Bacon, Bacon, Bacon! Handmade Bacon Costume!

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They love their Daddy!

If you've been reading this blog even a little, you likely know about our puppies, Bacon and Cheesecake.  You know, these guys on the right.

So, this year I had planned on J and I being American Gladiators  for Halloween as a group costume with our friends, George and Blaise.  See, cause last year we went with a group costume of Dazed and Confused and it was AWESOME.  J Chen looked just like Slater!

George as Wooderson, Blaise and I as "Senior Girls"
and J as Slater.  Check ya later! 

However, this year, J decided that he didn't want a group costume, and that since we were throwing a Halloween Party, that we could be the literal versions of Bacon and Cheesecake!  Oh Geez.....Here we go!  Cause we all know what that really means....This girl right here would have to make them....

Here's how I made the Bacon costume:

Isn't he just the world's cutest Asian!  

First, start with your ingredient list that J Chen is so sweetly and totally willingly posing for.

• 3 Yards of Maroon Felt--about 1 1/2 yards too many, but I messed up right away so I was glad I couldn't do the math.
• 2 spools of ric-a-rac ribbon
• Hot glue gun
• Sewing Machine
• Dinner Plate
• Scissors
• Pins
• 6 corona lights.

Place the felt over the body.  Just kidding, I totally did this to mess with him!  This step was NOT needed.  Love you Chener!

Casper?  

Really what you need to do first is to fold your felt length wise--cut the width to your specifications....So, this is like a 1 yard and a 1/2.

Sweet baby Bacon helping out!

Next, cut out a neck hole.  This wreath frame was WAY TO BIG, and well, is how I effed it up in the first place.  I would recommend using a dinner plate to measure the hole.

I guess I thought he was as big as shrek or something...

Your next step is to get to fittin!  I slipped the felt over J and then pinned away, making sleeves and such.

J says "this shit is going to be all over the internet, isn't it?!?"  Um, Duh.

Next I freehanded a bacon "sizzle" and then cut it out.  Then fold down the center and make an identical cut.

Fry like Bacon you Freshman Piggies!
Seriously, if you don't know Dazed and Confused, your life is missing something ah-mazing.

 Now pin along the sizzle and sew it up! When I turned mine right-side out I noticed the shape wasn't great....So I just ironed it and it held perfect!

Finally, add your rid-a-rac ribbon any which way you please!  I put mine on the arms and just down the front, leaving the back plan.  Deal.  :)

It's BACON!

Now I just need to get J back in it for a follow up photo.  Stay tuned my darlings...  :)

The Chen Family!  J as Bacon, Me as a slice of Cheesecake,
Bacon as an Egg and Cheesecake as a hotdog :)

Bacon and Cheesecake in front of the Halloween Mantel :)

Big (BACON!) Smile,

All that Glitters, Indeed.

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Oh Hey!  Wanna see what happens when I wake up at 3:30am and can't get back to sleep?  This, amongst other things:

Oh yeah, that's a string of sequins wrapped around the wreath.  And yes, that's glitter on those felt flowers.  Put there myself around 5am using spray adhesive, dollar tree glitter and a good lean over the toilet.  Won't J Chen be surprised!  My hands are covered (read glued) in glitter as well.  Should bode well for my professional career at Corporate America, USA.

I didn't intend on this wreath going all Ke$ha, (OMG, LOVE HER!) it just happened.  I can't explain it.  But you know what?  I kinda LOVE it.  I might have to keep this for myself.... You see, I'm currently gearing up for a bunch of craft shows, and I'm not sure that this would sell?  Like, it's CLEARLY fabulous, but likely only to crazies like myself. We R who we R.  :-)  (another Ke$ha ref, just in case you weren't up on her crazy!)

a little glitter shot for you--you're welcome.

Ah yes, a face only a mother could love.

Oh yeah, and if you don't hate this bad B, leave me a comment, ok?  :-)

Have the best day ever!

Big (throw some GLITTER make it rain) Smile,

Busy makin things happen.

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Duh-ANG Girl, talk about blog neglect!  I'll tell you what, I've been crazy kid busy the past 2 weeks.  Not cause I'm getting my kid ready to go back to school--we're a good 5 years out from that--just crafty busy.  My friend Amanda who owns her own salon has been sweet enough to let me have a B.Cheniful space and sell my goods--soooo sweet of her!  Well good news for me, my first line I brought in sold really well and I've been working feverishly on a new fall line to replenish her.  Did I mention how awesome she is for letting me do this?  I mean, it's like an everyday craft show for me!  Too cool for school.  Fo Sho.

