My Crafty Doctor Who Birthday!

There are only 8 minutes left of my 34th birthday, and I want to write this blog post while this amazing day is still fresh in my mind :) While of course we devote a lot of time to crafting for our business, we craft for each other, and our friends as well, and my birthday was no exception! My friends' put their VAST creativity to great use, and made the most outstanding birthday surprises EVER!

My very own Tardis!

Inside of the Tardis

Never in my life have I had such an amazing birthday, felt so special, or been made to feel so much love, as I have on this day! It started the minute I opened my eyes this morning and found a note that said I wasn't to do ANYTHING but let my best friends know I was awake! I knew then and there it was going to be a surprising day!

If I were to write down every single fantastic surprise that I had today, you'd be reading this until my NEXT birthday, because that's how jam packed full of fun the whole day was! I had to shoot Daleks off my stairs with a nerf gun, "moisturize Cassandra" in sugar cookie form (Doctor Who fans will understand this LOL), I got my very own Tardis (which my cats are in love with!), as well as several Sonic Screwdrivers to choose from (that were even usable ink pens), and so much more!

Daleks! They had to be shot off my stairs with a Nerf Gun!

I was treated to breakfast at a restaurant I hadn't been to since I was a kid, and while I was eating, all of a sudden my students starting showing up one by one, each bringing me a flower and wishing me happy birthday! It was the sweetest thing ever, and was the perfect start of the day <3

Tardis Notebook, Keychain, Clutch, and Box w/Magnetic Flap

At Starbucks my drink was delivered with 34 straws (thanks Leeanna!), and was in a crocheted Tardis coffee sleeve (created by Sarah and Rachel at Busy Bee Stitchery, of course)! The Doctor Who stuff was just too awesome for a Whovian like myself!

Crocheted Tardis Coffee Sleeve, and Sonic
Screwdriver Ink Pens!

Tardis Christmas Ornament

We went shopping, and every store we went to I was given a gift by one of the workers, who'd been let in on the secret earlier by my friends. They loved being a part of it! Throughout the day I worked on a list of 34 dares and 34 crazy Youtube videos I need to complete while I'm 34, so if you're interested in watching THAT craziness, you can check out the ones we did today at the Youtube channel "34 to Life".


I even got 34 presents, which was amazing! It's hard to say what my favorite was (aside from the Doctor Who ones, of course!) I mean, how can you compare Archie socks with a scented Justin Beiber dog tag, or a Turkey tester that gobbles with a Chickens? magazine?? You can't. All 34 were amazing LOL.

Hollow book, and Companion Kit

All of the Doctor Who stuff in these pictures were CRAFTED by my best friends. That is so amazing! I'm so lucky to get to work with these girls, their talent is mind blowing to me!

Thank you Sarah and Rachel, for giving me a birthday I'll remember forever and ever, and for spending so much time making these AMAZING gifts that will always be at the very top of my "Favorite Gifts EVER!!!" list!  This day meant the world to me!

Sneak Peek!

The Taste of the Dells Arts and Crafts Fair that we help organize as well as participate in will be held on June 7-8, which is just around the corner! Time has flown by, and we have been busy working on our crafts that we will be displaying that weekend.

We like to use this show as our creative outlet, where we can try out new things, and see what people think! Besides the crafts that we regularly showcase, we'll be displaying a lot of new crafts at Taste of the Dells this year, and I thought I'd post a little sneak preview of some of the things that will be on sale! This isn't everything, of course - there has to be some mystery!- but it's a little sample of the fun stuff that is on its way! Keep checking back in, I may post a few more preview pictures between now and next weekend :)

Enjoy the little preview, and we really hope to see you next weekend (June 7-8) at the Taste of the Dells Arts and Crafts Show! The show will run from 9 am to 4 pm on Saturday, and from 9 am to 3 pm on Sunday. For more information on the Taste of the Dells Festival, check out www.tasteofthedells.com.

Front View

Back View

Love these Robots!

Iron Man! Any Marvel fan would love this!

Good Minion/Naughty Minion

Crafts made from game pieces! So cool!

Hello Kitty!

Jewelry holder

Crafty Kids!

