December 2023 Crafting Month

 

The YMCA has a lot of crafting events that I hope to make it too this month, plus there are a few online challenges I am going to try for too! 

I have finished several things for my Stablemate scale barn - check out my Bridle Tree Barn Raising Challenge - HERE!

And the first night was WINTER CANDLES. 

Supplies

Wax

Dandelion and Cinnamon

Lemongrass, Lavendar and peppermint

The group of us

My two Tins

Completed Candles

I came home from the candle making and had some ornaments that I bought to paint and was inspired to paint ornaments so they got finished! 

Then on to CERAMICS night!

I have to admit I was a bit disappointed in this ceramics night. In past events we could pick an item we wanted to paint from a certain price point. This one, it was MUGS only. Honestly, had I known that I would have cancelled my spot. I am jsut not a mug person. 

They took a couple days to get it glazed/fired but here is the result:

The next class is Necklaces - I do two of these classes this month. The first one I ended up canceling going to because it was snowing so badly couldn't see the road. 

I did make it to the soap making on Saturday, December 9, 2023. 

Supplies and molds

Supplies and molds

In the molds

I had to wait a couple days for them to be solid and pick them up - here are the results: 

Completed Soaps

The next class was necklace making. I had missed the first one and was so excited for this one. I have to say, this was the worst class I have ever been too at the YMCA. The instructor didn't really want to be there and the string that we given to use for the necklaces was too thick for the beads we were given. I did get to bring the beads home and will redo it on beading wire the way I want too. 

The final class was Christmas candles. The instructor from the Bead class was over this class - so it was pretty much - here's a tin, and here's the wax and color, pick them up tomorrow.  

Other than the not great instructor, I did have fun this month. 

November 2023 Crafting

 

This month I signed up for a few cute fall craft activities at the YMCA that they offer employees. 

First was Monday November 13 - Fall Sign making.

We were given a round wood sign, paint, and choices of stencils. I am very pleased with my first attempt at stenciling. 

The second class was Fall Soap Making and I wasn't able to make it to that class or the Wood burning class that I was hoping that was the third class I signed up for this month. 

So, it was a bit of a not so crafting month going to classes, but I was able to complete the ICEE Challenge and the Model Horse and Action Figure Monthly Art Challenges online. 

My ICEE Challenge was this little fellow:

And the November challenge for the Model Horse and Action Figure Monthly Art challenge was to complete and Exotic Equid - I actually completed 3!

Hopefully next month I can get a few more fun classes in for the holiday season. 

International Customizing Equine Event 2023

I am more a painter and crafter than a sculpter, but I keep trying this each year.  I am very intimidated by customizing. Painting is so much easier for me. And I want to accomplish something! I feel I need to accomplish something. 

My start model is a Breyer Stablemate Darwin. 

I decided to make him a sea horse and found a fish tail that would work, so now for chopping and making. 

Body attached and now to sanding and then sculpting. 

Now it's on to doing his mane and a base. You with think with two months to do this I would be quicker - hahahaha. 

I managed to get fully sculpted and start on a base. 

And I managed to complete all the sculpting for the challenge!!

I will eventually paint it and finish the base, but I am just so happy I completed this model today! 

The Little Rider Doll Making Challenge March 2023 - Oops took me a while!

 

Submitted my entry on 2/10/23. I am doing a Tough Enough to Wear Pink Roping rider for my stablemate models! 

I plan on sanding him, painting him, and fixing his rope so that is works for what I need. 

I have made a little bit of progress on him. Fitting him to the saddle, cutting off his feet to remake them for a better fit and getting the basic wiring on. 

I stalled out on working on him to finish a model cow - I got all up in my head that I couldn't fix him correctly. 

I managed to get his boots sculpted and not to primer and paint. And the putty I had was old or not mixed properly and never dried. So I had to start over again! 

I found another SM doll that had boots to fit, but alas it's now April 1 and I did not get him completed for the challenge. I am going to try to finish him soon. I want to add him to this before I close it out = see how long it takes me to complete him. Maybe by the 2024 event! Haha

 

I am still working on him in September and October. I am hoping to have him done in November. I find that I work on other things because I know he's now close to being done!

And Finally - November 11, 2023 I was able to get him done! hahahaha

It took me a while to get him done, but I am pleased how he turned out. 

October 2023 Crafting Month

 I had hoped to do some crafting things in September at the Library or the YMCA. I did two, but not the level I wanted too. 

I did make a candle and soap at the YMCA craft classes they have for staff in the evenings. 

Pumpkin spice soap and Pumpkin spice candle

This month I have done classes at the Library and at the YMCA. 

I did a hand embroidery class at the YMCA - I didn't finish the project yet. It had some different stitches I haven't used before. 

I took a refresher on the Laser Cutter at the Library and created a prototype of a bookmark I want to do for my Patreon subscribers and those that purchase artwork from me. 

Laser Cut Bookmark

Then I went to the YMCA and did a DIY Realistic Looking Potted Plant craft. You were given a clay pot, foam core, fake plants and soil. The goal was to paint the pot however you wanted then too, them make the plants look realistic. It was fun to learn. 

Realistic Looking Fake Plant

Then it was back to the library and learning to do machine embroidery! I do embroidery without the machine, but this was a fun experience! 

I cancelled on a couple of classes I was going to do - wooden mushroom painting and a 3-D printer refresher because I was just too exhausted from work and wanted to curl up at home with a good book. 

So that brings me to my final fun thing for the month which was making a Harry Potter Wand at the YMCA. This was such a fun evening! 

Our wand "chose" us and then we decorated it. Hot glue, leather, wood, and paints while we watched Harry Potter movies. It was awesome.