Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Bunny Houses




Ok, I saw this tutorial and it completely inspired me. When I pinned the tutorial it was the most popular pin I ever pinned - people like Altoid bunny houses. While Benny seems a wonderful bunny, I've made a load of rabbits recently trying to perfect the pattern for my own pocket bunny. So they need little houses, and this was great. I also have a billion Altoid tins around because I can't bear to just throw them out. 

But I had to try and work this idea in because for some reason I think we are going to be somewhere and desperately need the bunnies' home to have many rooms. Or I just think it's a really cool idea. 


First I traced the lid and the base on heavy paper (card stock) and cut it out. It took a bit of trimming to get it to fit, but not too snugly.


Z suddenly took interest in the project and decided to help by making shopping lists on the inserts. We needed many things and got very distracted.


After I got them back, I glued some scrap fabric onto one, which I sandwiched between two cutouts, clipped with binder clips and let dry.


I like binder clips. I made inserts for the top and bottom of the tin. This was a rookie mistake. The tin won't close tightly with the top insert in place.


Loosely following the Benny tutorial, I made a little blanket and pillow. And by now I clearly was into it, because I was making two at a time.


And there is one more little bunny home, complete with the bunny.


I also discovered that the bottom insert was totally OCD and not necessary because once the blanket and pillow were in, it never showed.



I tried to create a window with some felt, but didn't really like it. So that was replaced with "bunny art". On a piece of the card stock that is 2.25" X 1.75" I painted a carrot and some veggies. Then glued cut up craft sticks around it, for that gallery ready look.


I still wanted a window on one - just because.


So I punched a couple of holes in the cardstock, and poked a bit of wire through. I sewed a quick set of small curtains that are approximately 3" X 2", with 1/4" hem on three sides and small 3/4" casing at the top.


I cut out a picture from a magazine as the window itself.


The rabbits, as you can see, could hardly wait to move right on in.

A very big thanks to Benny's creator (Katie Lewis) for a fantastic idea! 




Friday, March 9, 2012

Art Co-op Pop-up Zoo


It was another beautiful sunny Friday and so we had a small turnout for art co-op.



This week we made the pop-up zoo created by Rachelle of Tinkerlab. The kids did not disappoint with their takes on the giraffes, elephants, lions and monkeys.





Thursday, March 8, 2012

Bunny Knight


Every so often I am given a suggestion that is just to ridiculous not to do.

This is a felt bunny in crocheted chain mail. There is no other explanation.



Adrian suggested making the lovebirds more appealing by making them steampunk. I thought this was beyond my capabilities, though I did try. I ripped apart a watch and went through all the springs and such we had, but I have no gift or true steampunk aesthetic.
 

When I began learning to crochet, I saw that people crocheted chain mail costumes. Before I knew it, we were talking about giving the felt bunnies an edge.


This guy just reminds me a bit of Monty Python and that made him rather great.



I will try to give the correct pattern terminology for this below. I used metallic embroidery floss, but I also did some test ones in gray yarn. The yarn ones looked a bit more like cozy hoods.


Chain Mail Hood
Chain 2
R1: 2 sc in each sc around. (6 sts)
R2: 2 sc in each sc around. (12 sts)
R3: 12 sc
R4: 1 sc over 2 st (stretched) 1 sc (repeat 4 sts), 1 sc over 2 st (stretched) 1 sc (repeat 4 sts) (10 sts)
R5 - 7: 1 sc in each sc (4 sts), chain 1
R8: 1 sc in each sc (4 sts), chain 8, sc into starting sc (12 sts)
R9: 1 sc in each sc (12 sts)


I am not sure if this diagram helps: