Crafty Catch Up

So by now you probably all think I've dropped off the planet, well I haven't, but I haven't been doing a whole lot of crafty things either (although you won't know that by the number of things I put up here for you to see.

Crafting didn't happen much over summer because I was working nearly every day. Easter holidays I took a break, but most of my crafty endeavours were pretty boring - mending or altering clothes - something I am now able to do since I bought a new sewing machine at the end of last year ... FINALLY!

These are the cards I've made since my last update:

 There were baby cards, flowers, Zentangle, 3D, 2D; one I had done as a Make & Take at a craft show several years ago and I just tweaked it by adding a couple of extra elements; others that used things that had been in my stash for a long time.

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Then there were some other crafty things. Do you remember the letter 'B' that I did as wall decor?
Well, I have now done another letter - this one for a special friend (not the same friend as for the Zentangle style card above).

The vine actually goes around the side of the letter.

Other Zentangle things that I have been doing is making playing card size step-by-step instructions of a lot of different tangles so that I can take them with me when I go places, without having to take multiple heavy books.

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This year I purchased a calendar that needs to be coloured in, so I have progressively been doing that. I think I've coloured up to September, so I'll need to work on that a bit more. Each month has a picture and Bible verse. I have been using coloured fine liner pens to emphasise the verse most months, then used coloured pencils for the pictures. There was one month were I stuck a different picture over the top of what was there because I didn't like it, but otherwise I have been very happy with the calendar.

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I also made a couple more memory books (have a look at this post if you want to see what I've done previously). I was thinking of trying a different approach for these, as I don't always want to have things punched at the sides or tucked in pockets. This led me to try to find out different ways that people have stored/displayed their memories, resulting in me watching a lot of YouTube videos, but still not finding something that works for me. So I've found out about Smash Books, Junk Journals ...

...but I still haven't worked out what I want to do.

In the past I used purchased journals and stuck things in, but the sizes were usually too small and the books bulged and wouldn't close properly (I did learn a secret about this and a possible solution). Even the bound memory books that I have made still bulge, but I can't get bigger Bind-It-All wires (I got the largest size that I could).

So my memory preservation journey continues ...

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The secret project from last year is still a work in progress, but I have changed my mind about it. That's not to say that I won't finish it, but the intended recipient has changed and I am still deciding what I will do with the project once it is finished. I do have a different secret project happening ... which reminds me, I need to get a move on and do some more work on it. You might find out what it is if you have paid careful attention to my side bar ... hint, hint!

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The only other craft-ish thing that I have been doing is having some fun decorating my everyday diary. Mostly with stickers and washi tape. Some stickers from my stash and some that I made myself with printed pictures, little pictures from magazines and even some pictures from packaging (thank you Kikki.K). Last night I went a little overboard with some flower stickers, but I was trying to use them up.

A Card With a Difference

My sister's birthday was coming up and I was looking for inspiration of what to do for her card this year.
As I flicked through a card making magazine, I found the perfect idea.

(Inspired by Paper Essentials UK Issue 108)

It's a shaped card, but doesn't have an are inside to write on - I just wrote on the back.

By the way - she loves it!! And even said if she found a dress like it she would wear it!!

Baby and Birthday!

A friend of mine recently had a baby and today is her birthday, so 2 cards have been made!

The design slightly changed as I made this one, but I think the end result is better than my original plan.

This one all started with the border! The trouble was figuring out what to do next. But I'm really happy with the way I was able to introduce texture through the embossing, without adding another colour.

First Card for the Year

Well, I've made my first card for the year, and it was not for the person I thought it would be.

I received a surprise phone call from a very good friend, we talked about many things, but the purpose of her call was to invite me to her daughter's 10th birthday party. Her daughter specifically wanted me to be there!!

It's such a blessing to be part of a child's life, but it is in moments like these that you realise they really appreciate the time you spend with them. Don't ever underestimate the impact you can have in a child's life.

