This Weekend!

Print this coupon for 2$ off admission ;)

Kaloot

Hello!! I hope you all had a fabulous Easter! I wanted to take a minute to introduce you to Kaloot. He looks, like I feel, most Mondays :) Unsure, tired, but optimistic? haha When I finished sewing him up, I thought he needed to be "different" somehow, since he wasn't enough already.

So, I gave him a cape! With somewhat of a lightening bolt on it. Although he may not look completely reassurring, his goal is to save you from one ugly Monday, a week at a time ;) Kaloot will be at the Make-It Revolution with me this weekend! If you plan on attending, you can pick up a coupon here, for $2 off your admission :) Happy Monday!!

Treat Bags

A couple of weeks ago I got into spring cleaning mode, & decided to clean out my little craft room. Well in reality, I only have a wall in this room. The other walls are taken up with a freezer, tool bench, just stuff. I went through ALL my containers, & found a whole bunch of stamps, among other things. I don't even remember buying stamps? Or what they were for? Then, I came across this blog the other day, and saw these seriously cute treat bags, and decided to try them out for easter! You can check out the step by step tutorial here.
I had everything on hand, some of it I didn't even know what it was for! ha. Like that clear stamp thing, very technical I know. Cut your bags, sew the bottom, and then place your stamps on the base (they are sticky on one side) & stamp away. Fill with candy, I put in stickers too, and clip shut! Here is a quick peek at my "craft wall". I am pretty happy with it :) Pretty blue, and quite orgazined, today anyways :)

Mocha Cupcakes

I seem to have lost my "making of" cupcakes pictures! My memory card is on the fritz :( Time for a new one! Either way, they are really EASY! And cute for Easter, or every Tuesday. ha I use Betty Crocker, she is my staple for cupcakes. To that add 1 cup of buttermilk, 4 eggs, and the same amount of oil on the box, normally 1/2 cup I think. Fill your muffin tins, and bake :)
Ice, and add some eggs to the top! These are peanut M&M's, but Mini Eggs, Robins Eggs, any kind of chocolate eggs work!

Mocha icing : Sooo Good! Easy Too! You need:

- 1/2 cup softened butter (I used salted)

- 1/4 cup cocoa,

- 3 to 4 cups of icing sugar,

- 2 tsp instant coffee, disolved in 1/4 cup hot water

-1 tsp vanilla

Beat butter and cocoa, until combined. Add your 2 tsp of coffee, disolved in hot water, then vanilla, and icing sugar 1 cup at a time. Mix on high, & scrape the sides. Depending on what consistency and sweetness you want your icing, vary the icing sugar.

Sherman WILL be back tomorrow :)

Spring.... with Snow!

Hello! Happy Monday :) Although the weather around here is not exactly "spring-ish", Easter is right around the corner! Normally to me that means tulips, and a few buds, but with a little sun in the forecast, maybe it will at least not be white by weeks end!

This week, Sherman has a few Easter things he wants to share :) He loves carrots, especially cardboard ones full of Easter candy!! And some cute little treat bags you can fill up and hand out to your friends and family :) I saw these on another blog, and will post the link for the full tutorial, so easy, and cute! There will be some Easter cupcakes involved, chocolate of course, and plants! A purple hyacinth, (did you know Sherman's favorite color is purple??) .... and some neat dollar store plant finds :) Above is an update on my monster progress for "Make-It" that we will be attending NEXT WEEK!! See ya soon! xx

Dillon

Dillon is an upcycled sweater monster, with an awesome back pocket to put your tv remote in ;)

Monster MD

Do you have a monster that is SERIOUSLY LOVED?

If you do, it may look like this :) This is Adriano, he belongs to my nephew Quinton. It's been over a year since Q adopted, and the other day he asked if I could "fix" him. If you have a monster that is made from a cotton sock. The polyester stuffing will make it's way out from the weave, and pill on top of the monster a bit. Adds character maybe? ha This WILL happen, with some socks more than others. All I do is zip off all the fuzz with a sweater shaver. Or.. my husbands electric razor. He does not advise me to do this, but I could not find my sweater shaver! You must be VERY careful with a shaver though, because you can poke through the sock. Most sweater shavers are 10$ or less, & I have seen them in the laundry aisle in your grocery store.

Ok, so buzz him off, and then I decided to wash Adriano in the sink. If your monster does have a few holes, stitch him first, then bath! So you don't make any holes BIGGER. My bad. Put a wee bit of soap and some warm water in the sink, & give your monster a sponge bath. They won't be scared, just don't put the tap right on top of them :) Squeeze him out, give his feet and ears a pinch, to get out the excess water. Then lay him on a tea towel to dry. It was a nice day, so I was able to stick him by the window.

Once he is dry, stitch up any holes, and.. if any body parts need to be replaced, do that as well. Adriano was in need of a new tongue, must like to chew on his alot!

I restitched his belly, tightened his buttons, & he is as good as new!

Cute & Quirky, just like Quinton :)

Monsters can be washed in your machine as well, but they are terribly afraid of the spin cycle! I recommend gentle cycle, or a garment bag, and lay flat to dry :)

Babette #2

A very non monster related post today :) Waaaaay back when... I discovered the "babette" on flickr. I didn't know how to crochet, but I NEEDED to learn, which I did. I made a pretty, bright, babette, full of blues, greens, black, pink. You can see it here.

Then right away I wanted to start another (because I have time). Something a little simple to match my living room, or bedroom. Reds & browns, with a bit of green thrown in.

I used 7 colors. Impeccable Loops & Thread, & Vanna's Choice. I took this picture on August 24, 2009. Forever ago! And never even touched it until just this passed December. I found a group on Ravelry, call CAL : Crochet a long, for the babette. And decided to work away at getting mine done. There aren't alot of "in process" pictures. Because, well, I became obsessed with finishing it, and ahead of schedule, it's completely done! And I love it ever so much! Makes me want to make another... almost :)

Crochet is a nice monster break from time to time. But, can be a sidetrack too. 80 monsters will be COMPLETED this week, yahoo! Sherman is excited to introduce you to his new friends :)

Have a great week! xx

My cute little niece and her newly made monster on Saturday eve :) We had a brief discussion about how she has 3 monsters, but none of them are "little" ones. After a question or two about the baby monster process, a purple sock, and pink and blue felt was quickly chosen for the eyes.

His little head poking out of her jacket pocket on the way out the door, I heard.. "Swizzle", I think that is what I will call him :)