Spring Break Dollar Store Crafting Challenge

Ok, so, my first college Spring Break has officially come and gone, and what did I do, do you think? If you're thinking Cancun, you'd be VERY wrong. I went home, where I hung out with my family, did some shopping, and of course, did some crafting (and a little bit of homework, too...)

Well, like I said, I was planning on doing the dollar store crafting challenge listed on living with lindsay (link to the challenge in the sidebar...and probably here, too, later, once I get some more work done :) )

Well, I did like I said I would, and here's my entry for the Five Dollar Challenge:
A nice, springy, decorative doormat...after all, what better way is there to welcome spring than by meeting it at the door with a nice welcome mat?

From 2009-03-29 Dollar Store Craft Challenge

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, and I did it on the cheap, as the challenge specified. My materials were obtained at my local Dollar Tree, and consisted of two coordinating placemats in bright colors/patterns (a nice spring green in my case), a roll of rubber shelf liner, a package of decorative buttons, and a stem of "silk" flowers, all of which are pictured below:

From 2009-03-29 Dollar Store Craft Challenge

After I procured all of my materials, I got my hands dirty with a little floral stem massacre:

From 2009-03-29 Dollar Store Craft Challenge

I also sliced the placemats into three inch strips using my handy-dandy rotary cutter. I ran the strips through my sewing machine, alternating placemats, and when I was done, I had a nice doormat size. That whole process took maybe thirty to forty-five minutes, but could even be faster, as I did it while watching TV.

Once that was done, I ironed out the fabric to make a nice flat doormat. Then I grabbed my needle and thread, and began to sew the buttons and flowers onto the mat where I wanted them. I used a stack of (in this order) 2/3 of a leaf piece, two staggered petal pieces, and finally, the button.

Once everything was all attached, I grabbed my slip-proof shelf lining. I cut a piece to the desired size (In my case, I cut out two pieces for extra padding.) and attached it to the back of the mat. I used hot glue for this, but the mat could just as easily be attached with a needle and thread.

Then, finally, I stood back and admired my handy work. I think it turned out pretty nice for only about an hour and a half of work, and FIVE dollars. Hope you like my mat, and if anyone else tries it, I'd love to see some pictures of your handy work!

Best Wishes,
Kim
(Nerdfighter reference, w00t!)

Handwriting from your Keyboard

Ok, so here's the link , as promised. Have fun with it.

Also, if you're not having success, you can try
Fonts for Peas... There's no guarantee that she'll make your font, but if you're just in the market for A cute handwriting font that isn't necessarily YOUR cute handwriting font, there are tons available for download.

Have a great weekend!

Crafting Challenge

Hey All!

Ok, so today, while I was perusing the craft websites like I usually do, I stumbled upon something sweet. That's right. It's a crafting challenge, courtesy of the Dollar Store.

Now, if you ask anyone who knows me, they'll gladly tell you how much of a cheapskate I am, and I won't argue. I happily shop thrift stores, clearance racks, and, of course, dollar stores. In fact, last summer, I was watching the Today Show with my Dad, and they had this segment on about America's cheapest family. Now, the subject of clothes came up, somehow, and my Dad asked me how much I'd pay for a pair of jeans. Without hesitation, I replied $7 (the price of a good pair from Good Will). No less than a minute later, Merideth Vierra was asking the same thing of one of the daughters, and what was her answer, you ask? She said $9. That's right, I am even cheaper than the cheapest family in America.

But, more to the point, when I saw this challenge, the wheels started spinning. It combines two of my favorite activities in the world: crafting, and bargain hunting. Needless to say, I'm definitely in for this challenge.

Well, now I know what I'm doing on MY spring break...

Check it out!

99 Things ~or~ Everything You Never Needed to Know About Me

Ok, so this isn’t the first blog that I’ve started, and I haven’t posted religiously on any of the others that I made, but I have been wanting to start a crafty blog for aeons. So here it is… Life is Phantasmagorical! Ok, well anywho, since this is my first post, I figure that I had better introduce myself to you all. I really like the idea of posting 99 random things about myself as an ice breaker, so I’m stealing the idea (insert props HERE to whoever deserves them for coming up with this idea). Well anyway, here goes:

