A New Project in the Works

I adore Shoji lanterns! These table lamps are usually made out of paper and wood and are modeled after the doors in traditional Japanese architecture. Usually they are in the shape of a tall cube, but there are some beautiful variations I've found on Etsy. (image on the right is from handmadethai on Esty)

So why am I talking about paper lanterns?(image below is from earthsteps on Etsy)


I have an idea for some really cool video game themed modern table lamps made in the style of shoji lanterns. I'd like to branch out into making some useful items for the home or office. I have the plans all drawn out, and I ordered more beads. I am so excited to get working on this, but I have to wait for them to ship me my beads first!

In my next post I will be talking about how to make a bead sprite. It's no secret, and anyone can do it! This tutorial will have photos too, so you won't get lost. ;D

New Items For Winter!

I have been adding my new winter items to my Etsy shop!


Fuzzy Orange Fox

Check out the adorable Blue Penguin, and my cute little Green Christmas Bunny. Expect to see more in the next few days! I have been busy working on these guys, and now it is time to unveil them!

Ghosties

I know Halloween is over, but I just wanted to show off these two Boo ghosts I made for a custom order. I had never made them before, and it took me a few trys to get the pattern just right. These are based off of some baddies in the Mario games. They aren't very big, but they sure turned out cute!


I got a new USB SD card reader, so I can get my penguins and foxes up on Etsy soon! I'll make a new post once I get some up!

Custom orders done!

I just finished a few custom orders, and it's time to put some new winter items up!

Unfortunately, my USB memory card reader is broken! I ordered a new one from Amazon, so once that comes in I can put up my new items.

The Hello Kitty necklace was a custom order that was really fun to do! The customer wanted a very large Hello Kitty face on a chain made from Perler beads. It is over 6 inches wide!

Another custom order was for Zombunnies in orange, blue, pink, green, and purple. I also made a set of turtles and some ghosts for this person, making this the biggest custom order yet!

I love custom orders, and I can make pretty much anything you can throw at me!

Once I can get my pictures off the memory card you can expect to see penguins, Christmas bunnies, foxes, and more!

Coming soon...

Lets face it. The kids love penguins!

Every Christmas you see them in all their cute cuddly splendor, waddling through the snow and drinking Coke with Polar Bears. It's too bad people don't realize that Penguins live at the South Pole, and Polar Bears live at the North Pole.

So what eats these cute little animals? Sea Lions of course! Watch The Pebble and The Penguin and enjoy the wonderful voice acting talents of Martin Short and Tim Curry. It's animated by the late Don Bluth, and worth a watch just for that reason alone. Oh, and it's all about adorable animated penguins!

By the way, if I am spouting off any wrong information let me know. I don't feel like checking Wiki. Instead I am relying on my vast knowledge of animal facts.

For this Christmas season I am introducing a new animal I developed a pattern for. Can you guess what it is? I also am looking for suggestions on other Christmas animals to make. Maybe Polar Bears? I don't know! Leave a comment with your suggestion on a animal for Chirstmas!

Well, here are the first two Penguins so far...

Actually I am selling them in a Craft Show Oct. 16th-18th in Pearl City, IL out by where I moved to a few weeks ago. I wanted to be in the show in Galena, IL... sadly registration closed last March and it costs $75 for a booth! I might go to it this weekend when my mom visits, but it may be too crappy with the cold rain that has been plaguing us recently.

I am open for custom orders! For any order of ten or more items I take %50 off. These guys are only about 3 inches tall and make great stocking stuffers, decorations, or ornaments for your tree!

I'll post again in November when I list them. Hopefully I will sellout at the show and rebuild my Penguin army in time for Christmas!

Please Vote for Me!

I submitted two items for the Craft Juice Halloween Contest. There are prizes for the winners, and I'm hoping to win this year! There aren't too many submissions right now, so my chances of getting ahead are pretty good.

To vote for my items just click on the links below and click the vote box next to the title.

Pumpkitten and Powder Puff Bats

Keeping up with the Zombies

I've been making more Zombunnies than I ever expected, but I've also designed a few new patterns for creepy cute Halloween characters!

A while back someone asked me if I would consider selling some of my patterns, but I have mixed feelings about that. Zombunny is a hard pattern if you don't know how to switch colors properly. Also, I just switch at random to make each of them unique. In fact, I have no written pattern for Zombunny. I just have it memorized, which is easy to do when you have to keep making them over and over!