Here are some of the items from the fall line.  See the tutorial here to make your own!

This might be my favorite headband of the fall line!

Grey and yellow never get old!

I think the buttons really give these all just the right touch.

Doesn't this remind you of a fun fall carnival?  

So, yeah there's that.  I've also signed up for 4 craft shows this fall, so between Amanda's salon and trying to keep up stock for my upcoming shows, I've been one busy gal!  

Please don't give up on me, I'm still here!  I'm hoping to show you some more things before the week's up!  

Big (Fall Line) Smile,

Baby Shower Prizes

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Leah's MIL and I decided that baby shower games are silly.  No offense to those to love them, they just aren't for us.  So we decided that they weren't for Leah, either.  ;-)  BUT, to make up for the games, we still gave away prizes--just for being awesome.  :-)  Or because Leah pulled your thank you card envelop from a basket. Whatev--you won, didn't you!?!

Here are some things I whipped up for our lucky guests!

felt flower clippy thing.  It reminds me of fall....

another felt flower of sorts.  

1 earthified wreath (matches the theme, you see?)

Do you know how to make this felt flower?  It's WAY easy!  Check out the how-to over at Mrs. Priss!

6 sets of flower push pins

Straight up, I glued these hobby lobby flower things (seen here once upon a time) to push pins.  Done.

4 sets of coasters and 2 sets of magnets

The magnets?  Another easy guy--here's a tutorial from Creations by Kara.  Now, I only used Mod Podge as my adhesive--cause I take the easy way, friends--she uses super glue and whatnot.  Up to you!

Here's a pretty ugly tutorial for the coasters.  I don't know what I was thinking when I took these photos--they're worse than usual!

see what I mean?  Ew.

About the coasters.  I bought some super ugly coasters a Michael's for like negative $1.  Figuring they could be a perfect shower gift, I decided to B.Chenify them.

1. Scrapbook paper.  Whatever you like.  You could even use a note to your bestie you wrote in 8th grade--Use whatever you like!  Then trace the coaster on the back side of said whatever paper.  Cut out your shape.  
2. I'm missing the step before this picture....Spread Mod Podge on the face of the coaster, then apply the paper over the mod podge--print side up.  Finally, following the photo above, spread mod podge on the top of your coaster.
3. Walk away and let it dry.
4. My coasters were pretty tacky-feeling even after a few WEEKS of drying, so I took to Facebook and listened to the advice of the Mod Podge Goddess, Amy, of Mod Podge Rocks!  Answer?  Clear acrylic sealer!  Done and Done.

B.Cheniful

anyone had problems with mod podge being sticky even after days of drying? I have this issue when I use it with paper.....

July 9 at 4:18pm ·  · 

• • 
    

    Mod Podge Rocks! Hey B.! It depends on the climate you are in - but yes, this is a common problem. The solution is to spray on a clear acrylic sealer in your choice of finish. The great side benefit is that it makes the project extra durable! :D
    

    July 9 at 4:27pm · 
  • 
    

    B.Cheniful Awesome! Thanks so much for the tip!
    

    July 10 at 8:09pm · 

That trick totally helped!  I after they dried--again--for a few days, I was able to stack them without all coaster sticking to each other!  

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So there you have it--the gifts that keep on giving.  Or something like that....

Big (Games are dumb but gifts are cool) Smile,

B.Chen

linking to these parties!

http://craftomaniac.blogspot.com/

http://todayscreativeblog.net/

New Project. New Look.

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Ok, what do you think about the new look?  I'm just really loving the red/aqua color combo--if you couldn't tell from this post.  So I B.Chenified my page.  Done and Done. 

So once upon a time, my husband gave me his birthday gift.  Ok, not his gift.  Not even a gift of his choice, actually.  When I asked him what he wanted this year, he asked for dinner (downtown), the t-shirt I already bought him (I get him a funny t-shirt for every holiday) and for me to get a Silhouette. Well hot diggity Damn J Chen!  You don't have to tell me twice :-)  That baby was ordered straight away and finally showed up yesterday.  Yeah Yeah!

I was pretty confused at first--and oh yeah, still am--but I managed to make a couple of fun new designs.  Now, of course I can't show you those designs yet because they're super secret!  All in good time....

