What I'm Working On...

Happy Thursday everyone!
This week I have a few things to show you!

Here is the progress I have been making on my second Hermione Everyday Socks:

I just love this pattern! As you can see I am nearly done with the leg, which I should finish up this evening while I am sitting at the dance studio during Abb's classes. I'd imagine I should at least get through the heel flap and gusset. Now that I understand the basics of making a sock, this one is going so fast! If all goes well I'll have a completed pair by next week. :)

I ordered a yarn swift and ball winder from Knit Picks last Thursday night (at about 11:30pm!) and it arrived on Saturday! Wow! Saturday night I put it all together and wound my first balls from the skeins of yarn I dyed a couple months ago - I love it!

I made a card for a friend of mine who has a birthday this weekend. I am trying to put my organizing tools to use and be better about planning and sending birthday cards. I hope she likes it. :) Facebook notifications are all good, but who doesn't like real happy mail? I have a few more birthdays coming up so I will be working on a few more cards over the next couple of weeks. It's nice to set aside some paper crafting time.

 I used some Basic Grey patterned paper from the Kioshi 6x6 paper pack and a strip of paper from the Making Memories Slice paper pack. I used a bit of gesso and pearl paint over the text paper to tone it down a bit for the stamping. I used a Hampton Arts Celebrate and Thanks stamp set for the front sentiment and a Technique Tuesday Ali Edwards set (Cakes & Candles) for the "Happy Birthday" sentiment inside. The butterfly was a Studio 112 mini set from Joanns dollar bin. I didn't color the butterfly in, but instead I spritzed a bit of Glimmer Mist in Cocoa on the butterfly for a bit of shimmer. I wish it showed up in the pictures! I fussy-cut the butterfly and then mounted it with foam adhesive for a bit of dimension.

Other notes:
I just treated myself to this yarn on Etsy. I plan to make another pair of socks with it, and if I get my act together, I will use them as part of the Knit Girllls Halloweel KAL. They have just the right amount of creepiness to them for Halloween, but I think I could still get away with wearing them the rest of the year. :) Right?

I love this vest pattern. :) And just like the picture, I think it would be perfect with jeans and boots...something to wear to a fall baseball game or hanging out in the dance studio.

I'd love to eventually make this cardigan for my daughter. Probably not yet though...I have some gift knitting to start and finish!

If you are on Ravelry, check out the Knitmore Girls podcast group! Great chatter, but there is also a Martina Behm Knit-A-Long that is about to start...if you are member of the group they are offering a one-time 10% discount on any of Martina Behm's single patterns. You can even get more than one...I have had a few saved in my library for a while now and took advantage of the discount to purchase a couple. I may try the Trillian, although
I'm also loving the Leftie! Decisions, decisions... Oh, you can find me on Ravelry here!

And on a non-craft related note...the camera on my iPhone died yesterday! :( I don't know what is happening with it, but it looks like I have to make a trip to the store to find out what they can do. Fingers crossed it's something fixable!

Follow me on Bloglovin' to stay updated on what's happening in the nest!
 

Bun In The Oven card!

I haven't played with my Lawn Fawn sets in a while, but this set was calling my name today. It's called "Plus One" and is so cute! And no, I'm not expecting! But there will be a new baby cousin for my kids to play with this summer! How exciting!

So here we are:

And here is the inside of the card:

Copics used:
BG10, BG11, R81, R83, C1, E13, E15
After I colored the oven with my Copics, I added a layer of Glossy Accents to the front to mimic the glass door of a real oven. Unfortunately it doesn't really show up in this picture, but the effect is very cute in person. First I ran my base card through my BigShot for a dotted background. I then used a bit of plaid scrap from the Olivia 6x6 paper collection and a scrap of baby themed paper that's ages old. I think it's from Hot Off the Press. A button from my collection and a bit of bakers twine and the card was finished. I'm thinking about trimming a bit of the plaid off the front of the card...it just seems a little bit out of proportion now that it's all put together. What do you think?
The card sketch is #354 from Splitcoast Stampers. Stop by and join the fun! :)

And here was my desk companion this morning...Jewel spent quite a while sitting under my desk lamp getting nice and toasty! :)

Spring Fairy card

Hi everyone!
Today I'm sharing a card I finished last night. I ordered 2 digi stamps from The Greeting Farm, Spring Fairy and Autumn Fairy. They are SO cute! I love how sassy they are! I haven't had a chance to color up Autumn Fairy yet, but couldn't wait to show you Spring Fairy! I am submitting her for the very first TGF Farm Fresh sketch challenge over at Splitcoast Stampers (TGFSC1).

