My first sweater! (January 2014)

Ken and I have been together for almost two years now (our anniversary is later this week), and as Gifts is one of our shared love languages, we've been giving each other handmade tokens of affection since we started dating. Last year, one of my New Years Resolutions was to knit a sweater, and as Ken is one of the thinnest humans on earth, making one for him seemed a little more efficient (and less expensive) than making one for myself. Here, after 3 months of on-and-off knitting, is the final product:

Pajama pants also made by me, and to be saved for a later post

Ken wanted the color and design of the sweater to be a surprise, and I am absolutely terrible at surprises. One of my only condolences was constantly taking pictures of my progress on Photobooth. Here you can see the sweater develop, kind of like those month-by-month pregnancy photo series:

 This immensely flattering photo was taken when I had pneumonia.

I didn't finish the sweater before New Year's, 2014, but I still consider it a success, though there was one somewhat fatal flaw...

I didn't have my normal round-the-neck knitting needles, so I borrowed some of Ken's, and ended up making the neck of the sweater incredibly, hilariously too-small.

This picture kind of reminds me of Thomas the Tank Engine.

Oh dear.

At the time I was feeling quite disillusioned with knitting and decided to just finish of the neck as it had been before making the neckband, making it look just slightly unfinished.

Or slightly more than slightly.

Dutch winters are quite mild, so he'll live.

If for whatever reason, you would like to recreate this sweater, this is the pattern I used. I found it very easy to follow for someone who had previously only knit hats and scarves. I do, however, recommend being a little careful in making the neckband. :P

"Pose seriously for me!"

New Season of Kabloem Sneak-Peek

Hey all,

It's my spring break, and I've been hard at work on a new collection of Kabloem pieces (for those of you who don't know, Kabloem is my Etsy shop where I sell floral hair crowns, combs, and other accessories for weddings, proms, communions, etc). Side note: Since I'm on Spring Break, Kabloem is currently in 'vacation mode' and will officially re-open on March 31st.

I've been making so many pieces in recent weeks that I really wanted to share them, but since I won't be officially listing them until the 31st, I thought I'd share a sneak-peek here, on my craft blog. Here are a few upcoming pieces:

Fall wedding crown:

It's hardly Autumn, but after watching a particularly nostalgia-inducing episode of Parks and Rec, I was in the mood to put together an extravagant head wreathe for an Autumn wedding. This crown is thin and delicate along the edges, with an explosion of flowers and color on one side, which I thought would look lovely with a curled up-do.

Blue and purple "birthday" crown:

I was inspired to make this one by The Princess Bride, after the crown and color scheme of Buttercup in the final scene (of which it is surprisingly difficult to find a good picture):

Making a woodlands-inspired version of the crown proved to be a lengthy process, but I think it turned out rather well, and I like that this crown is very different in aesthetic to the rest of my shop, due in large part to the pearl- and berry-covered spires sticking out of it. Here you can also see that I use a collection of differently-colored ribbons, which is a new look I'm trying out.

 Magnolia wedding crown:

This creamy white crown is another example of the delicate crown with a large accent look that I've been trying out. I like the small leaves and swirling berries especially.

Pink butterfly crown:

Another full, rich crown that I thought would be nice for a big occasion.
Blue and purple ribbon crown:

 Something smaller that could be nice for Prom.

Clips, combs, and barrettes:

These are some of the smaller pieces I've been working on. The last picture shows several of the clips and barrettes I made using some lovely paper flowers I found at my local craft store.

This is far from the whole collection; I would say I have about 25 new items to list, when I get the chance (and find time to do proper photography). I'm thinking of doing a giveaway - which of these pieces do you like best? Do you have any suggestions for other items or color schemes I could make use of for the coming collection? Let me know in the comments!

Till next time,
Sara

How to Make a Set-Down Terrarium

Hey all!

My partner's birthday was last month and he had been hinting about wanting a terrarium for a while. Problem is, he lives 3,000 miles and an entire ocean from where I do, so if I were to send him a terrarium, it would have to be held in place somehow. After asking if it was important that the terrarium was, you know, alive, he said that he mostly wanted one for the aesthetic, and I got to work.

Here's the finished product:

 

Part of his name is Fox, and my nickname is Bear or Little Bear

I bought all the supplies at Michaels and the full cost was around $15-20.

The first thing I bought was a large Mason jar from the Ball brand, which cost about $1.50. I also bought a bag of smooth pebbles for a few dollars. The jar was slightly square in shape so it could rest comfortably on one side. I coated the bottom of the jar (i.e. one of the four sides) in glue, then poured in a handful of pebbles and pressed them down. After about twenty minutes, I shook the jar to find any loose pebbles and glued those down individually.

I also bought a bag of dried moss from the Martha Steward brand, which cost $6-8. The bag included a variety of moss types that included some sort of preservative that will prevent drying out and dying in the terrarium. I pulled out small patches of different kinds of moss and glued them down over the rocks. I also bought a tiny bunch of purple silk flowers for $2 and added them as well.

Next I crafted the two small clay creatures out of four packages of Sculpey clay in orange, brown, black, and white (I believe $1 each, on sale). They took me a while to round out to the shape that I wanted, but I was ultimately quite happy with them. I poked a hole into the bottoms of each so that I could glue in a piece of paper clip later that would help them stay put in the terrarium. The bear took longer to bake due to being from a different Sculpey line, but they were both done baking within 20 minutes.

The critters before being baked.

I cut two small sections off of a coated paper clip and glued them into the creatures. I then covered the stick and the bottom of the animals in glue and pressed them down into the moss area that I wanted.

The most difficult step was adding the Happy Birthday banner. I made a small triangle cut-out to trace, then used a simple sheet of printer paper to trace and color in the letters. I flipped down the top part of each letter over a string, then taped it down. I ended up choosing to make two strings of letters for reasons of space, then took one piece of tape and attached the left end of both strings to it. It was difficult to tape to the glass, but using a pencil to reach and push the tape down helped. I did the same for the second side, then left the jar open and let it dry for a few days.

 

Tah-dah!

Totally stable and ready to ship! Luckily, my partner loved it. (:

Till next time,
Sara