Getting The Hang of Hardanger!

Here is another doily (making this my 3rd) that I made and it measures approximately 14 x 14. 

My second Hardanger embroidery piece

The finished piece is approximately 12 x 12 and the accent color is a steel blue. This was done on 22 count white Hardanger fabric.

Fall Decorations

My sister and I made fall wreaths And here is the one that I completed.

We also made a couple of tabletop pieces.

And I painted some old bottles with silver metallic paint scrape the paint off a bit and added some scary Halloween labels and orange raffeta. 

Almost done!

I am getting so close to being finished with my first piece. I've made several mistakes which means I wont be giving it as a gift, but I'm still pretty happy with it!

I finished my first piece!

Another Craft!

As though I don't have enough half finished projects laying around, I just HAD TO start another one and this time it's worse...it's a new craft. I'm learning Hardanger Embroidery.  This is also known as White Work. It's typically done on white cloth with white thread and it's gorgeous.  I'm talking Heirloom kinda gorgeous.

So, I went out and bought a book "Beginner's Charted Hardanger Embroidery with complete instructions" by Susan Meier and Rosalyn Watkemo.  It has the different stitches in the front and does explain them.  Then it has some patterns and very nice patterns they are. But. and I do mean BUT, the instructions are so cryptic
that I'm glad I joined a Hardanger Forum, I will need them to help me figure out the instructions *sigh.  For a complete beginner leaving out one or more sentences in order for an explanation to be made in 20 words or less is not so helpful.  Example (this is word for word) "Trim around the edge after it was been secured with the sewing machine." ummm huh? "secure with the sewing machine"?  How exactly would one "secure with sewing machine" the border of this piece?

My First Glass Etching!

     I didn't have a clue what to get my husband for Father's Day.  While making the invitations for sister's birthday party, I came across my Wall Decor and More cartridge that has a very nice/fancy skull and I had just bought some nice wine glasses.  I used some vinyl that my sister gave me, cut the skull and the initials out and tried to place the "mask" of the design onto the glass.  This didn't work out so well and the skull came out crooked.  I then realized that I needed to put the design on tape first so that I could correctly place it on the glass.  I didn't have any of the transfer tape that I've seen people use, so I opted for painters tape.  I wanted to take most of the sticky off the tape so I pressed the tape onto my tee-shirt a couple of times, then over the design and then the whole thing onto the glass.  I press the vinyl down really well and lifted off the painters tape. All looked great on the second glass.  On both glasses, I used a foam brush to put a thick coat of Armour's Glass Etching Cream (pretty sure that is the name of it) and let it sit.  I got anxious and ended up rinsing off the cream ( using warm water ) after just a couple of minutes the first time and the second time, I waited about 7 minutes.  They turned out beautifully, but I think if I had waited 15 minutes on both, the etching would have been deeper and nicer.

     If you want to try glass etching, it's really simple and really fun BUT be very very careful not to allow any of the cream to get anywhere on the glass that you do not want etched.  Even a speck of cream will etch the glass, so when you cut your vinyl, give yourself plenty of edge so that you have room for the cream to slip and slide a bit.

    You might be wondering why I chose to put skulls and these beautiful wine glasses. Well, my husband LOVES skulls, they are just his thing and I was right, he loved them!

Party Invitations

I'm hosting a 50th Birthday Party for my youngest sister with the help of my older sister and niece and although we had all decided to not make the invitations, which would save a load of time, I wasn't able to find any that were suitable.  The only invitations available were for wedding, graduation, child's party, and baby shower.  I ended up making the invites and for the sake of time, I had to keep it simple.  I used the Lacy Labels to cut the basic shape of the invitations (double sided cardstock)  which is really nothing more than a rounded rectangle. I then scored both sides and folded them in.  I used Ivory Cardstock for the insert with all the info being printed on my printer and then ran that through my cuttlebug for the emboss on the sides and the back of the envelope.  I cut the flower shape (Core'dinations Color Core Cardstock) using Cricut Craftroom Basics, ran that through the cuttlebug for the embossing, glued one side of it to the left side of the invitation using Aileens Tacky Glue (I've learned my lesson in using tape runners...although it say's "permanent" it really isn't and things fall off after awhile. This doesn't happen with Tacky Glue.) and then tied the invite together using a pale pink ribbon.

A Ladies Diary Card

Once again, following the amazing Charlie Jones via youtube, I created this birthday card for my sister-in-law.  I used Krafty paper for the base of the card and papers from the Ladies Diary paper collection by Graphic 45. The corners were cut on my Cricut using the Picturesque cartridge, and the paper flower was cut from the Accent Essentials cartridge.

Birthday Reminder Book

Another wonderful project by Charlie Jones via YouTube (charliejones2686). This one is a birthday reminder book, that has a spot to write down names, plus pockets to hold tags that will be ready when needed throughout the year. This entire book was made using the "Place I. time" 8*8 paper stack by Graphic 45, with the exception of one sheet that was 12x12 which was needed for the covers.  The tutorial actually used the paper bags from Celebration, but I didn't have any and Charlie gave instructions on how to make the bags using krafty paper. I was able to complete the entire project in one day, which was awesome! Because ordinarily I'm super slow - so yeah, yay me!

Busy, Busy, Busy

     With Valentine's Day right around the corner, my hands have been very busy making cards.  I also have a brother who is going to have a birthday on February 1st so I also created a birthday card for him.  Here is what I've done over the past couple of weeks.

This is the birthday card made for my brother.  I used Tim Holtz Ideology (Lost and Found) paper stack.

This was made from the DCW Be Mine paper stack and the Damask Cricut Cartridge card feature.

This is a set of 6 stationary papers made from the Recollections Love Letters stack.

another one made from the DCW Be Mine paper stack.

also from the Recollections Love Letters Stack.

made using the Damask cartridge.

Made using the Be Mine paper stack and the Damask Cricut cartridge.

Another one using the Recollections Love Letters paper stack.

Made using the Cricut Wild Card cartridge with pink paper and white cardstock.