A crafty, nerdy holiday

Ooooooh, shiny. (And yes, that is a fob, from Teddy Ruxpin way back in the day)

The holidays were definitely crafty and nerdy here!  With the slowdown in work, and the complete lack of classes, I’ve been a crafting maniac – not only making cross-stitch objects (which is my crafting focus of choice lately), but also making some patterns, too.  Aside from downloading the trial versions of some cross-stitch pattern maker programs and feeding in images I wanted to turn into cross-stitch projects (and receiving some mixed results), I’d never really made actual patterns.  So, after taking a suggestion from my friend Kendall, who said I should make a pattern that focused on Sailor Moon’s Crescent Moon Wand, I came up with this!

Please excuse the watermark – it’s the same image I used for my Etsy store listing!

I’m actually working on stitching it now, and it’s coming out pretty well – I’m collecting progress shots as I go, and I’ll share them with everyone once it’s done!  It’s actually really exciting, stitching a pattern that I created from scratch.  I threw together the original design (initially just the moon wand, the ribbon, and some text) in Illustrator, then when I pulled it into PC Stitch I added the little hearts and sparkles and such to make it look a little more interesting.  I’m rather happy with how the finished design turned out, pattern-wise.  (Interested in making one of these for yourself?  Snag the pattern here!)

I also had a very fun holiday, with some awesome presents from Ross and his mom – I got some Sailor Moon Figuarts figurines, which are awesome, and a Twilight Sparkle decked out in winter wear, as well as some Lil’ Bub socks, among other things. I had a nice, quiet holiday, and it was just what I needed after the craziness of the past few months.