Mirrored ornaments

So I saw a link in Pinterest....

The instructions say to glue two mini mirrors together with ribbon. These are then hung from your Christmas tree to reflect the light the light strands and makes your tree more sparkly.

Obviously it's September and I haven't put a Christmas tree up. I swear I'm not crazy. But I saw the mirrors and thought of this craft.

I cut short lengths of ribbon. I'm intending to attach jump rings to the ribbon before attaching ornament hooks so that they'll hang properly perpendicular to the branch. But I'm out at the moment. :p

I used Gorilla Glue, and I must admit I didn't realize it had such a long cure time. It's been half an hour and the mirrors still have a lot of play.

I'm excited to try this at Christmas. And even if it doesn't work, it will still look neat on the tree and won't have cost me a great deal.

Long time...

Been a while!

I fell off the wagon with my New Years Resolution. Old job stress, new job stress and the fact that some of my craft projects are pretty big became overwhelming.

I've got the Elf Blanket together. I just need to add in the side half-leaves and weave in all the ends.

But what I've really been slugging away at is a blanket for a wedding gift in early October. I'm nearly done there, so close I can taste it!

I've also been playing with nail art designs I find on Pinterest. This has become a little dangerous because I keep buying nail polish! After I bought three colours very similar to ones I already have, I made myself a little chart to take with me to the store. I'm doing this on my phone, so the picture will be at the bottom of the post.

For now, I'm not allowed to buy more nail polish. Or fabric. Or yarn. Must complete projects first!

I'm going to a craft camp in November, so I will soon start prepping for that. I'll cut out my pattern pieces and pin them together as much as I can. Then once I get to the camp, send them through the sewing machine at break neck speed and have multiple projects completed by the end of the weekend.

If I complete a bunch of projects that way, will it still count as one per month? :p

Real Life interferes with my hobbies

Still haven't done any sewing. I'm getting a little nervous, it's now the 28th. :s

I had intended to do some this morning, but then remembered that I have people coming over tomorrow. D'oh!

So my priority shifted to tidying the living room, but I got a bit distracted by laundry and dishes. :p oops. At least I've had a productive morning, if not crafty.

I also went to the gym and walked the dog. There's a challenge going on at my gym this month. Work out three times a week for the month, lose 5 pounds and donate some food to Winnipeg Harvest. Win a gym bag. Yay!

This is the last week, things have gone smoothly up to this point, but I think what's going to trip me up is whether or not I've lost weight. My bathroom scale says I've lost three, but I suspect that at least two more may have been converted to muscle. We'll see what happens, if I have to, I'll calculate how many fat pounds I've lost based on the body fat % the gym scale calculates. Then argue that I deserve my gym bag. :p

Feb Wrap Up/Plan for March

Well, this month I finished my fleece blanket, though it is still cluttering around the living room, so I'm going to have to find a place to donate it to.

I made 18 cards with 3 designs.(still need to post one of them)
I made the little hangy things for the earring frame.
I made 3 sets of earrings. (I'll post the last set tomorrow)

All that with stuff I had around the house. Mostly. I think I had to buy new jump rings, but I used stuff I already had for the most part. So I'm really pleased with what I accomplished.

I also made some progress on the Elf blanket. Not done yet, but making prgress. And I put several balls into the other blanket I'm working on. I've been watching yarn sales and it's not coming down to the price I want yet, so I'm going to have to shelve this for a while once I get to the last ball I have. I'll keep chipping away at these and see where I get with them.

Now for the next month...
I would really love to finish up the two projects I have where the fabric is already cut out. I'd be happy if I finished one, but I'd be over the moon if I could finish both of them.

I want to make myself an earring frame.

I want to use up some of my beading stuff a little more.

I would love to make some cards for Easter, and little gift bags for the kids next door. I'm not sure when Easter is this year. Is it in April?

