top down angle of fairy in rain with flower umbrella

A Fairy in the Rain

October 24, 2019October 21, 2019CraftyK Leave a comment

This cross stitch was a long time in the making. Not the physical making, but the “I’m going to make this someday” making. The moment I saw this in the April 2018 issue of Just Cross Stitch (you can buy it here, just a link direct to the issue, I don’t get any kickback) magazine I knew I wanted to make it for my best friend.

Then last year we started talking about another book I had gotten that was Care Bears. So she got that instead. You can see that one here. That was my very first 22 count pattern. I did 2 threads on that thing, tons of quarter stitches and enormous frustration. The only thing I learned on that one was to use a smaller needle. Unfortunately it took until earlier this year to learn that in addition to the smaller needle you use 1 thread.

Even though this year has been madness and adding another more challenging pattern to the mix wasn’t advisable by anyone, I was determined to make this pattern.

I did recently use the same paper for another more complex pattern that I just had to make and felt it was fitting for this card as well. My friend is an artist, graphic and mix media. For a long while she was really into watercolors and this paper reminds me of that so I wanted to use it. It pulls some of the colors from the pattern, but really it was for the watercolor effect that I used it.

The frame was cut with the Cricut. I’m still fighting with it to cut correctly the first time, hopefully we’ll come to a resolution soon.

Due to the time constraints I’m under to finish these cards and working two other jobs I didn’t take any “in progress” photos except on Snapchat. I broke with my (until the last few months) tradition of doing all backstitching at the very end and was doing it as I went along for the most part. Showing that contrast is always awesome, I hope to do more of the before/after photos in the future.

Stitching

Started: October 6th
Finished: October 16th

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Birds on the House

October 7, 2019September 30, 2019CraftyK Leave a comment

This card has gone through several patterns. The first one was from dailycrossstitch.com. Every time I went to order it, there wasn’t a pattern. The one pattern that is missing from their site. I tried reaching out, but no one responded.

I had found a different pattern that was more complex, but not as bright and fun. Then I got a new cross stitch book and ended up finding this pattern that seemed to fit what I wanted. I don’t know my aunt all that well, so my mom came up with birds and flowers.

My aunt used to make beautiful cards for people by stamping and coloring them in. She stopped making them years ago and I am a little sad I wasn’t able to fit any stamping onto the finished card. I do like the paper I found though. I think it really fits with the style of the cross stitch.

I used the Cricut to cut out the frame, used up all the paper since the Cricut messed up as usual and cut off the paper and on the mat instead. Sometimes it likes to do that, other times it works just fine. I never know and can waste a lot of paper and need to pick something else before it cuts right. I’ve been told what it’s doing isn’t normal, so if you end up with a Cricut it will probably work just fine.

Stitching

Started: September 26th
Finished: September 29th

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Tweety Bird

July 5, 2019September 7, 2019CraftyK Leave a comment

This card is for my brother’s wife. I was 10 when they got married and remember her love for Tweety Bird.

I remember my brother trying to teach me how to wrap gifts nicely (that lesson didn’t stick) and the gift he was wrapping were Tweety slippers. Those huge fluffy things where you put your foot into the “head”. It was a popular thing at the time, might still be.

Because of that memory (hoping she still likes Tweety) I found a small enough pattern to make for her card. I was able to stitch this on 14 count and it came to about under two inches wide and not even two inches high.

I am super proud of myself for taking photos both during the making of and before backstitching this pattern.

The small size gave me the flexibility to use one of my full page happy birthday embossing folders. I did find that this particular folder (purchased direct from China) wasn’t exactly the right size. I put the paper through, but then trimmed off the edges and then trimmed the card as well so the embossing ran side to side without a gap. Making this card just a little smaller than normal.

To cut out the yellow paper to size it for the card and cut out the hole for the stitching I used my Cricut. Had a small mishap at first where it decided to cut part of the board and paper really making it the wrong size, then tried again to get this one.

After that was done I ran it through my embosser to give some texture and say happy birthday. Using double sided tape I laid in the pattern so it looks like Tweety is swinging from the top of the hole. I made sure to leave a little extra space when measuring for the hole to make it almost like a window, watching someone swinging outside.

Stitching

Started: June 17th
Finished: June 21st

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Yellow Bird

February 3, 2019February 1, 2019CraftyK Leave a comment

This little bird is tiny and somehow there are 13 different colors! I couldn’t believe it as I was collecting the thread/floss for this project. I must admit it looks pretty lifelike now that it’s done, so all those color changes were worth it.

This card is for my aunt whose birthday is today. I’m not sure on her age and feel it’s not appropriate to share anyway. She loves to photograph the birds that come to her backyard to eat and if they found a home in a birdhouse, sleep over. I am pretty sure I have seen some sort of black and yellow bird in her photos and this one made me think of her.

As you can see below this pattern came together extremely quickly, which is good because I was very much behind (and still am) on getting these done in a timely manner.

Because of the size I decided before I began this one would not be “framed” as I have done to many of the other patterns. I wanted to use my embossing machine again. I have a folder (I think that’s what those are called) with happy birthday all over it that I wanted to use. It’s similar to the Purple Morpho from last year.

Instead of using scrapbook paper I went with wallpaper. I did two colors and discovered that the softer less “papery” wallpaper does not emboss. I wasn’t sure how it would go and I was happy with either as the background, the silver won.

For mounting I used a small piece of grey paper foam tape mounted to the card then used some double sided tape and E-6000 for attaching the fabric to the paper.

Something I learned while studying for my CPP exam was that if you want to show texture, light from the side. So this go-round of highlighting the embossing on a card I was able to show better what it looks like.

Stitching

Started: January 28th
Finished: January 29th

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The Birdfeeder

June 8, 2013CraftyK 2 Comments

I got this brilliant idea to make my own bird feeder. This is out of selfishness of wanting to be amused by my cat Coco Puff. She loves to talk to birds that take a breather on the deck. They don’t stop by all that often, so I thought, maybe get some bowls and have a little place for birds to come eat, drink, and be chatted to by my cat. (Someday I hope to capture her “chirps” on video)

I took a trip to Goodwill to find something to house my birdseed and water. I didn’t want the traditional bird feeder. My original idea was to have two bowls on a long plate. I found this instead.

So far it’s doing it’s job. And attracting some squirrels too. But hey Coco doesn’t mind, she likes to pretend she’s talking and chasing all of them.