• Etsy Shop: InkAndStitchesArt,  Ink & Stitches Shop!,  What I am Working On

    New Handmade Jewelry, Clay Pals, Magnets, and My Books Now in the Ink & Stitches’ Shop!

    It’s taken me weeks, but I now have some exciting new handmade products to share with you in the Ink & Stitches Shop! I’ve been inspired by some of the amazing creatives I follow to try my hand at making my own jewelry, clay pets and magnets, and to finally put up signed copies of my TALES OF WHIMSY books that will be shipped directly from me here in the Pacific Northwest.

  • Craft Tutorial,  Crafts,  Misc. Fun!,  Party Planning

    DIY: Solar System Themed Birthday Party

    For my son’s fourth birthday, there was only one possible theme we could go with. He lives and breathes the planets, and yes, we do include Pluto in this house!

    I immediately went to Pinterest for inspiration. It wasn’t like Party City was going to have anything planets related. Unless he wanted a Ninja Turtles or Ninjago party I was out of luck! I created a Planets Party board and got to work searching every possible DIY project I could find on the subject. Surely, other kids had wanted such a party in the past and lucky for me, I was right!

    Since we were having the party at our house, I wanted the kids to have things to do.

    I first saw the project to make your own Nebula in a Jar. How awesome would that be??? Then I checked the ingredients: sparkles, cotton, water, and paint. Four-year-olds, wood floors, and paint. Hmmmmm….

    Instead of having the kids do this craft, I got one large jar, and small corked vials and created them with my son’s help. The large jar became a centerpiece for the table and the little ones I put in the goodie bags to take home. I made sure to hot glue down the lids on all vials and jars as the cotton balls soak up a lot of the paint, but it takes awhile for them to fully soak it up (if at all). I created little tags and used twine to wrap them around the top that said “Nebula” for the little ones and “Nebula in a Jar” for the big centerpiece. I loved them and so did my son.

    Next, I kept looking for projects the kids could do. I decided that since paint was out, I could manage pens and had them Making Straw Rockets, (coloring rocket ships and creating sailable rockets using straws to launch them). This was a hit and the kids could see whose could go the furthest. We had them write their names after they were done coloring their rockets.

    Next up, I had them decorating Moon Rock bags using sheets of stickers and pens and having them put their names on them. While they were decorating their bags, my dad and brother held up a large solar system blanket to block off the view of our front family room and dining area. Then I got to hiding the moon rocks I had made.

    The Moon Rocks were just Easter Eggs that I had leftover. I filled them with toys, loose change, candy, and little pompom creatures I had made up with a hot glue gun. These I wrapped in aluminum foil, and presto-chango…Moon Rocks!

    Needless to say, the kids LOVED the

    Moon Rock Hunt

  • A to Z Challenge: April 2016,  Crafts,  Crochet,  YouTube Amigurumi How-To Video

    A to Z Challenge: N is for New Camera

    I’ve always used my phone’s camera, to take all the pictures seen in my blog thus far. When I dropped it over six months ago on my parent’s tile floor, and the case decided to open like a bird in flight letting the screen take the brunt of the impact, the glass didn’t stand a chance!

    It was cracked and getting worse by the week, but it was functional, and I could still take pictures with the camera on the back side of the phone. Good as gold, right? I thought so too, for awhile. I was still only about six months into a two-year contract, so I had a year and a half to wait, before I could get a new one. Of course we didn’t have the insurance that covered a cracked screen. That would have been too easy. It’d be just fine.

    I could still do my work. I’d just hold the phone away from my ear during calls, so the sharp bit up in the corner, where shards had started to chip away, wouldn’t cut me.

    Everything was going perfectly okay, until I started noticing that every picture I took had a black spot in the lower right-hand corner. If I zoomed in, it would go away, but for standard pics, it was there like an eyesore.

    “Please let me get you that camera,” my husband kept telling me. He’d been wanting to get me the Nikon Coolpix P900. He showed me its incredible zooming capabilities on this YouTube video. The cost was roughly $600 give or take, but he considered it an investment in my work. With plans to start my own YouTube Channel of How-To videos for those wanting to learn to crochet or make amigurumi, and no means to film them, I finally gave in.

    So, here is my shiny new Nikon Coolpix P900 camera (see image above)! Isn’t it pretty? Look at this pic we took night one after getting it:

    With the camera’s telescoping capabilities, you can see further than you’d ever expect a camera’s zoom lens to go.

    Now, I can get my videos filmed and posted for all you crocheters out there, and I won’t have to worry about seeing a little black spot on every picture (see post

    V is for Video