The best of birthdays

As a typical middle child, I don't expect much from my birthday.  Usually its me and the husband going out to eat somewhere nice and being without the kids for a couple of hours.  Maybe I might get to sleep in, depending on the day of the week it falls.  This year though I had a goal.  Something to look forward to on what would normally be a fairly usual day.  I already had over 50 followers and I thought, "Wouldn't it be nice to have 100 followers for my birthday?"  A fun goal with prizes at the end for those that helped me achieve it.  My expectations were met and then some!

In the weeks that followed, I not only hit my goal of 100 followers before my birthday, but two days before it, I recieved my Affliation invite!  What a fabulous way to start my several years worth of 29th birthdays!

So in a public display of thanks and congratualtions, the winner of the Steam Game giveaway were:

Sorenmortem

Muzicchik

SemperK

Each won a game gift worth $10 each.  And all they had to do was follow!

So looking forward to the future, there will be a lot more Star Wars action, a lot more discussions on appearance gear, a lot more Star Wars gossip and looking forward to the upcoming movies.  I'm peppering in some World of Warcraft with my Maritial Felicity Sundays and Mondays.  Make sure you check my channel for the most update information on stream times.  And of course, follow me on Twitter to get the heads up for when I go live!

I need to send out particular thanks to two of the best folks out there, Sorenmortem and AvatarCliff5002.  These two make streaming fun and both are smart and engaging.  Come join us because you'll never hear a boring conversation out of us!  Pop on over to

https://www.twitch.tv/scrappywheelz

~~~  Scrappywheelz  ~~~

Emoticon Plans

I honestly didn't think I'd love streaming as much as I do.  Its been a challenge and very rewarding for me.  My first big goal since I started streaming was to be affliatied with Twitch.  Not because I expected wealth and riches right off the bat.  More like the possibility of making money while doing something I love, I think, is pretty much what everyone hopes for.

With that in mind, I started thinking about the different ways I would like to reward my viewers for supporting me.  The first thing I wanted to do was have a whole series of cute emoticons.  But I wasn't sure what I wanted to do thematically.

Enter my daughter.

She's twelve and a natural artist, just like her dad.  She loves chibi and anime.  And when I told her about my emoticons, she wanted to try her hand at making one.  The result was this:

Off the fly.  No instructions.  And it was perfect.  I didn't plan on doing animals or cats for that matter but her 'scared' emoticon was just too freaking cute for words.  I was sold and I told her that if she would do more emoticons I would make sure she was compensated accordingly.  I can handle Animal Jam credits as a commission any day of the week for such a talented artist.

So in the coming weeks as I work my way towards affliation and as I work to color and size the emotions for approval, I'll make sure to share one or two just to give you a taste of what is available to my viewers and subscribers!

And don't forget, my birthday giveaway is just around the corner!  If you have not followed my stream yet then you can't win!  Make sure to follow HERE by Aug. 24th, and the giveaway begins at 10pm MST.


~~~  Scrappywheelz  ~~~

Thank you so much!! 100 followers!

I'm so excited!  I just wanted to let you know how excited I am!  100 followers a full week before my birthday.  I pledge to keep my streams coming and I always try to improve upon what I've done before!  I hope eventually to be offered an affliation and to be able to offer subscriptions and fun perks for those subscriptions.  I've got lots of plans for the future, but I really couldn't have made it anywhere without my followers and my regular viewers.  You guys are truly amazing and I'm grateful for all the support  you give me!

Also as a reminder, there is still another 6 or so days until my birthday, Aug. 24th.  If you have friends or family that love Star Wars, The Old Republic, bounty hunters, and World of Warcraft, there is still time to follow me before the giveaway.  Send them over to

twitch.tv/scrappywheelz

and have them hit that lovely Follow button for their chance to win, too!  If they have any questions, they can refer to my blog post HERE for more information!

Just because I reached 100 doesn't mean I'm stopping there!


~~~  Scrappywheelz  ~~~

Change in Schedule

So you know how they say "Too many eggs in the same basket, some are liable to break."  Well, that's  how I felt ever since I added the Creative stream.  Just too much to keep track of, and too unassociated with what I do stream during the week.  It was a nice idea but I found quickly not great in execution.

So my new schedule looks like as follows:

Monday  - Marital Felicity Monay - WoW - afternoons and evenings
Tuesday - SWTOR - 9 - 12pm
Wednesday - SWTOR - 9 - 12pm
Thursday - Day Off
Friday - alternate weeks, week on SWTOR - 9 - 12pm
Saturday - alternate weeks, week on SWTOR - 9 - 12pm
Sunday - Marital Felicity Sundays - WoW - afternoons and evenings\

[SWTOR - Star Wars: The Old Republic][WoW - World of Warcraft]

Who knows - things could change once the kids start school next week.  But hopefully this will a stable schedule for the next little while!

Thanks for bearing with me!


~~~  Scrappywheelz  ~~~

Creative Sundays - My LIttle Pony Project

I'm so excited!  I love My Little Pony.  Yeah, Pinkie Pie can be a bit annoying at times but I love how it shows that different personality types can come together to be the best of friends.  That, and where one has a weakness there's a friend who can help with her strength.

