Pumpkins for Big Boys

Hey, did you know that I still have other kids? It’s true! So the other night, while I was sitting in the living room contemplating the future of my babies in the hospital (people say, “Melissa! How are you doing so much right now?!” and the answer is that I have a team of nurses and a medical staff providing round-the-clock care to my twins, and they really don’t like me to spend all day there. I need things to do.) I decided to make something awesome for my big boys.

There’s not much to them - just two sheets of orange felt sewn together in the shape of pumpkins (with a stem inserted) but they sure look pretty.

I also cut little pockets in the back -

and used some purple felt (the craft store here didn’t have black) to make jack-o-lantern face pieces. That way, you can store the pieces inside of the pumpkins, and then you can make awesome faces like these:

Heeheehee. I had a lot of fun making the pieces. My kids and I get along really well. Anyway, Max and Charlie lost no time making their own creations:

Those things on either side of the nose are cheeks. I asked. As you can see, the felt clings lightly to itself, allowing for the jack-o-lanterns to be picked up but permitting easy removal. Good times.

Charlie made that face all by himself, too. He’s getting so big! *sniffle*

Now that I’ve made these, I can think of a million other things to make in a similar vein…watch out, you may see more felt creations in the future!

Just Some Finishing Left

So, I logged on and realized that, once again, I haven’t blogged for nearly a month (although for once, I had more than enough to blog about). I deleted a record number of spam comments in a variety of languages - even some jokes - and now I have something to show off. Just a couple of projects I’ve been working on all year … now they’re almost finished.

And, not to brag, but I think they’re some of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen.

Our twins arrived this week, more than a month before their due date. I don’t even have blog pseudonyms picked out for them yet! (Despite that, both of them weighed 5 pounds and change at their birth. We are all impressed.) They only need a little bit of finishing up before they’re ready to come home with us - probably about two weeks in the hospital - and then we will be on our way back home.

Max and Charlie are over the moon.

I’ll try not to wait so long for the next post, this time.

How to Make a Magazine Organizer - for Free*

*Or, near enough as makes no never mind, as Mom used to say.

We have a bit of a magazine problem at our house. Or I suppose, to be more precise, a magazine storage problem. That’s what happens when someone buys every magazine they see with a motorcycle on the front.

At any rate, something must be done!

You will need:

• A large, empty cereal box
• Scissors
• A ruler or straight-edge
• A marker, pen, pencil, etc.
• Tape
• Wrapping paper

Step 1: Cut off the flaps on top.

Step 2: Mark the box from corner to corner on each side (make sure you have the top of the line on the same side on each side).

Step 3: Cut down the line, across the short side of the box (at the crease) and up the other line in one piece. You really need the cut-off portion to be in one piece.

Step 4: Flip it over so the top is at the bottom. Use the magazines to measure how far you need to scoot it over so they’ll fit. Tape the pieces together securely (don’t forget the bottom!) all around, inside and out.

Step 5: Mark around from the bottom of one “V” to the bottom of the “V” on the other side. (Make sure you’re doing this to the piece you taped on, and not the big piece.)

Step 6:  Cut across the line.

And it works! But, if (like me), you object to Kung-fu Panda and packing tape in your decorating, continue:

Step 7: Wrap the magazine holder. (This will require some wrapping-fu.)

(I made a straight cut down from the top to accommodate the weird  angle. ALSO - be sure to tape the wrapping paper down on the inside, ALL the way around. This will help minimize wear and tear as the magazines go in and out.)

Is it macho? No. Is it elegant? Ummmmm….maybe? No. But it works.

So there you go! See? No power tools, no problem.

Gemstone Goodies

So, I got some fun things in the mail.

Malachite, amethyst, lapis lazuli, and cultured freshwater pearls - not to mention some shiny gold beads and findings and a very nice set of red jasper focal components.

Fire Mountain Gems is a fun place to shop.

I also picked up a spiffy beading board:

which is AWESOME for laying out necklaces. Instead of just stringing beads to see how they look, you can measure how long you want your necklace to be and start in the middle, working your way to the fastening. You can also lay out more than one strand at a time, which is massively useful, since trying to design a multi-strand necklace on the fly is far more complicated than one might expect.

So, I made this today…and I like it. :)  Max is pretty smitten with the hearts, too.

In other news, a Hitler cat has been hanging around our porch for the last three days. The kids, of course, have gone nuts over it and it’s been almost all I can do to keep them from rushing out “to rub it.” Now, I don’t have anything against cats. I like cats. (I’m also allergic to cats, but that hasn’t stopped me from being friends with cats in the past.) I do, however, have serious qualms about letting my kids go ‘play’ with a random stray cat that just hangs around and stares at us. Hopefully it will move on quickly, and this will soon be but a happy memory.

