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Halloween Cupcakes



So today we're having family and friends over for a Halloween dinner, and for desert my mom made these neat cupcakes with witch hats on them. So I thought this would be a good time to tell you guys about a lady I met named Brenda Vanover! Brenda created the idea for the cupcakes and make really need things with candy and sweets. Seriously, she has the "eye" for all things candy and makes things that are truly impressive, but still simple to make! She runs sweetsimplestuff.com where she shares her creations! I strongly recommend you guys check her out.

So for the hats, Brenda uses York Peppermints, but the ones my mom bought were shaped like pumpkins for Halloween so they didn't work and she had to improvise and use the cookie parts from Oreo's. They're made with a Hershey's Kiss, some frosting, and a York Peppermint. You can find the instructions at Brenda's site here.

Here's one of the great things she uses the hats in.

Keep an eye out for this one!

Early November Giveaway Game!

So Novembers almost here, and with it, will be coming some great new crafts and patterns! But the things I'm planning are not exactly finished yet. So, I thought why not give a sneak preview of whats to come, as well as making it into a game! With a prize of course. :)

So here are three different items that are not finished yet, but are on their way, and enough done to be able to tell what they are. But it's not going to be easy. The rules of the game are pretty simple, you have to guess what each of the items are and post your guesses in the comment box below or on Facebook. Whoever comments with the most correct answers fastest will be shipped one of the items! Pretty simple. This game will end on November 15th because that's when I'm going to start posting the answers! Good Luck!

Here are the items to guess:

1.


2.


3.

This one is easily the most difficult.

(click images to view larger)

So there you have it! Let the games begin and may the odds be ever in your favor!

Taking Crocheting to the Future


So I'm somewhat, okay a lot of, a nerd. For those of you who arn't or maybe didn't know, there's a little convention called Comic Con, and last Thursday through Sunday all the lucky people of New York had their 6th annual Comic Con. Unluckily for me I live in California, and I'm also broke :) but to commemorate this event and kinda commemorate Halloween, which is just around the corner, I decided to make a nerd based crocheted item (the first of many more). For those of you who don't know, this is known as a Brain Slug from the show Futurama. It attaches to someone's (or something's) head and controls them, kinda making them into a zombie like state. Any how, you can see a video of the episode with these guys here.

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Here are some photo's of the finished product:



Materials:
-Lion Brand Cotton Ease Lime Green
-Size US-G/4.00 mm Crochet Hook
-White Felt
-Small (about 1/4-1/2") Black Button
-A little bit of stuffing

*First make a tiny ball of yarn separate from the main ball for the antennae.

Pattern:
Ch 2 (DON'T TURN)
Rnd 1: sc 6 in 2nd ch from the hook
Rnd 2: sc 2 in each st (12)
Rnd 3: sc in next st, inc in next st, Repeat 6 times (18)
Rnd 4: sc in next 2 st, inc in next st, Repeat 6 times (24)
Rnd 5: sc in next 3 st, inc in next st, Repeat 6 times (30)
Rnd 6: sc in each st (30)
Rnd 7: sc in next 4 st, inc in next st, Repeat 6 times (36)
Rnd 8-17: sc in each st (36)
Rnd 18: (on outer stitches only) [stitches separated by commas] dc 1 tc 1 dc 1, sl.st, dc 1 tc 1 dc 1, sl.st, sl.st, sl.st, dc1 tc 2, tc 2 dc 1, sl.st, sl.st, dc 1 tc1 dc 1, sl.st, sl.st, dc 1 tc 1, tc 1 dc 1, sl.st, sl.st, dc 3, sl.st, dc 1 tc 1 dc 1, sl.st, sl.st, sl.st, dc 1 tc 2, tc 2 dc 1, sl.st, sl.st, dc 1 tc 1, tc 1 dc 1, sl.st, sl.st, dc 3, sl.st, dc 1 tc1, tc 1 dc 1, sl.st.
Wait...
Now you should find two spots on the head, where the antennae will go, make them equal distance. Choose a spot on the head and insert hook, tie a slip knot and pull it through, then insert hook in next spot directly below the first and loop over and pull through creating a ch. Now stick the hook back in the second spot and pull the rest of the yarn through the spot but not through the first ch. Then ch 10 more. Sl.st in second ch from hook and then in each ch to the bottom, tie off and pull the rest of the yarn into the middle of the body to hide the yarn. Do this twice for each antennae and curl the end a bit.

Now cut a circle out of the felt, and sew the button on before sewing the entire eye onto the body.

Now back to the body..
Rnd 19: (on inner stitches of Rnd 17) sc in next st, dec in next st (24)
*STUFF*
Rnd 20: dec all around (12)
Rnd 21: dec all around (6)
Rnd 22: keep dec around untill closed up.

