DIY: cutlery tray with cutlery silhouettes

My new cutlery tray!

I got this idea some time ago and when I was working on a project in InDesing. I don´t know why but I have always had a problem with left and right. This has made it hard for me to know what side the fork and knife should be on. And there I was doing the dishes and the tray was empty so i could not remember where we used to put the knifes and forks! Then I thought of this simple but elegant solution. So I thought that it would be a great practices to create a DIY about the idea. And of course I wanted to share my guide on to others so here it is!

It has been some time now since I made mine so I thought I would just share that the permanent marker still works great and it has not chipped away yet. Also I just love how simple and subtle it is. And when the tray is full its invisible so you only see it when you need it! Do share if you make one yourself or if you try my idea with the vinyl!

Crochet halloween candy baskets

I really enjoy decorating, crafting and baking for Halloween. Even baked a pumpkin pie! Also I always try to throw a Halloween party with lots of candy of course. So for this year I crocheted candy baskets. Sure they are mostly suited for paper-wrapped candy but that´s a small price to pay to have such cute baskets. I made a simple candy corn inspired basket. In Sweden we don´t have candy corn but the colours are just so much Halloween and it will work great for Easter as well! Of course my cat could not leave the wrapped candy alone. She is really crazy about all things that makes rustling noises.

Crocheted candy corn inspired candy basket.

My second basked I actually crafted for saint Patrick's day. But I think it also works great as a witch cauldron. I´m also really pleased with how it turned out so I love using it. Usually it stands on my TV bench at the end of my Nyan cat made out of pearl beads filled with my various Hama bead coasters.

Crocheted cauldron candy basket.

Books and crafts

I´m a bookworm that have a sweet tooth for fantasy. Almost anything fantasy, sci-fi, or adventure works for me. Especially if they involve zombies, magic, monsters  or a dystopia.  That said I have not nearly done enough book related crafts and it's something I need to fix. It feels easier to make crafts about books that have been made in to as movies or a series. Then you have something visual to go after, more than just the cover of the book. Sure if it's a comic then it doesn't matter but not many books even have pictures or drawings of any sort  inside. One book craft that I did some time ago is this pocket book cover for the Hunger games series.

The front of the cover. I have used two different simple fabrics. Some black silk ribbons. Yellow fleece and yellow embroidery thread. 

The inside. You just insert the cover between the layers. Then I have one ribbon as bookmark and two ribbons on the sides to tie the book shut.

My hunger games books.

I try to read as much as I can. I spend at least 10-30 minutes each night reading. Also I try to always bring a book if I´m going to travel by train or buss. My latest read was  the Zombie Survival Guide. I wanted to read that before reading World War Z and want to read the books before seeing the movie. Don´t really know if it would make any difference but I just prefer it that way. The book was a easy and fun to read and I just love all the "facts" in it. As well as all the supply list and what not. It really makes it feel legit, like all the events have actually happened. Though It make me feel a bit grim over my hopes for surviving a zombie apocalypse. Though at least I'm more prepared and know what and what not to do now!

The cover also makes it feel like a real guide.

While waiting for World War Z to arrive I'm reading Boneshaker. Its sort of a alternate universe, sci-fi, dystopia, zombie, steam punk, adventure novel. Picked it up as a eBook from the lasted Humble eBook Bundle. Its a interesting and easy read and I'm enjoying it a lot. Had not heard of it before I saw it on the Humble Bundle and looking forward to read the other books that I got in the bundle. Really want to find more unique and interesting books especially the ones that are a bit more unknown. So many great books I bet I have missed because I have not heard of them. So I would love to get recommendation of books that might suit me!

Tetris

Looking at my previous posts I notice they were quite lengthy. That was not really intended, somehow it sort of just happened. I will try to write shorter posts or at least more short ones and perhaps a long one now and then. Now to the topic of this post. I´m really in to games if you had not already guessed. I think some games are more suited for crafting. Tetris is one of those games. How can you not love the simple geometry of the shapes and the vibrant colours they have.

So the first big Tetris craft I did was a crochet bag made from small granny squares. It has 60 pieces and 8 colours. It took a lot of time, mostly with the assembly. It's always hard to sew the pieces together in a way that looks good. I have made a bunch of granny square projects (will most likely share them in future posts) and don´t know why but I have always done it by sewing the squares together. I would like to try other methods for joining them but have never gotten around to doing so.

My favorite side of my bag. Did an overexposed image so you can distinguish the pattern. Even if the colours are slightly off.

It is starting to get pretty worn after all the use over the years. Biggest mistake was making the shoulder strap too thin and too long. Did not think it would stretch that much.

I have worked with many different crafting techniques and done a lot of projects. But for some reason I have not been in to paper crafts that much. At most I have done some origami or other small projects. But I was curious about it and I bought some scrapbook paper and borrowed some paper punchers from a friend. So after getting some inspiration on what to craft with a round paper puncher I got the idea to make a more subtle Tetris art. It's now hanging over my crafting table.

Different scrapbook paper for each shape and colour. Simple green frame.

