Never finishing... Never Ending...

I ran across some large bobby pins at the store the other day, and some smaller ones.. I have all of these resin flowers, skulls, and body parts laying around, and needing to be done with. So I'm going to be making these cute little hair pins to put in my etsy store. I get accused of starting projects, getting distracted, and never finishing them. Well, I'm going to finish the projects I set out to do in the first place.

I have a couple of jewelry boxes I have been working on.. I'll be finishing them up. I hope. Those will also go in my etsy shop. There's a few wood projects I've started.. there's a few I haven't.. But I need to get them all done. So hopefully by the end of this month, since I'm not planning anything great for Halloween anyway, I can be busy finishing up my projects. =)

Speaking of Halloween. I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE  Halloween. It's my favorite. But the last few years, we haven't really had any opportunities to go out and do anything. I don't know many people, don't like parties, and there aren't any concerts I HAVE to see. Actually, I'm sure there are plenty I wouldn't mind missing. I wish I had kids. Kids make Halloween so much better. Take for example my nieces. They are at my mother's house as I'm typing this, working on costumes!! My brother never misses a chance to get his girls to scare the cheap out of their mother. And now he's got our mother in on the whole thing. I miss that. We used to do Halloween together. But I moved, and now I have no one to make costumes with or for or do face paint with. I guess I could paint Paul's face and my own, but that'd be a little weird, sitting at home, watching scary movies with our faces painted. ... or is it? I think I'm face painting anyway! There's so many cool ideas out there, I can't NOT paint our faces. Even if we don't get trick or treaters. I gotta do this. I feel like Halloween has left me. I need to get back together with it.

Oh, yes. I will be finally tying the knot with my "ol man" around the beginning of May. I don't want a big wedding or a big party after the wedding. I'm keeping this simple and small, tiny and wee. I like things to be not a big deal. I know getting married is a huge deal, but I don't need something huge and ridiculous for it to be a huge deal with me. Paul, my fiance, is the same way, we both agree that it needs to be small and simple. We have the perfect place for a wedding, right here at our home in WV! We are surrounded by beautiful mountains. I couldn't think of a better place that's more fitting for the both of us hillbillies. It's going to be low cost, but still very pretty and nice. I won't have many real flowers, if any. And we'll be making the food ourselves. The only thing I can see costing anything is seats and tables, if someone doesn't already have that. His uncle will hopefully marry us, and other than the  marriage license and our clothes, we will not be spending much moolah.

So, as a wrap up, I have a butt load of work to be doing. And I'm sitting here, blogging. I don't even have people that comment on my blogs, yet, I blog. I hope one day, some people will be like "Damn, that's a good blog. I gotta read this girl's stuff all the time, and I would like to make some comments as well. Maybe even share ideas with her!" I'm hopeful.

Until next time,
Tonya @WoollyGhoulie

Day of the Dead, a blanket and dolls.

I have been crocheting my fingers to the bone. I finished off the Day of the Dead garland. Then I decided to make a blanket because I was cold. I have pictures of both.

My blinds need replaced, I know it. I'm getting to it. And my cat LOVES the granny square blanket I made.
Wal-Mart has been clearing out a bunch of yarn. I got four skeins of One Pound by Caron for $12!!!!! I thought that was a great deal, so then it sat in the totes for about a month... I decided to make skulls for my garland. Then I decided I needed to make a blanket. I did. It's finished. That's right. There's nothing better than finishing two big projects within a week.

The flowers for the garland were pretty easy. I just did spiral flowers in different sizes. The skulls are all different sizes, I was just kinda making them randomly. I didn't follow an exact pattern. I just looked at one from Redheart, and went from there. I backed the skulls with felt, and all the mouths and noses are stitched on, and the eyes, they're stitched on. I used some buttons I got in a bag at A.C.Moore, for $6.00. I didn't use them all. I have a good bit left. And the buttons are really neat. I love them.  The yarn I used for the flowers and the rope to stitch them all together was Redheart Super Saver yarn. I had a bunch of partial skeins left, and just used different colors I thought would look good together and make it bright.

For the blanket, I used three skeins of One Pound by Caron. One in a red, a purple and an off white. It's large, warm and cozy! I love the way the colors turned out together. It's very warm. I just used a granny stitch a and my I hook. I finished it off with a scalloped edge to make it even prettier. I hope y'all like it!!!