Chenyways, after playing around for a long time I gave it a rest and started working on a few scrap fabric circle hairpins.  So here I am, trying to make the circles even as well as different sizes.  I decide to make a template for myself, so I do what I always do....trace the circles I've already made onto card stock, then exacto knife around them leaving a stencil template of sorts.  After the first jagged circle was cut out, it hit me. DUDE.  This is EXACTLY what a silhouette is for!!!!  OmgOmg.  I'm soooo smart. So that became my first project--stencil templates.  They likely have a "real" name for this, but I do what I want.  Thanks.

First I designed this, using the flower images in the silhouette's library:

Yay J Chen for figuring out the screen shot shortcut!

And then these guys, also from the library:

Once the sheets were cut, I took the stencils and traced them onto felt:

And looky looky what they made!!!!

So I cut them out of felt, stacked them up, hand-stiched through the middle, threw on a button and Voila!  Super cute felt flowers!  I especially like the grey one--that would look awesome on a yarn wreath, dontca think?  Sure you do!  

I know that maybe this isn't the best use of a Silhouette, but I'll tell you what, if it makes your life a little easier, then by all means!  

Thank you for stopping by :-)  Leave a comment if you have time--they make my day!

Big (Ooooh, I figured out the machine-thing) Smile,

B.Chen  

A little love for Paper Wings

Paper Wings Hairband. 

My of-the-moment fav color combo

Oh hey--it's been like 10 years since my last post....HI! 

So I wanted to share a little love for Tracy at Paper Wings (yo, check out this stupid-AWESOME wreath she just made!!!  I practically jumped through my computer!) 

See that awesome hairband I'm rockin (AND, wearing my new fav color combo!)?  Well she sent that to me.  Now let me tell you why....

Remember the time I did the 100th Follower Giveaway?  Sure you do!  Well Tracy signed up but didn't offically win.  She did however leave a funnyass comment, so I decided she should have a freebs anyway!  It went something like this:

Tracy said...

I liked you on FB!! :)

Come on, woman, I need that headband!! :)

So I decided she should have one!  A custom "cute as a button" hairband just for my girl!  Of course I forgot to take a photo (Dear B.Chen) but she chose this one as her inspiration:

Henyways,  as a thank you back to me, she sent me the darling red poppy hairband.  How awesome is that?!?!

Thanks Tracy, I hope you're enjoying your B.Cheniful hairband, too!  :-)

Big (Paper Wings) Smile,
B.Chen

Just something I whipped up...

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No, really.  A literal whip up.  I was just messin with felt circles and made this necklace on a whim.  I can't actually remember what the original intention was for these guys, but I thought a necklace was as good as any other idea...

Man, I LOVE my padded bras!  I'm almost a B cup here--ALMOST.  

Sorry there's no actually tutorial here....again, just a whip up!

Thanks for stopping :)

Big (padded bra) Smile,
B.Chen

life's a beach and then you DIY!

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Keepin it custom....

I've talked about my friend Lila before, right?  Well, she's an AMAZING photographer who happens to be my neighbor.  She has 2 beautiful little girls and a very handsome husby.  She's fab!   FAB!  Oh, and a big supporter of all things B.Cheniful :)  LOVE.

So when she came to me about a custom yarn wreath for her MIL, Fancy Nancy (ha!), I jumped all over it!  With only a slight hesitation.....It's what I was talking about the other day--when you're doing custom pieces for your friends you want them to be perfect.  Especially when said friend is also quite creative herself.

Lila asked for a beach-themed yarn wreath with little beachy muppets (felties, whatevies) to go in FN's new beach house.  We decided on sand dollars and star fish muppets and a beachy-blue yarn.  Now it was up to me.....

First things first....oooohhhhh, I just promised new muppets.....must find a pattern!  So naturally I went to Pinterest (you can follow me there!) and looked around.  Nada.  At least not quite what I was looking for.  So I took to the WWW.  (dude, when was the last time you referred to the internet as the World Wide Web???)  And.......I found them!!!!


I used this pattern to make the starfish.

I used this guy for the sand dollar, found here.  

OMG, I don't ever want to make another one of these!

Here's what I came up with:

my little muppets!

About that sand dollar--he's hiding behind the star fish for a reason ;)

Henyways, after sending a couple pictures to Lila of my progress and making sure I was on the right track (I was!) I came up with the final product:

Lila snapped these photos for me at the beach house, cause she's sweet like that!  I mentioned she was a fab photographer, right?  Indeed.

And that concludes another yarn wreath post, life's a beach, and then you DIY.  :)

Thank you so much for stopping by!!!!

Big (beachy) Smile,

B.Chen

I was Featured!!!