Recap:
Read:
1. Gold Rush Baby by Dorothy Clark
2. 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher
3. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
4. The Agency: A Spy in the House by Y.S. Lee
Stitched:
1. Loving and Faithful by Little House Needleworks
2. Snow Bunny by Hob Nobb Designs
3. Mockingjay by Forever Young Adult Designs
Crafts:
1. Soulless resin charm pendant
2. Clock parts & gears resin bezel bracelet
3. 6 steampunk magnets
4. 8 resin charms (failure! O_o")
5. Alice in Wonderland charm bracelet
6. 11 cell phone charm lanyards
7. Robot Love watch keychain
8. 60 Shrinky Dink charms
9. 2 Soulless-inspired tote bags
Felties:
2 stars
2 Totoru
1 breakfast pastry
4 toast with butter or jam
10 mustaches
1 cupcake
4 kitties
1 egg
1 bacon
1 onigiri
1 panda
3 bunnies
1 girl octopus
1 donut
1 pig rabbit
1 snow rabbit
Egads! It doesn't seem like that much until I wrote it all down.......O_o"
>____<
This next month will be more of the same. I don't think I'll get any cross stitching done in April because Kristina and I will be getting ready for the convention in May.
But that's ok! I hope to work on some nice cross stitch patterns after May ;)
The one goal I do have for April is finishing Apollo's Angels. It is still on my bedside with a bookmark in it! Shame on me, I know!
Until next time ^____^
Saturday, March 31, 2012
I LOVE ROBOTS!
I have been eyeing this robot watch charm at Hobby Lobby for a while now. Today they finally had a sale on Metal Gallery jewelry so I bought this and a red glass heart to make a nerdy keychain! LOL You can tell what time I took the photo! >____<
Until next time ^___^
Too cute!
This afternoon I decided to make some of my Shrinky Dinks into cell phone charms using the beads I got in the mail this week from eBay!
I love the bow beads! They are so adorable and work well with the charms! I also used some of the stars I got too :)
I'm almost out of the bow beads O_o" I'm definitely going to order more soon >___<
I hope you are having a wonderful weekend with all your plans :)
Until next time ^___^
I love the bow beads! They are so adorable and work well with the charms! I also used some of the stars I got too :)
I'm almost out of the bow beads O_o" I'm definitely going to order more soon >___<
I hope you are having a wonderful weekend with all your plans :)
Until next time ^___^
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Storybook bracelet
Close-up (Sorry for the horrible color; the colors in the first photo are closer to the truth!)
This evening after a trip to Hobby Lobby I decided to make an Alice in Wonderland bracelet. Over the weekend I had made several scallop edged charms with holes on either side with the idea of making them into a bracelet.
I'm not sure what I was thinking when I bought the larger jump rings. I wonder if I might impose on my friend Amanda and see if I can send the bracelet to her for a makeover with the correct rings? She's a beading/jewelry expert and has all sorts of findings. I think I should have bought oval shaped jump rings......assuming they even make those!
Until next time ^___^
Monday, March 26, 2012
Resin Experiment
Yesterday morning after I finished reading The Hunger Games, I decided since it was lovely weather outside that I would experiment with some Easy Cast resin that I bought at Hobby Lobby a while ago.
What a disaster!
1. While mixing my resin I accidentally knocked over the cup and poured resin in my mold.
2. Starting with a new mold, I poured too much in each mold because of how fast the liquid came out of the cup. I had to use a spoon to scoop some of the resin out of each mold.
3. Letting the resin get tacky, I left out my cup of resin for the next layer. It hardened completely!
4. Due to the spilled resin (see #1), my ice cube tray stuck to the wax paper.
So yes, quite an eventful morning!
But after curing the resins overnight, I got these results this morning.
Since this was my first experiment using the Easy Cast resin, I didn't go further with other layers in the mold, I poured only one layer. I waited about an hour and half for the layers to get tacky before adding stickers.
So researching this morning for troubleshooting on using Easy Cast resins, I found out why my resins still set up correctly despite spilling some of the contents while stirring. Apparently if you mix a large batch of resin, you don't have to measure exactly. If you make a smaller batch, the measurements must be exact.
Silly me! I only wanted a small batch of resin, but I poured 3oz of each mixture out in the cups......and so the resins set up correctly!
I also found out why my resins came out cloudy. When you stir your mixtures together, you must stir for two minutes and transfer the mixture to a new cup and continue to stir until the mixture becomes clear. I was so flustered by knocking over my cup that I neglected to stir completely.
