Boo!

Happy Halloween, everybody!  In honor of the big day I am proud to introduce you to the latest addition to my menagerie.

Please say hello to Boo.

Name: Boo

Date of Birth: 10/30/2010

Favorite Color: Pumpkin Orange

Favorite Food: Halloween Candy!!

Favorite Hobby: Carving Pumpkins

Favorite Song: Thriller by Michael Jackson

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This is the story of Boo...

I actually had a few more projects planned for Halloween but ran out of time.  I decided that the plushies would get top priority since they're my favorite thing to make.

First I drew a really simple ghost pattern.  When I drew the pattern he looked a little bit shorter and wider but once I sewed the pieces together he came out more narrow.  I'll have to keep that in mind if I made more friends for Boo. 

I bought a bunch of white fleece to make Chibi plushies so I had enough to use it for this project, too.  I wanted there to be a little bit of a contrast between the body and eyes.  I made the eyes out of black and white felt.  I have to have at least a little bit of felt in every plushie I make.  It's not a marci plushie without felt!  :-) 

Then I just followed my usual way of sewing a plushie.  I used a blanket stitch for the eyes and machine sewed the two pieces together and stuffed it.  Easy peasy.  I love him!!!

Don't be scared.  He's a friendly ghost!  ;-)

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Well, that's it for Halloween around here.  It's time to start focusing on Christmas crafts and Christmas presents.  I'm so excited because this is the first year that I'm going to try to make something for everyone in my family.  I'll probably have to keep those things off my blog until after Christmas since some of my family reads my blog (Thank you!), but I'll have some other fun Christmas crafts to share along the way.  I can't wait!!!

I Heart Stop Motion - Candy

Happy Halloween!!!  I was trying to think of something fun to share with you to celebrate Halloween today.  I decided that since I love stop motion so much and my favorite thing about Halloween is the candy that the best way to celebrate would be to share some fun candy stop motion videos!!!



This is one of my favorite songs so it gets to be first!  :-)

Sour Patch Kids are my favorite non-chocolate candy so I had to include this one!  It's very cute!

Candy Stop Motion from Alli Kirtley on Vimeo.

I wasn't able to finish all of my Halloween projects but I do have one more plushie to share with you later today so be sure to check back and see what I made!  :-)

Happy Halloween!

365 Project - Week Twenty-Six

I'm finally to the halfway point of my project!  Can you believe it???  I can't!  I think I might actually make it through this project afterall.  :-)  I'm so excited.  I have gotten some really awesome pictures that I am so proud of and I'm only halfway done!  I can't wait to see what else I am able to photograph for the last half.  :-)  Technically I think my halfway point picture is on Saturday but I'm right there and I'm just so excited.  I had to share my milestone today.  Thanks for hanging in there with me for so long.  It's a much bigger commitment than I thought it would be for sure.

Here is week twenty-six...

Day 176

I decided to go back and get my bee picture on Saturday.  That was a stressful photo shoot!  I'm a big baby when it comes to bugs...especially bees!  But they were occupied with their dinner so they pretty much left me alone.  I can't say the same for the mosquitos!!!  ITCHY!!!

Day 177

 I had a really busy day so I decided to just go for a walk downtown and take a picture of one of the old buildings.  That's the good thing about living in a small town.  Lots of old buildings to photograph!  :-)

Day 178

 Monday was a crazy day!  I ended up having to stop and take pictures after my run at the park before it got too dark to take any pictures.  I thought these little berries looked pretty cool.  I love the color!  It's very fall-ish. 

Day 179

I found another windmill in Buda!  This one is a block from my house!  That was convenient!  :-)

Day 180

 I stopped at The Broken Spoke and took a picture of the bus outside on Wednesday.  I'm going to have to go back to get a better picture.  There were a bunch of people there and the sun was in a bad place to take a good picture.  It's pretty cool though.



Day 181

I decided that since I was so tired Thursday I would skip my run and just go for a picture walk at Stagecoach Park.  I got another pretty sunset picture!

Day 182

The weather finally started cooling off in Austin today.  It felt so wonderful outside!  I went for another walk on my lunch break.  I love this part of the trail because it is completely covered with trees.  It's like you are in a totally different place with no office in sight!  :-)

Coffee Break - Lubu

Hello!  I am so excited to share this coffee break with you!  Today is all about Lubu!

On Monday I was browsing Etsy and found this little cutie.

