Etsy Texas Crafters October Design Challenge

The theme for this month's ETC Design Challenge is War of the Worlds -- not an easy theme when your mode of expression is crochet, it turns out. Well, maybe that's why they call it a "challenge".

I had a tough time with this theme and pretty much had decided to skip it. Then I remembered my latest yarn store find -- glow-in-the-dark yarn in several colors! The first thing I did was make sure it really did glow in the dark, and it does!! It has a fiber that is blended with acrylic yarn that, when exposed to light for 5 minutes, will glow for 5 minutes. I wish I could photograph it, because it really is cool.

So with g-i-t-d yarn in hand, I set to work on crocheting aliens for the War of the Worlds theme. They evolved as I created the pattern (originally the top was the bottom, and the tentacles were antenna). They could sit either way, but I prefer the tentacle look.

Then the aliens needed a ship (I mean, the whole point of WOTW was aliens landing on Earth, right?). So I made a spaceship in grey and added g-i-t-d "landing lights". The spaceship turned out a little chubbier than I had planned, but the aliens are not picky.

To vote for my entry or any of the other cool designs :) please visit this entry in the ETC Team Blog. (The poll is listed on the top right side.) Thanks!

UPDATE: Apparently there have been issues with the ETC Team Blog, so please use this link to vote in the ETC Design Challenge.

Happy Birthday Brats!

August 1 marked the one-year anniversary of the Military Brats on Etsy Street Team! Hard to believe how quickly that year went by! We were also chosen as the Etsy Featured Team! Awesome!

To celebrate, some team members were paired up and held a Birthday Swap. My Swap partner was AngeeArt, who makes fab polymer clay items and painted rocks. She's quite talented, and I hope you visit her shop. She requested a crocheted collar from me, which although I had never made one before, I was so excited to create for her. Here's what I came up with:

I think it turned out nicely, and I feel inspired to make more, maybe other colors or even beaded. Thanks Angee, and enjoy!!

(Angee also creates amazing miniatures in her second Etsy shop, wonderworks! Check it out!)

For my gift, I "ordered" my fave pizza -- pepperoni, mushrooms, and black olives. And this is what I received in the mail:

Looks good enough to eat, right??

Happy Birthday, Military Brats!