Category Archives: Crafts

I Performed Brain Surgery on a Broken Gingerbread Man

Technically, it was just head surgery. Gingerbread man moneyboxes don't have brains. I forgot to take a photo of it before the repair job, but what happened was The Chipmunk's brother threw the box and there were two big holes in the skull. I patched them up with airdry clay (I love that stuff!), filled in any gaps and cracks with more clay, and did a repaint.

After the second patch up and sanding:

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Dress-Up Dollies

I felt like making some dress up dolls for Tiny.

dolls-trace
I had to do a bit of cheating here. I mean, I could have drawn it all freehand, but you know what my skill is like and I didn’t want to be here all day. Somehow, even though I traced it, the model went from front-facing to slightly turned. Oh well. It’s nothing less than you should expect from me. Anyway, I freehand drew the hands and face. The feet came out a little too chunky. Tiny said she didn’t want toes, which was a relief as I can’t really draw them.

dollies-nue
I traced the sketch using my lightbox to create two dollies. I forgot to fix the right hand on Daisy. Yes, that is Tip-Ex under Stephani’s foot. Actually, even the naming was a happy little accident. When choosing the skintone for Daisy, I tested out the coloured pencil on the side, thinking that that part would be cropped out… It clearly wouldn’t. So I used washi tape to cover it, and thought I might as well turn that into a name tag.

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Craft Projects Update

Here are some things I’ve been working on (notably, here are some things I’m not working on: the mini dollshouse, Dreamsong chapter 6, Prescience).

A new baby, a new baby record book. I’ve run out of ideas for cover designs. All the kids have fruit nicknames. Tiny chose Kiwi Fruit for the new one, so I went with a green theme. I painted some kraft paper with gold kids’ paint mixed with copper to tone it down.

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Keenopoly

The Chipmunk used to be mad about Commander Keen and Monopoly. So I made a Keen-themed Monopoly game, don’t sue me, Hasbro.

The Chipmunk is absolutely ruthless with Monopoly. He won’t even let me forfeit if I’m on the way to bankruptcy. He has to claw Mayfair out of my cold, dead hands. Although when he (very rarely) loses, he’ll throw a tantrum. Hm. His sister is the opposite. If I’m about to be bankrupted in Junior Monopoly, she’ll waive the rent, or give me money, while holding back the tears! It’s so cute! Poor thing.

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Origami Flowers

I made some origami flowers using the instructions from origami-instructions.com (note: this website is covered with ads). I made a trial flower with newspaper first, and it wasn’t hard actually.. Here’s what I made.

I used copy paper, and painted both sides with diluted acrylic. I didn’t really put enough thought into it. I was trying to go for a graduated look. The way to do it is how it’s done on the yellow one. A diagonal stripe down the middle. I then coated them with diluted PVA. To flatten them, I placed them in punched pockets and left them overnight sandwiched in a heavy book on a packed bookshelf.

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My Scrapbook

Here are some pages from my scrapbook. Originally, this was going to be a gift for someone. It's a good thing I didn't give it to them in the end, because it probably would have just ended up being given to their boss. Or stolen by a flatmate, because that is how this so-called friend treated not only my gifts, but my actual in fact property that they were only borrowing. I'm not bitter. What makes you think that? Sigh.

Anyway, enough whining. Let's look at the scrapbook!

This card I got solely because I loved the illustration. I'm a total sucker for pictures of the moon. I think it comes down to this book I read when I was about 14. It had a lot of moon imagery in it, and I think it was the first fiction book that made me cry. No, I'm not telling you what it's called.

scrap1-foxes

Close up:

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Fimo RoboRed from Commander Keen

The Chipmunk is crazy about Commander Keen, especially RoboRed. PROTIP: the (unofficical) sequel trilogy, "The Universe is Toast!" has been around for some time now: Episode 7, Episode 8, Episode 9 (all download links are on the right-hand sidebar). We're on episode 8 at the moment, and it's up there with the official releases in terms of quality.

Anyway, I decided to make Chipmunk a RoboRed of his own. I toyed with using salt-dough, so I could make a large scale one, or even attempt to make a plushie, but discovering I still have some red Fimo leftover, I went for that. And yes, being about 10 years old now, it did need reconditioning.

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New DIY Mini Dollshouse Project

Ohhh, you remember my paper maché monstrosity, don't you? Well, this is not a repeat of that. I'm sticking with the smaller scale. I started by mocking this up in The Sims 2. Fun fact: the in-game screenshot function no longer works, so I now have to use printscreen and tab out. Oh, EA, how I love you! I went for a tiny-home. In real life, I'm really starting to feel inclined towards living in a tiny home. Not that it will ever happen, because prisoner, gilded cage, etc. But I have to dream to keep myself sane.

Here is my mock-up:

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