Incognito Bot

I fell in love instantly so I looked through the whole shop.  Lubu was created by Jenn and Tony, a very creative couple.  They make all kinds of robots and other cuties from polymer clay.  I've never worked with polymer clay but seeing these makes me kind of want to try it.  :-)

I picked a few of my favorites from their Flickr page to show you today.  There are so many good ones.  It was almost impossible to choose.  You can also visit their blog to see what they are working on.  And, of course, visit their shop so you can have one of these lovelies for yourself.

Kawaii Record Player Brooch

I love this!  I'm a music nerd and I'm all about listening to the oldies in the original way they were played.

Double Rainbow Ornament

They should send this one to Nathan Fillion for Christmas!

Mythbuster Bots

I love Mythbusters!  I wonder if they'll make on of Kari.

Wizard of Oz

This picture is so great!

Coco Bot

I love his hair!

Edward Bot

He must be in the sunlight because he looks all sparkly.  ;-)

VW Bus

My dream car!

Lilly the Pet Rock

She's just really cute.  :-)

When you have time head over to the Flickr page so you can see some more of the awesome characters they have made.  I looked through all 56 pages of awesomeness and it was so worth the time.  I have a list of bots I want to buy now!  Just gotta get some money first.  ;-)

That's it for this week's coffee break.  I hope you enjoyed it.  I have lots of fun stuff to share with you for the rest of the week so keep in touch.

Have a great day!

Fun with Felt - iPhone Case #2

I made this iPhone case to try out the pattern I came up with a few weeks ago. 

My mom liked it enough to buy it and give it to a friend as a birthday gift.  Well, she asked me to make another one for another friend this week.

This one actually gave me a little bit more trouble than the first one, but it was because of silly mistakes on my part.  First I sewed the flowers down around the edges, but when I did that I couldn't really overlap the petals like I wanted to.  So, I had to take them off and sew them down by the buttons first.  Then, I forgot to leave space for the blanket stitch next to the flowers so I had to spread the blanket stitch out a little bit more than I wanted to.  I'm still happy with the way it came out.  I was a little iffy about the colors (red and purple) at first, but now, seeing them together, I think it looks really pretty!  :-)

I'm excited to play around with different shaped patterns and decorations for my next phone cases.  I have a few things in mind.  I'm going to try to make cases for other phones, too.  :-)

My Morning Soundtrack - John Pointer

Happy Music Monday!  Are you ready? 

Today I wanted to do something a little bit different for my music monday post.  I have been totally geeking out over John Pointer recently.  I saw him in Rent a couple of weeks ago and he was great.  I knew I recognized him but I couldn't quite place where I knew him from until the beat boxing started (yeah, in Rent).  I knew that the artists in the show were local artists so I looked him up.  Mystery solved!  I knew him from playing with Boombox!  And did you know he played with Ozomotli??  Yeah, loving him more and more.  I subscribed to his music page and have been listening to him almost non-stop ever since.  I don't think there is anything he can't do.  Amazing!  I was hoping to see him play a solo show in a couple of weeks but it doesn't look like that's going to happen.  Sad.  :(  Hopefully he'll play some more shows after Rent is over.  I would love to see him live.  I wanted to share his cover of Belief by Gavin Degraw with you because it's so beautiful, but I couldn't find it online so I found these other great performances to share with you instead.

One by One

I think I have listened to this song about a thousand times since I downloaded it.  It is so wonderful!

One by One - John Pointer at Zach Scott Theater from John Pointer on Vimeo.

The Holy Trinity of Rhythm

How does he do that???

The Holy Trinity of Rhythm - John Pointer Live at Zach Scott Theater from John Pointer on Vimeo.

Kashmir

Kashmir - Solo Acoustic performance by John Pointer (Short) from John Pointer on Vimeo.

Okay, that's all for now.  Don't worry.  I'm sure I'll be talking about his amazingness again as Rent gets closer.  :-) 

Don't forget to check back tomorrow.  I have a craft project to show you!

365 Project - Week Twenty-Five

It's week twenty-five!  I'm almost at the halway point of my project!  Can you believe it??  I can't!  It gets harder and harder every week to come up with something.  Sometimes I just don't feel like driving around to find a picture.  But since I have been so busy lately I decided that I would take some extra time to find some unique and pretty things to photograph.  It paid off big time.  I am so happy with my pictures this week!  I hope I'm this lucky next week, too.

Okay, without further ado, here is week twenty-five!

Day 169

I had to go to Stitch Lab to stock up on some felt Saturday.  I stopped at Auditorium Shores and just crouched down under the bridge to take this picture.  I thought it was an interesting view.  I like how the buildings are reflected in the water. 

