Fan Hair Clip

Last week was my sister's graduation.  And me, being completely broke, decided to make her a graduation gift.  Now I didn't come to this decision lightly.  My sister is not the type of person who enjoys homemade gifts.  She likes brand names and the latest styles.  She has changed her look so many times within the year that it's hard to know what she'll do next. 

I love my sister, but making something for her is a daunting task.  Unfortunately, my dog needed a trip to the vet and my finances would not allow me to buy her a gift for such an important event.  I took all my crafting supplies, put them on the table, and looked for inspiration.  I examined each piece trying to see if I could turn it into something she would enjoy. 

Despite all the fashion changes two things have remained constant for my sister, her love of skulls, and her love of Asian design.  I currently don't have any skull items in my possession (wait till after Halloween to stock up), but I do have a lot of Asian pieces.  I isolated those to figure out what to make.

I ended up taking a fan pendant, originally designed for a necklace, and adding feathers to it.  Then I added a felt backing to hide all the feather ends.  After a two hour drying time, I glued an alligator clip to the felt.  Then the piece went through a 24 hour curing time. 

I have to say that the piece came out nicely.  I almost want to make one for myself.  My sister actually seemed to like it. 

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Native American Doll

I didn't post anything on Friday because my project of the week was my mother's birthday gift.  Since she likes to read my blogs I couldn't post about her gift till after her birthday, which was Monday.

In 2008 I gave my mother a Native American doll.  She liked it so much that she told me she wanted a whole collection of these dolls.

A couple of months ago, I found a kit for another doll.  I was pretty excited.  I needed an idea for a gift and this kit provided the perfect opportunity.

Getting to work on the doll was a challenge.  I had been hospitalized in Stanford during April, which took time away from the project.  I live with my mother, so working on the doll in secret proved a challenge.

I managed to finish the doll Saturday evening, before my mother returned home form work.  That marked the end of my having to dash to my room to hide the doll so my mother wouldn't see it.

While I am happy with how the doll turned out, I don't think I will be working from a kit again.  The kit contained less than half of the yarn needed to complete the dress.  I had to improvise to complete everything. 

The doll does not look like the one in the pattern.  But now my mother can claim that it's truly unique.

I'm happy to report that my mother likes her new doll.  It's currently sitting in a glass cabinet next to the first one I made.  I also have collected enough patterns to make her eight more dolls.  My mother is going to need a larger cabinet.

Two pals chilling out in the cabinet.  Doll on left is the most recently finished.

Please donate to my transplant fund at http://cota.donorpages.com/PatientOnlineDonation/COTAforSolanaC/

Updates: May 2010

I made my goal for April.  I did not buy any crafting supplies.  I have to say it was hard.  Joanne's ended up having this sale on dress forms.  I've been wanting one for quite some time and just haven't been able to afford it.  Then Joanne's put the exact one I wanted for less than half the price.  I almost broke and bought the thing, but I managed to hold out.  Unfortunately, once April was over so was the sale. Hopefully there will be another sale again soon.  If not, I'm just going to have to keep saving my pennies.

My being in the hospital didn't help me much either.  I was too far from home to send someone to get a project for me from home.  I ended up spending a lot of time colouring in a colouring book I had brought for my trip to Stanford.  It did make me think a bit though.  Since I spend so much time in the hospital, I should include a crafting project in my emergency hospital bag.  That way, I'll always have something to work on, and won't need to send someone out to get me something.

I did enjoy all the creative ideas I got while trying to achieve my goal for the month.  It made me look at old things around the house and think of new ways to use them.  I had more ideas than I could achieve in a month.  So I plan on doing this again next April.  Hopefully, I won't spend half of it in the hospital again.

Even though April is over, I still haven't bought more supplies.  I'm currently broke (a trip to the hospital will do that to a person) and I still have tons of supplies at home to wade through.  I guess I'm too much of a pack rat. 

I am trying to work down my yarn stash.  A couple of years ago all my friends were having babies and I bought a ton of baby yarn to make shower gifts for all of them.  While I did complete each project, I had tons of yarn left over.  I have been making little toys for my niece ever since and the stash still doesn't seem to go down.  I'm thinking of making a couple of blankets to sell at the church Christmas sale.  It'll help me bring down my stash and allow me to make some cash.

Some of my homemade items can be found in my Etsy store.  It is still a work in progress, but I am hoping it will help bring in a little income to support my crafting habit.  Else my kitties will have to go hunting for their own food so Mommy can keep playing with all the yarn :)

Please consider donating to my transplant find at http://cota.donorpages.com/PatientOnlineDonation/COTAforSolanaC/