Thursday, March 18, 2010

Kaotic be thy name

*Warning: This is a long post with lots of good stuff. You may want to get a drink or take a potty break before starting!*

I picked KaoticKrafter for a reason. When it comes to crafting, I never seem able to settle on one type of craft, or even one item within a single day, let alone a week! And with Emma being at Gramma's this week, I have been super busy trying to get a bunch of stuff done. When she gets home, I want to be able to spen more time with her. It feels like I have been neglecting her lately, so a week at Gramma's, spending lots of one-on-one time with both Gramma and Aunty Sara is just what she needs. It also gives me a much needed break and eases my guilt. I LOVE Emma, I LOVE being a mom. There is nothing I would rather be then Emma's mom, but sometimes just a few days to recharge is really needed. Makes for a happier family.

So, enough about me feeling guilty, on to the fun stuff I have made this week - though had Emma been here, her ideas and input would have made them better :)

I have no idea what order I made things in. I can't even remember what day of the week it is. But lets start with what I made today. This:


I am not sure if it is going to be a shirt or a dress. I will finish it when Emma gets home. I made this because on Monday, we got family photos taken by Paula at This Day Photography. Paula is an awesome lady and you can look forward to a separate post about her studio and all the fun things we have planned! For now, I just want to tell you that I made this for Emma to wear for a project Paula has in mind.

Here are a few more up close pics:


When I woke up this morning, I checked my normal sites and was delighted to see that Jen at Just Jingle had another awesome quick craft project. So, I made two.


And doesn't this one look awesome with Emma's new shirt/dress?


Let's see, what else? Oh, yeah! My sister, Melisa, and her hubby, Dave, had their baby on St. Patty's day. Her name is Friden. She was 6lbs 12oz and 19" long. She was a little blue at birth due to the umbilical cord being wrapped around her neck, but she is doing well now and should be going home tomorrow. Melisa is doing well also!

For the last few days I have been thinking about Melisa, Friden, and Dave a lot, and I knew they needed a few things, so I got to work.


I made 7 burp clothes and 10 nursing pads. I wanted to make a blanket for swaddling, but I didn't want to use anything to hot. Melisa lives in AZ, so flannel is out of the question. I stopped at Joann's today and picked up some jersey knit so I will be working on that tomorrow.

I have a question about the burp clothes. Which one do you like best? The white ones are made of t-shirts (4 layers for all white, 2 t-shirt layer with green fabric for other). The other 4 are made of a recycled towel smooshed between 2 pieces of cotton. I love the frayed edges, what about you?

Moving on...

I started a twitter account today. You can find me here: KaoticKrafter. I am slowly learning, so if you have tips, tricks, or advice, feel free to share!

What would I do with out my hubby? I am sitting here trying to remember what I have been making, and he is right there to help me out. He reminded me about this next item (I think it's his favorite).

I was laying in bed a few nights ago, crafty thoughts running chaotically (see, the name fits) through my tired brain, when my thoughts stopped on dino's. I got to wondering why there wasn't more clothes and other stuff out there for girls who love dino's...

My mother-in-law rocks (that would be Gramma). She bought a Cricket cutter thing a while ago. She let me play with it and I got hooked. Now she kindly parts with it when I ask to borrow it, which we are doing now. While shopping the other day, Emma and I discovered that the cartridges where on sale. We bought a dinosaur one, because, well, Emma loves dino's.

I ask you, what do you get when you mix a Cricket Cutter, a dinosaur cartridge, and some cute girl's clothes? I am not sure what you would get, but this is what I got:



I used the Cricket to cut out a few different dino's then I traced them onto some fabric. At first I was using a fading fabric pen that only kinda faded. I like the way the lines looked from the pen, so I switched to permanent marker. I also like the way the stitching looks.

I need to do a little research about stamping onto fabric. I want to add the words, "Chicks Dig Dino's Too!" to the front of the shirt, but I am to lazy to cut out all the letters then sew or fuse them on there. Plus, I think it might be neat to stamp, or let Emma stamp, onto the shirt. I have scrapbooking stamps, but I don't know if that will wash out in the washer or not. Do you know?

And yes, that is how I got the idea for dino's on Friden's burp clothes.

Oh, I almost forgot about these guys. I have to go take some quick pics, so now might be another good time for a drink/ bathroom break...

Ha ha, funny thing. As I went to take pictures of these two little guys-


I remember that I made these,


these,


this,


this,

and last, SWAG for Des Moines, IA's Swap-O-Rama-Rama (see side bar for info).


In the interest of not keeping you up as late as me, I won't go into much detail for those last items, but if you are interested, feel free to contact me!

Thanks for sticking with me throughout this entire, really long post!

(edited 3-18-10 11:00pm- I don't have much in my shops right now, but that will be changing soon!)

5 comments:

  1. Your necklaces look FANTASTIC! I am loving those braided dolls, too!!! I think you may need to post more about those...or don't...I will probably not be able to wait that long. That may be a weekend project if I remember! LOL! SO cute!

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  2. Actually, the braided dolls where another laying in bed all night with thoughts running through my head idea. I wanted to make a felted doll that was very baby safe. The first one I made was the bigger on, and he came out a little floppy. When I grabbed his arm and flung him around, he stretched out. Lesson learned? Use stiffer felt and wider strips. That is what I did for doll #2. I braid the legs and arms first. Then I poke some felt between the braid in the legs and machine stitch it down (hand stitch would work also). I braid it till I feel the body is big enough, then I poke the three strands through the arms. I then stitched the three pieces of felt against the arms. I liked that I had enough felt left to make the head from the body strips. Pretty much impossible for his head to come off that way. I finished braiding what was sticking out from the arms, rolled it, and hand stitched it in place using embroidery floss. That is it. A pretty quick and fun project, my favorite! (Oh, and if you hand stitch everything, you could do this in the car or in front of the t.v).

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  3. Aren't you the crafty one? Love those braided dolls! My mom used to make something similar! :)

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