Ooh, Shiney!

My beautiful beaded bookmark and earrings :) I ran out of ideas for necklaces so I decided to think of extra things to make with beads! I made the bookmark on my own but I combined the ideas from two different books to make the earrings. I absolutely love them! And I can take the kidney earring hook off of one of them and put it on a chain for a necklace :P

Ruffled Skirt and Leg Warmers

My next project is made from this long black skirt. Every girl needs a long sensible skirt like this, but lets face it...it's not the most exciting thing.

I liked the idea of making a pleated skirt but as you might have noticed I'm not really a frilly type of girl. So, I added a little something to make it more sporty :)

So, I cut four long four inch wide strips from along the bottom. I hemmed up the left over skirt and sewed together a pair of strips to make two very long ones. Then I pleated one strip along the hem of the skirt and the other above the first one.

To pleat all you do is so on the strip with straight stitch and ever (The second pleated strip is optional but makes the skirt a little flirtier) You can also hem up all the strips before you put them on the skirt but I like the look of the rough edge.

Now for embellishments! Who doesn't love them? I took the car off of one of my dad's old t-shirts and just glued it on (with special fabric glue) You can also stitch it on if you don't have any glue but I couldn't on this one because its raised up.

Now, you all know the motto "waste not" so I used the t-shirt to make leg warmers and glued the word "mustang" on one of them.

Making leg warmers are really easy. Just measure your leg from just below the knee to the ground and add one inch, then measure around just below your knee and add one inch (my measurements were 17 and 12) Cut out the rectangle with those measurements from the front and back of the t-shirt. Fold each rectangle in half and use straight stitch to sew together the loose sides.

Fold the top down a tiny bit over 1 inch and use zig zag stitch along the bottom. (use whip stitch if your hand sewing) Then turn the tube inside out and cut two slits near each other. Cut one inch wide strips about 20-25 inches long from the same t-shirt or another of contrasting color. Thread the shirt strips through one hole and out the other.

And that's all! I'm really happy with my new hand made clothes. Now, I think I can safely call myself a seamstress!

Ruche Wonder

At our local thrift store I found a bunch of clothes that I absolutely loved but also absolutely could never where in public. I'm planning on making them into something else and I'll show each :)

Here's the first one:
This was my favorite! It was one of those things that you pick up on an impulse and hold onto it. I loved the feel of the fabric and the square neck line. I knew it would fit me like a bag, but I just had to get it.

I decided that it would be really cute to ruche it. So, I drew a line on the inside of the shirt where I wanted the ruching to go, then I cut a piece of 1/8 inch wide elastic as long as I want the circumference of the finished shirt to be. Here's how to ruche, turn the piece inside out, draw a straight line with chalk or soap where you want the elastic to go. Pin the elastic down on one end then put it on the sewing machine. Set it on zig zag stitch about medium wide, then pull the elastic while you sew. It's a little difficult at first, but once you get the hang of it you'll find yourself ruching everything!

And thats it, its really easy, and the comments people give afterwards are so wonderful to hear! "Let me just say, you look fabulous!" "You made that!?!"

Land of the Phoenix Part 7

The Stampede

All of this had been observed by the leader of the unknown creatures with round yellow eyes. He signaled for his group to surround the unsuspecting girl. She innocently walked further away from the mansion into the ambush.

“You better watch yourself little creature, this be an unruly world you’ve found yerself in.”

Anne looked around for the sly voice but she didn’t see anyone.

“You don’t look like anyone I’ve ever seen before. Where did ya come from, hun?”

It came from above her! She looked, but did not see anyone. Keeping her eyes on the roof of the house where the voice came from, she timidly backed away. But suddenly she felt a sharp prick on her back and cried out. Behind her was a small lizard-like creature holding a primitive spear. She screamed again and looked around herself, a whole lounge of lizards had surrounded her. Back at the roof of the porch, a regal lizard slowly moved into view from behind the porch gable.

He was a larger than the rest with a lean scaly body. Like the other animals Anne had seen, he had surprisingly intelligent eyes. He wore a tribal type of necklace around his shoulders and held a crudely carved walking stick that was so thin on part that it was threatened to snap.

He jumped down from the gable and walked up to her. The lizard was almost as tall as her belly button and he walked on his hind legs. He also just realized how big she was and summoned one of his comrades to him.

“Yes, Grynde, sir?” The other lizard asked.

“Get down on all fours.” He replied in almost a whisper. His comrade got down on all fours and, to Anne’s astonishment, Grynde climbed up on him so he stood higher.