Also, there is something I have been obsessed with lately. Lalaloopsy dolls. They're ADORABLE!!!!!!! I love them so much! They're perfect as far as dolls go, in my opinion. They're not slutty looking and they have cute sidekicks. I love the born on dates, kinda like the CPK have, and they have a sweet little personality to them. I have ten now. It all started with a Sailor one. She was a workshop doll.  Then I got a double pack, the clown and princess. Then the mini, she looks like the tin man from Wizard of Oz. They have themes!!! I love it! I got the snow white looking one, and my fiance got me the two Halloween minis! I have an Oopsie, and a boy one. They're my favorite doll babies ever. But I must say, the Halloween Scraps Stitched and Sewn one is my favorite. If I could be a doll, I'd be that doll. It reminds me of me a little. Okay. That's all on that. I had to share.

Until next time,Tonya @ WoollyGhoulie

BRING BACK THE SCARY!!!!!!

It's here!! Well, tomorrow it will be here. HALLOWEEN!!!!!!! Yep, Halloween is an entire month long!!!!! So, what's your plans? Have you already decorated your home? Have you made your creepy costume yet?! What are  you dressing up as?! I want to know!!!!!! I had been pokin around on some sites for creepy things to crochet for Halloween, and I found some really neat things. There's loads of Halloween ornaments to hang on your Halloween tree! I will be making those little ornaments, but I'll put my own twist on them. I found a really cool pattern from REDHEART for garland. Here's the site for that!
***** http://www.redheart.com/free-patterns/sugar-skull-garland *****
It's an affordable awesome decoration that I plan on leaving up all year long. I'm really excited about this month! I think October should be SCARY!!! Forget about all the cute sweet and sexy costumes. Halloween isn't suppose to be cute and sweet and sexy. It's suppose to be scary and creepy! Unless of course you're a baby and you look adorable in that little lion costume. Lions can be scary! I just think we should try to bring the creepy and scary back into Halloween. There should be one month out of every year where we dress like monsters, decorate our yards to look like abandoned houses, and have a good time doin it!!
Scary and creepy. That's what it's all about. Oh, and candy!
 Okay, one of my favorite sites for Halloween costumes, ornaments and other little things
*****http://www.lionbrand.com/cgi-bin/patternFinder.fcgi?search=1&searchText=halloween&Go.x=1&Go.y=1&Go=1&start=0&pageLength=15 *****
Lionbrand has an amazing collection of Halloween patterns. I've also been digging around on Pinterest for sewing ideas and there's a lot, too many to pick and list. So I'm being lazy.
I'd love to read about any ideas you have for Halloween!! Post them below in the comments section and I'll reply!!!!

Until next time,
Tonya

Quick and Easy Slippers for Your Flippers!

This is something I've wanted to tackle on my own, for a long time now. I have found a million different styles of slippers, but I keep going back to the same style. Simple and cute. They're so easy to make. I took all the information I could gather from different patterns, and decided to just mush it together, take some things away, and make it so easy, that I can make these and never get bored with them. You can change them up so much, no pair has to look the same. Okay, here it is. If you find any issues, since this is my first pattern, just let me know.

I used RedHeart Super Saver yarn, and an H hook.

Start with a magic ring, ch 3, 7 dc in magic ring, join with sl st.
ch 3, 2 dc in ea st around.
ch 3, dc in first st, *2 dc in next, dc in next, repeat from * to last st, join with sl.
ch 3, dc in ea st around, join with sl st.
ch 3, dc in ea st around, join with sl st.
Now, you don't have to change color, but I did with the ones I made. If you DON'T change color, just continue to follow last step until your toes and the top of your foot are covered enough for you.
To change color here, join color with slip knot and sc, sc around, join with sl st.
I changed color again!
ch 3, dc around, join with sl st.
ch 3, dc across next 15 st.
Follow last step until the bottom (what you're working on now, and the sides too!) is as long as your foot. Once you get there, fold in half, and join the ends with sl st, making the back of the heel.
I made these for my Momma. She's been on me about slippers for a while now. I made hers in colors that I know she'd love together. She lives in Florida, I don't know why she needs slippers!
I'll be making more of these slippers and selling them in my etsy store.
Www.etsy.com/shop/WOOLLYGHOULIE

Until next time,
Tonya

Ever use crafting to get through some things?

I do. Everyday, actually. Crochet is my go-to when I'm down. It has helped get me through my dad dying. It's the counting, I think. You get in a rhythm, and you just crochet the crap out of that yarn! You have to be careful though. You crochet when you're too upset, you're liable to end up with something that's crocheted so tight, it's warped. Then you gotta frog it! I guess that would be a good way to get some anger out! 

So crafting keeps my mind busy. Almost busy enough where I don't think about things  constantly. My fiance and I have been pretty busy with rummage sales and Goodwill. We're what you call Goodwill Pickers. We pick and sell things on etsy, or ebay. That helps to keep my mind off of things. But, it's the long rides in the truck that get me sometimes. When you have time that you're not doing something with your hands, it hits you, and it sucks. 