Despite all my mishaps, I hope to experiment with resin charms again in the future! I just have to wait for another weekend of nice weather!
Until next time ^____^
What a disaster!
1. While mixing my resin I accidentally knocked over the cup and poured resin in my mold.
2. Starting with a new mold, I poured too much in each mold because of how fast the liquid came out of the cup. I had to use a spoon to scoop some of the resin out of each mold.
3. Letting the resin get tacky, I left out my cup of resin for the next layer. It hardened completely!
4. Due to the spilled resin (see #1), my ice cube tray stuck to the wax paper.
So yes, quite an eventful morning!
But after curing the resins overnight, I got these results this morning.
Since this was my first experiment using the Easy Cast resin, I didn't go further with other layers in the mold, I poured only one layer. I waited about an hour and half for the layers to get tacky before adding stickers.
So researching this morning for troubleshooting on using Easy Cast resins, I found out why my resins still set up correctly despite spilling some of the contents while stirring. Apparently if you mix a large batch of resin, you don't have to measure exactly. If you make a smaller batch, the measurements must be exact.
Silly me! I only wanted a small batch of resin, but I poured 3oz of each mixture out in the cups......and so the resins set up correctly!
I also found out why my resins came out cloudy. When you stir your mixtures together, you must stir for two minutes and transfer the mixture to a new cup and continue to stir until the mixture becomes clear. I was so flustered by knocking over my cup that I neglected to stir completely.
Despite all my mishaps, I hope to experiment with resin charms again in the future! I just have to wait for another weekend of nice weather!
Until next time ^____^
Steampunk Love!
Yesterday afternoon I was able to make this steampunk bracelet using Magic Glos resin, a square bezel bracelet, a silver glitter heart, and clock parts.
I used a hairdryer to get rid of the tiny bubbles in the resin before setting it in the sun to dry ;) The only defects were some flecks in the square bezels.
I'm happy with the results of this resin experiment ;)
Until next time ^____^
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Mockingjay
Design: Mockingjay by Forever Young Adult
Fabric: 28ct Cashel Antique White Zweigart
Threads: DMC 310, 400, 436, 680, 781, 782, 3820, and 3857
Start/Finish: 3/25/2012
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Monday, March 19, 2012
Pig Rabbit!
My friends and I are K-drama geeks and one of our favorites is You're Beautiful starring Jang Geun Suk. I found a tutorial for making the pig rabbit doll from the drama and had to try it for myself.
I finished this cutie last night. I'm not impressed with my stitching when it comes to adding the additional parts, it's hard to be neat when stitching them on. This morning I found some tiny safety pins to attach the plaid fabric bows. It is a temporary look for the pig rabbit until I can go by the store and find some plaid bows or some decent ribbon to make them.
Once I've done that, this little guy will be a gift for my friend Kristina since she absolutely adores anything and everything that Jang Geun Suk stars in!
Until next time ^_____^
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Snow Bunny
Design: Snow Bunny Doodles by Hob-Nobb Designs
Fabric: 28ct Cashel Antique White Zweigart
Threads: 310, 543, 801, and 910
Start/Finish: 3/17-18/2012
My cross stitching yesterday night and this morning while watching Glee Season 2 Part 2 on DVD.
Until next time ^_____^
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Thursday, March 15, 2012
St. Patrick's Surprise!
Good morning! I thought I'd put in a quick post before heading off to work today. In the package that Amanda had sent me last week there was an envelope which read "Do Not Open Until March 17th". Well, my lovely friend gave me permission to open it early and I decided to open it today since I won't be at work tomorrow :)
Envelope and front of card
Inside of card and a cute surprise
Isn't that little shamrock just the cutest? She made me a shamrock feltie brooch! I'm so glad to add this to my collection of brooches as I have only three St. Patrick's Day themed brooches!
Since I'm not going to be at work tomorrow, I plan on wearing this cutie today and show him off ;)
Why am I taking the day off tomorrow? Well, my family and I decided to all take the day off from our jobs to head across the bay to see the Fairhope Arts and Crafts show together.
I need to remember to bring my camera. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for good weather and views of beautiful azaleas. We had a bad storm on Monday that destroyed our azalea bushes so I'm hoping that Fairhope's azaleas have survived to bloom another day.
