What I {Became A Fan Of} Today

1. OK Go

Well I've been a fan since high school (Ha! I say that like it was a long time ago...is 6 years a long time ago?) One of my favorite bands, OK Go, has put out another one of their BRILLIANT music videos.  And then they had to go a step further and be even cooler by standing up to "the man".  My bestie, Olivia, is always on the look out for me and spotted this article which introduced me to the video.  So I'm going to be one of those "bloggers and other unsavory social-media types" that embeds their new video.

Love, love, love!

2. DIY

I was going to say Google, but you already know how obsessed I am with Googling.  So instead I'll tell you about what I googled.  So my bestie is also becoming a big girl and moving into her very own apartment.  I am suuuper jealous and of course quite proud of her.  So we were chatting about how she can decorate her new place and then she presented the idea of upcycling some of her old jeans into a braided rug for the bathroom. BRILLIANT! So I set to googling to figure out how she could do it.  This tutorial was discovered.  Which led me to this...

GORGEOUS! I think I'm going to try to felt something like this on a smaller scale. Then I found this! Which I think I'm going to attempt today.

Huge fan. Huge. huge, huge.

3. Fan-ing on Facebook

I've also previously mentioned my love of Facebook stalking.  But now I'm into this Fan business.  It's another way I can stalk my favorite bloggers. Also, it's an excellent way to shamelessly promote myself!  So if you haven't already done so, become a fan of racheldid!

I would also like to suggest you become a fan of my friend James Futch.  Isn't that just a wonderful name?  It suits him.  He has a fan page and a website.  I love his tagline, "When you work hard to do something right, you don't want to forget it!" So true James...so true.  He did my sister's wedding video and it was wonderful!

Look its a mini Michelle and Jason! Yikes and my scary arm...look away!

I also want to share with you my new Etsy friend Janice of Karmic Stone.  She makes beautiful stone carvings.  I love the one called Balance and Strength.  Actually I should have her as part of The Interview Series! Remember that idea?  Yeah it's been a while...so stay tuned!

4. Reuniting with old friends

In the past week or so I got together with three different friends for long over due reunions.  This means I went out three times.  This means I had to put pants on people!  I've actually had to put pants on a lot lately. I'm not so sure how I feel about it.

One of my reunions was with my longtime friend Jay. 

 isn't he a looker!?

We met as young teens while working at the most embarrassing job I think either of us will ever have.  He went to the Citadel which I think is crazy.  He was a German major which I think is awesome.  He now works as an apprentice at a special effects makeup shop which I think is crazy awesome.

His specialty is eyes.  They're made out of acrylic and the iris is handpainted.  Too cool.  He carries one around with him at all times.  Too creepy.   I offered to make him a crochetosaurus hat but he didn't seem too jazzed.  So I went home and started thinking about what I could make for him.  And then this happened...

 

I have no idea what he will do with this.

 

I have no idea what anyone would do with this.

But I thought it was fun.

And I hope he likes it.

 

What are YOU a fan of these days?

What I {Brought To Life} Today

There was a vision.

It was unexpected and brilliant.

It was a vision of a new kind of hat.  

A hat for any baby.  

Regardless of gender. (But preferably for boys cause I don't make enough stuff for boys)

A vision that brings us back to our roots.

Our pre-historic roots.

It was...

THE DINOSAUR!!!

So Michelle's friend, Amy, was like, "Rachel should make a mohawk hat!"

Then Michelle was like, "Ooh or a dinosaur hat!"

So she came to me and was like, "You should make a dinosaur hat."

And I was like, "Good idea!"

And she was like, "Get on it!"

And I was like, "Ok."

That's pretty much verbatim...

Today I brought that vision to life.

Several of you have asked me about needle felting and it's really hard to explain so I tried to take some pictures of the process today.

So I start off with some yarn

Can you spy the Chu???

And a crochet hook

Several stitches later...

Then I grab some wool roving

Color match!

Next I grab my felting needle

The fact that it's pink was just a bonus

If you look really close you can kinda see the barbed-ness of the needle.  That's what makes it "felt" the fibers together

I grab a wad of roving and plop it on my foam pad

Then you basically just stab it with the needle

several jabs later

There's this

Too thin! Need more roving!

Action shot

Layer it on top of what I have and start the jabbing again.

One handed crafting is hard

In addition to jabbing, you have to flip.  If you don't flip you will have a lovely piece of felt appliqued to a styrofoam block. Jab, jab, jab.  Flip, flip flip.

Now the shape is coming together.  But its a little too wild.  At this point I take it in my hands and rub them together. The friction smooths everything out.  I couldn't photograph that part.  Trust me I tried.

repeat, repeat, repeat

The babeh was napping at this point and I needed a model for placement. So I grabbed the next best thing.

Perfect!

Place the felting 

I should get real pins

 

excellent!

Remove from the model and jab, jab, jab

It's working

Ta daaa! Too bad the babeh was napping...

Just kidding! I wouldn't dare deny you the vision of Mia in this hat!

I think she likes it.

Oh man

 

Yup.  I'm gonna have to make more of these.

I've got to start making more boy friendly things. Any ideas???

Post Script: Mia got the model I used for Valentine's Day from her Mimi.  Here it is in action...

I'm not sure what they talk about but it seems pretty intimate.

What I {Carved} Today

Pumpkins!

It's Halloween time and that means pumpkin carving time.

Last weekend was the selection process.

Michelle found hers!

I found mine!

And there's Mia's!

Ok, Pumpkins have been selected.  Now its time to carve.

Begin by cutting the top off the pumpkin.

There we go!

Michelle did a fancy cut on hers cause she's fancy.  I however...

Just hacked the top off as best I could.

Then slap on some rubber gloves (optional) and rip the guts out.

It's a rather tedious process.

 

Which makes me look rather serious.

Michelle looks rather excited.

Collect all the seeds in a colander to be rinsed and roasted later.

 

Pick out a design for your pumpkin. Here's mine, I think I'll call it "Fall Foliage Frenzy"

Cut out your design and get your tape ready.

Tape your design to the pumpkin.

Now, with a sharp tool punch holes along the outline of your design.

 

Once all your holes are punched remove the paper.

It should look a bit like this.

Next, take your pumpkin carving saw and follow the outline you punched.  Ya know, connect the dots.

It should look a little like this.

Then slather some petroleum jelly along the edges to keep them from curling.

Then get your candles ready.  We forgot to get tea lights so we found some old tins and some Channukah candles and um... improvised.

Then set your pumpkin outside for all to see!

Oh snap! It's October.