Darth Vader

It's been a while since I've posted. Over a week ago, my cousin Mindy requested a Darth Vader doll.  It was hard trying to find a good pattern but I found one on Etsy for a couple bucks. The pattern wasn't particularly difficult but I did learn some new techniques that made the process a little more slow going. The end result came out well. And I'm sure I've said this before but I dislike sewing the little details, such as the buttons on Darth Vader's belt. I thought it would be cool to make a light saber too but I didn't want to have to pay more to get a pattern so I created my own pattern. (Gasp!) ...I know. It was really simple but I'm still proud of it since it's my first original pattern.

Darth Vader pattern

Bunny

I made this amigurumi bunny at the request of my cousin, Amy. It's a cute doll but painful to make because it uses such a small crochet hook. And the safety eyes were really hard to find. I went to all the craft stores in town to find the right size but none carried it so I had to order it online but it wasn't until after I paid for it that I noticed it would take approximately 3 weeks to deliver! 

So I started out slowly, waiting for the eyes to come, then when it arrived I worked on it continuously until it was completed and my fingers were stiff. The pattern itself was pretty easy though. Amy found the pattern on this awesome website, All About Ami. It has a lot of cute stuff on there so go check it out!

All About Ami: Sweetheart Bunny

Koala

This is the latest crochet doll I made for a family friend, Rachel. It was an easy one to do but I always have some trouble with sewing all the parts together. For some reason this one was particularly difficult for me, especially the head. I had to keep redoing it so it looked right. And the ears keep folding down, covering its face. With little adjustments, squishing and twisting the doll, it looks pretty good.

The Koala pattern was found on Craft Passion. It is originally from the Woman's Day website.

Finn the Human

I'm nearing the end of my list of past crocheted projects! I'll have to get start on a whole bunch of new things soon! I have some items planned but a few of them will take a while. Especially the one I am currently working on. I didn't realize that the safety eyes I ordered online would take 3 weeks! Blehhh... Oh well. At least this gives me some time to give my fingers a break.

A couple weeks ago, when I posted some of my crocheted items on Facebook, my cousin Casey requested a doll. She watches the cartoon, Adventure Time, and wanted either Finn the Human or Jake the Dog. I told her if I could find a good pattern then I would make one for her. I found a good one on Ravelry. It's a very cute doll and the best one I could find because it even came with the backpack. So I got started on it.

When I was in the middle of crocheting Finn, Casey called me. It was so hard not to tell her about the doll but I wanted to keep it a surprise. She mentioned on the phone that if I could find a Finn pattern then she would really like for him to have a backpack too. I had just bought the yarn for the backpack that day so I was having a hard time suppressing my giggles.

When I was nearing the end of the pattern, I noticed a couple things. First, there was a piece of the beige yarn for Finn's skin that was dirty-looking. I tried to snip some of the dark pieces but I was afraid that I would cut too much. I tried bleaching that part but it didn't work. Finally, I sewed over it with clean yarn to cover up the dirty spot and it worked. (Phew!) I didn't want to have to redo the doll just because of one dirty piece of yarn. Secondly, the backpack came out slightly too small for Finn's body. In order for the backpack to fit, I had to sew the straps far apart. It doesn't look too bad but it definitely could've been better.

All in all, Finn came out really good. I changed the pattern a bit by using felt for his face instead of crocheting it. I thought it looked better that way and it also saved me some time. And despite some of the setbacks I had with Finn, Casey loves the Finn doll and recently posted some funny pictures of Finn doing various things, like riding a bike, reading a book about rifles, drinking alcohol and then throwing it up, and of course watching Adventure Time.

Here are the pictures of Finn before I shipped it out.

Finn the Human pattern

Baked Goods

For this post, I want to post some of the baked goods I've made in the past that turned out really good.

These are cake pops that Donna and I made along with some of Donna's friends.

These turned out particularly cute because Donna and I decorated these ;)

This is a cookie monster sugar cookie that Donna and I also made together.

This cookie is one that I decorated. We couldn't find an electric blue food coloring so we had to make do with a regular blue which made the frosting look too light. But it still turned out cute.

I made this vertical layer cake for a BBQ. It was time-consuming but it came out pretty.

This is a tiramisu cake I make very often for parties and other gatherings. The decorating isn't my best but it still tasted awesome as always. I have another picture below that is better decorated.

These two tarts were made by Donna. She had a Sterling Scholar competition and had to make something to present to judges in order to be chosen Sterling Scholar for her category. I did help her to design these tarts to make it visually appealing because the judges do not actually eat the presentations.

This is the tiramisu cake as shown earlier but decorated completely different. It was for Rachel's baby's 100 day celebration. A baby's 100 day anniversary is significant to Koreans and is usually celebrated grandly. The cake is the same recipe as the one shown before but with extra confectioner's sugar in the frosting for extra stability. I decorated the cake with pirouette cookies all around, alternating chocolate and vanilla cookies, and tied with a ribbon. The ribbon is actually two different ribbons glued together. I really liked the footprint pattern on this one ribbon but it was too skinny so I glued it to the center of a thicker ribbon. On top of the cake, I spelled out the baby's name with blue sugar pearls and baked sugar cookies in the shape of "100" and placed it on top as cake toppers.

These cupcakes were also made for the 100 day celebration. Donna baked the cupcakes and we both decorated them.

And finally, this is a fruit tart that I make very often. My mom loves this tart because it is covered in fruits and is not overly sweet. It's simple but delicious.

If you'd like any one of these recipes, just ask and I can give you the website link or the name of the cookbook. Most of these recipes came from different websites and cookbooks, and I have adapted them to my taste but they are still great when followed as is.

Last Christmas...

I decided to save money by making some crochet stuff. There's this family that has become very close to my family and we spend many of the major holidays together. I made their oldest son, Joseph, a crochet monkey from the Vanna's Choice Easy Crochet Critters book. He loves animals.

(I wish I had taken close-up photos of the monkey...)

Just a month before Christmas, his mom, Rachel, gave birth to a baby boy. His name's Daniel and I crocheted him fuzzy blue booties for the cold Utah winters. I used soft fluffy light blue yarn to help keep the baby's toesies warm.

(...the booties too.)

Booties pattern: Bev's Very Easy Booties

For Rachel, I crocheted her a thick headband.

 I had made a headband earlier for someone else and I thought it would be a great Christmas gift to give. Here is the first headband I made which was given to Donna's friend, Janice.

I loved how these headbands came out. I think I made the first one a little big but the second one (Rachel's) was a little better in size. The button I used for these headbands really made them look great. It helped to keep them securely fastened too. I found this pattern on YouTube and it was created by bobwilson123. Here is the link to the video tutorial: http://youtu.be/HJLIsyyn_CM

Robot

This doll was made for (you guessed it) another one of Donna's friends, Anna. This is the Robot from Creepy Cute Crochet. It came out pretty good. I struggled with the knobs on the sides of the helmet. It seems that I have more trouble with the little details than the bigger parts. But I do become more impatient the closer I get to the end.

Today, I went shopping for my next project. I had to go to 3 different craft stores to find all the supplies I need. Sadly, I wasn't able to find the correct crochet hook size and the correct safety eyes size. I bought the closest crochet hook size to the one I needed and bought the safety eyes online. I've started on the doll and after working on it for a couple hours, I have only completed half of the head. This one is going to take some time to make and my hands are getting really sore because of the small hook size. But when it's done, I hope it turns out as adorable as the creator's.