Happy Halloween!

I've had an envelope full of paci clip hardware sitting on my desk for about 3 months now. I'm still planning to make a few for Liam, but haven't gotten to it yet. I definitely didn't plan to use them for this...

But it is what it is. After my friends and I decided to dress as vampires tonight, we decided to dress the 2.5 year-olds as baby vampires. They'll each have the above paci, which they love because it means they're allowed to have a paci when it's not bedtime. The need for a clip is a no-brainer-- I'm not going to go digging around in dead leaves as darkness is falling trying to find a lost prop. By this time next year these kids will have big opinions on their costumes-- we're getting this one in just under the wire. If they'll sit still enough they'll each get a widow's peak painted on with face paint. K was invited to participate in the theme but she was wholly committed to the baboon costume.

I didn't bother making the paci clip fancy-- I looped it through the paci and the clip and stitched both ends on my machine. It's just this scrap ribbon, from here. Quick, dirty and creepy.

The vampire theme was not my idea-- and I had no idea when I agreed to it that I'd be having mouth surgery four days prior. I think I'm gonna skip the fake blood capsules?

Have a frighteningly fun day!

She Had to Be a Baboon

While we were visiting family and friends earlier this month, we went to the zoo that will always feel like home, Riverbanks. The best part of going there as a child was that they had polar bears that swam in a pool, and steps that took you underneath so that you could press your nose to the thick glass and pretend to be one of them. The polar bears aren't part of the experience anymore, but plenty of other fun things remain-- the monkeys that swing around their islands, the flamingos that huddle together, the bird house where it thunders and rains, kangaroos that you can walk freely around with. If you're traveling through with kids, it's definitely worth a stop.

At the zoo, K was particularly impressed with the baboons. She looked at their red bottoms and decided that they must work like some sort of giant red-inked stamp-- they'd leave red butt prints anywhere and everywhere. Despite the fact that we'd already thrifted a perfectly cool pteradactyl costume a few days before and I'd already purchased pleathery fabric to attempt to fashion pteradactyl feet... she'd found a new love. She had to be a baboon. Specifically, a "baboon with a red butt, Mom."

I took some creative license with every bit of this, of course. There are a lot of source images out there. Some that are slightly disturbing. And fun reading. There's research and then there's just knowing too much about baboons.

She. is. delighted. Easiest photo shoot ever. I didn't have to bribe her to put it on or pretend to be a baboon. Friend Kyra says, however, that I need to make a video to prove later on that she asked to be a baboon and that this was not parental mistreatment.

She looks harmless, right?

Don't let that fool you. She's intense and she can gallop on all fours.

She's got her baboon faces and moves all worked out.

This face is pretty fierce.

And the requisite red booty, which didn't feel awkward to make or photograph at all.

But how could I say no to that face? That's the best sewing I do. Not necessarily anything that's all that blog-popular. But the stuff that keeps me creating. And laughing. And wondering what's next.

Some notes on construction, since there's most definitely not going to be a tutorial: 

• I used an existing raglan-sleeved hoodie of K's to copy the shape and use as a base.
• The tail is made from a piece of boning that I cut and switched the pieces around, overlapped and re-sewed to make an "S" shape so that the tail would go up, down and then curl back up again. K was insistent that her tail could not touch the ground.
• Fur is so very forgiving. I used white thread for all of this. You'd have to look for at least five minutes to find a thread. It just melts right in. Despite the piles of fuzz all over my house from cutting the stuff (way worse than minky) I'd use it again because it's so easy to sew and not worry about the stitches being obvious.
• Speaking of the fur, the hairy-er looking fur is from a chain fabric store. It's super itchy. But it's use is limited. The base fabric for the costume came from a super soft and comfy blanket. I actually went shopping for a sweatsuit kind of thing to use as a base for the costume. I didn't get that lucky. But when I found the blanket, I thought it'd make a costume that she'd like and not go crazy after 5 minutes to wrangle out of.

• Her baboon booty (previewed here) is acrylic paint on felt that I stuffed and reverse appliqued into the back of the hoodie. I added a gloss finish. 'Cause a baboon booty should be super red and shiny.

