A Craft-y Sunday II

Random yet orderly - I like it :)

The downside to being an adult is that all your friends lead busy lives and getting together isn't as easy as it used to be. It's been two months since our last get-together but a few of my friends and I finally managed to coordinate a crafting day last weekend. The main theme: felting! Of course, as it usually turns out, we all ended up doing a mish-mash of different projects.

It was Michelle's first time felting and she ambitiously tackled three different projects (unfortunately, I only have pictures of two.) That patchwork of hearts pictured above is her felted laptop case. We had gone on a shopping trip to Wabi-Sabi, a yarn store (not a sushi shop :P ) a few weeks ago and she had been enticed by a bag of pretty coloured roving (ie. unworked wool). The gorgeous raspberry coloured roving was her favorite as well as mine. It's nice that she finally got a chance to use it.

A single heart to contrast the busyness of the other side.

There was a fair bit of debate over the design: a single heart for the clean and simple look or a bunch of hearts for a more fun, chaotic look? In the end, she ended up doing both - there are two sides to a case after all.

She tried her hand at a 3D figurine after that. It's a mustached cat ghost/monster...sort of like a Pokemon but not.

Michelle is so creative :) 

My sister decided to be very ambitious and started work on a Chocobo (from Final Fantasy for you non-gamers out there.)

Sharp needles and small fluff - it's a dangerous past-time :P

I'm sure its going to look amazing when it is done but she still has a way to go. I guess we'll just have to wait for our next crafting day.

My friend, Nina, joined us but did not feel like stabbing herself with a needle that afternoon. Therefore, she chose to work on a less hazardous project - a pearl and amethyst necklace.

One small bead to start. 

She also did not finish her project that afternoon but got a pretty good start on it at least. It's going to look lovely when it's done. It's a shame that I'm not that into wearing jewelry or I would be tempted to take up jewelry making myself. Crafters are such magpies :).

As for me, I was working on this little puff of adorable-ness:

Is it a bunny? Is it a dog? Okay, it's supposed to be a bunny with its ears flopped down but I must admit,she ended up looking rather ambiguous between the two.

She is still very sweet though. It was through her that I have also finally figured out why Philly, my felted seal, looks so odd - he is way too toned :P. I felted him so firmly that he lost the cute, fat look. This little bunny had layers and layers of wool added on to plump her up.

Unfortunately, a lot of the other girls were busy last weekend and so we had only a small group gathered around my dining room table. Oh well, it was still a great afternoon and there is always next time!

Phillip

It has been a really long time since I did 3D origami. I blame it on the lack of bus rides and boring lectures.

I was organizing my craft supplies when I found the body of this 3D figure. I had set it aside last year when I was undecided as to what to make it into. Because my last bunny had been given away as a gift, I decided to round out my personal collection by making another one. He's smaller than Amigo, Louie and Hibbert but I think he is just as cute. I let my cousin name him and she picked Phillip.

I love that satisfying feeling of completing a project. I have way too many UFOs (unfinished objects) cluttering up my house. One of my unofficial crafting resolutions this year is to finish up my long list of half-finished works (When it comes to crafting, I sometimes have the attention span of a squirrel). Let's see how that goes...

{Update 16/02/15 - I added him to the Gluesticks blog's Friday Finds Linky Party. Check it out. There's a lot of neat stuff there.}

Beaded Bunny

Dimensions: 16 x 5 x 4 cm

Materials: 6 mm yellow acrylic beads, 6 mm pink acrylic beads, 6 mm black round acrylic bead, 0.55 mm clear fishing line, black seed beads

Tools:  Just my hands!

Time to Make: Hmm…don’t remember…

Compared to the seal, this bunny was a lot more complex to make. I have to admit, I’m not too crazy about stringing together arms and legs. They are by far the most difficult parts. Round things, like the body and head, are so much easier. This is the only completed beaded bunny figure that I have made. It was my third attempt. Previously, I had made two bunny heads for birthday presents but had run out of time to make the bodies (It’s never a good idea to start on a birthday present the night before). A little bit macabre for a present now that I think of it…just heads in boxes. : D

(Update 07/04/2015 - this post is now linked to: Gluesticks Friday Finds Link Party) 

Sort of Like Origami Lego...

I recently got back into making paper stars (the phases come and go) and found it a great way to pass the time during long bus rides and waiting in dental offices. However, there is only so much you can do with a paper star so after filling two large jars with my recent efforts, I started looking for something else I could do during those pockets of time. It had to be portable, fairly simple, involve no tools but still be something I felt was worth doing. 3D origami was perfect: I could fold the little triangles during my commute (or discreetly during lectures : P) and then put the models together when I got home.

This fellow is my first creation:

Dimensions: 16 x 7.5 x 7.5 cm

Materials: White paper, red paper, black cardstock, red cardstock

Tools: knife, glue, hole puncher  

Time to Make: ~7 hours 

I am rather proud of his eyes – they have that slightly droopy ‘precious moments’ look to them. I pulled ideas from various designs to create him. I am quite pleased with how he turned out although he probably would look better with a more defined neck. He was originally going to be all white but that ended up looking rather odd so I added a few layers of red. It made a huge difference. This one was a gift for a family friend. That’s really the best thing for me to do with my diversions – the fun’s already been had in the making.