Interesting...

   Well, this is my first occult post. Golden Tarot by Kat Black is a beautiful set of tarot cards that come with a small book to reference card meanings. The cards are "collaged completely from artwork of the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance." The edges of the cards are gold and when I turn the deck on its side it is so shiny I can see my reflection. Amazing.

http://goldentarot.com/ 

   I don't have a lot of experience with tarot since I lean toward runes, but I have fiddled around with a Rider Waite deck in the past. I have probably had the Golden set for eight years at this point and have only opened the box, looked at the pictures, and cleansed them. The cards were even still in order. Last night I got the sudden urge to pull a card. I was thinking about my ancestors and feeling like how I would love some sort of evidence of their being around me when a card jumps out. It is the Ten of Wands. 

   It shows a man carrying a burden of ten sticks or wands. There are three sacks before him that he has yet to carry. A high wall is behind him and a beautiful city is laid out ahead of him with a mountain range in view. It is a warning of taking on too much and becoming overburdened. The three sacks I found interesting because I always call to three types of ancestors: ancestors of place, blood, and spirit. I also see it as showing that you must leave what is behind you, no turning back, and continue. The overburdened feeling I can very much relate to. I have been feeling this way and have been having trouble finding a way to balance all of these things I am trying to carry at the same time.

After the card fell out I thought on it for a while and put it back in the deck to finish shuffling. I shuffled to the point that I did not see any repeating suits even and thought I may continue pulling a card every morning to start my day with something to reflect on. The included book talked about this a bit.

This morning I shuffle my cards a little bit, spread them out on my desk, and pull a card without looking and just going by feel……Ten of Wands….

Eye Seeeee you!

This adorable guy is from a mini monsters pack from Reaper minis. http://www.reapermini.com/Miniatures/eye/latest/03595

I mean seriously...how terrifyingly cute is this guy. Now, I love beholders. So this mini monstrosity was a must have! I definitely had fun painting this one.

 

 

 

He is our little heal-bot in our current group. Dubbed Toby by our undead priest and controlled by the DM since no one wanted to roll healer this time. Love seeing this little guy on the board. :)

Drooly Boy

My little boy has turned into a drooly mess. Instead of changing his onesie several times a day I stumbled upon a tutorial on Pinterest that provided the perfect solution. Drool bandanas! Such a great idea. Took me about 2 hours to make 8 of them.
Here is the link: http://www.howdoesshe.com/diy-baby-bandanna-bib/
And the results:

Quick and easy. I used snaps for the closure and, of course, geeky faaaabriiic!

Also, I added a label for daycare by writing on a piece of ribbon with a fabric marker, folding the ends over and stitched it on all sides to attach it.



Daycare Craftiness

In a couple of weeks little bear will be going to daycare and I will have to go back to work. /pout :(
Anyway, daycare requires bottle labels. So, no masking tape or expensive, plain ol' rubber bottle bands for my boy! I have come up with a quick, since I need around a dozen, bottle band that can be whipped up in about 10 min. Now I like to fly by the seat of my pants a lot with projects, I don't like heights so I have to get my thrills somewhere, so this project isn't super fussy. Just short and simple. It's for daycare, after all. So here we go!

Supplies:

Print fabric

Plain scrap fabric

1"wide knit elastic

Fabric marker

Pins

Sewing machine

 

 Measure the circumference of where you want the band to sit on your bottle. I'm using Tommee Tippee bottles which has a narrow part to the bottle that measures about 10". Then, subtract about 2" to get the length for your fabric.
I cut my printed fabric strips to 5"x8" and the plain fabric to 1"x5". (I wanted a raw edge to show on the label so if you aren't a fan of that, then add a 1/2" to your plain strip measurement and fold the edges under before you pin.)

 Fold 1/4" on all sides of your printed fabric and press with an iron.

 Put the wrong sides together and pin. Then, run a straight stitch, about an 1/8" from the edge, along the 2 long sides. Be careful not to take your seam too far from the edge so you can still fit the elastic into the end. I wanted all the stitches to show. (If you don't want to see all the stitches then skip the 1/4" fold on the long sides, put right sides together, sew your pieces together with a 1/4" seam allowance, flip right sides out, and iron.)
Write your name on the plain fabric with the fabric marker and then center and pin onto your printed fabric strips.

 Cut a 2" piece of elastic, slip it into the open end, and sew down the open end.

Slide the elastic into the other end and pin in place. Put it on your bottle to make sure it fits properly. Only an inch of elastic is visible on mine. Then, sew in place.



 

 Voila! Bottle band!

