Patchwork Patty-Counted Cross Stitch Project

Hi!

I'm back with my second post for today. I simply couldn't wait another minute to share this. A couple of weekends ago, I went on a little field trip to see a couple of stitchery shops I discovered were nearby. I didn't even know there was such a thing as a stitchery shop, to be honest. In case you aren't familiar with the idea, a stitchery shop sells the patterns, threads, fabrics and doo-dads you need to create stitching projects like counted cross-stitch.  I think I came across the names of them while thumbing through a cross stitch magazine while waiting in line at Joann's. Oh my goodness, the eye candy of all the samples on display! So many projects, so little time! 

I happened upon a magazine called cross-stitch and needlework that had THE cutest little witch on the cover. I was instantly smitten and full of desire to create Patchwork Patty. I bought the magazine and the perforated paper as listed in the supplies from the shop (along with another project, I can't wait to get working on). I figured I either had the rest of the supplies or I could pick them up as needed (and with coupons) from Michaels or Joann's.  I've been stitching like crazy these past couple of weeks and last night I finished gluing all her pieces together. I originally had her glued to some ribbon and had it wrapped around a glass apothecary jar (kind of like she was on the cover of the magazine), but I really wasn't all that thrilled about how it looked. So this morning, I got the idea to put her in a frame, minus the glass. So I snipped off the ribbon. Jessica helped me pick the background paper, and I decided to put a piece of vellum over it to keep it a little more subtle. The frame is one I got at the dollar store at some point, but it was natural wood. Jessica and I painted it black. (Amy was at a basketball clinic this morning so she wasn't available to help).

Okay, enough talk...here she is! Feel free to click on the photos to make them bigger. 

And here she is in the 8x10 frame I had. 

I adore how colorful she is and the bits of sparkle(although the camera may not have picked up much of that). I like the beads and the use of the memory floss(which is basically cotton floss wrapped around some wire to retain the shape you want).  I love the wild and crazy hair. Jessica tried to create a braid, but the strands were too short to do much.  I think it is just so much fun to look at. :)

Such patience and focus...

Here's a link to the magazine I got the pattern from (in case you were interested).

That's it from me today. Thanks ever so much for stopping by and reading my ramblings. 

*Ü*

Jeanne

Glittered Trees Car

Happy Saturday to you!

I have a card to share...yay! Last month there was a Scrapbooking and Stamping Expo in Denver. I decided at the last minute to go. I had been working on going through boxes in the shed and decided to reward myself with this little jaunt after I was done for the day. It had been several years since I'd been to a show like this and I thought it'd be fun to check it out. It wasn't very big, bit I managed to find a few things to bring home with me. 

One of the first booths I saw as I walked in was one that was highlighting a technique I'd seen samples of  at my local scrapbooking store (they teach this technique in a class) and fell in love with the look. You use super sticky adhesive tape, microfine glitter,outline stickers, and for most crafters, Copic markers . You can use Spectrum Noir markers. You can also use Sharpies/Bic markers, but blending colors would be difficult, if not impossible. I do not own but just a couple of Copics (light blue, gray and a few skin colors), no Spectrum Noirs, but I do have a bucketful of Sharpies and Bics. I admired the samples. I just love the glittered look. In the end, after watching the lady demo the technique, I could no longer resist. I bought the stickers and glitter and a 6x6 size sheets of adhesive.  

Basically, you adhere the one side of the double sided sticky tape to white  cardstock, take off the covering of the second side,  pour the clear glitter over the cardstock creating a glitter sheet. Then you put the outline sticker on top of that sheet. After the sticker is attached, you take your markers and color in the open spaces on the sticker. You cut out the pieces and use them on your card or scrapbook page. With Copics or Spectrum Noir markers, you can blend the colors to get beautifully shaded images. Not difficult, but the results can be stunning (in my humble opinion).   Here's a link to the Elizabeth Craft website. Look in the header to see what the technique is really supposed to look like. Here  is my first attempt with the technique.

Not quite as pretty as the cards on display(or on the website), but okay, I think. I hope you can see the sparkliness(you can click the image to enlarge it)! I tried to make the trees look fallish with the colors I chose. Once I cut them out, I didn't quite know what to do with them. I fiddled and futzed with a lot of layouts, but in the end decided to just keep it simple. 

Supplies:

Elizabeth Craft fine micro-glitter in Warm Diamond

Super Sticky double sided 6x6 adhesive sheet

Krazy Kloset outline stickers

Sharpie Markers

Darice swirling leaf embossing folder 

Hero Arts Happy Thanksgiving stamp set (sentiment)

Cardstock-my stash, Hobby Lobby (black) and Coordinations (orange)

That's it from me for the moment.  Thanks so much for stopping by. Hope you have a great day!

Jeanne

Birthday Card Made on World Card Making Day

Hello!

Life keeps me hopping, like I'm sure it does you. For me the new twist is I just started a part time job working in an elementary school kitchen. Yep, I've become "the lunch lady." :) This past week was my first week of working, but there have been a lot of hoops for me to jump through to get to actually working. That has kept me busy "behind the scenes." Prior to that, I was busily working on going through the tons of boxes we have had stored in the shed  out back by our garage. Most of the boxes contained teacher supplies from when I taught elementary school. I have no desire to head back to the classroom in that capacity, that stuff needed to go. I've taken quite a few trips to the Goodwill recently. Thank goodness it's only about a 5 minute drive from my house. :)

All that to say, that's why I've not been posting on the blog. I'm hoping that once I get the hang of this working thing (I've been a sahm for the past 13 years, so it's an adjustment for sure), I'm hoping to get back to more consistent creating, and then posting. I've been doing some creative stuff, but nothing that's share-able just yet. Fingers crossed that I will have something finished soon.

We had a birthday party to go to yesterday for my friend's son. I came across this card and thought it would be neat for this friend. Amy was eager to help with the card-making, too. Yay!

Amy says, you'd better watch out!

I showed her how to paper piece and how to mask. Although, it turned out the masking wasn't necessary since we paper pieced. 

Here's the card without the gift card we added.

Here's how it looked all put together. 

Amy stamped everything. I cut the file and added the twine/floss. 

We used this file from the Silhouette shop. I had to follow the tutorial to remember how to manipulate files with the Cameo. 

The stamp set is Lawn Fawn's So Much To Say.

The paper is Echo Park's boy set from a few years ago. 

We sure had fun putting this together! How neat that it was made on WCMD, too!

Thanks so much for stopping by! 

Hope you have a great day. 

Jeanne