January 28, 2008

radio silence...

don't worry, my poor little crafting blog has not fallen by the wayside already... i've just not been crafting much as i'm getting ready to return to work and i'm trying to get my ducks in a row before i'm really and truly a working mum...

right now i've got a dishcloth on my needles and that's about it... i'm trying to get 4 rows a day done (to quote the movie Juno, "Whoa! Dream big!"), so i should wrap it up by Friday at the latest...

i have two upcoming projects:

1) a Birthday card exchange - once this cold snap breaks and i actually dare to venture outside, i have to pick out my colour scheme and decide what the heck i'm doing... i need to make 10 by early March... i'm hoping to either start cutting or stamping some stuff at my monthly craft night, next week...

2) some of these cute amigurumi patterns from Owlishly... i haven't picked up a crochet hook in years, so i'm probably going to be in over my head... they're just so damn cute... i bought the 3 patterns below...



January 12, 2008

Beige Twisted Purl Dishcloths

Started: January 3, 2008
Finished: January 6, 2008
Made For: my family
Pattern: Springtime Dishcloth from I Live On A Farm
Modifications: i only CO 40 stitches
Materials: 2 balls of Bernat Handicrafter Cotton in Softy Taupe
Tools: Size 8 knitting needles
Cost: $1.59/skein
Would I Do It Again? yes
Notes / Comments: this is my first knitting project in 3 or 4 years, so i wanted a gentle reintroduction and i was bored of making scarves (which all my other knitting projects have been)... what's the next easiest? dishcloths, of course...

i didn't want to use a simple knit/purl pattern... after a few minutes searching Google i came across this great pattern from I Live On A Farm... once you get a hang of the twisted purl stitch, it's actually very easy...

as you can see from the photos, the size of the cloths varied greatly as i got use to maintaining the same tension throughout... the cloth on the far right (second picture) was my third cloth and is a little smaller than the other two... i managed to get 3 cloths out of 2 skeins, but i'm sure i could squeeze 4 out if i had the same tension on the first two that i had on the last one... they're also a little misshapen and i could block them, i suppose, but why bother since i'm just going to use them to wash my dishes...

January 10, 2008

Thank You Card For Maria

Started: December 30, 2007
Finished: December 30, 2007
Made For: Maria
Scraplifted From: my own layout
Materials: 2 colours of cardstock, ribbon, eyelets, VersaMark, Perfect Pearls Pigment Kit in Metallic
Tools: Cuttlebug, Olivia alphabet cutting die, SU All Year Cheer stamp set, SU So Many Sayings stamp set, MM Tool Kit, rotary cutter, gold metallic marker
Cost: under $5
Would I Do It Again? yes...
Notes / Comments: this is a card i made for my BIL's mother... i didn't have a specific design idea in mind when i sat down to do it, but i knew i wanted to use the purple cardstock and i thought the green ribbon would be a nice compliment to that... using the gold pigment from Perfect Pearls was just an excuse to use it... in total, this card took about 20 minutes to make, if that... the design element is very simple, but i like how it turned out... the second picture shows the gold pigment a little better than the larger picture... in person, it has the appearance of a very luminous watermark effect...

the Perfect Pearls Pigment Kit is easy to use... there are several kits available, each including 4 pigment colours, a small Perfect Medium pad (which is similar to VersaMark) and two paint brushes (one to place the pigment, one to dust off excess)... what is nice is that you can keep building up the layers of pigment until you get the amount of saturation you like... i find you can do about 3-4 passes before it won't take any more pigment... for more ways to use Perfect Pearls, Charmed Cards & Crafts has some project ideas...

update your bookmarks...

cuz we got a brand new domain name! you can now find us at www.mscraftyifyourenasty.com...

January 9, 2008

Hand Print Ornaments

Started: December 20, 2007
Finished: December 20, 2007
Made For: myself, my mother, my MIL
Recipe From: the internet
Materials: flour, salt, water, vegetable oil, Mod Podge, ribbon
Tools: Kitchen-Aid stand mixer, ye olde oven, paint brush
Cost: virtually nothing, as i had all the supplies on hand
Would I Do It Again? yes...
Notes / Comments: i have a memory of my Mum making dough ornaments when i was little... a vague memory of candy cane twists and possibly some cookie cutter shapes (wreaths maybe?)... i also remember the inevitable crumbling of said ornaments over the years, after many moves and not-so-delicate handling...

i saw this recipe for baking clay posted on a message board and i thought that i would capture J's hand as a keepsake of his first Christmas... in doing so, i learned a few things...