And that's K's costume. All ready for the parade at school. She's been warned that she can't pull it apart, spill anything on it or otherwise damage it-- I'm not sure whether I'll be feeling up to fixing it for a while. The wisdom teeth come out in the AM.

Somewhat kind of sort of relatedly, Riverbanks sells compoost. Which reminded me of this.

Finally getting rolling...

on K's costume. The one that she proclaimed that she must have and that I must make. I waited a while, expecting she'd change her mind or find the NEXT thing she must have, but it stuck. And now I have to finish it today and tomorrow because I don't know how useful I'll be after Thursday's little removal of wisdom.

Here're the first two parts. Any guesses?

Unrelatedly, I have volunteers to help with I Spy! I'll work with them on the spreadsheets and flickr moderation, and then all of the packages will come to me to sort and re-mail. Whew, doing it with help sounds a whole lot easier than last year. Now I've just got to rope my sorting helpers back in! So... look for info soon.

This, unbelievably, and anti-climactically, is our 400th post. How'd that happen? I am as hopeful as anyone that Adrianna will be sorted out and back with us soon. 'Cause from the previews I've gotten... she's got a whole lot of awesome to share.

And the winners are....

The handmade label competition has come to an end-- with FOUR winners to announce! I'm hoping that the designers who aren't on this list of four are still quite satisfied that they put themselves out there. I read lots of feedback in e-mails from entrants who'd been thinking of doing this for a while and the contest happily motivated them to get it done and cross it off of the list. That's the kind of crafty feedback that I feel all warm and fuzzy about.

First, the two judge's choice winners, selected by Jess of Craftiness Is Not Optional and Disney of Ruffles and Stuff. So nice of them to lend us their eyes. (Thanks, girls!) They chose...

"Handmade by Mommy" by Anna and "Okie Due" by Mikki

And our two reader's choice winners, selected by popular vote (as of 8 pm on Friday, October 21) via this Facebook album, are...

"Doo-Dah Kids" by Brandy and "402" by Lindsay

Congratulations, Anna, Mikki, Brandy and Lindsay! You'll each get to have your design printed by Twill Tape Guy on three yards of your choice of size and color of grosgrain ribbon. And then eeeeverything you make can be even more deliciously custom. Yum.

If this is the first you've heard of the contest, you can read how it was entered, how it worked and what the winners win. And if you're inspired to give it a go as well, here's info on how you might want to design a label.

Oh, and lucky winners? Please e-mail me with your contact info, including blog address if you'd like me to link it here. 

Last week I'd noted that an announcement about a new I Spy Spoonflower Swap was coming up. Um, I retract that statement. I'm still thinking about if/when it's going to happen. I feel like a teenager admitting this, but I'm scheduled to have my wisdom teeth out later this week. Apparently, when I WAS a teenager and all my friends were having it done, I was planting the seeds for karmic payback by smugly announcing "I don't have to do that." 'Cause now I do have to do that. But if there's an I Spy swap participant-experienced organizing-type spreadsheet-lover out there who'd like to help manage the swap, that could be awesome and could help make it happen. If you think that's you, e-mail me at crafterhours@live.com. And if you have any good recipes for things that have the consistency of mashed potatoes, feel free to share.

Save the Voile!

I really didn't intend for this to be my "I'm back!" post, but I guess this is what you get.  It's me, Adrianna, the other blogger on Crafterhours.  You may remember me from last year, when I used to post stuff.  Since then, I've moved across 2 oceans, spent 2 months enjoying family and friends in the states, and waited and waited for all my household goods to arrive at our new home.  Well, they finally did, and I finally got them all unpacked.

And now we're dealing with this:

image via

So, as of today, all my stuff is packed back up and on our second floor.  My husband asked me if there was anything important from the downstairs that we should move upstairs immediately, and my answer without thought was "THE VOILE!  SAVE THE VOILE!  START WITH THE DOBBY DOT!"

You guys know how it is.

So, just in case you were one of the 2 or 3 people anxiously awaiting my return (hi mom!)...well, don't hold your breath.  I was pretty close to blogging again.  I even made a couple things in my brand spanking new sewing area.  And I had all my fabric stored by color, which was really pretty.  But now it's back to square one.  I'll be back in this space...someday.  Maybe.

