Make Me

On the Mend

Okay. I think I can say I'm on the mend now.  I'm only coughing once every five minutes as opposed to once every other second. I was feeling rather sprightly yesterday until the searing cramps of a mild case of food poisoning. Thank you Mimi's Cafe.  It's probably because I was mocking the menu asterisk under french toast that warned against the great gastronomical himiny-jiminy or what have you.  Apparently my disdain was sensed and I spent the better half of a gorgeous afternoon that I felt like a normal person in the fetal position on the couch watching That 70s Show. C'est la vie.

Anyway, illness notwithstanding, I can no longer put off announcing that Celeste91 is the winner of the Make Me Hair Pin Challenge.  I really liked the the typewriter key she chose. I don't know about you, but I'm always adjusting m'pins, so the shift key really appealed to me.

Celeste wins the big shwag bag from Rings n Things. The hair pin blanks and the copper bracelet blank. I'll post later if she has a blog and or Etsy shop we can bounce off to.

Our other participant, Rebecca, had a really beautiful entry that was hard to ignore.  She used earrings here and I think the end result is really elegant and lovely.  Rebecca? You're the runner-up and as such wins 24 hair pin blanks.  Congratulations, Rebecca!

I've not been doing a things crafty myself. Other than trying to keep down lunch and looking at back issues of Interweave Knits.  I have been thinking a lot about my goals for 2009. One of my things is I need to not cut corners. I need to not be afraid of things that are hard - you know, sometimes I shy away from things that look too difficult or time consuming without considering if I would enjoy the end product enough to make the trouble worthwhile. 

Any crafty resolutions in your hat?

More Tutes for Pins

The hair pin challenge is drawing to a close. No takers yet. I've gotten the package from Dave at Rings & Things. The prizes are .5 gross (72 pieces of the silver bobby pins, 1 copper metal bracelet link, and one silver tone pendant. All of these items can have pieces glued to them.

Thanks, Dave! You can also follow him on Twitter and maybe get a heads up on a good deal. Or a quick giggle here and there.

I've also been bouncing around some cool blogs lately. Hopefully I'll be sharing some with you in the weeks to come. A couple of things I've thought that could transfer well to the hair pins are the fabric flowers from mollychicken. And the Offray ribbon site has directions on ribbon flowers.

Join the Flickr group, post some hair pin toppers and win some hair pins blanks! 

I'm also busy thinking of the next Make Me Challenge. Shall it be paper or yarn?  I can't quite decide yet.

Another Really Cute Hair Pin Tute

Quick Post for a Hair Pin tutorial from Joybucket. I've been enjoying the blog as well, although there hasn't been a new post since the end of November. But let's face it - who really has time during the holidays?

I made hair pins from the CraftStylish tutorial and I think they came out nice. I didn't do the recommended 14 layers, so mine aren't as floofy, but I think they are just as lovely.  One thing you want to remember before you adhere your circles to the pins, is to mind the orientation.  The designer has you cutting a little abstract shape for the top circle so it makes a difference where you glue the the circles. I had to re-glue.

A couple of other changes - I just did tack stitches rather than folding the circles in half. Pays to have a thimble.  I first threaded a bead, then a seed bead, came back through the two a couple of times and knotted off between the layers of circles.

Also joined CraftStylish - lets see what goes on there. Didn't really stay and play, maybe take some time to do that after the holidays.

Ordered some mini cards from MyMiniCards tonight. Will post a photo when they come in.

Hair Pin Challenge: Not for the Faint of Heart

Okay, this link may not be for you. It definitely isn't for me. But it's for someone. Someone intense and detail-y.  I wish it were me.  At any rate, I wouldn't mind receiving these beautiful works of art. Tsumami-kanzashi makes me wish we had a special name in English for every type of beautiful thing.

Patience is something I need to cultivate - it's there sometimes, but most times I just want to move on to the "good stuff." Like with sewing.  I don't like cutting out or fitting. I barely like the stitching.  With knitting, I don't like finishing.  I need to appreciate all of the process.

These pins remind me of paper quilling, but don't make me all nervous and squidgy like quilling does.  Nice.

Hair Pin Challenge: Crocheted Flowers

Decided to try a little crochet for the hair pin challenge.  I can never remember which book has the flower pattern I like in them so I have to either wing it or go through a bunch of books.  I winged it.

These came out a bit larger than I would have liked but I think they still work.  The yarn is leftover Baby Zarella, I believe. the center is a weird little piece I picked up from the sale bin at the bead store some years ago - opalescent glass. Holeless. Flat bottom. Glad they finally have a purpose.

Next I'm looking at all my packages of polymer clay. Hate working with the stuff though - make my skin peel off. Yuck.

Hair Pin Challenge: Scrap Fabric Flowers

Kayte Terry from Craft Stylish embellishes her hair pins with scrap fabric circles. Check out her tutorial.

Don't Get Your Hair Pins In a Bunch

I ordered these hair pins from Rings & Things a couple of weeks back just for kicks. Thought I'd play around with them and sell them at the annual craft fairs I attend through work. I've been gluing those glass floral marbles on them and I've made really lopsided fabric yo-yos and little crocheted flowers. 

Then I thought I'd hold a little contest.  If there's enough interest, maybe this could get to be a monthly thing. So here's the dealio. 

What sort of creative and/or wacky additions can you stick on the heads of these pins?  You don't even have to have the pins to win! The heads are 10mm in width.  Just join the Make Me Flickr group and post your photos. Post a comment here when you've entered a photo so I'll know to pop on over and take a look. I'll be posting my samples as well. 

The contest will run until December 31 and the winner will get....something nifty that I will post about next week when I am not sleep deprived.

There are some Glue Tips on the Rings & Things site to get you started with your ideas.

By the way, Ring & Things totally rocked out that order. Seriously, it came the day before I ordered it. Packaged all nicely, with candy treats and everything. You do have to make a $25 minimum order, so you may need to go in with a friend if you only need a few things, but spend a few minutes on their website and I'm sure $25 won't be too difficult.