Rhino in a Tux

June 7, 2019June 3, 2019CraftyK Leave a comment

This card is for a cousin of mine who I hope likes rhinos. His company logo and business feature a rhino, and when I saw this pattern he was the first person who came to mind.

The Rhino in a Tux pattern cane be found at dailycrossstitch.com if you want to make it as well!

This pattern has very few colors and was pretty easy to make. Counting the body takes a little bit of time, but once that first row is done you can base most everything off of that to eliminate long lines of counting.

The pattern calls for Anchor thread, I converted to DMC since that is what I have. CyberStitchers has a simple conversion chart in case you ever need it.

To get this pattern to fit on a smaller card I used 18 count Aida cloth. This time around I decided to also do it with only 1 thread for the x’s. It looks find in person, however I noticed in the photos the black looks a bit thin/see through.

The whole thing was done with one thread, but for some reason black looks a little thinner than the rest. Probably the higher contrast between black and the white fabric. Either way, in person it doesn’t seem as thin.

For mounting I used my mom’s really old interfacing fabric (I think). It didn’t make it stiff really, but seems to be holding up for all the trimming I did without any fraying. I used foam tape to mount the rhino to the front of the card.

Stitching

Started: May 15th
Finished: May 21st

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Wake up and MAKEUP

May 27, 2019May 20, 2019CraftyK Leave a comment

Birthday two of the day. This card is for someone I have known since middle school and reconnected with a couple years back at the gym. What was even more amusing is we were in the same gym class in middle school and ended up joining the same gym as adults, and happened to be there at the same time. We’re not in a huge city, but not small either and it’s a 24 hour gym, so the chances of our meeting again was probably fairly slim.

Since that re-connection we have had some ups and downs in our adult relationship. Sometimes it’s hard being friends with someone who is trying to rise through the ranks of the Mary Kay sales force. I ended up joining as a way to save a few dollars buying skincare and also to help unit out.

When this pattern came in my email from Daily Cross Stitch earlier this year I knew I would be adding yet another card to the ever growing collection this year. This is the 19th card made this year.

As I was stitching this card I fell in love with the ampersand. I don’t know that I’ve ever really stitched one before, but I really liked it. It’s a really strange thing to enjoy looking at after stitching. The words are also done in modern fonts which also added to my wanting to make this card.

When I was working on the cross stitch portion of the card I really thought I would put it on black paper. Then I started going through some choices, one was black, and found I like how the pink popped so much more on the paper I ended up choosing.

In the spirit of MK and all things sparkly I cracked out some pink glitter glue. Waiting for that to dry so I could put the card in the envelope was so hard! Although I had thought about glitter glue earlier on, I almost forgot until everything was assembled. I didn’t put it everywhere, but found some pink squares that could use some dressing up.

I used double sided tape for the colored paper and foam tape on the cross stitch. The cross stitch is backed by interfacing fabric (really light stuff) to help hold it together after being cut.

Stitching

Started: May 12th
Finished: May 15th

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Happy Kitty

May 27, 2019May 13, 2019CraftyK Leave a comment

Hopefully you like cats. I do. I have 2 of them. My cousins have several cats among them as well. The cousin who is getting this card however had to give up his cats after finding out one of his kids is allergic. Yet the whole family still loves cats. They are all getting a cat card to at least have a non-allergy causing cat around. I cannot guarantee the card is free of cat hair either. I usually have one on my lap while attempting at stitching.

This pattern is part of a set from a quilt book. I tried to highlight the symbols and colors I would need, yet missed the pink. It’s not in the picture when I started, but I had to go find some pink for the ears by time I was done.

This was a pretty fast pattern to work on. It was the designing of the card that took a while.

I had no idea where to begin. I went through both paper drawers a couple of times before finding the blue geometric patterned paper from a book I bought last year.

The pattern was small enough to add some stamping with a birthday message. That paper was easy to find, I find myself using it a lot. It’s not white and has some character to it.

I used my Cricut to cut out the blue paper and ivory paper for stamping on. I have a corner rounder cutting thing I used to round the corners. I was lazy and didn’t design the box in Illustrator and the Cricut program doesn’t allow for rounded corners.

After stamping I decided since I had my clear embossing powder by me to emboss just the word birthday. A little got on the letters above, but not enough to change the effect I was going for.

For not having a clue how to start designing this card I think it came together really well. Bringing in the additional element of the stamp helps offset the smaller cross stitch design.

Stitching

Started: May 9th
Finished: May 11th

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Steampunk Stitched

May 25, 2019May 13, 2019CraftyK Leave a comment

Sometimes there are patterns that come through my email from Daily Cross Stitch that just scream, “This is for [enter name here]!” This pattern was one that did just that. I had a former co-worker from maybe 3 jobs or so ago that I still keep in contact with. She likes Steampunk, as do I, but she is much better at it. I’m more of a passive lover of the genre.

To get this pattern to fit on a regular sized note card I had to stitch it on Hardanger (22 count). If you remember from my Wine pattern I learned that 1 thread is much better than 2 on this cloth. I was super excited to have a cream almost antiqued Hardanger on hand, which goes perfectly with this mostly brown pattern.

