Friday, April 10, 2009

MSCE Friday- Felted Rabbits Finished! YAY!

So earlier today when I posted about Wednesday's and Thursday's crafty projects, I said I would post about the rabbits tonight. And, after a little longer than I expected, they are finished!

Here's most of the gang- earlier today when I (still had light to take decent photo's) had 3 out of 4 of the faces finished.


And look how nicely the white bunny matches this felted egg! It was a total accident, I didn't plan it at all- but love how good they go together.


I tried needle felting for most of the eyes, noses, and mouths. I stuffed them first, then felted the details. I really liked doing the needle felting although I think the plastic eyes might look a bit better.


Those pom-pom tails deserved a close-up. (Oh how I loath making pom-poms.)


Here are the bunnies completely finished with pom-pom tails and ribbons around their necks. (Sorry for the dark photo's I ran out of light before these guys were done... plus the rain storm didn't help the light situation outside.)


This gray rabbit looks cuter in person- he seems to be sort of stunned by the camera- maybe I should have warned him I was taking his picture.

I left the white bunny sans ribbon, he just seemed finished how he was... maybe the whiskers, are why he just didn't need a ribbon. By the way- those whiskers are needle felted too! I just tacked the ends in and trimmed the yarn to the length I wanted.


Making the bunnies this year vs. last year I noticed a few things:
  • The knitting went much faster.
  • I got to try needle felting... did I mention that was fun? o.k. I might have mentioned it once or twice.
  • This time the rabbits are all softer- more cuddly. I think it might be because I used a bigger needle than last time. My guess is that less stitches per inch resulted in a finished felt that's less dense. This is honestly only a guess, there really could be tons of reasons why it's different- but I don't think it's the yarn since I used several brands this time and they all came out softer than last time.

MSCE April : Wednesday-decoupage a plastic egg. Thursday outdoor knitting and some picture taking.

I'm a few days behind on my posts for MSCE April so here are my projects for Wednesday and Thursday. Later today I'll try and post today's MSCE (Hint: it might have to do with the fact that I'm soooo close to finishing the rabbits I can hardly stand it!)

Wednesday: A little decoupage on a plastic egg. I love to decoupage the real thing but if you use a plastic one you can cut the paper where the egg splits open and put little treats inside.

I started with some scraps of paper

And put some Mod Podge on the plastic egg (I scratched up the surface of the egg first to help the paper stick, I just used a pointy metal piercer that usually comes in your basic paper craft tool kits but you can use anything)

I'll spare you the details on gluing the paper- but can I just take a moment out of the post here to say- Has anyone else noticed that a craft blog can be kinda hard on your camera? It was really impossible not to get glue all over it while doing this and trying to take pictures.

Ta-Da! Totally covered plastic egg.

I let this dry then went back and used a craft knife to cut it in half. The paper edges might need some cleaning up and a touch of glue after this step but it was mostly o.k.

Now I have a cute covered egg to put some treats in!


Thursday I did a bit of knitting in a nearby park on my lunch break. What am I knitting here you might wonder...


well a last minute rabbit of course! I wanted one to keep for myself so here's the straggler just getting started.

Since I'm not really sure I can count a few rows of knitting as my "something creative" for an entire day. I'll also give you a look at the pictures I took while I was in the park. It's been a while since we had a warm sunny day here in the Northeast (there were actually flurries of snow in the air while I walked to work on Wednesday) just when I was beginning to question if Spring would ever really be here we had this gorgeous day.

While sitting on a bench, I looked up and saw the first tree I've notice with flowers on it (and believe me I've been checking everywhere for any sign of spring so I was delighted to see this).

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Yesterdays MSCE: Rabbits Felted at Last!

OK so I've done a number of posts about the felted rabbits as I went along knitting them

(For your reading convenience- Here they are in order of posting if you feel like seeing the project from the start)


And now yesterday, I finally felted them! It was soooo much fun. Although I admit to feeling the teeniest bit bad when I throw them in the washing machine (I feel like I'm dong something bad to these poor little guys).

I was concerned about this guy-

I had no idea how the yarn would felt. I'd never used a variegated yarn for felting before, but I think he turned out cute. Now I think- wouldn't a variegated gray or brown yarn be nice for a rabbit! (He still needs to be trimmed he has bits of yarn sticking out).

I was hesitant to try a white rabbit- because I've heard white can be hard to felt- but I'm so glad I did. He just seems like your classic Easter Bunny. And this white yarn wasn't that hard it just took an extra minute or two.



They certainly aren't finished yet, evident by the stuffing sticking out of this bunny.


