Monday, January 30, 2012

Teacup Kitty

My plans of spending all weekend stitching my Geisha went straight out the window when I saw the free gift with Cross Stitch Card Shop magazine. I knew exactly who would love this card (can't say just in case they are reading this! lol)



Unfortunately the fabric supplied was rather wonky but I just happen to have a few little bits of fabric lying around! All went well until I tried to decipher the difference between the white and pale grey threads that were supplied (impossible)....luckily for me I do happen to have one or two shades of grey in my small thread collection!

This is the progress from Saturday's stitching session....


And this is where I have got to so far....


Just the back stitching to do, but I have a feeling that this will take quite a bit of time (and patience) as the back stitch  is better suited to be done on evenweave...yeah, lots of splitting the fabric and the stitches too. Still, it will be cute when it's completed....and another card to add to my collection!

Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Baby steps!

After looking at all the wonderful card making paper I had, I decided to take the bull by the horns and make some cards using the scrummy paper that was sitting in my little stash. You'll remember my attempts at making cards were a bit boring (click here to see the cards I made) so I ripped up my old cards...well that's not quite true,  I very carefully peeled off the stitching so that I could use it again! I got out all the papers I had and discovered that card making has the same problems as cross stitching - the one colour of thread or paper that you desperately need is always missing! Guess I'll just have to acquire more card making stuff! lol!

This was my first attempt making sure I would use some patterned paper. You can see I was rather hesitant at adding it!


It's certainly a bit better than my previous cards. I thought the colours in paper matched the colours of the ice-cream (except that there's no turquoise ice-cream in the stitching!!!). Here's a close up....


I know it's not much, but baby steps is better than no steps, wouldn't you agree? Then decided to really get out of my comfort zone and for the next card, not to have a plain background at all!  I took the 'I Love You to the Core' stitching and re-made the card. This is the way the card looked before.....



And this is the new revamped version....



It's amazing how different the card looks just by using different papers and different colours!



This card has a bit more dimension to it as, not only did I layer the papers, but I also used 3-D dots to raise the stitching as you can see from this angle.....



So I was quite pleased with my efforts to incorporate some more patterned paper into my cards, I guess they will only get better with practice (and a larger selection of stash!!!)

Now you may be wondering what happened to the Dieters Prayer - after all, the Christmas choccies have long since disappeared! Well, here it is....



Sorry the pictures aren't very good but I was rushing to get them done while there was still some natural daylight.

Here's a close up of the bottom part of it. Now I just have to decide on how to finish it...any suggestions?


Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona

Sunday, January 22, 2012

The first TUSAL for 2012

Just a flying visit today my blogging friends! I'm taking my daughter back to uni so I'm driving south today, then north tomorrow when I take my son back....why couldn't they have picked the same uni to go to, or at least been in the same direction, life would have been so much easier! lol

Anyway, here's the first ort jar picture for this year.


Congratulations have to go to Catherine form Bramblewood Stitches who won all the goodies in Daffycat's 2011 Totally Useless SAL Giveaway....and what a prize it was! Pop over to Daffycat's blog where you can see all the goodies Catherine won (she'll never have to go stash shopping again!!!)

Until next time (when I'll have quite a bit to show you)....happy stitching!

Rhona

Thursday, January 19, 2012

A new stash addiction!

As if acquiring stitching stash wasn't a bad enough addiction, I've just realized that I may have an addiction to buying card making papers! Every time there's a sale on for those delicious patterned papers, I just can't help myself and I end up buying one or two  a few...ok, lots!! It wasn't till I decided to make good on my new year stitching goals and make some cards, that I noticed just how many patterned papers I have. I've managed to fill one of those paper storage box thingys....which is not much compared to some crafters, but my problem is that I buy these beautiful papers and never know what to do with them! I very rarely use them...how sad is that?!!

So I think I will have to alter my goal and make it be something along the lines of 'make at least one card a month and use the patterned papers on the cards'!

So here's my cards (sadly using the plain papers only!)




The second one is from the same set....


I know....they're kind of corny, but they do make you smile! These are super quick to stitch and I just reversed the colour scheme for the card to make them a bit different. To add a different dimension to the cards you can also add brads or split pins to give a little different texture....

Of course I didn't think of this until I had finished stitching the other two designs! But it's something to remember for future cards....along with some patterned paper!

Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona

Monday, January 16, 2012

The trouble with on-line shopping!

