Wa-wa-wee-wa!

That sound frequently acts as a mating call, but in this case it means I'm excited. It is my esteemed pleasure to introduce you to Aronzo Aranzi. Go investigate! These books galvanized my love of all crafts adorable. The most popular in the series, The Cute Book, contains 20+ patterns for mascots- various animals and characters from the Aranzi line. these straight-forward, rewarding, and totally boss crafts require:

Some felt, color palate of your choice
Embroidery floss
An embroidery needle
filling (stuffed animal fluff, $2ish for a pillow-sized bag)
and approx. 1-2 hours

The amusing and succinct story poems that accompany each pattern contribute to the appeal of the Aranzi books, with gems like:

Kidnapper's job is to steal kids.
That white bag is his work bag.
Kidnapper is very trim,
so stuffing him with cotton
might be hard, but neat and trim he must be.

Doesn't that give you the urge to make a little kidnapper to watch you while you sleep?

"You just got Punk*d!!"

What's this? What's this! I can't believe my eyes! Someone's been posting on my blog and that someone is... me?

No wonder I am always tired in the morning despite retiring early. How overwhelming... discoveries of this magnitude call for a nap.

Craft Punk is playing at my house (My house!)

I thought she would never fall asleep! I know Ellen has been dreading this, but she makes simple things overly knotty, so I've decided to step in.

The Tyler Durden aspect of a person typically does something exponentially more destructive then making your tops cuter or sewing an adorable felt mascot.
I dig cutting up clothes and changing them as I see fit, which can be loosely interpreted as crafting. My definition of crafting often includes creative recycling but more frequently explores a wide range of thing I quite simply want to make- pretty much whatever tickles my fancy. Just the other day during what Ellen thought was a nap, I cut up the sleeves of a top she bought at Goodwill and tied the ends (such an improvement over those passé bell sleeves!) If you have a top with similar sleeves, I advise you to take a page out of my book and let your inner Craft Punk make one straight slit up each sleeve, tying the ends around your arm. They should bunch a little and create a peasant effect when you push them into position.

Time for some real sleep for both of us. I will return when inspiration hits me as hard as it can.

Sometimes, late at night, I get an urge...

...to make something cute.