In the meantime, if you pray, pray for all the people who are seriously affected by the flooding in SE Asia.  We are blessed enough to have several back-up plans, including the resources to fly to America if it really came to that.  So, I am not here asking for sympathy for myself or my family.  All we stand to lose is time.  Many others have lost and will lose everything.

Your Turn to Pick a Winner! Label Entries are In!

The entries are in! Head on over to the gallery for a better look at the entries and to vote for your favorites by "liking" them. You can like as many as you want, but you can't like one more than once. If you are an entrant, feel free to add a comment about your entry. Now that the gallery is up our judges Disney and Jess can get to work, too, and the judge's choice winners and the reader's choice winners as of this Friday at 8 pm Eastern will be announced on Monday. (New to this contest? Read more about it here.)

And.... later this week... an announcement about an I Spy Spoonflower Swap. It will run much like the last one, so ponder whether you'd like to join, and watch for the post-- spots were filled in a big hurry last time, and I only expect to do it one more time.

Labels Done? And a near tragedy...

My whole reason for jumping on the interwebs this morning is to remind you that you've got about 36 hours to get your label design in. Pleeenty of time... but get on it!

And while I'm here I thought I'd tell you a fun story. Recently we celebrated K's 5th birthday. I may or may not get around to posting about it, but the thing to know here is that there were a lot of balloons. And while I was running around cleaning up the day after the party I found this deflated balloon:

Before it popped the balloon looked something like this, but seeing it's new look gave me a momentary heart attack, believing that I was seeing some sort of vicious mold that was now going to overtake my house and take us all down with some horrible health crisis.

Wouldn't you have thought that, too? With that fuzzy particulate grossness that MUST be incredible to have grown so much in an exposed location overnight?

And then I remembered.

The balloon was filled with this.

I used Hi Float so that I could work on some of the balloons the day before the party and they'd last at least a few days. I knew I had a lot of party prep to do on the day of and figured that if the balloons waited until the last minute they might not get done, and that was planned to be about 75% of the decor. From a 5yo perspective, it also extends the balloon excitement some. All you do is squish one squirt of the stuff into a balloon and it dries inside to coat the balloon so that it doesn't lose helium nearly as quickly. If you're thorough with the squishing and the balloons are indoors, they can even last a week. Looking at the amount that's left, I can do three 5yo birthday parties with one bottle. And now you and I both know that when a balloon that is treated with this pops, you might think you're toast. At least for a split second.

Ahhhh, Home

My family is finally home from three weeks of serious togetherness in North and South Carolina. A wedding, a baptism, visiting greats and grands and aunts and uncles and friends and doing vacation sorts of things like going to the the zoo and feeding the giraffes, taking the girls on their first trip to the Carolina seashore, playing pirate mini golf (where does that ball go on the last hole?), running though fountains, flying a kite, picking apples, getting a hermit crab, riding the SkyWheel, taking a Capital Pedicab ride, riding bikes, floating on a lazy river, sliding on bouncy castle slides, fishing, eating ice cream and eating every. regional. food. to be found-- boiled peanuts, she-crab soup, Bojangle's biscuits, Blazer's Shrimp Dip, Blenheim Ginger Ale, to name a few. And did you know that the Waffle House has Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Waffles now? They're crazy good. Good enough that I thought for a few seconds about making them the large image in this collage:

And now we're back! Sort of. There's still a whole lot of sorting out to be done around here and we have two more weeks before the breadwinner goes back to work locally and we all figure out what living together in America is going to be like. Once that happens I have a long-awaited baby shower to throw for Katie (hoooooray!), a new set of nursery bedding to assemble for my imminently due cousin and a loooong list of crafty to-dos. Really, even after a fantastic trip, home is heaven, isn't it? If ever I get annoyed about household stuff, thinking about leaving it for three weeks is enough to make me love it again. My crafty stuff and I are happily reunited.

