Finished For Friday Halloween Edition

I took a bunch of pictures yesterday so I could join in on Finished for Friday over at Lit and Laundry, plus I wanted to post some Halloween stuff, but the majority of the pictures did not turn out well. I had knocked my camera off my night table earlier in the day and was worried something was jarred loose inside and that was why my photos weren't in focus. Then I saw the pictures of the candy corn cards that I took last week and realized I'm just a craptastic photographer.

Here are my candy corn cards. I had planned to make more of these with different designs but then I ran out of time. Thanks, Anne, for the pattern!




I fell in love with Jenny's Dangly Spider this week and decided I had to make one. Since I didn't have any nice Halloween-y fabric, I stitched mine on black felt. It wasn't until I was completely finished that I noticed I had only done five "spokes" in the web, and not the seven you were supposed to stitch. Considering I read Jenny's instructions about 17 times before I started this project, it's weird I would miss doing two of them.




Here's a somewhat blurry photo of my spider. Check out his legs. I used the black yarn that Jenny had tied around my prize package (see previous post). Al Gore would be so proud.



Remember, you can click on any picture to see it larger and in all of its unfocused glory.

So, since last Friday, I started and finished the candy corn cards, and the Dangly Spider Picture. I also Mod Podged some orange tissue paper on to a jar and made a pumpkin whose face I copied from was inspired by a Mary Engelbreit illustration, but every picture I've taken of it has turned out to be a huge blur (how creepy!) so I am convinced it's possessed. (Damien!) Or maybe someone or something does not want it shown here. (The copyright infringement fairy, maybe?)

Be sure to visit Lit and Laundry to see who else is sharing their Friday finishes.


I hope you all have a very Happy Halloween!!

Look At What I Won

Not too long ago, I got lucky and won the Halloween giveaway from Jenny at Stitcher & Scribbler. Look how she wrapped up my prizes. Isn't that spider tag super cute?!




Inside, were two of the most adorable felt pins ever . . .



. . . and a bag of Haribo Horror Mix. I would love to show you the fun shapes of the candy, but I ate them all. In fact, the very last piece is in my mouth right now.

Thank you, Jenny, for having the giveaway! I was so happy and excited to win your pumpkin and your ghost. I'll be sure to wear them tonight when I'm handing out candy to the trick-or-treaters.

Honey, I Shrunk The Hearts

Guess what I made today?

Shrinky Dink pins!!



I have been wanting to do this ever since I saw the tutorial on Wee Wonderfuls some time ago.

And now, I want to make MORE!

Last night I couldn't sleep and I knew I was running out of time to stitch an embroidery for the Make It Pink Challenge at Craft Styish so I decided to make something else. A heart-shaped bottom of a Sweetart container and a few pink felt scraps were my inspiration for a pincushion, which gave me a great excuse to also make some Shrinky Dink pins.



I'm not at all happy with my sloppy blanket stitching or that weird seam at the bottom of the heart (um, hello?) but it was so fun to make the Shrinky Dinks, I don't care how the pincushion turned out.

I have two kinds of shrinkable plastic: the original Shrinky Dinks for an ink jet printer (I just colored mine with Sharpies and some cheapie no-name markers that I got a few years ago at Pic n Save, aka Big Lots) and some called Alene's Shrink-It, which I will try next time.

Hillary's instructions for making the pins are perfect. I took her suggestion and made my pre-shrinkage hearts about 3/4" wide. The directions on the package said to put the Shrinky Dinks in the oven for 3-5 minutes, but I swear, after just twenty seconds, mine shrunk right up. I was watching through the oven door and it was so cool to see them get so small in just seconds. Did they work this quickly when I was a kid? I really don't remember them shrinking so fast.

You might be wondering why one heart pin is black. Well, look what I found in my container of markers.



Yep, that's the pen that came with Shrinky Dinks back in the late 1970's. Would you believe it still works?!

I've Been Boo-ed

Smiling Sally has Boo-ed me! But don't be jealous because I am about to Boo a bunch of you.

Here are the instructions:

"Here is how the Blogging Boo will go. Go to as many friends as you want and tell them they've been "B00-ED." Have them link back to your blog to pick up their Halloween Treat (picture) and tell them to Boo their friends. (Then put the picture in your side bar so everyone knows that you've already been "boo-ed and to send the picture to someone else.) Have a great Halloween everyone."

