Monster eyeballs from ping pong balls inspired by the new book- Me Make Monster!

This is what happens when your ping pong ball eyeballs get into a staring contest with your yoga ball eyeball. And let's not even get into what happened with the bowling ball eyeballs. I was positively tickled as I flipped through the new book Me Make Monster: A Mish-Mash of Monstercraft. It is filled with the silliest and cutest creatures made from all sorts of materials. With Halloween only a few short weeks away I am in full decorating (and crafting) mode for the occasion. Eyeballs still play a huge part in my theme this year. So when I saw this page I knew what my first project was going to be.
I rounded up a handful of ping pong balls, a bit of faux fur and some black felt.
I used the "O" in my die cut alphabet to cut circles for the eyes and hot glued them on along with the faux fur "eyebrows"
They were ready for their closeup here. Like making monsters and creatures too? Then I bet you will have a lot of fun with:

Me Make Monster: A Mish-Mash of Monstercraft

By

Jenny Harada

From the publisher North Light Books:

"They hide in your closet. They lurk under the bed. They tickle your feet and devour your pillows. They’re monsters only a mother could love.

In Me Make Monster, Jenny Harada presents a hoard of funky monster projects so ugly they’re cute. Bring to life your own fantastic brood as you follow step-by-step instructions to create a true mish mash of monsterdom—everything from plush huggable beasties and a furry pillow cover to a fanged fiendish trinket box and google-eyed dice. Whatever kind of monster may tickle your fancy (or your feet) you’ll find one of his breed to spawn and love.

Discover within the pages:

• Step-by-step instructions to make 18 fantastic creatures
• Monsters made from all different types of material—from fun fur to plywood to junk mail
• Variation beasties for even more impish inspiration
• A history of monsters and information on each monster’s fanciful personality

So get out your glue, dust off the sewing machine, hide your valuables and channel your inner Frankenstein!

About the Author

Jenny Harada's work has been exhibited in many plush shows and galleries across the country, and she has been featured in many magazines, including Hi-Fructose, Clutter and Adorn. She's also been showcased on a variety of Web sites, including Daily Candy, Pink Pedicure, Softies Central Blog, Grrl.com, craftzine.com, and more."

The Crochet Dude's New Book Rocks!!

The Crochet Dude's Designs for Guys: 30 Projects Men Will Love

By Drew Emborsky (The Crochet Dude)

Is fabulous!

OK full disclosure, I know Drew, I love Drew. He was one of my guests when I produced Knitty Gritty. He appeared with Annie Modesitt when they came on the show doing a project from another of their great books, Men Who Knit & The Dogs Who Love Them.

He is a wonderful designer and the projects in this book are really nice looking (and it's not just the cute guys who are photographed wearing them, I swear!)
I decided to start with the cover project. But I wanted to test drive it for me first and then the second one I made would be for a guy. And I don't where hats (I have way too much hair to fit under one but I do wear headbands to keep my ears warm. The band on this hat looked perfect for that so I skipped over the first part of the hat pattern to the band part and picked right up with the cool alternating front post double crochet and back post double crochet pattern that was illustrated and explained beautifully in the back of the book.

In addition to the super patterns, the back of the book has great charts of symbols and explanations that made this project go so smoothly it only took me a few hours to whip this headband up!

The lawn is watching-Bowling Ball Eyes

Well, technically they were "finished" by Halloween but they were still wet and sitting on the living room floor. I plan on moving them around the yard and posing them in different spots. They are tiled with broken fiesta ware on bowling balls. Quite a challenge to tile a sphere!