“Ahem, so, as I was saying. What kind of creature are you?”
“I’m a human…” She replied uncertainly

“I see…” He too was uncertain so he whispered to the lizard he was standing on asking what the heck a human was. The crouching lizard replied quietly, “It’s a girl, sir.”

“Girl…girl…” Suddenly he gasped, “A girl! Like the one in the prophesy! The PROPHESY!!” He turned and summoned the other lizards to him, “Listen! My good Eemi! We have stumbled on none other then the second witch of the prophesy! Beware of this girl, she has come to challenge the Sorceress and we cannot have that, can we?”

“NO!!” The Eemi cried out in unison,

“So, we shall do the Sorceress a favor and get rid of the girl!”

Then, to himself, the leader lizard said, “And how shall I do it?”

“The stake, sir! We love the stake!” suggested the lizard beneath him.

“Ah ha! I have got it! We shall burn her at stake!” cried the leader. Anne gasped and the other lizards chanted “Stake, stake, stake!”

They started crowding around her and pushing her away from the house, Grynde sauntered in front of her, leading the way.

“Wait!” Anne cried, “I forgot, I’m not really a human! I’m an ape, you see, I just…evolved a little!” But Grynde would not acknowledge anything she said, he just kept on walking in a haughty, king-like manner.

The lizards considered which tree they should tie her to. First their attention was drawn to a mighty pine, but they didn’t have ropes long enough to wrap around its wide circumference. So, they settled for a small sapling. Though it was weak, they thought, it was small enough for their ropes and it would burn easily.

But they soon noticed that Anne was too tall for the sapling and her head was hidden behind the green leaves of the tree. They knew her face must be visible for the tribe to fully enjoy her pain. After a long discussion, one lizard asked if they could shave to tree of its branches. Everyone exuberantly agreed; burning her at stake was much more proper than burning her at sapling. Finally, it was done and the lizard’s victim was tied to the shaved tree.

Roughly, and thoroughly enjoying themselves, they began to gather large sticks and threw them in a pile around the girl. Her heart beat faster than it ever had before as she struggled with the tight ropes, her life would have flashed before her eyes, but she couldn’t remember anything. All she knew was that she was about to die, everything else was black.

After the lizards finished the pile of sticks, they leaped about and shouted in bloodthirsty glee. Anne observed this horrible ritual, hardly grasping it, until suddenly, they all stopped. Their tails twitched and they all looked in the same direction towards the horizon. The ground had begun to slowly tremble; at first, Anne thought it was like the tiny earthquake that occurred when she apologized to the lion-man, but it lasted longer. It kept going and she silently pleaded for it to stop, but it never did. Instead, it gradually shook harder and harder.

She waited for the subject of the chaos to come into view. Finally, fate gave in to her anticipation; a cloud of dust billowed from beyond the horizon. She knew that it was most likely a stampede. And, so apparently, did the lizards, they twitched their tails and talked nervously to each other. Finally, Grynde called the awaited order and, in one, they all turned and ran. Unfortunately, they forgot (or didn’t care about) Anne who was tied fast to the tree.

She struggled and called for help, her heart beat fast and tingled inside her chest then rose to a lump in her throat. Animals of all shapes and sizes moved the earth with their paws and hooves. Panic-stricken eyes rolling, they charge closer and closer, oblivious to the little girl tied to a barer sapling.

Anne tugged at the ropes so hard her wrists began to bleed. Frustrated at the tightness of the knots, she yanked at the tree that was holding her captive. To her surprise, the young tree bent over slightly. Then, she had an idea; she pulled harder at the tree and it bent lower. She got on her knees and the tree leaned with her. She yelled a loud as her shoulder muscles strained. Then, just as she thought, the tree bent low enough for the rope to slide up the tree. It hit knots and stumps from the cut branches but she continued to pull. The cloud of dust came closer.

Finally her painful struggle ended, the rope slid off the tip of the sapling and she landed with a thump on the ground. Realizing how hard it would be to run with her arms tied behind her back, Anne lifted herself to a squat and wrapped her arms underneath herself. Then she sat down, pulled her legs in and moved her tied hands under and around her feet. Now that her arms were in front, it was easier to run. The stampede was dangerously close and it was then that she panicked.

She started to run away from the approaching animals, then she remembered she would not be able to out run them. She looked around for an escape route, but her panicking brain blinded her eyes from comprehending anything. Almost unintentionally, Anne ran to the side. To her amazement, she was running to a forest; she knew that a forest would protect from the stampeding animals who would avoid the trees.

