Tag: craft

Two Magic Pixels C2C Pixel Art Crochet

On By Michel McDonaldIn crafts, Uncategorized1 Comment

I made this blanket for my Aunt several years ago. I found the pattern from a website called Two Magic Pixels. I wrote a blog post about it.

I learned to crochet when I was no longer homeless when I turned 18 years old. Never in my life did I think I would ever make anything like this.

The last few nights I have been going through Two Magic Pixels patterns because I wanted to make another blanket for myself. Last night I went to log in to my account on their website, but I didn’t have my password available, so I clicked “forgot password” and it asked for my email address to send me a link to reset my password, but it said we don’t have an account with that email address. I had only bought a few patterns, and I know I have them on my computer, so I thought ok, that’s fine. I’ll just create a new account. When I did, it said we actually found the patterns you have bought because you used that same email address to buy patterns using Paypal. So yay for me lol.

I bought these 3 patterns and they are all in my account, although I only made the Betty Boop 007 blanket. I bought the Mini Spiderman and Mini Superman patterns because I thought they were cute and I thought I would make them, but I never did. I am considering buying a different pattern to make for myself though. I’m thinking more of a rainbow pattern or something abstract, but I do know I want to buy it from Two Magic Pixels again because they have some really cool patterns. There are a few others I would like to make, like a Buddha or a Star Trek pattern, maybe the Scooby Doo pattern lol. I just cannot commit to one.

They have so many patterns and it’s really hard to pick just one pattern. The reason I have to choose is because it took me a month to make the Betty Boop 007 blanket and it cost me $60 for all the yarn. Not to mention the fact that I have carpal tunnel syndrome, so I can only make 1 blanket, and then I won’t be able to make another one for a very long time.

I really like the rainbow flower one because it reminds me of when I was a kid in the 70’s. I can also use that as a backdrop if I decide I want to continue making videos for my YouTube channel, then I’ll have something fun to look at.

People commented in my Betty Boop videos that they wanted me to teach them to crochet like that and I’ve told them that they should go to the same channel I learned to crochet like this from, which is the crochet crowd.

Anyway, it’s a big decision because I will have to live with that pattern. I can still buy the patterns whether I make them or not, but I still want to choose one. I think I really want the rainbow flowers blanket.

Controlling my paper craft hoard for my Cricut

On By Michel McDonaldIn craftsLeave a comment

I have a Cricut Explore Air 2, for papercraft. I have collected a lot of 12×12 paper pads over the last 2 years for making box greeting cards. Collecting a lot of different designs requires enough space in your crafting area, which happens to be my bedroom.

A couple of nights ago I had a mini avalanche. I was trying to find a specific pad so that I could get the specific patterns for a card, and the loose scrap paper and a opened pad with 50 pages of white 8 1/2 x 11 sheets fell behind the cabinet that the paper was sitting on. I wanted to buy this cart for a long time, but it was so expensive at $80 from Michael’s. The Avalanche of paper made me decide I really need this cart now.

We went to Michael’s to buy the Essex cart from Recollections (which is the brand of all my paper pads) and I put it together and then started filling it up.

There are four drawers on the left side that hold the 12×12 paper and then two deep drawers on the right side that hold all my 8 1/2 by 11 paper. I don’t have that much 8 1/2 by 11, so I put scraps in the bottom deep drawer.

On the right side there is a tray that you can lift up, but it only holds 2 lb and I’m probably never going to use it, so it can just stay down. The shelf in the middle has more 12×12 pads that the drawers could not hold, and they are mostly glitter paper, vinyl and envelope paper. Then I also put some other craft tools and supplies on the shelf.

I feel so good that the paper pads are cleaned up. this will make finding specific paper pads that I need easier because I put all of the Christmas pads in the top drawer, Valentine’s day and Spring are in the second drawer, and then random designs that aren’t holiday related are in the third drawer. All my 12×12 scraps are in the bottom drawer and they used up the whole drawer.

It’s nice to be organized and to have a clean space for once. I’m so glad I got this.

PlayStation Vita

On By Michel McDonaldIn GamesLeave a comment


I have a Nintendo Game Boy that my partner bought for me in 1994 or 1995, I honestly can’t recall when. I was so bored because we didn’t have much in the way of entertainment, other than the TV with 7 channels of course. He used a Sears credit card to buy the Game Boy and he would buy me games every now and then. It took me months to play one game, and if I knew we couldn’t afford a new game, I would just play the game multiple times. Occasionally we needed the money for food, so we had to sell the games to game stores. We only got a fraction of what the games were worth, but desperate times call for desperate measures. It’s sad too because I still have my Game Boy, but I only have 1 game; Tetris.

