A Little Christmas Crafting

Hi!
  Been busy getting settled, but still trying to squeeze in some creative time. Here is what we have made recently.

Wreath using embroidery hoop, t-shirt, buttons, jingle bells, and hot glue.

Christmas ornament for a swap made using an old CD, old sheet music, scraps of fabric, glitter, wire, beads and hot glue.

Emma's snow people made using buttons, scraps of fabric, googly eyes, hot glue.

Paper and Glitter ornaments using old book paper, glitter, ribbon and hot glue. 

We both have been enjoying the hot glue gun lately, Emma even decided to use it on her own. She has done fantastic with it and has only gotten one hot glue burn. 

Here is a glimpse of the little one (who turns 7 tomorrow!) at work. 

Tracing while her painting dries. 

I hope you are finding time to be creative as this year draws to an end!

Happy Holidays!

Journals, Freezer Paper Stencils, and Laid Up but still Crafting

I want to thank everyone who offered their advice on the handmade journals. We are still interested in what you think, so feel free to leave comments.

I was super excited when Gramma came down on Sunday and brought with her the latest batch of journals that Mary had filled and zuttered.

Here is a picture of the box of goodies.


And some specific pics of individual journals. Most of these journals are 8 1/2" X 5 1/2".

Journals filled with recycled manila envelopes.



Journals Filled with recycled paper used for packing and moving.




Journals filled with recycled office paper folded in half.


Journals filled with lined paper from old school notebooks.






I love them all!! I will have them up in the Artfire Shop by the end of the month. If you can't wait, just e-mail me and we will see if we can get the one you want into the shop sooner.

So, onto some more freezer paper stencils.
I realized that I could send the freezer paper through the printer. Opens up the world of possibilities! It also saves paper. Now I don't have to print onto computer paper and then cut out both.

So far the only thing I have printed directly onto the freezer paper is butterflies.

Emma painted the big butterfly, I painted the little one. We will probably end up adding a few more to the back of this tank top to cover up some stains.

I asked Emma to draw one of her creatures on the freezer paper. This is what I ended up with.

I love it:) Reminds me of the Little Miss and Little Mr. characters.

Here are my free hand stencils.


About all I can do right now is sit on the couch with my ankle up. The surgery went well, but I am really kinda sore. Walking around or sitting with my feet down makes my ankle even more sore. So, I have piled a few crafts around me on the couch.

With the X-Box on and netflix running some chick flicks, I set to work. I didn't get a whole lot done today, but I did manage to make these wool beaded coasters.

I saw the tutorial on Resweater and she found it here, at The Lavender Tree. Thanks to both ladies for giving me a project I can do while laid up!

Well, I think that is about all. I have no idea what I will be doing tomorrow, but I am sure you will hear about it :)

Oh, and help make me feel better by leaving me a comment!!

Freezer Paper Rocks!!

I am super excited but a little sad that I signed up for the April Stash Bust now :( I pledged to not buy any new crafting items this month, and to make due with what I have on hand.

Granted, I have a TON of stuff on hand, but I only have 5 colors of fabric paint. I actually just purchased those last week I think, so yeah for me!

So, you are probably wondering what it is I think I need.

I need lots of different colors of fabric paint!!!!

Why?

So I can give in to my newest obsession and create more of this:


and this,


and this.


You may recall that a little while ago I was complaining that there really isn't a lot of clothing items (or any other items for that matter) out there for girls who dig dinos. I am still searching for ways to rectify this problem.

Well, I decided today to try out freezer paper stencils. I have seen a lot of tutorials lately for how to do this (and each time I try to find them again, I find new ones). I will keep looking for the link that I want to share with you, but right now I can't find it:(

Basically, all you do is take freezer paper, draw on the dull side, cut it out, place the freezer paper on your fabric, shiny side down, iron for about 10 seconds or so (I had mine set at 4), then once the stencil is cool, get to painting.

I found that it is easier to take the stencil off if the paint is still a bit wet.

I like to use both the positive ad negative image.

I really wanted to stencil the words "Girls Dig Dinos Too!" onto this tank top, but we seem to have misplaced it (Emma was going to wear it the other day, then changed her mind, so it could be anywhere).

So, we did these instead. Emma picked out one of her shirts and asked me to put a t-rex on the back. Fine with me! She picked out this shirt.


And this is what we did with it :)


This next picture is of a bag I made today. I really wanted to stencil "Girls Dig Dinos Too" but didn't have anything to stencil it on. So, I grabbed some canvas I had laying around and cut off a piece. Once it was dry enough to take the stencil off, I couldn't just leave it as a random piece of canvas with an awesome saying on it. So, I took the rest of the canvas and made this.


Once I was done making the canvas bag, I deiced to make a more girly purse and add a dino to it. I haven't gotten the letters on yet because I didn't have room for all of the stencils. Tomorrow I will add the letters, once the paint is dry. I may look at doing a different font then the one I currently have...




Anyway, I am super excited about these. I see a lot of cool designs custom made by Emma in the near future.

I also made some paper today. I am trying to thin out my paper piles set aside for making paper, and today I discovered some holiday wrapping paper that I had saved. So, I made Christmas paper in April. Nothing like getting a head start ;)


Well, I really suck at getting to bed at a reasonable time. Today seems to be one of those days though that I might actually be able to fall asleep before 2a.m., so I am going to try to take advantage of it before I get my 5th wind.

Good night everyone. Thanks for ready, and I would love to hear what you like best!