She ran toward her salvation, leaned against a tree trunk and rested. Suddenly, she heard a rustling noise. To her great dismay, the Eemi had already taken refuge in the forest. They greedily charged at her, chasing her back into the field in front of the stampede.

Anne couldn’t think, she hardly knew where she was. The grass, the sky and the lizards all melt away, leaving her alone in front of the humongous dust cloud. Almost out of nowhere, a panicked elephant came into view followed by wilder beasts, deer and other hoofed creatures. But, the poor girl was frozen, she felt like a tree rooted to the spot.

From under the elephant, another animal seemed to have emerged from the dust itself. It ran straight at Anne, faster than all the rest of the stampede. Its golden light entranced her, she wasn’t frightened anymore. Then, it leaped as gracefully as a gazelle and, somehow, picked her up. Before she knew what happened, she was sailing through the air. Her heart swooped inside of her as the stampede trampled the earth underneath her.

Koln Trip

Today I went with my Youth Group to the Cathedral in Koln (In America we call it Cologne) It was really fun and very pretty. I wasn't able to get a full picture of the cathedral though because if I backed up to get the whole thing (its gigantic) I would have been trampled by the crowds of people. Half of it was under construction any way so you didn't really miss out.
The detail and elegance of this thing is amazing!

A legend says that the Three Magi from the Nativity went into hiding because of Herod. Even after they were dead, their bodies were moved to keep the "enemy", I guess you would call them, from finding them. They say that they are buried under the church...but I don't know how they can be sure... Anyway, this is the monument dedicated to them. (We were blocked off from it though.)

There are a lot of other monuments dedicated to bishops, martyrs and saints but all the pictures I took were very blurry. It was hard to find the right setting for this place...

Here is the oldest stained glass windows in the entire Cathedral. I thought they were very pretty!At the back of the cathedral is a little booth where you can pay 2 Euro to climb to the top of the highest tower thing so you can see an awesome view of the city. We thought it was a good idea at first but after the first couple hundred steps...well... Yeah, we walked about 500 steps up spiral stairs it just kept going and going and going and going and going!
As you can guess, it was very tiring; our legs felt like jelly when we finally got to the top. And even though the "work-out" was grueling and going back down the crowded steps made us dizzy, the view was indeed very nice!
Just a little tidbit that the Youth Group leader, Mr. James, said: The Pope, during last years World Youth Day, came in a boat right there on the water. There were thousands of people crowded around the shore and he had his papal "secret service" with him!


This is us on the train going back to Bitburg! (A 2-hour long trip) Me, Amanda and Sabrina, Austin is taking the picture.

This was a really fun trip! I hope we get to go again soon. Maybe next time we'll take the train to Paris, some other place in Germany or Spain (if we can find some religious value in it :) Or maybe Rome!!! That was be so awesome!!!!!! I've always, always wanted to go to Italy!

Monster Plushie Tutorial

Here's how to make a cute little monster for yourself!


First you draw and cut out a pattern for your monster. On this on I used a picture Peanut drew. Its fun to close your eyes and draw scribbles and loops then try to make something out of it, but anything you do make sure its wide and bold and a little larger than you'd like the monster to be.

These are some things I came up with yesterday while I was drawing with my eyes closed. Who knows, when I'm bored I may make one of them!

Lay your pattern on the cloth and cut two pieces. This monster is going to have hair all the way around it like Peanut drew so I basted (held it down in place with large stitches) some rick rack about a fourth of an inch from the edge.
Then I laid the other piece face down and backstitched along the stitches I made for the rick rack (You don't have to use any rick rack if you'd like to have a hairless monster)
Remember to leave a hole about 3 inches long while stitching the skin together. After your done turn the monster's skin right side out and stuff him. And add any extra stuff, on her picture, Peanut drew a spider that I thought was so cute I had to put one on. Extra stuff are always cute!
Lastly, cute out eyes, mouth and nose from felt (on this one I used a button for the nose) Maybe you could do sharp pointy teeth, or a small smile or a wide smirk, or no mouth at all. You can have big googly eyes or small beady ones, only one eye or maybe six!

You can also cover your monster's nakedness by making a shirt. You can wrap a piece of scrap fabric around him and measure where you should sew. Then fold it in half inside-out and sew. Then make arm holes (if your monster has arms)

I've also seen it done with socks. Its easier since you don't have to sew, just cut holes for the neck and arms, but I've never done it because I haven't found the right size socks that I can just cut up. My monsters are fairly small so I think I'd need baby socks. For larger monsters you can use your own socks (if you'd like to cut them up...)

