Karate Elf on the Shelf - No Sew Costume

I am stepping up my elf game this year with felt costumes, because obviously, I'm crazy. Also, there is nothing I like better than starting a project at 10 O'Clock at night (sarcasm). But I HAVE to because it is imperative that I am positive, that everyone is in bed, eyes closed and knocked out. I should probably do a 'Mom Attempts: putting her kids to bed'... but we all know I'd fail miserably.  

My son just tested for his orange belt and my daughter will soon be testing for her brown belt, so I'm sure they'd get a kick out of their elves practicing Kenpo Karate.  I am so surprised that it was only 4 easy steps.

Materials
   White felt 
   Any desired colored felt
   GOOD FABRIC scissors
   Bamboo skewers
   Old fruit or vegetables (its weird, but trust me)

Karate Elves

1) Cut a strip of colored felt with your GOOD FABRIC scissors. Not with your dull kitchen scissors that is used to cut paper, the dog's hair and chicken cutlets... I'm talking your quality pair of fabric scissors that is hidden from your husband and children so they don't ruin them. If you use any old scissors on felt, you will be cursing this project.

2) Again, with your GOOD FABRIC scissors, cut a rectangle piece of white felt then cut a hole in the center of it.

3) Slide the elf's head through the felt, push the bottom of the white felt through the elves arms and tie the colored strip of felt around the waist. Easy peasy karate gisy. 

4) For the hard part... I just couldn't let it go with the costumes, I HAD to position them to appear to be in a match, so i just slid bamboo skewers through the bottom on their gi and stuck the sharp end of the skewer in an old zucchini to stand them up ( it was about to go bad anyway). I put other fruit around them to hold them up into position and i just manipulated their arms and legs until it looked like one elf was kicking and the other elf was blocking. I did this by sliding Alfy's leg through his arms and moved Belle's arms until she looked like she was blocking. I know some people modify their elves to have bendy arms and legs, however, my elves are not modified.


Check out my blog on my Elf setup last year, but that humor was more for my adult facebook friends and my kids did not see it!!!

Good block Belle!!! Sorry Alfy no point for you!

Grade: A+

Skill Level: Low
Difficulty Level: Low
Frustration Level:Low
Cost: Less than $2

Mixed Media Camera

It was my friends BLANKITY BLANK birthday this week (At our age we only provide the actual number for legal documents ONLY) and I wanted to make something personal for her. She is a photographer at True Story Photography and took My Christmas pictures last year. I made her a mixed media camera and incorporate her logo on it at the very last second.

I started out with the perfect scrapbook paper with little teal cameras on it, then I chose acrylic paints and other papers that matched. I threw in some red just to make it exciting.

I just threw all the acrylic paint colors on the canvas and just started blending. The biggest problem, I think, is the urge to over blend which makes your canvas muddy instead of having an overall marbling effect.

While still wet, I added some lighter paint to a swirly stamp (swirls are my favorite). After the canvas dried I added a light sponging of strategically placed red just to add dimension and bright color.

Most of scrapbook paper had designs. For the paper without a design, I used my butterfly stamp to create a whimsical effect. It was easy to cut out shapes to create a camera because the shape is pretty basic. 

I went around the edges of some the papers with acrylic paint to provide an outline effect. 

I printed out "... worth a thousand words" on my printer and added my swirl stamps. 

After decoupaging the entire thing , I decided that i should have added a tree and key. Luckily I had a tree stencil and I had bought keys at the craft store. After stenciling on the tree,I decoupaged the entire thing again. The final touch was gluing on the key.

 I hope she likes it !


Grade: A
Skill Level: Minimal
Difficulty Level: Low to Moderate 
Frustration Level: Low
Cost: I have no idea, I had all this stuff at home already

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle costumes

I've really been neglecting this blog lately because I've been so busy with my new adventure (which I will blog about as soon as I get it together). Meanwhile, I thought I'd go back in time to 2002 Halloween where my kids picked the costume: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  

The thing that made the costumes complete were the turtle shells that were made from metal turkey pans from the dollar store, spray painted green. I put a slit in the pan at the top and bottom and tied through green elastic so that we could wear the pans like backpacks.