I'm not a big fan of selling patterns, but I have posted a free pattern on this blog before, and I have one pattern for sale in my Etsy shop. Maybe in the future I will sell more patterns, but right now I'm not too motivated to do that.

If you are looking to buy a Zombunny and you don't see one in my shop...

It's because I ran out and I am making more! If you have a specific color you want, or if you want to buy more than one you can email me(davenevanxaviour@yahoo.com) and we can work something out. I do offer half off for bulk orders over 10 items, and I ship internationally.

Be sure to check out my Halloween section for spiders, bats, and other creepy cute Halloween items!

Zombunnies!

I love a good zombie movie every now and again. I just watched Shaun of the Dead again with my boyfriend, and I can't wait to see Zombieland this fall. Zombies movies are so entertaining and violent. :)

So far my Zombunnies are selling faster than I can keep up with! This time I have made three and listed them all at the same time. I'd hate for people to go to my Etsy shop looking for them and find that they are sold out! I will try to keep them listed as best as I can, but since each one is unique I have to photograph them each time.


You can find more Halloween items in my Etsy shop. I have plenty of cute bats and other creepy characters!

Halloween Preview

My favorite holiday is coming soon!

Halloween is only a few months away and I've started making some cute amigurumi to celebrate. I'm working on spiders, bats, and spooky farm animals.

Pictured above is Zombunny and Vampigula. There is a Frankenchicken on the way too! I am going to be selling them separately and in a set of three.

Click here to see my Halloween items!

Feathery Featured Seller

http://GaiaTroveChicago.etsy.com

I like the Shop Local feature on Etsy. It brought me to this user.

Feather accessories! I've noticed them popping up in stores, and spotted a few celebrities wearing them. You can dress up your look with a sleek feathery headband or feather earrings.

I love the iridescent shine a peacock feather has! Birds can have such beautiful feathers. Even sparrows have pretty little speckled feathers.

She has all different types of headbands to choose from. I prefer the standard plastic ones wrapped in fabric, but she also makes tie back and elastic ones.

Not into headbands? She also sells beautiful barrettes and earrings!

All of her items are made in a smoke-free environment and currently she is having a sale.

I just love this look! I am going to have to order one for myself, or just drop some hints to my boyfriend. ;)

Little foxes!

I love foxes.

They have always been my favorite animal, and it's about time I crochet some for my Etsy shop. So I came up with a pattern and tried it out a few weeks ago.

I am planning on making some solid colored ones too. I just really want to use up my multicolored yarn to make room for all my other skeins!

My Tiny Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

I've always loved Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I even have a few of the 2nd edition reprints of the original comics. Yes, before it was a movie(an awesome movie) it was a comic book series! The cartoon followed thereafter. I think I still have a VHS of two of the episodes.

Anyway, I've seen TMNT amigurumi dolls on various craft sites, but I thought I'd give it a try and make the chibi(super deformed) version of them!


So far I've sold 6 sets of them. I decided to stop making them ahead of time for now and list them as made to order. It will only add one more day to the shipping time since I can make them fairly quickly, but if I get multiple orders like I did Sunday I could get backed up a little.

Giveaway Winner!

Congratulations to Anna!

I picked her name from a hat...

Giveaways and Perler beads

My Giveaway ends in a week and a half!

Here are some other giveaways you might also be interested in:
Blue Box Studio
Designs by Vanessa

Now for an update about what I've been up to

I've been busy making bead sprites for a large custom order. I'm making pretty much all of the characters and props from Super Mario World 3. It is quite the project, but I'm making good progress so far! It's been encouraging since I haven't sold many bead sprites on Etsy thus far.

What is a bead sprite? I'll tell you!

In old school videogames(Atari, Sega, Nintendo, etc) the characters, enemies, and anything that moves is referred to as a sprite. A sprite is made up of pixels, and is animated. To make this craft project you use Perler beads(Hama beads too, but they are like the off-brand). Perler beads are marketed as a children's craft, but it's fun for adults too! You arrange plastic beads on a peg board and use a hot iron to melt them together to make a design. 1 pixel of the sprite = 1 Perler bead. This is how a bead sprite is made.

I've Gone Bananas

Well, to be fair I've always loved bananas. I have banana soap, banana lip balm, and banana body spray. So I just had to go with bananas as the theme of my treasury! One of the tastiest cookies I've ever made were frosted banana cookies from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook.

