Happy New Year! I've Got Projects to Share...

Hello!!

Happy New Year! 

I hope 2019 will be filled with lots of crafty things for you. 

I also hope I am able to finagle a way to create and share more this year. 

I'm going to start out with a bang, I think.

I've got a few things to show you. 

I was talking with a friend yesterday about knitting and crafts. I realized I go through phases in my crafty life. There are years when I crochet a lot, or knit a lot. Lately, I've been doing lots of counted cross stitch. I learned how to do it with my mom when we were on vacation at friend's house here in Colorado back in the late 80s? I don't quite remember.  I've enjoyed it ever since, though. :)

I have a friend who loves foxes and I found a really unique fox pattern that I stitched as a gift for her. 

I found the pattern on Etsy. It was fun to stitch. 

My friend's daughter is a huge fan of wolves. I've looked for years for a good wolf project to make for her. Finally, I found one that I thought she would like. 

My friend and her daughter seemed to be very happy with their gifts. 

I know I really enjoyed creating them. 

I do handwork in the evenings when it is too dark to make cards. 

Unfortunately, I had need of a sympathy card this past week. 

I had a sketch setting out and I used it along with paper from an older DCWV paper pad called Linen Closet. Remember when those were available at Joann's? Love this paper. Thought it was pretty for this card and I do hope it offers some comfort. 

And to end on a bit more of happy note, here's a card I created recently using MFT's Cool Christmas stamp set. Oh gosh, I bought so many stamp sets for Christmas cards this year and I didn't get to use them! But I used this one for a non Christmas card. 

I had fun coloring it with Copic markers and sort of futzing with the design. My friend Kay makes really fun scene cards in this vein and that's what inspired me. I used MFT's Petite Plaid pattern paper for the background. I also used Lawn Fawn's Mountain borders for the mountains. Those snowmen just make me smile. 

Here's a bit of a close up.

 These pictures were taken with my phone, so if they are slightly blurry, that is why. 

Thank you so much for stopping by. 

I appreciate the visit. 

Hope you have an awesome start to your new year. 

Crafty hugs,

Cross Stitch Gift and a Little Zen Doodling

Hi There!

Guess what? The sun is shining. For the moment, anyway! Oh my goodness, we have had a ton of rain here in my neck of the woods. The past three days alone, we've had pretty loud thunderstorms, hail and even some tornadoes touch down about 15 minutes north of where I live. It's a wild and wacky springtime in the Rockies. I haven't been able to plant anything and may not at the rate we are going. 

Hey, guess what else? 

I've got a few things to share! 

Yay!

A very good friend of mine is going to be celebrating a birthday very soon. After I finished the dragon, I started on a counted cross stitch project. Got it done fairly quickly and have been searching the past several days for a frame. Um, and haven't been successful at all. I decided this morning to look for creative ideas to finish cross stitch projects. I came across this idea and thought it would be a neat way to showcase the project. 

Here's how it turned out. 

I tried to take a picture with a little of the side showing so you can see the ribbon and if you look at the very bottom of the block on the right side you can see part of the pin I used for legs. I really liked this fun way to finish the project.

I pinned a few other ideas for creatively finishing cross stitch project for future use. Framing can be hard, especially for odd sized pieces. 

In shopping for frames at the craft stores, I came across a brand new publication called Zen Doodle Workshop. I found it at Joann and also at Barnes and Noble. It's a pretty neat magazine. I liked all the ways you can use your doodling. One of the projects I saw is creating a box with Kraft cardstock. I have a need for a small, 3x3 box, so I decided to give it a go. I really liked the idea of white on Kraft.   

Here's what I came up with. Not great, but not too terrible for a first effort, I don't think. 

I was having some issues with my Signo Gel pen skipping and such. I added a little detail with a black pen. But if I were to do this again, I'd go with a pencil for detail like they said to use in the tutorial. 

Here's a glimpse at the side. 