I'm sure most of you seeing the title will be thinking 'Yeah, she spent too much!'. Surprisingly, I was very good and only bought the one thing, but that had nothing to do with self control or super will-power, but more due to the fact that it was just before Christmas and the poor old credit card was practically melting due to over use!

This is what I bought  my hubby to give me at Christmas (You know what men are like...it was a case of if you want something as a gift, buy it yourself, otherwise, heaven knows what you'll end up with!!)


It's  Dimensions Elegance of the Orient. I thought it would go nicely with my  Mighty Samurai who's looking rather lonely on my living room wall!
So, by now you're wondering what the trouble with on-line shopping. Was it the price? Nope, great price - there was 30% off at JoAnn's at the time. Delivery? Nope, great delivery -arrived in just a couple of days after placing the order. The problem is that when you order, you can't see the design properly. As much as I love the design...especially all the colours in the kimono, I HATE the colour of her skin. It's soooo pink, it  almost cartoon-like and rather disappointing. I really don't know if I would have bought the kit if I had been in a shop and was able to pick it up and see it properly.  I'm trying to decide if I should change the colour of the skin or not. Maybe it won't be as bad as it looks in the picture - I hope not. Anyway, I've started stitching it (after all, you can't have a new kit and not open it!) Not much progress, but this is what I have done so far.....



I've learned my lesson from the Mighty Samurai and am being very frugal with the threads! I have a feeling that this will be a long term project!!

On a different note, if you like adding charms to your stitching (which I do!), you really must head over  here, where Nancy is having a giveaway of some of the most adorable sewing charms. Do check out the rest of her blog....she does the most amazing work. Plenty of designs to drool over!

Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona

Thursday, January 12, 2012

So far.... so good!

I know it's only the middle of January, but so far I have managed to keep my stitching goals....big cheer for me! Yayyy!
I have made a point of stitching every day, even the days when it's late in the evening and I think it's not worth while starting to stitch, I've taken that needle out and done at least on length of thread. I'm making good progress on the Dieter's Prayer, but will show that later when there's a bigger change to be seen.

I did make a cross stitch card (keeping another one of my goals!) This is the Valentines day card I made....


The turquoise card was just a random scrap that was in my stash but the colour was perfect! Unfortunately it wasn't big enough to do anything fancy with it.  I decided to add a very small pink border as I think the extra bit of colour just frames a design well. Since the card is quite small I made the border really tiny as you can see from the close up ....



Here's the card on my little easel....you know how I love my easel!! lol


I was all set to have a marathon card making session but had only enough glue to make this one card! I really must be a bit more organized with my craft supplies! (Haven't you heard that one before!!!)



I can't believe I'm all set for Valentines Day and will not be stitching into the wee small hours to finish my card as I normally do! Hope I can keep this up all year!

Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Sunday's Show and Tell!

This is going to be a rather disjointed post today as I have lots of little bits to show you and tell you about.

So, first of all, I'm joining in with Daffycat's TUSAL again this year. Details of this years TUSAL can be found here at Daffycat's blog. (Even if you don't want to join in with the TUSAL I would recommend popping over to visit Daffycat's blog...she does amazing work!) The first Tusal post will be January 23rd...or thereabouts!

The next thing I want to tell you is that there's a terrific giveaway at Heather's blog. She's giving away some fantastic charts so please pop over to her blog and have a look. You won't be disappointed!

And now for the 'show' part! (Perhaps the title of this post should have been 'tell and show' since I've done it in the wrong order!!!) Anyway, here's the progress on the Dieter's Prayer.



Unfortunately the frogs paid me a visit and I had quite a bit of unpicking to do. Since the mistake involved the border design I had to unpick, there was no way to fudge round it. Sigh. Guess that's what happens when you try to stitch and watch the Harry Potter marathon on TV! Still it's coming along nicely and really shouldn't take too long to finish. I'm thinking of making it into a wall hanging - that way I get to play with the sewing machine too!

Remember these cards I made last year?



They were from the Power Of Pink chart pack from www.TangledThreadsOnline.com. This was a set of designs highlighting Breast Cancer Awareness. All proceeds from the sale of the charts were donated to the Susan G Komen foundation. Here's a picture of the official receipt that was sent to me. Thanks you to those who stitched these designs and to the many of you who also support this charity in your own way.


As this is a charity close to my heart, I will be designing something new again for this years Breast Cancer awareness month (October). Details will follow nearer the time.