Thanks Amanda for the little shamrock cutie. I've named him Lucky ;)
Until next time ^___^
Envelope and front of card
Inside of card and a cute surprise
Isn't that little shamrock just the cutest? She made me a shamrock feltie brooch! I'm so glad to add this to my collection of brooches as I have only three St. Patrick's Day themed brooches!
Since I'm not going to be at work tomorrow, I plan on wearing this cutie today and show him off ;)
Why am I taking the day off tomorrow? Well, my family and I decided to all take the day off from our jobs to head across the bay to see the Fairhope Arts and Crafts show together.
I need to remember to bring my camera. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for good weather and views of beautiful azaleas. We had a bad storm on Monday that destroyed our azalea bushes so I'm hoping that Fairhope's azaleas have survived to bloom another day.
Thanks Amanda for the little shamrock cutie. I've named him Lucky ;)
Until next time ^___^
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Little Women - Loving and Faithful
(sigh) I didn't think this design would give me trouble again after the first time I attempted to stitch it (here).
I got all the way to the bottom of the design and was stitching the branches of the flowers when I noticed that I was a stitch off in my counting. I started to pull out my stitched branch and noticed that the thread color had bled onto the fabric. Well, I washed it....to no avail! I thought I would be okay with that...I would just use the top of the design as a finish and proceeded to pull out all the stitching at the bottom.
Problem area in lower right corner!!! Ugh!
Well, silly me. I got home from work this evening and finished stitching the green border on the side and decided to wash the piece before ironing it for a photo.
Silly, silly me! The brown threads in the other areas of the fabric bled! Great, just great!
What possessed me to wash the fabric?!
Design: Loving and Faithful by Little House Needleworks
Fabric: 28ct antique white
Threads: Crescent Colours
Start/Finish: 3/11-13/2012
Ugh! Don't you just hate it when something goes wrong with a project! Especially at the end of the project?! You can see the brown thread areas have bled onto the fabric in the photo.
My tip for the day: Always run dark color threads under water before using them to stitch to prevent bleeding thread colors.
Well, perhaps I will stitch this again one day :)
Until next time ^____^
I got all the way to the bottom of the design and was stitching the branches of the flowers when I noticed that I was a stitch off in my counting. I started to pull out my stitched branch and noticed that the thread color had bled onto the fabric. Well, I washed it....to no avail! I thought I would be okay with that...I would just use the top of the design as a finish and proceeded to pull out all the stitching at the bottom.
Problem area in lower right corner!!! Ugh!
Well, silly me. I got home from work this evening and finished stitching the green border on the side and decided to wash the piece before ironing it for a photo.
Silly, silly me! The brown threads in the other areas of the fabric bled! Great, just great!
What possessed me to wash the fabric?!
Design: Loving and Faithful by Little House Needleworks
Fabric: 28ct antique white
Threads: Crescent Colours
Start/Finish: 3/11-13/2012
Ugh! Don't you just hate it when something goes wrong with a project! Especially at the end of the project?! You can see the brown thread areas have bled onto the fabric in the photo.
My tip for the day: Always run dark color threads under water before using them to stitch to prevent bleeding thread colors.
Well, perhaps I will stitch this again one day :)
Until next time ^____^
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Addicted Much!
LOL Here is my progress this week. I can usually get maybe three felties stitched after I get home from work ;)
18 felties.....Quite a few as you can tell! I didn't think it was that many until I got them all together to take a photo.
I got a few of the books I ordered through ILL at the library yesterday....it only took them a month to get here.....they came all the way from Illinois and Arizona! I didn't think they would come from a library so far away! O_o"
I tried my hand at one of the designs from Nelly Pailloux' book called Felties. While the design for the panda is quite cute, my stitching is absolutely horrid. After working exclusively with oversew stitches on that design, I have come to the conclusion that I don't like to oversew stitch.....at least not when it is used to attach two pieces to one another like this design.
I think if I attempt this design again I will use a blanket stitch and leave room at the bottom of the head to insert the body before stitching it closed. Far neater than the instructions for that pattern.
At the request of my friend Amanda, I decided to take a photo of my box that my felties call home. I found it at Target on sale for about $5.
Cute, huh?
Well, I hope you are enjoying your Sunday despite the time change!
Until next time ^____^
18 felties.....Quite a few as you can tell! I didn't think it was that many until I got them all together to take a photo.