I really liked the idea of decorating the paper and folding it into a box. Makes it a bit more personal for gift giving. 

That's it from me for now. 

Thanks so much for stopping by. 

I hope you have a great day.

Jeanne

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

Happy Birthday Card and Cross Stitch Project

How's that for a blog post title? They are not combined, but someday I do want to incorporate a mini cross stitch project onto a card.

Today I have a card to share that took some time in the creating. I saw this great kit on SVG Cuts and fell in love with the house. While I haven't had the chance to make that, a friend's birthday was coming up and I wanted to make a card for her. I kept looking at the card with the honeycomb/hexagons on the front and the fun pop up heart on the inside. I wanted to use that file because I thought the friend, who is like a grandmother to my girls, would love seeing the heart pop up when she opened the card. The only thing was, I didn't want the "bee mine" to be cut on the front panel. I figured it couldn't be too hard to "erase" that from the design. Well, in the end it wasn't too hard, but I am still so new to the Cameo and the Designer Studio program, it took me a while(and some tips from a friend) to figure out how to get it done. My instinct on what I needed to do was correct, I just thought for a while it wasn't working when it really was. I had to release the compound path (for those of you with a Cameo). Then pieces were under the main front panel and I had to move it to see them and then I could delete the portion I didn't want cut. Whew. Because it took a bit longer than I had hoped to figure that out (and I am like a dog with a bone when I want something to work the way I want it to work) I was running out of time to be able to get the card into the mail and have it arrive on time. So, it's not as embellished as much as I might have liked. Still, I'm very happy with the final project and I learned a few things along the way. All good things! Hope you like it, too.

The card is a bit larger than 5x7, but there is an envelope file that you can cut as well. I love how Mary and Leo think of everything!

I used Close To My Heart cardstock and paper for most of the design. The cardstock colors are Twilight and Baby Pink. The pattern paper is mostly from a retired line called Chantilly (I just love the colors, plus, my mom used to wear Chantilly perfume and that memory makes me smile). The polka dotted paper is from a Christmas 12x12 stack I got at Michaels. 

The Happy Birthday sentiment on the front is CTMH, aptly named Happy Birthday Script and the inside sentiment is Papertrey Ink's Birthday Basics. 

Feel free to click on the images to make them larger if you like. 

And in case you were interested, I finished stitching the counted cross stitch design I was working on. 

The magazine shows the design put together as a cushion, but I think I may frame it instead. 

The colors just make me happy. 

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Hope you have a great day!

Jeanne

Wow...It's Been A While...

It's definitely been longer than I thought it would be since I last posted. Anyone still out there? I guess I wouldn't blame you if you felt like moving on to other blogs. I have spent a lot of time working on the cross stitching projects and have made good progress. School's almost out and activities have ramped up before the last day which have taken up my time and finally, my computer has had some issues where I couldn't access the internet much. Topping it off, accessing from Steve's computer didn't work well either. Add that all together and I simply haven't been around much. Thankfully, the computer issue wasn't a virus or anything bad like that. I think a security program didn't like playing with the internet.

Thought maybe you'd like to see the project I spent so much time working on.

I hope you are doing well and enjoying your spring (or fall) as the case may be. 

My Cute Alligator

Hi There!

Long time no see, right? I know...I've not been blogging and while still reading blogs, not always commenting. Nothing is wrong, just not doing much papercrafting these days. I figured I'd better pop in and say hey, just in case anyone was wondering.

Last night, Jessica's grade level did their musical play, A Froggy Day in Lindentown for the parents. It was adorable. It was about a bully and how the critters got the bully to stop being a bully. The songs were very sweet and the kids looked great. I took pictures and a few of them came out okay. I edited out the other kids pretty much.

Jessica had a speaking part and remembered her lines well. She also spoke very clearly so you could understand what she was saying. Yay! The kids were all different animals and the nurse for the school made each of them headbands to wear. They looked great. Anyway, it was fun to watch. Thanks for indulging my proud mama moment.