The weapons and masks I bought online from the Halloween super-store, except for the nunchuks, which are real, from my daughter's karate class. I also bought the adult t-shirts online but had to make the kid's t-shirts because I couldn't find anything for kids t-shirts. I bought green t-shirts and created the belly of the mutant turtle with yellow and black slick paint. The scraps of fabric around our elbows and belts were made from fabric at Joann Fabric.

Grade: B
Skill Level: Minimal
Difficulty Level: Low to Moderate 
Frustration Level: Low
Cost: $-$$

Simple Crochet Coaster and Placemat Set

I recently started to take up an interest in crocheting again after being taught the basic stitches (chain, single crochet, double crochet -U.S. terms) when I was a kid.  Using the wonderful teacher Ms. Youtube, I was able to really advance my knowledge and skill!  I saw this great placemat that I wanted to try to give as a gift for a housewarming party (Crochet Spring Placemat).  It's adorable and I love it!  However the instructions are not quite written for a beginner (there are some missing steps you have to guess at!) and there are details missing like yarn type and hook size!  When I attempted the placemat using the directions, with my worsted weight cotton yarn and my H sized hook, I was getting something the size of my table and the holes were way too big! There were also no matching coasters. So, I am writing my own pattern using this as inspiration!

You will need:
Worsted weight yarn (4 ply) (for coaster and placemat)
Light weight yarn (3 ply) (for embellishment)
Size H-8/5.00 mm hook (for coaster and placemat)
Size F-5/3.75 mm hook (for embellishment)
Tapestry Needle for finishing off
Needle and thread for attaching embellishment

Terms:
Chain
Slip Stitch-SS
Single Crochet-SC
Half Double Crochet-HDC ( loop on hook, yarn over, go through chain, pull up loop, pull yarn through all three loops on hook)
Magic Loop
Treble (or triple) Crochet-TR (loop on hook, yarn over twice, go through chain, pull up loop, pull yarn through two, pull yarn through two again)



Coaster:  Approximately 5x5 inches or 13x13 cm
Row 1:  Loosely Chain 15. (this allows your piece to remain flat)
Row 2:  HDC in 2nd loop of chain from hook. (14 HDC stitches total)
Rows 3-10: Turn work.  Chain 1. HDC in same stitch and continue in each stitch in row.
Finishing main piece: crochet a single crochet all the way around with 3 single crochet stitches in each corner. Slip stitch to join end. Cut and finish off. Weave in ends.


Placemat: Approximately 12x17 inches or 31x45 cm
Row 1: Loosely chain 55.
Row 2 HDC in  2nd loop of chain from hook. (54 HDC stitches total)
Rows 3-30: Turn work.  Chain 1. HDC in same stitch and continue in each stitch in row.
Finishing main piece: crochet a single crochet all the way around with 3 single crochet stitches in each corner. Slip stitch to join end. Cut and finish off. Weave in ends.

Edging:
This is a modified shell stitch edging.
Slip stitch your color into the third single crochet stitch from the corner.
*Skip SC.
HDC 5 times same stitch. (6 HDC for corners)
Slip stitch in second SC.
*Repeat from * and slip stitch to close.
Cut and weave in ends.

When looking at the embellishment for the coaster and placemat, I didn't want to do the  original design but I did like the idea of something in the lower corner to make it pop.  I immediately thought a butterfly would be perfect because the wings would complement the edging.  After searching for and trying several different butterflies that ended up too big for my project (why don't people tell you the size it will be in the pattern!?!) I found my self looking at the flowers too.  After all, a simple butterfly is basically a flower minus one petal!  I found that they weren't quite right either.  So I got inspiration from the following two free patterns :
Flowergirl Cottage Flower Pattern and Sweet Butterfly Pattern.  That when modified together made the cutest little butterflies perfect for my coasters and placemats (approximate size of butterfly is 1.5x1.5 inches or 3.5x3.5 centimeters)!

Butterfly Embellishment:

Create magic loop.
Pull up one loop.
8 SC around loop
Pull end thread to tighten center ( I leave a little loose and pull completely at end of project.)Slip stitch in beginning chain. Chain one.
HDC 5 times in same stitch. Chain 1. Slip stitch in same stitch.
Skip SC. Slip stitch in next SC.  Chain 2. TR in same stitch 5 times. Chain 2. Slip stitch in same stitch.
Skip next SC. Slip Stitch in next SC. Chain 2. 5 TR in same stitch. Chain 2. Slip stitch in same stitch.
Skip SC. Slip Stitch in next SC. Chain 1. 5 HDC in same stitch. Chain 1. Slip stitch in same stitch.
Slip stitch in starting stitch. Finish off and pull starting loop tight. Weave in ends.

