Oh Christmas.

Oh Christmas, you stir things in me.

 

Things that make me act in very foolish ways.

 

 

Oh that’s right, after finishing a total of 8 squares of a different granny square afghan, I decided to go ahead and buy NEW yarn and start a NEW granny square afghan.

 

 

I figured since I was so good about crocheting the 8 previous squares in about 3 months, the 110 squares required for this Christmas afghan would just FLY off my hook.

 

But it’s just so CHRISTMAS-Y!!!!!

 

So… tired…

Despite the fact that I want to die because I’m so tired, I am very excited for tomorrow when I will get to take my strange little holiday menagerie out for a spin and see how people like the custom pet figurines.

 

I’m hoping to make millions.

 

Actually, I’m just hoping to make a few people excited about getting a totally custom sculpture of their dog in a holiday sweater.

 

Here are the 4 that are going on tour with me tomorrow:

 

Fiona and Loverboy….

 

Woody… (Or as he would prefer to be called on Halloween: Wonder Woody)

 

 

And my sweet dog Petey who is no longer with us but still enjoys his holiday cookies…..

 

… and who always sat with his arms like that.  We had our suspicions that he was a little… you know…  And we loved him for it.

 

Stop by my etsy site for more details and tell your friends! (poppicakes.etsy.com)

 

No really… do it.  Do it now.

 

Withdrawal

Crafty friend Ailis was in town last weekend which made this weekend kind of a bummer in all honesty.

But I thought I would combat my suicidal thoughts (“If I can’t craft with Ailis, I don’t want to liiiiiiive!”) by reminiscing about happier times.

One of the things we made were Thanksgiving-y paper garlands to sell at an upcoming event at her friends’ beautiful inn.

They all say something a little different although if they were to really reflect what is said at MY house at Thanksgiving, they would have phrases more like “Turkey Coma”,  “No more vodka, please”, and “Uh oh, the dog is throwing up”.

They were fun to make (of course, that may have had something to do with the company *wink*), but a little time consuming.  ALTHOUGH, next time we make them (for Christmas?  Maybe.) we figured out some ways to streamline the process (translation: shoddier workmanship).

Trick or…

Treats!

A finished bag of Halloween treats for my (thankfully repaired) doggy trick-or-treater.

Errrm….

Say… there isn’t any chance that your dog went through a horrific accident recently, is there?

No?

Then I guess I had better fix this:

Oh dear.

But he remains calm, bravely facing the difficult days to come with a stoicism characteristic to superheroes.

What a guy….

And so it begins…

Okay, technically it began last Christmas when I made my maniacally obsessed parents figurines of their beloved dogs.  These dogs have replaced my brother and I as the most important things in their lives.  And they don’t even try to hide it anymore.

“Stephanie, that’s Darcy’s chair.  If you don’t want her clawing at your face, you should find somewhere else to sit.”

“Stephanie, I can’t talk right now.  I’m busy cooking the dogs’ dinner.”

“Stephanie, I don’t care how much you say you need two, Buddy needs a kidney and you are giving him yours.”

Okay, the last one is both scientifically implausible and entirely fictional, but you get the idea.

So they loved the tiny little Christmas figurines of their corgis and I thought to myself “Hey, if my insane parents love their custom figures, I bet there are other equally ridiculous people who love their dogs more than life itself and would enjoy having a small replica in festive holiday attire.”

Thus an idea was born.  Clear my Etsy shop of absurdly labor intensive felt animal cards and offer custom pet figurines.

But I needed some examples.  Pictures.  No one is going to buy an hand-crafted replica of Rex or Fluffy or Princess without some concrete evidence that I can do their pup justice.

So I present my current project:  Woody

He starts as a fairly expressionless, vaguely dog-shaped entity…

Then slowly becomes a better representation of a dog (and starts looking much less like a mutant harbor seal)…

Then he gets dressed in his holiday outfit.  Call him “CAPTAIN WOODY” from here on out.  He’s a super hero for Halloween…

Then he has to rest for a little while because my hands are as hot as the sun, apparently.

When he cools down a little so that the slightest touch doesn’t cover him with fingerprints, he will get shaped into a much more accurate Woody.  Plus, all of the textures like fabric and fur will be added.

So stay tuned to see what happens with this pink little canine super hero.

Yarrrrrrrrn!

I’m about to get my granny on….

Has this happened to you?

My lovely crafty friend Ailis sent me the BEST package I have ever gotten in the mail.  It was a brown paper package tied up with string, Julie Andrews-style.

So I open it up and there is the cutest little cat toy ever inside, crocheted and stuffed with catnip.

I decided that I HAD to make one for her cat, so I searched and searched for juuuust the right pattern to use.  I wanted something cute, sea related (because she sent me a fish shaped toy…I wanted to go with the same theme), with fun danglies.   Jellyfish it is.

Unfortunately, somebody else took a liking to the jellyfish, and before I knew it, it was covered in slobber with half of its face ripped off.

I even put in my purse to keep it safe, but the cats quickly developed opposable thumbs, unzipped my bag, took out the jellyfish, snatched my car keys and 20 bucks and went joyriding through town.

The catnip makes them do very bad things.

Pictures have arrived…

Here are the pictures of the tea towels.

I drew out the designs myself (and used some Sublime Stitching letters for inspiration).

I was going for “Wedding-y but not saccharine”.

It is so satisfying when you rinse the blue ink away….

Any tips for improving my satin stitch?  I feel as though mine always looks messy and rinky-dink…

More Tea Towelly Goodness.

I just cranked out some sick tea towels.  And if you think that by “sick”, I mean ill or gross, think again my friend.

I mean sick in the same manner in which it is used in the sentence “Jessica Biel’s body is SICK, bro.” (picture me adjusting the collar of my manly pink polo shirt and checking the pockets of my khaki cargo shorts for my iPhone)

Also “sick” in the previously mentioned “ill” definition of the word?  My camera.

Well, the battery is dead and I can’t find the charger in my new house, anyway.

I will share pictures soon.

Word.