Meet Sofie

This darling dangler is Sofie, the world's most cuddly spider.  Once you make one, you just won't be able to resist making another!  We put them on hair clippies and give them to everyone we know.  I have even been tempted to make huge ones to hang from the trees outside. 

Here is what you need:  One homemade pompom, two googly eyes, a scrap of black felt to glue the eyes to, and one very darling bow...

What's that?  You have never made your own pompom before?  Well, welcome to the Halloween rendition of ...

For these particular arachnids, I went with a thicker eyelash yarn.  It is like "worsted weight meets eyelash" all rolled in one convenient package.  This puppy runs about $7.50 a skein without a coupon (Hobby Lobby).  I have to say I think it is worth it.  It made a much fuller body for my little lady and I got over 25 out of the skein.  I even have a pile of it left over :0)

To get started, grab your yarn and find the loose end.  You will use your three middle fingers as a spool. 

Here is what three times around looks like.  Keep Going!

I usually go between 21 and 25 times around my fingers for this particular size.  Using my three fingers I get a pompom that measures about 2 1/2".  When you have gone around enough times, snip off the extra yarn strand and slip the wad off of your fingers.  Be sure to keep a finger in the center so you don't loose it.  Grab some thread (I always use button/craft thread-it is TONS stronger).

Once you have the thread tied through the center and around one side of the yarn, go ahead and wrap it around the whole wad a couple times.  You don't necessarily have to tie through the center, but I like to do it to be sure the the yarn is really secure. 

It looks something like this...

Knot the button thread a couple times to make sure it is really staying there, then snip those thread tails!

The next step is to cut all the loops of yarn.  Jab your scissors in there and start snipping.  Black is a hard color to see exactly where to snip.  You are simply looking for loops and cutting them into individual strands.  Don't forget to do the other end :0)

Fluff your pompom a little and don't be afraid to give the little guy a hair cut.  You will have some strands that are way longer than others.  Don't let your perfectionism get out of control.  You don't need to snip him away to nothing, just smooth out the rough edges :0)

Here is my puffy pompom accompanied by his lovely debris.  You end up with more to cut off when an eyelash yarn is involved.

Here is a side-by-side comparison of last years spider and this years spider.  Last year we used regular eyelash yarn.  See how much fuller Sofie is with the thicker yarn.  She doesn't look so anorexic.  In fact, she may just want to stay way from the Trick-or-Treat bag this year :0)

Back to business...

For the legs you can use either straight ribbon or curl your ribbon.  HERE is a good tutorial for curling the ribbon.  I used very thin ribbon (1/8") and curled it on BBQ skewers to get that tight of a curl. 

Lay 4 as shown above and stitch together with a needle and thread, then sew to the pompom.  You can just hot glue, but you won't get the long wear out of your spider and the bottom ends up looking like a mess.

Next, take that scrap of black felt and hot glue the googly eyes to it.  I used to glue the eyes directly to the spider, but they always ended up facing two different directions when the pompom moved around.  I found by gluing the eyes to the felt I could keep them in place better.  Hot glue the eye piece and the bow in place. 

Keep that glue gun plugged in and glue our little lady to a lined alligator clip.

Here is a shot of the under-side...How embarrassing!  No one wants a picture of their underside, right?

My little Sophie measures about 2 1/2", not counting the legs.  She is puffy and soft, so cute perched up on top of my girl's heads-no webs necessary!  Isn't that great!?!

Now that is one spider I will allow in my house!

This project was linked up HERE:

Wahoo!!! We Did It!

Wahoo!  Super Saturday can finally be checked off

the "to-do" list for this year!!!

In typical Vanessa style I spent and entire 7 hours at the darn event and did not get a picture!  I did get one picture, a picture of Madison's reindeer brownie she made as a treat sample...then I deleted it by accident!  The one picture I had

I deleted!!!

That was what lead to my drive by "shooting" (camera-style) of a few of my friends with their fabulous projects they made.  Please enjoy the following photos of amazingly stunning Super Saturday projects modeled by the beautiful beauties that made them...

All time best seamstress for Super Saturday 2010 goes to....  Crystal!!!!

This darling lady sewed together each and every piece of the I Spy bags for me so I could run around like a chicken with a freshly severed head :0)  A million thanks to Crystal!

Bobbi and her daughter Aleah worked at amazing speeds to get all of this done.  I cannot believe that Bobbi was able to finish her felt food!!!  I really don't think I could have done it that fast myself!  Many, many thanks to Bobbi also for cutting out all of our hundreds of vinyl lettering for the Home Sign and the Happy Birthday Banners!!!  It is so lovely having such helpful and talented friends.  Bobbi worked all that vinyl while homeschooling her 3 school-aged kids and entertaining her two not in school yet!  Wow!!! 

Whitney, sporting her one of her I Spy bags and one of her temple blocks she did.  Whitney was one of the many that took some of the painting off my hands in preparation.  What a blessing!

Kim with her felt food in the works.  I really can't believe how far she got either.  I was thinking everyone would take them home and work on them over the next month.  I guess the promise of a free piece of felt food for those who finished by Christmas really did work as a motivator :0)  Now to finally decide what felt food I want to make for them..hmmm....