Whirlwind

It has been a looooooooooong time since I have posted. I hope to use this blog to have a place to show my miniatures and any other crafty project I am working on. It has been a whirlwind of a life the past 2 years. So much has changed and I feel like I am really settling into life and enjoying where I am at. In the last 2 years, since I have posted, I quit my job tattooing and got a new "real" job at RRD, a printing company. I have gotten married, October 20, 2012, and just recently had our 1st child, August 11, 2014. Dungeons & Dragons, tabletop gaming, and miniature painting has become a big part of my spare time. Of course, I still love my crochet, quilting, sewing, drawing, srapbooki......well all my hobbies. :)
I am really loving life right now. A newborn is a lot of work, but we still make time to enjoy our time together and with friends, new and old.

And just because I can, here is an adorable pic of my baby bear. :D

Adventures in Quilting

I have officially been bitten by the quilting bug (or is it stung by the quilting bee? =P). The finish-up to the class went rather rocky. we were in the middle of the store with two tables placed in the middle of an isle. We had 1 sewing machine between 3 people and very limited space. Also, since the finish-up class was scheduled on a Saturday, the store was busy and we were interrupted frequently by customers asking questions about where to find stuff in the store....sigh. I loved the teacher but the class did not seem well prepared at all. However, I was sufficiently struck by the fun and possibilities of quilting and am so excited working on these projects.

So, here is my lovely little messed up block from the class. I think its a variation on the Churn Dash Block. After everything was put together the block is about an inch smaller than it is supposed to be. So into the scrap pile it will most likely go. I do like the block alot and I definitely learned alot about the importance of being careful and precise.

The block is supposed to have a border but as you can see the border does not match up to my block. The border is supposed to be the same length as the sides of my block...oh well.

I have also started to make a bunting. Oooh it's just too cute and fun. I am getting married in October and am making this adorable bunting to hang on the cake table at our reception. This project is small enough that it lets me try different techniques and is super quick to make. I am using various designs and also decided to try my hand at English Paper Piecing with the hexagons. It is very interesting, but relatively easy. Especially with time saving techniques of using freezer paper and a washable glue stick.

My bunting template made out of template plastic.

While I've been cutting the fabric for the bunting I've also been making some extra hexagons to maybe make a table runner or pillow.

This is my latest project. Oh how I absolutely love it! I found this lovely little blog  that has a pinwheel sampler quilt and a link to a website of free quilt block patterns with more pinwheel blocks to expand on the pinwheel sampler. My mother is also making one and we are doing it in a Block of the Month manner so we can take a nice slow 2 blocks per month construction.

I am so pleased with these blocks. Especially after the issue with the class block. I've been extra careful on paying attention to my seam allowances. This is Block 2 and the one above it is Block 1. I was alot more adventurous with the colors on the 2nd one, but I love them both. It is so hard to stop at just 2 a month.

Busy, Busy Cleaning Days....

Oh blog, how I have neglected thee...This past week has had me feverishly cleaning my mom's house. She is wanting to move in the near future to be closer to me and my fiance, so the house must be cleaned! She has graciously offered to pay me since I am currently without a job and the cleaning/organizing is a huge undertaking.
2 years ago a flood hit Nashville. We count ourselves so lucky to have not had more damage than we did. My mom's house is situated on an incline in a subdivision with a basement/garage combo built into the incline. Ours is the only house in the subdivision like that and so was the only one in the subdivision with damage when the basement/garage was flooded with 3ft of water. I was living with my mom at the time while attending college full time. My studio was unfortunately located in the basement. So I lost nearly all of my supplies/artwork and my two cars that were parked in the garage and driveway. We didnt have flood insurance on the house but fortunately the cars did. But again, I count us so lucky to have such minor damage compared to others.
My mom is a keeper of all things memory related and a collector of craft supplies. half of the garage and basement was full of boxes of these two things. She was able to clear out alot while I was away at a work/study program that summer, but stopped when she started finding pictures and other things from when I was a baby. So, I am continuing the efforts now. I am also organizing the monumental collection of crafts, magazines, and books that are upstairs in the living room and a spare room. After a 1hr drive one way and 6-7hrs worth of work, I am sufficiently beat! So, my crafting has grinded to a complete halt as of late. /sigh
I am really interested in the one a day projects that I have spied on a few blogs and I think I am definitely in need of that little bit of time each day to craft. I will attempt to start this on Friday, as I am staying home for a much anticipated new washing machine. I am so excited to be getting a new one. We've been battling the old one for the past year.
So much to do, but I am looking forward to my little Friday craft break.  :)