itty bitty

I was thinking up some ideas for a few extras to throw in with my DQS package, and I immediately thought of a pincusion, and then followed the idea to make a replica of a block in my DQS doll quilt.  After a few trips to various local pet stores looking for crushed walnut shells, no less in the lizzard section of the pet store, I struck gold at Petco with this and was off to the races!  I had never made a pincushion before, and I have to say they are such fun little projects that come together pretty quickly.

In scouring flickr for some other pincushion ideas, I came across these little adorable "pin toppers" and of course ideas started running through my head along the lines of "I could do that!"  I had also seen these made by Carol on her blog, and it fueled the fire to see what I could come up with.

I stopped at Michaels on my way home from work and for about $30 had all the supplies to try my hand and these little cuties.  I used Sculpey III clay, which I found very easy to work with, and baked quite nicely in the oven.

These little flowers were my favorite of day one's attempts, and by far the easiest to make.  I bought a little set of cutters which included this little flower and went to town.  I had used the longest pins I could find in the sewing section, which were 1 15/16" pins, which worked ok, but after doing a little more research, I decided to buy some coursage pins and chop the pearls off. 

Just an aside here...This scrappy pin cushion make look familiar...and thats because it used to be this.  Remember that little adorable yellow lab dog I have?  Well she decided that cherished favorite scrappy pillow looked like a really yummy chew toy, and she went to town on it.  I thought about trying to fix it, but I know I never will....sooo it's been repurposed!  I still have about 3/4 of the scrappyness left to cut up, perhaps more pincushions??

These were day #2's wares.  Much better than day #1 if I do say so myself!  No, I did not poke these into a baked potato, again referring to Carol's blog, rolled up foil balls make an excellent way to bake these puppies with out distorting the shapes!

Here's a few cupcakes (I was happy that they actually came out looking like cupcakes!)

and a little spring garden

and some juicy apples.  I used the longer coursage pins for this batch, and am much happier with the longer pin length, and they are a little sturdier.

Now what to do with all these little guys!  I'll be back down in my sewing room today getting a few of those WIPs completed, but this was a nice little crafty break!