Fabulous Jennifer sports her Home Sign with October's candy corn and one of her black magnet boards.  Amazingly enough, Jennifer was able to get through all her projects even though I sent her to the store to pick up her own picture I was missing :0)  That is what friends are for, right?

Season made 10 of these temple blocks, among other things.  Her blocks turned out so well I really had to get a picture of them.  She picked black and white photos, black blocks and black and white papers.  The blocks came out so sophisticated and stunning!

My friend Julie, bless her heart, was sick and asleep in bed when I called asking to come take a picture.  Since I already woke her, she pulled her banner out just for the picture.  I loved the way she did her banner.  She used the die-cutted paper letters and put circles behind the letters.  It turned out so cute I just loved it! 

I also realized I never got an up-close picture of the table decorations either :0)  I gave them away to my helpers, those amazing ladies that came time after time, into the night, to help organize the event or those ladies who taught my mini classes during the event.  Crystal picked the Bats and "Boo" sign.  I didn't get to keep a set so I snagged a picture of hers. 

The witch's boot!!!  I loved the way this turned out.  Of course I could not find the orange ribbon I bought to lace the boot.  I ran to the store to buy more, but could not find what I was looking for.  Finally I found this roll of eyelash yarn in orange.  The fuzzyness was perfect.  I made the "Shoe Fits" sign with my digital scrapbook program, sent it over as a picture to Costco, then modge podged it on the block.  It made a spooky second centerpiece.

My third centerpiece was this trio Ghostly Family.  They were painted white, glittered, then spruced up with gems and tulle.  This family was such a big hit we are making them for our craft club project this month!!!

  Look out ladies, We Aren't

Done Crafting Yet!!!

Oh yeah, here are the stats from Super Saturday:

Projects:

Birthday Box (no picture)-8

Birthday banner-16

Felt Food-8

FHE kits-12

Magnet Boards-32

Home Signs-36

I Spy Bags-50

Temple Blocks-120!!!!

4 mini classes:

Photo Basics

Digital Scrapbooking

Closet Organization

Preschool Fun

4 Treat Demonstrations:

Witch Hat Cookies

Turkey Cake Pops

Reindeer Brownies-we will show you later, I promise :0)

Christmas Pretzel Treats

Now that was a lot of crafting!!!

Whew!  I need a nap!

Check Out Emmalee's Hair!

I had to show you Emmalee's hair real quick this morning before it got messed up.  I do realize I am not the first to ever do their 2 year old's hair like this, but this is the first time I have done this 2 year old's hair like this.  In half an episode of Veggie Tales I put in 2 rows of elastics and the piggies.  It turned out so cute I just had to take a picture :0)

See, she is still smiling after all the pulling and elastic wrapping!

I used to do Madison's hair in cornrows all the time when she was little.  Wanna' see some really amazing hair-dos for girls?  Check out THIS site. Princess Hair Styles is so fun to parooz around.  I haven't been there in a really long time, but the hair was simply astounding!!!

It's Midnight!

It is Midnight and I am finally finished!!!  Thanks only to my wonderful friends who forced their way through the door to help me :0)  What should have taken 'til sunrise was finished in 3 hours.  We are ready for Super Saturday!!!

Above is the pile of centerpieces and table decorations, below...

what my whole house looks like (tee-hee).  All that I have left in me is to laugh.  I can't wait to tell you how it went..."went" hinting that eventually this whole thing will finally end!  Then I can get some of my own projects done, right?  I have fabric staring me in the eye as we speak :0)

CupCake Cake Stand

I made this CupCake Cake Stand for my little sister's wedding last month...or was it this month...My brain has left me for a more sane woman.  Anyhow, here is how I made it.

I cut circles out of 1/4" hardboard on my scroll saw.  I ended up using two 2x4' sheets @ $5 each.  You can use plywood, cardboard or even foam core if you want.  If you do chose cardboard, I would double the layers for sturdiness. 

Do you know how to draw whatever sized circle you want?  Here is an example of how I do it...

Lets say I am making the bottom plate, a 20" circle.  Because I want my bottom circle to be 20",  I mark 10" (half of 20) over from the side of the board and 10" from the bottom of the plywood board. The point where these two lines intersect is now my center dot.  I tie a string to a pencil or nail or something and make my slave-labor daughter hold it on the dot.  Next, I tie the other end of the string to another pencil.  I made sure the lead of that pencil measures out 10" from the center dot when the string is pulled tight.  Then, I carefully draw in a wide circular motion, keeping the string pulled tight.  *You do have to keep an eye on the string, making sure it stays at the same height on both pencils and that both pencils are standing straight up and down as you draw around your circle*  It is pretty cool to see how well this method can work at making whatever sized circle you need.

Moving on...

Looking at other people's stands, I really felt like the stands ended up too steep when the circles were only 2" bigger than each other as you go down the cake stand.   When I do cakes, I usually step down 4".  However, I was worried the thing would end up too wide at the bottom so I chose the middle road and made my circles in 3" steps.  Planning to use a 6" cake on the top, I made the first plate 8", the next 11", 14", 17", and the last one 20".

