Crochet tophat winter outfit

I have a lot of people enjoying my crochet winter tophat and they think its really neat, but the question has been asked...or rather, the statement made, "I have no idea what to wear it with."  While steampunk and victorian dress can be very over the top, it is possible to incorporate the fun bits into your every day without too much trouble, while still occasionally turning a head with your blatant awesome without attacking everyone at the mall with your...um...blatant BLATANT awesome.  I tried to demonstrate by making a collection of simple pieces of clothing to make an everyday steam-victorianesque outfit, complete with a warm coat and my handmade crochet tophat (Hello Buffalo, NY right now---amiright?).  Just to be extra sassy, I included a pair of my earrings to top it off.  Sassy, and...I really love those earrings right now.

Victorian Amethyst Rifle Casing Bullet Earrings by UniqueEuphoria
etsy.com

Victorian-inspired top hat by UniqueEuphoria on Etsy
etsy.com

teapot surprises

Yep.  I'm a swapper.  I love to do those cool mail swaps where you have some kind of a challenge and then get a random partner to send to?  Well, if you've never done it, go to swapbot.com and sign up.  Its free and super fun.
The last swap I did was supposed to be for a cup of tea and a letter.  You get 2 partners to which you send 2 teas/packaged beverages and a letter.  as long as you follow those rules, your good. However, I LOVE getting fun mail and extra special things and I honestly believe that you get what you receive, so I try to make mine special.

What I did was, I drew a teapot freehand onto a piece of paper and then cut out each section that I want to applique   Like this:

Then, you pick your fabric and iron it on to stabilizer--the thicker the stabilizer, the better, especially when you have tiny swirls and corners to stitch around. 

Then, you trace each piece out onto the stabilizer side of the material and cut it all out.  For interest, use coordinating colors, but different fabrics for each piece.  

I then take a piece of felt and tightly zigzag all the way around the piece, making sure to leave an opening at the top so you can put things into your teapot. 

You end up with a little something like this.  You want to trim the felt edges of the teapot for a nice finished look.  I added a pocket in the front too, to put my letter in for my partner.

And here it is!  all packed up and ready to go!  It was very easy and the pot only took about an hour extra to put together.  A little effort and my partners have a super special surprise.

I also offer little things like this in my Etsy shop all pre-made for the swapper.  Not everyone is crafty, but everyone loves special just-because surprises.  That little something extra will make someone.s day.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/104776939/vintage-1960s-fabric-coffee-gift-set

Because I'm on the subject of surprises, Look what I GOT TODAY!!!!

Winter hiatus

I know I've been AWOL all winter because of some drama in the fall and a major move that kind of threw my imagination into a tizzy.  After a substantial break though, I am ready to show you what i have been working on.

A friend of mine said that she needed a cup cozy.  I thought it a most frivolous thing.  who would need a cup cozy anyway?  But, I went ahead and free formed one and tried it out.

Amazing!  My knuckles were not burned on the side of the cup!  My tea stayed hot longer!  I was able to sip and savor instead of  chugging in fear of cold tea!  HA!

This was my first one. 

and then, because I can't leave anything alone, I made a duck.  :)

I am thinking that these will be on my website before winter's end.

Film swap and other stuff

I am gearing up to get my shop up and rolling again. I cleaned out the old and the new is in the making. I am still swapping on the side. Well, okay, I am trying to get swapping on the side, since it shoved it's way to my forefront the last couple of months. This is because of my cabin fever and general malayse that comes to me automatically at the end of every winter. I am getting cought up now, so I can start making money again instead of givng it all to the post office :)

I doubt that my partner for the "Friday is movie night" swap has visited my blog, so I'm probably safe to post what I sent.

The rules were 1 movie in it's original case will fulfil the swap. This is what aI did to make it fun:

My partner loves Dr. Who, so I managed to score a new dvd from Amazon for little-to-nothing. While I waited for that to come, I took my own advice for the film canister idea I had posted in December and made a film can out of an old cookie tin. I spray painted it silver, then went on line and found what a real canister looks like and printed a copy of the picture onto some sticky paper. I stuck that t the top, but because I had to blow it up so much, I ended up having to go over it with silver and black makers to make it look less...pixle-ey. Here is how it turned out:

Then, according to my partner's likes and dislikes, I stuffed it with snacks (popcorn and chocolates), drink (flavored water pack for cold, hot chocolate for hot), the movie of course, and stuff to do because, like I told her, I can't just sit there doing nothing. I have to crochet or sew or something, so she got fun fat quarters, a handmade journal with an owl (she said she loved owls) and some crochet stitch markers I made.

