Goulia Yelps - Makeover edition

Hey! Do you remember that ages ago I brought a Ghoulia Yelps Monster High doll? Well, anyway I did, and she looked like this:

Not very zombie-like.

So, I sanded off her makeup, gave her a repaint, and made her a new outfit and now ...

... she's zombiefied ~_^

 

 

"BRAINSSS!"

 

What do you think? Do you like her? I hope you do!

- Lisa x

Handmade handbag

Hey! Let's talk about handbags ^_^

The handles on my old bag were so completely stretched out, and I wanted a new bag that *didn't* use fake leather for the handles, but I couldn't find *anything* in the stores that wasn't faux cow.

So, I got out some fabric and some cotton rope and made myself one! ^_^ Yay!

I am really happy with how it turned out, and I can't wait to give it a test run tomorrow ^_^

The outside fabric is this cute quilting cotton with colourful pictures of eyeglasses - I've had this fabric for *ages* so I'm glad I've finally used some of it.

 

The bright yellow interior fabric is from IKEA - it's so happy! ^_^

If you'd like to make your own, I based my bag on this one here.  I made the shape slightly different and used longer lengths of rope for the handles (I like mine to go over my shoulder, so I used about 50 inches for each handle) but the instructions work anyway ^_^

I hope you had a great day today! 

- Lisa x

A granny square rope rug, a Royal Guard cross stitch, granny squares, and crochet WIPs

Hey! I'm back! I still haven't found my camera, but Scott dug out his old one which, luckily, still works! ^_^ 

So, here's what I've been working on ...

The cotton rope granny square rug - it's finished! Yay!

 

I ended up using over 200 meters of rope ... and I probably could have brought a rug for about the same price and less effort. *But* I love how it turned out and I enjoyed making it, so I think that's worth the cost ^_^

 

I finished this cute little cross-stitch - I'm going to give this to Scott's grandma for Mothers' Day. I'm glad it's finally finished!

 

I've also been making granny squares ... so far I've made 54 squares towards the Death Star blanket! Only 418 to go ... >_<

 

Nikita was happy to model for me ... photos of granny squares can be lovely, but when they're this monochrome, it's a little boring. She livens it up a bit! ^_^

 

I haven't done much on this granny ripple rug so far, but it's getting there! I really like the colours ^_^

 

I'm still not sure if I'm doing the edges right; I'm following the pattern but they look like they're increasing still. I might do a swatch in some scrap wool to practice a bit more.

 

I've also been making a cover for my little ottoman. I need to buy more wool though (what a pity!) as I have already used up the two balls of wool I had in those colours.

 

Still, it looks pretty, doesn't it? ^_^

 

 

That's all for the crafting today *but* I will say - go and watch the Hunger Games! It was *such* a great movie; relatively true to the books, great casting choices, and amazing set design. (Yes, set design is important to me ~_^)

I hope you had a fantastic day today! Tell me, are you working on anything at the moment? I'd love to know! ^_^

- Lisa x

One Day Bow Belt!

Hey! Posting on a Monday - weird! I normally don't post because of work (boo!) but I was SUPER PRODUCTIVE today making a *really easy* crochet bow belt. 

I made this by crocheting on public transport to and from work, for a little bit during my lunch break, and a bit more when I got home. So, if you do this on a day that you *don't* have work, I bet you could make this super fast!

 It's hard to take a flattering photo of one's own middle ... anyway, you can see how this works; it's a skinny belt with a big bow designed to brighten up simple outfits and look super pretty ^_^

Here's how you make it!

Belt 

 Make a slip knot and then crochet five chains, or however wide you want your belt to be. Chain another two, treble into the fifth chain.

Treble into each chain stitch.

<Chain two, turn your work, make five trebles into each stitch along the row>

Repeat <...> until the belt is long enough to encircle your waist.

Now you want to extend the belt a bit more so you have an overlap of the two ends; you will sew your bow in the centre of this overlap, and put fastenings on either side of the bow (check the picture below to see how the belt overlaps).

To make a button hole, skip one treble stitch and chain two instead. Then treble along the row as per normal.

Bow

Chain 30 (or as long as you want your bow to be), then chain another two and treble into the 30th stitch.

Treble along the row, chain two, turn your work, and treble across again.

Repeat for nine rows.

