I just realized that I never actually posted my 2016 video on here. I spammed it everywhere else, but not on the ol’ blog. So… here it is! What an epic year it was.
My favourite clips are Feb 29th, May 12th, and May 21st. :D
Tag: art
Custom Shoes For The Nieces & Nephews
This year I decided to make shoes for the nieces and nephews for Christmas presents. I knew the kids were going to get literally heaps of presents so I wanted to get them something a little different.
Ava is the youngest. I got the smallest shoes possible and they’re still too big. Oops. Also there are no cute animals that start with “V”. These might be my favourite of the lot though!
Next is April, who loves the Wiggles. It took a little prodding, but then she recognized Emma and the rest of the group.
Seth got Avatar shoes. These were fun to draw and shade.
Beau’s are from Pokemon Black and White. I don’t know which Pokemon those are but he says they are the best ones. :D
And lastly, Noah got Dragon Ball Z. He’s been requesting a pair ever since I made his dad some Wolverine shoes.
It was fun making all of them! Scott picked all the pictures for the boys. Each pair only took a couple hours once I got started. And they’re all done with permanent fabric markers and Scotchgarded so they can get wet, although I would try to avoid it if possible.
I would love to sell custom shoes, but I can’t legally sell anything with copyrighted material. Technically you’re not even supposed to MAKE things with copyrighted material, but I don’t think companies usually mind if it’s just for fun. But making money from it is a different story.
Feel free to email me with any ideas you might have though and maybe we can figure something out.
12 Highlights of 2016
I know a lot of people considered 2016 to be pretty crappy… but to be honest it was one of the best years of my life, for sure. I’ve picked 12 pictures here but that doesn’t even come close to including all the awesome things that we got to do. I feel very lucky and grateful, and will reflect on my year fondly.
Finally finishing my crochet blanket. That’s an ipad by the way… the blanket is enormous. I also did A LOT of crossstitch.
Not coming in last in my final skeleton race of my career. I actually ended up finishing 4th out of 8, behind three very talented national team girls.
Being my own personal island in a cenote in Mexico. Renting that big house with 11 great friends was SO. MUCH. FUN.
Experiencing Antelope Canyon, my top road trip bucket list place. It was just as cool as I hoped.
Exploring Yellowstone National Park on opening day. Scott’s roadtrip bucket list place. Seeing Old Faithful erupt 5 minutes after we got there without being able to check the schedule.
Spending a ridiculous amount of time and money to go to the Jorna Indian restaurant in Ipswich. TOTALLY WORTH IT.
Turning 30 in Thailand.
Being brave and making new friends in Melbourne.
Lots and lots of family time. This picture is from Christmas Day.
2016 Video Every Day project coming V V SOON!
Crafty WIP 6
Since I am funemployed I have quite a bit of time to do crafts. (Which is amazing, by the way!)
I crossstitched a sprite on to one of Scott’s hoodies using waste canvas.
The trickiest bit is pinning the waste canvas in the right spot, with interfacing on the back, and then setting it in a frame without everything getting all out of place. But once it’s all set up you just cross stitch like normal, although you have to use a pointy needle and it’s way harder on your fingers to get it through all the layers.
Finished. They are apparently characters from Final Fantasy VI. Iunno, he picked them. :P
Then you get to do the best part, pulling the white strings out. I dunked the whole thing in water to soften the fibres, and then pulled out each strand out the side with tweezers. It takes a little while, but it’s satisfying.
All done.
What the back looks like. I also cut out another rectangle of ironable interfacing and ironed it on top, in an attempt to seal up all the loose ends. I don’t know how well that will hold up, but so far it’s working.
I used DMC threads, so we can launder it like normal, the only thing is that I told Scott to make sure the zipper is done up when he puts it in the washing machine so less chance of something like a tooth catching and pulling something out. It feels pretty secure in general though.
Pretty happy with how it turned out. Now I want to monogram everything!
I got this metal tuk tuk kit in Thailand. All the pieces came in two small flat sheets. You just punch the pieces out and follow the instructions, bending pieces and twisting tiny tabs with needlenose pliers that lock everything into place. It took me a good few hours to finish and I stabbed my fingertips many many times. I definitely made some mistakes, as the instructions weren’t super great, but I think it turned out pretty neat. It’s about 7 cm tall, by the way. I would totally like to try another kit!
I finished my koala in a funny shirt crossstitch… I will post a picture soon. Next project, a matching sea otter in a woolly sweater.
Crafty WIP 5
And here are some of my paper-based projects lately.
I started a new recipe book, reserved for my all-time favourite recipes. Things we cook all the time. I’m not that good at lettering yet, mostly I just find cool fonts online and then copy them. These are a few of my favourite pages. I’m hoping this book is something that we will keep for a long long time.
Adult colouring. Broke out my set of Prismacolors that my mom bought for me in high school. They’re still good! This colouring page was photocopied out of the book* I gave Rosemarie for Christmas. It is insanely intricate so you’d better have a pencil sharpener handy! I found it very relaxing.
*Not an affiliate link. I don’t know how to do that.