It occurs to me that the sliding door needs washing.

How to Make a Necklace Holder

I was poking around the internet the other day when I ran across this homemade necklace organizer. It looked neat, simple, useful . . . well within my carpentry and crafting skills…and I decided to give it a go.

I assembled my materials: a nice bamboo silverware organizer, seven carefully assorted drawer pulls, a roll of contact paper, and a large picture hanger.

Step 1: Drill holes.

Step 2: Tentatively insert first strip of contact paper.

Step 3: Realize that the contact paper really looks like nothing more than contact paper, and that there’s not any reason to cover the pretty, pretty bamboo backing.

Step 4: Ditch contact paper.

Step 5: Insert first drawer pull.

Step 6: Realize that the screws for the pulls are far, far too long to be useful in such a thin material.

Step 7: Begin grinding off the ends of screws with a gutless battery-operated Dremel that was not charged after last use. Be sure to hold the screws with your bare fingers and scrounge a pair of sunglasses for eye protection from the powdered shrapnel.

Step 8: Stop to briefly charge battery.

Step 9: Grind through the screw another fraction of an inch.

Steps 10-17: Repeat steps 8 and 9 alternately.

Step 18: Make it through the first screw.

Step 19: Plug battery back into charger and find something else to do.

Step 20: Wait three hours.

Step 21: With the power of electricity, rapidly grind through five more screws.

Step 22: Grind the final screw too short to be useful.

Step 23: Cry.

Step 24: Poke through the garage until you find the gallon ziplock of “assorted hardware” that you know is in there.

Step 25: Spend ten minutes trying to fit various screws into the pull.

Step 26: Find a suitable screw! Attach final pull to holder.

Step 27: Gently tap nails for picture hanger into back of necklace organizer.

Step 28: Split wood bamboo, whatever.

Step 29: Find and consume chocolate.

Step 30: Carefully clamp split back together with tape. Yes. Tape.

Step 31: With power drill and tiny bit, slowly predrill holes for nails.

Step 32: Successfully affix  hanger to back.

(Please notice it is now night.)

Step 33: Hammer nail into bedroom wall.

Step 34: Hang necklace holder and adorn with jewelry.

Step 35: Swear off any project involving power tools for at least six months.

…At least it looks nice with all the light wood in my bedroom.

All That Glitters is Not Gold

…but this is.

I thought - since I was wearing it to church today anyway - I’d share some new jewelry that I made a week or so ago. Hmm. You know what’s harder than taking a picture of a hat you’re wearing? Trying to get a good shot of the jewelry you have on. Let’s try again:

Right. Well, as you can see this is a necklace-and-earring  set; chains and findings are gold-plated (cheaper but still nice, shiny, and hypoallergenic) and all the beads are amber. Here’s a shot of one of the earrings:

Amber beads are attached to the 5-loop hoop finding with good ol’ headpins. Of course, the necklace is the piece I’m most excited about, and I finally had to take it off to get a decent shot of it.

Not a great shot, (the sun is not shining on us today) but a decent shot. This it the first piece I’ve ever made with chain and I think it looks great; it was also much easier to make this style of necklace than I’d thought it would be. You just stick an eyepin (or, in my case, a decapitated headpin with one end looped) through a bead and round the other end with your handy-dandy round-nosed pliers: ta-da! You have a beaded link to attach to your chain segments. The two strands were joined with  jump rings, which were then threaded through the loops of the lovely toggle closure. A bit time-consuming, but not difficult.

I’m really pleased with the set; I wanted something formal enough to wear with dresses but casual enough to wear with jeans and a nicer casual shirt.  Bingo! Plus, the colors go really well with brown….and I wear so much brown that Greg makes fun of me for it. Whatever. I think I look nice in warm browns and golds.

More Fun with the Peanut Gallery

So, day three of reef construction: our first school of fish.

Question. How many tiny fish can you cut out of one piece of orange construction paper? Answer. 52. Yeah. I think I need to buy a roll of double-sided tape. That would really make this whole endeavor easier, especially as we add more and more fish. Max has started asking for a blue whale; I need to see if I can convince him that they don’t inhabit reefs. I think it’s going to be a tough sale.

In other news, what do you do when the kids get antsy?

Why, haul out a cardboard box, of course. My mom used to make the best cardboard box creations, from mazes to forts to whatever you call it when you cut out a hole for a face and draw something on the outside.

We took a trip to the Arts and Crafts store for some tempera paint and big brushes, and one painting blowout in the driveway (plus some drying time) later, we had something really fun.

They had so much fun painting….obviously I did the crab and the whale, but those kids were not afraid to get their brushes dirty. (Only their fingers.)

We even made up a little song about the crab that Max thought was hilarious and Charlie thought was irritating. Charlie has to be in a specific mood to enjoy my singing, and apparently pretending to be a crab doesn’t cut it.

