New

I'm going to attempt to do the Creative Daily photo challenge hosted by Lu & Ed.

Today's theme is New.

I got this and 2 other books for Christmas from my Grandma!

Red Dye 40 Safe Candy

This is a general list of Red Dye 40 free commercial candy. Everything on this list had no red dye 40 in it! I made it mostly for myself because one of my children is sensitive to the artificial coloring. It causes his behavior to spiral out of control. I made this list to have on hand, especially around Halloween. But I also noticed that there is a lack in lists of what is safe. I will add on to this list as time goes on, it's just for reference.

Just remember, just because it isn't red colored, it does NOT make it safe. They can sneak red into any color just to make it more appealing. Even brown M&M's have red dye 40 in them.

Your best bet is to read the labels, but sometimes the label just isn't available to you such as at a function, or at Halloween.

If you know of any other candies that do not contain Red Dye 40, leave me a comment and I will update the list.

Disclaimer: While I have checked the ingredients from the company websites as well as package labels, they do occasionally change their ingredients. For example, online Laffy Taffy says the Strawberry ones are made with Red 3, not Red 40, but the label on the candy itself says Red 40. When in doubt, don't give it.

3 Musketeers
Almond Joy
Baby Ruth
Charleston Chew
Crunch
Dum Dums
     • Blueberry
     • Blue Raspberry
     • Cotton Candy
     • Cream Soda
     • Sour Apple
Haribo Happy Cola (submitted by Kylie L.)
Heath Bar
Hershey's Cookies and Cream Chocolate
Hershey Kisses
    • with almonds
    • Dark Chocolate
    • with caramel
    • Hugs
    • Pumpkin
    • Kit Kat
Fun Dip

• Razzapple

Laffy taffy

• Banana
• Grape- Red 3

Laffy Taffy Rope

• Apple
• Banana
• Wild Blue Raspberry

Milky Way
Milk Duds
Mounds
Reese's
Snickers
Tootsie Rolls
    • Chocolate
    • Vanilla in blue wrapper
    • Lemon Flavored yellow and brown wrapper
    • Lime in green wrapper

Tootsie Pops
    • Brown

Twix
Whoppers
Willy Wonka Gummies

• Sluggles
• Puckerooms
• Splashberries

York
Yummy Earth Lollipops

Drop in the Pond Afghan!

I've been working on this Drop in the Pond afghan, by Elizabeth Ham, on and off for awhile now. It's been my evening wind down project so it took longer than if I was only working on this. This one fits on top of my Queen size bed!

The pattern is free and available on Ravelry. She has a video and photo tutorial on her website.

The pattern calls for just 3 colors but I adapted mine to 5 colors.

I used Red Heart Soft in White, Berry, Grape, Lilac and Pink. I love using Red Heart Soft because it's affordable and sooo sooo soft!

 If you would like a Drop in the Pond Afghan for yourself, feel free to email me at jaimeddesigns at hotmail.com!

Sweet & Simple Baby Crochet Book Review and Giveaway!

I had an opportunity to review the new book, Sweet and Simple Baby Crochet, by Kristi Simpson of RAKJ Patterns!!

Sweet and Simple Baby Crochet is PACKED with 35 patterns for babies up to 12 months as well as a detailed stitch guide in the back.  Inside, is not only hats, but also diaper covers, footwear, sweaters, and more. You can also check out the "look book" online to see everything included in the book.

I wanted to try out one of the patterns to check for gauge and accuracy. I am happy to report that everything was spot on! The photos are gorgeous, it's easy to read, and follow along.

My favorite one in the book is the Fruit Punch Hat. It is so cute and I had the perfect yarn for it. Kristi suggests yarns to use and they are all affordable and easy to find in stores.

There are quite a few patterns in this book that I can't wait to make!

Now for the giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Popsicle stick Bracelets- Pintester Movement

I participated in the first Pintester Movement and had fun, so I am back to do the next Pintester Movement 2.0! Unlike last time, this time I had to re-do one of the Pintester's previously done pins. (Is it just me or does this post already have a lot of "P" words?!)

I chose her attempt at the Popsicle Stick Bracelets.

Photo from Pintester

The original pin is by Craft Affection. Aren't her bracelets beautiful?!

Photo from Craft Affection

Well, anyone who knows me knows that in my mind I am pretty decent at crafty stuff. I figured it can't be too hard. I read the comments and tips on both blogs, I felt worried because many were unsuccessful. But I still had high hopes and lots of confidence.

Off to the craft room I went to find some popsicle sticks (ok, craft sticks, 500 to a box), while looking for those, I found a literal popsicle stick. As in the ones from last nights dessert!! Score! Now I can "compare" the brands.

Soaked in water for a few hours as suggested. After soaking some were bendy some were not. The ones from actual popsicles didn't bend very well. They are actually the only ones to break. The fat ones were craft sticks and they bent relatively easily. The trick was to not bend them with thumbs pressed in the middle, but pressing evenly along the whole stick, with most of the pressure near the end of the sticks.

Once you get the pliably soft, put them in a cup to dry.

