Krampus Challenge – Day 23, A Wicked Skirt

So I’ve switched gears from crochet to sewing and am back at work on my outfit for Christmas Eve Mass, better know around here as “Drag-Your-Buddhist-to-Church Day.” I’ve got a lovely long skirt in pieces at the sewing machine right now, and I decided I wanted to applique something to it. So I spent the evening cutting out this…

 

Pirate Girl panel

“Ahoy there, ye scurvey dogs!”

 
Gorgeous, isn’t she? And she has two sisters, just waiting to be cut out as well. I think I’m only going to get this one appliqued to the skirt, but it’s a perfect match for the colors of the skirt fabric! And it will go with the Krampus Cowl I made at the beginning of the month. So I should look wonderful for tomorrow evening 😀

Krampus Challenge – Day 22, Krampus Raven #2 is finished!

 

Two Krampus Ravens

These ain’t two turtle doves!

 
Yay! I finally got the second Krampus Raven finished this evening. You can see that the colors match pretty closely. I didn’t have a dark grey for the smaller bird, but the dark maroon and black match perfectly, and I even had a smaller pair of the same kind of safety eyes! The only other difference, aside from the light grey/silver yarn, is the shape of the belly. I think I accidentally added a couple rows to the belly of the smaller raven, because it didn’t sew up the same as the  larger one, but other than that, they’re a perfect match!

I’m going to put the small one on my Krampus Tree, and the larger one on the Christmas Tree! And then, I’m going to move on to the next project! Taa!

Krampus Challenge – Day 21, The Second Krampus Raven in Progress

 

Krampus Raven in Progress!

What a pretty little birdie!

 
I realize it’s very hard to see the colors on this, but this raven will be black and very dark maroon with just a touch of sliver-grey. The little pointed round pieces are the wings, and they are maroon with black embroidery on them. I could have used colors with more contrast, but this is suppose to be a raven after all!

I should have this assembled by tomorrow. The next project after that will be to make a long skirt to go with the Krampus Cowl I made at the beginning of the month. It’s also going to be in dark colors – black with dark purple vines on it, and appliques of pirate girls! Perfect to wear to Christmas Eve Mass 🙂

Krampus Challenge – Day 20, Three Elf Heads Are Better Than One!

 

Shrunken Elf Heads!

Ta-daa! A trio of shrunken elf heads!

 
I managed to get these three finished today. I’m very pleased with how they turned out. They’re a very simple project, but even simple projects take a bit of planning and thought.  I experimented a bit with each elf hat to determine exactly how I wanted to make it. Small things – like crocheting in the front loop only on the bottom row – make it easier to assemble the final product.

I also noticed a few things about the yarn I used for these. For the most part, I went with Red Heart. Red Heart has plenty of shades of green and red, and some of the greens are perfect for making zombies. However, some of these yarns were more difficult to work with than others. Some of the reds had a stiffer feel to them, making them harder to stitch. One of the heads I made with Vanna’s Choice, which is one of my favorite yarns to make toys and amigurumi with. The difference between your basic Red Heart and Vanna’s Choice is very noticeable. Vanna’s Choice is much softer and easier to use. But it’s also more expensive, so there’s that to take into account.

I also did a little sketch today of my little shrunken elf heads.

 

Elf Heads Sketch!

This is exactly what our tree looks like right now.

 
I drew this in a book called “Never Quit Drawing,” by Laura Simms, illustrated by Kerby Rosanes. The little duck and snail critters at the lower left of this sketch are Rosanes’ work, as is the pencil at the top of the page. The rest of the artwork is all mine. The idea behind “Never Quit Drawing” is to establish a daily drawing habit. The book guides you through the process of developing habits in general, and looking at how drawing habits affect an artists work in particular. After each chapter, there are pages for the reader to draw on, with a spot to write down the time of day the drawing was done, and the mood/energy level of the artist. Obviously, i wasn’t feeling my best this morning (see the note on “tired, joint pain’). But i did get my drawing done for today.

TTomorrow, I hope to finish off the second Krampus Raven and maybe get started on a Ginger-Dead Man ornament. We’ll see how it goes.

Krampus Challenge – day 18, Hats and Heads

 

Shrunken elf hats and heads!

Look at the lovely shrunken elf hats and heads!

 
I decided to keep making parts for the shrunken elf heads, and then spend an afternoon stitching the pieces together. So now I have two hats and two heads. I hope to get another set done tomorrow.

The girls are off from school. We are going to see Star Wars tomorrow. Hubster and I are celebrating the 25th anniversary of our first date. Twenty-five years ago, we went out to watch “Home Alone.” Don’t laugh. It was the only thing playing in our small college town at the time.

