getting my crafty on...

WELL.

Summer finally arrived in Toronto and I was trying to get my fill of the sun all last week - it's been a crazy week (and I imagine it will get crazier in the upcoming months) but, I didn't forget to indulge in some art/craft time.  First though, I got myself a 2nd cat - my one cat seemed lonely and I was feeling pretty guilty that I never replaced his friend that he grew up with -and I was able to find a cat that was sweet and cuddly and playful.  So much of past two weeks were consumed in trying to get them to at least tolerate each other (my dreams that they would start snuggling right away didn't happen).  We are finally all getting along somewhat and the new cat was adjusting super well by week 2.  I finally caught up on some missed sleep and had some time to myself to start a couple of small projects - mostly crafty ones this time (which is good because I haven't done any in a while).

Usually I engage with my "crafty" side during the winter/fall season (which just means I'll knit endless amount of scarves) - this year it had started a little early, thanks to a coworker who posted pictures of little elephants she crocheted over the weekend.
Crochet is something I had always wanted to try but it never really made sense to me - but I was encouraged by my friend's post and decided to give it a shot at making a cat cave - I had a cat cave pattern saved for eons and had enough yarn to give it a shot. I had plenty of yarn left over from a previous un-started project and hook to go along with it.

While I was making this (I had to undo and redo a few times because it was ruffling) I realized because I didn't use a big thick yarn like the pattern said to, my project needed much improvising.

I can't even tell you how many times I've un-stitched this project due to ruffling and curing; I probably could have started and finished another cat cave with the amount of times I spent in redoing the thing. I just couldn't let either of ruffling and curling just pass me by though....-_-  The good thing of course, is I REALLY LEARNED how crocheting works and it allowed me to get a little creative and I added a band of colour using pink and red yarn I had lying around....which gave it the pop of color I wanted, not that my cat is going to ever notice :)
Hopefully I will be able to make two cat caves before winter comes...!!

Another little thing I wanted to get back into was sculpting.
Playing with clay had always been a favourite of mine except the giant mess- not that it ever stopped me. I stopped because there wasn't a kiln facility available and to get one was painfully expensive,especially for a hobby I wasn't particularly talented in.  I remember long long time ago I bought a bunch of Fimo but I never got around to play with them.  Not long after, I had been "forced" to give art as a way of life and entered the business world...I was super bitter then, and threw out everything I owned (I am kicking myself right now).

Anyway.
Awhile ago, a friend of mine from work made me a little chibi figure of Tootless from How to Train Your Dragon (excellent movie btw) while I was on vacation - we had agreed to make each other a little something - and it was a wonderful surprise to come back to.
He recently had gone on vacation ,I wanted to make him a little gift to come back to-- but then Mello & Mamba (my cats) situation took over all things...and I couldn't find the time. However, I was all prepared: I had bought some "Sculpt -it " by Sargent which was air hardening clay (I wasn't sure if my oven worked) and had reference pics of what I wanted to make. Of course, i found that air-hardening was not as easy to work with and hardened while you were rolling :S So I finally got some Sculpey - and popped out a little kawaii lion (he's a Leo) for him to find on a Friday morning.  That was also too much fun that I have little plans for more projects percolating...

That's all I think...Oh, I took up belly dancing but that's another story.

Hope you liked,


Love Always,
Shines.