DIY Coasters

My apartment is a hockey apartment. If we watch a sport it is generally hockey (with the exception of OU football for me and the Broncos for Kelly). With the All Star break over and the second half of the season starting we needed some hockey gear to gear to get us excited. I have been wanting to make some coasters from tile for a while and decided this would be a perfect project to show support for our teams.


Supplies:
4X4 Tiles from Home Depot
Mod Podge
Folk Art Clear Cote Extra Thick Glaze #786 from Michaels
Felt (I chose black with glitter to add a girly touch!)
Glue Gun
Picture or design of your choice that fits on the tile (I printed off the logo's for the San Jose Sharks and the Colorado Avalanche but you could do this with almost anything, we were thinking scrapbook paper or beer labels would be fun).

1. Fit the pictures to the tile.

2. Apply a layer of Mod Podge to the tile and place the paper on the tile. My paper was slightly larger than the tile so I took a razor blade and trimmed the edges to fit the tile perfectly.

3. After letting the glue dry spray with a layer of the clear spray. This is to keep the ink from bleeding during the next step.

4. Apply a thin layer of Mod Podge over the paper. Make sure you also apply it to the side of the tiles. This will help ensure the edges of the paper don't peel up.

Don't worry the glue dries clear.

5. Let this dry and apply one more coat of Mod Podge and let dry for several hours to let set.

6. Apply the clear spray all over the coasters with emphasis on the side the top and the sides. Let dry.

7. Cut felt to attach to bottom of the coaster. You can do four inch squares or circles. I chose circles that way I could get more use out of the felt.

8. Attach the felt to the back of the coaster with glue gun.

Voila! You have your own customized coasters.

These were super easy and fun to make. I love that you can pretty much do any design on them. I want to make them for a friend's birthday but with slight motification. Cut out the shape of the logo and then glue it onto black tiles. I'll let you know how it turns out when I try it.







Disclaimer: I don't own the Colorado Avalanche or the San Jose Sharks logos.

Glitter Pumps Round 2

So I am absolutely in love with the glitter pumps I made for New Years Eve. My roommate loved them as well and decided to make a pair of her own but with silver glitter.

Kelly and I rocking our glitter shoes at the Attic on NYE

Heidi (red), Jen (black), Kelly (silver) and me (gold)

While the shoes turned out awesome there are a few kinks to work out. So here is what we learned from trial and error:

By the end of the night the glue was starting to flake off my shoes. I'm assuming because the shoes are leather and didn't have anything to bond on to. Because of this I ended up peeling all the glue off of my shoes and redoing them. To ensure that the glue stays this time I buffed the shoe with sand paper to give it a rough surface to stick to.

Kelly used a larger cut glitter than I did. While the finished product was very glittery it was also a little clumpy. This sized glitter made it very hard to apply to the shoes for some reason. For the new coat of glitter I did the first three coats in the small glitter I originally used and then mixed in a fair amount of a larger cut glitter as well as a small amount of whitish glitter for the final layer. 

Here is the new pair

I think I actually like them even more than the first time. The different sized glitter adds some dimension to the show and also makes them more sparkly! The white glitter really catches the light. Now I need to find some place to wear them!

Weddings

It seems so surreal to me that I am actually old enough to have friends that are old enough to get married. Over the summer, I was able to travel to Kansas to celebrate the marriage of a good friend of mine from high school Samantha to her husband Brett. Then this month another friend of mine, Annie, got married.

In general, I love weddings, they are so hopeful. I never leave one without believing that someday I will find someone that I want to spend the rest of my life with. I want give something special to the bride and groom that they can keep for years to come. That is why I decided to start making blankets as their present. The one I made for Sam and Brett can be see here

Here is Annie and Patrick's blanket

Their wedding colors were blue, black and white and I decided to use them for the blanket. The pattern I used was originally for a baby blanket but I add on extra rows to make it big enough for adults. After the the first three sections all have 15 rounds/rows, the 4th has 8 and the last is the border from the pattern. I was originally going to add another word in the 3 section but could never decide what I wanted and then started running out of time. I think it turned out well either way. 

While this looks complex it was surprisingly easy to make. I middle motif was the hardest part and that is only because I am not always the best at counting, therefore, I had to redo parts of it when I messed up. 

Here is the link to blog of the lady who designed the pattern:

http://smoothfoxlover.blogspot.com/

and here is her ravelry site where you can buy the actual pattern

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/foxs-baby-love-blankie

Go check it out. She has tons of patterns both free and for sell.

Granny Square Scarf

It is a well known fact that I have a scarf problem (along with a show, book, jacket and clothing in general problem). I love scarves in every size, shape and color.  Yet, oddly enough I have never actually crocheted a scarf...I guess that is what happens when you are busy making blankets for everyone.

This lack of crocheted scarves is why I decided that my next project would be...you guessed it a scarf. But what kind of scarf should I make?

The Answer:
Granny Squares. I love them. They are simple, quick and always look great.

But in an attempt to mix it up a little bit and expand my crochet skills I wanted to do some variation on the basic granny. So I googled granny square scarf and came across this website for a granny rectangle. http://suzies-yarnie-stuff.blogspot.com/2008/11/granny-scarf-c.html

 And yes I know that technically all squares are rectangles but not all rectangles are squares but I digress.

I used my go to yarn Caron Simply Soft in a red and black. I also made the scarf several inches longer than the original pattern.

 My lovely model is my good friend, Julia and I also gave her the scarf for her 18th Birthday!!

Overall, I am very happy with the finished product and I think Julia is too :)


PS. Sorry I didn't take a close up picture but I completely forgot until it was too late.