My Fail Equals Your Pleasure

So last night I was inspired to alter a t-shirt for my brother for an upcoming birthday. He's a hard dude to shop for, so when inspiration strikes this time of year I jump on it. I pulled out an old navy blue t-shirt and began to cut out large-ish squares from solid-colored material and assembled a Tetris board on the front. I was going to be SO PROUD to show it to you today.

After about an hour of hot-gluing, it was done. After about 10 minutes of looking at it from all different angles, I hated it. I mean, it looked kind of cool, but it definitely did not look like a Tetris board. Instead, it looked like that time Grandma's quilt exploded in a frenzy of creative overload and splattered its intricately-cut squares all over your shirt - remember that? What a mess that was.

Now I'm stuck with this weird patchwork shirt that I suppose I'll have to do something with and no post for you.

So here's some stuff other people have done that's way better:


You may have seen on Craftzine yesterday this truly badass Twister gameboard raincoat that Nicoleeoliee_4_Life on Craftster.org (where else?) made in response to one of the site's notorious monthly challenges. I cannot express adequately how very much I love this, but sadly I don't think I'll be making it for myself. My husband would have too much fun with it. I can almost hear the "Right hand red!" jokes now.


A couple of weeks ago Heather of The Salty Pineapple produced these beautiful paper lanterns, which is definitely going on my "kids projects" list for the summer. My daughter recently came into a good-sized supply of beautiful origami paper that I think would be just perfect for this craft. With the right color combination, this could make an easy and elegant addition to any party. We like parties.

Finally, another Craftster find (but this one I found all on my own). Before I post the pictures, I need to let you in on a little secret (it's probably not that big a secret). I am kind of a nerd (I am a completely ridiculously impossibly hopeless geek). I occasionally enjoy playing video games, reading comic books, and I dabble in cosplay (I play Magic: The Gathering and the Star Wars tabletop roleplaying game on a regular basis, and I am listening to remixed video game music right now). As a result, certain crafts that relate to any of these little hobbies make me smile (I am totally geeking out over these pictures, and I can hardly contain my excitement).







AREN'T THEY CUTE??????

These lovely t-shirt recons were created by Serene in the clothing reconstruction section on Craftster, and I am so very deeply impressed. And she's cute as a button too!

How can I do this? Where do people find these shirts? How many times do they practice a certain design before cutting into the shirts themselves? Why can't I get the confidence to do and wear stuff like this? And other important questions!

Thanks for looking. Hopefully I'll have something for you, perhaps a new tutorial, by next week! Have a great day!