Krampus Challenge – Day 17, Krampus Kitty in a Hat!

 

Krampus Kitten!

“I will have my revenge for this, human.”

 
I’m almost finished with another shrunken elf head. I had hoped to be further along, but today turned out to be a busy day. Among other thing, I had 7 loads of laundry to get folded. I have decided that laundry is probably the ultimate Krampus present. It’s that gift that never stops giving, unfortunately.

I plan to finish off this elf head and the second Krampus raven tomorrow. Aftert that, we’ll see what I get done next!

Krampus Challenge – Day 16, Krampus Ornaments in Progress

 

Krampus Ornaments in Progress!

My Krampus projects are all in pieces right now.

 
These are two very different ornaments in progress right now – a shrunken elf head and a Krampus raven. I thought I had picked a dark red for the elf hat, but then I put it next to the raven’s wings and saw that it wasn’t really all that dark after all.

Hopefully, I’ll get one of these finished tomorrow. I’m also working on a Christmas gift for a family member. That needs to be done this week too. Oh, and did I mention I now have to bathe our cats on a regular basis? They have fleas, and I’m going to be cleaning them up for a while. Cats really are the creatures of Krampus, especially when they’re being bathed.

Krampus Challenge – Day 15, Creepy Eyeballs!

Look! I made a pretty holiday picture!

He sees you when you're sleeping...

Doesn’t this make you feel festive?!

I obviously still need to do a little cleaning up on this, because the strings for the two smaller ornaments are peeking up through the lettering on the top, but that’s for tomorrow. I’m going to hunt down Zazzle’s latest greeting card template and put this on there. I know it’s very late to set up holiday cards for Christmas, but hey, some of us don’t get our Christmas cards out until July!

Technical info – this graphic was made with Assembly for the iPad, with text and gradients handled in Corel Draw on my Surface Pro.

I’m going to bed now. Sleep tight! And don’t let the sugar plum fairies bite!

Krampus Challenge – Day 14, Little birdy!

I finally, FINALLY, got started on the smaller Krampus Raven ornament. 

Tiny Krampus Raven Hexagon

Hurray! I made another hexagon!

 

I made the last Krampus Raven using Vanna’s Choice yarn. This time I’m using Vanna’s Glamour yarn, which is a much finer yarn. I expect thisraven will be a quarter of the size of the first one. I’m very glad that I’m able to use the same colors again – black, burgandy, and grey. But this time around, the raven will be a bit sparkley!

As for what happened on Day 12 on the challenge…

Day 12 was eaten up by preparations for our Girl Scout troop meeting. The troop meets at my house, and the girls spent all day Sunday cooking a HUGE meal for their parents. Yes, I turned seven girls loose in my kitchen and let them use every pot, pan, and dish in the house to cook a meal. The girls did clean up after themselves, and the volunteers did quite a bit of cleaning as well (for which I am very, VERY, grateful). However, before I could have the troop over at my house to cook, I had to clean the place up and get groceries for the dishes the girls were cooking. And then I had a party to go to on top of all that. So Saturday ended up being a very busy day. I did do some Krampus crafting though. I added a small crocheted loop to the shrunken elf head I made so it could be hung from a tree. And then I wrapped it up and took it with me to the party, where Hubster and I played “Dirty Santa” with all the other black belts and instructors from our dojo. The proud owner of the shrunken elf head ended up being the wife of our head instructor. She was so thrilled with her gift that she put it on her tree… upstairs. I think that was probably the best place to put it. Might scare the grand kids if they came over for the holidays.

Hopefully tomorrow I will get a lot more done on this raven. And I am playing around a bit with the graphic I posted yesterday. I think it would make an excellent greeting card or t-shirt. I’ll post the final version when I’ve got it done!

Krampus Challenge – Day 11, Shrunken Elf Head Ornament

I finished the cowl today, but I haven’t been able to take a decent photo of it yet, so I’m sharing this tonight instead. 

Shrunken Elf Head!

How’s this for a Krampus ornament?!

 

Hubster and I are going to a party tomorrow, and we were told to bring a gift that cost no more than $5 for a “fun holiday game.” Yeah, right. I hate Secret Santa. Unless, of course, I’m giving the gift of shriveled up body parts }:D

This took me about 2 hours to make, while watching TV. The hat measures longer than my hand from finger tips to wrist. I’m considering crocheting up a couple of elfie ears to stick on it, if I have time. We’ll see. This actually looks pretty good by itself, though. Just nees a hook to hang it from the tree 😀

I’m sure this will be very popular at Secret Santa tomorrow night.