The first steps in my project are to start on the body for Fluttershy and then fix Twilight Sparkle's dress.

A lot of the time I don't follow to pattern.  I may take someone's pattern and then adjust it for what I feel I need for a project at any given time.  Ultimately, what I end up making may look vastly different that what the original pattern called for.  Plus, I don't generally write down what changes I made.  I will go ahead and link the patterns I will use, but don't expect your project to turn out the same as mine.  Besides, I love giving hard working pattern makers a little virtual hug.

One Piece Doll Pattern

I've decided on a pattern by Vanja at amiguruibb.com. It is a doll done in one piece meaning there is very little sewing or attaching parts.  I love the shape and the fact that it would be virtually impossible to lose pieces, as I have done on an occasion or five.

The dresses will be different matter entirely.  My first attempt was off the cuff and it shows.  So I searched around for free doll dress patterns and/or pattern making instructions and found this instead.
Pinterest is my bestest friend.  Its measurements are for a girl's dress but as you can see the concept is so simple it could easily be reduced to a doll size.

Thank you for the idea, Stef at thegirlinspired.com! 

Also my real life best friend convinced me that I didn't need to reinvent the embroidery wheel, and so I'm going to cut out the star I already have and then fabric glue it to the new dress.  I'm also considering doing some kind of cute border to hid the rough edge.

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For those interested, the first part of the application process for Feel Better Friends is to use their pattern and make a doll similar to what I would be doing when I am assigned a child.  They encourage their applicants to find a sick child or just a child in need, and I have just the person.

My little 3 year old niece was camping when she tripped and partially fell into an active fire pit.  She avoided burns to most of her body but her poor cute foot was burned with 2nd and 3rd degree burns.  We're currently waiting to hear if she needs surgery or not to repair the 3rd degree part, but these last few weeks have been horrific for her and her poor mother.  Visits to the burn unit are not fun for anyone, let alone a toddler.  But we have some amazing staff out here at Primary Children's Medical Center so the visits are less traumtic than they could be.  I have a feeling that a dolly that looks JUST like my cutie pie would make those visits a little more palatable.  I will be doing that in my spare time but will keep you updated on the doll's progress.

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EDIT:  I am including the pattern that I used with Twilight Sparkle to make her head, body and arms. Be aware that having a basic knowledge of symbol patterns is very helpful -

http://www5a.biglobe.ne.jp/~mite/diagram/crochetedCat.html            
                  

~~~  Scrappywheelz  ~~~

NOTICE! -- Streaming Schedule Redo

As many people do, I was chagrined to discover that I am subject to data limits on my internet.  Talk about an elbow to the gut.  So because of this, I'm forced to redo my very robust schedule and pare back a little.

As of Aug. 6th, my new schedule will be:

• Sunday - Creative Stream 1pm-3pm, SWTOR evenings
• Monday - Marital Felicity Mondays - WoW 9pm-12pm
• Tuesday - SWTOR - 9pm-12pm
• Wednesday - SWTOR - 9pm-12pm
• Thursday - Day Off
• Friday - alternate weeks off, on week - TERA/Hearthstone 9pm-12pm
• Saturday - alternate weeks off, on week - TERA/Hearthstone 9pm-12pm

SWTOR (Star Wars: The Old Republic)    WoW (World of Warcraft)

I'm not happy about this. I'm working on getting better service or more data but either way, I taking the extra day off on Thursdays.  That's not to say I won't be playing on Thursdays, I just won't be streaming it.

~~~  Scrappywheelz  ~~~

New crochet project for August

I've had a project in mind for a couple of  years.  One of my favorite kid shows is the updated version of My Little Pony.  I also happened to love the alternate universe version of My Little Pony when they all became human-ish.  It gave me an idea for a project of a set of amigurumi dolls.  I managed to finish one of them, but did not like how her dress turned out.  And then I did heed the siren call of other projects and the MLP idea was shelved for a future date.  I've decided that dollmaking is much more fun than afghan making so I will go ahead and start up the project again.

This is Twilight Sparkle.  I love how her hair turned out, especially when they are in the ponytails.  But the dress did not fit like I wanted it to so I will have to redo not only the dress the embroidery I did on the fabric.

After Twilight Sparkle, the rest of the set will include Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy and Applejack.

And speaking of doll making, a long time ago I came across a charity that I have been meaning to help out but never got around to apply.  I am hoping that by September I will have been accpeted and given a doll to make.

Feel Better Friends is an organization that provides kids who are sick with handmade dolls made to look like them, as something to hold and love while they are going through sometimes painful and scary treatments.

Once I get approved, the rest of Creative Sundays will be dedicated to making the doll for the child I've been assigned.  As a kid who has known their fair share of hospital time, one of these dolls would have been such a nice thing to have.

I encourage everyone to either consider making a doll for this organzation or donating to help them keep this small thing that means big things going.  I'll keep everyone updated as to the status of my application.

~~~ Scrappywheelz ~~~