Look it!

Guess who was lucky enough to catch the elusive Chupacabra?! It was me!



Now, I need to find a goat so I can feed him. Any ideas where I can find one? ;)
Working on even more stuff today, and I'm quickly getting craft A.D.D. because in the middle of a project, I decide to start another one. I'm going to try my hardest to not do that right now and to just finish one thing at a time. Wish me luck!

The Amazing Lanikins

So, in case you don't remember, I shall refresh your memory. :)
I was contacted a couple months ago from a fellow Craftster wanting to do a personal swap. Of course when I get messages like that, I have to check them out and see what kinds of projects they do. Well, Lanikins, just like SpookyPooky, are VERY well known Craftsters. I was honored to even get a message from her, considering she does some of the best work I've seen on Craftster.
So, after talking to Lani about things that she might like me to make her, she immediately requested a Shaun from Shaun of the Dead, and then I decided to make all of the main characters from Star Wars.

So, after all of that, I got her package the other day in the mail. Not only did she SPOIL ME ROTTEN, but her stuff is some of the most amazing quality that I've seen. It's all sewn together beautifully. It's just amazing.

She told me that she wanted to make me a Chupacabra. There are so many different interpretations of the Chupacabra, but this one, by far, is the cutest! I will get better pictures of him, and there's some good ones here on Craftster that you can check out as well. :)


And then, this A-M-A-Z-I-N-G clay zombie head. I promise I'll get better pictures with it tomorrow as well. Pictures don't do it justice. When I first opened him I thought that he would make a great candle holder, but I can't do that for fear of ruining him. So, instead, he will sit proudly on my shelf. :)



And I saw this on her Facebook page and fell in love, and she told me that she would include it in my package! I had no idea how big he was, though! He's really tall, and just so adorable.


It's my very own Balloon Boy!!! You can see the original Tim Burton one here.
This is all hand painted by her, and again, pictures don't do it justice.



And then I got some little Lanikins plushies! I even got a little sasquatch and yeti one! These things are teeny tiny, too!


And the one thing I didn't get a picture of was some stitch markers, and there's a Jack Skellington charm on one, and a mustached Cthulhu on another one!
I also got a new camera this weekend! It's a nice upgrade from my old point-and-shoot one. I love it! It was a nice early birthday present from my in-laws. :)

I'm back!

Just briefly, though.
The next 2 weeks that I'm actually here at home, I will be found working...constantly...on Christmas gifts and orders. I'm feeling overwhelmed, but I know that I can do it!

My wonderful, long Thanksgiving weekend was accompanied by my in-laws coming up to visit. It was such a great visit, and they got to not only see snow, but feel the very bitter cold that is Montana in the winter. :)
I actually thought it would be a good idea to make them some things to keep them warm while they were here. For Seth's dad, I made him a cabled scarf. The pattern is found here. If you've wanted to work with cabled, I would highly recommend using the pattern. I used an amazing washable wool that my friend sent to me. Seth's dad wore it the entire time he was here, and said that it kept him VERY warm! :)

And I decided to venture into a knitted project for Seth's mom. I made her a moebius! I can't find the pattern right now, but if someone needs it, just comment and I'll make sure to find it. This is also made out of a washable wool.


I had a lot of fun knitting it, and I learned all kinds of new things when I was making it!

I hope everyone else had a great Thanksgiving!

Craft Closet

While Seth was gone last week, and with Seth's parents coming to visit this week, I kept myself very busy.

I had a small list of things that I really wanted to get done, and spent pretty much all day cleaning and re-organizing stuff around the apartment. The first 2 nights he was gone I spent ALL NIGHT re-winding all of my yarn.
This was my life saver in doing that. Honestly, this is the only yarn winder that I've ever used, but I love it. It's all electric, doesn't take batteries, and you don't have to crank it. Because really, if I had to crank it, it would have taken me FOREVER!
You can buy it here on Amazon. I would also recommend checking your local craft store. I got mine at a Joann's, and I had a 50% off coupon that made it CHEAP!



Near the top of my list of things to do while Seth was gone, was to clean out and organize my craft closet. I did A LOT of it. Like I said, the first 2 nights were used just winding yarn. I spent the next day organizing it all into my closet. This brought me to a very sad realization: I have too much yarn.
Most of this yarn is stacked 2 deep, so what you see in the picture, there's about twice that. I have now made a solemn vow to not buy anymore yarn unless I REALLY need it for a commission piece or something. Otherwise, no more yarn for me at the moment!