For the columns, I chose to use this plastic pipe I found at Home Depot.  It came in a 10 foot long piece for about $8.  I only used 2 feet for this project, so I guess you could say that the columns cost less than $2 :0)  

My husband would not agree with my logic...but we won't go there. 

This pipe stuff is really cool because, while it is found in the same section as PVC pipe, it is much lighter and less dense.  It cuts much more easily.  I really equate it to a plastic version of cardboard.  I used my miter saw to cut this pipe, but it should be fairly easy to cut with a hand saw.

I ended up cutting my columns 5" tall.  I wanted plenty of room for the cupcakes and any decorations on top of them, plus the lacy decoration that would be hanging from the plates themselves.

I thought a long time about how to assemble the cake stand.  I wanted to be able to take the huge thing apart to store it or travel with it, but also wanted it to be very sturdy.  Making cakes is nerve racking enough without worrying about the stand falling apart or slipping to the floor!

I finally decided to glue these blocks to the center.  I put one on top and one on the bottom.  I explained to my kids that I did it this way so the whole thing would work like LEGOs. 

The blocks are just the right length to fit snug inside the pipe, just tall enough that if the stand were bumped upward the plates would not come off.

The next step is to decorate the cake stand.  I went in search of white contact paper to cover the plates.  I went everywhere but Walmart.  I should have gone there first.  None of the stores I went to carried contact paper.  I finally found white glossy wrapping paper at Hobby Lobby.  I modge podged it on.  Time was running out swiftly so I skipped the top coat.  Bad Idea!  The cupcakes left little stains all over the paper.  I will have to take it all off or maybe just layer over the top of it now to hide the stains.  Maybe I will still hit Wally World for that white contact paper anyway :0)  I went with white on the plates so I could use the stand for whatever event I wanted.  I modge podged scrapbook paper around the pipes/columns.  Now I think I should have used wrapping paper for that too to cut down on the seams.  I was thinking I could change the paper for the specific events: blue for baby boy showers, pink for baby girl, primary colors for birthday parties, etc.  I guess I could just cut new columns with all that pipe I have left over and have several sets to choose from:0)

I wanted a very elegant, yet whimsical look to the cake so I cut these lace patterns out with my Sizzix Sidekick.  I used double sided tape around the edge of the plates to stick a light pink ribbon to the sides.  After that, I hot glued the paper to the ribbon.  The nice thing about the double sided tape was that when we got home I could rip the tape off very easily.  Now I can tape on any new ribbon to match my next theme, like "Bunco".  I wonder if they sell ribbon with little Dice on it... :0)

Here is a closer look at the lace before I ripped it off.  I wish I could think of a material for that trim that would hold up and be interchangeable.  It isn't that this paper didn't do it's job, but I had to glue it on when we got there and it got munched up in the car ride home.  I guess you could put velcro or something like that around the rim and use real lace.  That could be an option. 

You actually wouldn't believe how I went about putting the ribbon on.  We hit 4:30 Friday, leaving for our 12 hour car drive in less than an hour, and I had just modge podged the paper on.  I took all the plates and put them on top of our luggage in the back of the Tahoe.  As we drove, I had Eli pass a plate up to me in the front seat.  I would cut the excess paper off around the edge of the plate, then apply the double sided tape and pink ribbon.  When I was done, I would pass the plate back to Eli and have him pass me the next one.  I am sure the Labor Day Travelers sharing the road with us had a hard time figuring out what on earth I was doing!  I got it done though, right?  Had I done it at home I probably would have hot glued and been stuck with my pink ribbon.  Now I have options :0)

I only put one block on the bottom of the top plate.  That way it is clear on top for whatever cake or topper I want to use in the future.  

That is the gist of how I made my CupCake Cake Stand.  It cost me less than $20 to make and came together in only a couple of hours ('cause that was all I had).  It should be great to have for whatever baby/bridal shower, birthday party, or other kind of occasion that pops up out of nowhere and store with the best of them in the closet between gigs :0)

This project is linked up HERE:

http://todayscreativeblog.net/

Seven Days And Counting :0)

Well, I finally printed out my I Spy Bag labels.  I needed to get them done so my volunteers would have enough time to sew them on bags by next Saturday.  Whew!  I can't even tell you how many hours I have spent in the car driving to every possible store that sold little things in order to make these labels.  I had to find the things first.  I kept thinking I would find my items, like snowflakes and chess pieces, but just couldn't.  Tonight I hit the jackpot at Micheals.  I finally found the ponytail beads-butterflies, fish, starfish, dragonflies, baseballs...  They are in the back at our store, not in the bead section.  Go figure!  Anyway, after a nerve racking hour, I managed to print out 60, that's right, 60 I Spy Labels. 

 I think that at least 50 are totally usable :0) 

I just sat there each and every time I ran the fabric through the printer, praying silently in my head that I would not hear the munching of heat-n-bond paper-backing under the ink cartridges.  Whew.  Now to cut out, iron, and hand out for my lovely friends to sew. 

 I have wood strewn all across my house, piles of Walmart/Joanns/Michaels bags in every corner possible.  Super Saturday-7 days and counting :0)