☆ our kid's hands are huge for a 8½ month old... or, at least, they're bigger than any round shape cutting tool we own...

☆ babies don't like to have their hand squished in dough, unless they can totally annihilate it... to get 6 passable prints, i had to do about 12 tries as he kept messing up the dough on me...

☆ even though the recipe said it would take about 1½ hours to bake, it actually took closer to 3... stupid altitude...

☆ sealing stuff with Mod Podge is time consuming, messy, and will ruin your nice cooling racks... note to self: next time use spray sealant...

☆ the Sharpie you use to write the details on the back of the ornament will bleed into the dough... the end result is homemade and kitschy and that's okay...

Baking Clay Recipe - makes approx. 8 ornaments

1 cup salt
2 cups flour
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1-1½ cups cold water

preheat oven to 250°... combine dry ingredients, making sure salt is fully incorporated (i used my stand mixer with great results)... slowly add water until you have a soft dough... roll out on a lightly floured surface until between ¼-½ of an inch thick... press child's hand/foot into dough and cut around with a pizza cutter... place on an ungreased baking sheet and bake for 1 hour, or until hard to the touch... flip over and bake for another 30 minutes...

some helpful hints:

☆ you can tint the water with food colouring
☆ you can add glitter to the dough as well
☆ ornaments will swell a little (approx. 5%) as it bakes
☆ if the dough puffs up or swells too much during baking, try adding up to ¼ cup more salt in the next batch...
☆ you can also try dissolving the salt in the water before mixing in order to incorporate it better
☆ these suckers are heavy, so don't make them too big if you want to hang them on your tree
☆ don't over-bake them or seal them too soon... two of my nicest ornaments have since developed cracks in them and i read this was probably due to the dough being too dry... i suspect part of it was having them in the oven so long and sealing them too soon...

'Tis the Season Scrapbook Page

Started: December 11, 2007
Finished: Work-In-Progress
Made For: J's scrapbook
Scraplifted From: Becky Higgins' Creative Sketches - Volume 2 - pg. 49 (very loosely based on this sketch)
Materials: 3 colours of cardstock, 1 patterned paper, silver eyelets, clear embossing powder, Christmas stickers
Tools: Cuttlebug, Red Tag Sale alphabet cutting die, Spots & Dots embossing folder, SU Christmas Mini stamps, heat embosser, MM Tool Kit, Mini Glue Dots, roller adhesive, Creative Memories Precision Point Adhesive, photo mounts, rotary cutter, silver gel pen
Cost: under $10
Would I Do It Again? no...
Notes / Comments: i did this layout very hastily and really just so i'd have a place to put these random Christmas pictures... i played a little with my Cuttlebug, which is why the red title letters are embossed... in hindsight, it might have been nice to tie in the embossed letters by embossing the red background matting for the photos as well...

the one element i really like about these pages is that i used the tag to label the pictures so i didn't have to journal (i didn't really have much to say)... not only did i get to heat emboss, but i got to set some eyelets... yay for embellishments!

there are two things that bug me, though... i love the patterned paper that i chose, but i don't really think it works with how i arranged it on the page or how i arranged the pictures on top of it... and i was left with the bottom left hand corner empty and i have no idea how to complete it without over-embellishing... Jes at Craft-O-Rama is sending me something that might work (little Christmas light die cuts) and i'm going to try using SU's Crystal Effects on them to tie them in with the stickers... my other thought is printing out J's first letter from Santa and putting it in an envelope there...

First Photo Shoot Scrapbook Page

Started: November 24, 2007
Finished: November 25, 2007
Made For: J's scrapbook
Scraplifted From: Becky Higgins' Creative Sketches - Volume 2 - pg. 35
Materials: 2 colours of cardstock, 2 patterned papers
Tools: Cuttlebug, Red Tag Sale alphabet cutting die, roller adhesive, photo mounts, laser printer, rotary cutter, Stampin' Up Round Tab Punch
Cost: materials were under $5, but the photos were a pretty penny from the photographer...
Would I Do It Again? yes...
Notes / Comments: yet another layout that i loved doing... Becky Higgins magazine has so many great layouts and i was working with my favourite pictures from J's newborn photo session where he was all of 10 days old, so it would be hard not to have a great page... it also came together very quickly (less than 2 hours while watching Evan Almighty, with the exception of the title that i added the next day)...