-------------------------------------------------------

Ok, I am done Boo-ing people. I tried to stick with giving it to bloggers I think would like that kind of thing. And Brook. (Hah!)

While spreading the Boo around, I discovered that Kellie is having a giveaway for one of her aprons, so I added a link to her blog to my last post.

Giveaways, How To's and a Swap

Today, I had planned to take pictures of some Halloween stuff and then post them. But I had a nap this afternoon and missed the photo shoot. So, for now, I'll just tell you about a couple of tutorials and giveaways from three of my favorite bloggers.

At Miscellany of me, Murali is giving away a Dutch cross stitch book (windmill alert!). You have until Midnight November 1st to enter. Remember she lives in Australia so just go enter now.

I always wonder if I should add the year when I mention a deadline to enter a giveaway so future Googlers will know the contest has ended by the time they end up here. Once, I got an email from a woman who asked if Chelsea the Shih Tzu was still up for adoption. I had no idea who Chelsea was. I did some backtracking and it took awhile but it turned out I had posted about Chelsea on my old blog the previous year. I guess the lady didn't notice the date on the entry.

Randomness: Do you watch "Army Wives"? Does Denise (the Catherine Bell character) bug the crap out of you too?

Hey! I have a Catherine Bell story! My mom used to volunteer at the museum at El Toro Marine Base and one time, the cast & crew from "Jag" came down to film there so my mother got to meet Catherine Bell and David James Elliott. Both were very nice and CB is very tall. Then again, everybody is tall compared to my mom. The end.

Moving on . . .

Murali also posted a tutorial for some Japanese hairpins. I would love to make these. I'm going to add this to my to-do list. Oh, look! It's only 17 feet long right now. And, my blog list is 18 feet long. :P

Suzanne aka Colorado Lady is having a giveaway for a pretty blue afghan that she made. Go leave her some comments before Halloween night to get in on this one.

Jenny is sharing how to make a cute cute cute Dangly Spider Stitch Picture on her blog. I love this. And, did you see who won her giveaway?! (Pictures tomorrow.)

Edited to add: You can win an apron pattern or a scoodie pattern from Jenna over at Corgi Pants. I love her stuff and wish I could sew.

ETA: Diane of Little Birdie's Nest is having a fall swap. How fun! All the details are in this post.

ETA: Kellie is giving away an apron too. Go see the choices and leave her some comments so you can win and pick an apron!

And, on a final note, I'll leave you with three words I always see online but never hear anyone say outloud: wonky, ass hat and bloggy.

Nerd, Geek or Dork

The Classic Dames Test was linked on Note Songs and I love those kinds of thing so I took it and got Rosalind Russell. Then, of course, I had to take a few more tests, including The Nerd, Geek or Dork? one. I knew I wasn't a nerd -- "Revenge of the Nerds" pretty much clarified that for me years ago -- but I figured I was a geek and was hoping I wouldn't get dork. My results were 43% Nerd, 35% Geek, 17% Dork. Wanna know the difference? Take the test.

Take The Nerd? Geek? or Dork? Test at HelloQuizzy.

Embroidery Links For October

I'm not sure why Sally and Barbara couldn't see the picture in Thursday's post. It worked fine for me but since I wouldn't want you to miss out on seeing my lovely self, I've deleted the original photo and uploaded it again.

And, if you can't see it now, well, maybe I was just too scary looking for Blogger.

I know Halloween is coming and the month of October will be over soon, and I wish I had should have linked to these freebies before now, but if you're a quick stitcher, you can probably have them finished in no time. And, if you're like me, you can start them first thing in tomorrow morning and have them wrapped up by next May!

Erika of CraftStylish teaches you how to embroider on a t-shirt anf offers a pattern in honor of their Make It Pink Challenge.

You can find free designs called Trick or Treat Tots at Sentimental Stitches, with a new one posted every day. These patterns would be good for embroidery, redwork or applique. They'll be posted until November 1, and then available for purchase so remind yourself to keep checking for the new ones. Then please remind me. Thank you.

And, at Craft Blog, there's a Creepy Critters needlework pattern (cute bunnies in costumes). [Links via Denise at Craft Gossip]

I finished my candy corn cards but now my camera is dead so I couldn't take any pictures. which means I missed Finished For Friday at Lit and Laundry. Next week, I swear!

