Tutorial! Your Friendly Neighborhood Skully Necklace...

July is birthday month in my family.

My Grandma, Dad, Cousin, both my sisters and I are allllll born this month.
And just to spice things up, my parents unconsciously decided to have my sisters and I all within a day of each other.

So what better way to get out of a mid-summer craft funk than with lots of impending birthday parties? (No better way obviously.)

My littlest sister is super-cool and original, (in those early teen years, that's a feat!) has gauged ears (ALREADY!) and wants to be a tattoo artist (a profession my mother actually endorses).

All in all, she's a pretty hep cat.

So I decided to make something that would fit her personality.



A friendly family of felt skulls she can wear around her neck!!

This is a super easy project and the technique could be used to make a felt necklace out of any design IN THE WORLD you can draw, photocopy or find clip art of! ANYTHING!!!!

(Ok now, don't get too excited)

DIY Lazy Susan with Woodburned Fish Design for Father's Day

For Father's Day, I made my daddy a custom "lazy suzan" turntable thingy!

I picked up a really old and faded Ikea-brand lazy susan at the thrift store, drew a fishy design on it (my daddy is quite the fisherman) and set to it with my trusty woodburning tool.

*segue* Have I told you about my trusty woodburning tool? It looks like this and not only does it let me burn designs into wood, but I can solder things and melt plastic and.... MWUAHAHAHAA. I love it and have to sit on my hands to avoid the urge to burn holes in things with it.

Anyway, after carving my fishy design into it:



*Cute dead fishies!*

Pllaannttttss!!!!! And Mini Tutorial.

Wheehoowwheehooowheeehooooo.

(That there was the sound of me hyperventilating)

Light Me Up, Up, and Away.

Yesterday I posted about Lucia Holm's photography and made the remark that I wanted an illuminated umbrella like the one in this picture.

Try as I might to restrain the yearning, I am intrigued by the idea.
But Sam, I tell myself, not only does San Diego get less than 12 inches of rain a year, but we are in a DROUGHT! You couldn't even justify getting yourself some wellies during the week that it DID rain!
Well self, just shuddup.

Sockmaster from Instructables has a great tutorial for an LED umbrella.

SWEET FREEDOM!

I had my last final today...

SPRING BREAK!

woohoo!

Thiiis time around I am going to make the best of it.
LOTTSA crafting.
aaand..
I'm going to LA for the first time ever!
Can you believe that I live in San Diego and have never been to L.A.?
I really, really don't get out much.
I'm going on Monday with one of my oldest and most fabulous friend.
Our destination is the garment district and all the goodies it will behold.
I am going to try to load up on some fabric so I can get my sewin' on!

BY THE WAY...

I had entered a contest on Instructables.com a while back with my ruffle scarf tutorial (which is the first post I ever did on this blog). Grand prize is this great serger/embroidering/everything machine and 1st prize is a dress form.

Well... I am a finalist! Go read my instructable here.



The contest is in the judging stage now, and the results will be in Monday.
Now, take a moment to imagine me standing in the middle of the L.A. garment district, and finding out that I won a serger or dress form.
What fate!
What providence!
What a great excuse to spend monies on fabric!

Regardless, I am happy just to be a finalist, and either way I am really starting to up my sewing anty.  If I don't have the good luck of winning a serger, I am going to start trying to save up money to get one myself.
I just have this huge itch to sew knit fabrics.
My own hoodies and rib-knit tank tops (my favvvvorite) and and and....
**droooool**

Anyway, I feel like I am going to be on a posting roll for at least the next week. I'm going to hammer out pictures of all those projects I've done but haven't mentioned (you mean you didn't know?) and all those tutorials I have backed up, as well as some great pictures from L.A. on Monday coming up!
Yay!

DIY Leggings and Knit for Charity!

I was just think about how much I want customized leggings.
Then I happen upon this tutorial!



Also,

Do a little something for someone in need (as well as your karma!) and try knitting for charity.
This organization, Knit-a-Square puts together 8x8 squares knitted by charitable knitters like you from all over the world into blankets for children living in poverty in South Africa.
It's such an easy way to make a difference in a child's life, and as the ladies at Knit-a-Square say;
"A dollar lasts a day, blankets are for life."

The Two-Dollar Ruffle Scarf!

I have to constantly remind myself how lucky I am to have a thrift store on my college campus.
Ohhh. Yes.

I was rummaging through their sweater collection and picked up this nifty green wool turtleneck sweater.
With Threadbangers's 100th Episode fresh in my mind, I set to work!



Tadaa!!
The Threadbanger tutorial is for a wrap-style scarf, but I switched it up a bit and added some pleats.


Click for my tutorial!