A place to post my crafts. From construction paper to baked goods and everything in between, including my budding interest in loom knitting.
Thursday, November 28, 2013
Crafting Thanksgiving: Faux Stiching
graphing paper plus colored pencils equals faux cross stitching
be sure to look up cross-stitching alphabet templates before "stitching" and have wite-out handy
Labels:
colored pencils,
cross-stitching,
faux,
graph paper
Crafting Thanksgiving: Making a Tree
For the past few Thanksgivings our lil family has done crafts as part of what to do on Thanksgiving. It's time together, fun, laughter, joy. Three ladies: 35, 36, and 65... no traditional children, just inner kids :-)
To make sure I get something down for our reference, and anyone who stumbles upon this blog, I am drafting this post while doing things. We'll see how that works ;-) I went totally brain dead on Halloween time and forgot to post the cupcakes we did for the folks at the doctor's office.
Here we go. I will likely switch between past and present tense depending on when I wrote the passage.
WHAT I (THINK I) NEED
THE PROCESS
Mixed green and blue paints to make green of course. Paint foam board surface. Remix paint as needed the hope is a more "natural" variation. We'll see.
I found that I had to retire the DVD for a disposable condiment cup due to the cat. This project is so interesting... yeah that... with a cat "helping."
As I am painting both sides I thought I would add why --- I didn't like the shade of green board we found at wally world and we weren't able to make it to Michaels... so... Dollar Tree it is.
Hazards of painting by the laptop... green dots to be scratched off, or coaxed off with a dab of water.
Well, got done with the second side, and the once straight board is now bowed, guess our tree grew crooked, reaching for the sun.
Then I drew the tree shape on the boards and cut 'em out. I want to use as much as the board as possible, so I don't think the shape is going to be too classic. I started cutting when I forgot to apply the contact paper.... oops, applied and continued cutting. on the second board I laminated before cutting (used board #1 as template for shape). After board #2 is cut... I cut it in half from top to bottom.
The halves of #2 will be hot glued to #1. (the paper came apart from the foam and since I can't find my packing tape, I'm using my foam glue to glue the parts back) my foam glue sucks. parts are still curling up. So I'm heating up the glue gun -- I'll get the stubborn corners then glue the halves to the whole. First I put a strip of glue on the half then pressed it to the center of the whole. Then "caulked" both sides to fill in the gaps. Side 2 of this 3D tree is a little trickier, since you're working upright ;-)
and then, after about 4-5 hours... huh?! geez! I am done. Now we can make our own paper ornaments and use removable glue dots or looped tape to stick to the laminated tree, ideally it will be able to be removed.
I think I did alright considering that I had only a vague idea in my noggin. :-)
I still need to post our ornaments - hopefully I will remember.
To make sure I get something down for our reference, and anyone who stumbles upon this blog, I am drafting this post while doing things. We'll see how that works ;-) I went totally brain dead on Halloween time and forgot to post the cupcakes we did for the folks at the doctor's office.
Here we go. I will likely switch between past and present tense depending on when I wrote the passage.
MAKING OUR HOLIDAY TREE
Our youngest cat hurt herself on last year's tree, so we wanted something that didn't cost an arm & a leg and also wouldn't hurt her. We'll see what happens with this idea.WHAT I (THINK I) NEED
- Foam Boards
- Paint
- Paint brush, naturally
- paint palette (I'm using an old unwanted DVD... Speed Racer)
- Clear laminate (like "contact paper")
- glue gun
- pencil
- single sided razor blade (or with it in it's box cutter)
- paper towels
- q-tips for paint mixing
- water for brush cleaning
some supplies I think I need |
THE PROCESS
Mixed green and blue paints to make green of course. Paint foam board surface. Remix paint as needed the hope is a more "natural" variation. We'll see.
the DVD palette |
easier with the cup -- naturally |
dabbing paint on board #1 |
Well, got done with the second side, and the once straight board is now bowed, guess our tree grew crooked, reaching for the sun.
Then I drew the tree shape on the boards and cut 'em out. I want to use as much as the board as possible, so I don't think the shape is going to be too classic. I started cutting when I forgot to apply the contact paper.... oops, applied and continued cutting. on the second board I laminated before cutting (used board #1 as template for shape). After board #2 is cut... I cut it in half from top to bottom.
laminating |
The halves of #2 will be hot glued to #1. (the paper came apart from the foam and since I can't find my packing tape, I'm using my foam glue to glue the parts back) my foam glue sucks. parts are still curling up. So I'm heating up the glue gun -- I'll get the stubborn corners then glue the halves to the whole. First I put a strip of glue on the half then pressed it to the center of the whole. Then "caulked" both sides to fill in the gaps. Side 2 of this 3D tree is a little trickier, since you're working upright ;-)
"caulking" to secure |
and then, after about 4-5 hours... huh?! geez! I am done. Now we can make our own paper ornaments and use removable glue dots or looped tape to stick to the laminated tree, ideally it will be able to be removed.