I Dare You To Do This

I cannot believe I am doing this.

I found this meme without a name on Blog Portion and decided to frighten the children join in.

Instructions:
Take a picture of yourself right now.
Don’t change your clothes, don’t fix your hair - just take a picture.
Post that picture with NO editing.
Post these instructions with the picture.

And, no, I will not tell you where I got my glasses. I don't want everybody copying me.

If you do this meme, please leave me some comments so I can come see your lovely photo.

An Award For Something I Don't Have Yet

Suzanne over at Colorado Lady recently gave me the Fabulous Fall Decor Award (thank you! thank you! thank you!) and when I read her post about it, it dawned on me how my blog was seriously lacking in anything to do with Autumn or Halloween. So, for one thing, I made a new header. I hope to add a few more seasonal pictures this week.


The rules for this award say I get to pass it on to six other bloggers. I know I have seen some great Fall decor on lots of blogs lately. Now, if I could just remember six of them.

Ok, here are my six:

1. Diane at Little Birdie's Nest -- I love glass pumpkins and I love thrift stores

2. Llyn M -- Llyn has some cute pumpkin-head creatures and other decorations in her yard

3. Green Jello -- the blog header is enough for me but check out October 18th's post for the Halloween party

4. Two Crazy Crafters -- Twyla and Lindsey do Halloween up in a big way on their blog (even Barbie gets invited)

5. The Floss Box -- Emily has created an amazing Halloween stitchery. I totally hate her now. No, really, I love her and her work. She is soooo talented!

6. Jenna at CorgiPants has decorated her entry hallway with some fun things, including a fantabulous banner and another one she made for her office.

Edited to add: I changed my header again. This is the one I was talking about in this post.

Blue Monday -- Button Jars

I've haven't done Blue Monday for awhile and really wanted to share the blue thing in my bra but then I remembered that November is Diabetes Awareness Month so I'm going to wait until then to post pictures of that. (Don't worry -- I'll keep them G-rated.) So, instead, here are the two vintage Ball mason jars that I keep my buttons in. I wish the blue in the jars showed darker in the picture. I swear they really are a pretty shade of blue!





They look a little bluer in this one. Both jars came from a flea market or antique shop (I can't remember which it was). I just wish the buttons were as vintage as the jars.



Thanks, Sally, for hosting Blue Monday! For links to other participating bloggers, visit Smiling Sally.

I Would Kill For Some Candy Corn

I am soooooo in the mood for candy corn right now. I was at Sweet Candy Corn earlier and I started drooling. That blog led me to photos from the Candy Corn Contest on Flickr. Go take a look at all the crafty candy corn goodness in the photos there. And, if you want more information about entering the contest, visit Crafty Mom Quilts. It ends on October 30th so you still have time to join in.

Speaking of candy corn craft projects, last night I stitched up a couple of cards with little corns on them. I want to add faces to them but I'm holding off on that for now because I'm afraid I'll screw it up (remember I can't function without a pattern). The last time I attempted Halloween cards, the black eyes on a ghost were accidently smeared by yours truly. Since I also smudged some black crayon flecks on one card and tore another one when I was ripping out some thread that didn't look right, I do not have high hopes for my second batch of Halloween cards.

I know I've linked to it before so this is for the Googlers: free candy corn and other Halloween embroidery patterns here (click the pdf link) at Green Jello. And, check out that cute banner/header/top of the blog thingie!

There's a cute house embroidery pattern at Craft Pudding [link via Craft]. I think I have to do this one this weekend. After I finish my candy corn cards. And that voting rabbit.



(I was in a hurry so it's blurry.) (I'm a poet and didn't know it.) (Har!)

And make a flower card for a friend whose birthday I missed. And make that Little House Ornament from Pimp Stitch. And make something pink for Craft Stylish. Then I can post pictures of all my finished projects on Lit and Laundry's new Finished For Friday meme. (I love the idea of this one.)

And, if you have an extra bag of candy corn around that you won't be using, feel free to send it to me. (I am serious.) (How pathetic is that??)

If You Read Teen Magazine In The 70's

Check out this Breck Girl ad. See, the girl with the long blonde hair? Wasn't she a model named Lisa Someone who often appeared in Teen?