Fold the resulting rectangle into a bow shape. Thread a large needle with a long length of wool and make a stitch to hold the bow into place. Then wrap the wool around the centre of the bow to hide the stitch. Once you're satisfied with how it looks, sew the bow onto the belt, in the centre of the overlapping section.

Finishing up

Sew a button onto the belt so that it is opposite to the button hole. Add a snap onto the other side of the overlapping section. Weave in all the ends.

And it's finished! Huzzah! Put it on and force everyone in the vicinity to admire your skills ~_^

I really hope you like this project, and if you make one, I'd love to see it!

Lisa x

Crochet and Spool knitted Princess Leia Hat!

Oh my gosh - I finally finished this hat! Squee; I am so happy! This is actually a really simple hat, but the spool knitting simply took ages >_< I really love it though, it's really comfortable and because the wool I used is 100% Baby Alpaca it is so soft ^_^

I used the thickest brown wool I could find (Vera Moda Husky), which helpfully didn't have a ply on the label. I crocheted the hat with a 6mm hook though, so based on that, I'm estimating around 12 ply. The base hat is made up of trebles; if you're looking for a simple pattern, try this Pokeball Hat - obviously just ignore the colour changes ^_^ Then I made a big spool knitter using a wrapping paper tube and four skewers; I cut the tube down to about six inches and then taped the skewers evenly around the tube, leaving them sticking up about an inch above the top of the tube.

And then I spool knitted. A lot. I spool knitting 202 inches for each bun, which used up just under 100 grams per bun.

Then I coiled the spool knitting tubes into the buns; they have a diameter of about 5 inches and are about 2 inches high. Sewing them together was a bit tricky! Possibly using hot glue would have been better, but I was concerned it might be seen and hot glue also does make things a little less soft.

Anyway, once they were sewn into a bun-shaped, I sewed them onto the sides of the hat.

 

And now it's done! Yay! ^_^ I am so happy that I finally finished it!

See you later - with all the backed up pictures for the drawing challenge!

- Lisa x

Mini Yarn Wreath Brooches

Hello! This weekend I made mini yarn wreath brooches! Aren't they cute? ^_^

I made one for Valentine's Day ...

... one for St Patrick's Day ...

... one because I'm a giant Harry Potter nerd ...

... and one because this colour combination is slowly taking over my life ~_^

I was going to make a little tutorial, but the camera ate half of my pictures so it is now a teeny-tiny tutorial with some bits you just have to imagine ~_^ If my camera does decide to work properly again soon, I will add in the other pictures, but until then, on with the show!


Mini Yarn Wreath Brooches


Step 1: Get hold of some curtain rings. I went to an op-shop and got a bag of them for $3; they are wooden and about 6.5 cm wide on the outside and 4.2 cm wide on the inside ring.  


Step 2: Gather your yarn. This project is great for using up scraps!


Step 3: Put a bit of hot glue on the back of your ring and then place the end of your yarn into the glue. 


Step 4: Wrap your yarn around the ring. When you want to change colours, use a bit of hot glue to stick down the end of your current colour and then repeat Step 3 to start the new colour. Wrap until the entire ring is covered in yarn.

Step 5: Make your embellishments. For this wreath I made some tiny yarn balls by wrapping yarn around even tinier balls of paper and some tiny crochet hooks using thin wire.

For the wreaths pictured above, I crocheted hearts, a four-leaf clover, and a tiny bow. I also made an arrow with a skewer and some felt, and some felt glasses which are glued onto thin wire to keep them from sagging.

Step 6: Hot glue your embellishments into place. I made three tiny yarn balls and I added two crochet hooks, because just one looked unbalanced. 

Step 7: Add a badge back with more hot glue. 

Step 8: Put it on and insist everyone admire it; it's finished! ^_^

Yay! If you make one, I'd love to see it! ^_^

Have an awesome weekend!

- Lisa x

Star Wars Valentine Card

Hi! How are you today? I had a great day ^_^ I had nothing planned so I spent my day knitting and reading Ranger's Apprentice - not at the same time, though, I haven't yet mastered that skill ^_^ 

Also, I made this Star Wars Valentine Card! I know there is still quite a while to go before February, but it never hurts to be prepared, right? ^_^

You can download the .pdf file for this card from my Google Drive, or click here to download the same card but with a pop of red on the words ^____^

I've printed some out on white card, which looks really good, but I am planning on getting some coloured card as well to print on which I think will really make the graphic design pop! ^_^

Happy (very advanced!) Valentines Day!

- Lisa x