Monkey See, Monkey Do

As I posted last night I completed Loki's Upcycle T-shirt Dress yesterday, however Miss Loki wouldn't let me take any pictures of her in it. Today was a different story. She was very happy to get dressed and even stood for a photo or two. When asked to smile she did. I'm happy with it, though I think some people might think it's terrible and most importantly she likes it.

As usual because I was doing something for Loki, Lex needed me to do something for him. I had to first explain I couldn't make him a dress, but I would make him something just as cool. During yesterday's errands Loki took her Owl Purse I made her in September. She stuffed a few Duplo people in it and carried it around Target while we shopped together. Lex said he wanted a bag too, but since a purse was not in his near future I thought today I would make a messenger bag.

The original plan was to use black felt we had from Halloween costumes, but Mad Dog thought I could use a pair of recently ripped jeans of mine. I had a much better idea of how to construct it since my last attempt of the purse. Starting I cut the fabric from one of the legs to create the front, back and sides. Once the basic construction was complete I started on the flap, cutting more fabric from the leg (thank god for boot-cut jeans). I finished the edges and attached it to the main part of the bag. I then needed to find a strap or hardware to finish the look. I found our unused video camera's camera-bag and stole the shoulder strap from that. Then I found (after a lot of hunting) an old backpack of Gabrielle's that hasn't be used since she was like four, from that I stole a clip. I sewed in two belt loops for action figures (just what a little boy needs) and a pocket for some extra storage (no it's not straight).

With some more of the fabric from the jeans I think I will make Loki a purse (God only knows what I'll have to make Lex then). For now I'm going to put away the sewing machine for a bit and move on to making garland for our Christmas Tree.

Chistery

My plan is to use comic book pages to create a completely original Christmas Garland for our tree. I found a website that had instructions and a design I like. I have to cut 3.5cm strips of comic book using my paper trimmer. I then will glue the strips together. Starting with two strips I will glue one to the other at a 90 degree angle, then fold them back and forth until I run out of paper. This will probably be something I do while watching television at night, but I would like to start it.

I know it sounds weird - comic books, but our Christmas Tree isn't usually very Martha Stewart or Better Homes and Gardens. I mean come on we have a Chistery, the Christmas monkey as a tree topper. Our real tree, we don't go for those pre-lit trees (not that you can't go for that kind of thing), is usually short and placed on an old travel trunk of Mad Dog's. This helps keep the cat away from it and usually the kids too.  I think next year I would like to make a new tree skirt to match our stockings that my Mom made us. Now that my sewing is improving I think I could actually make one that would be lovely and might be able to be handed down to the kids (if their significant-other would let them put it out).

Christmas 2008

For now I'm going to focus on cutting comics (shh...don't tell anyone, Mad Dog hates when I say it out loud.). I have a lot of work to do since it looks like I need possibly 14 feet of garland for our (usually 5 foot) tree (christmasplace.com). What did we do before we could Google for every stupid question in the world?