NPM: Pokemon Crochet!

So it's new project monday time again and I have a cute little crochet Pokemon to share with you! I just recently (like this month) taught myself how to crochet more than just endless chains. I stumbled on a website that offers a TON of pokemon patterns and my brother thought this one was adorable, so we got the wool and off I went! I took my time on this project as I was still learning all the terms and how to actually do what the pattern said, but after much time on YouTube I am now a confident crocheter and am working on a bunch of other projects right now! YAY! :D
So without further ado I present Wooper:

I must admit I am beyond pleased with how he turned out! I still can't believe I can now go make all those cute little amigurumi I have pinned on my Pinterest boards!! :D 


I'm sure you're all waiting with baited breath for my etsy store to open, I am going to work on taking the pictures of my products now that I have enough made to start the shop off :) I'll let you know when it's up and running, until then stick around, I'm gonna share another little crochet fella tomorrow :D
~Megan~

RTT: Halo and being a Girl Gamer

Ok I know what you're thinking. I'm a crafter, a knitter, seamstress and otherwise all around crafty gal, and this picture really has nothing to do with ANY of that. But the truth of the matter is that along with my craftyness I am also a gamer, and I don't just mean Farmville. 


I have worked various retail jobs over my life, and two of my favorites were GameStop and Best Buy, not just for the discounts mind you, it was fun to break down the gender barrier that is put up around gamers. I was one of two girls at GameStop and the only girl in my department at Best Buy! I always love when someone would ask me a question with a look of annoyance that they couldn't ask a guy only to find out I actually knew more than they did about a game! Over the years we have managed to collect every system in my house (except a PS2... never got one of those :'( oh well) a Wii, Xbox360, PS3, DS's (I have one, my brother has one, both my parents have them, even my boyfriend has one!) 3DS, PSP, Gamecube (somewhere...) even the original Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advances (flip top kind and the flat one!) and my original love my PSone. We even have a colecovision in the basement! You remember... this thing: 

But the cold truth is most people don't think that girls can be gamers. Most people think that a girl gamer only plays Facebook games or Sims. Now I do both of those things (I adore my Sims 3 games and wouldn't give them up for the world!!) But if you look at my gaming library you'd probably be surprised at what you would find.


Which i why I thought I would make this clear: Girls. Can. Kick. Ass. To!! Now I won't claim that I'm fantastic at FPS (yes I know all those terms :P) but I have no issue with grabbing a controller and shooting up a bunch of baddies. And while my boyfriend will tell you I'm "great" at COD I do get lost when he starts telling me things in actual army terms- I often have to remind him that I am not one of his National Guard buddies and he needs to tell me plain and simple English if he wants me to blow up something, but the point, I digress is that it's FUN to play these sorts of games and it's a challenge when you play against other people. 


Lately my brother and I have been playing a ton of Halo and I have even found myself asking him if we can go play. Don't get me wrong COD is cool, but I really enjoy the Halo games, maybe it's the weapons, a mix of things that you recognize and crazy alien gadgets, or maybe it's the enemies but I find the game fun and challenging! 


So I guess this is my random thought for the day: 
Girl gamers, do you find the same sort of stereotypes that I have? What sort of games are you playing? 
And guys: I guess I'd love to know what you think of a girl who actually enjoys video games, (please not just "she's hot"... we know you like when we play your favorite game) 
Also what is everyones favorite system? I always like hearing why someone likes one system more than another :P I personally love my DS/3DS and the PS3 (yay free online play!!)


Anyway that's my thought. Hope you enjoyed it :) 
I'm going to be opening up my Etsy shop this weekend I hope, it will be the same name as the blog "The Butterflies Attic" I just have to add my items and then I'll post a link to it here!!
Thanks for reading
~Megan~

Lennox: My thoughts and Pictures

Hi all
So I don't know how many of you keep up with the news on pets, but as a dog owner of a beautiful pure bred show collie and a sweet lab, boxer, pitty mutt I find the recent events in the news disturbing. In North Ireland a dog names Lennox was put down yesterday after being taken from his family two years ago... the reason? He looked like a vicious dog...
Yup that's right there are certain places in the world (even the US) where certain breeds are euthanized just because they look like... I don't even know!!
This is the story here if you want to read it yourself.
I encourage you all to look up and join the Stubby-Dog project on Facebook, they are a wonderful group that is working on helping reduce stigma associated by a dogs breed. I am a member and love seeing and hearing all the other stories of triumph. I posted two pictures on the site today as they were calling for photo's showing that the memory of Lennox will not be lost. I thought I would share those with you today, and let you see my two pups and hopefully change your mind a bit about judging dogs (and each other) before you know them :D

