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!

Tatting is a Challenge!

Thanks to all the encouraging words from my followers, I was able to finish my miniature stationary set, which I made 100 sets. I worked my butt off and made about 20 sets per day. Crazy I know, but I'm done, it's in the past now and I'm not looking back lol. Now I can dedicate my free time with some enjoyable crafting! Yay!  :-)

I've been practicing my tatting skills religiously for some time since my first tatting post. I do have a confession to make though! Please ignore what I said about how tatting is not that difficult. I take it back! I think I meant learning the basic stitches is not too bad, but making the actual tatted pieces correctly is very difficult! Apparently, the motifs I made earlier from my last post were wrong...

It's been a frustrating process because I was having a hard time with consistency and making them look neat. After much practicing, making many mistakes and wasting a lot of threads, I finally accomplished my first project.

Tatted lace earrings.

Tatted lace earrings! Making two motifs exactly the same was difficult, but I did it.  They turned out beautifully.  I've always been fascinated with tatted lace earrings. They're dainty and elegant, but can be worn casually. I stiffened the laces and added Swarovski crystal elements.  They're for sale in my shop! :-)

I've also added these cute cherry blossom earrings to my store. They scream, "Spring is here!" I just adore the pink and green color combo.

Cherry blossom earrings.

Thanks for reading everyone and happy March!  Spring is almost here!

Happy Crafting!