Would you like your monster to have hair? Here's how:





Put thread, the same color as the yarn you want to use for the hair, and poke it through the front of the head as close to the top as you can get. Then put the tip of the yarn onto the needle but don't pull it all the way though.

Figure out how long you want the hair then bend the yarn at that point and poke the needle through the yarn leaving a tiny loop on the needle. Do that four or five times then put the needle through the back of the scalp to the front. The little loops of yarn should be in a group on top of the head.

Thread the needle through the front of the scalp to the back and repeat making little loops until you have a head full of beautiful hair.

You can do a little hair, or a lot. Use fuzzy yarn for a completely different look. Make it short or long...or make it short in the front and long in the back and make a monster mullet!!

After your done be sure to give your monster a name (something crazy that you'd never name your kid is best like Sebastian or Napoleon or Winifred) Then give him a personality and a hobby (you don't want a bored monster, that's just inviting trouble!) Make him a house to haunt, sew him a little monster quilt, give him a Myspace and voila, your done!

The Monsters' day

A monster's day is packed full of fun things! This is their first day of living and I think they're really enjoying it! Since they've never lived before I created them, they had no idea what to do. So, they decided to copy us.Here is Mozart, Sebastian and Ludwig playing Rummy with the cards we forgot to put away! They really got the hang of it!
Then, they saw me watching Monk so they got the TV from my sisters dollhouse and started staring at it. They didn't like this game very much though, they found very boring and Sebastian said, "Whats the reason for staring at a box for an hour?" I tried to tell him that on a real TV the pictures move and tell a story, but he still didn't get it.
Here's my friends playing with my little sisters blocks. The blocks were really heavy and they weren't able to get that last block up to the top. Sebastian was able to hold it, but Ludwig lost his balance and, well, you can guess what happened then...

My monsters are so fun, nothing ever is boring when they're around! You need to make one too! You'll love them, next post I'll tell you how!

Monster Friends

Here are my little monster plushies!! The green one's my favorite, his name is Sebastian the the yellow one is Ludwig and the blue one is Mozart. (I was gonna name him Wolfgang but he looks too much like a cat to have a name like that!)

Even though they are all named after composers, Sebastian is the only one who plays an instrument. He plays piano but pretty poorly, he bangs and drums on it and makes the most gruesome noises come out of it (as any monster should!)

He's very manipulative. One look into his googly eyes will send anyone into an obedient trance! They do anything he asks willingly because of his cuteness!

Usually monsters don't care too much about cute or pretty things, but Mozart has an eye for paintings. She has many in her collection and all of them are of battles or other violent things (sorry, that's just how monsters are, horrible I know...)

She's the shy one though, so shy in fact that if one person looks her in the eyes she'll run away and hide! She's also very suspicious and scared of everything, and ever since she was a baby, she almost always had a scared look on her face. Now, let this be a lesson to all little children, her face is stuck in the "scared" position forever. But, she doesn't mind because she uses that face often.

Ludwig is the most mysterious one and nobody knows very much about him. He mostly likes to hang out under beds or in closets. I wonder what he's doing under there?

The only thing I know of his past is that he was a sailor at one point. I know because of all the bad words he uses and the anchor tattoo on his back!


He hates getting his picture taken, so I had to sneak behind him while he was reading Harry Potter!




Well, there you go! My little monster friends say goodbye and they wish you unhappy days! (That's the monster way, apparently, to them unhappy days are good!)

Land of the Phoenix Part 6

The Mansion

Amid hills and across rivers and, not to mention, acres and acres of forests they trekked. Anne had not worn the right shoes for traveling for hours in untamed wilderness, so she took them off. However, all sorts of unpleasant things lie in untamed countries.

Anne’s feet were constantly bothered by slimy forest leaves and the sharp edges of pine needles. Every so often she would put her shoes back on, only to find that it hurt worse than before. The reason was unknown to her, but she kept switching; shoes to no shoes, no shoes to shoes. Her body was pleading for comfort but not finding it in any way available to it.

Finally the lion-man led them out of the forest to a old, run-down mansion. It resembled a colonial town hall with three gables jutting out from the red roof, three upper floor windows and three lower floor windows aligned perfectly. Remnants of white paint scattered the fake brick walls. The small front porch outside the front door was so rotten that they had to go through the back kitchen door.

Inside the house, the floorboards moaned desperately and the whole house smelled badly of rotting wood. The only safe place to walk was the front sitting room where there was a fairly new looking bed and an old sofa.

