Friday Find (on Thursday): WingedLion on Etsy

I am just entranced by the jewelry and printmaking designs in Winged Lion's shop on etsy. The jewelry is gorgeous and ornate and original, and the linocut prints are THE SAME!

The Winged Lion shop is shared by an extremely artistic family (Natalia, Sergey, and their teenage son Lev) living near Charlotte, NC. They have so much variety but awesomeness!

I'm going to start with the linocuts - these prints are amazing, and it makes me want to own them, but simultaneously, be the person who created them. Since we've had a lot of medieval stuff with the Game of Thrones theme, I figured I'd pick this knight one to show you:
Victory Knight by Lev (he's 17! Annoyingly gifted at 17!)

Trying On Hats Linocut

They have a lot of rings that I want, even though they are way out of my league in terms of price at the moment, but still, I call dibs on the Enchanted Princess one! DIBS I SAY! It's so gorgeous! And I've never even heard of a white sapphire before, but gorgeous.

Enchanted Princess Ring

I love flower rings, and this one is just intricate and I can't really find anything about it I don't like, except possibly the size (it may be a bit big on me, you know, when I purchase it as well as the other one HA HA HA).
Blooming Thistle Ring

I switched Friday Finds to Thursday because I'm going to Dr. Sketchy's tonight and plan to have ridiculous drawings to show you tomorrow. Unless I chicken out, and then you'll get a sewing update!

Game of Thrones Jewelry Etsy Shop Refill!

I know you've all been desperately wondering what weird jewelry stuff I would put together for my Game of Thrones jewelry series next. I mean... maybe you haven't. Maybe you've moved on to watching True Blood - ANYWAY - here's some more Game of Thrones / Song of Ice and Fire jewelry. I really love these two pieces.


Dark Wings, Dark Words Necklace
(Though every time I type "Dark Wings" I have a hard time not thinking of Darkwing Duck)


Saltwife Necklace Hhehe, the Greyjoys. I had fun writing the descriptions for these.

Here's some other summery necklaces I made that I think turned out quite pretty:

Sea Nymph Shell Necklace - Nereid of the Aegean Sea Necklace



Moonlit Dewdrops Necklace

Available in my shop futuregirl.etsy.com.

Halloween in June - Decorating!

I helped decorate for an Undead Birthday party over the weekend, so here's some of the decorations:



Why the human torso? I don't know, but it looked cool!



Most of these were put together by Ruth, but I think they're great:
Jell-o Brain with oreo dirt and gummi worms, Zombie Fingers (Snapea Crisps), and on the three tier: Worms, Gravestone cookies, and Coffin sandwiches!

And here's a picture of me as a mummy, so you know that I dressed up:

McCall's Pattern Sale at JoAnn's!

McCall's patterns are on sale at JoAnn's for $1.99. Of course, they go on sale for $0.99 next weekend (for the 4th of July) but by then I, and other's like me, may have gone through and bought all the cool ones!

Limit 10, so I bought 8 of shirts and dresses made out of knits:

I *really* want to use up all this t-shirt fabric! There will (hopefully) be more stuffed animals and outfits in the future from them!

Also, I bought these two, which don't go together, but they are the outliers:

I hate trying to find leggings that are the right length for me - and in interesting colors. I mean, yes, I could buy them over at welovecolors.com, but they're $15 each and I'm cheap! Also, I love that style of skirt, and in theory it's really easy to do, right? I have no idea, which is why I bought a pattern.

So yes, SEWING!

Friday Finds / Tutorial! Crocheted Necklace Video

This week has been sort of an off week for me, in case you couldn't tell from the lack of random craftsplosion that you usually get on here.

One thing I've found and I think is very satisfying is crocheting with beads - but not actually crocheting, just repeating one tiny slip stitch over and over.

Here's a fantastic video tutorial I've been using as a reference: it's for creating a multi-strand crocheted bead necklace.

It was based on the fact that I've been cleaning out my beads and jewelry supplies - I've found lots of beads that I like, but really don't know what to do with. I was looking on etsy for ideas and I found this:

Crystal garden series crocheted bracelet by SidneyAnne

I love it! Nick says it looks like a magpies nest, but in a good way, which is exactly what I like about it! Anyway, I've been working on just doing black thread with black beads for now to get a feel for it. It's super fun, and kind of relaxing. I think I have a new craft to bring to Craft Night!

Also - I was watching an episode of Robin Hood where Richard Armitage kept taking his shirt off *for no reason* (well, except ratings, I suppose) and I accidentally made a strand 6" longer than the others because I was so distracted. I feel silly.

Maker Faire NC 2011

I went to Maker Faire NC over the weekend and it was awesome! Though a little crowded.

This year was much bigger, but I think it still has a lot of potential to get bigger and bigger each year. There was everything, from lace tatting to robotics, quilting to hacking, and there were so many people!

Here's some pictures:



Several people I know, including Kelly Farrow and Joei Reed, were running a booth called "T-cycle" where you could buy a t-shirt for $5 and mod it right there - they had sewing machines, a serger, and all kinds of supplies and books for changing your t-shirt into something cool (which I'm all about).


The entire Maker Faire was humming and buzzing while we were there - so many activities and cool places - The Scrap Exchange, TechShop RDU, Bull City Craft, Spoonflower - I can't even list them all. I wish Maker Faire had been around when I was a kid - I don't know where else I would have learned about modern quilting and robotics right next to each other!

I'm thinking of getting a booth next year and making a million stuffed animals from t-shirts and having them for sale. I'm not entirely sure what kind of activity I might have at my booth though - any ideas?

Friday Finds: Cupcake Land

What if you lived in a world where everything was made of cupcakes? Would you still think of them as delicious?

What if your dog looked like a cupcake?


And your soap?


And your crayons?


And all your doorknobs!?


And your hats?


And your, err...


And what if Daleks were all "EXTERMINATE this cupcake for me, would you?"


Would it drive you crazy? Would you have terrible colorful foam running from your mouth from alternating between eating the crayons and the soap?

Thank goodness we're safe... for now.

Dog Cupcake Hat by Sweet hoots, Strawberry Champagne Cupcake Soap by Virginia Soaps and Scents, Crayon Cupcakes by zeebree, Cupcake Doorknobs by shimrita, Cupcake Hats by yeahsurewhatever, Two Giant Fake Cupcakes by 12LegsCuriosities, and EXTERMICAKE by anilineblack.