Cupcake Plush no. 383

383_Collage
Originally uploaded by rengawk

Hello hello!

I'm cupcake plush no. 383, and I sport a holiday-themed color scheme of Ruby Shimmer and Shamrock Shimmer, all over a base of crisp white.

378_Collage

378_Collage
Originally uploaded by rengawk

Hello hello, I'm Cupcake Plush no. 378!

My frosting is is made with a fun novelty yarn called Blue-Pink-Yellow Multi and light blue, while my base is made with a pale yellow yarn...all with a bright red cherry on top!

I was crafted especially for Miss J, and hope to be travelling across the sea to a new home soon!

Where have you been?

"Where have you been?"

Okay so it is only me pretending that the internet asks, but I am here! HER AM I I AM HERE INTERNETS.

I just finished up an 8-week accelerated online course, and today I went to my first craft show as a vendor. I have been trying to manage my time between work, homework, and prepping product for the fair, so taking time to blog has fallen a bit farther down the list than usual...

BUT

But! There are plans! Plans to share! I have cooking adventures (like juicing coming and going) and recipes I tried (OMG FAIL) and plenty of Recipe Roundup links to share from last month, and HOLY CRAP IT IS NEARLY NOVEMBER?

I just wanted to drop by and leave a little note to say hello to my blog. HI BLOGGY!

The first step of my current online plan is to get new inventory into the shop since it was a successful day, and I took my Etsy (non-reserved) inventory along! I want to make a cute mosaic of who went off to new homes today, cupcakes and other plush (providing I took pictures!)

Wednesday tidbits

For starters, this post was inspired by my brain reading things incorrectly...

Arizona Herbal Tonic. I was expecting more tea.

See the pic? Totally read it as Xanax ginseng.

Then I doubted they canned the right product when I poured it into a glass; I always feel so odd trying to drink from an 23 ounce sized can. Guess this tonic is more about citrus and less about tea. Still yummy, and was BOGO free at CVS, so that's 46 ounce for 99 cents.

I made a new Pandora station based on Modest Mouse. I blame this post. I would share the station link, but it is currently just Pandora doing its thing and giving me fun stuff, except the 'outrun my gun' song; I find that to be catchy yet disturbing. I also highly recommend making a station based on Cake. It makes a GREAT mix all on its own. Try it! ...wow I feel like I am recommending a drink mix; "try it you'll like it!" No wait, cake-flavored vodka is weird, definitely a try-it-somewhere-before you-invest-in-a-bottle kind of flavoring. Totally different Cake we're talking about here.

I changed the title from 'Wednesday sillies' to 'Wednesday niblets.' That sounds kinda gross to me. Lets go with 'Wednesday tidbits' instead. Giblets, riblets, niblets. Yup.

No. 278, without a crazy glowing base.

IT IS BEAUTIFUL OUTSIDE. So I have the deck door open, and finally got to retake pics for no. 278, which has Red Heart's Shocking Pink as a base, which I can't seem to capture well in artificial light. Looks like Red Heart also had the issue as well with the closeup shot. Look for it soon in the Etsy shop soon. Like right after I post this post soon. The cupcake, not the yarn. The yarn you can get anywhere.

Picked up M&Ms coconut eggs on clearnace on the CVS stop mentioned above; much less oily than their smaller counterpart. Good to not eat a TON of candy at a shot.

Well then, I swear when I sat down to type this there were AT LEAST three funny-assed things that happened in like the past hour that I was all 'OMG I TO BLOG ABOUT THIS' kind of funny. YAY absent-mind-oh-mine. Hopefully I'll be back to add to this!

Something different for the shop

Last night I posted something a little different in my Etsy shop, a Pear Critter!

I had made a pattern a few years back for a Pear Bird, and had made the parts for one quite a while ago. He sat as a sad Work-in-Progress (WIP) for a long time – which of course can cause silliness with the parts. I pinned them to his head, and liked the look! After sewing them on, he sat for even longer…

 

Then finally an outdoor photoshoot! Isn't he photogenic?


I like how somehow I am holding him in the exact same position he is sitting in the indoor shot…looks like that’s where his center of balance lies!

Oh and I have been posting the cupcakes as the are listed on my Facebook Page for Rengawk’s Unusual Wedge. This month has been awesome for sending them all over the world!

As for a little blog organization – I am going to remove the widget for my Google Reader recommendations – they discontinued the program, and now promote you to Share via Google+. Some links I share there, other’s on my personal Facebook page, some on my Etsy Facebook page. I feel like I need to focus – but where do I choose? Isn’t the internet grand. :)

No. 233

No. 233
Originally uploaded by rengawk

Wow, we're up to 233 already?

[A rainbow of colors with Snow Shimmer edging over Swimming Pool Blues]

Featured today on The Cupcake Blog!

How do you organize your eyes?

How do you organize your eyes?
Originally uploaded by rengawk

...and noses and bells and hearts? Oh my...

Case my sister was going to pitch it full of beads...I snatched it up! I dumped the plastic beads into a baggie... bet they will be useful for cupcakes and other crochet embellishments someday! :)

no. 197 - 199

The newest to be listed on Etsy!
197 - My frosting top is made with a deep mix of colors look like shades of berries, and my cake base is a mint green.
198 - My frosting top is made with a mix of a light mint with streams of purple, while, and yellow, with lighter edging, and a bright yellow cake base.
199 - My frosting top is made with a mix of cream and a shimmery raspberry, with that same pink edging, and my cake base is a chocolate brown. Instead on a cherry, I sport a raspberry as my topper in the same shade as the pink as my frosting, just without the sparklies.

Sweet Crochet Along

Hooray for my next Crochet-a-long! This is another CAL hosted by Megan of Crochet Every Day – with a theme of “sweet”!

I am going lazy and using my stock yarn shelf photo, focusing on the pinks…

I plan to make pink candy corn! Cute idea, right? Maybe purple too ;)

Now I didn’t take a new photo (wow this one is almost a year old!) because my yarn shelf is looking a little sad – but it is okay, it means I am using the yarn! I bought a yarn ball winder on eBay (because I am wayyyyy too cheap to spend what retailers are asking) and I hope to have it here next week. Why? I want pretty little yarn cakes! It will sound silly if you are not a crafty person, but when the above skeins start to get about half-way used up, they get flat, sad, and potentially turn into one giant know. Plus it is hard to take one of those blobs from the shelf nicely, and returning it? No way.

Looking at my Flickr pics of the shelf, maybe tying on some variegated yarns will be nice too? I may also incorporate some of Julie’s pattern for a more 3d amigurumi style, check out her pattern here!

Next time? Planning to share the sweet results, and share a pic of my lovely prize from Megan for joining in last time, an adorable handmade coffee cozy!

no. 192 - 196

no. 192 - 196
Originally uploaded by rengawk

192 - My frosting top is made with a rainbow of colors (orange, yellow, mint, medium blue, purple) with magenta edging, and my base is a crisp white with a touch of shimmery iridescent thread (Snow Shimmer)!

193 - My frosting top is made with a mint green colored yarn with shimmery white edging (Snow Shimmer), and my cake base is a light pink. I also sport a tiny pink-colored heart button sewn on with pink thread.

194 - My frosting top is made with a deep purple with a purple, pink, and blues mix (BonBonPrint) for my edging, and my cake base is a bright magenta (Shocking Pink). I also sport a cute little magenta heart button sewn on with black thread.

195 - My frosting top is made with a dark orange, and my cake base is a warm brown. I have three heathered-green tendrils than hang down from my top. along with a 4" loop so I can hang out and pretend to be a pumpkin! I also have a cute silver-toned leaf charm purchased from the wonderful seller Nichole de Briun.

196 - I am a little special, and am not currently available for sale! I'm sure we will share when I am and where ;)

Lidwig WIP

IMG_3290
Originally uploaded by rengawk

Ludwig is coming together for this CAL on Ravelry. :)

http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/mygurumi-yourgurumi/1779257/

[My project so far]

I seem to have lost my month…

July already? Where did June go?!

I’ve decided Devil Dogs taste better frozen. Is it that my tastes have changes over the years, or the products have gotten cheaper? I bet YES is the answer to that one – but somehow freezing them doesn’t produce a rock to gnaw on, but something that takes a little longer to eat, and is less sweet.

I bought more yarn! What a shock, but I was being really good about it for a while. I had gotten a skein of Red Heart Shimmer in Snow the other month and while a fine (4-ply but thin) yarn, I love the iridescent thread in it. Last night I picked up skeins of the Shimmer line in Hot Pink, Royal, Purple, and Snow. I also picked up something new that I haven’t seen for a reasonable price before;  Caron Simply Soft Paints in Oceana. No plans for it, but I love Simply Soft, and this is all my favorite colors rolled into one happy soft yarn.

 

Now, what about that CAL?

Glad you asked! (I know you didn’t but I did so there) I took some photos earlier in the week and didn’t like them, so here are my retakes for the Patriotic Crochet Along!

