Too many fish!

A couple of months ago, one of my Mollies from the brackish tank had babies. By the time I realized it, there were only two left swimming around. I never wanted to deal with fry so I intentionally bought only female Mollies. Couple that with the carnivorous bumblebee gobies and I thought I was free from that potential problem.

Unfortunately one of the Mollies was pregnant when I bought her and, as I learned later, can release babies for months. I am completely incapable of dealing with knowing there were little fish in there awaiting their doom so I saved them, thinking I could handle two more in the tank and hoping neither was male.  I took good care of them and patiently waited for the day they would be big enough to be released from their fry tank.

Today I was walking by the tank when what caught my eye? More fry, desperately trying to avoid the gobies. I instinctively ran for the net and saved nine of them. So now I have 11 fry to deal with. More than I can handle. I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place. I can't knowingly and purposefully kill them, and yet I don't have the space for them.

I think I'll call a couple fish stores for advice.

The floozy and her offspring

More charms and clips to go with them

Needless to say, I am in love with making charms.  I'm not any good at it and I really don't have the tools/colors/etc. to really go nuts, but I love it.  I was feeling pretty sick this weekend and wasn't motivated to do anything except make a few of these.

Cupcakes!

Lollipops!

Lauren "designed" this cupcake

Hello Kitty! (sorta)

 

My First Step in Making Charms

I've been interested in creating charms from clay for some time. I love them myself and thought they might make a good addition to my hair clips. This was my first attempt. Minnie Mouse was obviously a very easy choice to start with but I think it ended up beyond cute. Lauren loves the completed clip and I plan to make many, many more.

Blogger's Choice

Quokka Quilts is having a kind of contest, sponsored by Fat Quarter Shop,  to see who will make the next Blogger's Choice bundle for the shop.  Here's my entry!  I started off with a couple Happy Mochi Yum Yum as I've been in love with that fabric for ages and am just looking for an excuse (and the money!) to buy some.  Wish me luck, though I'm fairly certain I'm the only one in the world who would like this and think it looks nice together!

Top Row (left-right):

 Bella Solids Amelia Green

Garden District Green French Ribbon

Happy Mochi Yum Yum Cherry Floraburst

Row 2

Happy Mochi Yum Yum Lime India

I Heart Green Oval Geo

Kona Orange

Row 3

Kona Peony

Pimatex Basics Pink Dotted Lines

Pimatex Basics Pink Lovely Circles

Row 4

Pinfeathers Pink Birds of a Feather

Power Pop Strawberry Girlfriend

Power Pop Strawberry Big Star

Row 5

Prince Charming Olive Dew Drop

Taza Pink Josephine

Taza Fuchsia Geo

I have created a garment!

I finally ventured into the terrifying world of sewing clothes!  Now, I will be the first to admit that I dipped the tiniest part of my tippy tippy toe into that vast pool of sewing, but I still did it. :)

I made a pair of lounge pants for Clark with more on deck for him and Lauren, as well as Dan and myself.  So easy, so much cheaper than the store *and* they can be whatever we want them to be.  Very excite.

More photos as more are made.

Adventure Time Costumes - Princess Bubblegum and The Ice King

Princess Bubblegum

Princess Bubblegum worried me the most as her dress is very plain and I was concerned with being able to find something in the stores that would work, or if I would have to resort to *gulp* making a dress.

Luckily, I happened upon a very inexpensive costume dress at a Halloween shop that would do the trick with just a little bit of help.

Before

After

With an enormous amount of help from my good friend Jana (who has dress and costume making experience!), we just had to remove the netting from the neckline and waist and add a purple yolk and scallop neck, poofy sleeves, and sash,  and it had to be hemmed.  I don't know what I would have done without her help as this was all well beyond my capabilities.

Wearing a pink shirt and pink leggings took care of the pink skin issue, for the most part, and that left her crown and long pink hair.

The hair was another large hurdle as I needed it straight, parted down the middle or short bangs, super long and pink.  I found a great white wig that would do the trick for little cost and eventually found a tutorial on dyeing synthetic hair.

I figured out the best white:red ratio for the ink and went to town over the next two days to dye the wig:

The gear

Day 2, trying out soaking

Out for spraying and drying

Unfortunately, after all that work, the color was pretty great but the fibers couldn't stand up to the effort.  Despite washing it and using detanglers and other conditioning agents, it looked like this:

A pretty in pink rat's nest

Soooo I looked around online for more wigs and decided to invest in a cosplay quality wig from a Chicago supplier, Arda Wigs.  I received it in two days, the quality was incredible, and it will be used and enjoyed for years to come.  Plus, it looked perfect.

Lastly, I had her crown.  I really wasn't sure how to do this item as well but in the end found some gold-ish colored felt, covered posterboard with the felt and added a blue gem at the top.  I also reinforced it with a popsicle stick.

Here's my PB

Ice King was by far the easiest costume, partly because my husband didn't want to wear any blue makeup and in the end didn't want a fake nose or anything similar.

Ice King

I found a graduation gown in a thrift shop that was just the right shade of blue.  That left his beard and wig, which I found online for pretty cheap.  I made the crown much like I did Princess Bubblegum's, but added red sparkly foam "gems".  Easy peasy lemon greasy.

This experience has gotten me past the fear of making costumes and now I can't wait for next year!

Adventure Time Costumes - Finn

I thought I would take a few minutes to talk about how I made their costumes, in case anyone was interested.  In truth, not very many people knew who they were and I figured that would be the case.  At all the events we went to for Halloween I heard only two parents recognize them (one who seemed embarrassed that he had and another who was thrilled) and many, many kids who were excited and declared them the "best costumes ever!" to their confused parents. :)  But really, I was just happy that my two loved their costumes and were proud to wear them.

I'll start with Finn as he was the most work (for me) but really defined everyone else's costumes.

Finn with his best friend Jake, the dog

My little Finn

For this costume I absolutely needed the hat and backpack.  It was nearly impossible to find exact color matches for the shirt and shorts, especially at this time of year, so I went with a sky blue shirt he already owned and found the fleece pants (perfect color) at Walmart and hemmed them (my first time hemming!).

I bought the sword and the stuffed Jake at ToysRUs as I'm not quite ready to attempt to make a stuffed animal.   And to be honest, my time was rather limited.

I found a pattern for the hat online. I ended up making two hats (and lots of mistakes...keep in mind this was my first time sewing something that wasn't a quilt/tag blanket) and discarded the first as I didn't like the placement of the "ears" (though I'm thinking it might be my winter hat!).  I also went back into this one to reinforce the ears with popsicle sticks, though they were still a little floppy.

I had my usual "helpers"

For his backpack I ended up covering up a round pillow form and sewing on straps and a button.  You can't imagine my frustration when I realized the straps were two colors, but at that point it was too late and I had run out of fabric and time.

The Finn costumes I found online sort of stopped at the shorts, but I felt it was important to roll his white socks and put on dark shoes.

And there you have it!