I did organize it pretty well, though. The top shelf is all of my nice yarns, used for wearables like hats and cowls and such. The next 2 shelves are all for my ami's, which are much rougher yarns, in a WIDE VARIETY of colors! haha! The shelf under that is all of my bulky yarns, which can be used for both wearables and medium/large ami's.
After doing my yarn closet, I didn't even want to think about my other craft closet, full of books and fabric and doo-dads. So, with about a day left until Seth was to return home, I finally tacked the closet. It took a while, and involved A LOT of destashing, but it's finally done!



And now, I feel quite accomplished. :)
Today, I'm returning to cleaning up some things because Seth's parents will arrive in town tomorrow morning. I also have a HUGE commission piece that I'm working on. Literally, HUUUUUGE! I can't wait to finish it, though, and I really can't wait to share it with everyone! It's going to be epic, and I"m hoping I can make more.
I hope everyone has a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving!
This year, I'm thankful for my family, who I've been thinking about a lot lately. I'm thankful for my amazing husband, and for all the rest of my amazing family that I'll see in just a couple of weeks down in Florida. I'm also thankful for my handful of wonderful people that I can happily call friends.
What are you thankful for?

Oh, and P.S.!
I found this SUPER AWESOME shop on Etsy, and found their blog. They're doing a giveaway on their blog! And check out their store, too, because it's really all awesome!

Shawl for Jackie!

This week has been a blur to me.
Seth was gone all week, and was actually home a day later than planned because of plane issues. In addition to that, our snow storm dumped tons of snow all over the city, all week. It doesn't look like it's going to warm up soon, either.
And, next week the in-laws are coming to visit.

However, I do have a project that I can share with you!
This is a shawl that I made for my good friend, Jackie.
Jackie and I have bonded over the past year. Neither of us are very mushy or sentimental people, but I feel that I will be, just for this post. :)
Jackie started knitting about a year ago. It was something we definitely bonded over. Since we've become close, we talk pretty much every day on the phone, usually for hours at a time. It has become my way to break up the day, and to sit and laugh and relate to a great friend that lives across the country.
She's just an amazing person, and probably one of the funniest people I've ever met. We've both moved to different parts of the country due to our husbands jobs, and both of us are lacking in the friendship department. It's great that we can talk on the phone and online all the time, and fill that void.
And so, Jackie, thank you so much for your friendship. I truly appreciate the time I talk to you almost every day, and I really love that we've become so close. Oh, and happy birthday, too! :)

So, I made this for Jackie's birthday. :)
The pattern is called the Sidewalk Shawl from the Stitch Nation website. I also used the Alpaca Love yarn for it.
And I don't block many things that I make (mostly because it's amigurumi) but this one I definitely had to block. I'm so incredibly happy with how it turned out, and the color just reminded me so much of Jackie. Oh, and if you fold it over, and then roll it up, it looks like a head of lettuce! haha!




Hopefully, I will be back next week, but no promises. We're going to have a busy Thanksgiving with Seth's parents visiting, and I'm CRAZY busy with projects. I'm working on Christmas presents, and now I'm getting emails from people on Etsy for things that they want before Christmas. I'm really excited to work on them, just a little bit overwhelmed. :)
If I don't come back before then, I wish everyone a very happy and wonderful Thanksgiving!

It's Winter!

Winter has officially struck Montana. Our first snow this year came in the form of a huge snow storm. It's been crazy!

Seth has also been gone this whole week. I've been busy getting ready for the in-laws, along with working on some Christmas presents and stuff. It's been hectic, and I don't have much to show because it's mostly Christmas presents! haha.
However, I did take a lovely walk yesterday after it stopped snowing. I had to go to the post office, and THANK GOD it's only 2 blocks away and I can drive in it. I'm a Florida girl, so I haven't quite perfected the art of driving in the snow. But here's some wonderful pictures from our park and from around the apartment. :)


Our car looks like a square snowball!




This is the road right next to our park. You might be confused, because you don't see a road, but trust me, it's there...just somewhere under the snow.




This tree just reminds me of the Charlie Brown Christmas tree. haha!

That's all for now! I have to continue cleaning with what few cleaning supplies I have. This morning I sat and had breakfast and coffee, then got ready to brave the roads FINALLY to get cleaning supplies. I looked out the window as I was leaving, and was glad that it wasn't snowing so I could run my errands! Of course as soon as I step outside, it starts snowing again. So, I'm back, to clean with the stuff I have. haha.
Is anyone else seeing Winter yet in their area? It looks like we'll be getting snow pretty much all this and next week. I think the highest it gets is around 20 degrees on the warm days! haha

Another award?! Yay!

I got this award from the awesome Avery's Book Nook!! Thanks so much!!


