Long Time No Craft

I recently entered a graduate program to get ELL certified. I'm still teaching full time and started taking taking my first graduate course in January. It's been a long time since I've taken a graduate course and to be honest I've never taken one during the school year while I'm still teaching. I've mostly completed courses during the summer. It's a lot of reading and a lot of work but it's very interesting.

The toughest part is that my graduate course now takes up the time I used for crafting and reading for pleasure.  I'm a teacher so I read all the time however, I've always enjoyed reading just for pure entertainment and enjoyment. I love a good science fiction teen read, but it feels like I've haven't read a good book in forever. Instead I'm reading professional books and articles on language acquisition. Interesting stuff but it requires brain power and isn't reading for pleasure. This week I'm on winter break so I've decided to complete a craft or two and I'll be reading a book just for the pure enjoyment of reading. I've participated in the Goodreads book challenge for the last three years and have read 25 books each year. I'm participating again this year but I lowered my goal for this year. I hope to read 15 books in 2015. So far I've read three, but the good new is I have a couple picked out to start reading this week.

I participated in the February craft along over at Yarnigras Swapper Spot.  I created a zombie flower drink cozy using recycled wool coats and the cuff from a wool sweater. I know the point of this month's challenge was to create a coffee cozy to keep your hands warm. I love a good hot chocolate like anyone else, but I'm tired of winter and snow!! We've had over six feet of snow since January first. I just want to think spring, warm days and unsweetened ice tea. My zombie flower was created with these warm spring thoughts in mind. Maybe now that the first undead flower has bloomed, spring will finally come! Alas, wishful thinking!

I also bought some small clothespins and created these little spacemen.  I just used wooden clothespins, a thin Sharpie and twistable colored pencils to create these little guys but it feels great to be crafting again. I teach the Handwriting Without Tears curriculum to my four and five year olds at school. We're working on writing within the lines and spacing our letters. I thought these spacemen might help a few of the kids but I didn't want to leave anyone out so I made enough for the whole class. Maybe I'll get to sneak in another project before my break is over.

Wool, Doodles and a Gift

I've already started creating this summer.  One of the things I love about summertime is that I have lots of time to craft and create. My first project this summer was to create a birthday gift for my friend Kerry. Kerry has a soft spot for elephants so I couldn't resist making one from recycled wool.  I created this little elephant using this pattern I found on Pinterest.  He was hand stitched with love.

I also zentangled a mini bird house and a photo box to serve as a gift box. The gnomes are little pot hangers. I couldn't resist them, they are so cute. Kerry has a little fairy garden so I knew she could use a few gnomes to decorate it.

After shipping Kerry's elephant I decided to try making another one. I wanted it to be smaller and to have it's trunk up.  I drew a new pattern to create a little elephant. This was the final result; I think he's very cute. Since I regularly craft in jags I have a hankering to make a few more wool softies. Maybe I'll even make a whole herd of wool elephants. Of course what will I do with them all, my bookshelves are quickly filling with little wool creations.

Zombie Sheep

I love sheep and I love zombies so why not create a zombie sheep? Well I did, in fact I created two. I'm participating in a swap over a Yarnigras' Swapper Spot. The theme is zombies in the nursery so I created a black sheep and rewrote the nursery rhyme Baa, Baa Black Sheep, zombie style.

Baa, Baa Zombie Sheep

Baa, baa black sheep covered in bites and wool,

Zombies came to feast upon him until they were full.

Awaking as a member of the unliving dead,

He craves the delicious treat that’s enclosed inside your head.

Now baad, baad zombie sheep is prowling through the night

Feasting on brains and entrails, what a scary sight!

I'm not great with writing poetry, but I did enjoy making the black sheep for my partner, Chris. I tried a different method for making these zombie wounds. I layered felted wool under the top piece then cut away the top to create wounds in their skin. I created a short little zombie wound tutorial that you can see here.  You never know when the desire to create a zombie wound might strike you.  :)

After I finished the zombie sheep for Chris I decided to experiment some more with wound making. I did get a little carried away creating wounds on my white zombie sheep. He's got a lot of wounds but I was having such a good time experimenting that I couldn't stop myself. This is hilarious to me since, in my real life I can't stand anything that cuts flesh.  I scream when I get a paper cut and can't watch violent movies. Instead to relax I create zombie dolls with flesh wounds, very ironic!

Bits of Wool & Wine

By now everyone knows I love to work with wool. This year for Christmas I made lots of woolen creations to share with friends and family. You could even go so far as to say with was the year of wine and wool for me.

This little owl drink cozy is made from three recycled wool coats. I sent this to my friend Val as a Christmas surprise.

If I could make wool drink cozies why not wine cozies? So I made this tree trunk wine cozy complete with a little white owl. It's made from a recycled wool sweater and pieces of two wool coats. I hand painted these wine glasses to go with the wine cozy. These are my first ever painted wine glasses. I'm way better with a marker than a paint brush so I need to look into getting enamel markers for glass instead of using a paintbrush.

I made this set of glasses including little red birds and a tree trunk wine cozy for another co-worker. I should have added a little red bird to the wine cozy but ran out of time.

This wine cozy was created for our friend and daycare provider. She like prim decor so I though this was a good way to package up a bottle of wine. This one is literally a sweater sleeve with the cuff cut off and a bottom added. I was done hand stitching this one in 30 minutes.

These were a gift for my partner in our Secret Santa swap. This wool and angora sweater sleeve need something so I added some beaded ribbon that I received as a tuck-in during a swap. I think it added the right amount of embellishment.

Even with these wool creations, I've hardly made a dent in my wool supplies, so I need to make some more woolen creations before spring arrives. I'm thinking I need to make some new wool mittens and try making some wool slippers, since my feet are always cold.

I didn't just work with wool this Christmas. I also made a couple of bags as gifts for co-workers. I filled the bag with crafting and zentangle supplies. This one is made from the Burda Charlie bag pattern. You can print the pattern for free here.

This one is made from a printed duck cloth, using my own throw it together method. I started this last year but messed it up and ran out of time to complete it before Christmas. I had all year to fix it but didn't. Never worry, a year later I pulled it out of my UFO pile and fixed it. I gave it to my co-worker with a tag that said Merry Christmas this year and last year! She laughed and appreciated the joke. I'm lucky to have such great friends.