Crochet African Flower Motif Dragon called Smaug

Hi Crafty Friends!

Yay! School's out for the summer! :) 

Now that I have a minute to breathe, I thought I'd show you a project I've been working on recently. It's another doll using the African Flower motif using a pattern created by Heidi Bears. 

My assistant manager at work asked me if there was a dragon pattern like the hippo I had made her daughter. There is indeed a dragon pattern! She asked me if I'd be willing to crochet the dragon for her and I agreed. I've been pretty busy working on this so that I could finish it before school let out for the summer. I handed it over earlier this week, but not before I took a few photos. He/She is bigger than the pictures suggest and it was kind of hard to get even decent photos. I was kind of surprised at just how long it turned out to be! It was fun to create, but also a challenge. I can't imagine how big this would have been had I used heavier weight yarn. I used the Aunt Lydia's crochet thread and it seemed huge!

Enough talk, here are the photos. Hope you enjoy!

In case you were wondering, 128 motifs were crocheted to complete the project. That is way more than I've had to crochet for previous projects I've made. But many were for the wings and the scales, so it makes sense, I guess. 

My friend at work was thrilled with the final project. Yay!

It's a one of a kind, for sure as I have no desire to make a second one. LOL 

Thanks for stopping by. I so appreciate you! I know I am completely hit and miss when it comes to posting and I am sorry for that. Life and kids keeps me hopping, but you all are busy, too! I so admire the bloggers who are able to juggle everything a bit better than I can. I'll keep plugging away!

Thanks again for the visit and I hope to be back again soon.

Hugs,

Jeanne

Shimmery Butterfly Thanks Card

Hi There!

I recently started following a blog called Me and Minime Crafting. Marika is a wonderful artist and I've watched a video or two of her watercoloring. Oh my! Such talent. :) Anyway, she recently posted this card and I was instantly smitten. Butterflies! Squeeeee! I really liked how she heat embossed the image in white and chose to watercolor the butterflies green. I decided to try my hand at a similar look.

Since I felt a bit more successful watercoloring with pencils, I used them again. Why mess with success, right? These butterflies are from an old CTMH butterflies set (long retired, I'm sure). I forgot to note the name of the set, and I'm too lazy to go back and look for it. Let me know if you'd like the name of the set. I stamped them in Versamark and heat embossed with white. The first butterfly I made was all green. Then I started to wonder (uh oh) what it would look like with some blue. I liked the result! I set them aside to dry. Then I added some shimmer with my Wink of Stella pen. Only you can't really tell. I set this aside and left it alone until today. Should I mention I'm working hard now not to rush myself in finishing a card? 

I sat back down today and decided to fussy cut the butterflies out. Initially I planned to plop them onto white cardstock, but I got to thinking again...I wonder what it would look like if I washed a watercolor card piece with shimmery blue watercolor? I liked the result! (whooo hoooo 2 for 2)

You can see the shimmer much better in this second photo. :)

Finally, I wanted to add a sentiment and I really like the thanks Marika used. But I don't have that die. I noticed some wayyyyyyyy old Cuttlebug dies on a shelf. I mean these were released the first year the Cuttlebug was, if I remember correctly. I remember when purging before debating whether I should donate the dies as I'd not used them much at all. But I decided to keep them. Golly! Am I happy to have hoarderish tendencies when it comes to crafty supplies. :) I cut the thanks with a shimmer cardstock from Michaels. It's a recent release stack called Sophia and is part of the Recollections brand. Adds just the right touch. And to finish off the card, I added some sequins. 

Happy sigh!

Thanks so much for stopping by. 

I hope you have a happy day.

Hugs,

Jeanne