They need little pom-pom tails (ugg how I dislike making pom-poms) and little eyes and little noses. I also need to close the seam.

They are still drying and are only temporarily stuffed to keep their shape, then I'll do the finishing details, stuff them for real, and close the seam. Phew Yesterday, Sunday seemed so far away and these bunnies so close to being done. Now after that list I think I better get moving- and find a way to make them dry faster!!!

P.S. I have just realized that I have referred to most of these bunnies as "He" not sure why, but some should be girl bunnies don't you think?

Monday, April 6, 2009

Make Something Cool Every Day: Baked Spring Rolls

It's a two post day!

Today's MSCE post is the baked spring rolls we had for dinner. Super Easy, Super Yummy, and Super Slimmer than your traditional fried roll.

I used the egg roll wrappers from the grocery store (mine keeps them right in the vegetable section near bagged lettuces). Also from the same section I grab a bag of shredded mixed veggies. This one has carrots, broccoli, cauliflower and red cabbage (it lives next to the coleslaw mix in my store)

In a bowl mix the bag of veggies with a few tablespoons of soy sauce and some salt and pepper. Microwave for 2 min or so (or until
 the veggies are tender but not over cooked).

Then put a few spoons of the veggie mix onto a wrapper. Wet the edges of the wrapper with a bit of water (so they will stick together when you roll them). And roll em' up like burritos.

Put them onto a baking sheet sprayed with non-stick spray. Then also spray the tops of the rolls lightly with the cooking spray.

I baked them at about 400 for 15  min (or until they are nice crispy golden brown) 


Steve said YUM, so I think they are a success.


I think they'd also be great with a bit of shredded chicken and some orange zest inside. Really you could also use any type of veggie you like instead of what I used- water chestnuts, sprouts, bamboo shoots, whatever... really this is totally one of those throw anything you have together type of recipes!

Also check out today's earlier post (Sunday's MSCE project)

Yesterday's Make Something Cool Every Day- Cupcake Bookmark

So yesterday got away from me... after that Pysanky workshop on Saturday, that meant Sunday was filled with errands and house chores. I managed to make a little something, but didn't get to post about it. I think I'll also do a post later tonight with today's MSCE.

I told you that the cupcake paper punch would be back! I was so enamored with this after the first project, that I've been punching out paper cupcakes with no apparent purpose ever since.

See.


So out of my new cupcake stash came a little idea. I knew I wanted to make something with these cute little cakes that had a clear background and double sided cupcakes. I tried the idea of a wine charm... but didn't like how it looked. It was too light, since this was only plastic and paper, but also a bit bulky for a charm.

This was before I cut the charms out.

Then I thought I'd try a greeting card with a clear window (I still might), but then I remembered that I had been looking for a cute bookmark while on vacation and didn't find anything. So a bookmark it is!

I've gone past just punching out the cakes with patterned and solid papers, to embellishing them. I loved the look chocolate colored paper with these tiny little pink dots glued on it looks so yummy last night (and with us being down to the last Girl Scout Cookie!) I was wishing it was a real.


I wasn't crazy about the green bottom or the brown colored pencil lines I added.

When I tried yellow on bottom it worked , I also decided to use an embossing tool to create a few lines and it worked much better I think.



Yesterday there was something about using solid paper tops that really got to me. I could decorate them and found I really liked using more realistic "frosting" colors. (Last time I was all about the patterned paper for the "frosting".) So I punched out a white top (Which I'd never done before) and added some sharpie sprinkles. Cute!


For the last one I used ridged paper, glitter, and a silver marker to make lines on the bottom.


Then stuck them between two sheets of contact paper.


If I were to do this again I'd use the laminator, the contact paper was a bit too bendy. It immediately warped into a crinkly shape and really needed something to reinforce it. Plus after punching out a zillion or so paper cupcakes I had tons of tiny pieces of paper everywhere which seemed to be magnetically drawn to the sticky contact paper.

To reinforce the edges and visually give this a solid ending point I cut a bookmark out of card stock and made a window in it.


I glued it together to create a pocket for the plastic part. (I used this tacky glue pen I just got... it was very easy to control when doing fine glueing. Although it was little hard on the hands- all that squeezing for just a little glue. I might stick to a tooth pick to be honest.)

And added a grommet and tassel out of yarn. Yay a new fun bookmark!


It's still a bit wobbly but I figure being stuck between the pages of a book will help to flatten it out (LOL).

Also be forewarned I used really none of my new cupcake stash, so you will certainly see at least one more cupcake project!
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