Crafty Elements

Sorry I have been away so long. Trying to fulfill my new years resolution of working out 4-5 days a week (and I made it 3 weeks already!!). So now that everything has calmed down from the holidays and I am on a new schedule, hopefully I will have more project to show off ;-) Here is what I have been doing: We went to a holiday social, but I only have two non-formal dresses...I'm not the dressy type. But only having two dresses gets boring, so I changed it. This is what it looked like before: It was strapless, with a bow just under the bust, and a thick black ribbon that went around the bottom. It showed a little more cleavage than I would have liked for such an event. I moved the bow up to the shoulder and added black ribbon straps, which showed less cleavage. The dress stayed the same color, even though it doesn't look like it. The actual color is closest to to the picture on the bottom. I started up a crochet group out here to teach others for free how to crochet,...

This was my big project. It was a granny square afghan that I made for my boyfriend's dad and his fiance. You can't tell in the picture, but it has green in the middle, red, and then white. It is much more vibrant in person. I made it look a little like poinsettias. It ended up taking me about a month to complete and I sewed it together instead of crochet. I almost was unable to finish it because I ran out of red, and with it being the holidays, red is in short supply. I finally found the skein that I needed after going to 2 Walmarts, Joann's and Michaels. This was a last minute gift for the kitties. It's a squid that I crocheted, stuffed and put cat nip in it. I found the pattern off of Crochet Pattern Central: http://yarnchronicles.blogspot.com/2006/10/kitty-squid.html I didn't put on the eyes because I figured they would get ripped off in play. I still may add them later because it looks plain. Needless to say, it didn't make it to Christmas. The ...

This shirt was originally short sleeve, and the neckline was all the way up to the neck. I cut the sleeves and sewed the edges for a more finished look. I also cut the neckline....a little too big. So then I decided to crochet around the neckline. However, I'm still not happy with it. I was thinking about cutting out a diamond a little below the neckline and crocheting in the hole, but I'm not sure. I think the color bugs me (it's peach if you can't tell in the picture). I may just give it away, since I have been working on it for several months now. I had previously was working on a purple shrug, but I bought the yarn last year at Joann's and can no longer find it. So I finally gave up and took it apart :-/. It was sad, but I happy that it wasn't lying around anymore collecting dust. The red hat that I previously posted had the same fate. I had used the Pretty Puffs Slouchy Hat Pattern as a guide, and instead of using single crochet I used double croc...

I found my camera charger! What does this mean? A much happier Stephi and pictures for you :) Some of the crafts are much harder to describe without them. So...lets get down to business. First of all, I just randomly threw together Hershey's Hot Fudge Pudding Cake, and it smells so yummy, I can't wait! This is a very easy recipe but a little tricky, so I highly suggest that you give the directions a once-over before you make it. It really turns out pudding-like, and who could go wrong with chocolate anyways? http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Hersheys--Hot-Fudge-Pudding-Cake/Detail.aspx Ps. It amazing with vanilla ice cream fresh out of the oven! I also made a hat today....seems weird in the middle of the summer, right? I would deem it one of those, throw-it-on-when-my-hair-looks-like-crap hats :) That and it's comfy too. I modified it a little since the main reason I don't like crocheting in the round is because when I single crochet, I always lose where I started e...

I haven't had a lot of time lately to do much crafting, but should have more time next week, YEY! I did get a chance to work on the diamond scarf I started last week (or was it earlier this week?). Anyways, I had a lot of time to work on it yesterday. In the picture, it is partially folded over, where the pocket on the end is going to be. I have also been searching for ornaments to crochet. I've looked at CPC but haven't found anything that I really liked that was semi-easy. Does anyone have any ideas?

I made this awesome Thai food that I got off PETA's (People for ethical treatment of animals) website. I highly suggest this website not only for the information it provides, but for it's great recipes too! http://www.vegcooking.com/recipeshow.asp?RequestID=816&Search=spiral It sounds really funky but tastes really good, and it made of ingredients most people have around the house....nice and simple :) Although when I make it I always add about a 1/2 t. more of both ginger and cumin, but make sure you try it before you add these. It also says to put everything in a blender.....cleaning a blender sounded like too much work for me. So I put it all in a sauce pan and heat it, I think it mixes the ingredients together better(because it melts the peanut butter) that and it cooks the onions a bit (Do I ever follow directions? I think not....even ask my mother, lol). It also tends to spoon over the noodles better.....speaking of, I didn't use spirals either....just whate...

So I was selling a lamp I had on Craigslist, and I found that one of the bulbs broke. I had to make an emergency light bulb run to Kroger, and got back just in time before the lady who wanted the lamp got to my apartment. I was just going to give her the extra bulbs, but alas, she told me she was planning on using the new florescent bulbs. So.....$2.00 out with 3 extra bulbs.....I decided to make Christmas ornaments! I figured that it's never too early to start shopping for presents, so it's never too early to make christmas decorations......right? The first one (on the left) I hot glued some circular metal chips, and ran out close to the bottom. So I painted the rest of it white, and added a white bow at the top to "balance" it. The second one was actually the first one I started with, and I was going to try to run the glue down the sides to make an "icicle" effect, but soon found that the hot glue was not runny enough. I decided to just go wild wit...