For the background I knew I wanted to use my gears embossing folder I had purchased. It was just how to mount the stitching and what paper to use.

Eventually I settled on cutting out the stitching after using interfacing fabric to keep the edges from fraying. To make the card very 3D I not only embossed the back, but also used foam tape to mount the pattern.

The background is wallpaper. I think the colors work well with the overall feel and grunginess of this card.

I really like how this one came together in the end. It seems like a very cohesive piece and can for sure double as art.

Stitching

Started: May 1st
Finished: May 8th

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Rocky Mountain High

March 11, 2019March 4, 2019CraftyK Leave a comment

It’s my sister’s birthday today. While really looking at the walls at my parent’s house I have noticed just how many cross stitches there are adorning the walls. Some of them my sister made. I know one for sure was for me.

Now it’s my turn many years later to make one for her. Mine is by far simpler as it is only one color and only a few inches high and wide, but it’s the thought that counts right?

My sister loves the mountains. For a time she was going to move to Colorado however that hasn’t happened. She’s in Texas now, which is a bit different climate and view wise. I thought this simple image of mountains would be nice for her. She also did oil painting for a few years and many of those were of mountains. Again mine is not really comparable with its simplicity.

I finished the stitching in just a few days and started on the next one. It was coming up with how to mount this to a card that stumped me for the longest time. I couldn’t decide if I wanted to create a frame or put the raw fabric on black paper, maybe grey.

The first step to deciding was to browse my wallpaper collection. I wanted something with texture which just doesn’t happen with standard cardstock. Even wallpaper can be disappointing at times, there were some marble looking patterns that were on the smoothest paper you can find.

The paper I finally settled on was the first one I pulled out. It reminds me of rock and looks like a close up of a real mountain (at least to me). I think it really helps the stitching to stand out, yet adds another level of texture to the card overall.

I used my handy Cricut to cut out the wallpaper frame. Amazingly I measured correctly and didn’t cut off any stitching. Once I had it cut I was so glad I had enough cloth left at the top to run the bottom row of stitching along the bottom border of the frame.

This card is simple yet stands out to me. It’s quite striking now that it’s complete.

Stitching

Started: February 25th
Finished: February 28th

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THE Cowboy

February 23, 2019February 19, 2019CraftyK Leave a comment

This one was another stitching down to the wire. This card is also the largest card I’ve made with a cross stitch. I stitched out this pattern on 22 count off white Aida cloth using DMC 3371. I know this color quite well because I had to buy more of it to finish at the very end.

The amount of thread I had in this picture was what was left in my mom’s collection. Then I moved onto a (presumably) full skein from my cousin’s collection. Then had to finish with some from a brand new skein.

For being a non-contact-non-sport I hurt a lot after finishing this one. Hours and hours of hunching over to see the little holes has taken it’s toll. I also hand-held the thing which isn’t recommended. This pattern is over 90 stitches wide and 115 high.

To create this card I wanted to make it look “rustic”. That’s the word that comes to mind with ripped edges and a messy edge around the stitching. Assembly was pretty straight forward and old school. I got out my box cutter and ruler to cut out the paper for the card and inside piece.

After cutting the paper to the correct sizes I tore the paper. The inside piece took me a bit to figure out that if I ripped it one way the white from the back showed, however if I tried ripping “backwards” it looked so much better! Being a lefty is hard sometimes. I’m not one to rip paper so this was a new experience for me.

I’m glad this card came together quickly to be sent out. I’m not sure if this will make it to Texas by today for my uncle’s birthday, but it is on its way!

Stitching

Started: February 4th
Finished: February 18th

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Birthday Puzzle

January 22, 2019December 10, 2018CraftyK Leave a comment

Kicking off the new year with the first of many cross stitch birthday cards.

To start things off is a custom design by me. My niece turned 19 today and is finishing up her first year of college. She also enjoys puzzles. I’ve been working through my collection to get them to her to work on (if they have all the pieces).

Due to life distractions this cross stitch took a little longer than normal. The stitching was pretty basic, only two colors. I used a dark blue for the lettering. I tried variegated purple for the puzzle pieces. It wasn’t the variety in color that I had hoped for, but there is a little.

Once the stitching was finished it was time to raid the paper drawer. This was harder to figure out what pattern or color to use since I didn’t have any sort of vision for this card beyond the cross stitch design.

In the end I chose polka dots. It just seemed fitting for my niece. I have no idea why. It seemed like a better choice than many of the options I looked at.

Next up was cutting out the paper and square to frame the cross stitch. I have one ruler that has millimeters on it which was necessary for more precise measurements. I’m probably strange thinking that metrics are easier to use and measure with than inches. Could also be my dislike of fractions. Either way I was able to get the measurements needed to create my polka dot frame. The measurements weren’t perfect, but pretty darn close.

Stitching

Started: November 12th
Finished: November 20th

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Purple Morpho

November 30, 2018October 25, 2018CraftyK Leave a comment

Today’s my cousin Rhonda’s birthday! Her nonprofit logo is a purple butterfly, so I took the pattern of a Blue Morpho and turned it into a Purple Morpho.

