I'm All Tatted Up!

Nope, no tattoos here! I'm talking about tatting. I've recently discovered this art and fell completely in love with it. It's an old lace-making technique that uses series of knots. There are two ways to tat: one is with a needle and the other one is with this thing called a shuttle. It's an odd looking instrument indeed, and I'm so intrigued by it. Apparently, many tatters collect antique and hand crafted shuttles.

Tatting!

The shuttle.

I was determined to learn how to tat using a shuttle, so I made it one of my new years resolutions for this year.

I bought my shuttles and did all my research online, looking at tatting forums, websites and how-to videos. Then, I started to put my hands to work by practicing different stitches and made some motifs with patterns I found online.

My first few motifs I tatted. A little sloppy.

I've been practicing a lot since I took the photo of these motifs and I'm getting better each time. I will post the better ones in the future.

People say tatting is hard to learn, but it's really not that bad, thanks to all the youtube videos out there!  I think if you're familiar with other needle crafts like crocheting and knitting, tatting is not too overwhelming. I still had my fair share of frustration and some swearing though :-)

I'm definitely looking forward to exploring more of this art and you will definitely see more tatting posts in the future! Wish me luck!

I hope everyone is doing well with their projects! Happy crafting!

Winner of My 100 Followers Giveaway!

I used random.org to generate a number and I got number 4. Which means, the winner of my 100 followers giveaway is...

Kikka!!

Congratulations, Kikka!! Please contact me through email for your postage info so I can send you the prize. You can find my contact info in the "contact me" tab on the top of my page.

Thank you everyone for participating and thank you for following my blog!

Oh yes, almost forgot, Happy Valentine's Day!

My First Needlepoint Project is Complete!

It's been a quite a busy and stressful week for me with work and school. Despite my schedule, I still found some time to craft and I managed to finish my first needlepoint project. Woohoo! I'm thinking of framing it since I don't know what else to do with it. It's only 5 by 5 inches.

This pattern was challenging since there were a lot of colors involved, but I'm glad to say that I did it! I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. Now, I can cross out "learn how to needlepoint" from my new years resolution list!

I'm planning to do one more regular needlepoint project before I dive into miniature scale :-) You'll find out what it is soon, so stay tuned!

Have a great weekend everyone and I want to welcome all of my new followers!

Happy Crafting!

Valentine's Day Brooches

Surprisingly, I owe nothing red or pink in my wardrobe, so I don't have anything to wear for Valentine's day. Being a poor student, I'm on a budget, so instead of going out to buy v-day accessories I decided to make them myself! :-)

Heart Brooches.

I found a crochet heart pattern from Little Birdie's Secret and made a couple hearts to transform them into brooches.  I added layered buttons and ribbons for some cute accents, and on the back, I hot glued a piece of felt with the brooch finding. They turned out so cute, I love them! They were fast and easy to make, but the best part is, I didn't have to spend a single penny since I had all the supplies in hand! Yes!

The back.

On me! :-)

I can't wait to wear one for Valentine's day! Make these for your loved ones so they can wear one too!

Also my 100 follower giveaway is ending on valentines day, 2/14/12. If you haven't entered please do so, since we only have a little over a week left!

Jam Filled Butter Cookies

Happy February! This is my first baking post of the year! Yay! It's been so long since I posted one since I haven't been trying out new recipes. I realized how much I missed it!

I'm starting off the year with these yummy cookies: Jam filled butter cookies! These are one of my favorite cookies. They remind me of the store varieties I grew up eating: Knotts berry Farms Shortbread Cookies and Pepperidge Farm Verona Cookies.

I used apricot jam, which is my favorite!

Here's a recipe I found on allrecipes.com that I tweaked a bit. It's very easy with little ingredients!

Jam Filled Butter Cookies (makes about 3 dozen cookies)

Ingredients:

• 3/4 C of softened room temperature butter
• 1/2 C. sugar
• 2 egg yolks at room temperature
• 1 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
• 1 3/4 C flour
• 1/4 tsp of salt
• 1/2 C. jam

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 375 F.
2. In a bowl, cream sugar and butter until nice and smooth. Stir in the egg yolks and vanilla extract.
3. In another bowl whisk together flour, and salt
4. Add the dry ingredients a little bit at a time into the wet ingredients until it forms into a dough
5. Roll the dough into 1 inch balls and place them 2 inches apart onto a parchment lined cookie sheet.
6. Press your finger  into the center of the cookies to make a well and fill with 1/2 tsp of jam.
7. Bake for 8- 12 minutes or until the bottom of the cookies are slightly golden brown.
8. Let them cool on a cooling rack and enjoy!

Make sure to use room temperature eggs and butter! This is very important because the first time I made these, I used cold eggs which turned my creamed butter into a curdled mess.

I took these to work and school, and everyone enjoyed them! I hope you guys will try this recipe! Enjoy and happy baking!

My First Needlepoint Experience

One of my new year's resolutions is to learn how to needlepoint. I didn't want to start on a miniature scale, so instead, I bought myself a plastic canvas and used some yarn to make a coaster. I used an image I found online for the pattern, and here it is.

Needlepoint Coaster

I got the hang of needlepointing, so I got my first needlepoint kit and started working on it. It is a beautiful humming bird design which is printed on the canvas with all the threads included.

Half way there!

This is my progress so far and I'm at a half way point.  I'm realizing how tedious and time consuming needlepoint is!

The humming bird is a complex design with more colors involved compared to the coaster, so I find it quite challenging. I have to think ahead on which colors to stitch first, so I can securely stitch the colors that have only few stitches. Even though, I was extremely careful, I still managed to miss some stitches. :-(

Close up

This is how the back looks and I'm not even sure if it's supposed to look like this.  Does it even matter how it looks on the back? Anyway, thinking of doing this in miniature scale seems more daunting than I initially thought!

The back.

I hope everyone is keeping up with their new years resolutions! Have a great week!

1/144 Scale Gingerbread Mansion is Complete!

After much studying this weekend for my school exam, and with no work, I had the rest of the Monday afternoon and evening to work on my Gingerbread Mansion and I finally finished it!

1/144 Scale Gingerbread Mansion!

The porch and the balcony was no problem, but the roof was tricky. I had to make sure the glue was invisible, however it was impossible for this one part of the roof which had an issue with the fitting. I struggled with it, so I got glue everywhere and now it looks messy and ugly. But the good thing is that you can't see it from the front.

Close up.

Back of the house, next to a quarter.

Overall, I'm very pleased with how it turned out!

The primary green platform is not very appealing, so I definitely will do something with it. I want to do some landscaping on it, but I have no idea what to do. Do you guys have any suggestions? Also, where would be a great place to look for landscaping stuff in this scale? Any info will be greatly appreciated! :-)

Thanks for reading everyone! Also I want to welcome all of my new followers! Have a great week!