One of the reasons I've not been papercrafting is because I've started a few new counted cross stitch projects. I used to do a lot of cross stitching in years past, but I kind of dropped it after my mom passed away. She and I used to stitch together or we were planning our next projects together. It was hard to do after she was gone. But, as time has gone on I've done projects here and there (I recently made a birth record for Kathi's granddaughter) and I'm rediscovering how much I enjoy it. I think my mom would be happy to see me pick it up in earnest again (especially since I seem to have lost my mojo for crochet/knitting for the time being). 

So, anyway, Amy's teacher is going to have a baby over summer break and Jessica's teacher is going to get married and those events are ripe for fun stitching projects. I've been looking and looking for something to make for each of them and not having a whole lot of luck finding something I like. Well, I came upon my box of cross stitch patterns in our shed and went through them. Yay! I found projects I think would be great for these events. But, school's out next month! So, that means, if I want to get these done, I've got to stitch, stitch, stitch every spare minute I've got. And papercrafting has to take a back seat for the time being.

Here's what I've gotten done so far for Amy's teacher. It's called Recipe for a Happy Child.  I started this project last Thursday. And I found an 11 x 14 frame at the thrift store that I hope to use for it. That should give you an idea of the size of this one.  Most of the main stitching is done on the bottom half, which is what I'm working on now. Once I get that done, the words/lettering shouldn't take too long. And the project(s) I have in mind for Jessica's teacher aren't quite as large, so I'm hoping I haven't bitten off more than I can chew. I'm also waiting on another teacher to find out her "colors" so I know which will work best for her project. Wish me luck!

So, if you don't see me around much for the next month or so, I hope you'll be patient. I don't think that anyone would be all that interested in progress photos. If there's something I just have to share, I'll pop in and let you know.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you are having a good week!

Cross Stitched Butterflies...

Hello there!

Remember all those days over the summer when I said the girls and I went to the pool and I'd let them swim while I worked on my handwork? You may or may not have noticed that I never said just what it was I was working on and that was on purpose. It was a birthday gift and I didn't want the recipient to have an inkling of what I was up to. Sneaky, huh? I finished up the project, framed it and sent it on its merry way and then the waiting started. I was antsy to hear that it arrived safe and sound and it did!

You want to know one of the reasons I love the internet so much? Because I've "met" some pretty special people online that I never would have had the opportunity to meet in real life. Kathi is one of those very special people. We first "met" when we were both consultants for CTMH. The following is true, but I don't know if Kathi even remembers this...I hope it doesn't make her feel on the spot or anything, but I had posted something on the consultant message boards and I think I had said I wasn't sure if I could share where I got the information from as it was from a book. I think I had taken a picture of the book and posted it or something like that. Anyway, Kathi responded with what I've come to know as her wonderful wisdom and pretty much told me about copyrights and such(a very strong passion of hers and she lets you know not to violate them). I remember sort of feeling put in my place by her response, but not in a bad way. It just made me much more conscious of copyrights and that is a good thing. But I didn't think she liked me much at that time...I don't know why, maybe I thought I should have known better at the time about copyrights. LOL I ended up quitting CTMH and she ended up starting a blog. I'd check it from time to time (when I could remember she had one, this was way before I discovered Google Reader) and over time I would be so enamored of her creations that I left comments and it was from there that we would email each other from time to time and our friendship blossomed. I'm truly grateful to Kathi for her wisdom, humor and immense talent in creating deceptively simple cards. She inspires me to want to do and be better. And because of this I wanted to do something extra special for her birthday. And here it is...for my friend Kathi. Thank you so much for your friendship.

I have met so many other wonderful friends online as well. And I appreciate and treasure each one.

I didn't mean to get all sappy, but I think it's important to let those you care about know you care about them. Have a wonderful day...thanks for your friendship and thanks for visiting!

