Links and stuff

Rachel at One Pretty Thing keeps finding the best of the best links. Really truly. Like miniature caramel and chocolate apples. We got apples and caramels and we are using cut down skewers  instead of lollipop sticks. (My Homespun Threads- includes a printable bag topper)
Or Edible eyeball eggs which just thrill me on so many levels. (A Bit of This and A Bit of That blog)
And this free pattern for a bat is so cute it's just irresistible. (Whosies)

Speaking of bat patterns, I have one here for this crocheted bat. Works up super fast and also works well in thread. My son has a tiny thread bat on his keyring.

We are planning to make dry ice ice cream this weekend, and possibly frozen hot cocoa using the same method.

Still working on a collection of shortbread recipes that will be available as an e-book in the next couple of weeks. My family is starting to get sick of shortbread I think.

Candy Corn Striped Cupcake Box

Using the stripe from the candy corn treat box and the cupcake box template, I made this cupcake box for you.

 

Click on the images for the full size 100 ppi versions.

About glitter-

Not really related to the boxes, but does anyone else have glitter issues with their husbands? Glitter is a craft transmitted disease you know. No matter how careful you are, some wanders. I'm not always careful. Our home has an ambient glitter level, and all of us have a sparkle of glitter somewhere on ourselves. Last year I told my 18 yo son he had glitter on his face. He shrugged, indicated the living room with a wave of the hand. Like "I'm supposed to avoid sparkling in this house?". Some of my husband's co-workers assume he's going to a local strip club regularly since he's always got a sparkle somewhere on him. The stuff just endures. We vacuum, I try to get it all up. But there it is. The sparkle of glitter. We are the Glitterati. Marked by E's and my love for the stuff. We use it on fairy wands, I stencil with it, I use it in resin. I'm half magpie and can't resist the sparkle. So when Andrea of The Paper Purse suggested using glitter on  the paper snails I passed on the suggestion to my poor suffering but very sparkly husband. He says I don't need enabling in my glitter addiction, but did ask if we of the Glitterati had a secret handshake. I said "Yes. We wave hands with glitter dust on them so the glitter shimmers, and some always comes off to mark the spot we met in."

Practicing hand sewing

I haven't sewn anything but beaded things or joining things that are knitted or crocheted in a long time. So last night I decided to make up some things with a remnant of fabric I got while my daughter was picking up rems for her dolls.
There are a lot of great instructions for backstitching on the net. I like these because it's a quick guide to a lot of types of stitches.
I backed the motifs I cut out of the fabric with felt, and for the pin I reinforced the spot I put the pin on the back with buttons. Because sometimes a knot will just pull right through felt, instead of knotting it then pulling the needle and thread through the felt, I put the needle and thread through the button, felt, button, around the safety pin then back down through another hole in the button,felt, and the button that would wind up on the inside, then knotted the tail to the working thread with a tight surgeon's knot. Proceeded to sew the pin on securely using the holes in the buttons, and tied it with a couple of half hitches, then did a small running stitch up to the edge to sew the edges together. Sewed it about 3/4s of the way around, stuffed, finish stitching it.

 

I like how rough they look. I'm planning to make more pins this way. The hair slides I made for my daughter.They are just motifs stitched to felt, then stitched into place on bobby pins.

Duct Tape Shield

My son needed a shield to go with his Captain America teeshirt to turn a teeshirt and a pair of jeans into a very casual costume. We planned on getting him one from Hot Topic but they were sold out. So his sister and I talked and decided we could do something with duct tape.

We got rolls of duct tape and went through the boxes we've saved for such things to find ones big enough that we could make it. It turned out the largest base we could make using one box was about 27 inches in diameter using two half circles taped together.

We talked and decided that doing duct tape appliques was probably beyond both our skills. But we are both fair hands with covering things in duct tape, so we planned it out that way. This is what the shield is supposed to look like.

 

So after consideration, we decided the easiest way was in 4 shapes. The large round red base, a ring in white, a round piece covered with blue and the star.

 

So we started cutting up and assembling boxes into the necessary pieces. The ring because of box size limitations had to be done in 4 sections, so we used a pencil and a piece of yarn to mark the initial quarter ring and then used that very carefully to make the other 3. Butted the ends and taped it together.

 

The first part we covered the back first using a roll of black duct tape we had and going across the length, turning, and going across until we had the whole thing covered. Then we flipped it over and did the red the same way turning the ends of the tape over to the back side of the shield.

Then we taped up the ring using short strips and wrapping them around one at a time until the whole thing was covered. We covered the blue circle the same way we did the big red circle. Then taped up the star.

After we got all the pieces covered, we used double sided duct tape to put everything together, but foam tape would have worked as well. We burnished it down tightly.

The straps are strips of doubled duct tape taped securely in place.

The basic technique will work for any shield I think. You could also do cresty type cut outs or hot glue designs then cover the shield with used aluminum foil and burnish it down to make a fancy decorated metal shield.

William was very happy with his shield. I know my son, 18 or not, he will hang it in his room and display it with pride for years. My dad was absolutely impressed with it.