Shared: Cat Love Cross Stitch

One of my oldest co-workers, Susan, is like me in that she likes to keep her hands busy when she is watching TV.  So she crochets scarves and blankets, mostly.  I needed stocking stuffers this year so I bartered with her for a cross stitch in exchange for a bunch of her scarves.

Since she is a cat lady, this is what I made for her:

Sorry for the crappy phone pic :P

It's not my design but I did come up with the pattern from this original:

You can buy the original pattern on Etsy

I think I came pretty close just going by the picture. :)  The best part, though, is Susan loved it!  She has it hanging in her cubicle!

Andy photobombing Susan and I at the wedding :)

Shared: Wedding - Comic Book Table Runners

44 days to the wedding!  I can't believe it is almost here.  Fortunately, now that I have the table runners done, there's not too much left to do before hand except put together the loot bags (in lieu of favors) and get Andy's suit fitted when it comes in.  He got a custom made suit in dark charcoal grey.  It's really nice!

There's a ton to do for the wedding weekend with our families but that's mostly food related and can't be done until right before we check into the rental house.

I am really happy with the way our runners turned out!  Because our apartment is tiny and we don't have a lot of floor or table space, I came into work last Saturday and used one of the conference rooms to make these.

First, I cut some cheap contact paper to size.  The design was not important because this is going to be on the back so I just got the cheapest I could find on Amazon.  The paper is 18" wide so I cut in half then cut it into 35" lengths.  I need each runner to be a bit over 36" to allow for overlap on the tables.  (Some of the tables are 6' long but 3' runners are easier to manage!)

Once those were cut, I removed the backing from each strip, laid it sticky side up, then arranged the comic book pages in a planned-random pattern.  I wanted it to look random but I also needed them to be within the right width and I kept on eye on color placement, which way the text was pointing, and splitting up like characters.  I know those are details that only I would notice but since I would notice it, I wanted to prevent it. :)

After the contact paper was covered, I used double-sided tape to add a few pages to the top as well as stick down any loose corners.

Once I had one done to my liking, I used it as a sort of template to keep the dimensions close on the rest of them that I made.  For the comic book pages, I used The Flash and Flashpoint (his favorites) plus Invader Zim and I Hate Fairyland (my favorites).  It was really sad cutting apart those books!

Because I had already cut up the books during a previous weekend, it took me less than 4 hours to make all 13 runners.  I still need to figure out how to safely transport these from the apartment to the rental house to the wedding venue without folding them.  Right now, they are stacked on top of one another and draped over the backs of a couple chairs that are also holding other wedding items.

I have a few ideas but would love suggestions! :)

Shared: Wedding - Save The Date Cards

Today our Save The Date cards are going out in the mail.  Yay!  I'm so excited!  I designed and drew this myself to fit with the comic book aspect of our wedding.

Designed and drawn by ME! :D

Because we are getting married close to Yule/Christmas, we wanted to give people a head's up so they can plan accordingly.  We would have preferred to get married on 12/21 (the solstice) but that's in the middle of the week and too close to Christmas.

We don't have any specific theme for our shindig so it's incorporating stuff we both like: comic books, rainbows, my Bearly Dreadfuls (a few of them were posted here), and tacos.  Yes, tacos and not just for the food. More about all that in a later post!

I guess we unofficially decided our "theme" was just going to be stuff we liked and I wanted our Save The Date to give a little sneak preview. :)

Made: Safety pinned drag t-shirt bag

I have always loved drag queens and drag kings and anyone else who fabulously blends genders for either entertainment, an expression of themselves, or lifestyle choices.  I love the fact that RuPaul's Drag Race has made queens even more mainstream and, it seems, accepted.  Other than the first season, I have seen every season multiple times and I can get lost for hours watching the YouTubes for anything drag (queen or king) related.  I think my spirit animal is a drag queen

I would be hard-pressed to pick just one favorite but Jinks Monsoon, Sharon Needles, Alaska, Latrice Royale and Katya Zamolodchikova are always at the top of my top 10.

I was SO happy when Hot Topic started carrying plus-sized t-shirts with drag queens on them!  Most drag merch stops at a 3X which is too small for this celestial body.

Source: Hot Topic

Sadly, even their largest shirt was too small for me. :(

Actually, it was a blessing in disguise since I don't really wear graphic Ts so I just cut it apart and did the easiest DIY: I just safety pinned it to a black tote bag I got free from an event.  Not original or overly creative but at least I will get more use out of it.  This is also where I got the t-shirt hem I've been wearing wrapped around my wrist lately. :)

Front

Back

Close up of pins in her crown