Right now? The deadline for your label design entries is looming. Sunday night, 8 pm Eastern. I'm having fun checking our e-mail and looking at the entries so far.  Here's the post on how to enter, how it works and what you'd win. Here's info on how you might want to design a label. If you've ever wanted to try it, now's the time to do it. A deadline and a possible prize-- what's better than that?! Okay, a peanut butter chocolate chip waffle. But that's much heavier on calories.

Design Your Own Label: A Tutorial

Stacey requested a quick tutorial for designing your own labels. There are so so so many ways to do it, but no matter how you approach it can be completely intimidating to jump in. I have a degree in art... and I'm still often rendered useless by staring at a blank canvas. So let me start with this: take some deep breaths. Don't overthink it. Let it be fun. You're not labeling yourself and your work for the rest of your life. You're just finding a place to start. It's okay to change your mind later. It's a process. And since I'm not trying to turn our crafty blog into a therapy blog, let's get to it.

I'll show you how I made the rainbow label using flickr to find a background image and Picnik to edit it. Then I'll give you a few links to other tutorials with more options. There are so many ways to do this sort of thing, and I love learning from others how they do it.

One of the reasons I like Picnik for image editing is that it's entirely web-based. Nothing to install and my files are stored on their site. As I move from computer to computer I can still use the site and access my files. If I'm working on something complicated I use Photoshop and/or Illustrator, but I only have those installed on one machine, and I don't always have it with me.

In order to use Picnik you've got to start with an image file, like a jpeg. That doesn't mean that the end result has to include the image. It's just the place you've got to start since Picnik is, first and foremost, for photos. But you can completely cover any image with other stuff. I'll get to that later on.

Because I wanted to start with an image I'd include, I started by searching flickr for "background". Lots of fabulous photographer folks post their photos on flickr and indicate that they're free for non-commercial use. If you use the Advanced Search you're able to limit your search to images that you can modify-- here's the section of the search where you can do that:

From my search I chose this photo:

I uploaded it to Picnik. If you haven't tried it, I highly recommend it. It's free, and then if you love it you can upgrade your membership to add more options. But there's plenty you can accomplish with the free membership.

Once your photo is uploaded, there are lots of options. I'll keep it simple here, but you could spend all day trying them out. Under "Frames" I rounded the edges.

I decided I wanted a little less green and a even less detail so I used "Orton-ish" under "Effects".

Once I was happy with this as a background I started playing with "Stickers" and "Text". Both are very easy to apply, manipulate and remove as you like. I liked the apple:

And looking at just the text options, depending on how minimal you'd like to be, you can go with just a name. Here's the font "Santo Dumont":

Or get wordier like in this one. Here I've used the "May Queen" and "Meta Language" fonts.

There are geometric shapes that can be tooled all sorts of ways. They're "Stickers" when you're in Picnik, but they don't have to be used just the way you see them. You can use the rectangles to create stripes, for example. You can choose any color imaginable, and then there's a "Fade" slider that will adjust the transparency of each sticker.

After I got my stripes the way I wanted them, I "combined everything" so that I could re-round the edges. Then added text, this time with the "Global" font.

I decided I was done with that background and covered the whole thing with a white rectangle sticker. I added three yellow circles, three pieces of text and a flower sticker. Easy. Peasy.

If you know that you don't want a photo in the background you can start with any of Picnik's sample images, crop them to the size/proportion you want and cover it with a rectangle to create a flat background.

Whenever you've got your image the way you like it, you'll click on the "Save and Share" tab to save it to your computer.

There are a whoooole lot of other tutorials out there about how you can do this sort of thing. Here are a few that you might like if you're not keen on trying Picnik:

• Gimp is a free downloadable program. I haven't used it myself but Adrianna swears by it. It's similar to Photoshop. The site has lists of tutorials sorted by difficulty. (Adrianna's edit: I must've misled Susan in the past, because actually I swear AT it.  Gimp doesn't work for me, because I learned on photoshop.  If you can figure it out, more power to you.  I swear by PowerPoint.)
  
• Microsoft Word works well for Dana.
  