Beach Dreaming Mixed Media Art

About this time of year I think about how much I miss summer already. To push away the September blues, I decided to do a series of three beach themed mixed media art canvas pictures. Its great when you have a storage box filled with all these supplies from other mixed media / paper craft projects because you don't have to go to the store and spend more money. At least this is how I justify it to my husband.

One thing for sure that I keep in my craft box is spray ink. Mixing blue firecracker and pearls mist provides a dreamy sky look. After it dries I stamp it up by painting acrylic paint on my stamps.

I use tan acrylic paint and actual sand to create the beach. I looked a little strange dumping my canvas in the sand at the beach, but not any stranger than the 80 year old man in the tight red Speedo, smoking a pipe while staring at me.  

Curly Stencil

The water is painted with acrylic paint and the idea of waves are created by using a curly stencil with white and blue acrylic paint.

Scrap Book Paper

It was so easy to cut out houses and sailboats since they are simply triangles and rectangles. The umbrella was a little bit trickier, but whats great about using paper is that you can easily toss your mistakes.

Oil Pastel and Paper

To add a little more texture to the houses, I went around the edges of my squares with a darker color oil pastel and blended it in.

I always glue together my paper creations together, outline with sharpie, then Modge Podge them before I glue them to the canvas, with the exception of the really tiny pieces that are too difficult to work with.

   Make sure the final product is sprayed with clear coat to keep the sand from falling off.

Grade: A  
Skill Level: Minimal
Difficulty Level: Low to Moderate 
Frustration Level: Low
Cost: $$

Letter Art Photography

I found a frame at home goods with 5 slots for 4x6 pictures and decided to use my own B+W photos. The kids and I searched around for things around the beach that looked like letters. My kids were very creative, and were very helpful; my son saw the umbrella as a 'T' and my daughter cold see the lamp post looked like an 'r'.


It is easy to change color photos to black and white because it is an option on the photo site after you upload them. We used CVS photo and the pictures cost around 2 dollars.

Grade: A  
Skill Level: Low
Difficulty Level: Low
Frustration Level: Low
Price: $-$$ 

Lucy the Elephant Art

I have teacher friend who finally saved up enough money to retire to a beach house in Margate NJ. To ensure that I could visit her frequently, I made her a house warming gift for her kitchen.  She told me that she wanted something with a beach/wine/elephant theme with the colors yellow, blue and silver. 

The canvas is basically watercolors, acrylics, stamps and sand. Yes sand. I painted the bottom with tan acrylic paint and then dipped it in the sandbox.

Below are the directions to the Wine bottle and glass.

Materials:

     Sculpy Clay

     Stamps

     Sliver Acrylic Paint

     Black Acrylic Paint

     Paper 

     Rhinestones

    

1) I cut out shapes for a wine bottle and a cup as a template. Basically I folded it in half and cut the paper so that it was exactly the same on both sides.

2) Its important to soften up Sculpy (Polymer) clay before you bake it. You can use your hands but its a lot of work, I prefer the clay machine, you roll the clay through there a few times and it becomes soft. Also, it makes a nice, even flat clay piece much more easily than you could do with a rolling pin. My wine bottle was really large so I had to to it in two pieces and blend it together.

3) The clay is bumpy, so to take away from that uneven look, I used some stamps and some embellishments to add interest and make the imperfections less noticeable. Oddly enough, I had some rhinestones that fell off my old bling flip-flops that I re-used for this craft. I save everything shiny, I never know when I can glue it to something.   

5)Before painting, bake the clay in the oven as per the directions.

6)To add an antiqued look, I pained on black acrylic paint and wiped it off with a paper towel.

7) I added a Lucy The Elephant label by taking a picture of Lucy and editing it in word shop then printing it out on yellow paper.I used the Gelatos to add some flair to the label. The Lucy printable is included below. 

Grade: A  
Skill Level: Advanced (working with clay takes a little bit of experience)
Difficulty Level: Moderate 
Frustration Level: Low
Cost: $$

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