Sitting in a really narrow cup, my hand can't fit in it. The bottom two's ends touched, the top one not so

They've sat in the cups overnight to dry. Now it's time to whip out the mod podge! In true fashion, I couldn't find any of my bottles. But I had remembered seeing the Pintesters take on homemade mod podge and figured I'd just go with that. I already knew this homemade mod podge wasn't going to work very well because I'm not exactly a stranger to MP. I've used a half dozen bottles over the years. But it's whatev. I coated my now very nicely curved popsicle stick and gave it a nice coat of glue. At this point I felt fairly (When I first typed "fairly" I typed "faily" maybe it's a sign of things to come?!) confident in this pin. Up to this point it's actually working! Then I stuck it back in the cup so it would keep it's shape.

Move on with my day. Wait for it to dry....

Finally it was dry, I couldn't find any red paper that I had planned to use. But there was a nice sheet of tissue paper laying on the floor. Works for me! Glued that on. Coated both sides with my fake mod podge. Made a mess. Stuck to my fingers. Didn't turn out so pretty. Whatever. I didn't really care at this point. Back in the cup to dry.

Fast forward again. My 5 year old spilled the entire bottle of fake Mod Podge all over the floor. But he cleaned it up... with a towel that my Aunt embroidered for him when he was a baby. Sigh. Laundry time while the bracelet dries...

I pull them back out of the cup and wouldn't you know, it was a circle... mostly. The ends almost touched. A few centimeters apart. It stayed on my wrist which was the goal. But as you can see, they didn't stay that way. Whomp Whomp Whomp.

The red one still fits (for now, we'll see come morning). One of the white ones actually fits better, and clearly the other one will never fit. I don't know why one stayed so small and the other practically went back to its starting shape. They were all in the same size glass and were closest to the bottom of the cup, ends were touching. Anyways. Pinterst Success or Fail? Ummmm We'll go with Plausible.

Twilight Princess Shield

I was commissioned to make a set up for a Link and Zelda photo shoot. One of the items requested was a Twilight Princess shield. The image below is what I had to go off of.

 This is the result many hours of embroidery later! I love it. It's probably my most detailed piece of work to date.

I'd say I nailed it. Patting myself on the back and doing a little happy dance!! 

I can't wait to see this is the photo shoot set up!

Pintest- Screenprinting with Pantyhose

I love watching the Pintester try out all the various pins on Pinterest! Everything look so easy, beautiful, and perfect on Pinterest. For me, nothing I do ever looks as good as it does on Pinterest and a lot of times, it works that way for The Pintester as well.

Then I saw that she was doing a Pintester Movement! She invited anyone with a blog to try out a pin, write a blog post about it and submit it to her.

I thought and thought, then resorted to my Fan Page to see what you all wanted done! Martha A. from Craftymom's Creations shared with me a link to a tutorial by Calico skies to doing a screen print with an embroidery hoop, mod podge and panty hose. That sounds pretty easy and I had all the supplies! SCORE!

In true Pinterest fashion, it looked easy (and the photography was beautiful!)

First of all, in my mind, I can do all things crafty and can succeed the first time. Yea, that doesn't usually happen. In reality, I try all things crafty, and many times I realize I should leave it to other people to do instead. I rarely start with something easy. I just do whatever I want, and learn on the way.

Why should this be any different? Let's gets on with the Pin Test shall we?

Supplies:

• Embroidery hoop. They come in wood and plastic. I am glad I used plastic because I got Mod Podge all over it.
• Panty hose. 
• Mod Podge. Any kind works. I happen to have the glass kind near by, but any kind will do.
• Fabric Paint. Acrylic will work too, but I find it's a little rougher and in time it cracks. If you mix your acrylic with a fabric medium, that will work too. 
• Paint brush.
• Permanent marker to trace your design on to the panty hose.
• A drawing/print out of the design you want.
• T-shirt. Or whatever you want to screen print on to.
• Cardboard to put under your shirt while painting.

To start, cut open the leg of your panty hose and stretch it tight across the embroidery hoop. TIGHT!!!!

With the pantyhose side down, trace your image with the permanent marker. *Tip* You don't have to press down hard, just swipe your marker over the design.

Next is the Mod Podge step. It's an important step! don't rush this part! You want it perfect if you want the paint to stay in your design and not all over the outside. *Tip* Make sure you flip it over so that the panty hose are not touching the paper. Mod Podge dries relatively quickly, it will stick to your paper and really mess you up. Lesson learned.
You'll notice that the rest of the photos aren't a yarn ball. Remember how I said I don't start with easy projects... Yep, the yarn ball was really difficult, I decided to scrap the other one and do something easier.

You will paint the part of the design that you do NOT want painted. In this example I painted outside of the heart and hook because I wanted the heart and hook on my shirt. Make sure you paint all the way to the edge. Really glob it on there. If there are any tiny holes left open, paint will seep through.


You can hold it up to the light and if you see holes, cover them up. Let dry.

After you let it dry (a couple of hours), check again for holes. I found a few, covered them with more Mod Podge and let it dry again.

Now, put some cardboard under your shirt so the paint doesn't seep through. Center your design on your shirt or whatever you are painting. Squirt a big ol' glob of paint and with your cardboard, spread it around.

When it is all spread, CAREFULLY lift it up. In theory you are left with a beautiful, clean edged picture. As you can see below, that is not what happened for me.

 

Whomp whomp whomp....

I followed all of the directions. I'm going to say for me, it's a pinterest fail. Bummer. Well, I didn't want to waste the shirt, so my only option left was to attempt to freehand the edges and try to salvage it.

Turns out I'm not so terrible at that!

What do you think, Pinterest fail or success?

This post has been linked up to The Pintester Movement. Go check out all the other pins!