About the card

After working on so many cross stitches that take weeks if not months (and a few a while back pretty sure years…) these last couple of cards have been a wonderful “break”. The base design I used for this butterfly was from Donna Kooler’s Cross Stitch Designs book. I recreated it in WinStitch so I could mark off what I finished, and change the butterfly from blue to purple.

While I was at Joann’s a few weeks ago I found thread that looked to be sparkly thread. Once I cut it and definitely once I started using it, I’m pretty sure it’s filament. Of course that didn’t stop me from using it like thread the way I wanted to and add some sparkle to my butterfly.

Like the Care Bear I thought I was finished and I got so excited I almost forgot to finish the back stitching on this one! I finished all the wing details and completely spaced the outside. I woke up the next morning and it hit me that I wasn’t actually done.

Once I finished the back stitching for real I began collecting all the pieces to put together the card. While I was working on the cross stitch I decided I wanted to used one of my new birthday embossing folders. I pulled out my paper drawer and thought I was going for one foil embossed paper I have and instead ran across the butterfly paper (still foil embossed).

Although the colors match nothing in the cross stitch I loved the butterfly theme. I used that as the background and embossed it using the happy birthday folder I have. It’s fairly hard to see and photograph, but you can feel it.

To help the cross stitch stand out more I chose a neutral color to mount using foam tape to the card. The cross stitch is attached with some double sided tape in the middle and E-6000 on the edges. That stuff is powerful and the butterfly won’t be going anywhere.

So there you have it! That’s how this card came together in just a few days.

Stitching

Started: October 22nd
Finished: October 25th

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Elephant Love

November 10, 2018October 22, 2018CraftyK Leave a comment

If you remember the elephant card I made for an August birthday, this one is quite different. This one I “designed” myself from different patterns I found for elephants and balloons. I did draw the grass myself. The happy birthday is a font from the WinStitch program I drew everything in.

I started this cross stitch on a Friday, did the majority of it at Side Projects Club on Saturday and finished up the back stitching on Sunday. Compared to the last card this one is much smaller and much easier due to the lack of quarter stitches.

Assembly came with some challenges. I have done enough of these to know that I would really prefer to get them in straight. I think I finally found a good way to accomplish this too!

Taking double sided tape I lined the edges closest to the hole I cut with the Cricut (well I cut the whole thing out of a 12×12 paper and scored it with the Cricut). Then I started to place the fabric down into the opening. I have learned that the fabric does not adhere to the tape right away, so there is opportunity to move it around to try and get it as straight as possible. I try to use the holes as a guide.

Since it’s not the stickiest thing ever it’s hard to truly “stretch” the fabric across without pulling it off somewhere, I was at least able to get it pretty darn close. Now it’s remembering this technique for the next one I do with a cut out…

To really hold it in place I cut out another piece (with the Cricut) the from the 12×12 page slightly smaller than the 4.25″ x 5.5″ side and used more double sided tape along the outer edges of that piece to adhere it to the inside of the card. From what I can tell this worked well since I had enough clearance on each side and the fabric is completely underneath.

Stitching

Started: October 18th
Finished: October 21st

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Born to Sparkle

November 8, 2018November 3, 2018CraftyK Leave a comment

This card became a last-minute add on to the 2018 family card project. I didn’t realize my niece’s birthday was at the beginning November and not the end. I wanted to make a card and decided to go for it and create her cross stitch card a year early.

I also felt that I needed to redeem myself from the card I made for her last year. It was my first attempt at doing something custom using different elements after being inspired by an Art Journeling class on CreativeLive. It was around that time that I discovered the Cricut and that has changed my crafting completely.

Last year’s card

After the last few mishaps with the back stitching, this one has NONE! Once the stitching is done this is ready to put onto a card.

In my rush to get started I did not take a “before” image to share. I don’t even think the beginnings made it on Snapchat. I put on my CreativeLive lighting class and got down to business.

I’m not sure why I thought that if a pattern was up to 80 stitches wide I could fit it on a smallish card. On 14 count that’s almost 6 inches. This project is on a very small piece of 22 count to make it closer to the 3-4 inch mark. Having barely finish a 22 count a few weeks ago I think my eyes were still able to look at itty-bitty holes. I pulled out the size 28 needle again and got started.

This one was run so close to the edges of my fabric I wasn’t even able tape up the edges. I just had to be very careful not to fray anything, which didn’t work. I found myself pulling on the fabric a lot. Luckily I didn’t fray it to the point of taking out stitches.

To keep with the purple sparkle theme I used my purple shimmery paper as a mount. The crazy design cutout was drawn in Illustrator using one of the built in brush patterns. Without a machine I wouldn’t have been able to cut all those curves.

Stitching

Started: October 27th
Finished: November 1st

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CraftyK's Projects

The place where I keep my crafting projects

Tag cross stitching

Rhino in a Tux

Stitching

Wake up and MAKEUP

Stitching

Happy Kitty

Stitching

Steampunk Stitched

Stitching

Rocky Mountain High

Stitching

THE Cowboy

Stitching

Birthday Puzzle

Stitching

Purple Morpho

About the card

Stitching

Elephant Love

Stitching

Born to Sparkle

Stitching