“Noooo, Mommy, stop singing.”

Good Morning

I’ve been feeling pretty under the weather lately (ironic, since the weather lately has been gorgeous). Things are looking up this morning, though (ironic again, since today is the first day in recent weeks to be gray and rainy), and I thought I’d fire off a blog post. I haven’t had much interest in crocheting - the whole sick thing, you know - but I read a few books and, as always, the kids kept me busy. Max’s love of all things aquatic continues unabated. We’re going on four months here, which is easily the longest he’s obsessed over anything besides the perennial favorite, cars and motorcycles. In recognition of that, I’ve started making things for him…we’ve started building a reef on his bedroom wall, for instance.

Reef construction: Day 1! I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to draw, or render, or create a coral reef, but it’s pretty complex. A lot of different shapes and creatures, a lot of different colors and details. This is what we managed the second day.

The cool thing is that we’re basing these off of real coral, so Max is learning to identify the different  species as we put them up. (The big red one is a seafan, for instance, and the large orange hard coral is called Elkhorn. There are also rocks. It’s educational.) Max says our reef is big enough for fish to live in now, so we may start adding more animals next. Although technically coral are animals. Whatever.

Despite everything, I actually started a crochet project the other day. I ran across Max’s baby blanket in a closet and realized that I had never photographed it for blogging or Ravelry, so I thought I would:

Aww. Five years ago, this was the most ambitious project I had ever attempted. Despite my inexperience, it turned out well. Anyway. I pulled out the pattern to enter it into my projects and, prompted by the I-haven’t-crocheted-in-weeks shakes, I decided to make the project on the cover.

It’s a striped baby bunting that I always thought was cute, from an old, old pamphlet - one I, ah, ‘acquired’ on the way out of my parents’ house. (Mom, if you want it, I’ll mail it back, I swear.) Greg says it looks like an old blanket. Isn’t he sweet?I’ve never had seven colors of the same yarn before, to make it, but I had a lot of leftovers from the boys’ striped hats and I thought I’d give it a go. It turned out to be spot on gauge with the Wool-Ease and the lovely rosewood hook I got at Christmastime…

So it’s shaping up to be a simple, cheerful, and very enjoyable project. Aside from the ends. Heaven help me…the ends.

Warm Weather On the Way!

Hey, um, I think I’ve managed to break comments on my blog. Normally I’d just assume no one was commenting, but I’ve completely stopped getting spam comments as well, so I’m pretty sure I’ve broken them. (Although, I have no idea how.) So, if anyone has a moment today to try and comment, I’d really appreciate it - and we’ll see if we can get things working again.

Edit: I think I’ve fixed it! Somehow the letter ‘o’ got on my comment blacklist, which means that if you posted a comment with an O in it it would have been incinerated at once. Sigh.

Anyway, I haven’t crocheted much this last month. I mean, I’ve crocheted some -

and that’s good progress, too. That poor guy’s been nothing but a neck since October. Still, he’s far from finished, and I can lay a large part of the blame on my newer time and money suck hobby, jewelry making. This month the sun came out…the snow melted…temperatures rose…and the Arts and Crafts store got a whole shipment of summery beads and materials. Cowrie shells, coconut beads, mother-of-pearl, abalone, tiger shells, hemp, and far, far more - and I was not immune to their lazy tropical call.

Enough to bedeck a whole beach party, I know, but they’re just so cheerful! After all, why not? It’s WARM! It’s SUNNY! It’s SPRING! It’s….

Snowing? Now that is not even right.

Happy February!

Well! January was fun, and I’m sure I did a better job with the Inner Child Crochet birthday celebration than I did last year. Next year, I hope, will be better yet! February has been good to us so far.

My husband is back! Yay! As a result I haven’t been spending as much time on crochet as I have over the last few months, but as it happens I have something else to show:

It’s a mug! (It’s a huge mug.) I painted this a few weeks ago at the Arts and Crafts store, but it sat around until they had a full load to stick in the kiln so I only picked it up last Saturday. It’s adorable.

Adorable, and cheerful, and awesome. I’m so pleased with how it turned out. It was my first time glazing anything, and in case you didn’t know, glazes are not the same color before they are fired as they are after. In this case, the blue was a wet-cement gray, the white was dirty, and the green was muddy chartreuse. Nice. Fortunately the shop had a book with the colors the paints would become, and so I was able to make a good guess as to which to use, but it was an act of faith. (I’m not even going to go into the thick triple layer of mint green I had to put over my careful painting…) Anyway, it was fun, and now I have a mug the size of a cereal bowl: just what I’ve always wanted.

I’d like to point out that this month we celebrate our first full year in Japan, so over the next few weeks I hope to show a little bit more of the country and culture than I have yet.