This weeks challenge is brought to us by Margaret Bremner, using her tangle “Dansk”. When I saw the tangle, I thought “hair”, so this is what I drew:
My Bead Soup!
February 7, 2013 1 Comment
Woohoo! My Bead Soup from my partner, Judy of Riglettes arrived today! This is the 7th Bead Soup Blog Party, and the third I will be participating in. Lori Anderson of Pretty Things hosts this fun event. In a nutshell, we are paired with a fellow bead maker/jewelry designer, send each other a “bead soup”, make jewelry/things, and then reveal our creations. As there are so many of us participating, Lori has divided the reveals over three days. Judy and I will be revealing on the first round on March 30th. For more information on the BSBP #7, click on the link below:
And now, here are the wonderful beads and things Judy sent me!
Stupid Cupid & Sweet Treat Earrings
February 6, 2013 Leave a Comment
The first time I ever tried cross stitching, DH was dumbfounded. He was amazed that anyone could just sit for so long and stitch X’s repeatedly. That was 25 years ago, and he has learned not to make such off hand remarks regarding my artsy craftsy endeavors. I still have my Thanksgiving sampler to complete, but when I saw these cute, quick, and free projects over at Brook’s Book Publishing, I just had to make them. I made Stupid Cupid into an ornament, and the other, into earrings. The Sweet Treat earrings call out using perforated cross stitch paper, but I didn’t have any, so I just used beige aida cloth.
To complete the earrings, I glued a backing of aida cloth, trimmed, and embellished with swarovski crystals and glitter – everything is better with glitter! 🙂
Brooke’s Book Publishing has some really neat cross stitch patterns to purchase as well as for free – worth checking out.
Having fun with The Toymaker
February 2, 2013 1 Comment
For whatever reason, my printer wasn’t printing on photo/stock paper, so DH switched printers with me – yay! So, I decided to have some fun and print out some paper crafts at The Toymaker. I have her paper toy book, and spent last year with her “A Year Of Toys And Joys ” Calendar. Anyhow, I printed out a couple of her freebie Valentine crafts, a cute hanging heart basket and elephant delivery. I also printed out mirror copies of each so I could have it double sided, embellished with satin flowers and ribbon, and got some cute vintage valentine graphics from the Two Crazy Crafters. While I was cutting and pasting, I thought to myself that it would have been a fun activity to do with the kids when they were young. But, then again, my boys were never the “color inside, and cut along the line” types, oh well. I filled the basket with little flowers, and the elephant with small valentines:
If you want to play with The Toymaker, go to www.thetoymaker.com. She has tons of fun activities to do.
Zentangle Challenge #104 “String #003”
February 1, 2013 1 Comment
This weeks challenge was to use a tangle pattern string #003 from Tangle Patterns.com. Of course, with all the “hearts” on my mind these days, I made the focal pattern out of hearts. Although, they almost look like flowers… Regardless, I kind of like how it turned out:
And here is my tile:
Valentine Heart Swap Reveal!
January 31, 2013 1 Comment
Oh, my! I got a package yesterday which contained the five hearts from the Heart Swap! All five hearts are just amazing! And what makes them so special are that they have each been handmade by very talented and creative ladies. Without further ado, here are the hearts:
A big Thank you! goes out to Debby @ Cozy Blanket for organizing the event. And, if you’d like to visit the creators of these hearts, here is a list of their blogs:
– Sandie @ Retro Sandie
– Elizabeth @ Creative Breathing,
– Genie @ Climbing The Digital Mountain
– Pat @ All Is Bright
– Penny @ At Home In English Valley
Felt Licitar Heart Tutorial
January 29, 2013 2 Comments
I mentioned in an earlier post that I was participating in a Heart swap. DH is originally from Croatia, and they have the most delightful custom of giving loved ones Licitar hearts. They are traditionally made of honey dough, but I decided to do a variation on it for the swap, and make them from felt. If you are interested, I have written a tutorial so you can make your own Licitar hearts! Here are the five I made for the swap, and also a photo of a couple of the Licitars I have received:
A more detailed method of using butcher paper for patterns/applique can be found HERE. And here are a few more photos of the finished hearts:
Lampwork Beads!