Day 170

I went to see Beauty and The Beast at the Majestic Theatre in San Antonio on Sunday.  It was the most beautiful theater I have ever seen!  Amazing.  The ceiling looks like a starry sky, complete with moving clouds!  It was magical!  We weren't allowed to take pictures but I snuck this picture really quick during intermission.  It's not the best quality but it was too amazing to not take a picture of it.  I wish I could somehow get permission to go and photograph the whole thing one day. 

Day 171

I decided to take some sunset pictures today.  I stood on the side of the road and snapped pictures for about 15 minutes.  I think I ended up with 60 pictures total.  I had to give up once the sun went down because the fire ants and mosquitos were starting to eat me alive!!!  This was one of my favorites. 

Day 172

There is this fence on Oltorf near Lamar in south Austin that is basically one long work of art.  I photographed part of it for Day 37 and went back today to take pictures of another section.  The section I intended to take a picture of was covered by tall weeds so I'll have to go back and get that later.  I did find this section that says "iridescent dreams".  I had never even noticed this part before.  I think it's my favorite part of the whole fence!

Day 173

I stopped at South Austin Music on my way home from church Wednesday to take a picture of the giant neon guitar on top of the building.  I think it turned out pretty good.  I was worried it wouldn't work because my camera doesn't always like to take night pictures.  It decided to be nice to me!  :-)

Day 174

I went running at Stagecoach Park on Thursday.  I forgot to plan a picture before I went so I decided to just stop and take pictures while I was there.  I was lucky enough to come around the corner by the windmill right as the sun was going down.  Isn't it pretty??

Day 175

I planned on taking a picture of the bees on the flowers on Friday but there were four or five butterflies out there posing for me so I had to use this one.  It makes up for my not so great butterfly picture from a couple of weeks ago.  Isn't is beautiful??

I got a lot of other great pictures this week that didn't make it into the project.  Stay tuned later this week because I'll be posting a few more for you to see.  :-)



Happy Friday!!!

 {weheartit}

I just wanted to check in and let you know that I will be posting my 365 Project post on Saturday this week.  I have a babysitting job tonight and won't be home until really late.

And now for something completely different...

I found a channel that plays Fraggle Rock so I have been recording episodes to watch.  I love that show!!!  Here's the theme song to brighten your Friday!  See you tomorrow!  :-)

Coffee Break - Urbanscreen

Hi!  It's coffee break time!  I was having a lot of trouble trying to come up with a topic for today's coffee break post.  I finally went over to vimeo and started looking around for videos that have inspired me in the past.  That's when I remembered Urbanscreen.  This is a really cool company.  They create large scale projections.  They basically turn something as ordinary as a building into a huge work of art.  I picked two of my favorites to share with you.  They are a little long but worth every second.  It can be a double coffee break day.  Who doesn't love double coffee anyway??  ;-)

555 Kubik

555 KUBIK | facade projection from urbanscreen on Vimeo.

Kreisrot

KREISROT | Bauhaus Dessau | facade projection | from urbanscreen on Vimeo.

You can also visit Urbanscreen's vimeo page if you are interested in seeing more of their amazing work.

That's all for now.  Time to get back to work.  Have a great day!  :-)

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Halloween

Hello!  I'm just stopping by to show you what I worked on this weekend.  My mom asked me to make another Corny plushie so she could give it to her friend as a gift since candy corn is her favorite candy.

I'm really happy with the way he came out.  When I made my original Corny plushie I added a quarter inch around the entire drawing because I was going to machine sew it once I sewed the applique pieces on.  I decided to use a blanket stitch instead.  I made this corny without an extra quarter inch.  His mouth came out a little more even, too!  I should really start drawing those on.  It takes me forever to just free-hand embroider it.  Oh well.  I think it's worth it.  I think it's kind of fun because I don't ever really know what the face will look like until I'm done.  It makes each one of them unique and special.  :-) 

Here is the whole family before I gave little Corny to my mom. 

I have a couple more Halloween projects planned for this month and then I think it will be time to start working on Christmas projects!  EEKS!!!  I haven't even really started thinking about what I'm going to make!  I'm also trying to come up with a pattern for a Gir plushie from Invader Zim that someone requested for a Christmas gift for their son.  If anyone has any helpful hints on that one I would greatly appreciate it.  I really don't know how to start on that shape!  I'm very nervous about this project.  It's not like coming up with my own design.  It's so specific!