One of my Sparks gave me a little clay Spark that I would love to turn into a magnet. I'm scared to put it in the oven, so I've been air-drying it on the fan of my computer. It's sort of working, but has a ways to go yet. And I found some magnet stuff in my desk while looking for something else, so I am totally ready to do this once it finishes drying, though I am tempted to buy some balsa wood or something and glue it onto the clay. Just to be done with it. Either way, I think I need to get some heavy duty glue for this project. At least it can be used for other things. :p

I'd like to try knitting socks. You know, since I bought myself 12 balls of sock yarn. :p I know it doesn't count as using materials I already have, but hey! It'll be something done. :)

Also, I discovered Amazon sells stacks of 5x5 fabric squares for making quilts. I am NOT buying these and getting another hobby. Uh uh. no way! I'm being good. Really.

For the earring frame

My mum loves her earring frame. But you can't put post earrings on it.

So I made her these little guys. I trimmed some plastic canvas into a pyramid shape so that hopefully they don't tilt all over the place and put them on some earring wires.

I tried to be a little smart about this and put two jump rings on so that they'll hopefully lay flat against the mesh.

Hope it works!

Earrings

I'll be pretty honest, these are pendants I found in the beading clearance at Michaels. I just tossed them onto the earring wires and called them beautiful.

I've learned my lesson about cheap earring wires though. The pack I bought most recently, I don't think they were clipped very well. They have sharp ends on one side of the wire, where they would have been clipped. I'm going to have to file them out.

I was also bad. I bought 12 balls of sock yarn. I've never made a pair of socks in my life, but it was 79 cents a ball, and that's hard to pass up.

Knowing me, I would probably lose the first sock by the time I finished the second, so I'm going to try two at a time knitting on one circular needle. I've told myself that I'm going to donate some of the socks somewhere or other.

Wish me luck!

Good luck? Card

Another 'feeling uncreative' card.

A thank you card

I'm not nuts about this card. I made it while feeling uncreative.

I stamped the stamp in brown on white and added the decorative brads.

Ah well, we all need an Aunty Betty card once in a while. :p

Tidying!!

Clean ALL the things!

Yeah, that's my mood today. I'm all optimistic and stuff because I'm tidying up. I found a whole bunch of receipts I have to turn in to Girl Guides, and some to turn in to my insurance so I can get money back and that has made me a very happy camper. Or rather, it will make me even happier once I have it. I'm going to put it towards the Iceland trip. :)

I also found receipts for how much I spent on craft stuff in the past year, but we won't dwell on that....

I'm actually dealing with most of what I find, so it's taking me longer than I'd like, but I've already gotten a bag of just garbage out of my room. It's getting there, it really is. I just need to keep plugging away at it, then I'll feel more like working on craft projects when I have a space that I can work in.

I'm a little disappointed that I haven't gotten more done this month. The fleece blanket and six cards. But I've been working on the Elf Blanket, I'm currently putting together rows 7&8 out of 10. Then I have to attach all the double rows together and the fill-in edge pieces. It's getting there. I also started another knitting project for when I can't stand to look at the leaves anymore. It's a seed stitch blanket in neutral colours. I'm going to donate it somewhere when it's finished. I'm hoping I don't have to buy more yarn at the moment. It's about 5 feet wide, but 3 balls of yarn have only made it 8 or ten inches long. I have 6 more balls. I'm hoping it will be enough. We'll see how it goes. If it's not long enough, I'll shelve it and wait for the yarn to go on sale again. I know, it's creating an unfinished project, but I started it with yarn I already had so it's already an unfinished project to begin with.

That's all I know for now. See you next time!

Brownie cards

My mum is a Brown Owl and has some amazing parents helping her. She asked me to make some thank you cards for a particularly awesome act of unasked for assistance they provided. But she wanted me to use this punch she got that makes an owl template.

So obviously, if I want three colours, it's easiest to do it with six owls. ;)

A lot of fiddly gluing and swearing later, I finished them! But lost some pupils along the way. Oh well. They still look cute!

I'm counting this as a minor project completed because I didn't buy a single thing to complete these. I used materials I already had on hand. It feels good. :)

Cake Decorating

I took a basic cake decorating course this weekend and wow was it fun!

I learned a lot of things, and now I'm telling myself not to buy cake decorating supplies. :p

I was smart and borrowed a kit from a friend for the course. That way, I wouldn't feel obligated to get my money's worth out of the items I bought. :D

I can't believe I made such a beautiful cake all on my own!

