Author Archives: Christy - The Manic Crafter™

About Christy - The Manic Crafter™

I've been The Manic Crafter™ for years I'm just getting this blog up and running again though, lol. Other than that I wish I was still 29, that my toddler liked to go to bed on time, that my teens liked cleaning, and I wish my dog could let himself out.

Planting Food 2012

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So my youngest daughter and I are on a getting ready to plant kick and every box and small container in the house is currently filled with dirt and freshly planted seeds.  This was our Spring into Summer project and the best part is it took maybe 10 minutes every couple days to get where were are right now!  And where are we right now?  Well we’re out of soil and little containers but not seeds, lol.

Food Seeds Planted

April 5th: Detroit Dark Red Beets-Sprouted April 9th

April 5th: Oregano- Sprouted April 9th

April 5th: Chives- Sprouted April 11th

April 5th: Sweet Basil- Sprouted April 11th

April 6th: Nanets Carrots- Sprouted April 11th

April 6th: Danvers Carrots-Not yet sprouted :-)

April 6th: White Libson Bunching Onions- Sprouted April 11th

April 6th: Sugar Snap Peas- Sprouted April 9th

April 9th: Cherokee Purple Tomatoes- not yet sprouted

April 11th Top Crop Bush Green Beans- newly planted today

April 11th: Dark Red Kidney Beans- newly planted today

April 11th Royal Burgundy (Green) Beans- newly planted today

 

Some of these will be grown outside, some will be grown in containers, and we’re going to grow the tomatoes upside down.  We have another different bunch of seeds to plant yet including 2 onions, 2 squashes, corn, eggplant, watermelon radishes, turnips, etc but we have to wait for the pots to free up and more soil to be purchased so it looks like all those plus 3 other types of tomatoes for sauce will go in most likely on the 21st.

 

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Knitting A Red Riding Hood…part 1

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So, the wonderful Michelle and I are doing a private swap I’m getting two extra pillow covers that match the ones she’s already done up for me in the Crafted Cushion Cover Swap and I’m making her a knit red riding hood that she had on her pinterest.  I said I’d go ahead and post photos as I go along of how I’m making it on the knitting machine and thus this post :-)

 

Source: etsy.com via Michelle on Pinterest

 

And here is what it is supposed to look like.  So I went over to Etsy to the shop of the lady who makes these and low and behold the pattern is available for purchase for only $5!  What a deal right?

Wrong!  This is me trying to decipher the atrocious directions, lol.  There are only a couple actual photos in the pattern and I’m trying to figure out for the life of me why the woman decided to construct what should have been simple into so many sections with horrible looking (in the back) seam.  Not even worth translating into a machine knit pattern, if I could I’d ask for a refund but it’s an E-pattern :::shrug:::  So I’m going to be making my own pattern, lets face it a cabled hood is not original I just purchased the pattern to expedite the process…or so I thought.

 

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Pillow Cover Swap @ Craftster- Items Sent by me

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So I’ve sent off 3 pillow covers to two separate swap partners and they should be getting them any day now so I thought that I would post them here to share for those of you who aren’t on craftster :-)

side 1 ok, it looks wonky with the pillow I put in but it's really not, lol, some of the pleats in the reverse applique are larger on the right side and bulged when stuffed

side 2

cover opening for changing out

2 pillows unfinished on one side for stuffing for second partner

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transfer photo to canvas…COOL!

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I was futzing around today and as is wont to happen sometimes you read something on facebook that leads you to pinterest that leads you to a tutorial on someone elses site and that’s what happened to me and I hope that my camera battery is recharged because little Bella and I are about to make a canvas with a photo on it :-)

Here’s the tutorial at A Beautiful Mess

I only had craft glue though and I have a bubble jet printer :-/ it’s drying at the moment so we’ll see what happens…cause I think I went overboard with the glue, lol, so it’s going to take forever.

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Super Cute Headband Turban and Regular Ladies Turban

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Ok, so I’m doing a make me a hat thing right now and my partner likes turbans so I’m going to do a couple for her, lol. I’m doing a normal and a headband one and I thought I would share the neat tutorials I’d found.

First, for a basic full coverage ladies turban tutorial go to http://www.sewing.org/html/turban.html

Or for a bit more close up and slightly different directions go to http://www.madamebfatale.com/2011/12/13/turban-a-diy-tutorial/

And second for the headband turban just check out this simple video below.

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What almost got sent for *The Elder Scrolls Swap*

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So, I alllllmost sent a faux wood grain box that I had previously done as a treasure chest of sorts but I just couldn’t figure out what kind of lock I was going to put on it in the end.  I think it’s because I thought I made a shoebox look too good to mar it with anything, lol.

