Crafty Carolinagirl

Fun felt items

Here are a few new felt items I have just finished up for Crafts by Alice:

Double Popsicle Set (orange and banana)

Large Popsicle Set (grape and strawberry)

Wonderland Lollipop Set (cotton candy, blue raspberry, and orange)

I think I am going to focus most of my time on felt food. I have so many new items I want to make and I'd like to have them finished in time for the holidays.

I am also working on a few new Pop Culture Icon Dolls, but I have no idea when I am going to get them done. I'll try to take some WIP pictures of them and post them soon.

Fun Owl Cosy & Earrings

One of my favorite blogs, LucyKate crafts, has some of the cutest free tutorials. I have yet to try the Toadstool tutorial, but I did try the newest one, owl egg cosy. The tutorials are super easy and the finished crafts turn out super cute.

Over the weekend I finished my latest one:

Pinky the Owl!

This week little Pinky will be flying south, all the way to South Florida. I thought she could be used as a finger puppet instead of an egg cosy.

I was also hard at work making some items for my Material Girl 80s store. Here are a few of the finished products:

In and Out of Love earrings

Janey Glenn earrings

My "In and Out of Love" earrings were inspired by the Bon Jovi song, and my "Janey Glenn" earrings were inspired by the final dance scene in the movie Girls Just Want to Have Fun.

I am going to try and take the next couple of weeks to focus on finishing up the WIPs I have been putting off. I figure if I can get those out of the way, I can start thinking about my Christmas presents. Well you know, it is almost July!

Plus, I have several Pop Culture Icon Dolls that are in the beginning stages (my TV cast as well as a few characters from the movies). I'd love to get some of them put in my store as well. 

I have lots to keep me busy :)

Crafty + No Air = Giving

Whew, I have been in the giving mood ever since my air went out last week. I realize that I will eventually get my air back on (yes, the air is still not working), and that I am thankful for. Even without my air I know that I have so much to be thankful for, so it is time that I put my crafty talent to good use and give something back.

Over the last few weeks, I have been asked by several organizations to donate some of my Crafts by Alice items for their yearly fundraisers. I have such a hard time saying no, especially to animal shelters, so they are all getting something. 

Half are getting a felt cookie platter 

and the other half a few puffy hearts.

Here are the organizations I am helping out:

Ceridian Silent Auction: Benefiting the Susan G Komen Foundation (June 12) shipped

The Tenth Life: a no kill cat shelter (June 25) 

It's Meow or Never Animal Rescue and Sanctuary (July 7) shipped

Cocker Spaniel Rescue of New England (July 25)

The dates next to them are for me! I have a hard time keeping track of when everything needs to be sent. 

And. . . I still haven't sent out my Pay It Forward gifts yet! If you signed up and are wondering where your gift is don't worry, I am working on them and will have them out by the end of the summer. I know what I'll be doing this weekend. . . crafting in front of the fan!!!

Meet my first pop culture icon doll, Abby

I have been tinkering around with the idea of making some pop culture dolls for fun and maybe even for my new Etsy store. I have been hooked on this idea since I saw the Knitted Icons book, but I have yet to master the art of knitting. I had to come up with something I could actually do, so I chose a felt doll.

I have had a fairly difficult time drawing a doll pattern. I really don't know why, but people have always been hard for me. And faces are even worse, which is why most of my creatures/people have eyes only. So, this past week, while counting the days until I could work on my deck, I finally came up with a doll pattern that was acceptable. It isn't anything odd, like a big head and a little body, just a normal felt doll shape.

I wanted to pick a very simple pop culture icon to start out with. I figure the more I work with the doll pattern, the better I will get and then I can tackle more difficult ones. So Friday night, during the first of two NCIS marathons, I decided on my first pop culture icon doll, Abby. 

I figured Abby would be easy to replicate, and hopefully people (at least NCIS fans) would know who she was by just looking at her. So I worked on her all weekend, after painting my deck. I think I got her just about right until I remembered I forgot her spiderweb neck tattoo. I'm gonna have to work on that.

So here is a picture of the real Abby (or at least the character Abby) and my little Abby.

What do you think? I think she needs shoes and her lab coat, so I'll be working on them this week along with her tattoo. Who knows, maybe I'll be inspired to do another member of the team, any suggestions? I am not so sure how my men are going to turn out. Maybe I should give one of them a try. 

Two of the BGs

No, this post is not about Barry, Maurice, or Robin. This post is about my new felt trio, the Bug Girls or the BGs. I haven't finished them all yet, but I thought I'd show you the progress I have made, thus far.

You'll probably remember seeing Bessie the bumble bee:

She showed up a few months ago as a WIP. Well, I didn't do anything else to her, just left her the way she was. She turned out the way I wanted and I didn't want to mess it up trying to add antennae to her head.

And here is the newest member of the BGs, Evie the dragonfly:

I pictured her as the female version of one of my favorite characters from my favorite Disney movie, Evenrude from the Rescuers.

I still have one left, Pheobe the butterfly. She is still in the drawing stages, so she might take awhile. But at least Bessie and Evie are done. Wasn't it Meatloaf that said, "Two out of three ain't bad"? He's right, though I don't think he was talking about crafts.

Some more felt fun!

Here are a few more items I recently added to the store (Wonderland Cottage, Walter Hedgehog, and Penelope Hedgehog):

I feel bad that I haven't been crocheting lately. I have several ideas floating for some new projects, and crocheting just doesn't seem to be in the mix at the moment. Maybe I'll have something crocheted to show you next week, and maybe not :)

I Survived

Wow, it is good to be back in blogville! And, it is very good to be completely done with school. . .Woo hoo!!! Now, I can get back to crafting and blogging, my two favorite things :)

I am getting ready to celebrate my one year blogoversary (in exactly 24 days) and have been giving a lot of thought to my blog, especially what has worked and what hasn't worked. I really think that I want to have this blog focus solely on crafts, so over the next several weeks the look and feel of the blog might start to change. My hope is to have my new and improved blog pulled together by the time my blogoversary passes, around the end of April. Just a little FYI in case things start to look and feel a little different.

I have been away from the internet for so long that I have no idea what all of my favorite blogs are doing. I will be spending the next few days checking them all out and catching up on some needed craft time. I probably won't be blogging much this week, but on Friday I will post a picture of my blogoversary prizes included, so far, and the next item to be added to the giveaway.

In the meantime, here is a new item that I am working on for my store.

I am working on a few felt ornaments and this is my first one. This is my idea of what I picture a house in Wonderland looking like. Enjoy the week!

Felt Food Giveaway

Rebecca at Fun & Free Giveaways contacted me about adding one of my felt food items to this week's giveaway. I told her I would love to donate some of my Heart Shaped Cookies.

If you would like to be included in the giveaway, head over to Fun & Free Giveaways to sign up! The contest runs until next Tuesday and is open to US residents only.

Good Luck!!!

Bessie (WIP)

I am taking a very quick break from studying to check on a few emails and my Etsy store orders, so I thought I would post a WIP that I have in the works.

This is Bessie. She is part of my new Bug Girls or BGs trio. She still is in need of a few things, like her antennae, but she is mostly done. Her friends Evie and Phoebe are in the works too, but are not as far along. I'll try to post pictures of them as they come together!

Thing A Day Project #28

Today I made. . .

A few more cookies for the store.

These are my vanilla "Cheshire Cat" cookies. They are currently available at Crafts by Alice along with some chocolate "Alice" ones.