PONY PARTY Part 2: Fluttershy

To read PONY PARTY Part 1: Rainbow Dash, go here.

There ain't no party like a pony party..... 

I have about five million pictures of horses and ponies on my camera right now. There was a TON of horses at the fair. (I'll post my annual fair report in a day or two.) So the pony party has moved beyond crochet! On a semi-related note, I am pretty sure I could train a mini horse to be my next dog. I would never need to mow my back yard. I could take it on  walks and put it in sweet little outfits... ahhhhhhh. Dreams.

Aren't merry-go-rounds so pretty? I love the details and the slightly terrifying faces on the horses. They're not as cute as this week's pony for Lily's birthday project extravaganza though!!!

Here's Fluttershy!

She's so soft and the colors, though not my usual bright favorites, turned out fantastically. 

If you remember, I'm using the pattern from AcrylicSheep on etsy. She's got some great pony creations on her ravelry. I also found out that she has all the cutie mark patterns for FREE. I was really impressed because they were so simple. Time is of the essence with this project so I'll have to save all the cutie marks until the end. I just think the ponies look incomplete without them! That is also the kind of detail Lily will notice.

I was planning on finishing Pinkie after Rainbow Dash, but I got my hands on the yellow yarn first. I crocheted all the smaller pieces first and the head and body later. It made things go quickly. My biggest problem is convincing myself not to rush through. Two done, four go!

I still say Lily is going to be extremely spoiled, don't you agree?


I shared this post at Hooking on Hump Day!

PONY PARTY Part 1: Rainbow Dash

Look what I got in the mail yesterday.

A WHOLE BOX OF YARN! 

Aren't the colors pretty? A little scattered, I'll admit, but that's because I'm working on my latest project.

Lily's birthday is a little over a month away. She'll be 9 years old. 9 YEARS OLD. Every year I do this. I wonder how the heck she's grown so fast. Then I cry about it a little.  

Lily l-o-v-e-s My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. We watch it all the time. We have conversations about the "mane six" characters. My husband can quote the characters. I'll admit, I am a bit of a pony geek too, it was one of my favorites when I was little. 

I had the idea brewing to make her the ponies as a birthday gift, but had no idea how to pull it off. So I did a bit of searching and found out that MLP crochet is actually a pretty popular activity. Who knew? There are some gorgeous patterns and plushies out there. I bought a few because they were so cute. (I don't normally buy patterns, but the madness overtook me.)

AcrylicSheep on etsy had the pattern that I decided to actually use. Look at her adorable ponies!!!! 

Find this picture and the pattern here.

They're small enough to realistically do all six and the pattern gives you instructions for all the pony accessories! I may have become a pattern-buying convert. I'm so excited! With my first week of school out of the way and homework already piling up, I need quick and easy. This fits the bill without sacrificing cuteness or the end product. I love that I can do any pony from the show with this pattern. I may have to add in one or two extra if I have time. Lily would die if I could pull off some of the other characters like Princess Celestia or Princess Cadence. (For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, I apologize. I guess I should have put up geek warning sign at the top of this post.)

I've started on Rainbow Dash first. She's one of my favorites. 

The pattern was very easy to follow. Since this is my first attempt at amigurumi, I'm extremely pleased with how little Dash turned out. 

I'll post each pony as I complete them so be prepared to see lots of pony pictures over the next month. Next, I think I'm going to work on Pinkie Pie. 

Did you know that there is enough guy fans of this show that they have their own "BRONY" convention? Isn't that kind of awesome and goofy at the same time? Girl fans go by Pegasisters. The things people come up with these days! Very clever...I do love wordplay.

What do you think? BEST PRESENT EVER, or what? My kids are so lucky to have me as a mom. Hehe. It's a good thing I'm pretty humble about it.  *wink wink*

I have shared this post with Hooking on Hump Day Show and Tell Saturday Frugal Friday and Overflowing with Creativity!

Crochet Puppets are quite possibly the best thing ever.

I had this great idea earlier in the summer. Crochet. Puppets. 

