Random Clay Fun (polymer clay)

Today is a rainy day, which I have to admit I really love. I have always preferred rain to sun if I had a choice. It gives an excuse to stay in and bake goodies and make crafts. :) The other night we were all playing around with the clay and I had some of this "pluffy" clay that is super soft and easy for kids to work with. One of the kids came up with this "road-kill rabbit" and it is super flat. When it was baked, I picked it up and it looks like a pancake hahaha. I love it... and I'm thinking to add a magnet to the back to hang it up on the fridge.

This dinosaur is what my hubby came up with!! I was pretty impressed...he used the same pluffy clay to make a lump of a body armature and baked that first... then rolled out flat pieces of green to layer over the top of the baked armature. And basically just worked on it until it looked like he thought it ought to, then baked it again a final time. I really like the legs... way better than what I could've done for it!


I made the next few items... this one is an owl charm. In the pic, I hadn't yet bent/twisted the wire out of the top of its head into a loop yet but it's done now.

A baby dinosuar...see the stubby legs and arms?? I told you the hubster's dinosaur legs were better lol..


And a new gnome on the block!! This one is a baker. :D He has a blue apron with white edging, and it is tied in the back around his waist and neck. Also holding a frosting bag and decorated cupcake!! :) I love this guy.. he is the same size as the others I've posted about recently.

I have been starting to add new items to my Etsy shop, so please bounce over there any check it out any time. If you would like a custom order of anything, write and let's see what we can do! :)

Amigurumi T-Rex, Robot, Lobster, Dachsund, and sweater (crochet)

I'm baaaaaack!! We've been without internet for a couple of weeks (due to switching service providers and waiting for the new modem to arrive) and are finally hooked back up! In the meantime, I've been up to my eyeballs in crocheted goodies, of course. :D Tonight I finished the little green T-Rex and managed to get a picture snapped before it got too dark outside.

This little mini lobster is from a pattern on Ravelry.com for "teeny lobster" if you'd like to make one. It worked up in about 15 minutes or so and used very little yarn- a nice way to use up scraps!


This sweater took up the bulk of my time. I would say spread out over about 5 or 6 days from start to finish. I made mine to fit size 8 child. The original pattern (which was from the latest Crochet World magazine) only uses one button at the top and has a different kind of button hole and closure. I decided since the yarn I used was looking like legos from far away that I would like to use legos to make buttons and have them all the way down!

These are the kind I stole from my hubby's collection... (okay, I got permission first...) and just used a Dremel tool to drill 4 little button holes in them each.

Last but not least... a special order that I completed a few days ago. A robot with tangerine, lavendar, maroon and white colorings...and a weiner dog with a pink collar (which isn't showing in the photo). They turned out so cute!! And BIG.. I was surprised at the size they were...I had expected much smaller but this is even better. :D

Huge Amigurumi Stegosaurus Dinosaur (crochet)

Check out this guy!! He is about 4 day's worth of crocheting and all completed today. I was trying out a new (to our store at least) skein of 100% cotton yarn by Bernat. It is pretty much the same, in my opinion, as Sugar & Cream, but it was a great big 12 oz. skein of it....over 800 yards. So a LOT bigger than the little S&C ones. I didn't even use the full amount to make this and it is approximately 20 inches long.

The pattern was from an old Annie's Attic leaflet that features 4 dinosaurs and I lucked out and found the leaflet in a second-hand shop for $.50 the other day. Love those kinds of finds! A lot of times if you dig deep enough, you can get a lucky find that is typically either hard to find on Ebay or really pricey.

Lastly for tonight is a question...does anyone know how you can go about getting a Chinese crochet pattern book translated into English? I am fairly sure it is Chinese. It does have charts that supposedly anyone who can read it can follow even if they don't speak/read the written language the book is in... BUT I am not yet there with being able to read those charts. So I'm looking for a way to get a written pattern in English from someone who knows Chinese OR can read the chart and make a written pattern from it. :S :S Throw me an email (address in the upper right corner of this blog) and let me know any suggestions!! :D Thanks!

BIG Amigurumi Triceratops Dinosaur (crochet)

This guy is HUGE...well, at least he is compared to all of the "normal" amigurumi toys I've made/seen. Certainly the biggest thing I've made so far! He took approximately 15 hours to finish and over 2 skeins of yarn. Seems very content hanging out in my backyard, too...now that we are actually getting a break from the rain for once!

The pattern is from a Red Heart Super Saver (yarn brand) booklet called "Crochet Animals Big & Small". There are 11 different designs for random animals. I know that you can get this book from Jo-Ann's craft store, but I'm sure it's also available at other places or online. :)