Here is what is what they've asked after receiving this Award:

1.Thank and link back to the person that gave this award.
2.Answer the following 10 survey questions mentioned below.
3.Pass it on to another 15 Blogs that are fairly new and interesting to you.
4.Contact the bloggers so they know they've been chosen.

This is a great refreshing idea that will be useful and fun for blogs mentioned and blogs just beginning. The questions are a neat way to find out more about fellow blogs as well discover other likes and dislikes. So without further adieu... let's continue with this ongoing extravaganza!


1. If you blog anonymously are you happy doing it that way; if you are not anonymous do you wish you had started out anonymously so you could be anonymous now?

I don't mind not blogging anonymously. I enjoy showing my crafty side and different parts of my life!

2. Describe one incident that shows your inner stubborn side:

Oh geez...so many to name! I'm very stubborn with my crafting. If I make something, and I hate it, then I usually just rip it apart and start over. Sometimes I'll throw the thing out entirely just to save myself some extra work. lol

3. What do you see when you really look at yourself in the mirror?

One thing you should know about me: I hate mirrors. I over analyze everything, and I'm just not that happy when I look in the mirror. I prefer to see myself the way I do in my head. haha

4. What is your favorite summer cold drink?

Hmm...I love lemonade. However, I do love pina coladas in the summer as well. :)

5.When you take time for yourself, what do you do?

I usually craft something for myself. It's wonderful being able to just make something for myself every once in a while and not feel guilty because I should be doing a million other things.

6. Is there something you still want to accomplish in your life? What is it?

I want to travel. A lot. I've seen some amazing things in this country on a few of my cross-country roadtrips, but I would love to see other countries as well.

7. When you attended school, were you the class clown, the class overachiever , the shy person, or always ditching?

I was always the shy person when I got older. From what I hear from my parents, I wasn't in elementary school, but when I got into high school, I was definitely the shy girl.

8. If you close your eyes and want to visualize a very poignant moment of your life what would you see?

When my husband proposed to me. :)
He was hinting around at what he got me for a couple months before Christmas, and the more he told me stuff, the more I thought it was ski gear-and I was NOT happy with that. He came over to my sister's house one night to give me an early Christmas present, and was carrying a medium sized gift bag, that looked fairly heavy. We went into my sister's office and he sat the bag down in front of me, then sat behind me, and held the ring in front of my face. I found out later that the gift bag had a phone book in it for it to appear heavy. :)

9. Is it easy for you to share your true self in your blog or are you more comfortable writing posts about other people or events?

I enjoy sharing things about my life in my blog! I think it's because I love to read other people's blogs and to see what's new in their life. I feel like I know these people now after knowing their life stories. :)

And, here's the blogs that I'm giving it to!!
1. Crafty Awesomeness
2. The Perfect Pear
3. 33 Stitches
4. Hooking Along
5. Danielleorama
6. A Crochet Ninja
7. Fiber Doodles
8. ckscribbles
9. flipping adorable
10. La Quaintrelle
11. CRAFTYisCOOL
12. Day Zero
13. Spooky Pooky Creations
14. Gloomy Gurumi
15. Rambling Yarns from the Crochet Kitten

And that's all for today! Everything that I"m working on can't be pictured just yet, although I will have TONS for you after Christmas! haha. Don't worry though, I'll definitely be blogging until then.
Husband is out of town this week, so I'm keeping myself busy cleaning, organizing, and getting ready for the in-laws! :

I love mail!

I love big mail days.
I got one thing, but it's a surprise for someone, so I can't show it. However, I did get an AMAZING swap package from a friend!!

This time, it's from an amazing crafter that has AMAZING skills with clay. Her store is here, and I highly recommend that you go check it out ASAP!

Jessica is also in culinary school. Can you imagine the amazing things she's going to do with fondant?! She's crazy talented with clay, so I'm sure that she's going to be awesome at it!
So, she wanted one of my fox hats, and I thought that a great thing to swap for it would be recipes! I try REALLY hard at cooking, but fail a good amount of the time. However, these recipes look really simple and DELICIOUS! I can't wait to try them!


One of the main things I wanted from her was a cupcake pendant. I love it so much!! How freaking cute are those little cookies on there?!


These are some of the extras. It's a really awesome ring and earrings in really fun Fall colors!



And these.....these....are....my VERY VERY FAVORITES!!!
I made the shawl for myself from some really nice alpaca yarn, and a shawl pin is PERFECT for it! Not only perfect, but seriously, I can't even get over how much I absolutely love the fox. And I've already told her that she needs to make them to put in her store. If not, you should convo her and at least see if she will, because it's even cooler in person than it is in the picture.



That's all for now. I hope everyone has a great weekend!!

