Perler bead sushi magnets and a felt pug hoop

Hello! I know I said you probably wouldn't hear from me this week but, well, I guess I lied! I caught up with a couple of my friends to exchange early Christmas gifts, so I figured I could tell you about the presents I crafted for them now ^___^

For Philip I made these cute little sushi magnets! ^___^ I used a cross stitch pattern from weelittlestitches for these, but made them from perler beads instead of fabric and thread.

I wasn't going to put faces on these, but they really looked like they needed something so ... googly eyes to the rescue! I think it gives them a really funny expression ^___^
 

I used E6000 to attach the eyes and the magnets and they look good enough to eat ~___^ (Only, you know. Don't).

 

Using a pattern from Urban Threads, I made this felt pug hoop for Phillipa. I think it turned out really cute! Instead of stitching all of the lines, I cut out shapes from felt and stitched them down. I feel like this is a great way to add colour without having to spend an eternity doing fill stitches.

 

Everything is stitched down with running stitch, and the roses are 3D which I thought looked really cool ^___^

I feel like the roses could have done with a few more petals, but I didn't want to make them *too* bulky.

 

I think this pug's silly little face is my favourite part ^___^ The paws are attached with only one stitch so they can be lifted up; I did the same with the tail. I'm not sure why, but having movable parts to an embroidery hoop is so appealing to me. I added some little hearts to the banner because I wasn't sure about the phrase that the pattern suggested ("True Love") but also didn't want to leave it blank.

 

This photo shows the most accurate colour of the background fabric; it is definitely purple even though it looks blue in most of the pictures I took! The back is finished off with blue felt and the same technique I always use. Boring, yes, but also neat which is what I was going for.

Now, I must continue crafting as I have, once again, left my dad's gift until the last minute. Fingers crossed I get it done!

Best wishes to everyone for whichever holiday you celebrate! I hope you have a lovely one ^___^

- Lisa xx

Perler bead witch kitty Halloween wall art

Hello! This week it was a race between two projects to see which I would finish on time for this post; my perler bead witch kitty won! This project is pretty obviously closely related to the kitty banner I posted last week. I started off that project thinking I would make five cats and have them all on a string as a banner but then I changed my mind. I used the two green cats for the banner because they kinda seemed to go together, and I was left with this witch kitty.

I've been working on an embroidery hoop hoping that I would finish it in time to post it today but since I've been doing more homework and less crafting ... it just didn't get done. I figured that since the perler bead cat was already made this would be a fast project to finish off.

I'd had this wooden hoop in my stash for a while; it's not an embroidery hoop, it's just a ring made out of what looks like either cane or vine. I have no idea why I have it, but it came in handy for this project ^____^ I wrapped it in orange wool, securing the ends with a bit of hot glue.

 

I also used hot glue to attach the cat to the ring once it was wrapped, but it still needed something. I brought these paper pendants from the scrap booking store; they are made by American Crafts and they come in a pad, so you just tear one off when you want to use it. I decided a pun was the perfect thing to add, so I got out my liquid chalk pen and added this little line.

 

The pen tip was a little thick, so I probably would have been better off with finding one of my metallic paint pens but I wanted to create a kind of blackboard look and I think that it does work in that sense.

I used some black and white baker's twine to attach the pendant and add a hanging loop and then hung it up next to some free postcards that my library has been giving out. Skulls and zombie hands? I'm pretty sure that ups the coolness levels of my job significantly! ~___^

My next Halloween project won't have anything to do with cats, but please do forgive me if I post it late. My university workload seems to be increasing no matter how many hours of study I put in and since it is my final semester I am really getting quite stressed about the prospect of not doing as well as I think I should. As I've been saying to approximately everyone lately; I can not wait until this semester is over! The end is within sight and I'm desperately hoping that once I graduate I will find a nice, calm 9-5 job that allows all my spare time to be spent crafting ^___^ Only four weeks to go ... the countdown is on!

- Lisa x

Frankenkitty and Zombikitty Halloween banner

Hello! As promised, here is the first of my Halloween projects. Yay! ^___^ I've been meaning to make a banner to go above my TV for a while now, so I figured this was the perfect opportunity. I used some cute cross-stitch patterns to make the two perler bead cats; one is a Frankenstein's monster and the other is a zombie. They're more cute than creepy though!

I'm not sure what this type of fringing is called (all I know is that it reminds me of the kind of dresses flappers used to wear) but I've seen it used on a few banners before and since I had some in my stash I figured it would be the perfect thing to use ^___^

All in all, this was a really easy project to make. Creating the kitties took a bit of time, as perler bead projects normally do, but I made them while catching up on TV shows so it wasn't so bad ^____^ The cats are about the size of my hand, so the banner is eye-catching, but not massively huge.

My favourite parts are the glow-in-the-dark perler beads; can you tell I'm kinda obsessed with glowing things at the moment? ~___^ After I had finished ironing the cats (and leaving them to cool down) I used hot glue to attach them to the fringe banner, and I also attached a loop of wool on their backs to use for hanging.