Credit goes to Boyfriend for the photo. He is a much better photographer than I am. :)

An update

I've been procrastinating. Finishing up a project in the first week of the month gave me a sense of accomplishment and has made me pass on working on the big projects.

So last night, Boyfriend and I watched some Farscape and I finished sewing rows 3&4 together. I even got a little way into rows 5&6.

And that's when I found out I messed up my layout. The pattern didn't come with a layout, which for a novice knitter like me who tries to follow instructions to the letter, is tantamount to being thrown to the wolves. I wanted a random pattern, but didn't want the same colours touching. I spent a long time with diagrams and markers creating a layout for my blanket that would have not only the leaves not touching a leaf of the same colour on the sides, but on the corners as well. In fact, they had to be two leaves away from a leaf of the same colour. I was possessed! Boyfriend called me crazy. People asked why I didn't just pull them out of a bag randomly if I wanted a random pattern. I was hardpressed to explain why I wanted a random pattern with stipulations. I think I finally explained to someone using the random function for playlists. It's not random either. If it were truly random, you would have the possibility of the same song playing twice or more in a row. Or never hearing a song. But because it takes all the songs and puts them in a random order with no duplications, we're happy. And that's the same for me and my blanket layout.

However, it would be way too much work to try and take it apart enough to fix. So I'm going to have to glare at my blanket everytime I see this mistake. Damn it.

Knotted blanket

I've been very slowly tidying my room. Very, very slowly. I keep finding things I had completely forgotten about. It's actually kind of awesome sometimes. Yesterday I found a bottle of spiced rum.

But then I find material or yarn and it has to get added to the WIP list. Like the two square pieces of fleece I found. As soon as I opened the bag, I remembered buying this fabric with every intention of donating it to the Children's Hospital. While making it, I decided that I'd rather give it to Osborne House, which is a refuge for battered women and their children. One of their services is helping them get set up in their own home, including providing donated furniture, bedding and toiletries.

Anyway,  I made the blanket in an evening. It's really really simple as long as you don't take the two pieces of fleece apart. Ever. Because then you get really screwed up.

I started by putting the wrong sides of the fleece together and laying them on the floor. I then took masking tape and put it along the sides of the top piece about four inches from the edge.

Then I cut out the corners and cut a fringe along all the sides. I like cutting the pieces about an inch wide.

Then I took the Fringes and tied them together to make the blanket.

Now it's warm and fuzzy and will make some little girl very happy and snuggly. :)

The sewing WIPs

Fabricland has a sale on interfacing and lining. Well.... it's actually most of their fabrics but I'm going to be good and NOT buy more fabric. I need lining and interfacing for a couple projects. I would like to finish a sewing project this month. :p

Anyway, this is what is in or on my fabric box, because not all my fabric fits. Last year I bought a lot of fabric intending to do a lot of sewing at the lake, and then ended up sleeping through most of it beause I was so sick. If I hadn't been sick, I wouldn't still have most of this fabric and would have finished garments to wear with pride and hopefully panache.  ;)

As you will no doubt realize by the end of this list, THIS is a huge part of the problem that led to my New Year's Resolution of finishing one unfinished project each month. Again, if I finish more I'll consider it all gravy. :)

Dark green lace on black satin bustier. I'm half finished, I think. I'm having issues with it putting little air bubbles over my nipples, so I need to take it apart again and try to smooth it out. I think I need to buy grommets because I ended up using the grommets for something else, but I don't have to pick those up right away. I'm only going to work on this one when I feel like giving myself a headache. It's going to take a lot of effort to finish.

Waterdrop peasant shirt. I don't need to buy anything for that. It's cut out. I need to sew the trim on(sadly, by hand), then sew it together. Since I already know the pitfalls assocated with this pattern, it won't go too badly.

Dark blue long "wrap shirt". Fabric cut out. Need lining and interfacing. Had an oops while cutting out fabric, so I need to remember to reverse two pieces when I put it all together.