Despite my ever growing crochet skills, I hadn't quite made the brain jump to make this idea work out. I tried about five different times.

Too big. 

Too small.

Mouth is too weird. 

And so on. Picky, picky.

Finally, I figured it out. A big part of that was due to this wonderful pattern from Stitch 11. I searched for hours trying to find a pattern just like this one. So then I tried it and that huge help to me led to these adorable little friends!

I kind of took the snake puppet idea and ran with it. These two puppets were for some of my friends of the shorter nature. A pair of 6 year old twins who were very particular when placing their orders. Twin #1 requested a blue and green puppet with an orange hat. Twin#2 requested a pink and purple puppet with yellow hair. I think I did pretty good. Aside from the basic idea of Stitch 11's pattern, the rest of the puppet such as the hat, eyes, hair and tongues were all my own. I even added eyelashes to the girl puppet! 

I wanted to also try playing around with crochet letters, and I had a lot of fun doing that part! 

The first letter of their name on their puppets was the icing on the cake for the twins. I was so cool for doing that part. There are some great letter tutorials out there and pattern diagrams, if you are interested. Each letter took less than 5 minutes to make and look how personalized of a detail it is! 

Lily and Sage were my product testers. About thirty seconds in to testing, I got the approval. I had to immediately promise Lily that I would make her a girl puppet. And a dragon. And a fish, because Sage likes fish. 

I have since started on Lily's list of puppets and I'll post more pictures of those later! I think these are my new favorite thing to crochet. I know, I know, I always say that. But look at these happy faces! There was no counting stitches, no worrying about perfection. These puppets are more charming because they aren't perfect. I think we all need a little less perfect in our life.

Now Lily is wanting a puppet show. She wants a stage and chairs and of course, an audience! So if you randomly get invited to a puppet show and the invitation is in crayon, you'll know where it came from! 

If you are interested in a pattern for the hat, eyes, hair, etc. please let me know. I can write those up if someone needs them! Also, for yarn buffs: I used Lily  Sugar and Creme 100% cotton yarn (you can guess why I picked this yarn I bet). These puppets can go on adventures and get wet and go in the wash. I wanted them played with after all! The colors I used were: Hot Blue, Hot Green, Grape, Hot Orange, Hot Pink, and Sunshine. Lot's of hotness up in here...

I loved making these and I am so proud of how they turned out! I just can't seem to stay away from making toys. Although, husbandy face even mentioned that he wants one of these puppets. HA!

If you use my puppet idea, please make sure to thank Stitch 11 for her pattern and also to link back here to my blog! I would love to see how you come up with some adornments and puppet friends! 

I have linked this post to: Hooking on Hump Day Frugal Friday Hooking Up with HOH Inspiration Gallery

To-Do Tuesday: The tale of the super, spoiled, crafty mama....

Remember how months back, I talked about doing a Silhouette feature if I ever got my Cameo? Guess I'm going to have to put my money where my mouth was because....

*drum roll*

I got a Cameo for Christmas.

Side note: I have the absolute best mom in the world. She's who I want to be when I grow up.

Cameo's are like Cricuts, but they use the computer instead of cutting blocks. They are soooooOooo cool.

I only have about 5 million projects I would like to accomplish with it. My favorites so far....

1. Put a funny vinyl on the side of my bath tub.

2. Make silhouettes of my kids and put them EVERYWHERE.

3. Make Emergency Contact temp tattoos for traveling with my kids. I think this is pure genius. Also, might actually come in handy because Lily likes to run first and ask permission later.

4. Never worry about a housewarming gift or wedding gift again. I'll just whip up etched baking dishes.

5. Make the list of growing t-shirts that my husband has requested.... also, make cute baby onesies.

7. MAKE THIS BAG. "I like big books and I can not lie..." Bwhahahahaha.

I could go on...oh yes, I could. 

I haven't pulled it out to play yet because I'm waiting on some supplies, but I'm sure I'll let you know when I make something. ;) Thanks again, best Mom ever!!!!