So, I engaged in my second swap over at Craftster.org... and this one
was a felt stuffie swap!  I just received today, and I have to say: It
was way fun crafting and receiving for this!

Here's what I sent out:

Meet Tofu-kun.  He likes to hang around.

And my extra was an Armless Ninja!! Complete with book.

Here's what I received!:

Meet
Ana and Misha! They're playful kitties.  Rachel warns -- "Watch out!
they will get into your crafting supplies and make a big mess (though
they would say they were helping)"

Close up

She
even included a gorgeous little journal with blank pages!  I've been
meaning to get one for my sketching, and this is perfect!

So fun. I love swapping!

...I saw this tutorial a while back and I've been wanting to make one ever since!  I finally got around to doing it using that fabric I bought... and here's the result!

I
changed the pattern a bit by making the carabiners combined so that I
could wear the bag like one of those ribbon belts instead of connecting
two carabiners together

My first attempt at lining.. yay!

I'm really bad at taking self pictures

Really bad.

Yay! I really love this fabric... It was so fun to work with because I kept thinking about how cute this bag would be!

So here's something you may or may not know:

My myspace pic is about 3 years old, my xanga pic
is about 3 years old and my recent cam pic is 2 years old.

Inspired my buddies [I consider them buddies because I once pictorially showed them what an Angry Pirate was after a rousing game of Cranium] at MidnightAM, I decided to put my never-before-used camera to work.  Why never used, you ask -- it's because I won it at CES [consumer electronics show] this January-- which was way after I stopped using my old webcam, whom from now on I shall refer to as ol'trusty.

Anyhow.  Using a webcam for the first time in two years is scary.  How do I know it's been two years?  The last cam pic I uploaded is dated at:  03-Oct-2005 23:58. Wow.  And to think I used to pride myself as a "cam girl" Who knew that my days as one of stile's camgirls would ever come to an end?

So -- I figure I need to update "recent" cam pic so that it's actually... a "recent" cam pic.

With that said, let's see the results!

Yep. Still geeky.  By the way, have you noticed that everyone looks better on webcam?  Why is that?  I obviously don't look like this in real life.  I think it has something to do with the contrast and blurring. 

You might be wondering why I'm not smiling in my picture.  That's because I tried it.   And... yeah.  It made me look like I was 12.

Am I really 24?  No. Honestly.  I took this 5 minutes ago.

That thing you see in the background is my room.  The green block is my full-sized bed.  My room's pretty big, huh?  I love it.

---

Ok.. So now onto the important stuff.

One of the most important factors towards my installing my webcam was so that I could show you all the cool new stuff I've been buying!  As far as trivial stuff goes, I don't really have time to take pictures with my camera, so I figured this would be the best way to get them up here for everyone to see.

I got some new fabric yesterday on a whim, and I REALLY would like some suggestions on what to do with it!  They were too cute to pass up.

I'm really on a fruits and vegetables kick right now.

Man, the auto-color-correction really messes up my photos.

Ooo.. and on an additional note, I ordered this fabric online yesterday:

I'm planning on using to make a window treatment.

Anyhow.  Any ideas on what I can make with the other fabrics? 

.

Thanks for all the truthful replies in the last entry.  I'd forgotten how much I love reading your guy's input and views on things.  Alas, this post has nothing to do with thoughts, and everything to do with crafts.  Prepare yourself for a retarded amount of images.

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Polymer clay:

So, I was at the store the other day (and by "at the store" I mean, at
michaels), and they were selling some beginner polymer clay kits --
comes with a 8 basic colors and a few basic tools for like, 10 bucks or
something.

The
first thing I ever made, burger and fries!

Some
of these have stuff attached already, and some don't -- i just haven't
had the time to add stitch markers to all of them, yet.

My first cakes!

Cake detail

Fruits series!

Fruit detail

Vegetable series!  My favorite so far, actually

Sushi series!  These wouldn't stay still, so I had to take the picture with me holding them :T

And finally, a sakura... I have no idea what to do with this -- maybe a hair pin?

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Crocheting:

My boyfriend saw the mythbusters amigurumi on here the other day and
instantly decided that he wanted to learn how to crochet.  Anyways, I'm
originally a knitter -- so i couldn't help him at all!  --Instead, we
decided to learn together.