The kicker was, after all the work I put into the film can, my dvd was too big which was why I sent the journal-to make up for my stupid mistake. Unfortunately, after I made the owl, I read that she despised the color orange. I gave up trying at this point and packed it up and sent it off. I'll have to try again next time and make sure I have a big enough can.

Butterfly Journal

I did an image search on google for a butterfly shape I could copy and you wouldent believe how many butterfly themed crotchless panty images came up. I wonder if the have crotchless panties with crabs? Hahahaha! OKay, bad joke. Get on with it..I know, I know...

How come my applique is all centered and then I sew it and it's all...not? Sigh.

ATC Envelope

I broke out my sewing machine and decided to play with a few of the fat quarters I have laying around. I love Mirkwood Designs and decided to make her ATC Envelope out of fabric.

I'm not an ATC fan. I don't make them, but know of so many people who do and even collect them, I thought these would go over well as swapping extras...





I also put together one of her petal envelopes. I thought it would be cute to present a bracelet or something. I like to put lots of little packages to open up in a swap.

I was slumping some bottles tonight and thought I would work on something in the shop since it seems like when I leave that kiln and work in the house, I tend to forget and overcook my bottles. Since I had some wire twisted, I went ahead and made this little number. It is a ornament holder to hold those really special ornaments you don't want the cats/kids/dogs to knock down and break or if you just don't have the room for a tree but want to show off the ornaments you have.

The ornaments I have pictured are pretty special to me. They are antiques that belonged to my sister. A Christmas when she had left home and had no food, tree or decorations. She opened up the door to her aprtment one day to find groceries and these ornaments. That was more than 20 years ago. My sister passed away and I still have her ornaments. I came up with this idea to keep them safe from 4 kids 2 dogs and a cat and still be able to enjoy them. I'll be posting this model in my shop as soon as I have it cleaned and painted.

Holiday tip for the movie buff

Good Morning!!!

Today I thought I would suggest an cute and easy gift for the movie buffs in your life.

If you are anything like me, a movie is a quick and easy and relatively inexpensive buy for your last minute gifts, but rarely are these ever bought as a main present, but more of a stocking stuffer or a movie in addition to...here is how you can make that one movie a main event that your favorite movie buff will love.

First, dig out that flat cookie tin you got for Christmas a few years ago. You know the ones, everyone gets them, but after the cookies are gone the tin sits around taking up space because it's just too darned nice to throw out. Yeah, that thing. Make sure it is a nice flat one. You are going to spray paint it silver to make it look like a movie reel case. To make it super pretty, sprinkle some fine glitter dust over the top while the paint is still wet. Next, you want to wrap your movie in black paper, then embellish it with a collar, a white triangle for a shirt front and a black bow tie to make the whole case look like an usher's shirt. Its a matter of triangles and a couple of black dots for buttons. Experiment-this is where anyone can be creative.

After the tin is completely dry ( I would wait a good 24 hours) fill it with some home made gourmet pop corn. I love to buy the extra super butter microwave corn, pop it up, sift all the unpopped kernels out (those are never any good) and coat the whole works in white chocolate. YUM!!

Put your creation in the tin, lay your usher's shirt (movie) on top and tie off with a black, wide satin ribbon that you drew silver dashes on the edges to make it look like movie reel. TA DA! A super cute presentation for a super great gift! Enjoy!

Wind chimes on a rainy day

It's a rainy day today, the first all April. Already I can see the grass getting green. My husband picked up a stray beta fish on the way home from town the other day (someone was moving and handing out all her animals), so I've spent the morning working on a new home for little Wong Foo. He came in a cheesy lava lamp thing that lit up like a disco ball and looked like it spent the better part of the 90's on the bottom shelf of a thrift store. It was time to retire the funk and I have been working on a hanger for him. I'll probably post it after the paint drys.

Yesterday I went for a free form whatever in an attempt to use up my excess glass. I really need to get more of these fired. Possibly I can get the next batch to behave a bit better than this last one.

I managed to scavenge some chandelier crystals and I think I'll use them on my beta home today. I thought it would be pretty window decor in the kitchen.