This is Sadie on the left, she was a show dog (my dad's boss breeds them) but he likes showing the short haired versions, and she was a genetic "whoops". We have had her for about 2 months. Cooper is my love, he is 2 years old (so is Sadie) and the goofiest sweetest mush of a dog I have EVER known... and I was a trainer so I know a lot of dogs! He smothers you in kisses and sits on your lap if your sitting on the floor... I can't imagine someone taking him because he has a "square head" as we affectionately say

This one is all about my Cooper, my "boo", "Coopie", "square head" silly man. He is a dog so full of love and life, and he was adopted by us! I'll tell you a little about the pictures here, because each is so sweet and makes me smile :) 

L-R top row: Cooper went to the beach this summer for the very first time, he was a little unsure of the sound the waves made but when he realized it was just a giant "puppy pool" he thought it was great!! The next one is me and Cooper the other night snuggling under a blanket during a thunderstorm, my silly man is terrified of them and shakes like a leaf in a hurricane, so we snuggle and I read my book and make it through each storm :) the third one is Coop giving my brother a face full of kisses. I think it's hilarious, I was trying to take a picture before the tongue came out but he just couldn't resist giving a smootch, I was lucky to have captured the moment :)

the bottom row: This is Coop and Stitch, my late great hamster. I know what you're thinking: "You trust a dog with a hamster!?!" and my answer would be "yes" Coop always thought of him as his own personal TV set and loved to watch him, he would try to give him his paw and licked him one time (much to Stitches surprise!!) but he never went after him... Just loved him. The second picture is when Coop was about a year and 1/2 a year old, he looked so cute in his bed with his alligator, by the time I grabbed the camera he had spit it out and was sitting like this... so cute 

Lastly one of my favorites. Coop is a shy dog with strangers... at first! Once he gets to know you... well you better not mind kisses! The first person outside my family that he really became best buddies with is my boyfriend James. This was the other day when James came home from drill. He was lying in the grass when I said to Cooper "go see" aka "someone-you-like-is-here-and-you-need-to-go-kiss-them" This was what ensued. My poor boyfriend just trying to relax got an all out Coopie bath. It's one of my favorite pictures.

I hope I've touched something in your heart with this, pets make our lives complete and I can't imagine someone saying that you can't have your dog anymore because he looks "different" isn't that what we fought against as a human race... for equality? Animals don't differentiate, they see a dog and think "are you a boy or girl" then "can we be friends" I think if we all started thinking that way the world would be a much better place!

Be back tomorrow for random thought thursday!!

New Project Monday: The Mini Quilt

Hi everyone!

So as I mentioned on my Thursday post I have been working on a special little quilt for a wonderful young lady. She has been going through a very trying time and I wanted to make something small that she could take with her that would remind her just how much she is loved. Here are the results of that thought:

Here is the "overhead" view of the quilt. I loved this charm pack and thought that they were bright and cheerful. The heart in the middle square I made following this tutorial (please be kind... it's the first attempt! :P)

I love the fabric on the back, it is hard to tell from this picture but it is made up of flowers and small white birds. It is also ridiculously soft and snuggly which was exactly what I wanted! I made the binding from the same material and was pretty proud as this was literally my first EVER quilt that I finished (and I made my own bias tape! which was not as easy as you think!) 

 The words "You are Loved" were hand sewn by me in purple thread. The letters were based of a font I downloaded from DaFont.com which you can find here. I typed the letters and pinned them where I wanted them to go and went ahead and sewed over the outline of the letters, then ripped the paper off... maybe I'll make a tutorial and upload it if anyone is interested!

This is the finished product on her bed with her beloved stuffed animals. I gave this to her last week and she has told me that she's slept with it every night. (It looks very tiny on her queen sized bed but it's probably around 30in x 30in. 

Hope you enjoyed my quilt! I had a blast making it and can't wait to *actually* make the quilt I have planned for my own bedroom!!

I'm hoping to post some of the products that I'm going to be selling on etsy within the week. Just working at this point on inventory :D

Thanks for reading!