1.) Right now, I’m a freshman in college
2.) I want to major in Architecture…maybe.
3.) That’s because I love math/science AND design, so it seems like a good plan.
4.) I’m actually taking my first studio class this semester.
5.) …It’s amazing so far.
6.) I go to MIT, and the work load is insane there.
7.) I do crafty things, and I lurk on crafting websites to prevent myself from losing my marbles.
8.) I’m not entirely sure that I had marbles to begin with.
9.) My name is Kim.
10.) My gangsta name is Kimminent Danger, which explains many of my screen names on crafting forums.
11.) My sister gave me my gangsta name.
12.) Hers is Pamthrax, in case you were wondering.
13.) She doesn’t use it as a screen name, though.
14.) I’ve only got one sister, and she’s awesome :)
15.) She’s always my partner in crime when it comes to crafting.
16.) I consider myself to be generally crafty.
17.) I finally found my niche, but I’ll still try my hand at anything crafty.
18.) My niche is crocheting, but I love knitting, too.
19.) Some of the crafts that I’ve done are: Knitting…
20.) …Crocheting…
21.) …Sewing…
22.) …Beadworking…
23.) …Painting…
24.) …Scrapbooking…
25.) …Quilling…
26.) …Origami…
27.) …And a little macramé, among other things.
28.) I also like to dabble in HTML web design, but I’m not very good.
29.) I’m a craft store addict…
30.) …and I have WAY too many skeins of yarn in my closet.
31.) (Oh, and a lot of UFOs* to boot!)
32.) I’ve always wanted to sew my own clothes.
33.) Especially a fabulous ball gown…how cool would that be!
34.) (With beading and rouching, of course!)
35.) I’m into design.
36.) …So, I like making things that will help me to decorate my space and make it my own.
37.) I’ve made stuff to decorate like bulletin boards, magazine boxes, small shelves, shadow boxes…
38.) I’m also a HUGE Harry Potter fan.
39.) (My Dad calls me a Gryffindork.)
40.) The Harry Potter thing explains a lot about the kinds of things I make.
41.) I made Potter Puppet Pals finger puppets once…and it was AWESOME!
42.) I love to make things for other people.
43.) …especially my friends.
44.) I keep to myself a lot, but once you get to know me, I’m really loyal.
45.) If you’re a friend, I’ll go to the ends of the earth to make sure you’re happy.
46.) …oh, and I’ll agonize over what to give you as a gift…correction: what to MAKE you.
47.) For graduation last year, I worked for five months preparing gifts for my five best friends.
48.) My friends are geniuses, by the way :)
49.) One is going to UPenn, one to John’s Hopkins, another to Bryn Mawr, one to Bob Jones, and one to BCC.
50.) I absolutely love the holidays and big events that require a lot of planning.
51.) They’re stressful, but Oh-So-Fun!!!
52.) And that’s a GREAT opportunity for making gifts!
53.) I also like cooking/baking…especially for those big occasions.
54.) Let’s see…what else? …I’m running out of things to say here.
55.) Oh, I know. I love bright colors.
56.) My dorm room (or at least my part of it) is decked out in bright rainbow colors.
57.) I think that fact might kinda annoy my roommates.
58.) My comforter has a loud and obnoxious rainbow fireworks pattern on it :)
59.) My sister even made me some amazing art to go along with my stuff.
60.) (It was rainbow…duh, and it had dragons).
61.) Umm…Ninjas totally beat pirates. (…Hello, stealthy!)
62.) …and to prove that fact, I crocheted myself a ninja.
63.) Like this one, but better.
64.) My dad made the weapons for him from an old coffee can… a saber, a dagger, and a few throwing stars.
65.) I’ve been knitting since I was 13 and crocheting since I was 15.
66.) A few of my role models are crafting super-stars like Debbie Stoller and Nikki Epstein.
67.) Oh, and Martha Stewart, too.
68.) I don’t care if she went to prison, her empire is still remarkable.
69.) Umm, strangely enough, two of the three essays that I wrote for my MIT college application were about knitting…It’s a tech school, and they still let me in. Imagine that!
70.) When I’m not studying, or crafting, or just vegging out with my sister, I do a lot of volunteer work at my local library.
71.) I work in the children’s section.
72.) They put me to work setting up crafts for the little kiddies, so that’s fun :)
73.) I get to cut stuff out of felt and glue stuff together, all while learning some of the library gossip.
74.) I also have to draft up fliers for a bunch of library events.
75.) The children’s librarians LOVE rainbow colors, so my fliers always end up being insanely tacky.
76.) (In my book, tacky is a compliment.)
77.) My favorite movie of all time is Singin’ in the Rain.
78.) That doesn’t have anything to do with anything, but I just wanted to share.
79.) My AWESOME sister bought it for me for Christmas this year!!!
80.) I love old Hollywood.
81.) They were all classy, with such amazing style, and killer talent…unlike most of today’s stars!
82.) Here are some of my uber-big crafting goals: -knit a sweater
83.) (preferably some kind of cardigan with a pretty lacework pattern)
84.) –Make my own shoes
85.) (…and they must be cute. I don’t want any ugly sandals :( )
86.) –Umm, Design and sew my own clothes
87.) (in particular a ball gown, as I’ve already said)
88.) –Finally finish this horrible baby blanket that I sarted.
89.) (It’s made of 1.5” granny squares, and I’ve been working on it for an eternity.)
90.) –Try my hand at Quilting
91.) –And MANY more (smaller) goals that I won’t go into at the moment.
92.) –Design my own house, but what future architect doesn’t want to do that?!
93.) Other than that, I like baking.
94.) I don’t know if that counts as crafty, but it sure is creative.
95.) I actually considered going to culinary school for a long time.
96.) Cooking is cool, too, but I don’t do enough of it.
97.) We don’t even get microwaves in our dorms, so that’s kind of out.
98.) I actually did a lot of preparation for dorm cooking before I actually got to college, and I’m a mean microwave chef.
99.) I even had a short-lived blog about it, but my sister took it over because, like I said, no microwave, so go on over and check out Riding the (Micro)Waves!

*UFO= Knit-speak for Un-Finished Object, that project that's been on your hooks or needles for an eternity.