Relay For Life 2015

Hello dear friends and Happy Friday!

((Super stoked it's Friday, even though I have to work all weekend))

Like I mentioned in yesterday's post at the very end, I am participating in the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life event this June. Last year, we were the first event created is Germany, falling under a Relay for Life in McKinney, Texas. We have to have a chapter in the states since we live in a foreign country, and thankfully the event coordinator has participated for years in Relay and her sister is the coordinator for the one in Texas, so we just fall under them. Last year, we didn't have a lot of time to prepare for the event, but we still raised over $18,000! This year we've had several more months to prepare, get the word out, and get people to participate.

Yesterday, I participated in an Arts & Crafts fair on my home station to let people know about our event as well as do some small fundraising for my team. I talked to some ladies who are going to put together raffle items or raffle baskets for the event, which is pretty awesome.

I am a team captain again this year, a team made up of Mo, me, and a couple of my coworkers. Hopefully we get more people to join our team!

If you would like to donate to our team for Relay, please go here!

So, I'll be spending my time making paracord items, fabric hairbows, and crochet little monsters like the one below. You can find more of my crafts here, and I will ship them anywhere, if you would like to purchase something to support our cause!



Captain America Little Monster #1

Hello friends and Happy Monday!

I don't like Mondays usually, but I had the day off, so it wasn't bad. I hung out in my room, cleaned up a little, and just relaxed. It was nice.

My friend Mo is a big fan of the Avengers, so one of my other crochet goals is to make a set of Avengers Little Monsters. If you saw my Twitter, IG, or FB a while ago, you would have seen this picture.

Baby Hulk cosplaying as Captain America

The Hulk was the first part of my Avengers Little Monsters to be completed, and I immediately wanted to start on Captain America next. It's been quite a while since I made a Little Monster ((see Hope the Breast Cancer Monster here)) so thankfully Hulk was easy to make, even if he was a little smaller then I intended him to be ((hence why he is Baby Hulk)).

When planning out my Avengers Little Monsters, I knew that I would face some new challenges with the entire project. Hulk would be the easiest of the Avengers because he was simply green and purple! The hardest part was adding his hair! I think the only other one that will be easy will be Black Widow (other then her hour glass and hair).

Cap's base was already bigger then I intended, it was already much bigger then Hulk. The first thing I knew I would struggle with was the red and white across his torso. I had no idea how I was going to do those stripes! I then had a decision to make; either crochet it and attach it once complete as a separate piece, or do what I did and just crochet it around as I went. I think on my next one I will go with my first option and crochet it as a separate piece and then attach it. This part is very uneven and I am not quite happy with it. Then why am I sharing it? Cuz Mo said he likes it, I planned to make him one, so he will be given this one!

After that I was trying to decide how I would do the star on his chest. It was a toss up between using yarn, the thin thread that we used to use to make friendship bracelets when we were children, and finding some white felt and cutting that crap out and hot gluing it. After looking at Pinterest, I found a super easy star pattern and used that. I decided to make it out of yarn, since I thought that the thread might be too small.

After that it was pretty easy. I found an easy tutorial for switching colors that made a more seamless transition, which is what I wanted for his face when I did the eye holes in his mask. Luckily last weekend I found the perfect buttons at the craft store on base for this project, which was super easy to attach. The last thing I was struggling with was how I was going to make the A at the top of Cap's mask. Again, I resorted to Pinterest and saw a lot of people just sewed it on with thread, which is what I decided to do.

please excuse my yoo-hoo box, I was eating breakfast when finishing him.

So whatcha think? 

I learned some new lessons for my next Cap, which will be part of my Avengers Little Monsters, so I can't wait to make him hopefully the same size as Baby Hulk... or else I'll need a bigger Hulk! I can't wait to show you guys the completed set of Avengers Little Monsters to include Loki! I'll post them when I have a more complete set of them!

I also need to take better pictures of the rest of the Little Monsters... these pictures are kind of sad!

"I Love" Sundays v.15

Happy Sunday dear friends!!!

Today is the first day of February! Can you believe it?!?!?!

Since I don't have to be at work until Wednesday, I am spending some much needed time with my love. I hope you all are having a spectacular weekend.

** You guys like my new layout? I wanted something bright and simple and was directed toward Suzana and This Girl Designs on Etsy. She has pre made layouts for super cheap and figured that she would be perfect for what I wanted. It took her all of like 3 days to get this finished, small things customized, and then installed and it cost me less then $50! She is super sweet and responds to emails super quick too, which is an added bonus in my book! I like when people get back to you quickly. Be on the lookout for a post about her later on this week!!!!

** Started two new craft projects! I am crocheting a smaller version of Tom Baker's Doctor's scarf and making some crochet little monsters in a specific theme! I can't wait to share them with everyone! Picked up the last couple things to work on the little monsters today! ((Random side note:: I REALLY REALLY miss American craft stores!!!!!))

** Visited Ikea for the first time yesterday (in the words of a friend of ours, I am a real person now).  I love how they have a lot of inexpensive options for decorating your home. I also love how they display everything in a way so you can see the ways that you can use it. 

** Vette and the minions built a snowman on the catwalk at work. We work on the 5th floor technically and they had to carry that crap up the stairs and onto the catwalk! It was epic! It turned into a drunk anorexic snowman.... but it started snowing too hard for them to finish. It was quite hysterical!!!

HT and Vette and their drunk, anorexic snowman
Just missing RU and TB

** Found out that I have a 4 day weekend this weekend (this past Sat until 03 Feb), one next weekend (Fri-Mon), and I think there is one at the end of the month too! That's the most time off I've had since I have been here outside of leave!

.: Little Loves:.

|| New camera strap came in | Nerdy Accessories | My 70's Adam West Batman shirt | Subway Chocolate Chip cookies | Having goals | Marvel | Croissant rolls  | DC ||

What are you loving about this past week?

Hope The Breast Cancer Pillow Monster

Hello dear friends,

I hope this finds you well

It wasn't until my deployment in 2011 that I really started crocheting. I have been crafting since I was a child, crafting of all sorts, but crochet wasn't as important to me until 2011. 

It started with a woman reaching out to me through my first blog. She asked if I would help her make baby blankets for the NICU, for sick babies and for the families of the babies that didn't survive because it was sometimes all the parents had to bring home with them. It was heart breaking but Laura and I jumped on the chance to help.

Amidst working on the blankets I began looking into other crochet crafts that I could do to pass the time when I didn't have motivation to make a blanket. I found a pattern to make little pillow monsters out of crochet, so I started making them for various people and friends. They started with little pillow monsters and I eventually evolved into making bigger ones. 

Meet Hope

I found some yarn at my local craft store that was made for October's Breast Cancer Awareness Month. It alternated pink and white and was really soft (I need to find the name of it, I think I have more yarn in my storage unit). On the way home from my parents house back to Fort Bragg, my ex-fiance was driving and I needed something to do to tune him out (his driving made me incredibly nervous) so I started crocheting!

I added pink and white button eyes, a pink flower button, and a magenta thread mouth.

She is 5.5" wide and 7.5" tall. She fits in the palm of my hand.

I use her at craft fairs for an example of my Pillow Monsters

I've made several other pillow monsters for people throughout the last two years. I've made a rainbow one as a request. They are super quick to make (an hour at most with distractions) and they are made at no specific size... I just make them until they turn out right. I think I am going to be making them for the upcoming Relay for Life to sell!

I am working on a set of Avenger themed pillow monsters for my own amusement too! Any other suggestions?

Do you have a favorite crochet project, or a project you're really proud of?