Red knot shirt. Need to cut it out then sew it together. Since I've already made this three times, I could probably do this with my eyes closed. :p

Sheer skirt with the pretty mermaid tail thing that shows the feet. It and the lining is cut out. Need to borrow a serger because running a scrap through my sewing machine was disastrous. I'm dreading adding the zipper.

Uber strappy black dress. Need to finish cutting out the pattern. Then cut out the fabric. Then sew it together. This is going to be a loooong project. It has like 30 finicky pieces that need to be put together very specifically. This may be a repeat of my first peasant shirt where I took it apart and redid it seven times because things didn't line up properly.

Light blue fabric with black roses. I.... think I wanted to make a skirt. I seem to have a zipper for this fabric. The fabric is opaque enough that I don't think I'll need a lining.

Then I have some stripy floral fabric. I'm not sure what I intended to make with it. I think I intended to make another "wrap shirt" with it, only a shorter version. So I need lining and interfacing.

I also bought a lot extra of the stretchy black fabric for the strappy dress and of the dark blue fabric. I fell in love with it. I shouldn't have bought them in these quantities. :p I'll have to find somethig to do with them. I'm certain the stretchy black stuff would make another gorgeous knot shirt. I love my knot shirts... they are so unbelievably comfy. :)

I have a fairly large leftover from a skirt I made previously, but have no idea what I would use it for. It's a brown and khaki plaid woolish fabric. Maybe I can make... a bag or something. Maybe a shell for my purse!

This isn't exactly high on my list of priorities, but I made a bag out of some faux soft leather fabric. It's really thick, and I broke a heavy duty denim sewing needle trying to put the strap on. I'm going to have to find a solution to that, because I'd love to have the bag finished.

So... even without counting the extra fabric, just for sewing I have 8 or 9 projects awaiting completion. I forsee a lot of sewing in my future!

*sigh* What a lot of work this resolution is going to be.

See you next time!

Pretty card

Made something quick tonight. Just a card.

I also organised my craft stuff a little better. My boxes are labelled now! Except for paints and clay, I need to gather that stuff up from all corners and condense them. I ran out of steam.

And... I found another ball of yarn. I need to find something to do with all this yarn!!

I determined that my February project will be a knotted fleece blanket. I found two pieces of fleece last week while tidying. I had bought it intending to make it for the Children's Hospital and I would like to finish it in time for Valentine's Day. So that leaves me two weeks to chip away at a big project, most likely the Elf Blanket.

But I also need to decide how to attack the sewing projects. I have nine or ten that I have most of the materials for, but need lining or interfacing and time to work on them.

I need a crafting weekend so that I can spend the two weeks prior cutting fabric so that I can just fire everything through the sewing machine all at once and be done with it. :p

I found a link on Pinterest that will help me use up some beads I've been looking at and thinking "Why did I buy these? What on earth am I going to use them for?" They're just not my style, as I see it. ;)

I must admit, I'm not sure how to count beading and card making because they're much quicker projects. And don't use up as much materials space-wise. Do I count them because I used things that have been collecting dust? Do they really count as "projects" if they take under half an hour?

I guess the best way to look at them is gravy on top of anything else I've accomplished in the month.

So, one blanket, three pairs of earrings, six cards(one design). Not bad. Not bad at all!

Here's the card I made. :)

Finished!

I finished the blanket!!

It measures about six feet by nine feet and is warm and fuzzy and the dog loves nesting in it.

Ends are all weaved in and everything. :)

See you next time. :)

Hooray!

After posting yesterday, I took a much closer look at the Elf Blanket and determined that I CAN use the tails from my leaves, but I have to work right to left instead of left to right. A bit counterintuitive, but Yay!!

So I spent an evening at Boyfriend's, and got half of two strips put together. Amazing! It's starting to look like an actual blanket! :)

I had the day off work today, so I picked up the blanket for Brother and finished it. Now I just have to weave in the ends, so I'm watching Warehouse 13 and doing that. That'll take me a couple evenings, most likely. Not the end of the world. I should be able to finish that by the end of the month without any trouble.

It's actually been a pretty busy day. Went to the dentist, ran an errand for my mum, did some grocery shopping, put gas in the car, walked the dog, finished knitting the blanket... Though while tidying, I found more yarn. Boo! I'll have to make some quick projects to get rid of some of this yarn.