Rather than a set of matching stars, I made a few different styles. My favorites turned out to be the darker shades in what I consider to be “Craft Store Americana”  - in that the Ben Franklin Crafts I used to work at would have HUGE sections of decorating stuff that was supposed to look like it was useful. For instance there were pre-weathered muffin tins that were for decoration only, and stated such all over the pan. Who wants a cast-iron looking pan they can’t use? I know I know, I’m just not the target for full-scale home decorating stuff, especially that gets changed by the season.

Even though the deep red-centered star was the first one I made, I purposely tried other color combinations because hey, what’s the point of a CAL if you don’t try something new? I had a ball of Peaches & Cream in red & white combo that I had gotten for the holidays for a candy-cane themed cupcake, and used it as the second round’s color – this star I had to get used to, as I liked the center round to be more prominent, and in this one it blended so well with the second round’s red. But now that I am blathering about it I see that I do like it much more than I started.

The two brightly colored stars stick out don’t they? I wanted to see in person what using what the pattern’s photo used, and the one with the tan center turned out to be too strange. I tried to add an outer round of white to make it large enough to be able to be sewn around a CD, but it looked tacky and like I made a boring hexagon-shaped crochet thing. I ripped off the extra row and then took the last group shot.

Making two and sewing them together? Just too thick, but would be adorable as a ornament – you would even cut some cardboard and sneak it inside to keep it stiff if you were thinking of a mobile… hey wait, would that be cute, a mobile of these in solid colors? How about in the Red Heart Shimmer yarns I just got? See, always thinking around here.

Of course if you didn’t see the above photos are linked to Flickr, where you can see them in more detail if you would like! What project is next?       

Patriotic Crochet Along

CAL = Crochet Along, in case you didn’t know. :)
I got this idea from my fellow blogger Jenn of Jenn Likes Yarn…it is a Patriotic-themed CAL! Thanks Jenn!
So Megan of Crochet Every Day is hosting a Crochet Along for starry coasters in which “The goal of this little crochet along is to complete a set of four coasters by July 4, 2011” being broken up into an intro post, and a post showing off your creativity!
Welcome to my intro post! I’ve never done a CAL on my blog, but today installed Live Writer (Sound familiar? A few posts down I was quite excited stating the same thing…but this time we are broadcasting from a more permanent machine) and can share in the crochet fun!  
My colors are based on the classic US flag colors of red white and blue, and include Red Heart Super Saver, Vanna’s Choice, and some stash yarns. My first idea is to use the dark red, heathered white, and navy (which is super soft!) for a country look, and then use the brighter colors on another star and see which I like more. I also may try the dark colors with a beige in place of white just for something different, but I didn’t think of it when I took the photo! Oops, I even have a red and white cotton yarn that completely skipped my mind – I may sneak that in too!
Now I will admit, between taking the picture and sitting down to type, I did make one already, and they stitch up quite quickly! I may make them double-sided, or add a row and use my “CROCHET OVER TRASH CDs” obsession as of late to make a different type of coaster than the flower pattern I have been using. (hint hint to me, that needs a post of its own).
Oh and welcome Summer! I am not a fan of being warm but this weekend for Father’s Day I took a drive to see my dad and got burned on my driving arm for trying to be frugal and not run the air and enjoy the breeze. Luckily I gave it enough care that it seems to have healed into a tan that may even not peel! 
So the plan is to be back showing my finished stars, but first, I’m going over to Crochet Every Day to post my link. Do you crochet? You should join!      

A new project!

This week I sent a new project off to its new and happy home; a custom dinosaur request!

Quite cute, eh? He's made from Red Heart's Ocean, one of my favorite variegated yarns, and a size E hook to make sure no stuffing escaped. RAWR!

Shown below displayed on our deck corner, I forgot to take measurements because I was so excited to share him with his new owner - but he had at least a foot foot-print, meaning he was longer when measured from head-to-tail, but sitting on my desk he covered my 12-inch measuring block comfortably.

Crochet cupcakes to share!

Cupcakes 81-85
Originally uploaded by rengawk

Something crocheted to share - a new batch of cupcakes incorporating some new textured yarns, and a brainstorm of adding embellishments - I have a ton of reclaimed buttons and things saved from the trash at work, why hadn't I thought to share them with my cupcakes sooner?

On the worktable are another batch brewing (cooking? baking?) that includes some gifts - I'll be sure to share them when they are ready!

The ones pictures are all currently available (at the time of posting, no fair being sad if you stop by and see this in three months) in my Etsy shop for adoption!