You can sew on a hair clip or onto a headband to keep it in your hair, but other then that, your brain slug is done and can happily suck out all the grey brain matter it can get it's slime on!

I make a great zombie slave
You can buy this guy here!

Thousand Oaks Rotary Street Fair


So last Sunday was the Rotary Street Fair in Thousand Oaks, California, where I live. It was the first street fair I've ever done, and all my hard work paid off because I did pretty well!
The one really disappointing thing about the street fair is that I brought my camera and took tons of beautiful photos, only to come to the realization later that I had forgotten to put a memory card in the camera... *facepalm. I feel so dumb haha. But I caught a bit of luck and took a few with my phone. Those who showed up also got a sneak preview into some of the new hats I'm going to be coming out with this next month! I also got some really great ideas about some new hats, and selling at boutiques. So those of you that were there and saw some hats that you can't find here on the shop, please be patient, they're on their way, just need to take the photos first! Thank you for everything! I had tons of fun! I can't wait for my next street fair! So feel free to check out the photos that I have of the event below!


Bat Hair Accessory



Just in time for Halloween comes a new addition to the Etsy shop. You might have seen the little bats here, but bigger is always better. These bat hair accessories are perfect for a last minute Halloween Etsy shopping spree, and are actually a runoff to the free simple body/wing pattern I posted last month! If you haven't seen it yet, here's a link.


These bat hair accessories are available on a hair clip, or headband and come in two different colors.




You can get buy these here, or learn to make them here!

Happy Halloween!

Avocado Festival 2011

Today, my parents, my girlfriend and I went to the 25th anual avocado festival! We had tons of fun, and I got a lot of great ideas for next weeks street fair. Oh yah, if you happen to be in the neighborhood of Thousand Oaks, California, come on down to the Rotary Street Fair, I'll be there, with a booth and everything. If you can't make it, no problem, there will be tons of photos and a blog entry afterwards!

Anyhow, while we were at the avocado festival, we saw some really neat booths with some cool stuff for sale. And to commemorate the festival, I made an avocado hat!

So check out some of the cool pictures, ideas and neat things I found at the avocado festival!
















These cute key necklaces are a handmade product of Lynne Hinz, who owns Maji Designs. I thought they looked really well made. You can find more of Lynne's designs at majidesigns.com




































This woman made a very unique type of jewelery that I have never seen before. She grew very tiny flowers and then solidified them in glass to make necklaces and rings. It was really amazing to see, and then look closer and see actual flowers in the jewelery. Very neat. A link to her site coming soon.





























This booth made really cool metal sculptures. They were very detailed and included bugs, animals, vehicles, and tons of syfy creatures like preditor. It was actually pretty neat. You can see more of Metal Soul's work at metalsouls.com








So we had a really great time at the 25th Annual Avocado Festival, saw some great crafts, got some good ideas, and ate some awesome food. If you're ever in Carpinteria in October, make sure you get to see the Avocado Festival!

All Treat, No trick

So Halloween is basically here, so I figure, it's time for a new, Halloween themed pattern.

I was searching online for a pattern for an easy bat, but I really couldn't find any, so I figured, why not make one? So I did, and I think it turned out really nicely. You might recognize this bat sewn onto the girls Halloween hat (left) available here.

These pins are available to buy here.

So here are some photos of what you can make!
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Final Product:






click for larger images



Materials:
Lion Brand Cotton/Lily Sugar'n Cream
/Lion Brand Cotton-Ease
(basically any 100% cotton works)
-Crochet Hook-Size G6 4.00mm
-Needle to sew in ends with

Abbreviations:
-SL.ST = Slip Stitch
-SC = Single Crochet
-HDC = Half Double Crochet
-DC = Double Crochet
-Ch = Chain
-M.P. = Mini Picot (ch 2, sl.st in first ch)
*probably not called a mini picot, but i didn't have a name for it, if anyone knows what this is called, please leave a comment :)

Pattern:
Ch 16
Rnd 1: Hdc 1 in 2nd ch from hook, m.p, hdc 2, m.p, sc 2, m.p, sc 3, m.p, sc2, m.p, hdc 2, m.p, hdc 1, sl.st 1 in same as last. Turn upside down and ch 2
Rnd 2: *On backside. (In where you put the last hdc and sl.st) dc 1, hdc 2, sc3, m.p, sc1, m.p, sc4, hdc 2, dc 1 in first 2 ch.
Sew on some eyes and a mouth and tweak the wings a bit, and you have a cute little bat!
You can also sew on a pin or some bobby pins to attach it to some clothes or put in your hair.

And that's all, simple, quick, and you're ready to go out and show some Halloween spirit!


Check out some bigger bats and how to make them here.

Happy Halloween everyone!








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