Oh bother

I am a mere five rows from finishing my brothers blanket. Now if only I could be at home for enough time to knit those five rows... ;)

I know I can finish it by the end of the month. I'm totally on track for my resolution.

I finished the last strip of the Elf Blanket last night while out with friends. It's been my on-the-go project because I can fit whatever part I'm working on in a ziplock bag.

So this morning I went to grab the strip I finished last and couldn't find it. It's missing. Darn. "Oh well, I'll take the first two strips instead and sew those together." Great plan, right? Turns out sewing the strips together isn't going to work the way I thought it would. I thought I would be able to use the tails on my leaves. Nope. I'm going to have to carry around bits of all six colours. *sigh* And weave in all those extra ends. *SIGH*

But you know what? It will look amazing when it's done. :)

See you later!

Almost done!

I'm almost done the blanket for my brother. I decided that it's long enough and now time to switch to the brown border. Just three more balls of yarn and some weaving in a lot of ends and I'll be done! :)

Next, I'm teaching myself European Pic because this took way too long. I had previously told Boyfriend that I would make him a blanket next, but he has told me he doesn't want one at this time. However, he suggested I make one for my little furry friend. The dog has been nesting in the blanket when I'm not around and I'm told that it's adorable. This yarn is all warm and soft, so I'm not surprised the dog likes it. The floors have been really cold lately, so I'll make a little blanket to line his bed with. :)

On a more frustrating note, I found a bag of material this morning while putting away laundry. It's two lengths of fleece. As soon as I saw it, I knew what it was intended for. I bought it intending to make a blanket for the Children's Hospital. You know, the fleece blankets where you cut fringes and then tie them together for a double thickness blanket.

So I think I'll make that my February project and keep picking away at the Elf blanket. I've made one of these before, and what took me the longest was cutting the fringes. The tying the two together only took an evening.

See you next time!

I heart earrings

I made these the other day. I've always loved the look of seed beads dangling from a larger finding.

See you next time!

Drowning in WIPs

I have a lot of things on the go. I buy material or yarn or little kits on impulse. It's not a good thing, given that I work in a craft store. :p

So when the New Year came along, I decided that one of my resolutions would be to finish at least one project a month that I already have the materials for.

I have two knit blankets on the go, two sewing projects, and the material for five other sewing projects. It's not entirely impossible to do.

At the moment I'm focusing on the knit projects because they're bigger and will need the most work. I'm really pushing the blanket for my brother and kind of idly picking away at the Elf Blanket. (I'll post about that tomorrow)

With the sewing projects, the two on the go are already cut out. I just need to put them together. If by the end of January, I don't think I can finish a blanket, I'll switch to one of the sewing projects.

The real problem is the yarn and beads that I've bought on spec. I didn't include them in this endeavour, but I'm hoping to find something to do with them. Or trade them to someone else.

Luckily, I know that it's not as bad as the stash other people have. My beads are confined to two shoeboxes and a little caddy. My yarn a large shopping bag and a medium box.

Well, we'll see what happens, right?

See you next time!

Danglies

Made these today. Mostly from dollar store beads, but for the connectors I got at my local bead store.

See you next time!

'Feather' Earrings

I love the look if feathers on earrings, but I'm too lazy to learn how to use crimp beads. Then I saw these glittery hard feather beads. Had to have them dangling on my ears.

Beads!

I bought some beading findings at Michaels today. The clearance stuff was being marked down an additional 70%, and the way I worked the math this worked out to 82% off in total. So I walked out with 157$ worth of beads for under 25$.

Expect to see some beading projects in the near future! :D

Blanket

This is my most current Work In Progress. I started this blanket after my brother moved to Alberta. Then he moved to a camp in Saskatchewan where his bedding is provided. *sigh* So I didn't finish this blanket in time for Christmas, but it will be at home for him whenever he gets a place to call his own. I'll post again when it's actually done.

It's a variegated yarn, and I'm finding that it doesn't show off the basket-weave knitting pattern as much as I would like. Ah well. It's warm and that's really all that matters. ;)

-Sylvan