Here's my first completed project.. a sakura-shaped washcloth!

Not sure why I picked that color, because it didn't really work out... But I totally want to try again!

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Sewing

I bought this fabric for $1.00 a yard on clearance at joanns.  It might
not look like it but it's denim, so it hangs really nicely.

Here
it is shown with a shirt underneath to show proportions -- I couldnt
get anyone to take a pic for me -- so you'll have to imagine what it
looks like on a human.

Close-up.  The jersy-ish fabric basically did the gathering for me.

The other day I was at Joanns and I saw this cute cherry fabric and I
couldn't resist - even though it wasn't on sale!!  I looked down a
little bit more and saw the same fabric in white and green, and I knew
it was over.  Before long, I had two yards of fabric that I "had to
have" but had nothing to do with.

Anyhow, this is what came from those two fabrics!

Buttons, boxpleats and contrasting yoke color

THe back is tied with a red ribbon

Up close look at the ties

My pouch!  Mostly the white-green, with green-white lining.  Green ribbon for drawstring and red ribbon for handles =]

Close-up of the green-white fabric

If this were a little pouffier I might even call it loli!

... I actually wore it to work the other day and was getting tons of compliments. Ah, my head got bigger that day for sure.

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Stay tuned... FOR MORE CRAFTS! BWAHAHHAHAHAHAHA..

I've been crafting so much lately I barely have time for guild wars, anime or magic the gathering.  Ah, sighs.

It's been a while since I wrote a post on here that didn't have anything to do with the crafts I've been doing.  One reason is because I'm obsessed with crafts right now.  Like, really obsessed.

Secondly, I am blocked from Xanga at work. 

And lastly... contrary to what you might think, is not because I have nothing substantial to write about as of late... It's more like -- I've suddenly (or perhaps gradually?) have become hesitant to reveal my controversial insights for fear of ... what? I don't know.   I do remember not posting what i'd written a few times, though.  As for innocuous thoughts, I'm too lazy to make them interesting.

So, what's left of me?  Crafts, a whole lot of crafts.   I actually do a lot more than I've shown here.  Unfortunately I haven't had the time to take pictures.  But don't worry folks, you'll get to see some pretty darn tootin cool stuff soon.

What things keep you from blogging?

In my last message i showed you guys a bag I made for a swap on craftster.org.   Now, I bring to you what I received in return!

My original post:

WOWOWOWOWOOWOWOWOOW OWOW I received!!! zomg!! It's so awesome!!!

I came home to this box, complete with pokemon stickers:

Opened it to find this!!!

What is this? you might ask... This is the mysterious package that I had to assemble that gleep has been alluding to!

It's already found a good place    Gleep must'a stalked me or something, the table matches my decor perfectly =D

I also got this awesome tote with my domain/username on it on one side and a shroomie on the other side!


I don't know how she knew I was about to make/buy a tote to to hold my crochet projects

And finally, I got:

A
cute spiral notebook!  Again, she must be psychic because I needed a
notebook to keep track of the crafts I want to do!  I've been filling
my purse with post-it notes for the last week.

I made this for a craft swap!  Modeled after my Ciao Ciao from LeSportSac

Pink Messenger Style

Pink tote style -- by reconnecting the streps to the top edge carabiners

Cream tote style -- hard to see but there's a pocket there

Cream messenger bag style -- as you can see, the opening of the bag is through the "top" of the tote style but for messenger bag, it's through the flap

Each side has a set of 2 pockets for all your must-haves

Here's one I've been meaning to post but never got around to:

Cleaves from pattern:

http://knitty.com/ISSUEspring05/PATTcleaves.html

Fun!

Haha, here I am in an interview for AX backstage   I"m so dorky.  The AMV I referenced was about 10 years old, so i guess they cut it out. I doubt anyone who watched it even remembers.

Having someone show me their finished work!

Check it out!!  This awesome chick made a kimono-hoodie out of my kimono-hoodie tutorial!

IT LOOKS SO COOL!!  If I do say so myself.  Which I do.  Ahh! I can't wait to see more!  If you decided to make a kimoodie out of my tutorial send it on in! I'd love to see it.

In case you missed it, here was what my original looked like: