Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Cards

As it's card making day today, I thought i'd better get on and show you what I did last week. We made oriental style cards, which aren't really my 'thing' but they were good fun to make and didn't look too bad!

Card #1

This was made with a metal stencil. We used black ink on a little finger stamp pad to do the black bits. We then drew around the clothing and cut it out, then used another stamp to create the pattern. This was then glued on the card. The gold bits are stickers.

Card #2

This card was made using the same techniques as the other one, except the clothing is patterned paper. The purple colour is chalk as I made a mess with the ink and smudged it everywhere! The little rivets holding the card on are great!

This evening we are making Chrsitmas cards.

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Friday, November 23, 2007

Cross stitch completed

I have now finished my cat cross stitch. I've stitched as a Christmas present, but i'm not sure who to give it to yet. I've started another one in the same series, but i've only done two lines of white stitching, so there's not much to show off yet!!!

Here's the finished one:

Project details are in this cross stitch post.

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Saturday, November 17, 2007

Card making

I chose a rather stupid time of year to start a blog - I have so much going on I don't have a lot of time to update it!

However, on Tuesday, i'm going to a card making class. I've been thinking about doing card making for a while - i've got a few ideas on incorporating my pet pics into handmade cards but I have to admit feeling a little bit lost when it comes to the huge array of paper and stencils and embossing tools that are available. It was on a whim that I went into the new craft shop in town last Thursday and got offered a cup of tea, so sat down with the cuppa and looked through some cross stitch catalogues and got chatting to the shop owner. She mentioned they were doing classes so I put down my name for a beginners card making one.

I'm really looking forward to it, not just for the card making but also the social side of things, other than work and our friends round the corner I don't really know many people so it will be great to meet some people who are in to crafty things like me. I will let you know how I get on!

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Thursday, November 08, 2007

Cross stitch

Cross stitching has to be one of my most long-standing hobbies. I was taught by my Grandma when me and my sister were little, along with embroidery, quilting, knitting and crochet. Cross stitch is the only one I stuck at, though i'm planning on re-learning to knit in the new year.

I love cross-stitch, it's so easy and such stunning pictures can be created from just a blank piece of aida and some threads. I think it's brilliant that a series of crosses in varying colours, sometimes with a bit of backstitch for definition can create pictures of absoloutely anything. I tend to go for animal designs, generally enormous, complicated ones involving loads of colour changes so I have about four unfinished ones on the go at the same time then some smaller ones in between times as well!

Here is a work in progress photo of my current project:

Project Details:

  • Manufacturer: Heritage Stitchcraft
  • Designer: Margaret Sherry
  • Kit: Cattitudes: 'Get a Dog!' MSGD719. Available as a kit, containing either Zweigart 14 count Aida or 28 count Evenweave, with pre-sorted DMC threads, chart, needle and instructions.
  • Size: approx. 14cm x 14cm

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Saturday, November 03, 2007

Saturday....

Weather - changeable (it pissed down really hard when the sun wasn't shining)

Today I spent the morning cleaning out the animals. After walking the dogs, I cleaned out the bunnies, then cleaned out all three rat cages whilst letting them out and spending at leat 15 minutes with each group. I had lunch about 3.30 (scrambled egg on toast) when i'd finished.

I am proud of myself today though - I built a chair this evening. No, not a wooden one - an office chair, flatpacked from Argos. And it works and hasn't fallen apart yet.......

I also watched the film 'Titanic' today. I got a DVD out of co-op for £7 that has 'Titanic', 'Romeo and Juliet' and 'The Beach' on it. As I really like both Titanic and Romeo and Juliet I thought it was a bargain. Anyway - Titanic still makes me cry, not quite as much as the first time I saw it (I think I cried solidly for about an hour that time) but I still blubbed at the end. I am a wuss when it comes to films but I don't care! It's the thought of all those people that died and just so needlessly. I find it's the kind of film I get really into and I think it shows what a human tragedy the disaster was.

It's stopped raning now - i've just been out to let the dogs out for a late-night pee and it's lovely out. Pitch black sky with a tiny sprinkling of stars and no noise except for the wind in the trees, a few geese and the distant murmur of a car on the road to John O' Groats. Even though it's cold and I don't stay out for long, it's a great time of day to just be still and just concentrate on being alive!

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Welcome to my blog

I already have three other blogs - one is for my pet portraits so is work related, I have one specifically aimed at pets and my other one is for my rats. However, I often feel like talking about other stuff - random things about stuff I hear on the radio or the weather or what i've been doing, so this is it - my 'random stuff' blog. Enjoy!!