Let's be honest- there is just no way on EARTH these two kids could have avoided being crafty, what with all the crafts that float through their homes every single day! So while their moms work on crocheting, sewing, etc. the kids of Busy Bee Stitchery are often working on crafts of their very own :)

First let's introduce these Crafty Kiddos! Josie and Tristan are both 9 years old, and they have been best friends forever! These kids are two peas in a pod for sure.

Both kids love using their very vivid imaginations, and they've been watching their crafty parents create things since the day they were born, so both are, of course, very crafty themselves!

I thought it would be fun to share with everyone a few of the crafts that the Busy Bee Kids have been working on lately! We here at Busy Bee Stitchery couldn't be more proud of our little worker bees, and we hope you enjoy seeing their creations as well!

First up is Miss Josie! Recently I decided to give Josie her own Duct Tape Crafting Kit! I put lots of different duct tape prints inside, as well as solid colors to coordinate, and then various tools and supplies she'd need to start making her own duct tape creations.
She went straight to work, and spent HOURS just in the first night, cutting and folding and taping...She soon created a whole box full of duct tape goodies for all her friends and family!

She's going to town on that duct tape! I've gotten several adorable gifts from her that are SO creative, I can't wait to see what she thinks up next! Soon we'll be having our 100 Days of School Celebration, and she has been working hard on making 100 duct tape flower petals to take into her class, to illustrate the number 100! She's putting all that craft creativeness to good use :)  Good job, Josie!

Now for Sir Tristan! In November, Tristan decided he wanted to make a gingerbread house. But not just ANY gingerbread house! He wanted to create a Minecraft themed gingerbread mansion! He got to work right away by pulling out his paper and markers, and drawing up the blueprints for his Minecraft house (he had to promise me he'd work on his Christmas cards as well! It was a good compromise LOL).

After the design was finished, Tristan and his dad started baking the gingerbread, and cutting out several hundred of the small squares that they used to assemble the whole house and surrounding scene! They also baked up some gingerbread men, and used some of them to create a few of the "Steve" characters from the game. They then broke the arms off some of the gingerbread men to create Creepers, that they colored green with green frosting. The tree was made with an inverted ice cream cone!

 Tristan LOVED how it turned out! We proudly displayed it throughout the holiday season, and everyone who came to visit us admired it, and were amazed at how creative it was!

Both Tristan and Josie have awesome imaginations, and I have no doubt that as the years go by, they'll be creating more and more amazing crafts! I just love these crafty kids <3

Wicked Awesome Duct Tape Notebook!

So we've been having a great time the last few months, experimenting with duct tape, and trying out various ideas of ways we can use duct tape for crafting!

One of the crafts I was particularly drawn to when I first began playing with duct tape was duct tape paintings. Basically a duct tape painting is when you create/recreate a picture using ONLY duct tape. Usually it's on a canvas, but it can be on any sort of base. As soon as I got the idea to do a duct tape painting, I knew exactly the picture I wanted to "paint".

Wicked is one of my absolute favorite musicals, and I've always loved the cover of the playbill, with Glinda whispering to Elphaba. I got it into my head that I needed to recreate that picture, using nothing but duct tape!

Back when we saw Wicked, I had purchased the big, souvenir program, and I used tracing paper to trace the picture off the front of the program. I used a non-spiral notebook as my base, and began mapping out which colors would go where, and the best ways to go about recreating this picture. I got side-lined for a while when I couldn't locate a cream colored duct tape to use for Glinda's skin, but I finally got my hands on a tan that -while a little darker than I'd wanted- would work well enough.

I didn't want to do any of the small details or facial features, because I liked the idea of it being more simple; but at the last minute I decided to add the red lips on Elphaba, and I think it was the perfect touch!

It came out exactly the way I pictured it, I couldn't be more pleased :) Now onto my next "painting" which is going to be a My Little Pony picture
for my goddaughter! Crossing my fingers that it turns out just as great as the Wicked notebook did :)

Minions - A Peek Behind the Curtain!

Meet our Minions from Despicable Me and Despicable Me 2! Aren't they TO DIE FOR??? Each one is about 10 hours of crochet work. They stand about 16-22 inches tall (they are each unique!) Anyone who sees one of these amazing minions in person wants to know how we possibly created such an adorable little guy all out of crochet! So we thought we'd give a little behind the scenes information on how they are created :)

All the various parts are crocheted separately, and attached to the main body of the minion assembly line style. Which means we'll have the following scene lying about the living room...........

Which can be a little bit creepy LOL! But once they are assembled they are the most amazing little guys :)  We leave all the pockets open so that the minions can put their little hands in their pockets, or they can keep little treats in there!
We are working on creating accessories and outfits for our minions as well! A maid's outfit like the one in the movie is in the works, as well as other minion characters - if you have a favorite minion that you'd love to see a crochet version of, leave it in a comment! We love new ideas :)

Our kids LOVE these little minions, and have put them on their Christmas lists! They are incredibly huggable and squeezable!

If you are interested in a minion of your very own, email us at busybeestitchery@hotmail.com!
Also, if you like the Reindeer Games house in the second picture, check out our friend's website, http://www.agourdables.com/ She is AMAZING!

The Cyber Monday Giveaway Winners ARE.....

Thanks to everyone who entered, we really appreciate it, and we promise there'll be more giveaways in the future! The winners are....

Grand Prize- OvertheCounter!! You have won a free scarf or hat, please email us at busybeestitchery@hotmail.com to discuss the details! You have also won $10 to be used at our etsy store, at https://www.etsy.com/shop/BusyBeeStitchery :)

Consolation Prize 1- Sarah!! You have won a duct tape wallet, please email us at busybeestitchery@hotmail.com to discuss the details! You have also won a 20% discount to use at our etsy store, at https://www.etsy.com/shop/BusyBeeStitchery :)

Consolation Prize 2- Glenda!!You have won a duct tape wallet, please email us at busybeestitchery@hotmail.com to discuss the details! You have also won a 20% discount to use at our etsy store, at https://www.etsy.com/shop/BusyBeeStitchery :)

To everyone else who entered, thank you so much for playing :) If you haven't subscribed to our blog yet, make sure to do so, so you don't miss the next giveaway!

CYBER MONDAY GIVEAWAY!

To celebrate the holiday season, as well as to celebrate our grand opening, Busy Bee Stitchery is hosting a Cyber Monday Giveaway!! Cyber Monday is the biggest internet shopping day of the entire year, and we hope that you keep Busy Bee Stitchery in mind when you're scouring the 'net for great deals! The prizes were chosen specifically because they aren't only great if you want to keep it for yourself, but they are also great items to give as gifts!

One winner is just no fun, so instead, there will be THREE winners chosen!

Grand prize (one winner) will be a hat or scarf* from Busy Bee Stitchery AND a $10 gift certificate to use in our Etsy store!

The consolation prizes (two winners) will be a duct tape wallet of your choosing (you can choose from the over 30 duct tape prints we have), AND a 20% discount coupon to use in our Etsy store!

*Does not include the Packer scarves

To enter this awesome giveaway, please do the following:

1.) Subscribe to our blog - on the right hand side of the blog page, there is a subscription box. Just type in your email, and hit submit :)

2.) Favorite our Etsy shop - http://www.etsy.com/shop/BusyBeeStitchery

3.) Make a comment on THIS blog post, telling us one of your favorite holiday traditions!

To earn an extra entry into this giveaway, please follow us on twitter (@BusyBeeStitcher) and follow our Pinterest page! (http://www.pinterest.com/busybeestitcher/) In your comment, mention that you did these two steps, and we'll add your name a second time into the drawing :)

You may earn an extra entry every day between now and December 1 by commenting once each day :) You cannot make more than one comment in a day, however.



Winners will be drawn early morning on Monday, December 2 (JUST in time for Cyber Monday shopping!!) All the entries will be put into a hat and a name will be drawn randomly for grand prize, followed by two more names drawn randomly for the consolation prizes.
We will reply to your comment if you win, so make sure you check back to see if you're one of the lucky winners, OR leave an email address in your comment, if you'd prefer us to email you. 

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!!!