny Knitting Time!

I know that I once said that this wasn't going to become a knitting blog, and it hasn't, OK?  Just so that's out of the way. . . ^_^

I do enjoy knitting, and I enjoy tiny things as well, so I've been knitting, well, tiny things.  I've just put some slippers up in my shop that are knitted especially for ball-jointed dolls.  MSDs (1/4 scale) to be exact.  I use really tiny needles and baby yarn, but I find it relaxing nonetheless.  Here are some pics of Pippa modeling them:

 

I didn't mention Pippa before??  I got her from The Junky Spot, and she is LOVELY! She's a Mystic Kids Lillian 1/4 scale BJD (her type is also known as a slim MSD.)  She was quite a bit less pricey than Dreaming Doll's Airi, AND she was on sale.  How could I say no to that face?

I'm still working on the wardrobe. She helped me make some socks for my shop the other day, too, but she wouldn't let me list them until she had an identical pair of her own. :)

She did mention that she'd like a friend someday.  Oh boy.