Nutcracker Along 2026

Totally does! The shadows are so odd, I couldn’t stop trying to figure out why. I did not think you would post a bad photoshop pic but that was definitely what it looked like at first.

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On a Nutcracker note, I am excited about the crazy outfit plan I have but have to finish a couple baby projects first. Then all the fun fancy fabrics come out!

I may end up being in baby land in California for most of the Xmas party season here in Taos, but I am still moving forward with this idea… whatever… :winking_face_with_tongue:

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Re the photo: I wonder if it has something to do with the pearlescent topcoat on the “candy cane” in combination with some depth-of-field weirdness with the drawer?

I am so excited to see what you come up with! It’s going to be an exciting time for you and your family with the new baby coming and worth missing one year’s holiday parties. Still, I’m super pumped about this outfit!

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Earlier this week I attached the drawer I made to the base and wove a little scarf from embroidery floss. !

I haven’t woven anything since a general handicraft class I took in high school and this one was created using what I remembered from photos I’d seen and no actual research or investigation. :thinking: :face_with_peeking_eye: :woman_shrugging: Since it will be fixed in place on the nutcracker, I’m sure it will be fine!

I think the only thing I’ve bought so far was more floss to finish the scarf.

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It is so adorable. The scarf is perfect.

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Thank you so much!

Soooo, in a punny coincidence we have a flock of rambunctious Clark’s Nutcrackers carrying on in the yard the last few days.

Pic from internet, our local crew will not hold still out of the shade.

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I’ve picked out the nutcrackers to modify. Both are 13-14 inches tall. I have to decide how to modify their heads. I think I need to knock off their hats and use paper clay to form their cat heads. Paint and make new clothes. Sounds sooooo easy. And take away the sword from Oskar’s nutcracker. No cat needs a sword.

But I have a real roadblock or procrastination hurdle. My workbench is somewhere under so much stuff! I guess I needed a reason and a deadline to clean it.

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Cooool! There is something so satisfying about deconstructing them to rebuild them to suit your vision. Not quick, usually, but fun! I cleared my bench and surrounding area pretty well when I began, but it looks like that again, but now with nutcracker supplies!

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I support this, Years ago, in my twenties, I had an orange tiger cat that used to pull the wooden-handled steak knives out of the knife block holder-thingee that we kept on top of the fridge and he’d carry them around the apartment. We discovered this when my roommate opened her bedroom door late one night to get a drink of water and found him sitting on the other side with one. :weary_cat:

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Yup, no cat needs a knife. What a wonderful scary cat story.

When we lived in an apartment, I would come home and find my underwear on the floor and the drawer partly open. Not everyday. I suspected that someone was entering the appartment when we were gone. Then one day I caught our cat snaging my panties through the slightly open drawer. One by one.

The drawer was tightly closed from then on, and I slept better.

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Weekend nutcrackery!

First, Tim Holtz has a re-sized reissue of his toy soldiers dies which give strong nutcracker vibes. Link to and image from Sizzix site.

Second, I got to play quite a bit with my nutcracker and am alllllmost finished! I have a few more details and then a big ol’ photoshoot. Get ready for your closeup, Nutcracker!

Third, I made a horrifying discovery about a terrible mistake. I had bought another rabbit nutcracker blank after making my Crack-alope this spring. I have so many plans to make a lady companion for him! I was Polo-ing with a girlfriend who was asking questions about the Snowman nutcracker’s cracking mechanism and thought I could show her more about it with the rabbit, and when I went to grab it off the shelf I realized IT’S NOT A NUTCRACKER!!! It’s just a nutcracker-style rabbit from the same line of blanks at Michael’s! Now wonder they had them leftover in summer. Even though the Michael’s blanks wouldn’t really crack nuts, the fact that this isn’t a nutcracker somehow really matters! I’m going to have to see if I can get past this and still care enough to decorate and jackalope-ify this… statue?.. to actually move forward. Anyway, this is future TheMistressT’s problem. Sigh.

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My trauma from my last post inspired me to make another poll!

Do you care if you can actually crack nuts with a nutcracker?
  • Yes. Everything must do what it says on the tin.
  • Nah, who’s cracking nuts these days, anyway?
0 voters
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I would be afraid to try to actually crack anut with any of mine. I like that they have the hinging jaw, but these are not crack-a-nut quality. Maybe a peanut shell. They are of decoration quality. Cheaply made with cheap wood and hinges.

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Wow, the texture on your snowman looks fantastic! And the little scarf is super cute. I haven’t done much except study the pile of nutcrackers. Need to finish up a swap before I can spend any time on nutcrackers.

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I am weird…

Hahahahaaaa! Aren’t we all weird in at least one way? In general, I want my stuff to do what it claims to do. Like, I don’t have show towels or for the most part candles that can’t be burned.

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Candles that can’t be burned… :scream::scream::scream:

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Well, I’m soooo close to done and have been for a couple of days. Finally got decent pics yesterday afternoon after thinking I had them, but the sun was way too harsh. I had hoped to get it in the mail this afternoon, BUT just this morning as I was lying in bed trying ignore both Vivienne and my bladder, I remembered that I hadn’t written and printed instructions for how the perch works yet! D’oh! So I need to do that. I also need to make a storage/gift box for it and then pack it all up. Soooooo, luckily the post office is open for a couple hours on Saturday.

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I got the last minute things done, a box made, and it shipped off on Saturday morning right when the PO opened! WOO! I made a topic for it last night! WOO! And now what?

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I was watching a thrifting YouTuber that I follow and they were at a garage sale where there were a lot of holiday decorations. The seller brought out a box FULL of blanks! I am jealous, as I have been fretting that the selection might be even less this year. I’m pretty sure I want to do another!