A Zergling? What is that? (part two)

I have finished the Zergling.  Hooray, hooray!  You can see part one of this post here.


I put the spiky things on it's back, as you can see here.  It is really starting to look right.  At least, to me.

Then I added some plates to it's back.  I need to fix the legs a little here because they keep splaying out awkwardly.  Now all it needs are teeth, claws, tusks and eyes.  These could make or break it.

And here is the finished creature.  It turned out okay after all!  I sent my nephew a picture and was told that "it's really accurate, definitely impressive".

I am quite pleased with the way this turned out.  I hope this little guy is happy in it's new home.
:) Pin It

A Zergling? What is that? (part one)

My adult  nephew posted a plea on Facebook a while ago asking if someone could make him a model or a plush zergling.  After asking what on earth that was, I decided to make it a personal challenge.  I told him not to say 'no' to anyone who might actually know what they are doing, but I would give it a shot.

What have I gotten myself into?  This is the creature. It is from a game called Starcraft. That is all I know. 
Isn't he just stunning?


Picture from http://starcraft.wikia.com/wiki/Zergling

But he also sent me this picture of a stuffed one, so obvioulsy he is pretty flexible on just how accurate it looks.


Found here: http://img2.etsystatic.com/il_570xN.290660642.jpg

This one is a little too cutesy-poo for my liking.  Although I think I could have pulled it off.

I'm aiming for something in between.  Here is what I have so far.
My materials.  I'm not sure why I thought I needed green felt.....  Not shown are my first ever pair of glasses.  Apparently I'm getting older and I need them when doing things like sewing and beading.  Oddly enough, I don't require them for reading.

The paper is my attempt at sketching out my idea.  Did I mention that I have never made a stuffed animal without a pattern before?  I am totally flying by the seat of my pants here.

I sewed up the body and have to say that it is looking pretty goofy right about now.

It still looks pretty goofy, but I can see it starting to take shape.

This is as far as I have gotten.  My plan is to get those big spiky things on it's back today, then start embellishing it.  I'll keep posting progress even if this ends up being a failure.

Thanks for looking! Pin It

Dead sock-monkey and peeps

My eighteen year old graduated from high school almost a year ago but still goes back to see some of her friends and visit a few of her former teachers. One of those teachers is celebrating a birthday next week.  This teacher has a fondness for corny (read: bad) jokes. 
The favourite is :
Q.  Why did the monkey fall out of the tree? 
A.  Because it was dead!

I told you.  Bad.

Anyhow, my daughter asked if I could make a "dead" sock monkey for her to give this teacher.  How could I say no?  I showed my daughter the socks I already had that she could choose from and she chose a red monkey with cream details.

I think it's kinda cute.

Better than my Peeps.  I saw a tutorial for the cutest felt bunny peeps here and just had to make some.  The plan was to make them before Easter and give them to the girls.
Nope.
When I got Peep #1 done to the stage where you stuff it, I decided I didn't like it.  So I abandoned it and went on to Peep #2.  I decided to sew this one up differently.  Bad idea.  I like Peep #2 even less than I like Peep #1.  So I abandoned this too.  Easter came and went and the unstuffed, unloved felt Peeps just hung around.  Taunting me.  So I decided to at least finish them and see what they look like.
You know what?
Stuffed and sewn up, they are kinda cute.  I like Peep #1 better than Peep #2.  Go figure... 
Another part of the plan was to place them in these over sized plastic Easter eggs I picked up.  Guess what doesn't fit in the eggs.  Now I have absolutely no idea what I am going to do with them.  But I did learn to finish what I start because you never know just how it will turn out until it is done.

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A Harry Potter Spell Book

Quite a while back, I saw a tutorial for this, complete with the spells already laid out in 4X6" format and set up as a free printable.  My thanks go out to Christie at A Lemon Squeezy Home for not just taking the time to create this fun printable, but for also sharing it for free!

I picked up a small, plain photo album at a dollar store.

See, non-descript, unsuspecting....  Nobody would ever guess the treasure inside!

Then I printed out Christie's spellbook, cut the pages and slipped them in the album.  Quick and easy!  My fourteen year old (yes, you read that right... fourteen year old) daughter thinks it is fantastic and has already requested that we make one for her Harry-Potter-loving-friend for her birthday (in five months!).

Inside we have a title page.

And the spells are laid out alphabetically.

We are already very familiar with nox...

Because it is on both girls' light switch plates!

