Foxy KAL!

 Hi everyone! Tanya and I have been working on a super secret project for the last month ... and now it's finally time to share it with you! Yay! ^_^

You might remember that a while ago I was inspired to make an owl hat by a cute beanie that I found in Target.

And Tanya had the AWESOME idea to make our own versions of this foxy hat (and even went out to take her own selfie!) ^_^

 

So, we're organising a KAL to make awesome, adorable foxy hats - and we'd love you to join us! You can join us on our Ravelry group here, and we'll be knitting and crocheting throughout September!

We couldn't find a pattern that we were 100% happy with, so we made our own! ^_^ I made a crochet pattern, and Tanya made a knit one - so you can choose what kind of yarn work you'd like to do! ^_^

Both the patterns are suitable for beginners, and are easily customisable. (Plus, look how cute they are!! ~_^)

We'll be sending them out to the members of our Ravelry group on September 1st, but you don't have to stick exactly to the patterns - we wanna see your creativity! The only guidelines that you should stick to are that your hat should be flat, seamed, and a fox. That gives you a lot of room to move, huh? ^_^

The KAL is scheduled to start on Sunday September 1st 2013 and finish on Sunday October 6th 2013. Since Tanya and I are both in Australia, we'll be working on Australian time.

We've got some awesome prizes lined up for people finishing their hats by Octover 6th! Everyone who signs up will get a set of printable gift tags ^_^

We've also got an awesome prize of yarn and foxy things for one lucky person (which you can see below!), as well as some little prizes that we'll give out to a few people for totally unquantifiable reasons like creativity and participation ~_^

If you want to, you can also add a link to the Ravelry group in your blog sidebar along with our KAL badge!

I can't tell you all how excited I am about the KAL - and I really hope you'll join us! ^_^

- Lisa x

Third blog birthday and a free cupcake embroidery pattern

Hello! Guess what? I've been blogging at Tea and Craft for three years now! Wow! ^_^ If you've been following me since then; thanks! And I'm sorry for all those awful photos. If you're a new follower; hello, welcome, and thanks! And don't read too far back into the archives, especially if you have an interest in photography. ~_^

I wanted to do something a bit special to mark the occasion, so I've made up a little embroidery pattern for you! Yay!

 You can click on the image above to download the .pdf, as per usual ^_^

If you've ever seen any results of my baking experiments, you will know that these cupcakes are actually fairly realistic looking! Over-flowing, lop-sided, and/or slightly-burnt ... but they still taste pretty good! 

If you stitch this up, I'd love to see it! I haven't tried it out myself yet but I'm thinking they would look really cute with some brightly coloured felt tops and some stitched sprinkle decorations ^_^

Anyway, I hope you like it and here's to another three years of crafting and blogging! 

- Lisa x

Crochet pygmy puff

Hello! How are you? I hope you're doing well! Earlier this week I made a Pygmy Puff plushie and then today, because I'm a bit strange sometimes, I decided to set up a bit of a photo shoot as if it was real and about to head off to Hogwarts with it's young owner. If you want to skip over my ramblings, feel free to scroll down to the bottom of the post where I tell you how to much your own ^_^

 Arnold was originally Ginny Weasley's Puff, and after all these years he's still a mischievous little thing with a tendency to get in places where he shouldn't. He's fat and cuddly and has become more pink in his old age, although his face and ears are still purple, along with some of his fur.

Now he's going back to Hogwarts with a new Weasley. A little witch in her second year who likes knitting and chess and is bringing hand luggage on the Express because she can't bear to have all her books packed away in her trunk for such a long time.

 

She's got a brand new copy of Hogwarts: A History, a couple of sickles to buy a treat on the train, and an old suitcase that she found in the attic of Grandma and Granddad's house.

 

It's a good thing that September 1st is still a while away though, because her trunk is still a bit of a mess and she's only just found the four missing pieces from her chess set.

 

Arnold isn't helping with the packing much. He just likes to lick the old leather on her suitcase and her camera case; he's a bit weird. But he is rather cute, so she'll probably forgive him.  

Is that a Slytherin tie? Well, yes. She's the first Weasley in centuries to be Sorted into that House, but her family doesn't mind so that's ok and anyway, she rather likes it there.

She's got her robe and tie packed so she doesn't have to wear them the entire train journey, and she's just realised that she really does need more ink. And is four books really enough? I mean, it is a long trip ...

 

It's been a long time since I wrote fanfiction I'm rather tempted to keep going! But not here, and not now! Instead, I'll tell you how you can make your own Pygmy Puff! ^_^

First, crochet a sphere. I made mine in trebles using a 4mm hook and a wool/acrylic yarn blend that was variegated in colour and graduated in thickness. Once you've stuffed the sphere and woven in your ends, you'll need a pet slicker brush. I got mine from a discount store and I think it's used for dogs with really thick coats. Anyway, you brush the sphere with it and it becomes all fluffy. It takes a while to get an even looking coat, but it's worth it.

Then, cut a small circle of felt and brush that as well. You won't need to brush this as much, you just want it to look less flat and perfect. Embroider on a face and attach it on to the sphere. I sewed on the face but I broke a needle doing so, so glue is probably a better option. To make the ears, cut out two little felt triangles. Pinch two of the corners in together and add a stitch through them to make an ear shape. Stitch or glue them on, ensuring that the base is fairly well covered with the fur.

