Customized ornaments!

I've been slacking on being "crafty" with my working and all, so with my most recent trip back the coast, I decided I'd get geared up and get my painting on!!

I like buying blank/unfinished paper mache and I can go to town and get my creativity on. I made these for two amazing people. :)

You start with a blank ornament. Michael's is pretty much THE place to go around here for me to find any sort of craft supplies. They come in a few different shapes, but these were just good ol' circles.

A few coats of paint, red in this case, then it'll look like:

*this isn't MINE, just a pic I found, but you get the idea.*

Then found a font that was suitable for the lettering I needed, printed it off onto regular paper, fit it on top of the ornament after a few coats of paint and just traced over the letters to give an impression that I could use as an outline. I did this with some other details on the other side and proceeded to paint using the outlines as a guide.

I made these for the creators of the Sarcastic Voyage Podcast, Aalgar and Matt. So I took their logo and recreated it!

Front:

Both have the same frontside. The edge running around the circle is a charcoal color.

Back:

I duplicated the same process for the letters with the radio tower to personalize them. Matt's has his name in white.

I'm really happy with how they turned out as it was just an idea I had and I wondered if it was going to work. Even better, I got to hand deliver them to the guys at Emerald City Comic Con earlier this month. Getting to see the looks on their faces just made me feel so much better about my hard work. :)

*Big thanks to Aal for taking pictures of his so I could make this post! \m/ *

Hufflepuff Scarf

I decided to take up knitting a week or two ago and after a successful first scarf have begun working on a Hufflepuff scarf for my sister! I'll post more pics as it progresses, enjoy!

How to make a Fancy Mask

So you have a costume ball coming up, and want to make a fabulous mask to wear?  Here's how to make one!

First, procure a plain mask.  Such as this.

Supplies!

If you want your mask to last a long time, your first step is to paint it with a primer made for plastic.  If you are impatient like me, you can just do a few coats of acrylic paint in your base color.  If you are making a lighter color mask, you will want to start with a white plastic mask.  I wanted mine to be dark brown, so I started with a black mask.

Next, paint on any design you want for your mask.  In this case I was trying to duplicate the pattern in the dress I was going to wear.

Swirly.

After you get your design done, give it one or two coats of clear acrylic.  This is supposed to be matte acrylic, but it looks a little glossy anyway.  The gloss coat I have would have been even shinier, though.  Decide what works best for the look you're going for.

NEXT, start adding the bling.  Go crazy with sparklies or feathers or anything else that catches your fancy.

Shiny!

Lastly you will want to either add some ribbon to tie on your mask, or a stick for a hand-held mask.

Here is me, making a very silly dress, in the mask and dress!

I was in a good mood, sue me.  ;p

See how easy it is to make a custom mask?  Now you try!  :)

4.6 Scott Pilgrim WIP

Ok, it's been a couple of weeks without an update, but I blame that mostly on Emerald City Comic-Con and the NCAA basketball tournament. I had a couple of questions from reader Emma'sStitches on my last post, so let's get to those!

1) Emma was hoping to see a full progress picture soon. I'm only doing full shots on every tenth update, so the next one will be in 6 updates!

2) Emma is planning on undertaking the Scott Pilgrim project as well & asked if I plan on stitching in the white stitches for the characters' eyes and so forth. I'm not. There's a lot to do here and I'm lazy. Since I'm using white cloth for the project, it seems like extra effort that doesn't mean anything in the long run.

That brings us to this week's picture! It's Young Neil!

Special Guest Crafter: Mrs. B

Hey, everyone!

My wife wants to try an interesting crafting project around the house and she wants to share what she's doing with you guys!

Mrs. B here.  I'm not the crafty type at all, but this particular home improvement project seems to have meandered into that territory.  I spotted a drink umbrella wall decoration idea in a children's furniture catalog and Land of Nod was awesome enough to provide a link with instructions even I can't screw up.  I'll be transforming a hallway wall because I think this is too much work to stay hidden inside a bedroom.

Pictures to follow once work gets underway.  First up, I'll spend tonight removing the "poles" from the drink umbrellas using wire cutters.

3.17 Scott Pilgrim WIP

It's actually been over two weeks since I posted an update!

But I'll make up for my lack of updates by showing you two completely finished figures. I stitched a small bird and a small pig. Next up: Young Neil.

On to the picture!

How To Customize G4 Ponies

Hey bronies and pegasisters!  Wanna know how to customize ponies?

FIRST, watch all these videos!

THEN, make some ponies!

Here are some in-progress and finished shots of some custom ponies I made, based on @AAlgar and @Robotmatt and @wrenish.  (If you don't know who these people are, you obviously need to go here.)

Pony bodies.  Note the color the Matt pony used to be!

Pony heads.  AAlgar pony having a bad hair day.

Finished ponies

Wedding Day Wrenish Pony.  Tacky chapel playset sold separately.

Follow the simple instructions, and you too can make custom ponies!