“Well,” the lion-ma sighed, “This is my house; we’ll bunk here for the night.” Said the beast as he took two slabs of dried salted meat out of his pack and threw one to Anne. (With amazing accuracy for not even looking at her) She sat on the couch as he sprawled carelessly on the bed on the opposite side of the large room and again they ate in silence.

At first Anne hated the dark, musty house but checked herself and decided to love it.

“I love how the floorboards creak; it makes the house feel haunted!”

The beast frowned and wondered how she could possibly like that.

“And, this couch is so squishy and comfy!”

The beast knew for a fact that it wasn’t. As surprised as it was however, he found himself liking her positive outlook. He liked how she did not fight back at being taken to the Sorceress and how she somehow loved his nasty house. It was definitely not the way a witch was supposed to act.

After eating, they both became sleepy and the lion-man was just about to drift asleep when he got a shiver and started to pull the blankets over him. Then, he remembered Anne; he thought about giving her the blanket but then remembered how lumpy the sofa was. He got up and did something he never dreamed he would do in his entire life.

“Um…you-you can sleep on the bed. I’ll sleep there.” The world shifted again like a tiny earthquake, making the walls tremble dangerously. Anne looked up amazed. She couldn’t see him very well because the room was too dark but when he started walking over she knew he was serious.

The bed was indeed more comfortable then the couch and the place where the lion-man was sitting was still warm. Soon, she fell into a happy sleep; the lion-man didn’t feel too bad himself either. He fell asleep quickly despite the lumps in the sofa, knowing that he made Anne happy.

***
The sun rose higher and higher but neither Anne nor the lion-man stirred because the poor sun, no matter how hard it tried, could hardly penetrate the dark rotten house. But outside nearby animals rubbed the sleep out of their eyes and greeted the sunlight.

A group of creatures sensed a change in their environment. The crumbling house they lived around was inhabited once again. But, not only had its owner returned but he brought someone else in with him. However, these observing creatures knew that the lion-man would never allow visitors.

They then assumed that this creature he brought into his house must be really unique and special. But, why should the lion-man get to have this special creature and not them?

“This new creature should be identified and captured,” said the leader of the creatures, “It must be taken to the Sorceress for distributing; the man lion has no right to keep it!”

Fear of the lion-man kept them from even thinking of entering the house. So they scurried up the walls of the mansion and peered through cracks with their large round yellow eyes.

Finally, Anne opened her eyes with the strange feeling of being watched. In an instant, however, she brushed that feeling away telling herself it was only the creepy old house that made her afraid.

She looked over to the couch where the lion-man was sleeping. There he was facing her; something urged her to get up. She walked barefoot towards him to get a good look at his face. The morning light hardly penetrated the musty air in the house so Anne had to stand directly over him to see. She gasped at what she saw then quickly slapped her hand over her mouth. But, she was too late; the lion-man awoke from a deep sleep and instantly realized what she was doing. He slowly stood up with a grim expression and looked down at her.

He was the most handsome man she had ever seen. He had wavy strawberry blonde hair that almost completely covered his blue eyes. His eyes were deep and full of meaning almost as if they had a personality of their own. She was very astonished a his appearance, she had always imagined him to be more animal than man

At first the lion-man was angry at her. He had started to think, and even hope, that maybe she wasn’t a witch after all. But after waking up to find her standing so close him he thought that she was trying to put a spell on him in his sleep. His first impulse was to slap her or push her away but, he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He saw the fear and surprise in her eyes that made him want to punish himself for being so big and hairy.

Finally, he said to her, “What were you doing? Were you putting a spell on me?”

“No, no! I wasn’t I-I promise!” she said desperately on her own behalf. “I don’t know how to cast any spells!”

“Then, what were you doing?”

“I’m sorry! I…I…”

He knew, he just knew, that she was a witch! One who was going to try to bring feeling back, but he didn’t want them, nobody wants feelings!

“You tell me the truth, witch!” he snarled so fiercely that Anne burst out crying. He immediately regretted yelling as he watched her cry.

Never had he seen anyone cry before and to see her in that strange condition made his insides tie themselves in knots again. He found himself wanting to hold her and make everything better but, instead he backed away from her.

“Stop it!” he cried almost in anguish. Anne gulped for air and tried to stop crying but the tears kept coming. The lion-man retreated towards the door.

“You leave me alone with your feelings!” He said as he grabbed his pack, “I don’t want them!”

With that he left and slammed the door behind him, nearly knocking it from its rusty hinges.

“Don’t-don’t leave me here...” She said in an unintentional whisper as she rushed to the door. But, he was gone. She broke down and cried on the doorstep.