I think I did alright considering that I had only a vague idea in my noggin. :-)
FINISHED!
I still need to post our ornaments - hopefully I will remember.
Friday, November 15, 2013
Oopsies-That's a Little Too Irregular
I finished this awhile back. Well stopped it is more accurate. Like I've said I am not yet ready to work with real patterns, I'd like to "wing it" for now... and see if I come up with any "happy mistakes." Besides, this way -ideally- I will get a feel of how to work with it and not freak out as much if I "mess up".
So ... My goal is to make a blanket.
Before I even ordered my Long Loom Set, I had my Round Looms. I know if you skip the last peg and keep doubling back on yourself you'll get a panel. So.... I figure "I will use 5 skeins of yarn for each panel" No counting needed there, hah! Then at most I would be satisfied with slightly irregular edges as I am aware that each skein may not be perfect.
So I got my two panels done. And I set out to stitch them together. That in itself was me doing what I think is a basic crochet stitch along the seam. Well.... I get half way done when it dawns on me I forgot to ensure that both panels were facing the same way. I was doing e-wrap stitches on the loom. Each side of the panel looks different! Silly me... oh well... continue stitching....
Done! Wait a second!!!! That it a lot left over! Seems that I also forgot that not all skein are created equal regardless of apparent size & brand.
So... I now have my Long Looms.. Gonna try that for my next blanket attempt. I have measured out 5 skeins of yarn each to the same size and have pre-russian-joined each skein into a huge ball of yarn.
I just started, I don't have a lot of time for this project... so once a bit more is visible beyond the loom, I will post.
Wish me luck!
So ... My goal is to make a blanket.
Before I even ordered my Long Loom Set, I had my Round Looms. I know if you skip the last peg and keep doubling back on yourself you'll get a panel. So.... I figure "I will use 5 skeins of yarn for each panel" No counting needed there, hah! Then at most I would be satisfied with slightly irregular edges as I am aware that each skein may not be perfect.
So I got my two panels done. And I set out to stitch them together. That in itself was me doing what I think is a basic crochet stitch along the seam. Well.... I get half way done when it dawns on me I forgot to ensure that both panels were facing the same way. I was doing e-wrap stitches on the loom. Each side of the panel looks different! Silly me... oh well... continue stitching....
Done! Wait a second!!!! That it a lot left over! Seems that I also forgot that not all skein are created equal regardless of apparent size & brand.
So... I now have my Long Looms.. Gonna try that for my next blanket attempt. I have measured out 5 skeins of yarn each to the same size and have pre-russian-joined each skein into a huge ball of yarn.
I just started, I don't have a lot of time for this project... so once a bit more is visible beyond the loom, I will post.
Wish me luck!
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
Welcome to Krafts and Knitting
Greetings and Salutations!
I am hoping this will be a fun way for me to document my progress (or just the final product) of various craft items.
In June of 2012 I started tinkering with loom knitting. I enjoy it. I currently do not follow patterns per se -- I make it up as I go. I use YouTube instructions as guides as well since written instructions seem to confuse me. It seems with knitting I am a strictly visual learner ;-)
I enjoy other arts and crafts. "Kid Krafts" as well as more "adult" crafts. I would like to posts these as well. Whether it is something created from scratch or something from a kit bought at the local dollar store.
I also enjoy baking -- and sometimes that can get creative ... so I might add in goodies too!
Whether I come up with my own tutorials or if I simply show us what I've made (and with luck exactly how I managed that result) I hope this journey will be fun :-)
Thank you
I am hoping this will be a fun way for me to document my progress (or just the final product) of various craft items.
In June of 2012 I started tinkering with loom knitting. I enjoy it. I currently do not follow patterns per se -- I make it up as I go. I use YouTube instructions as guides as well since written instructions seem to confuse me. It seems with knitting I am a strictly visual learner ;-)
I enjoy other arts and crafts. "Kid Krafts" as well as more "adult" crafts. I would like to posts these as well. Whether it is something created from scratch or something from a kit bought at the local dollar store.
I also enjoy baking -- and sometimes that can get creative ... so I might add in goodies too!
Whether I come up with my own tutorials or if I simply show us what I've made (and with luck exactly how I managed that result) I hope this journey will be fun :-)
Thank you
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