Don’t ask how I did it I just googled a bunch of tutorials but in the end I just ended up looking at the box, looking at the picture of the wood grain that I wanted it to resemble and just let my heart guide me :-)

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Sometimes Walmart is Okay

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Yeah, I went there, but in my defense all the Food Lions have closed around here and I needed a piece of felt plus some groceries at the same time since I wasn’t driving my SIL’s car all over while mine’s in the shop :::sigh:::

Anyway I met some awesome folks there today back in the craft department!  It’s really nice to meet genuinely nice people when we’re out and about in our daily lives :-) So I reckon today I have to say thank you to Wally World.

Unfortunately Wally took me for 3 Bens but what can ya do?  A family’s got to eat, lol.

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Pillow Cover Swap

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So I just got my partners for the Crafted Cushion Cover Swap over at Craftster… yeah I got two because I don’t mind doing 2 different covers, lets face it pillows are not rocket science unless you’re doing something extravagant, lol. And I’m here to tell you there is ALWAYS enough fabric in my stash to make just about anything pillow-ish.  The only thing I need to pick up for this swap is a piece of grey felt because I don’t have any?  Not sure where it went, lol.  Anyway one of the ladies has an AWESOME pillow pinned that I am going to be making for my sister for her birthday.  Only Liz’s pillows will say something more along the lines of Love, Hope, & ,Wine  Anyway I’ll let you know when I have the tutorial up.

 

 

 

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The Crafts of Skyrim (Completed)

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Yes, I finished, lol.  My initial info from my partners questionnaire  was:

Anything you would like to receive? Anything!! I love practical/wearable stuff, and I really love subtle references. Trinkets are fun too, though, and I’ve started a hoopla wall so hoops are always great
Race of choice? I tend to play Redguard but I like Britons a lot. Khajiit are pretty awesome, too
What is your role on the battlefield? Tank! Heavy armor, greatswords, brute strength. I am the most unsubtle ever.
Stormcloak or Imperial? I’m doing Imperial on my first runthrough, though I’m kind of noncommittal about it… I’m kind of a Companion before anything else.
What hold would you consider home? Whiterun <3

Good communication also got me:

Colors Loooove dark red! I do a lot of reds and blacks. Love purples too… jewel tones, generally.
Metals Usually silvers. I like copper and brass a lot, too, though. (I’ve definitely got a bit of a steampunk streak in me  Tongue)

and:

Definitely a foodie – though I get lazy about cooking a lot of the time! It’s just me and my roommate, so we don’t cook super often. But I love food!

 

So after a bit of debate I couldn’t bring myself to actually embroider on the scarf/face muffler so it stayed the same as seen in The Crafts of Skyrim (almost done) so I left it as it was and it goes with the faux hide boots nicely. I of course had already finished The Tastes of Skyrim For the Real World cookbook. The paper box is already printed… but I had a couple things left to do, mainly the first thing that I had an idea for to begin with which was a setting of 3 artworks put into a frame, the problem with this one was that I really didn’t want to mail a frame (that also got a bit of crafting done to it) with glass so being the crafter that I am I found a way around that and though I don’t have a pic of that at the moment here is the artwork I did that went into it.

 

And of course I couldn’t forget that into every life a bit of fabric must come, and in this case it’s the over apron and hood in purple ;-)

Ultra Suede baby!  And honest to goodness screw on Nordic looking concho button things :::grin:::

Oh… And last but not least some nifty hand towels with a nice trim added.

Dragon Scrapbook Paper

Now I just need to get to the post office, wait til she receives, and hope to heck she likes it all cause I did go a bit overboard, lol.

Complete list:

  • Boots
  • Muffler
  • Cookbook
  • Artwork
  • Box papercraft
  • Apron
  • Hood
  • Towels
  • Dragon themed scrapbook paper I found
  • 2 Valentines Day wedding flutes for giggles
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Ok folks I just cannot say enough about this site.  Bella LOVES it!  She was able to design her own avatar and everything. She does fun activities while learning and with the reward tickets she gets from doing activities she’s managed to learn about spending and make herself a virtual hamster world, lol. And even better she’s constantly singing songs like the uber jazzy “amazing letter A” and learning new words in the process.  So anyway you can get some sample lessons but lemme tell ya it’s a small price to pay every month to have kiddo get her head chocked full of fun learning. If you know a kiddo between 2-6 (cause they’ve got a full range of goodies) then I know they’re going to love this too.

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