Here is my banana treasury:
(click here to go to the treasury)

If you want to enter my Banana Giveaway you can post a comment here, follow my blog, or scroll down to see all the ways you can enter!

Banana Giveaway

I created a banana pattern (click here to buy the pdf pattern from my shop), and now my demo banana needs a home!

There are many ways to enter your name into this giveaway, some ways get you more than one entry.

Ways to win this banana:
1. Post here leaving a comment.
2. Tell me what your favorite item in my Etsy shop is.
3. Post my giveaway on your blog, facebook, twitter, or other accounts and post the link(s) here.
4. Follow my blog.
5. Any purchases made in my etsy shop also receives an entry(let me know in seller notes, convo, or here).
6. Send a friend to my shop and if they purchase something you'll get an additional entry. (You must let me know who you sent once they make a purchase, so that I know who to give credit to).

I will draw the winning name on August 1st, 2009.
And so you know it's legitimate, I will upload a youtube video of me drawing a name from a hat.

*Make sure you leave your contact information so that I can notify you if you are the winner.*

How To Make A Magic Adjustable Ring

If you want to make amigurumi, or just crochet in the round without that hole at the end you started at, then you need to learn my favorite trick....

The Magic Adjustable Ring

Step 1: Wrap the yarn around your pointer and middle finger twice making sure that the end of the yarn sticks straight up, and is long enough that it is past the top of your finger(about a half an inch).

Step 2: From the right, take your crochet hook under all of the strings and draw the leftmost string out.



Step 3: The loop should still be on the hook as you go over all the strings to the leftmost string again and yarn over.

Pull it through the loop on the hook.

Pull up on the end of the string and the leftmost string to tighten it up.

At this point you can slip the ring off of your fingers and use your pattern to determine how many single crochets you need to make into the ring.

For example: if you are using a pattern that wants you to do this...
Ch 2, 6 sc in second chain from hook
Then just make 6 sc into the ring!

Step 4: Now that you have made however many sc into the ring as directed by your pattern you may tighten the ring by pulling on the free end of the string. Do NOT tighten all the way! The loop that shortens when you pull the string is what you need to pull to make the second loop tighten. (look at where my thumb is pulling at the strings in the images below)

Step 5: You may begin to crochet in the round into the sc that you made! Success!

There are other ways to make this if you are having a hard time with this method.
You can find videos on youtube by searching "crochet adjustable ring"

I've been featured!

Here are some blogs that I have been featured on recently:
Etsy Studios, Miss Malarky's DIY Blog, Garden Gwyn's Blog, Life's Big Canvas

Also, I have relisted a shop favorite; Tiny Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!

Amigurumi sale!

I am trying to get rid of some of my inventory to make room for new things, so I am offering some items for a reduced price(40%-50% off) with $2 shipping for US residents.

Click here for the sale!

This sale will be going on through August 30th, and whatever doesn't sell is not going to be relisted.

Also, check out my facebook fan page:

Link from Legend of Zelda

Link is finished!

This is the first Link I am selling on Etsy. It took more hours to make than I thought, but it was worth it. I'm not sure if I'm going to let this one be OOAK(one of a kind) or make another one in the future.

If you would like to purchase him here is the link to Link.

Coming soon... Blog giveaway!

I'm not sure what I will be giving away, but it will be something cool. More details to come later this week!

Toon Link Crochet

I love video games, especially the classics.

Link from Legend of Zelda is such a cool character, and he has many different designs as the years have gone by. Toon Link is one of my favorites because he's just so darn cute!

My boyfriend also really like him and has him tattooed on his arm.

This is my second try at crocheting Link. I hope my boyfriend dosen't steal it!

WARNING: This is not finished yet! I have to affix the eyes, brows, and embroider the mouth.

I also plan on adding a shield and sword. This item might be a little pricier than what I usually make, but there is a lot of work that has gone into it!

Pondering with a Slurpee

I usually go to the gym on Mondays, but this time on the way home I decided to stop by 7-Eleven for a Slurpee. It's probably not a good idea to fill your body with syrupy goodness after burning off calories and trying to get in shape. I don't care though. I'm not going to make it a habit!

So as I am sipping my Slurpee I started thinking about plarn. I love recycled and upcycled goods, but I have never made anything out of plarn. I am not interested in making bags or purses, so I am wondering what else would be made out of plarn? I want to make something useful...

If anyone has ideas I'd love to hear them!

Or if you want to make your own plarn here is how:

http://www.plasticbagcrafts.com/make-plarn/

Hearts

I've been making more hearts!