Teacher Gifts are Finished!

Hello there! I've been in spring cleaning mode most of this week. I know you have been impressed at how quickly I've completed projects lately. Well, part of the reason is I have been neglecting all but the basics of housework. The other day I saw how bad it's gotten and felt embarrassed and mad at myself. So, I've spent oodles of time this week redeeming myself. And the sad part is...I'm not done! But, my kitchen is darn near sparkling clean as are the two cars we own. I was going to work on the living room today, but decided to "reward" myself by seeing if I could finish off the teacher gifts. So I pulled out the ironing board and the sewing machine and fiddled and futzed and managed to complete the task, well before the last day of school (May 28th)! I'm pretty pleased at how they look and hope the teachers like them. What do you think? In case you can quite tell, those are pencils that the ribbon is attached to.

Not too much else to report at the moment, just thought I'd pop in and let you know I'm still alive and hope to finish redeeming myself soon...(hee, hee)

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Jeanne

Lots of Smiles Today!

Hi there! I'm sorry I haven't posted the past few days. I wanted to do some creating on Monday, but Jessica wanted me to snuggle with her in the morning, so all my housekeeping chores had to be done after I dropped her off at school. Since she'll be in school all day  next year, I gotta take advantage of that snuggle time while I still can. *Ü* I did try to create yesterday, but it ended up being a big, fat dud as my mojo up and went-went. Sigh. Today was early-release day at school, which means I have a much shorter kid-free time and since I was so close to being done, I decided to work on the teacher cross-stitch project. I just finished the second one a few minutes ago! Whoo hooo!

You may notice that the piece on top is shorter than the one on the bottom. That was my big oops for this project. When I wanted to start it, I had to rush out the door to go park to pick up the girls from school (I have to leave early to get a decent spot-and I work on handwork while waiting). Anyway, I quick cut the Aida cloth and headed out the door. It wasn't until I finished stitching the teacher angel and word Teachers that I realized the piece of cloth was too short. I'd forgotten that I had already cut the Aida cloth to the correct size when I cut the first piece. (I had to get a rather large piece of cloth to get the length I needed). Anyway, because I was in a rush, I didn't think about that it was all ready for me. But, because I had already completed the angel, and didn't want to start all over again, I made it work by not skipping as many rows between sentences. If I couldn't fit the books in, I was going to leave them off and do another row of apples. Thankfully, I got it all to fit. That it worked, and the fact that I am done with this part of the project made me smile.

Then there's this...which showed up in the mail today.

 

My new blogging buddy, Sarah, of Sarah's Paper Tray, sent these buttons to me as a RAK (random act of kindness). She's posted some really cute cards with these buttons that she found at Walmart. I remember seeing them at my Walmart, but didn't have any idea of what I'd do with them, so I passed them up. Well, my Walmart is currently undergoing a huge renovation and as part of it, they have gotten rid of the whole fabric section (sniff, sniff) despite the fact that this fabric department was very profitable for the store. There had been customers that drove long distances just for the fabric. Anyway, I missed out on getting these fun and funky buttons. Sarah took pity on me and very sweetly sent me some so I could have some fun playing!  Thank you SO much Sarah! Aren't blogging buddies the best?? You really should check out the great projects she posts!

That's it from me today. Hopefully tomorrow my mojo will return from wherever it went, all rested and ready to get busy! Thanks for stopping by, I sure appreciate your visits.

Jeanne

Progress on Teachers' Cross Stitch...

