I'll have a special post for you all this Saturday in which I'll tell you a little bit about an old crafting project of mine. In some ways it's kind of embarrassing looking back on this old endeavor, but I've been having fun unearthing these old projects and I can't wait to share them with you all. At the very least, I hope you get a good chuckle out of it.
For today's post, I wanted to celebrate the upcoming anniversary of my craft blog with a round up of previous crafts. Instead of doing a best/worst list, I decided to do crafts that I love that have challenged me creatively and crafts that I would like to redo. Some of the crafts I'd like to redo are actually ones I like quite a bit, but that I feel I could do a better job of with my current skill set. I've narrowed it down to 10 crafts of each, spanning all nearly 8 years of my blog. Feel free to let me know which ones are your favorites or which ones you'd like to see redone.
Crafts I'd Like to Redo
1. Flower Crown
I love flower crowns in theory, but I've never really liked the way the ones I've made have come out. However, after seeing Halloween flower crowns on Spooky Little Halloween's blog, I'm tempted to give them another try.
2. Gift Genie
I love the concept of the Gift Genie, a silly little fortune teller toy to help you pick gifts for your friends and family, or at least give you a few laughs. However, aesthetically, I think this particular incarnation leaves something to be desired. I just slapped some stickers on because I didn't really know what else to do to decorate it. However, with a little more thought, I could probably make a version of this that looks much better.
The Zombie Fortune Valentine's Day Card I absolutely adore the concept of. However, again, the aesthetics are not as great as they could be. With a better design, I think this card could be a real scream.
Instead of using generic Alice in Wonderland cake toppers, I thought it might be neat to use silhouettes of people and pets that I know to create the toppers. Unfortunately, I don't think these worked out as well as they could have, in that they're not necessarily as recognizable as I would have liked. Also, I think the paper I picked was a little busy for silhouettes. If I were to redo these, I think I might either do black silhouettes or superimpose the faces/hair of the people onto cartoony bodies. Or maybe just add some more details, like how I have the Cheshire Cat's smile on that particular topper.
These worked out pretty well, function-wise, but they don't look as egg-like as they could. If I were to redo them, I would try molding them inside plastic Easter eggs to give them a more egg-like shape.
This is another one where my poor graphic design skills kind of overwhelm an otherwise nice craft. Also, the kind of paint I used did not scratch off like it was supposed to, but rather had to be peeled off, so I'd like to try it with different paint to see if I could get the scratch off effect.
These just straight up need a do-over. I didn't try burning any after we made them because I don't like fire, but one of the recipients of these candles found that they did not stay lit as well as they could have.
The labels. Graphic design is not my strong suit.
I actually love this craft, and these pages came out looking pretty nice, especially considering that I made these before I had my Silhouette CAMEO, so I had to do all the cutting by hand. It almost could have made my crafts that I love that have challenged me list because this craft did push me creatively. However, instead of compiling the pages in a book, which would have been the sensible thing to do, I decided to make wall hangings out of them. This might not have been such a bad idea, except our house gets really humid, so the pages ended up wrinkling really badly. If I ever try remaking a childhood book of mine again, I'll definitely put the pages somewhere safe from the humidity.
I set the prongs too far apart, making it difficult to actually wear the earrings. More tapered fireworks might not look quite as firework-like, but they would be more wearable.
Crafts that I Love that have Challenged Me
I've made felt plushies before, but the Horror Pocket Pals are some of my most detailed. On top of that, I wanted a hand drawn picture of 1428 Elm Street to complete the play set, when I haven't really drawn since middle school, and I was never one of the artistic all stars. Drawing the house took a ridiculous amount of time, but I think it came out well given my skill level, and I love how the plushies turned out.
For my second ever attempt at pattern sewing, I decided to make a romper. By hand, as in literally a needle and thread, no sewing machine. I also decided to modify the pattern, as I did not like the button closure and instead wanted hook and eye closures. It's beyond incredible that I ended up with a garment that fits me and actually looks pretty decent.
As a kid, I loved the Give Yourself Goosebumps books, wherein you would make choices which would lead you to one of several possible endings. I tried writing some of my own as a kid, but only ever completed one, which I think had two places in the story where you would make choices and three possible endings. For my Goosebumps birthday party, I decided not only to write such a story, but to make it so my guests could act out the story. The story writing itself was not so bad, as I kept the story branches relatively short. There were many different endings, so figuring out which props to include was a bit tricky, but I think everything worked out really well and people seemed to have fun enacting the story.
This craft would not have been possible without Brian's help. Or at least I probably would have assumed it would be impossible. There actually weren't many modifications he had to make to the RC car to turn it into an RC Roomba. Sewing the mini shark costume was a bit tricky, as I made up the design on the fly and just hoped for the best (I made an identical shark suit for one of the Halloween costume contest trophies), but I think this project worked out really well.
The rag doll itself wasn't too tricky, as it was similar to making plushies, but I had to learn how to make rag doll hair.
6. Paper Masks
The tricky part of making these masks was making realistic looking feathers from paper. I think I accomplished that reasonably well.
Here I developed my own technique for making a haunted mirror.
I have made several Halloween tombstones over the years, but this headstone remains my favorite. It was the first one I made using insulation foam and I think it came nicely.
This was my first real attempt at making my own Halloween costume. I have worn it many times in the years since.
The Great Graveyard Getaway 2010 remains one of my favorite games. Brian and I devised it our first Halloween together. I'd tried my hand at game making a few times before this, but this is the game with the most interesting and complicated mechanics of the lot, and also the one that I find most enjoyable to play.
I hope you enjoyed this journey looking back on some of my previous crafts. Stay tuned for Saturday, when I'll share with you a series of crafting projects that I began long before I started my craft blog.