 

I used some glittery silver "thickers" (yes, that's really what they are called!) to spell out the words; since they have sticky backs I just pressed them onto the fringing. I may need to reinforce them with glue later on, but they are doing fine at the moment! ^___^

I wish I had a fireplace to create a display above, but for now my TV will have to do! I've added the glittery skulls I made to the top to pretend that I have a mantelpiece ~___^

In other news, I've only got five more assignments to go this semester! They're all big ones, but I'm excited to be nearing the end of my degree ^___^ Now I'm just hopeful that I can find a job in my field! Fingers crossed, hey? 

- Lisa xx

Perler bead Stormtroopers, zombie kitty, and Union Jack

Hello! Gosh, I haven't been posting nearly as much as I thought I would be! I have been reading a lot though; that's one really excellent thing about working in a library - I get to see all the new books! ^___^ Anyway, I *did* get out my perler beads again, and here is what I made! ^___^

I was so super excited for the new season of Sherlock to start that I decided to make myself a Union Jack brooch to wear while I watched it (I took these photos before I put backings on, by the way, as it's much easier to photograph them this way! ^___^) and then was horribly disappointed when I realised that Australia doesn't get to see it on the same day as America and England ; ___ ; Oh, well, it'll keep!

I also made this zombie kitty. Awwww, so cute! ^___^ The pink, blue, and light green beads are glow in the dark ones! The eyes are kinda scary at night time ... which is a very good thing for a zombie!

 

I tried to iron my beads for a bit longer this time, because my perler bead creations have a tendancy to fall apart after a while ; ___ ; My kitty's whiskers are kinda splodgy looking as a result, and the melting is not as even as I'd like it to be. Guess I'll just have to keep practicing!

 

And finally, I made this tiny army of Stormtroopers for Scott. He's not into brooches as much as me, so these will be magnets for the fridge.

 

I'm still working on cleaning all my vintage pyrex from my last op-shop trip so I can show it to you. I've been trying to find out all the names of the designs I have too, so it's going to be a interesting post (I hope!).

Until then!

- Lisa xx

Perler bead brooches

So, um, are perler beads awesome or what?! I somehow missed out on using these awesome little things as a child but since they are now everywhere (definition of everywhere: even IKEA sells them) I figured it was time to give them a go! I actually had a massive stash of perler beads but had only used them for my constellation embroidery ... so I went back to basics and made some cute little brooches ^_^

There are heaps of patterns for perler beads on the internet, but since they work with a grid pattern, you can also use cross-stitch patterns ^_^ I wanted this project to be really mindless (so I could forget about my assignments for a while!) so I used lots of cross-stitch patterns as my guides, and I've included links underneath each picture.

First up: a cute fox! I wore this to uni the other day with my black polka-dot dress, a mustard yellow drapey jacket, and my black mary-janes ^_^

I added a grey border to this bee so that the legs and antenna would stay on, but if I had had clear beads I would have used those instead. Are clear perler beads even a thing? I've never seen them. But if they don't exist, then they totally should.

I never actually owned a gameboy but I did own one of those generic ones that came with like twenty games pre-loaded and I played Tetris on that thing until it died. Tetris rocks.

Another confession: I am terrible at Super Mario. I am pretty awful at most platform games. But I still insist on playing it, dying regularly, and not contributing anything when Scott and I do two-player mode. I love getting the fire flowers and the flying hats - they are the best things ever ^_^

This flamingo is not a brooch because it is much too large - even for me! ~_^ I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it yet. Scott suggested a notebook cover ^_^

 

This is now my second Space Invader brooch. I think I need to keep making more until I can reenact a game on my cardigan ~_^

Bow ties are cool! I added a badge back to this one so I can wear it like an actual bow tie, but I want to add a hair clip too, to make it more versatile ^_^

 I don't think my diamond turned out all that well, perhaps I need to make it bigger so it can have more detail?

Pip was making perler bead creations with me and we made five or six of these little medals all together, so I'm not sure who made this one. We're both pretty talented, so it really could be either ~_^

 

This particular badge is going to be worn on International Star Wars Day. Can you tell what it is? It's meant to be a lightsaber bent into a heart shape ^_^ I know that the hilt of a lightsaber doesn't really look like that, but just having a line didn't really look right, you know? Plus I kinda like how it looks like an "i" so it's like the brooch is saying "i heart lightsabers" ^_^

 

       

And I have been doing one other thing as well - I went through my ENORMOUS stack of Real Living magazines, tore out the pictures I wanted, and started filling up a big art journal with them (plus some silly captains and drawings) ^_^ I don't normally like to take pages out of my magazines, but the pile I had was really getting waayyy too big. This way I'll have more room for other craft supplies too ~_^

What have you been making? I love to hear from you! ^_^

- Lisa x