Sorry, but I had to post the plates.  I made them ages ago and I am still quite proud of them.  :)

Now, if you have a Harry Potter fan in your life, pop over to A Lemon Squeezy Home using the link at the top.  It goes directly to the Spell Book project!
Have fun!




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1-2-3 Cake!!!

What on earth is 1-2-3 Cake?  That is what I wondered too after a friend raved about it on Facebook.  So I looked into it. I'm sure that there are a gazillion posts about it already, but I found my directions here thanks to a different  friend pinning it.
Yummy treats don't get much easier than this!
I used cheap, No Name brand cake mixes.  I think I paid $3.50 for both mixes.  You must use an angel food cake mix, but the other mix can be any flavour you'd like.  For me it had to be chocolate.  All you do is mix your two cake mixes together.  I just dumped both into a Zip Loc bowl, put the lid on, held tight and shook it up.

There.  That is all the prep work done.

Now when you want a little treat, you just take a mug (we discovered that a smaller mug makes it look like a bigger treat!) and place 3 tablespoons of your mix in it. 

Add 2 tablespoons of water and mix it up.  (If the treat is for you, you can lick the spoon now and hang on to it.)

Then you put it in the microwave on high for 1 minute and presto!
A personal sized (think cupcake size) treat!  And that spoon you hung on to?  Use that to eat it!

It passed inspection by both the fourteen year old, and the eighteen year old.  (Oh, and  the forty-two year old!)

I figured out the calories for this particular mixture and it is a nice, light 119 calorie snack.
I'll bet a dollop of whipped cream would be good with it.

1 minute, 2 TBSP water, 3 TBSP mix.... 1-2-3!  My new favourite treat.  I hope you enjoy it too. Pin It

Sock monkey and suckers .. or... A sucker for a sock monkey!

A friend of mine asked me if I would make her a fuschia sock monkey. Since she is one of my biggest fans when it comes to my sock monkeys and her birthday was coming up, I agreed.

Never again will I use these fuzzy socks.

I am sure that they would be soft and cozy on a pair of feet, but my sewing machine HATES them.  However, everything turned out great in the end!

I started with a pair of fuzzy socks.  Only grey worksocks from now on in my monkey making carreer!

I marked out my pattern directly on the socks and sewed them up before cutting.  I use the same directions that come with Red-Heel socks.  They are all over the internet.  The reason that there are pins in the socks is to keep them from shifting.  I find the pins to be very helpful.

Here are all my pieces sewn up, cut out and turned right-side-out.  That little pile on the right is all the scraps.  I am always amazed by how little of the socks gets wasted!

Then I stuffed him up, sewed his limbs on and gave him a scarf.  All my sock monkeys have a scarf or necklace to hide the neck stitches. They also have a red button heart and a numbered tag at the base of the tail that says "Handmade by Ange". I didn't think to take a butt shot.  I think this one is #25.
I almost didn't give him away!!

While roaming the internet one day I saw an adorable quickie-craft that I also did for my friend.  The original (to me) was for a 30th birthday, so I added ten since my friend was turning 40.  I'm two years older, and don't really agree with the sentiment, but it is funny!

Thanks for looking!!

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Party Popcorn is positively pleasing to the palate

 I read how to make Party popcorn and knew that I just had to make some for my daughter's party.  After all, they were watching a movie and what's a movie without popcorn?

It is super easy, very tasty and looks cool too!

First you pop your corn.  I stopped using microwave bags a long time ago.  This $11 microwave popcorn bowl has paid for itself many, many times over!

Ready to pop...

Poppity pop pop!

Times this by 3, and you have what I made for ten girls.  Including me!

The only other ingredients you need are white chocolate melting wafers, sprinkles and a little salt.  And a wax paper covered cookie sheet, but that isn't really an ingredient.

We love sprinkles in this house!  Well, Hubby not so much...

Spread your popped popcorn on the wax paper covered cookie sheet and set aside.  Melt your chocolate.  I boil water in a little pot, remove that from the heat and place my Pyrex cup with my wafers in the pot and stir until smooth.  Every time I try to use the microwave to melt these, I ruin them.

Then you drizzle the chocolate over the popcorn, sprinkle with a little bit of salt (Really!  It makes it soooooo much better!) and shake some sprinkles on.  I mixed this up with my  hands (careful, the chocolate gets hot) and kept drizzling and sprinkling until I thought it looked good.  Your hands will get messy.  That is why I have no photos of this step!  Then set it aside to cool and firm up.

Looks good, doesn't it!?

Then I packaged them up in these cute cardboard containers I found at a dollar store.

We will definitely be doing this again.  I wonder how milk chocolate would taste...... Pin It