Minion Amigurumi

One of my new favorite movies is Despicable Me.  If you haven't seen it yet, totally check it out.  It's hilarious.  It's an animated film of an evil villian's (Gru - who isn't so evil afterall) plot to steal the moon.  Gru has a bunch of minions that help him out, and they're just so cute and funny.  Anyway, one of my goals this year was to try to make an amigurumi.  The task was a bit daunting to me because of all the stitches, but I found this awesome pattern for a Despicable Me minion and absolutely had to try it.

I didn't take many pictures on the process of making this so all you get is the finished product, but here are my minions.

Mark

Phil

And the two of them together.

Again, the pattern for the minion is here: http://wolfdreamer-oth.blogspot.com/2010/07/despicable-minion.html .  The pattern is a good starting point for making various minions for your very own army. Enjoy!

Head Huggers Donation

If you've been following this blog for the past couple of months, you're probably aware of the pledge I made back in the end of November to make 10 caps to be donated to the Head Huggers organization. I was joined with this pledge with my friend Shoeabob83 who also pledged 10 caps, and my friend LadyAero who also pledged to make some caps. I'm proud to say that we all met our goals and have sent our caps to Head Huggers. Here are all the caps that were sent off.

LadyAero's Caps.

 

Shoeabob83's Caps.

And my caps.

For a grand total of 27 caps.   

I received an email from Sue (from the Head Huggers organization) just this past Friday.  She received that caps and are sending some of the caps to a cancer treatment center in NY and the rest to a maternity home, also in NY.  I'm so proud of our accomplishment and am very glad to hear that the caps will be keeping heads warm very soon.  Kudos to LadyAero, Shoeabob83, and also to the Head Huggers organization.  This officially closes our (hopefully annual) beanie pledges to Head Huggers. (note to self: need a catchy name for these pledges if they're gonna be an annual event).

5 minute Valentine's Day Card

Here's a quick card for you to make for Valentine's Day.  Really it can be for any occasion given the design that you choose.  It uses 3 sheets of scrapbook paper (one vellum, one dark color, and one light color), stacked and tied together with a ribbon.

Making them is super easy.  Using a paper trimmer makes it all the more easier. Stack all the papers, choose the height of the card you want, and trim the stack. Fold the stack.

Using an hobby knife, make 2 small slits through all 3 sheets, where the ribbon would go. As long as each slit is equidistant away from the top or bottom.  Slip the ribbon in the slits so both ends of the ribbon are on the outside (vellum side) of the card, and tie a bow.  Trim the excess ribbon and that's it.

You can put whatever you want on the inside of the card, or even just find a nice quotation that you like.

Here's the quote I wrote in this card:

The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even heard, but must be felt with the heart
--Helen Keller

I got this idea from the Michael's Book of Arts and Crafts.

Decoupage Box

With a bit of work you can decoupage a cheap paper mache box to look like a fancy expensive-ish box.

Here's what you need:

2 sheets of nice scrapbook paper or as much as it will take to cover the box.

1 paper mache box (I got this one for $1 at Joann's)

Mod Podge Glue

Here's how I did it:

1.  Cut the paper so it covers the box.  I outlined the bottom of the box onto the paper, then marked the paper to cover the sides. Cut the paper.

2. Any places where the paper edge meet and you're not certain it'll be completely covered, cut a small piece of paper and glue it in place.  For me, it was the side corners of the box.

3.  Double check that the paper is cut to where you want things covered in the box.

4.  Glue the paper to the box using mod podge, and a nice brush.

5.  Wait for it to dry.

6.  Paint on a good coat of glue onto the box.  Putting it over a tin helps let you paint throughout the outside of the box. Let that coat dry and paint on another. I painted on about 5 coats on the outside of the box, and another 5 coats on the inside once the outside was dry.

7.  Do the same procedure for the lid of the box.

That's it, simple decoupaged box.  You can decoupage stickers, or other papers, or even fabric, onto the box the same way.  The box can make a great gift box.