Pedernales State Park - Spring Beak 2022

 

My oldest friend, we have known each other since the first day of kindergarten, came to town for Spring Break. 2018 was the last time our kid's Spring Breaks matched up. We spend the week together visiting several state parks. This time, we only had one day together. Boogs and I went to the house she and her family rented in Dripping Springs for lunch. Pedernales is such a busy place that you have to get reservations tickets online. We were able to get into the park at 2 pm. It is such a pretty park. It was easy to spend five hours at the park.

Studio 54 Party

One of my husband's friends was turning 54, so his wife was throwing him a Studio 54 party. We had fun getting ready for the party.

My husband thought he might try a Captain and Tennille look. We quickly decided against it.

We ended up going to the Lucy in Disguise costume shop to find something for him. Disco shirt, high waisted polyester black bell bottom pants, and super sparkly boots.

I bought a couple of things from Amazon to get my Studio 54 look. This gold lame outfit looked like a gold colored trash bag. I quickly returned it.

Next, I tried this jumpsuit and it looked pretty good, so I kept it.

I though these would be the perfect shoes to wear with the outfit. They were really cute but the ball of the foot area was too small. It hurt too much to wear them. I returned them and wore some black cork wedges that I already had in my closet.

I bought a Farrah Fawcett type blond wig.

It took three tries to get these huge eyelashes glued on.

Hoop earrings, a medallion necklace, and a gold chain belt completed the look.

I think my husband and I nailed our Studio 54 look. We had a great time at the party.

Crafting 2022 (So Far)

My crafting has slowed down since my Christmas break. Here are a few things I have made.

A friend of mine collects elephants. She asked if I could make one. This was my attempt. The nose is a bit wonky, but i think it turned out okay. I used this pattern from Amy's Crochet Cave.

A co-worker asked it I could make a fox for her to give as a Valentine Gift. I showed her several different patterns. She chose this one from Craft Passion.

The pattern called for a "Split Single Crochet Stitch" that mimics the look of a knit stitch. I tried the stitch and had a terrible time trying to use that stitch. So, I changed it to a single crochet stitch. I followed the pattern exactly, other than stitch type, and the head turned out way too tall. It looked ridiculous. A note on the pattern said not to try it with a different stitch because it would "not work well. You will find the size, shape, and colorwork, not in the right proportions ".   Yep, that statement was true.

I started over and changed up the number of rows as I went along. I had to make changes in the head, muzzle, ears, body, legs, and arms. I think it turned out cute. The pattern maker said she bought doll glasses for her fox. I used some 18 gauge craft wire and made some glasses for my fox. I thing the glasses turned out really cute. Since this fox was a Valentine gift, I added a red scarf with hearts on end. The scarf also helped hide the little-bit-too-skinny neck.

I got a gift card for a craft store for a Christmas present. I used it to try a new craft... needle felting. Needle felting is where you take wool and poke at it with special barbed needles to make the wool fibers bind together. I saw some amazing animal creations and thought I would give it a try.

I wanted to make a little white Maltese dog. I tried, but it didn't go so well. The head was so lumpy.

I kept working on it and it started to look more like a dog, but not like a Maltese.

I posted this picture on a facebook felting page. I was informed that you are not supposed to use all of the needles in the wooden handle at one time. The needles are different sizes. Oops! I didn't realize you could open the wooden handle and pull the needles out.

This is how my little dog turned out. It took me about three hours to make.

The felted dog is soooo tiny. It is only about 2 inches tall.  Here it is next to the Valentine fox.

I thought I would try my hand at 2D needle felting. It is also called painting with wool. I tried to think what I would make. I thought about a picture I took this past summer on a camping trip and knew I wanted to try and "wool paint" it. It is a very loose interpretation  of it.

I made a flat pug for one of my friends. She liked it. I did not like it much. She has a pug that is a certified therapy dog who works with children.

She keeps it on her desk at work.

This was supposed to be a cat to go with this Cat A Pencil. It was kind of scary looking.

Every year that we went to Canada for Christmas, we went on a feed the birds hike. 

The little chickadees are so cute. They will take seeds right out of your hand.

So, the next thing I wanted to needle felt was a chickadee. It is not quite right, but I think it is close. I still need to add legs to it and make the black at the bottom of the throat a bit smaller.

I pulled out my stamping supplies to make a few cards for co-workers.

Work and family has been keeping me very busy. I haven't had time to put any new projects on my crochet needles for several weeks.

What are you crafting?

Last Christmas 2021 Post

I finally got to make my Christmas Tree Appetizer. The base was a 9 inch styrofoam cone from Michael's Craft Store. I wrapped it in Saran Wrap then added Herbs de Provence and garlic powder to cream cheese and spread that over the plastic wrap. The cream cheese and toothpicks held the food in place. There were green, black, and kalamata olives, tri-colored cherry tomatoes, salami, proscuitto, capocollo, cheese stars, and rosemary sprigs. After I took this picture, I added several types of crackers surrounding the base of the tree. It was delicious!