And that's it! You're done! Now you can give your Puff a name and love it forever. Making up background stories is entirely optional. ~_^

Anyway, I hope you like him! Have you been crafting much lately? I just finished my first week back at uni and I'm already missing all of the lovely crafting time that I had on my break! Do you think anyone would notice if I started crocheting during lectures? ~_^

- Lisa x

Flamingo cross-stitch, Bless this Mess Death Star cross-stitch, and a Snuffleupagus embroidery

Hello! I'm so excited to have finally finished this project! At the end of 2009, I brought a cross-stitch kit to do on our honeymoon, but when I opened the packet a couple of months later most of the kit contents were missing. Oh no! That's what you get for not checking the contents before the returns period ends, I guess. >_< I was a bit disheartened, so I put it away ... for over four years. Yikes!

In May I was searching for a new project to work on and came across the 'kit' again. It only contained a colour guide but I had enough aida cloth and thread in my stash to make it and I figured I could do well enough without the actual pattern, so I gave it a go!

The most frustrating this about this pattern was that it is not symmetrical! I spent a lot of time trying to even it all up, but I think it was worth it as now looking at it doesn't cause me to twitch ~_^

  

I brought the frame from an op-shop for $2 (bargain!) and painted it with Kaisercolour in Sea Breeze. I love how tropical it looks! Kaisercolour have a lot of really lovely colours, I wanted to buy all of them! I'm going to have to plan more painting projects so I have a reason to buy them! ^_^

I feel like this project would be perfect for my bathroom, but I'm always worried about putting soft furnishings in there in case the humidity turns them icky, so it might end up on the staircase gallery instead.

 

I think the flamingo project is the biggest cross-stitch I have ever done and I am *such* a slow stitcher, so when it was finished I was like "no more cross-stitch for a while!!" and then I turned around and made another cross-stitch. Deary me!

 

This one is a little present for Scott and I'm pleased to report that he is very happy with it ^_^ I hope it's relatively obvious, but it's meant to be an incomplete Death Star.

I made a pattern too, so if you'd like to make your own you can! Just click on the image above to view and download ^_^

I used a solid grey for the outline, the line through the middle, and the outline of the laser and then metallic silver thread for the rest. Metallic thread is a massive pain to work with, but it *does* look pretty! ^_^

 

This hoop will be added to Scott's ever-growing Star Wars collection ^_^ One day (possibly when he's got his own room for everything) I'm going to have to do a photo tour for you all!

Lastly, I saw this Snuffleupagus drawing and thought that it would be perfect for an embroidery project. I chose a green and white raindrop fabric for the background, and did Snuffy in orange - a bit brighter than he is normally but I thought the green and the orange looked really good together.The photos I took didn't turn out that well, but in real life it is a little easier to see the difference between the background and the embroidery.

But not by much. Ahoy, eye-strain! >_<

 

I traced over a printout of the drawing for the lettering and the outline of Snuffleupagus and then used one strand of embroidery thread to do tiny little hairs all over him. Omg, right?

I think if I were to do this again, I would use a lighter background, but I'm pretty happy with how it looks nonetheless ^_^ Maybe I can just tell people that he's semi-invisible as a nod to his origin story? ~_^

I've got seven more projects to do before the Summer Nerd Games end on September 2nd, but I'm back at uni this week so I won't have as much time. I'm planning on three more embroideries, one crochet project, two plushies (which count as one project), and I'm undecided on two other challenges. Eeep! What do you reckon? Possible or not? ^_^

- Lisa x

Diminutive Dinosaur Display Doodad

Hello! Do you know what your house is missing? That's right, a dinosaur display stand that is perfectly sized to hold one mini cupcake. It's just so practical!

 

Mmmm, ok, so I'm lying about the practicallity thing, but it is cute! And easy to make! And involves both dinosaurs and cupcakes! (I've sold you on this now right?)

Awesome. So, here's how you can make your own!

1. Gather three plastic dinosaurs of approximately the same height. This is important, because you don't want your display stand to be lop-sided. You'll also need a jar lid. Mine is from a jar of korma curry paste (yum!).

2. Paint everything with nail polish. I used Rimmel "Be a star" (for the pink dinosaur), Rimmel "Grey Matter" (for the grey dinosaur), Revlon "Midnight Affair" (for the dinosaur that looks black but is actually dark blue), Revlon "Grapefruit Fizz" (to make that same dinosaur glittery), and Revlon "Black Lingerie" (ooo, risque!) for the jar lid.

3. Once everything is dry, arrange your dinosaurs like shown in the picture above. Place the jar lid on top of them and use a Sharpie to mark where it sits.

4. Remove the jar lid and put a bit of E6000 glue on each mark. Leave it a couple of minutes so it becomes tacky, and then carefully replace the jar lid.

 

5. Leave the stand for 24 hours to ensure the glue is properly set.

Ta-da! It's all done! Huzzah! ^_^

 What do you think? I hope you like it! I've still got heaps of dinosaurs, so I think you'll be seeing a few more prehistoric crafts around here ^_^

I'll see you in a couple of days - with a WIP that I have *finally* finished! Yay! ^_^

- Lisa xx