Where has the time gone??

It's been a while since I've blogged. I feel bad about that. :(

I've been working on a lot, but nothing that I can even share on here. I joined a Bob Dylan swap over on Craftster, and I've been working on that. I've also been working on swap items for some personal swaps.

My biggest 2 projects I started this week, which is way too late, for my good friend Jackie's birthday. One project I started with a certain yarn, then ran out. I thought I could find some more at Michael's, but I couldn't. So, I had to start all over with another yarn. Ugh. But, I really like how it's turning out so far.
I'm also going to make this a random post to post some of my very favorite things in my life right now. :)

Currently, this is what's on my feet. My new Uggs. I can't even explain how in love I am with these. I only take them off to sleep. I figure I might as well get as much use out of them as possible right now, considering that it'll be snowing very soon here.


Seth and I decided that we would basically just buy each other birthday and Christmas presents now, instead of brining them down to Florida when we go. So, this was my new birthday present: the Keurig B60. I will NEVER buy Starbucks again. If you've been thinking about one but wasn't sure, believe me, it's worth every penny.


I've been thinking about a really fun camera that I have for a while. The problem with it, is that it was hidden somewhere in my storage until in Florida. A phone call to my parents and a week later, it's showed up in the mail. It's been so long since I've had to even put film in a camera. lol. I'm so excited to use it though, and I plan on making a trip to the park just to get some fun pictures.
And for anyone that's wondering, it's called a Pop Cam, and it's VERY cheap. I highly recommend it for just a fun camera.


That's all for now! Seth has been doing a good amount of traveling for work, which leaves me lonely for a night every week. Next week is a long week though, so I'm sure I'll get plenty of crafting done in between my cleaning to get ready for the in-laws to visit for Thanksgiving. Hope everyone is having a good week!!

Foxy!

Before I show you my latest project, I want to make a statement about A LOT of questions that I've been receiving.

A lot of people stumble either upon my blog, Craftster or Instructables and asking me questions about my Lego Minifigure.
First of all, I will not be giving, or selling the pattern anytime soon. I have never heard back from Lego after my email, and to be honest, I'm quite glad the project is behind me. I do have the pattern written down somewhere, but really, it won't be anytime soon when I actually get down to writing it all out. I'm really sorry if this upsets anyone, as I get questions at least once a week on it, but it was A LOT of work, and more time than I've ever put into a project. It would just be a lot of work as well to write out everything about the creation.

And now, my second order of business. I'm truly SO GLAD that I get emails and comments from people saying that they want to crochet like me. I'm really so flattered by all of the wonderful comments I get! However, that being said, I cannot teach people how to crochet via my blog. I'm so sorry though! But, I will list some AMAZING resources and some book ideas to help anyone out!
I'm pretty much self-taught, and these are some of the things that REALLY helped me out!

#1. Youtube.com. Honestly, if there's ANYTHING you want to learn how to crochet, just go to youtube. I'm much more of a visual learner, and so it's just wonderful.

#2. Giggle all you want, Crocheting for Dummies really helped me learn to crochet! There's also some patterns in there. It really walks you through everything you need to know, and teaches from beginner to intermediate crocheting.

#3. If you haven't heard of The Happy Hooker then shame on you! To be honest, I've only made a couple things in this book, but it's just great resource to check back to every once in a while for a refresher course.

Ok. Those are my top 3. I have a ton of other books, but honestly, those are my favorite resources. If you have any questions, or want to know my opinion on other books that you've seen, then feel free to leave a comment and I can bring that up in my next post! And I really wish everyone the best of luck in their crocheting endeavors. I promise you, YOU CAN DO IT!
I'm also going to do another blog sometime about the yarns that I use, because I've had quite a few questions about that too. :)

And, onto my latest project! I bought this pattern after falling completely in love with it after seeing it on Craftster. You can buy the pattern here!
I've purchased April Draven's patterns before, and to be honest, they're some of my favorite patterns out there. This hat, I LOOOOOVE. I used different yarn, and I can let you know if you would like. AND, I think I may have conquered Homespun!
Anyways, ONTO THE PICTURES!





Ok. That's all for today! I hope everyone has a great rest of the week, and I"m sure I'll be back soon. :)

I won an award!

I follow this pretty awesome blog called Crafty Awesomeness. She passed this along to me, and so, I will now pass it along to other blogs! Enjoy!



RULES:
To accept the Versatile Blogger Award the rules are:
1. Thank and link back to who gave you the award.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Pass it along to 7 blogs you've recently discovered and enjoy
4. Leave your recipients a note, telling them about the award.

So, here's a few things about myself!!