[After a Google search of Breck Girls] Her name is actually Cindy Harrell Horn.

And, I think the dark-haired Breck girl in the ad is Erin Gray.

What did we do before there were search engines? Yeah, there were libraries and encyclopedias and newspapers and magazines but you couldn't access all of them at once and from the comfort of your own home while wearing pajamas and listening to "Champagne Supernova" by Oasis.

Petition Time

Update: Ratchet was cleared to leave the base but he missed the flight sponsored by SPCA International. They plan to return to Baghdad on Sunday to try to get him on another flight. By the way, the petition currently has over 60,000 names on it. Wow!

More than a few years ago, I knew a dog rescuer who started an online petition to get Oprah to do a show on puppymills. After a ton of people signed it, she printed it out and sent it off to Chicago. It cost her a small fortune to do this because there were lots of pages. Since we now know that it was a billboard that motivated the talk show host to do her puppymill show last year, one could say that this particular petition didn't have much of an effect on Oprah. And, I'm sure that could be said of many online petitions. But whatever. I'm still going to link to two of them and ask you to please consider signing them.

First off is the petition for clemency for Ratchet. You may have heard about this one. (It was actually mentioned during a newsbreak while I was listening to the radio yesterday.) Ratchet was befriended by Sgt. Gwen Beberg in Iraq as a puppy and now the Army will not allow Ratchet to leave the country and come to the US to live with Gwen's parents. Adopting a stray dog is against military rules. The petition already has over 38,000 signatures -- the goal was 10,000 -- and you can add your name but going here.

The other petition is to get Google to do their home page in blue on World Diabetes Day (November 14th) to raise awareness about diabetes. To sign, go here (and, do not donate to the site that hosts the petition) or just click this lovely button.



Thank you!!

My Own Private Idaho

I haven't been blogging much since I've been busy working on this cross stitch.



Lately, I've been doing these quickie designs which take one night to stitch and one night to stuff and turn into an ornament, but this one is a major undertaking. It calls for 17 different shades of green. Well, maybe not that many, but there are a lot of them. The chart is called Puppy in the Garden and it was a freebie from Artecy last month but is no longer available. I've checked and found they change their free charts every couple of weeks so if you see one you like, be sure to save it or print it out.

Over at Green Jello, you can find some cute embroidery designs for Halloween, including a pumpkinhead girl, an owl, and kids in costumes. The pdf is linked in this post.

Look at these cute felt graham crackers! [Link via Chicken Betty, who posted the tutorial.] And, I found instructions for another pincushion. This one is a knitted and felted poppy that you can wear it on your wrist. [Link via Craft Tutorials.]

I finished a couple more ornaments. The first is from a free chart from Nenne Design. I just translated the title again and realized I made a huge mistake. I thought the chart was called Spot in the Garden so I figured filling in some pale green all the way up to the border wouldn't hurt. But Google Translator tells me the title is really Spot for the window (Spot in the window, probably) which means on my ornament, there are drapes above the curtain rod. Good job, Patty!



There are a few more Spot freebies that I'd like to eventually do. You can find all of Janet's free charts on this page. But you're on your own for the translations. :)

By the way, here's the fabric on the back of Spot. I'm only sharing it because it was once a dress from Target. Yes, I save stuff like that.




I'm still trying to get caught up with the Christmas Ornament Stitch-A-Long. One of the themes for May was Nativity and when I saw this chart, I decided to use it. Notice the donkeys. It still needs to be stuffed. And, see that blue material under the ornament? That used to be a shirt from Esprit. I used it to back the ornament. (As much as I love re-using my old wardrobe to make new things, I'm still jealous of anyone who can shop at Superbuzzy for new fabric.)



Ok, I am going back to my happy little cross stitching world for now. I may be back later in the week.

Thought For The Day

People are odd.

That's all I have to say today. I know it's not earth shattering news but I felt a need to share it.

Go Dodgers

Well, I missed Blue Monday again but I still want to mention one blue thing that makes me happy and that would be the Dodgers. They beat the Cubs and will now advance to the whatever the next series of games is called NLCS.

Every time, I'm watching the Angels and Boston and see ALDS on the screen, I think of Lou Gehrig's disease and/or Mormons.

NLCS = National League Championship Series
ALDS = American League Division Series

Remember when it was just a pennant race?

Go Dodgers!!