I hope you have a wonderful day.  I'm off to brainstorm ideas for tomorrow's coffee break.  I haven't even thought of what I'm going to write yet.  I guess we will all be surprised!  ;-)

My Morning Soundtrack

Happy Monday, everybody.  It's been a really busy evening so I'm a little late getting my Music Monday post up this week.  I guess I should just be happy that  had time to do it at all.  Today I had a little more luck finding good songs to listen to on my way to work than last Monday.  But then I heard even better songs on my way home so I decided to kind of mix it up this week and just play a few random songs that I heard on my drives today.  I may start changing this up every once in a while and just focusing on one artist so I can play some of the newer music I like, too.  Plus, it's hard to listen to the radio that much in one day.  There's way too much talking!!!  :-)

Here are the songs I picked for today.  It was so hard to narrow down!

The Byrds - Turn! Turn! Turn!

Franz Ferdinand - Take Me Out

Bob Marley - Three Little Birds

Sahara Smith - The Real Thing

Journey - Don't Stop Believing

Peter Gabriel - In Your Eyes

Muse - Supermassive Black Hole

My Charity: Water

Hello everybody!  I just wanted to stop by to let you know that I made a button for my Charity: Water page.  If you would like to donate to help build a clean water well you can just click the button on the sidebar. 

If you would like to read more information about Charity: Water before you donate you can click the the button below.

This project means a lot to me.  I have talked myself out of starting a Charity: Water campaign for a couple of years now and I finally found the inspiration to go for it.  I would love to raise as much money as possible and your help would be amazing.  And remember, we only have until January 15th!  EEKS!!  :-)

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I'm off to get ready to go see Beauty and the Beast in San Antonio today!  I'm so excited!  I got to see Rent at Zachary Scott Theatre here in Austin on Wednesday, too!  Two musicals in one week!!!  My musical loving heart almost can't take it...almost!  ;-)

365 Project - Week Twenty-Four

It's week twenty-four! I'm getting close to the halfway point of my project.  I find that it gets harder and harder to come up with picture ideas the further I get in the project.  It's hard to find time to go out of my way for pictures when I get busy.  I'm hoping things will slow down a little bit soon so I have time to actually go and find cool things to take pictures of.  I'm so ready for the holidays.  Hopefully I'll be able to get some good pictures.  :-)

Here is week twenty-four!

Day 162

I had another picture planned for Saturday but had so much to do and just ran out of time.  Luckily this pretty daisy was in the front yard!  :-)

 Day 163

 I went walking on Barton Springs before church on Sunday to find something to photograph.  I thought this old dairy truck was really cool!  The first time I tried to take a picture a guy walked up, looked at me, then put his drink down on the truck and started talking on his cell phone!  I walked further down the street but decided I wanted this picture so I went back.  He was gone by then and I got my picture!  YAY!!!

Day 164

I have taken pictures of this windmill before but I wanted to have one for my 365 project so on Monday my mom and I went for a walk at Stagecoach park and I took some pictures.  The sky was really pretty.

Day 165

I decided to go for a walk downtown and see what I could find.  What did I find?  My town is small!  I did find these cool old wheels so I took some pictures.  This was my favorite. 

Day 166

 I went to see Rent at Zachary Scott Theatre in Austin on Wednesday!  It was so great!  It was a little different than the original show but they did such a beautiful job staging it in a really small space.  The actors were very talented.  I can't wait to go again on November 7th!!

Day 167

 I was in desperate need of a day to myself this week so I took off work on Thursday.  I didn't really feel like going anywhere to find a picture so I went out in the front yard and saw this bird walking around looking for a snack.  He's pretty creepy, isn't he? 

Day 168

In Honor of Blog Action Day I decided to take a picture of a fountain.  This one is in Stagecoach park.  It's very convenient because it's really close to my house!  :-)

Rio

In honor of Blog Action Day 2010 I decided to make a new plushie!

Meet Rio!

Rio is a clean water drop.  He loves to travel and dreams of seeing the whole world one day.  But right now there just isn't a place for a clean water drop like Rio in some parts of the world.  Will you help make Rio's dream come true?  There are lots of ways to help. 

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Charity: Water started from Scott Harrison asking his friends to donate $20 towards building a well instead of buying him a birthday gift.  One small gesture built a well and will save the lives of a comunity for years to come. 

$20 can give clean drinking water to one person for 20 years.

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This morning I decided to start a fundraiser with Charity: Water and try to raise enough money to build a well.  That's $5000.  And I have three months to do it.  I am always so ispired to see crafty people using their gifts to help out in some way.  I would love to see how much we can raise as a community for this cause.  Of course my inspiration to do this hit me at 5:30 this morning when I didn't have time to set it all up! So, I will set up the fundraiser today and post it on my blog tomorrow so anyone who wants to take part and donate can.  I'm not asking for any huge amount of money from you. Just if you have a little something to spare.  It means a lot to me...and Rio!  ;-)

I don't have my Etsy shop up and running yet, but plan to be ready after the holiday craziness.  In addition to my regular items I plan to make more Rios and have them for sale.  All money made from any Rio sales will be donated directly to Charity: Water.