• PowerPoint works too. Here's a presentations guy who makes it simple.
• If you're already familiar with the free software that comes with a Silhouette machine, it's fun to use for design. The cool part is that even if you don't have a Silhouette machine, you can still download and use the software for free.
• This tutorial is REALLY simple, not program-specific... and kind of funny.
  

And a caveat: I've given you some thoughts on designing a label that you might use to make your own labels and/or in this competition. If you're trying to make something larger-- like t-shirt designs or signage-- the type of file we're creating may not work. The larger and more varied your uses the larger/higher quality file you'll need.

If you have helpful tutorial links or questions, please comment with 'em! If you'd like to tell me that the fact that I have an art degree is not particularly represented by these designs, no worries. I hear ya. That aside, are you ready to start on your own label design now?

Feeling Competitive? Design and Win Your Own Handmade Labels!

Sometimes it takes a deadline to get you to do something you've been wanting to do and just haven't gotten around to doing. 

I know that when I finally made myself sit down and design some handmade labels (and by handmade labels I mean, in this case, labels for items I make, not labels I made by hand) I was so very glad I did. So nice to be able to make it clear that I made it AND indicate which side should be facing the confused kid's neck or rump. For a gift, it adds a detailed touch that makes the item all the more special.

Have you thought about labeling your own work? You might like this nudge into getting your design down. Here's how:

1. Design your own label. 
2. E-mail your design to us at crafterhours@live.com by Sunday, October 16 at 8 pm Eastern. 
3. Beginning on Monday, October 17, view the designs in the crafterhours Facebook album to vote for your favorites. 

There will be FOUR winners. Two will be chosen by popular vote (the number of "likes", which means each voter can vote for more than one but can only vote for each design once) and two will be chosen by our fantastic celebrity judges.

(Yes, there are still a few people in the world not on Facebook. It just happens to be the most accessible voting platform for large groups of entries. You don't have to be in Facebook to enter, win, or see the designs. You only have to be on Facebook to vote.)

Who are the judges? If you're dedicated readers like we are, you may know them as well from their photos as from their blog names. 

Jess of Craftiness Is Not Optional            and             Disney of Ruffles and Stuff

And WHAT do you win? Well, beyond the obvious fame and prestige, you'll win three yards of your own winning design, printed on any of the grosgrain ribbon options we talked about yesterday. There are two different sizes and seven different colors available for you to choose from.

Here are more particulars, which may be updated as we receive questions:

• your file should be a jpg or png.
• your design should be of the sort that would be used to label your own handmade item. Doesn't matter  what kind of handmade item. Clothing, quilt, pacifier clip, whatever you like. Feel free to write a description of how and where you'd use it and we'll place that in the caption.
• each entrant may enter up to 3 designs.
• there are two widths available-- 1 1/2" and 2 1/4". Doesn't matter how it's scaled, for printing TTG will fit the design to the width of ribbon you select. For judging purposes, the size doesn't matter.
• feel free to tag yourself once the album is up.
• voting will close on Friday, October 21st at 8 pm Eastern U.S. 
• winners will be announced on Monday, October 24 on crafterhours.
• entries will be included in the competition at the sole discretion of Susan and Adrianna. If we deem an entry somehow inappropriate, it's out. 

Are you in?

P.S. Want a button to add to your own blog? Here you are!

Grosgrain Labels in Full Color

While I was working on my grosgrain label designs, Twill Tape Guy mentioned that he could print on colored ribbon, too. He seems to always have something up his sleeve that sounds like a crafty adventure or challenge to me. He's just adding these colors to his shop and sent some to me to roll around in.

My fave might be "lime juice", but... it's project-dependent.

The natural follow-on question was "how will full color prints look on it?". So I designed the full-color-est thing I could think of to test it. Also a design I thought someone in particular might like but wouldn't have time to make for herself since her life at the time was empty rooms about to be filled with walls and walls of moving boxes. Here's the file I made and sent to TTG:

Because it's a transparent ink process, the colors will be brighter on a lighter background substrate/ribbon, but I think even the "grey" ribbon is super cool as long as you consider that you'll need to use darker ink colors and a bold design.

Interested in trying it yourself? And in winning your own labels printed for free? More on that tomorrow.