The Copics I used were:
Skin: E00, E11
Hair: R81, R83, R85
Dress: BG11, BG13, BG15, BG45
Wings: BG11, BG13, YG06, 0 Colorless Blender (to add tiny dots to the tips of her wings)
Highlights: At You Spica pen, Clear

After I colored her I cut her out with my detail scissors. Following the sketch, I used Lemonade paper from Basic Gray to add the layers. (I love this paper, and have been hoarding it...I really should just track down another 6x6 pad! :) ) I sponged the edges of some white cs with Pixi Pink ink from Stampin Up and layered this little fairy on top. It's a very subtle change in the texture and thought I would give it a try since I didn't have my dimensionals handy.  I tried dyeing the fabric flower (also from SU) with Lindy's Stamp Gang mists, but once it dried it was far too light (and purple-ish) for the look I wanted. I used the same Pixie Pink ink to sponge over the flower and got a much better result. I then just used some adhesive pearls to finish it off and called it a day!

My family think she looks very mermaid-ish, and I can see how they think that with all the aqua tones I used. I'll have to play with some other color combos and see if I get a different look. Watch for more posts soon! :)
Enjoy!

Happy Birthday card

I found a tutorial on YouTube by SplitcoastStampers on the Embedded Embossing technique. I was intrigued so I gave it a try. All in all it's a fun technique, but for the work involved I think I would rather stick to stamping my images and then covering the entire image in clear embossing powder. I felt there was really no difference in the effect and found that I lost some of the crispness of the stamped image. Once I stamped over the clear and used black powder, I found that the image started to spread as the black powder melted. I noticed it in both the flowers and especially in the sentiment.
Here's the card:


I started with white cardstock and used Distress inks (Wild Honey, Dried Marigold, Barn Door) to create a sunset/sunrise effect. I put two layers of clear embossing powder on the card and once cooled stamped the flower (Stampin' Up) and sentiment (Ali Edwards/Technique Tuesday) with VersaMark. I used black detail embossing powder and heated it. At this point I lost the fine lines of the flower stems and sentiment. I have to admit its really cool to watch the black sink into the clear.


I wanted to machine stitch around the image with black thread so off I ran to my sewing machine. Lesson learned: my sewing machine does NOT like embossing. Instead of sewing it gummed up in the embossing and nearly ended up sawing through the bottom 1/4" of the card. Ooops! So I had to hide it. Ribbon would be too wide, so I dug through my collection of fibers and found this one. I wanted it to be secure along the length of the card but also discovered that Tombo Mono glue didn't really want to stick the fiber and embossed surface together so I ran my tape runner in spots on the fiber and finally had some success. For a little extra something I used my Tim Holtz Mini Attacher and stapled the ends of the fiber.
Once all of that was done, I used some Basic Grey paper on the front of my card and popped the embossed image up with dimensionals. Whew! Crafting is an adventure!
I think if I try this again I will stamp everything first and switch to UTEE for more depth. Simpler technique, but I think I would like the effect more.
On a side note, I have a strong desire to try some embroidery. I used to cross stitch as a kid, but I don't even know where my floss has ended up now, years later. I want to try something like the pillow I made from my kids handprints (I have a video up on YouTube), perhaps using my kids drawings as the pattern. I saw something like this in the current issue of Create With Me by Stampinton (I totally LOVE this publication!). I'll have to dig through their sketchbooks for something. :) I've been looking through YT videos (naturally) and Google for ideas. We'll see.

Birthday card!

Hi everyone! Just a quick post...I meant to post a picture of this card before but in the transition from my old blog to new I didn't have a chance. I made this card for my hubby following a tutorial by Kristina Werner (starofmay on YouTube). It takes a little time setting up the rays and cutting them out, but nothing longer than the other paper piecing projects popping up all over YouTube lately. The paper collection is by Basic Grey and has a decidedly masculine feel. The cardstock is Kraft by Stampin Up (I'm still going through my stash and haven't picked up the new Crumb Cake color). My hubby wouldn't be thrilled with flowers or bling, so the only embellishment I used was button (also by Basic Grey) with a bit of embroidery floss used to tie a knot. I then spelled out the sentiment using black letter stickers and added some black stitching lines around the card. Very simple, but I loved how it turned out.

I did work on some more Easter decorations last night but havent finished yet. Hopefully I'll finish it tonight and be able to post some pics. For now, it's off to work on another grey, drizzly April morning. :)