Crafty Lately: Sewing, Crochet & Knit!!

I am fascinated by the whole process of designing and creating handmade plushies. It looked complicated from a nooblet's point of view. I was too intimidated to even attempt because I'm generally horrible at following written instructions without a visual or keeping positive while frustrated. There should be no excuses since we have a sewing machine. Start simple, right?

I love foxes so much. I have been failing miserably on coming up with a crocheted verison ever since a friend requested it. I wanted to create my own design but I couldn't get the face shape down. Why not sew a fox instead?!




I like the wonkiness of it, the big nose and the legs. I might sew the scarf on it to hide the mistakes. I can't wait to start making another fox.  Attempt 2 will probably be in two pieces rather than three! Wish I have picked up red and more white felt now.



This time around it was much easier. Completed this kitty in a couple of hours. Attached the tail in a much better way in comparison to the fox! (Yep, if you didn't notice it. Don't look D:)



NEW!! I wanted to make some bright colored panda octopuses and I started off with my favorite color.  It's also finally up in Squittle.  I wish there was more a color selection with those felt squares.. I couldn't find a yellow to match my yarn at all :( 


The usual one is here. Each time I make a new one it seems to get larger and larger.  I'm tempted to buy some huge safety eyes and make a beastie one!


Happy Wednesday! ♥

How to CONTOUR [dodge + burn] in Photoshop.

Hello!  Here is a quick on how to contour or dodge & burn in Photoshop. This is how I contour portraits.  You can use this method for higher end skin retouching.

Press ALT & New Layer. Choose Mode: Soft Light and check Fill with soft-light netural color (50% gray)

Method 1:
Select the burn or dodge tool and make sure your exposure is 10-30%. Your brush size will vary depending on what you are contouring/highlighting.

Method 2:
Select the brush tool and choose black (darken) or white (brighten). Lower the opacity of the brush to 10-30%.


What should you contour?  Do anything that you want to pop!  I contour the cheeks,  eyeliner, brows, shadows and sometimes the edge for a light vignette.    I also do this to make hair more defined.  

I make addionital contour layers for seperate things. For example: just the face, body, vignette, etc.



Lower the opacity of each layer if necessary.  You can also choose one contour layer and go to Filter> Blur> Gaussian Blur  to soften it! The higher the radius,  the softer it will become.

I choose my dodge layer to be 80% with a Gaussian blur at 3.0.  One burn layer at 75% and the other at 80% with a Gaussian blur at 3.0.

Right click and duplicate your background layer.  Click on the top contour layer, press SHIFT & choose your background copy to select it all. Right click and merge layers.  You can toggle back and forth to your original to see if it's too intense. You can lower the opacity there too.

Hover over the image to see the before and after. I merged all the layers and lowered it down to 75%. Normally I would soften and lower it more but I wanted you to see the difference :)

I turned this into an action for you! 

Birthday OOTD// 5 things about me.

Might be the eyeliner that gave me such sad eyes in this photo.


TOP: here ♥ // SHORTS: Forever21
I'm not really dressing up today :3 It was brought to my attention that I should probably post more details about myself soon. I'll start off with a five things about me.

• Today is my birthday.  I am finally 22!
• I am a twin. 
• I've wanted to be an artist when I was six. Graphic designer while I was in middle school. Last couple of years: web & graphic designer, photographer and crochet shop owner.
• I am a selective mute. Some people say that I'm rather outgoing even though I'm so quiet. 
• Crissy is actually my nickname! 

Now... what are your five things?