Hi there! I hope you are doing well this fine Tuesday! It is absolutely gorgeous here today!! A fine treat after the wild and wooly weekend. *Ü*

Did you know this week is National TV Turn Off Week? Yep, it is. The girls' school sent home a little flyer on activities to help support this idea. Last night they had a sing-along at the school. The girls really wanted to go, so we went and had a blast. Unfortunately for most people, we only found out about the sing-along yesterday, so not too many people showed up for it. The music teacher (she's so fabulous) led the activity and had songs ready to go with lyrics on a power point presentation. She projected the words onto the wall nice and big. So we all (yes, even the adults) sang and danced our hearts out for about an hour. So much fun! And they didn't chatter with each other near so much as they usually do when they go to bed. LOL

Tomorrow night we are going back to the school to celebrate Earth Day. My friend (who is organizing the event) asked if I'd be willing to help out at a table. I'm happy to help when I can,  so I'm going to co-man the paper hat making table. Should be fun. Then Friday night, we'll go back for the ice-cream social! Tonight is Brownie night and Thursday is Daisy day and we started another session of swim class this week. Oh and the kindergarten class is going to a near-by park later this week to have a kite flying day! That's going to be great as it is supposed to be sunny and warm (and hopefully, windy enough to get the kites in the air...LOL). Guess it's going to be a busy one for me again. But that's okay, they are all pretty fun activities.

Enough jabber. I was hoping it would distract you from the fact that I don't have a card to share today (or yesterday for that matter). Did it work? I've been running errands while both girls are at school and have given up my uninterrupted creating time in doing so. 

But I'm happy to report that all the stitching is done on the first cross-stitch project. I actually finished over the weekend and haven't cleaned or pressed it, but I wanted to share (so you wouldn't think I've fallen off the face of the blogosphere). LOL So, please forgive the wrinkles and hoop marks. Now before you get all worked up at how fast I got this done...this is a 14 count aida cloth (I prefer 18 count) and it's mostly full cross-stitches, meaning it goes pretty fast. It's definitely not an intricate pattern, either. I also pushed myself a little to work on it because I really wanted to have one done as soon as possible.

I added the close up picture of the hair, which was really fun to do. Those are not French knots which can be a pain in the patootie to create. Nope, these are Colonial knots which I hadn't done before and they were rather fun. There was a note in the pattern that cross-stitchers now prefer this Colonial knot over the French knot because it adds a great texture to the project and is a great alternative to the French Knot. Here's a link I just found in case you are interested in seeing how it is made... The fabric in the picture is what I am going to use to back the project. The directions for the project doesn't  have any back on it, so the recipient would see all messiness on the back side. I'm still not 100% convinced I'm going to make it a bell pull like the sample. I thought I might modify it to be a wall hanging, but without the fringe on the bottom. We'll see what I end up with when I actually put the whole thing together.

So, that's it from me today. Thanks so much for stopping by. Hope your week is going well and that Spring has finally sprung in your neck of the woods...

Jeanne

Would You Like to Meet Addison?

I finished her last night, much to Jessica's delight!

Jessica picked out the colors, based on the photo of the doll on the pattern, and what Mommy had in her stash. Had to take that second shot because the bloomers are just too cute to hide. LOL

Mommy's doll is going to have to wait for awhile...sigh. I've got a new project I'm working on, this time doing a craft I haven't done since Amy was a little baby...counted cross stitch. At that time I had all the DMC floss in all the colors available. I have unfinished projects to complete...maybe...someday. But what I am working on is/are for the girls' teachers for the end of the year, which happens to be at the end of NEXT month (How the heck did THAT happen???). Yea, I'm a glutton for punishment. Nah...it's fun! I guess I sometimes thrive on seeing if I can finish up something in a set amount of time. In this case, two somethings.

I got the idea from the mom that I've gotten to know at swim class. She found the pattern in an old magazine and it's of a teacher 'angel' with inspirational words about teachers. She's worked on her project while I've worked on various crochet projects and it's been fun. She kindly loaned me the pattern when she finished her stitching last Wednesday. I just started the project yesterday...wish me luck! I DO think that teachers are definitely worth the time and effort it takes to make something like this!

I may be a little absent from other projects as I work on this, so please forgive me in advance if that turns out to be the case.

Thanks so much for visiting and all your encouraging words!

Jeanne