If you would like to learn more about the Charity: Water organization before you  commit to donating money you can click the picture below to go to their website.

One in eight people on the planet do not have clean drinking water.

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I'll be back tomorrow with my 365 Project and the information on how you can donate to help us build a well.  :-)

Blog Action Day 2010

Jennifer Connelly in charity: water Public Service Announcement from charity: water on Vimeo.

Today is the day I normally post my 365 pictures for the week but I was lucky enough to hear that October 15th is Blog Action Day.  This is a day where bloggers from all over the world pledge to talk about a certain environmental issue.  The issue today is water so I decided to talk about an organization that I feel does so much to help with this issue around the world. 

I heard about Blog Action Day from Charity: Water.  This is such a great organization that raises money to build clean water wells in parts of the world where there is none.  As Americans we take clean water for granted.  Some people have never even tasted clean water in their entire lives!  People are dying just because they only water they have is dirty and contaminated so it makes them sick and sometimes kills them.

I recently read an article posted on facebook by Charity: Water about a boy named Tariku that really touched me so I thought I would share it with you.  Tariku was a four-year-old boy from Ethiopia who was adopted by an American family in Colorado Springs.  Tariku's mother told a story of a trip the family took to the World War II Memorial in Washington D.C. not long ago.  Tariku saw the water fountain and leaned down to drink it.  His mother stopped him because the water was "dirty".  After she thought about it for a second she realized that Tariku had never seen water that clean before he came to America.  All of the water he drank in Africa was much more dirty than the water in the fountain.  We use water for decoration like it's an endless supply and some people are dying because they have no water to drink. 

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Tariku's mother asked him if he would be willing to give up birthday presents for his fifth birthday and instead ask for donations to build a well in the community he lived in when he was in Africa.  He did and he made $5000 in one week.  Amazing!  The well was built and he was so happy to see his community drinking clean water at last.  His family plans to continue this tradition with Tariku every year for the rest of his childhood.  Just think of all the clean water they are able to share with people.  It's pretty inspiring. 

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The thing that I find so amazing about Charity: Water is that they don't ask for large amounts of money.  They know not everyone can do a lot to help.  They just ask that everyone give a little.  It adds up.  The founder of Charity: Water, Scott Harrison, was just one man who wanted to do something to help.  Now he has started an entire movement to change the world. 

charity: water promo featuring "Time Bomb" by Beck from charity: water on Vimeo.

I encourage you to visit the Charity: Water website and educate yourself.  If you feel led to help they are a great organization to support.  You can also find a lot of information about water around the world and see what other bloggers have to say about the water crisis by visiting the website for Blog Action Day.

Since this is a crafty blog and not a deep world issue news blog, I thought it would be fun to come up with a craft project with a water theme to it...sort of.  I didn't come up with some big world changing idea.  I just stuck to what I know and love.  Can you guess what it is?  I plan to post my little water themed project and a little something special to me this evening so be sure to check back!  My 365 Project will be back on Saturday morning.  :-)

Coffee Break - My Paper Crane

Hello, Friends!  It's time for another coffee break.  I decided that I would spend this week sharing another crafty hero of mine.  Today is all about Heidi Kenney from My Paper Crane.  Everything she does is so wonderful!  Her website makes me very happy.  Even her banner is super cute!  She has an Etsy shop full of lovelies, too. 

She makes the cutest felt food I have ever seen.  I have thought about trying to make some food themed plushies, too.  After seeing her work, now I really want to!  I just have to find a way to make it uniquely mine.

Strawberry Ring Donut

Tomato

I have been brainstorming music plushie ideas, too.  She has it totally figured out.  Look at these cute records!

Then there are her silly plushies that just make me laugh.  look at this toilet paper roll!  She can make anything look cute!

I love the way she makes faces on her plushies.  I've been doing a little experimenting of my own in that area.  I hope I cam make mine as cute as hers one day.  look at the faces on these cute dandelions!  Love them!  :-)

You want to see more, right?  Well, head over to her Flickr page and see all the little cuties Heidi has made.  You'll have a new crafty hero, too!  :-)

That's it for today.  I hope you have a wonderful day.  I'm going to see Rent at Zachary Scott Theatre tonight so I'm very excited!