FYI

Sorry I haven't posted this earlier, but I decided to make things a bit easier and have ceased publishing on this blog and instead publish all my crafty pursuits and other adventures at Mikao's World.

Custom Jungle

I got asked to make a custom shirt this weekend, and here it is. The client picked out the fabric, and asked me to slightly modify the design of another shirt I had made myself earlier this summer, and this is the result.

Amelia's Hat

These are photos I finally scanned of a baby hat I knitted for a friend's first little girl, last April.

Glass Necklace

I had been wanting to make a necklace like this for awhile, so I finally made one two weekends ago, by candlelight... as the electricity was out! The beads came from a variety of sources:

* the 6 larger reddish orientalish beads are ones I found in a trunk at my Gramma's house several years ago. I have tried making a few other things with them in the past, but they never seemed to look quite right. I think they look perfect in this necklace.

* the crystal-type amber and light blue coloured beads are from a kit I got from the local dollar store a couple of weeks ago. The screw-end clasp is from this kit as well.

* the larger clear and green beads are ones I had leftover from camp crafts a few summers ago.

* the plain clear smaller beads are from a dollar store last fall.

* the clear blue, orange, red, green, etc. beads that make up the majority of the necklace (uniform in size) are from a pack of co-ordintating beads I got at Wal*Mart last spring.

Overall, I really love the way this necklace turned out. I made it long enough to wrap around my neck 4 times, and around my wrist 10 times. Although I'm not sure I'll ever wear it as a bracelet, might be a bit bulky.

Ladybugs Set 2

Details here.

Ladybugs Set 1

Brown and Blue and Striped

Instead of working on Christmas cards, like I should be, I've instead been making other cards lately... it's been awhile since I've made any (I think a month ago was the last time I did, I've been sewing and knitting too much).

Actually, what I really need to be working on is Christmas presents. They're going to take me a while this year.

I got this striped paper in a pack of mixed patterned paper from one of the local dollar stores. I really like the colour combos.

The card above I made for my sister's birthday (next week, she'll be 24... she's getting so old! ;) ). She likes anything with birds. You might recognize this silhouette from elsewhere.

The cards below I made for a couple of friends and mailed out today.

Personalized Piped Bag

When my friend Carolyn was a child, she never got those pre-made personalized items, they never came in the name "Carolyn". Sure, they had "Carol". Sure, they had "Caroline". But never "Carolyn". And "Carol" with a "yn" written in wasn't cool. (Meanwhile, they had "Michelle" in everything... I even had a "Michelle" toothbrush.

Anyways, it was Carolyn's birthday on Saturday. I tend to be a birthdays procrastinator. Like everyone gets their birthday cards and presents just a little bit late.

So this past weekend I worked on her birthday present, a bag I've been wanting to make for awhile. It needed an appropriate person to make it for though. Since it was to be personalized, well hello, Carolyn made the perfect recipient.

I waivered between a nice bright vibrant kelly green colour, and this chocolate brown. Finally I decided on chocolate brown because I wasn't sure whether or not Carolyn was a kelly green kind of girl.

I've never done piping on anything before, so that was a bit of a challenge. I like the way it looks. I like the way it turned out (in the end after a lot of stitch ripping). I don't know how many future projects I will do piping on.