~Megan~

Random Thought Thursday: Avatar The Last Airbender

Ok so I have a bit of a confession to make. I am a nerd, and a rather large nerd at that. And I must say that I am totally fine with that! With that being said I am going to nerd out for a moment and talk about one of my favorite series EVER.
Unfortunately not many people are aware of it as it was run on Nickelodeon from 2005-2008 as a "kids show" Let me say this now. This. Was. Never. A. Kids. Show.
If you haven't figured it out yet (or didn't read the title of this random thought) I'm talking about Avatar the Last Airbender. It's a show that my little brother and I watched when it was on Nick and something my boyfriend and I just re-watched (as he had never seen it before). Avatar follows the last airbender named Aang and his friends Katara, Sokka and Toph as he learns to master all four elements (water, earth, fire and air). The avatar is the only one who can master all four elements to stop a 100 year long war between the Fire nation and the other three nations. 
The show had something amazing for it's time, it boasted some wonderful voice actors, an amazing score, beautifully drawn animation, a wonderful sense of humor, a sense of right and wrong, and what it means to follow and fulfill your destiny. 
Those of you who thought it was a little kids show (or were unfortunate enough to see the 'live movie version') you're in luck! Nick recently introduced a sequel to the original series called: The Legend of Korra. Korra is a young waterbender who is the next incarnation of the late Aang. It is like it's predecessor a wonderful story that lets you see just where our original heros ended up!

In addition to the TV shows there are graphic novels out as well called "Avatar the Last Airbender: The Promise" as of right now volume one and two are out, with a third coming this September. Keep in mind these are about what took place after the end of the final episode of the original series, but are NOT written by the same writers, as such certain characters come across... well a little different. There are also rumors of an additional story to come out called "The Search" where we finally learn about Zuko's mother :D

Ok I think that's enough nerding for now, hopefully I haven't scared you all away :P I have created Avatar brushes that I will be uploading to DeviantArt as soon as I figure out how to do that :) I will add the link to those here when I have a link!

I will be posting a small quilt in a few days that I made for someone very special. As well as some new knitting projects :D

Here are some more random Avatar pictures in case you found this ramble intriguing! 

Until next time Yip-Yip

New Project Monday: Tiny Horse!

Yay new project Monday is here!! I'd like to share my newest completed project; little horse!

I love this little gal! She measures only 6.5 inches from the tip of her ear to the bottom of her leg. She is made out of three different colors of felt (counting the eyes!) and is completely hand-sewn! Her mane and tail are made out of yarn that I pulled apart and painstakingly sewn two strands at a time into place, check it out: 

(This is a view of where the fringe in the front meets the main part of the mane... silly English language!)

Needless to say putting all the hair into place took the longest amount of time, and in the future I will be adding it in a more time saving manner! 

If you would like for me to make a little horse for you like this send me a message at: thebutterfliesattic@gmail.com 

I am still setting up my etsy shop so for now this will be the best way to let me know!

Hope you enjoyed her!! 

~Megan

Please re-pin, email or let your friends know about my blog! :D

~Fairies~

Random Thought Thursdays are here! What will you find on The Butterflies Attic every Thursday? A random picture, quote, idea, meme, video or anything else I find that I want to share! :P

Today I am posting an original art piece I made using Gimp and some fantastic brushes:

The largest fairy is a clip art from google, the brushes are listed below. 

This picture started when my brother asked me about art programs on the computer, I showed him GIMP but realized that the majority of my brushes were lost when my last computer crashed. I then went about searching deviantart.com to find some of the brushes I had fallen in love with before... I ended up finding a lot of them, and found a TON of new brushes as well. I adored the grass brushes and knew I wanted to use them in the picture I was making. I was inspired and decided to search for fairies in google for a starting point. I found the fairy in the foreground and the rest of the picture started to come to me. 

I had a blast making this and surprisingly it didn't take to long! I will probably be making more fun gimp projects in the future, but for now I have to go back and finish my little sewn horse! She will be making an appearance this weekend here so check back :D

Enjoy!

Like the brushes you see here, well you can download them too!

Fairy brushes: click here

Dead tree brushes: click me

Grass brush: click this one

I am not sure where the clouds and water overlay brushes came from, I am going to try to find out who made them, feel free to search deviontart for them as well! There are some amazing brushes on that site!