Super Mario

My love for the Mario franchise started with a SNES when I was little. Even if I only had a few games I loved it and was one of my favorite pastimes. My favorite games was the Donkey Kong Country series and of course Super Mario Bros! I had the three Donkey Kong games which I played a lot together with my little brother. Even tough we were not that good at them and sometimes needed help from one of our older neighbor kids to finish a course. Of the Mario games I only owned Super Mario All-Star. Even though it being a remake of the three original Super Mario Bros games and the lost levels it was brilliant! I could play all of them in one which I thought was cool. So for just owning one Mario game I think it was then best one.

Still works after all this years

But one game that really made me love the Mario franchise was Super Mario World which I borrowed from a friend. Yoshi just stole my 8 year old heart away. I loved the soundtrack to the game and still do! It was just such a fun and colorful game to play. Even if I did not get very far (I thought it was pretty hard if I remember correctly). I could not borrow it forever so I was sad when I had to return it. It's one game I still would love to add to my collection.

Yoshi I made with mini Hama beads

At that point I was pretty hooked on the Mario games. So when we saw the Nintendo64 me and my bother was thrilled. It surely is the best and most played console I have ever owned. To be able to play four players even if the screen was small was just so much fun. Super Mario 64 was at that point the best game I had ever played! But to be honest there were a lot of awesome games for the N64 for example the James Bond games. I really loved to play that with friends, even if me and my brother played it a lot just the two of us. But it is with four players that the game really shines. I had both Goldeneye and The World Is Not Enough. Both of them are excellent and so much fun. Of course if your in to multiplayer games and Mario you could not own a N64 and not have Mario Kart and Mario Party! I ended up playing Mario Kart so much I started playing it with my feet instead just so it could give me a new challenge.

Mini garden made by me with Hama Beads

Two of my retro game coasters also have two mushroom coasters
and a bunch from other games

After that I did not play that many other Mario games for some time. But then the Nintendo Wii Mario Anniversary Edition released I new that I really had to get it! With it I got Super Mario Bros Wii. It's a game in a similar style to the old bros games. Except with a lot of new features. I have played it a bunch but mostly with friends. The game is so messed up with four players that it is hilarious (due to player collision). I might not play Mario Games that much anymore and I have yet not tried Super Mario Galaxy (gasp!). Instead I do Mario crafts. So this week I finished up my second Mario related painting. The first one I did was a big painting of the first part of the first course in Super Mario Bros 3. I used both mini Hama beads and acrylic paint on a canvas that is 70 x 50 cm (about 27.5 x 20 inches). It took me a lot of hours to complete but I am so happy with it. I could not wish for a better piece of art on the wall above the sofa. 

My first Mario theme painting

Close up of Mario

So after completing such a big painting I was pretty reluctant to paint for sometime. Even if I painted other things it did take a long time before I felt like doing another Mario painting. This time I knew I wanted to make something smaller and from another Mario game. So I chose to do a painting of a painting! Specifically a painting from Super Mario 64. So my goal is to make a set of four world paintings of the courses 1-4. So as I said I have just finished the painting for the first course Big Bob-omb On The Summit and are working on the others. They are much smaller only 15 cm (or about 6 inches) wide square painted with acrylic painting. I´m so pleased with the first painting. Hope you like it to!

Big Bob-omb On The Summit

So this is how it starts

I have thought about starting a blog for a long time now so it feels great to finally have done it! The thing that have caused me to postpone it the most must have been the name. Some how I got it into me that it´s the most important thing about a blog. It had to be unique, memorable, not to long, funny and above all awesome. Also it wanted it to be partly descriptive of my blog. To fit all this in a name ended up being a way too unobtainable goal.

Even though my process of finding a name was long I also learned a lot. My first thought was about combining words of and about different crafts I do, like crocheting, knitting, sewing and painting into a blog name. Possibly also adding an adjective. Well like I was the only one that had ever thought about that!! Lots of writing and googleling later I gave up. Then I tried to add different substantives I liked, e.g. tea, yarn, leaf, tree, flower, cat, shark, book etc. Well that went a bit better and not all names where taken or gave a huge amount of hits but still plenty.

Then this summer I said to my self that I need to lower the goal of my name and just take a name so I could start blogging! Since that is what I actually want to get started with. So after just making up random names and combining two words. I particularly liked words combined of two different animals similar to Sharktopus or Catbug. It also got me thinking about the game "Impossible Creatures". Which I had a demo copy of when I was little and played a bunch! The concept is just so fun. Combining two different animals into a freaky crossbreed. A concept also found in Kim Possible (an awesome kids' show I like) where one of the villains called "DNAmy" uses a machine to crossbreed animals to look like fantasy stuffed toys she collected. Also this is sort of a small inside joke among friends that we paint crossbreed animals in paint and send to each other, well it has at least happened more then twice!

A drawing by me of Catbug from the Youtube show Bravest Warriors

So this was totally a concept of which I felt was a good fit for my blog name. What remained was just to pic what two animals to cross and how to give it a small pun or a other reference. To not make this post even longer then it is I´m just going to summarize that I like dinosaurs and a lot of other animals. So I tried some mixes and that's how Owlodactyls was born. Thanks for reading my first post if you made it this far!