1. I moved to Montana almost 2 years ago from Florida. My husband (fiance then) was in the Domestic Peace Corps known as Americorps. He volunteered for a non-profit organization that helps people with their credit and buying a house. We had a long distance relationship for 6 months before I decided to move here. I told him that I would refuse unless there was a ring on my finger, but I missed him way too much, so I decided to move here starting January 1st. That Christmas, we got engaged. I've completely fallen in love with this state and all of it's beauty. I'm thankful everyday that I've had such an amazing opportunity.

2. My love for crocheting started after I moved here. My mom sent me a care package with a "Learn to Crochet!" kit, with a note somewhere along the lines of "I know there's not much to do in Montana, so this will keep you occupied and WARM!" I've never put a hook down since. And to be honest, I couldn't imagine not crocheting. lol

3. I have a good amount of tattoos, but my first one is my favorite. It's dice on my ankle. My sister and I got them together. I should clarify by saying that my maiden name is Dice. There's a 2 on one of them, symbolizing me and my sister, and a 4 on the other one, symbolizing our immediate family. It was sad to change my name when I got married, but I will forever have that as a symbol, as will my sister.

4. My favorite movie of ALL TIME is The Wizard of Oz. I could watch that every day and never get tired of it.

5. I am probably one of the clumsiest people ever. I come by it very naturally, because my parents are both extremely clumsy as well. The one accident I had that I'll probably never forget was 2 days before we left for Vegas to get married. We ordered our wedding rings to be custom made to match my engagement ring. The only buyer I could find lived in Canada, and since our wedding was very quickly planned, we didn't plan much time for the rings to come in the mail. They showed up 2 days before we left, and when I got the mail and saw them, I started to run upstairs to open them up and see them because I was so excited. On my way UPSTAIRS, I tripped and sprained my ankle. Bad. I wore flipflops for most of my wedding because my ankle was so swollen and covered in a bandage.

6. Starting when I was about 14 or 15, my sister and I would brave Black Friday shopping. My most memorable time was a few years ago when me, my sister and my good friend left at midnight on Thanksgiving, and shopped for about 18 hours. We were running on nothing but Starbucks and we were all beyond delirious by the time we came home. It was by far the best Black Friday shopping that I've ever had though!

7. In general, I'm a fairly shy person in public. The one thing that I don't really tell people is my crafting, and I'm not even sure why. I get embarrassed really easily when my crocheting is mentioned in conversation with people that don't know about my crafting obsession. I love sites like Blogger, Craftster, Ravelry and Etsy because I feel like I'm more comfortable being around people with my same interests. :)

And now, who I'm passing this onto!
1. April Draven
2. ionlylikemonsters
3. Spooky Pooky Creations
4. The Perfect Pear
5. Oops, I Craft My Pants
6. Day Zero
7. Fiber Doodles

Thanks so much!!

Why I Love November 1st.

Ok, in all reality, I'm not always a huge fan of November 1st. I feel like the rush is on now for all retail stores to stock as much Christmas stuff as possible, and I feel like it rushes Christmas by too soon.

However, today, while talking to my friend Jackie on the phone, I realized that November 1st can be great! It's because EVERYTHING Halloween related is on SUPER SALE at the stores!

Target was my first spot to hit. There was still a good amount of cute stuff, and I'm already regretting not getting more. lol!
But, I did pick up 2 mini Halloween nutcrackers that will stay out all year, a shirt for $3, a cute Halloween bowl and of course, some candy. :)



AND....Seth and I had a really lazy weekend. He's going to be doing a lot of traveling coming up, and it started today. I wanted to just relax and hang out with him since he's going to be gone for a couple days a week. On Saturday we took a random trip to some thrift stores. We had a really great time at a thrift store that we usually don't find anything at.
Almost right after walking in the door, I spotted these glasses. First of all, in case you don't know, I have a VERY deep love for The Muppets. I grew up with them. I've forever loved them, and any movie or TV show dealing with them. I love that I feel like they've grown with me, because my favorite Christmas movie to watch every single year is The Muppets Christmas Carol. It's amazing.
Secondly, I've been looking online the past few weeks for Muppet stuff online. My favorite character ever is Rizzo the Rat. However, they don't ever make much Rizzo stuff! If anyone ever wants to swap me for something Rizzo related, I will gladly do it! lol
So, when I stumbled upon these glasses, I was shocked, and immediately picked them all up. Extra bonus is that they were marked at .75 each (which is kind of pricey, but worth it for The Muppets!) but when I got to the register, she said, "Oh, just $2 for all of them." SCORE!!


Well, hope everyone is having a good day! I'm going to keep myself busy tonight and craft away! :)