Bag From A Bag Revisited

Ever since I made the bag from a bag, I've asked my fellow feral cat feeders for their leftover cat food bags. I've collected a bunch and finally make a new batch (about 8 bags total, I have more in my "to make" pile). I even got a proper photographer to take pictures for me this time. I even model my own bags. So editorial.
See, very editorial.


This time, I decided to get some smaller twines and braid them together for the handles. This way, the twine won't fray easily.

I got three types of kibble bags. These are the other two:


I even got help from Lily.

And Mr. Hobbes!


Since it was so editorial, I'll have to list the credits where credit is due.
Material providers: Wonderful feeders of the Hobo feral cat colony
Bags sewn by: LeTran B.
Wardrobe: Baotran B.
Background: Baotran B.
Makeup: LeTran B.
Photography: Baotran B.
Cute directors: Lily B. and Hobbes B.

Abstract ocean painting

I found this photo on Pinterest from aimee-weaver and thought, "hey, we could do this for my parents for Christmas."



My sister has been looking for a painting of an open space for them with no luck. We haven't found anything worth blowing $50-100 over. I've calculated that if we do this ourselves, we could save a lot of money AND get what we want.

The trip to Home Depot got us a large 1/4" x 4' x 8' board. We got them to cut it for us into three pieces, one of those were a 4' x 2.5'. We also got simple wall paint: self-priming pure white, a deep blue and an aqua. I also got brushes from the dollar tree: 2 for $1 :D

Let's start.

Here's our board. We like the cracks, but if you don't, invest in better boards. We opted for the cheapest piece because we really like the texture and cracks. Plus, we wanted to save money :)



Take your board and sand it down. It'll help hold the paint and reduce splinters. We like the cracks, but if you don't, invest in better boards.



Once done, flip it around to the back and install a french cleat hanger. We also stuck cabinet cabinet cork pads on the hanger before installing the screws because they were a bit longer than the thickness of the board—we didn't want the screws to go through the board.



If you're weak like me, use a drill to pre-drill a hole before installing the screw. If you're strong like my sister, you can use your bare strength.



Ok flip it over. Start painting the self-priming pure white all over the whole board. This will act as a base.



Wait until your white paint is half way dry. Mix a small amount of white and blue paint to create light blue. Paint the light blue at the top.





Add blue.



Add aqua. Blend between blue and aqua.



Blend aqua down to the white at the bottom. Done! Hang!



Sorry for the bad photos! :(

Halloween!

Halloween this year will be chilled but also cool, too. I finally have met an animal who will let me dress him up in a costume. I present to you, Gizmo, the bumblebee!




I couldn't find a cute dog costume so I bought a human costume with wings and antennae for him.

My sister and I also went to Walmart and got a pumpkin for $4. I only bought one pumpkin but I wanted to carve a cat carving and a dog carving to honor Suppy and Rocky.
Kitty cat carving for Suppy poo pie.

A howling dog for Rocky pup.

Rest well beautiful animals and happy Halloween!

DIY Necklace & Earring Hanger from Tree Branch

A few days ago, I accidentally stumbled upon a few posts on Pinterest about DIY necklace hangers made from tree branches or scraps of wood.

My mother is a hoarder—she even keeps branches of trees she cut down. It's weird, but I found a branch from her cherry tree she trimmed last year. Thank you, mother, your hoarding problem finally paid off :D

So after stealing my mother's cherry branch, aka trash, I went to Home Depot looking for small cup hooks to use on my hanger. Alas, the size I wanted were all gold. I'm not a fan of this color :| I went home a little disappointed, but decided to go ahead and use my father's stash of regular nails.

Take a branch—anything you like. Make sure it's dry.



I sprayed it with a matt varnish to seal the wood and give it a darker shade of wood.



Add nails.



I added a nail approximately every one inch. Some of my necklaces are bulky so they need space between them.



Bam. Done. Remember to make another one for your earrings.



TIP: If you use nails, because they are straight, make sure you angle the nails downwards when you hammer them in. That way the head of the nails are going upwards. Your necklaces won't move or fall off the nails. I made the mistake of not thinking about that until the end so I had to fix all the nails later.

My Very First Garment!

One fine day, I decided to jump headfirst into sewing a dress. I always said that I'll learn to sew clothes ever since high school and it has been at 16 years since I first started high school. So I grew some balls ovaries and bought a pattern, specifically this one by Simplicity. I also bought a cheap remnant silk piece because I figured my first project shouldn't be wasted on really expensive materials.

After many hours of cutting the pattern, laying out the pieces to fit my tiny remnant piece, learning to sew a french seam (because I don't have a serger), adjusting the pattern because I have a short torso and short in general, I created this monster!

Behold!


Many more hours after this were devoted to pinning, ripping out seams, restitching seams, inserting zippers, hemming, and ironing. I also ran into a bunch of mishaps.

First problem: the zipper I bought previously was too short, I had to go buy a longer one or else it wouldn't open enough for my giant butt to wiggle in.

Second problem: I was an idiot and didn't buy an invisible zipper so the back is ugly. Please forgive this mistake, master of all sewing! I will always wear this dress with my hair down so people can't see my mistake.

Third problem: I didn't get bias tape and didn't spend the time to research it so the edges on the arm holes are wrinkly.

Fourth problem: I forgot to compensate for my itty bitty titties so I ended up with a lot of room in the bust area. I tried to fix this by making the back a bit smaller but probably will need to stuff my bra for it to look correct.

Fifth problem: My craftmanship resembles that of a 5-year-old. But soon, it will increase to the level of Forever21 clothes for sure!

If the previous five problems are overlooked, the dress is great. Tada! 

Close up of the bow my sister tied for me.



Close up of the neck.

Here's me looking so happy to finish my first ever wearable project!



Lessons learned:
1. Shouldn't have try to make such a structured dress for the first time.
2. Shouldn't use thick silk because everything was hard and bulky.
3. Shouldn't have use a light and solid color since it was very hard to hide mistakes. My sister said a floral print fabric would work a lot better.
4. Making clothes is really fun!

Reusing flowers and jars

I'm a contributor and I never post :P

This isn't as "crafty" a post as my sister's, but just thought I post something for funsies.

Last week a girl with the same name as me got married. Whoa. I thought I was getting married. Her wedding favor was a glass jar full of vanilla and juicy pear jelly beans. My sister gave me the idea of reusing these as vases. Of course it didn't work so well if I had no flowers.

The next day someone gave me flowers. Whoa again. I put them in a large vase, but it was too big. With my black thumbs, I "attempted" to take care of them, but poor flowers didn't survive for long. Some of them are sturdier than others, so I put my sister's idea to good use.

Shorten the stems on the surviving flowers and put them into the glass jars.

Dead flowers that were left. These are ugly phone photos!

Suppy