Crocheting, cross stitching, sewing and upcycling stuff is what keeps my mind a safer place. Losing my daddy has been the hardest thing I've ever had to do. I NEED crafting, to help keep my mind off of things that bring me down. It's such a positive way to help with depression. You get something out of it. You get the finished product, the satisfaction that YOU created that awesomeness, and a few moments of a peace, if you're lucky. 

Healing your heart and mind doesn't happen with a finished lapghan or a shawl. But crafting, creating and working can help a whole lot. I think that if there's someone that has been an impact on your crafting and creating ability, it can bring you closer to that person emotionally. Every time I hammer a nail or sand down a piece of wood, I can't help but to think of my daddy, and how proud of me he would be. It makes me feel so much better. 

So in my conclusion, I believe that being creative is the best thing for a sad heart. It doesn't make it ever go away. It just helps to deal with things a little better. And it can help with self-esteem issues too. You create something bad ass, and someone compliments you on it, hell yeh!! You're an amazing artist!!! So craft people!! Create!!! Get through all that bad crap going on!!! Help yourself, and everyone else around you. 

Until next time,

Tonya

Results for Resin Castin' Motha'!!!!!

So here are my casts!!! They both came out very easily this morning. I'll do a recap! 

Yesterday I did my first resin epoxy casting, the blue anchor. 

Then I got  out the other mold, the flowers, and decided to try another attempt. Just to see if there would be different results. I haven't done this by Easy Casts standards. I haven't used their cast release spray. I haven't used their pigments. But I swear that Easy Cast is amazing. 

Anyway, what I did use for a release was cooking spray with the blue anchor. It works. It creates a barrier between the mold and the resin. It released very easily. Perfect for that. But, I'm not crazy about the matte finish. I don't want to buff these casts or have to do much sanding. Sanding around the edges is fine, but other than that, I'd rather not have to mess with the cast too much. 

As for the flowers, I used a silicone spray. It said that it protects rubber and so on and so forth, so I figured I'd give it a shot on the back of the mold first. It worked, so I casted some flowers. They turned out shiney. Just what I wanted.  

I used eye shadows to color the resin epoxy. As you can see, it works! It doesn't just work.. it works WONDERFULLY!!! 

Now, these casts haven't cured completely yet. They take about 73 hour for a complete cure. I popped them out of the molds with no problem, but they're still a little soft. So before in use these for anything, I'll let them set for another two days. 

I know it sounds like it takes forever, but you can't mess with perfection. I don't see any reason to search around for a different resin epoxy. I'm happy with my results and I don't mind the curing process. 

So, I have a LOT of casting to get done today, folks. I'm excited! And I have to get to work. I'm going to try a few things like a multi color casting. =) Wish me luck!!!!

Until next time,

Tonya

Resin Castin' Motha' YEAH!!!!

I have FINALLY received my resin molds in the mail today!! I've had my resin epoxy for about two weeks, and I've been looking for cheap ways to color my resin with.
Well, I bought Easy Cast resin. It's super easy to do. The instructions and trouble shooting tips are extremely easy to understand. A little bit goes a long way. So I'm glad for my first go round, I got a small kit. There's some helpful tips in there, like filling your mold with water before you mix the resin together, so you know how much to make, and you aren't wasting your resin epoxy mix. It's too expensive to waste. The small kit I got was about $14.00. But, like I said, it goes a long way, at least for what I'm using it for. The molds I purchased aren't very big. I recommend definitely getting rubber molds that are very flexible for things that have crevices, like flowers. The reason for that is, you need to make sure you get your mold casting release spray in every crevice. You need to test the release spray and resin on the back of your molds before you go pouring resin inside your perfectly wonderful mold. If whatever spray you're using isn't going to work with your mold for some funky reason, you need to know. It can ruin a perfectly fine mold. Waste. That's what you would have. Waste doesn't make a penny.
So today, I used eye shadow to color my resin. It was super cheap at Family Dollar, I think I spent $3.50 on eye shadows and I got seven different colors. You can also get eye shadow pallets on eBay for cheap. I haven't ventured into anything other than two molds. One is a cameo and the other is a mold that has three small flowers. The cool thing about the eye shadow is, it has a shimmer affect to it. I think these castings will be really pretty when they're done. I'm going to experiment more the day after tomorrow, after I find out if I can release these casts without ruining them. The Easy Cast says that it takes up to 73 hours for a hard cast, which is what I want. I don't want something pliable, just to make a mess of it.
Hopefully, if anyone is thinking about doing some resin casting, this helps out a little bit! I would suggest checking out Amazon and eBay for your molds and resin. And when you go mold shopping, make sure you can use them with resin!! You don't want ones that are for just food. So, there's a few tid bits of info for you. Happy casting!
Until next tome!
Tonya