We continued our annual tradition of watching Elf on Christmas Eve. Boogs wore his Elf onesie for the viewing.

Cutesy the Elf went back home to the North Pole on Christmas Eve. He left behind a little friend for Boogs to take care of until he returns next year, a little crocheted hedgehog.

Boogs thought it was pretty cute.

We had a quiet day with just the three of us. We played cards, pool, darts, ate too much junk, and watched another movie. 

On Boxing Day, we had friends come over for a full Christmas dinner. No one could resist trying Cutesy's cup stacking balance challenge. We played a fun card game and had a great time.

My parents came over the next day. My dad spent quite a bit of time with the cup balancing challenge. 

It was a really quiet holiday break. We missed traveling to Canada to see my husband's family. Hopefully, we will get to see them next year.

Cutest Little Crocheted Armadillo

I am part of a beginner crochet group on Facebook. One of the other members posted a picture of the armadillo she made her son for Christmas. It was so cute that I had to get the pattern and make one. The pattern is called Anton The Armadillo by CB Fiberworks. The pattern cost $5 on Etsy. 

I'm from Texas and we see a lot of armadillos around here. I liked the pattern but knew I needed to give my armadillo a pointy type nose and different ears. Here is what he looks like without his shell.

My friend gave me a bunch of yarn this summer and one skein had perfect colors for an armadillo shell.

I am a slow crocheter. It took me about 10 hours over three days to make this little guy. We did not get a chance to travel during the holiday break so it was nice to have a fun project to work on.

The most amazing part of this pattern is the armadillo can roll up into a ball inside its shell. How cute is that!?! Don't you just love it?

School starts back up tomorrow. I don't have a project on my crochet hook right now. (Well, I still have not made a head for the dog I started in July. But, I'm not counting that.) I used a Joann Store gift card to order 9 skeins of yarn so I can make my first sweater. I am impatiently waiting for that yarn to arrive. Wish me luck on that project. I also ordered a needle felting kit. I have never tried needle felting. I promised a friend I would try to needle felt a honey badger for her. Yikes, another project where I will be out of my ability zone.

What crafting projects are you working on right now? 

Makeway Marble Run With Cutesy the Elf 2021

Cutesy opened the Makeway Marble Run package that was delivered yesterday. He put together a marble run to ring a bell. The sign next to him said, "Every time a bell rings, an angel gets their wings. Can you make a new way to ring the bell?

Makeway was a Kickstarter project started early in 2020. I was an early backer. I thought the Makeway kit would be great for my STEAM Shop classroom. Originally, the kit was supposed to be delivered in September 2020. The manufacturing process was completely disrupted by Covid 19 shutdowns, border closings, and worker shortages. There were 32 email updates sent out during the waiting process for the kit. Makeway sent out the basic packages without add-ons to as many backers as they could as quickly as they could. They started delivering to North America first. I am still waiting for my add-on light kit package. Unfortunately, I have changed jobs and no longer have a STEAM Shop classroom. So, I let our elf set it up for Boogs to use.

As soon as he saw it, Boogs set the marble in motion to see it ring the bell. It took a few minutes to figure out how to reset it to make it work again.

Then, Boogs set up a different marble run using some other components from the kit. He planned for it to ring two bells.

Here is the first marble run Boogs put together. I am sure he will be creating many more.

National Geographic partnered with Makeway and there are now kits available at Target and other stores. I used an oil pan that I bought at an auto store as our surface for the magnets. I like that the oil pan is big, light weight, and portable so I can move it around the house or take it to my classroom.

I'm sure we will spend many hours configuring new runs. We have not yet taken everything out of the packages. Boogs immediately put up the cannon. It gets hit by a marble and then launches another marble on its opposite side. There are various interchangable tracks - some are straight, some curved, some flexible, and some are shaped like stairs. I am excited to try the ball lifts. The kit also has bells, gates, levers, launchers, cannons, catapults, and spinners. I can't wait to see how the light expansion add-on items work, hopefully those will arrive soon.

The only negative thing I have discovered about it so far (after only one day with it) is that the pieces are plastic and feel like they might break if not gently handled. The kit came with a 14+ label on it. It did not indicate that age limit when I first ordered it.  I don't know if my elementary students will be careful enough with it to keep the pieces from breaking. My students won't have a problem configuring various runs. I feel like the age on it is because of the fragility of the pieces. Boogs and I will have to play around with it some more to decide. Overall, I am happy with this marble run, it is a lot of fun. Even if I only use it at home, I am happy I purchased it.

Here is a link to a Youtube video about Makeway.