This is Me! This is What's Behind this Blog!

I always wonder what the author of the blogs I read look like. Is it actually a real person behind the screen, is it a robot? I know a lot of people avoid posting pictures of themselves online and that was the case for me.  Even for my profile pictures, I chose something that was discrete. I'm not quite sure why...Maybe I felt there was the need to separate my blog and my personal life so I can stay focused on the crafts. Or Maybe I felt too exposed if I did that. Anyway, this blog has become so personal and special to me, I feel ready to reveal myself and post a picture for the whole world to see! Yay!

This is me and my love

:-) There it is! Have a great weekend and happy crafting!

My Battle with Resin

Hello everyone! As promised I'm showing you guys my finished Scrabble tile pendants. I'm sorry it took so long! I was waiting to receive my parts to make them into pendants and I had to take all the photos. All of these pendants are available for sale in my etsy shop!

Since I finished making the Scrabble pendants, I've been playing around with resin a lot, and it's been quite a roller coaster ride. There were a lot of bumps I hit along the path...

Working with resin seems very simple; you just mix part A and part B, and pour!....No way! I wish it was that easy. Resin is challenging for many reasons. First of all it takes 24 to 72 hours to cure which leaves a lot of time for errors to occur. For me it was the battle with dust particles and air bubbles. I had to constantly check for these before it was too late. Secondly, there are many factors that can affect the curing process. These include the age of resin, incorrect mixing process of resin and catalyst,  and weather. Resin will not cure properly if the resin is more than a year old, so be careful when you buy it off the shelf at a craft store. Inaccurate measurements, cold and humid weather can also result in uncured resin.

I'm still learning the wonders of this medium with trial and error. Recently I made these pieces using a mold, and I've been having issues with the resin bleeding into the image, even after sealing them. The bleeding makes the paper look wet and you won't know whether you sealed it properly until you pour resin on it.  You can't really tell unless you look very closely, but me being a perfectionist, it bothers me! I also had issues with some of the pieces not curing properly...

You can see the blotchy wet spots on Snow White's face and skirt :-( This would've
been a cute, usable piece if it wasn't for the spots!!

Here are some more pieces I made using candy sprinkles. They turned out ok so I turned some into key chains.

Resin and candy sprinkles.

This is my favorite. Combining resin and miniatures.

I definitely need more practice and more patience. Anyway I hope everyone is having a wonderful week! Thank you for visiting and reading this post!

Happy Crafting!

Charley Harper Needlepoint Update

Since I ran out of thread, I'm going to show you guys my progress...

My progress.

So far, I finished the little fawn and I chose mint green for the background color. There's a lot of background to cover so it took me a while to get this much done. I know there's a lot more to go, but  I'm enjoying it because I find it quite soothing!

I've decided to give this to my little sister when I'm done because she's a fawn and deer fanatic. She's quite obsessed with them, so I think she would appreciate this very much.

Have a great weekend everyone and thanks for reading!

Happy Crafting!

Playing with Resin!

I've always wanted to try working with resin ever since I was a kid. I was especially fascinated with the bottle cap resin magnets. Being a naive child, I though they were made by pouring a load of white Elmer's glue to get the clear resin appearance. Obviously it never worked and I didn't go any further since I didn't have much resources to learn how to. Plus I was too young.

Fast forward to years and years later, I've decided now is the time to learn! I researched on how to make resin charms using a mold. The method seemed very simple, but when I actually tried it, I totally failed. I was ill-prepared and impatient, so I did everything clumsily and messy. I think I was too ambitious making my first resin project using a mold.

Hard to see but there's a lot of air bubbles and the inclusions turned out weird.
The clear ones are the ones I gave up on...

I will re-visit this soon! Meanwhile...

Scrabble tiles!

Using Scrabble tiles, I started making some charms and used resin to get a doming effect on the surface. This will magnify the image I use on the tile. I used vintage inspired images which I glued and sealed onto the tiles.

The resin

Poured the resin carefully to get a dome effect and it worked!

They are covered to avoid any dust getting into the resin as they cure.

Please stay tuned because I will show you guys the finished pendants once I turn them into wearable jewelry. Thanks for reading!

Happy Crafting!

Sister time!

My little sister is home for spring break and since I didn't have work yesterday, I got to spend quality time with her. We took our dog out to the park to walk and play, which was a lot of fun. In the evening, we did some crafting together! She had a bunch of bezels and glass domes left over from her past projects, so we decided to make some pendants together.

We each painted our own artwork on a paper circle we cut out. I'm no painter, so my sister helped me through the process since she deals with this stuff everyday in school. She's very talented and she's studying graphic arts. Here is her website if you would like to see her work: maikn.net

Here's mine, the beloved Totoro.

Totoro Pendant

...And my sister's pendant that she made for her friend.

Shark Pendant

I really enjoyed the day and I'm happy that my sister is home... :-) Have a great week everyone!

Happy Crafting!

Charley Harper Design: Needlepoint

Charley Harper is one of my favorite artists and I found some of his famous prints printed on a needlepoint canvas online. I got very excited until I saw the prices which ranged from $55 to well over $100! Yikes! These prices are just for the canvases and threads aren't even included!

Then, l I found one of the images of the canvas big enough to where I can see the details of the mesh. So, I decided to use that image to chart the image myself! Here is a cute fawn that will be transformed into a needlepoint creation!

The Fawn by Charley Harper

The process is very straight forward; I transferred the image to a small grid graph paper which I printed from online, counting each colored section. I bought an 18 count mono canvas and embroidery floss colors #780, 783, 779, 310, and white. I would say I saved at least 50 bucks by doing it this way :-).

Transferring the image of the needelpoint canvas I found online to my graph paper.

Here is my progress and I love it so far! The pattern is very simple and easy. I think this will be a great beginner's project. I really should've started off with this pattern instead of the humming bird design. What was a I thinking?

My progress.

I will be adding a background color but I'm not sure what. I'm thinking a shade of green but what do you guys think? Your advice will be greatly appreciated!

Thanks for reading and happy crafting!

Antique Style Lace Earrings

Another tatted earrings I finished using a pattern I bought. This pattern was difficult and frustrating for me because I kept messing up! Literally, I restarted the pattern 10 times. I almost went crazy.

After all, the earrings turned out beautifully. and I'm very pleased with them. The pale pink and the bronze findings go perfectly with the antique theme. I ironed and stiffened the lace for more stability. I love how these earrings are light weight! These are available for sale in my shop!