This card is for my young friend!

A Selection of Cards

A friend was asking what I'd been up to lately and I had to confess that study has taken up the bulk of my time, leaving almost no room for craft.

There were a couple of things I couldn't post about earlier because I was waiting for them to arrive (mail is very slow going to Africa).

This one headed over to Africa to my best friend!

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An engagement card! You might be able to just see all the hand drawn hearts on the background.

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My first attempt at a centre-opening card - this one was for a wedding.

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Now this one looks complicated, but it actually very simple. It's just a piece of patterned paper stuck on a card. I wrote the 'Happy Birthday' myself (as you can guess, since it's not perfectly centred)

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I've also been doing some more on African Sunset, but no pictures this time. I'm filling in some gaps and working on the ground.

I'm also planning some Christmas cards and Christmas crafts, but study is taking precedence right now with deadlines looming!

A Little Bit of Stitching

Ok, so it's been a long time since I updated you on how I'm going with any of my cross stitch projects. So now that it's a new year, I thought I should at least say something about where I'm at.

My sister loved it that I am doing African Sunset for her. You might remember from my last post that I wasn't sure if she still liked it. It was nowhere near finished for her birthday, but I wrapped up what I'd done and gave it to her, saying that I would keep working on it. She told me that everytime she sees this design in a catalogue she cuts it out to keep, so I know I made the right choice.

You can see from the picture below how much I've done. It looks great, even without the back stitch done. However, I still have a long way to go.

I'm also still going with Hang in There Panda. I don't have enough of some of the thread colours, but the company it is from will send more (free of charge) if you request them. I have already had to request one colour and it took about 6 weeks to arrive, but now that I found another colour that I need I decided to do as much of the rest of the stitching as I could without it to see if there were any other colours I needed before I ordered it. That way they could send them all at once. But I haven't done anymore on it since I gave it to Mum because I was trying to get more of African Sunset done.

Then Christmas was approaching and I had some cute little mini cross stitches, complete with frames in Christmas designs. I like to have a new ornament or something every Christmas, so I decided to do one of these. I ended up almost getting 2 done by Christmas, but I still have a bit more stitching to do, so it will be my new one for next Christmas.

Below you will see the cute wreath that I did for Christmas 2011. I changed the pattern slightly, but I like it better the way I did it.



Finally, I have been making birthday party invitations. They were interesting because I decided I wouldn't buy anything new for them, but use what I had in my cardmaking/scrapbooking stash.

They have worked out beautifully, and I learned a bit about working with vellum - including printing on it and different ways to attatch it. Now I just need to find the dress to wear to the party, make the autograph book and do some baking.

A few more things from 2010

There were a couple of projects I did at the end of last year.
I ended up doing our family Christmas tree decorations again.

This time I went with the felt theme of craft that I've been doing lately.
I used a cookie cutter to make a pattern and then cut out 2 felt pieces for each one. The gold star in the middle is a brad. I had to put a small hole through the felt to get the brad in, but other than that it was easy. I sewed the 2 sides together with a contrasting embroidery thread, stuffing the star before I finished stitching. The hanging loop is red rickrack. I need a contrast for the red stars, but didn't have anything available. I made 8 in all. One was actually blue with a silver star brad - my friend has a blue and silver theme going with her Christmas tree.

The other project was a birthday card. I used Stampin' Up stamps from a couple of different sets. One of the sets was 'Window Dressing'. I love this set. It has so many possibilities!
I did make another card, but I don't have a picture of it. I also used Stampin' Up sets for that one.

Birthday Card for Amy

This is the birthday card that I made for Amy's 18th birthday.

I did promise that this blog wouldn't just be about cross stitch and so here is my first non-cross stitch post.

For this card I've used rub-ons, stickers, ink stamping. No brads, but it looks like I have for puting on the 'Birthday Wishes' tag.

Inside the card I also used my Brother P-Touch for a 'Happy Birthday'.

I hope she likes it.