January 28, 2013 Leave a Comment
I had another session in my lampwork studio. Sometimes, I try something new, and it turns out well. This time, so-so… most of the beads didn’t make the cut. It’s really hard to see what the bead will look like when it’s red hot in the flame, until it cools. So, I have two bead sets today. You can find them in my Etsy shop:
Thrift Store Vintage Finds
January 25, 2013 2 Comments
Recently, I came across a group of very interesting bloggers. They are into everything vintage and artsy. In fact, I was able to join a Valentine heart swap over at Cozy Blanket (more on that on another post). Anyway, their activities peaked my interest, and the other day during running errands, I looked in at a thrift store in my town. Way in the back was a woman with a little thrift boutique. She had the most interesting things in her shop. Everything was such a bargain, I couldn’t resist! – this after telling myself I need to purge my house of “stuff”!
When I look at things, I am always thinking of one craft or another that I can use them for. I found these beautiful hand crocheted doilies:
She even had a tin full of vintage buttons! I am hoping someone will have a button swap soon – the last one I was involved in was so much fun! Here are the ones I chose and brought home:
And even though Christmas is over for now, I couldn’t resist these two choir girls – love the era!
And finally, this little tin house. I thought it would make a nice house for my little kiddle dolls from my childhood. When I came home, I checked on the markings, and it is illustrated by Gillian Tyler, an English artist, and produced by Dana Kubick. It makes me wonder how it came to be in the corner of a little thrift boutique here in California…
Needle Felting… Ouch!
January 24, 2013 1 Comment
Ok, I decided that as long as I was in the “creative” mode, I was going to try some crafts new to me. And needle felting is new to me. I purchased the supplies some time back with the best intentions of making something. Well, I finally sat down and did it. When I am creating, I like to multitask – knit, hang out with my daughter, yack away; make jewelry, watch a movie… Well, needle felting is NOT an activity that I can take my eyes off of. During a couple of distracted moments, I jabbed my fingers with those lethal looking needles – and it was painful! So, with a certain idea in mind, I started making a cat that turned into a teddy bear, and a bunny that did end up a bunny, but you can see that I got bored when I got to his legs, and just wound the wool around… I think this activity takes a bit more patience than I have. Or, I have not developed a passion for it yet, and therefore can only stand to sit there and punch away at wool roving shaping it into something recognizable for only so long. I think for now, I will put aside the needles… And here are the results of my efforts (they are cute, but I have no idea what to do with them):
January 2013 Garden & Best Ever Caramel!
January 20, 2013 2 Comments
My neighbor has an amazing Salted Orange Wheat Beer Caramel in her line of products that she has available at SunnysideLOCAL (I blogged about SunnysideLOCAL HERE). I must say that it is the best caramel I have ever had – DH and my daughter also agree. It’s made with organic ingredients and local orange wheat beer. What I love about our town are the unique artisans and merchants that make available equally unique and wonderful products. You can find her produce and prepared foods at local Farmers Markets.
I am sure there is a lot going on around the garden, but visually, the citrus are this months standouts. Here are some photos of the various citrus ripening in my grove: Washington navels, gold nuggets, tangelos, oro blancos, meyer lemons, and calamansi:
Digital Scrapbook Kit “Vintage Valentine 2013” Freebie
January 17, 2013 6 Comments
It seems like I just put away all the holiday things, and we are already into Valentine season. Everywhere I go/look, there are Valentine decorations, and even Easter decorations! Well, I happened to stop by a most wonderful store in our town, Mozart’s, and felt inspired to do a freebie kit.
As with last years kit I made, this one is also inspired/based on a cute vintage Valentine card that I picked up at our local antique mall. I included elements taken from my personal collection, added some CU items and here it is. Please note, it is in two parts, and it is for personal use only. Enjoy creating with it!
And here are the downloads:
lutkaandco.com 