I got a few of the books I ordered through ILL at the library yesterday....it only took them a month to get here.....they came all the way from Illinois and Arizona! I didn't think they would come from a library so far away! O_o"
I tried my hand at one of the designs from Nelly Pailloux' book called Felties. While the design for the panda is quite cute, my stitching is absolutely horrid. After working exclusively with oversew stitches on that design, I have come to the conclusion that I don't like to oversew stitch.....at least not when it is used to attach two pieces to one another like this design.
I think if I attempt this design again I will use a blanket stitch and leave room at the bottom of the head to insert the body before stitching it closed. Far neater than the instructions for that pattern.
At the request of my friend Amanda, I decided to take a photo of my box that my felties call home. I found it at Target on sale for about $5.
Cute, huh?
Well, I hope you are enjoying your Sunday despite the time change!
Until next time ^____^
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
*squeal* Panda Package!
This evening I came home to find a package waiting for me from my friend Amanda in CA!
She posted a lot of the contents on her blog so I'll post what she didn't take a picture of ;)
First of all, she sent me a cute 'grow-a-head' Halloween figurine. It is a funny Dracula figurine ;) She also sent me a freebie set of pens that she received at work. I always need pens! I think we have a pen goblin in the house, they always disappear somewhere O_o"
Included in her package was this super cute witch and cauldron salt/pepper set! Isn't it darling? I don't think I'd ever use them, but I'd definitely display them during Halloween!
Do you like the background? LOL I went by Target this evening after work and picked up a plastic container for all my plushies.
A set of cross stitch magazines! Awesome ;)
See her blog here for pictures of the cute amigurumi she made for me.
She made me a cute onigiri amigurumi and something possibly even more cute! An octopus amigurumi with a top hat and monocle!
*SQUEAL*
I loved everything darling! Thank you for all the goodies ;) Especially the octopus! He's so precious and geeky steampunk, I love it!
Until next time ^____^
She posted a lot of the contents on her blog so I'll post what she didn't take a picture of ;)
First of all, she sent me a cute 'grow-a-head' Halloween figurine. It is a funny Dracula figurine ;) She also sent me a freebie set of pens that she received at work. I always need pens! I think we have a pen goblin in the house, they always disappear somewhere O_o"
Included in her package was this super cute witch and cauldron salt/pepper set! Isn't it darling? I don't think I'd ever use them, but I'd definitely display them during Halloween!
Do you like the background? LOL I went by Target this evening after work and picked up a plastic container for all my plushies.
A set of cross stitch magazines! Awesome ;)
See her blog here for pictures of the cute amigurumi she made for me.
She made me a cute onigiri amigurumi and something possibly even more cute! An octopus amigurumi with a top hat and monocle!
*SQUEAL*
I loved everything darling! Thank you for all the goodies ;) Especially the octopus! He's so precious and geeky steampunk, I love it!
Until next time ^____^
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Feltie Weekend
Between yard work, laundry, dishes, etc., I was able to make a few felties.
I made a design for a mustache feltie and a cupcake feltie. I'm not fond of the cupcake, I combined the happy cloud for the top and the toast as the bottom to make the cupcake. It's not too bad, I think the cloud top needs to be smaller though.
Charms made:
1. Toast with butter
2. Totoru
3. Purple breakfast pastry with blue seed beads
4. Mustache
5. Red cupcake
Is it bad that I don't want to go to work tomorrow? I'd rather stay home and craft ;)
Until next time ^____^
I made a design for a mustache feltie and a cupcake feltie. I'm not fond of the cupcake, I combined the happy cloud for the top and the toast as the bottom to make the cupcake. It's not too bad, I think the cloud top needs to be smaller though.
Charms made:
1. Toast with butter
2. Totoru
3. Purple breakfast pastry with blue seed beads
4. Mustache
5. Red cupcake
Is it bad that I don't want to go to work tomorrow? I'd rather stay home and craft ;)
Until next time ^____^
Soulless Charm
Good evening. I made this resin charm this afternoon using a bezel pendant. I printed out the definition of soulless and punched it out with a 1" hole punch. I Mod Podged it to the bezel, let that dry, and added resin. I decided to go with some clock parts and a glitter hear charm in the resin.
One of my favorite steampunk series is the Soulless series by Gail Carriger. I made the charm with that series in mind ;)
Here is a picture of the charm. My only complaint is the fact that the charms some sort cover the words since they floated in the resin before it dried completely. And I hate the tiny bubbles. I need to invest in a heat gun or something like that to get rid of the bubbles before the resin dries.