I really like how they have been turning out with a thicker yarn.

I'm going to be putting some crocheted jewelery in my Etsy shop soon. I want to clear out some inventory before I go adding more stuff. Now that I think about it, crocheted jewelery might not sell as well in the summer since it's pretty hot out and yarn can be a little warm around your neck. I guess it depends on the design.

Here is a sneak peak of an item I will be listing soon. It is made with shiny silver yarn, and a shiny pink yarn that has a sort of sparkle to it.

Heart Applique Pattern

Heart Applique

This pattern is free for personal use only, and is licenced by Creative Commons.

Materials:
You can really use any yarn and a small hook. I used Caron Simply Soft 4 medium worsted yarn, and a 33 1/4 mm hook (size D or 3).

Abbreviations:
ch ---- chain
st(s) -- stitch(es)
sc ---- single crochet
sl st -- slip stitch
hdc -- half double crochet
dc --- double crochet
tr --- treble

Important notes:
For R1 crochet into the ring. You will have to slide the stitches close together to be able to fit all of them in as you go along (see image below).

Directions:
ch 4, join with a slst into the first st. (this forms a ring)

R1: sc, hdc, dc, 2tr, dc, hdc, 2sc, hdc, 2tr, hdc, 2sc, hdc, dc, 2tr, dc, hdc, sc (Do NOT turn, sl st, or chain)

R2: sc in next two sts, 2 hdc in next 2 sts, sc in next 14 sts, 2 hdc in next 2 sts, sc in next st, slst in last st

Finish off and draw the loose end through to the back of the heart. I like to pull it tight and draw it through just beneath the slst to bring the cleavage of the heart down more.

A little more than halfway through R1. You can see how the stitches are tight next to each other so I can finish making the last hump of the heart shape.


Heart Applique by Juliette Peterson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.

My First Treasury

I made my first treasury yesterday!

You can view it here http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=65943

Things have been kind of slow lately, so I am waiting for more sales before I go making and listing more items. I have about 50 items for sale right now.

In the meantime, I am thinking about entering Etsy's Handmade Moment contest. I have to come up with a good idea first. I want to do some sort of animation with live action. It sounds ambitious, but I know what I'm getting into!

Mutant hybrid animals!

I am usually so busy promoting my Etsy shop that I hardly have time to browse and see what else is out there. Today I found a pretty awesome shop...

http://lucyroberts.etsy.com

When the kids move out and leave you with their old kid stuff(like beanie babies, I have a ton in my closet) rip it all apart and sew on different heads! Amazing! The possibilities are endless!

Making Mario

I have a bunch of new items for sale in my Etsy shop! You can check out a few of them in the side bar -->

Lets take a look at my crocheted Mario...

This is the second Mario I've made. The first time I didn't write down the pattern. That wasn't too smart because only a few hours after posting it someone had bought it! I started on this Mario soon after and this time I wrote down the pattern.

Making your own pattern isn't that easy. I based the head and body off of another pattern, but the other body parts and hat had to be invented. I draw out what I want the finished product to look like so I can get a feel for the proportions. I believe that is the most important part in creating a toy.

If the proportions are correct you will have a cute product. Even though terms like "cute" are subjective there are several ways to make your product appealing. I choose to go the Hello Kitty route. If you look at Hello Kitty she has a huge head in comparison with her body and limbs. Also, her head may be large but her eyes and nose are tiny. In Mario's case he has a very large nose. It is one of his defining characteristics, along with his fluffy mustache. You have to pick which features to accentuate. Mario's hat also adds to the size of his head. Giant ears seem to be cute for some animals. It really all depends on the subject, and that is why I sketch out what I want it to look like first!

I also mark down what colors go where. I suppose since I did do this in photoshop that I could have colored it, but that might distract me from the overall design. And I like to print it out so I can work on it while away from the computer. Ok I lied! I usually sketch it out on real paper. ;D

New Layout!

This blog just got a makeover!

It only took me all day to do it. D:

I thought I was getting into some CSS and HTML, which would have been no problem. Google's blogger has it's own language and XML. So after fighting with it I finally came to a compromise with a pretty cool design.

First post!

So this is my first uneventful post. I hope you like it so far. I will try to keep the typos down to a minimum, although I am known to have random boughts of lolspeak.

This layout is awful, and I will be creating something more appealing soon to appease the masses.

Ha. What masses?