One last thing I have to tell you. I have just discovered the daylight bulb....and all I can say is WOW!!! I was always put off buying these babies as they are so expensive, but when they were on sale at JoAnns for half price, I thought I'd take a chance and buy one - now I'm wishing I had bought two or even three! They are amazing, not just for sewing but they make a fantastic difference for reading too. I can stitch late at night, pick thread colours and know that in the morning I'm going to be just as happy with my selections as I was  the night before (something that I could never do before). I'm just waiting for JoAnn's to have another half price sale on these bulbs!

Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona

Thursday, January 5, 2012

New Year...New Project!

After the hustle and bustle of Christmas I have been trying to get together with friends that I didn’t manage to see over Christmas. And feeling very guilty about the fact that I didn’t see them, I decided to make my friends a little gift  - kind of following in the  ‘First Footing’ traditions of Scotland where it’s considered bad manners/ bad luck to go into someone’s house empty handed at the New Year.

So here’s  the quick gift that I made…



It’s the kind of gift that you can but in a store but much more fun (and cheaper) to make it yourself. By making it yourself you can also tailor it to the recipient's tastes....no more peanutbutter cookies when you really want chocolate chip! All I did was bought  baked some cookies, put them into a cellophane bag and tied it with a ribbon. Placed them into an oversized mug that was half price in the New Year sales ( I do love a bargain!) along with a few sachets of different herbal teas which I taped together so they wouldn’t move. Added a card and tag from the Teapot Cards charts and …voila!

Unfortunately this particular card does not count as one for my new year’s resolutions, as I made this last year!

The second  card that I made  from the set actually contains two teabags! Here’s the cute card…



Inside you can see the teabags in their own little compartment.



I thought this was soooo cute! I also want to show you a close up of the darling little charm that matched perfectly….



I often buy these charms whenever I see something that takes my fancy as when you actually go looking for something to match a particular project, you can never find it! So this charm was one from a set I had bought from somewhere, but of course can’t remember where!

Instructions for making the teabag card can be found here. One thing I would suggest if you are going to make this, is to check the size of the teabag sachets....some of mine didn't fit!

Hope you enjoyed seeing these cards made into a gift (I showed them being made earlier in my blog.)



Just think of all the occassions this type of gift could be used for...friendship,new neighbour, birthday etc. Well I still have a few more to make....and some more cookies to bake!!!

Until next time...happy stitching!
Rhona


Monday, January 2, 2012

My fresh piece of aida!

I love the first few days of the new year...full of promise - like an artist's canvas waiting for the first brush strokes - or maybe that should be a fresh piece of aida waiting for the first stitches! So with that New Year enthusiasm and optimism I'm going to set forth some of my stitching goals for the year. I already have my new years resolutions pinned to the fridge...whether or not I keep them is a totally different story!

Anyway, in the words of Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory, you might want to get a 'hot beverage'  and make yourself comfortable while you read this post!

So...goals for the year..

1. Have a stock of stitched cards already made up for those unexpected occasions or forgotten birthdays. I'm thinking of making at least one card every month to make sure I always have a card at hand.

2. To stitch every day - even if it's only one length of thread!

3. (Not so much stitchy, more of a crafty goal. ) To spend one weekend a month crafting. I received some beautiful handmade Christmas gifts and have decided to make lots of my gifts for 2012. Not sure what I will be doing for this, but I will certainly keep you updated!

5. To be more organized in my blog reading! So many blogs...so little time!

And keeping goal Number 5, I have to send you to Sarah's blog where she is having a fantastic giveaway with a PIF...such a cute design too!

As for my stitching, I'm still working on the Dieter's Prayer (keeping goal number 2!) - trying to coincide its completion with the finishing of the Christmas goodies!

Here's the newest addition to my website...


I thought it fitted in with the New Year, new beginnings theme.  I stitched it on Fiddler's Light Oatmeal aida to give it a bit of an old-fashioned look. I'm contemplating stitching it again as a wedding gift as I think the words would be suitable - what do you think? 

Here's a close up of the border design...


The colours haven't shown true in the picture, they are more dusty lilac like the heather is in Scotland!




All the Christmas decorations are down and the house is back to normal, although we did seem to be missing a cat for a while....


Glad we didn't tape up the box!

Until next time...happy stitching!
Rhona

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Happy New Year!


Wishing you a wonderful, healthy and prosperous New year. Here's to great things in 2012!

Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona