It's been a busy week. My little one is transitioning from a two nap schedule to a one nap. Which means she's cranky as well as
Finding time to devote to Craft Adventure Ventures as well as make time to blog about them has really been a trial. For instance I had set a goal that I would finish knitting the scarf, get it cleaned and have it mailed off by Wednesday. By Tuesday night I had managed to mangle the pattern completely and I still wasn't finished with it. I decided to set it aside so that I could finish my brother's gift and then I could tackle either finishing the scarf as is, or go back (pull all the stitches) and fix what I had messed up. Late night knitting doesn't agree with me apparently, at least when there is a pattern involved. Instead of trying to be superwomen and finish all the CAVs in a few months, I'm going to be more realistic about my goals. I have a lot on my plate, it's okay if I only complete one Craft Adventure Venture a week. I'll still hit 52 projects by July 2013, I have to keep that in perspective.
I was able to complete one CAV this week and it's a birthday gift for my Brother. Carrying on with the theme of Murphy's Law, I had anticipated only spending about 30 minutes creating my brother's gift. It turned into a 2 day ordeal because I didn't follow instructions. The good news is that it now counts as a full Craft Adventure Venture, the bad news is that I had to buy new supplies in order to finish the gift.
Project # 4 - Keep Calm T-shirt
I'm sure you've seen them around the internet and stores, the Keep Calm and 'Fill in the Blank' signs and items. While trolling through Pinterest I came across this charming picture. (Sorry, the link doesn't direct to an artist) I thought, that it would make a great shirt for my brother, who is an avid hockey fan and player, and so set out to create said shirt.
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| (Here's where the 'Keep Calm' thing comes from, in case you have no idea what I'm talking about right now. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keep_Calm_and_Carry_On. And I think the first person I ever saw wearing anything with Keep Calm on it was Rupert Grint at a Harry Potter movie premiere, but I digress) |
If I had more time I would have tried the screen printing technique I had found on Pinterest, but I knew that wasn't going to happen this week, so I went with t-shirt transfer instead. I have used them before with great success, but I guess it just wasn't in the cards, because I had nothing but trouble this time out.
First snag I encountered was that I really didn't like the way the image from Pinterest looked when I printed it out. It just wasn't interesting enough for a t-shirt. Also I was limited to 8.5x11" which isn't really a very large image. So I created a new image and I liked it. But then I realized that I didn't think the words were quite right for my brother, so I changed those too. But in order to do that I needed a font that looked more like the one used on the poster. (If I'm gonna do something, I'm gonna do it right) And low & behold I found this site - Free Font - Keep Calm Typeface : http://www.k-type.com/?p=2156. Isn't the internet great? On a small side note, this isn't exactly like the original because the originals were hand lettered, but this is the one that looked the closest to me.
Second monkey wrench in the works was when I learned that t-shirt transfers get old, and when they get old, they don't work as well. It turned out really neat and kind of vintage looking and then I ran my hand across it to fix a small snag and it tore. Not all the way off, but enough that it made a nice big hole and completely ruined it as a gift. (Hooray! Another night shirt, can never have too many night shirts. *sigh*) At this point my choice was, spend hours picking the transfer off the shirt, washing it and trying to use the fabric markers I have to finish the project. Or run to the store get a new shirt & start over.
I went with option two, new shirt (found a much cooler base t-shirt so that worked out nicely) and new transfers. You would think, I would have been more careful this second go round, but again, I didn't fully read the instructions and I printed the image improperly. However, before trying to affix it to the t-shirt I cruised through the guide and realized my mistake. In addition to finding out I had printed the damn thing backwards I also found out that the background would remain white, not transparent like the first set of transfers I had used. Which meant I had to go back and tweak the image again. (If you are keeping score at home, that is now the fourth time the image has been changed. So much for a 30 minute project.)
Even after reading the instructions the shirt didn't come out how I originally thought. Which is fine, because the way it turned out looks more like a vintage t-shirt image. All's well that ends well, I guess. Hopefully my brother will like it and wear it and not be confused about why I even made it for him.
Here's the finished Craft Adventure Venture -
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| I'm hoping it will soften up a bit more as it's worn & washed. |
My goal for this week: finish the scarf. I'd add more to this list, but it's a very hectic week and I'm being pragmatic. If by chance I am able to do more, it's the cherry on the sundae.
That about wraps it up, more fun with time management next week. Oh, and lest you think I have forgotten:
Go-Big-or-Go-Home Peanut Butter Truffle Brownies
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| Brownie Porn |
1 Craft Adventure Venture brings the count to 48 CAV projects to go!
*Actual quote/poem from Robert Burns: http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/32287.html
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