Until next time ^____^
One of my favorite steampunk series is the Soulless series by Gail Carriger. I made the charm with that series in mind ;)
Here is a picture of the charm. My only complaint is the fact that the charms some sort cover the words since they floated in the resin before it dried completely. And I hate the tiny bubbles. I need to invest in a heat gun or something like that to get rid of the bubbles before the resin dries.
Until next time ^____^
Azaleas
It's that time again! All the azaleas are in bloom around the city. I took some pictures of my grandmother's azalea bushes this afternoon after mowing the yard.
Until next time ^____^
Saturday, March 3, 2012
What's Cooler Than Italy and England? .....
Shrinky Dinks! Well, alright, not really, but it is the coolest thing to watch in the toaster oven. My friend Kristina and I decided to play with Shrinky Dink plastics this morning and afternoon. It was a good day to play with them too considered the fact that it has gotten a bit cold and windy after all the rainstorms.
When we put our first batch in the oven and were watching it, we both exclaimed, "That's the coolest thing ever" when we saw the way the plastics curl up on themselves and then flatten out. And then I made the comment that we've both traveled internationally and seen cool things, but we were more impressed with the plastics ;P
We had a lot of fun working with the plastics. By the end of day, we bought two large hole punches to make cutting easier on the images. Hopefully they come in the mail soon.
Until next time ^____^
When we put our first batch in the oven and were watching it, we both exclaimed, "That's the coolest thing ever" when we saw the way the plastics curl up on themselves and then flatten out. And then I made the comment that we've both traveled internationally and seen cool things, but we were more impressed with the plastics ;P
We had a lot of fun working with the plastics. By the end of day, we bought two large hole punches to make cutting easier on the images. Hopefully they come in the mail soon.
Until next time ^____^
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Totoru Love!
I think this is my favorite plushie so far! I found a sewing template for a Totoru and thought I could use it on a smaller scale as a felt plushie! I decided to cut out a heart and attach it to the tummy of the Totoru ;)
Until next time ^____^
February Recap
Recap:
Read:
1. Spice and Wolf novel Volume 5 by Isuna Hasekura
2. The Borrowers by Mary Norton
3. The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz
4. The Doctor and the Kid by Mike Resnick
5. Cloaked by Alex Flinn
Stitched:
1. Witch House 1642 Salem, MA by Marion Dove Werth
Crafting:
1. 2 onigiri felties
2. 2 luma star plushies (one pink, one blue)
3. 6 magnets (steampunk, owl/flower, and origami paper)
4. Cherry and heart fabric tissue holder
5. Cherry and heart fabric buttons
6. Rose border buttons
7. Sprinkles bracelet
8. 3 jam and toast felties
9. 3 breakfast pastry felties
10. Egg feltie
11. Pudding feltie
12. Cake slice plushie
Apparently, I have a felt fever! Hopefully, my ILL from the library come in soon so I can experiment with other patterns for felt cuties!
Do I have any goals for March? A lot more crafting, but hopefully at least one cross stitch pattern. I know JBW Designs has some new patterns out, along with CCN and LHN, which I would love to buy. But I really need to go through my stash of patterns first and see if anything catches my eye as a project.
Until next time ^____^
Read:
1. Spice and Wolf novel Volume 5 by Isuna Hasekura
2. The Borrowers by Mary Norton
3. The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz
4. The Doctor and the Kid by Mike Resnick
5. Cloaked by Alex Flinn
Stitched:
1. Witch House 1642 Salem, MA by Marion Dove Werth
Crafting:
1. 2 onigiri felties
2. 2 luma star plushies (one pink, one blue)
3. 6 magnets (steampunk, owl/flower, and origami paper)
4. Cherry and heart fabric tissue holder
5. Cherry and heart fabric buttons
6. Rose border buttons
7. Sprinkles bracelet
8. 3 jam and toast felties
9. 3 breakfast pastry felties
10. Egg feltie
11. Pudding feltie
12. Cake slice plushie
Apparently, I have a felt fever! Hopefully, my ILL from the library come in soon so I can experiment with other patterns for felt cuties!
Do I have any goals for March? A lot more crafting, but hopefully at least one cross stitch pattern. I know JBW Designs has some new patterns out, along with CCN and LHN, which I would love to buy. But I really need to go through my stash of patterns first and see if anything catches my eye as a project.
Until next time ^____^
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