Two More Giveaways

I wanted to link to two more giveaways before I go to bed.



If you win Brook's giveaway, you get to choose your prize. Go see what you can win here. Also, check out her newly opened Etsy shop (cute embroidered onesies alert!)



Today is the second anniverary of Elizabeth's bone marrow transplant so to raise awareness about donating bone marrow, she is holding giveaways this week. All the details are on her blog, Thoughts from an Evil Overlord

Some Giveaways, A Freebie And A Challenge

Here are a few giveaways for you to enter:

At Green Jello, you can win some Martha Stewart Halloween goodies, some cute coasters, and an apron. Check out this post for the details. You have until next Monday, October 6, to enter.

Jenny is giving away two adorable felt pins, a ghost and a pumpkin, that she made. Go leave her some comments on this post before Wednesday, October 15th.

And, there's a giveway for an apron from Rick Rack Attack on Bloggy Giveaways. This one ends on Monday too.

Andrea Zuill has her October embroidery freebie up on Bad Birds. This one is a cute pumpkin girl.

And, from Craft Stylish:

This month CraftStylish challenges you to Make it Pink. For every pink project uploaded to the gallery throughout the month of October, CraftStylish with donate $1 to Susan G. Komen for the Cure. Look for expert how-to from our contributors to inspire your creative side so you can help support breast cancer research and Make
It Pink for the cure!

Go Dodgers!!!!

Two Stitched Birthday Cards

I finished two more stitched cards yesterday. They did not turn out at all like I had planned but I'm much happier with these two than the first ones I made.

I used a thin needle with a small eye to make the stitches so the holes didn't tear when I pulled the needle & floss through them like they did last time. A smaller eye meant only using two strands of floss but I think they look fine. I didn't sew the eyes or mouth and was certain I'd screw them up if I just drew them freehand so I marked the features with a pencil. and then went over them with a black pen. I ruined the blade on my paper cutter so I just cut around the little girl shape with my dull kiddie scissors since cutting in a straight line is not a talent I posess, and then glued them to some cardstock. The pattern I used is another freebie from Pimp Stitch that's no longer available.



Not sure if I've linked to it before but there's a great tutorial on embroidering on cards on Craft Stylish.

Little Dog Cross Stitch

When I saw the free chart for this little dog cross stitch, I thought it was so cute, I stitched it up that night. But I didn't like the original yellow colors so I re-did it in brown. It has a back piece too so I could turn it into a keychain. Or something. I probably should have done it on plastic canvas though.



The chart came from this site, which Google won't translate right now. (I think it's Korean which would explain why translating it from Japanese doesn't work.) You can get to their freebies by clicking the third link down (under the word Home) on the left sidebar.

Tagged Again

I had to edit this post and change the size of the pictures because the space for the entries is 500 px wide and my photos have the same width so their right sides were getting cut off. If you want to see a larger version of any of the pictures, click on them.

I was tagged by both Sally and Diane to share seven random or weird facts about myself. I've done this one before and always try to come up with new facts.

1. My full name is Patricia but I've always been called Patty. My mom spelled it as Patti from day one but in elementary school, I changed the I to a Y. (What a rebel.)

2. I don't wear necklaces but always have three silver bracelets on my left arm. I used to wear a charm bracelet too but the horse fell off and I haven't put it back on yet.




3. The last song I downloaded was Hollaback Girl.

4. I have a thing for patron saints and collect saints medals . . .




. . . and holy cards. These are the good cards because they're laminated and you get a medal with it. From left toright: St.Martin de Porres (the patron saint of hair stylists and television), St. Francis of Assisi (needleworkers!), and St. Peregrine (against cancer).




5. When I watch those decorating shows on HGTV, it drives me insane when they don't use painter's tape to mark off the edge, like where the wall meets the ceiling.

6. There's a little calendar page for September taped to my monitor. The 30th is circled and Target is written below it. I have no idea what that means. The other word is needlework and that was marked to remind me when The Needlework Show was starting.

From Pip Stitch

7. I think posts are better with photos.

I'm not going to tag anyone this time but if you want to list your own seven weird or random facts on your blog, please do. Let me know if you do it so I can go read your facts.

Real Peeps Vote

Check out artist David Ottogalli's cool election project for the makers of Peeps. (Scroll down a little to see the pictures.)