In 2007 I bought myself a PlayStation Portable Slim aka PSP -2000. I bought many games, and didn’t have to sell any for the money. I played the heck out of that game system, and now it’s tricky just to turn it on. The power button is glitchy, so it’s difficult to turn it on or off. It still works, but it doesn’t connect to our WiFi because the security is different from when I first bought it, so I can’t buy and download games. If I want to buy a new game, it has to be on the UMD format which I can only buy on Amazon and eBay.

Last Christmas my partner bought me a PlayStation 4. My PSP-2000 talks with a PS3, but not a PS4. If I want to play my PS4 games in the living room, I need a PlayStation Vita. I can also download tons of PS Vita games that I have gotten for free over the last year with my PlayStation Plus account.

I know that I don’t deserve to buy a PlayStation Vita because I haven’t worked for it. I know that I would prefer to play the games I own on my HDTV instead of a smaller screen in my hands, but I feel like there are times when I can’t play games on my PS4 because I’m watching tv in the living room with my partner. He stares at his iPad the entire time, that is if he’s awake, and I sit and stare at either my Nook HD+ or my phone. Sometimes I’d prefer playing Minecraft or whatever game I have instead of staring at Facebook. I have Minecraft PE on my phone, but it’s harder to play on a touchscreen because the screen gets too hot, that’s why I prefer to just stare at Facebook on my phone.

I know I’m coming off as the most spoiled brat in the world, and it’s true, I am. That’s why I haven’t bought the PlayStation Vitayet, because I know I don’t need, nor deserve it. I just want it, and that’s not a reason to spend the money I don’t have to buy it. I could put it on a credit card and pay it off over time, but it’s just not right for me to do that. I have this stupid need before greed thing, and I honestly don’t need it, but I would really love to have it lol.

When my hands heal from the recent order of 200 mini DNA keychains that I recently finished, I will start making different kinds of earrings and keychains to put on Amazon Handmade, that is if they approve me. I recently applied, and they don’t have a category for “Accessories” which is what I classified my craft as. I can’t really call keychains jewelry. My earrings and chokers are considered jewelry, but since they don’t actually have jewels in them, are they really jewelry? The earrings are plastic stems with plastic lanyard. The chokers are hemp with wood beads. Not exactly jewelry. I also make the friendship bracelets, which I really need to make more of. They sent me an email telling me I can change my category to jewelry, so I did. I can’t sell keychains as jewelry, but I can sell earrings, chokers and bracelets.

I’m sure I will need a huge inventory for Amazon Homemade, so when I can start working again, I will make a bunch of things and put them in a drawer to have them ready to ship if anyone orders them. If I make any money, I will keep the money in Amazon so I can buy a PS Vita. I could also start buying Amazon gift cards every month and put them in my account. I’m also playing around with Swag Bucks, so I’ll do surveys and watch videos and install useless apps for SB’s so I can get a Amazon gift card. If I do all those things, then I can say I deserve a PlayStation Vita.

By the way, all these links for PlayStation Vita will earn me money if YOU, the reader click them and buy one for yourself.

Friendship Bracelets Designer Program

On By Michel McDonaldIn craftsLeave a comment

lightning bolt in designer

I’ve been having a fun time with my new “My Friendship Bracelet Maker Clip Board.”  I’ve been working mostly on the beginner patterns, but there are some more complex ones that I’ve been working on as well, such as the lightning bolt for example.  They have this one listed as a beginner pattern, but when you actually look at the instructions, it says it’s intermediate.  Unfortunately, the instructions aren’t quite as clear as I would have liked them to be, so to be able to make this one, I had to open this program called “Friendship Bracelets Designer” so I could manually add all of the instructions so I could get a more clear picture of what I was supposed to make.

lightning bolt Last night when I first started making this bracelet pattern with the instructions on the MFBM website, I totally screwed it up and today I had to take every single knot apart and start over.  I had worked the entire pattern too and it was so screwed up, I couldn’t even begin to tell you what I had done, but it wasn’t good.  Now when I say the entire pattern, I don’t mean everything you see, the pattern only does 6 rows, so it wasn’t that much.

Using this program has really helped, as you can tell by the image above.  The bracelet on the right is one complete rotation of the pattern.  The pattern image you see to the left is the complete rotation.  That is only one rotation from beginning to end, you may need 3 rotations to complete the bracelet.  The instructions don’t see you all the way through for some reason, but this will.

If I have trouble with the instructions, I will be using this program again in the future, because it is so much easier to follow a visual map rather than written instructions, especially when it’s row by row.  There are some patterns like the cause ribbons and the BFF hearts that aren’t row by row, so those may be a bit more difficult to follow with this program.