Monday, August 29, 2011

What I'm up to

Hello out there!  Karen and I didn't come up with a challenge for this week, so instead, I'm going to show you photos of the projects that I have on the go at the moment.  

First, a Christmas gift for a friend.  She may read this at some point, so I'm not naming names or telling you what it will be when it's finished, but it's a cross-stitch project with a recognizable (I hope) Disney character.

Next, a baby announcement for no-one in particular.  I had started it with my sister in mind, but then she became certain that the baby would be a boy.  This announcement is kind of girly, so I set it aside.  Of course, the baby ended up being the most adorable little girl in the world, so I could have given it to her.  Oh well.  Eventually, I'll finish everything but the name and date, so I can do the last bit fairly quickly once someone else has a baby.

This is the top part of a Christmas stocking for my mom.  I've always wanted to have a set of cross-stitched Christmas stockings, so this is the start of it.  You can see the birds, of course, but the blue thing is a hat, which will sit on top of a snowman's head.  After I finish Mom's stocking, I've already got one picked out for Dad.  Then I'll do mine, since I made a felt Tinkerbell stocking for Karen last year.  Then, if they would like some, I'll work on stockings for Karen's family.  Of course, it's taken almost a year to get this far (because I keep putting it away to work on more immediately needed projects), so this is a very long-term plan.

This is a simple scarf that I'm working on for my friend Tanya.  It's really soft yarn, made with bamboo and silk.  The colors are perfect for her, too.  It's just knit and purl, so it's going pretty quickly.  It comes along in my purse quite often, and I've worked on it over lunch hours at work, waiting for the doctor, supervising theatre auditions, and pretty much any time I just have to be somewhere but not actually do much.

This is the latest project I've started, mostly because I loved the yarn.  It's a Bernat chunky baby yarn, and it almost feels like chenille.  It's REALLY fast to do, and once the body of the blanket is knit, I've got two balls of white to crochet an edging.

And what list of projects would be complete without the Riders blanket I'm making for Baby Bear?  I promise, Karen, it's further along than this.  I just didn't want to lay it out for a photo tonight.

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Glitter!

So I'm a bit behind on posting my weekly challenges, but I have an 8 week old baby so I think the blogging world should cut me some slack lol.

For my glitter challenge, I made a Christmas card!! The base layer is black cardstock, I then ran white paper through my bigshot using a new Stampin'Up! Embossing folder from their Holiday Mini catalogue. I took that white paper and spritzer it with vanilla shimmer smooch spritz to make it sparkle. I stamped my tree image with white craft ink and then embossed it with my sparkly powder and added a black glitter ribbon and voila!!


I promise to post my headband post tomorrow or at least I'll try to lol.


Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Monday, August 22, 2011

Glitter, glitter everywhere!

I'm still not fully unpacked, so most of my awesome craft supplies are still in boxes.  I'm hoping to get them unpacked soon, but until then, I've had to buy new supplies for my crafting needs.  Of course, I'm not complaining - who doesn't want an excuse to buy more glitter??

This week's challenge was 'Glitter,' and I'm very excited.  Instead of just buying a single vial of glitter, I got a multipack at Michael's, and it was awesome.  I used glitter with two widths of double-sided tape, along with some stickers and rhinestones, to create two cards.

First:

I used 1/4 inch tape with 'Grape' glitter by Recollections, 1/2 inch tape with 'Raspberry' glitter by Recollections, and a strip of Recollections Adhesive Rhinestones, all on a Recollections Blank Card.  The sentiment was written with a Foray Stylemark 0.5 mm felt-tipped pen from Office Depot.  I have a 'hello' stamp that I think I'll use next time I make a card like this (once I've unearthed it!).

Next:

Again, I used the 1/4 and 1/2 inch tape, this time with 'Ocean' and 'Paradise' glitter by Recollections.  I also added Making Memories Glitter Stickers.  This was a Recollections Blank Card, too.

In addition to the four shades of glitter used on these cards, I got 'Citron' and 'Water' in the multipack - beautiful colours, but I didn't have any accessories to go with them.  But no fear!  They will be used!  

I learned a valuable lesson, too.  Glitter on a tv tray instead of a table results in glitter on the floor, the couch, me, and the dog.  And Mia (the dog) still has some glitter on her, because she refuses to get into the shower.  So I have a sparkly puppy.  It's awesome.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Weekly Challenge!

Yes, it's time for a new challenge (even though Karen hasn't posted last week's yet!).

This week, we're going to make something with glitter! Because, really, you can't go wrong with glitter! Also, glitter inspires lots of exclamation points!

Tune in tomorrow to see what I've done with glitter!

Monday, August 15, 2011

Danielle's Headband

Our first challenge was to make a headband - no restrictions on style, colour, or anything else.  Here's my take:


Here it is, in my hair!  It's made from felt and beads and an elastic headband - all supplies available at WalMart.  I searched online and printed out a few sizes of flower shapes, then traced them onto the felt, then cut them out. For this particular one, I cut out two 8-pointed flowers and one five-lobed flower.  I layered them, then stitched through all three layers and added three beads in the center.  I went through the beads a few times, to make sure they were secure.


Here's a close-up of the flower part.  I've also made them in multiple colors, and with contrasting beads instead of coordinating beads.  I used Scuncii brand elastic headbands for this project, because I found them on sale.  This one is a stay-put style, with the sticky stuff on the back.  I think that I'll get the regular ones next time, because they're a bit easier to put on.


This is a close-up of the back.  Once the flower was assembled, I cut a small rectangle of felt from the same colour as the bottom flower.  Then I stitched it along two sides, catching the headband in the middle.  This lets the flower slide along the the headband, so you can reposition it easily.

I hope you enjoyed my headband!  Check back on Friday for Karen's take on it!


Sunday, August 14, 2011

Welcome!

Hello out there!

*crickets*

Welcome to our new blog.  I'm Danielle, and along with my sister, Karen, I'm going to share some of my crafting with the world.  We're both crafters, probably thanks to our mom, who is also a crafter, and the awesome 'craft cupboard' that we grew up with.

What is a craft cupboard?  It's a big armoire-type cupboard filled to the brim with stuff to make things.  It had pipe cleaners, yarn, knitting needles, embroidery floss, pompoms, googly eyes, construction paper, paper towel rolls, paint, glitter, stickers, jewels - you name it!  When we got bored, Mom would usually send us to the craft cupboard, and we would let our imaginations run wild.  It was great!

Today, Karen and I each have a craft ROOM, not just a cupboard!  Our interests cover everything from knitting and crochet, to stamping and scrapbooking, to cross-stitching and sewing, and everything in between.

On Mondays, I'll post my craft updates, and on Fridays, Karen will post hers.  And who knows, we might even get some guest bloggers from time to time!

We're going to start out with a challenge - headbands.  Come visit on Monday to see what I come up with, and on Friday to see what Karen did.