what worked well about this layout was how clean and simple it was... i drew my colour inspiration from the striped paper and i really like how the colours worked together... the striped letters in the title weren't just for aesthetics, but because i had run out of brown cardstock, so i used what i had...

one of my favourite things about this layout was the journaling block tucked behind the 5x7 photo on the left page... for scrapbooking aficionados this isn't exactly a groundbreaking technique, but for someone new to the craft it's pretty exciting (yes, i admit, i'm a loser and things like this excite me)... not only do you get to say everything you want without cluttering up the page, but it's a little unexpected, interactive treat for people looking at the page... it's also handy if you want to journal in your own hand, but you're not particularly fond of your handwriting... having an excuse to use Ms. M's Round Tab punch that i borrowed was also a selling point...

my only complaint about the layout is yet another newbie mistake... because i was using a striped paper that wasn't a uniform pattern and i only picked up one sheet, i ended up cutting it into 3 strips (2 for the horizontal stripes that anchor the page, 1 for embellishments / title letters)... when i went to glue them down, it became apparent that the stripes didn't line up from page to page... the easy solutions would have been to buy a second sheet of the paper or to cut it so the stripes were vertical... of course, i had already cut the strips, i liked how the horizontal stripes brought your eye across the page, and it was later in the evening and the local scrapbooking joint was already closed (and i'm impatient)... live and learn, i guess...

January 8, 2008

Monkeyed Scrapbook Page

Started: November 18, 2007
Finished: November 21, 2007
Made For: J's scrapbook
Scraplifted From: Simple Scrapbooks - November / December 2007 - pg. 109
Materials: 4 different colours of cardstock, 1 patterned paper, chipboard letters, vellum embellishment, thread
Tools: Cuttlebug, Olivia alphabet cutting die, roller adhesive, photo mounts, Cutter Bee Piercing Bug Rotary Tool, sewing needle, laser printer, rotary cutter, corner rounder
Cost: under $10
Would I Do It Again? yes, for another book...
Notes / Comments: my biggest complaint about this page is that, some how, i managed to cut the pattern paper incorrectly and there's about ¼" difference in the pieces (noticeable where the two pages meet)... of course, i didn't notice this until i had already stuck it down... oh well! overall, i like the colour scheme and it picks up on the colours in the photos, i think...

i tried out the Cutter Bee Piercing Bug Rotary Tool and with a little finesse it works well... slow, steady pressure on a self-healing mat and a ruler to try and keep lines straight are a must... i found it was easier to sew the embellishment if i went along the guide line and fully perforated the holes beforehand (i found that the Bug didn't really go all the way through the cardstock)... i don't think the variegated thread does wonders for this layout, but it was what i had on hand...

First Halloween Scrapbook Page

Started: November 18, 2007
Finished: November 21, 2007
Made For: J's scrapbook
Scraplifted From: Scrapbook Etc. - October 2007 - pg. 97
Materials: cardstock (background and title letters), 3 patterned papers, 1 plain paper, ribbon, stickers
Tools: Cuttlebug, Olivia alphabet cutting die, roller adhesive, Creative Memories Precision Point Adhesive, mini Glue Dots, photo mounts, corner rounder, rotary cutter, silver gel pen
Cost: under $10
Would I Do It Again? i love this layout and may use it for another scrapbook...
Notes / Comments: this was the first page i completed... i couldn't find chipboard letters that i liked, so i bought a Cuttlebug and the Olivia die to do the title... i love how this page turned out and besides the slightly crooked writing on the journaling section, i think it looks great...

January 7, 2008

Christmas Card Workshop

Started: November 4, 2007
Finished: November 4, 2007
Made For: my friends & family
Pattern: provided by the lovely Ms. M
Paper: mostly Stampin' Up
Materials: mostly SU - clear embossing powder, ink pads, various stamps, ribbon, eyelets
Tools: Cuttlebug, heat embosser, various punches
Cost: $30 for 30 cards...
Would I Do It Again? absolutely...
Notes / Comments: this was an all day workshop hosted by a friend of mine, Ms. M, and my first introduction to card making... everything was pre-cut and all i had to do was show up, follow the instructions, do the stamping / embellishment and assemble... i fell in love with the heat embosser and found a way to use it on all of my cards (in my defense, 2 of the cards called for heat embossing as part of the original design by Ms. M)... i also was intrigued by the Cuttlebug enough to eventually buy my own... i've gotten lots of comments about how pretty my cards were this year and i definitely would attend another workshop...

A Bear Holding A Shark Pumpkin Carving

Started: October 30, 2007
Finished: October 30, 2007
Made For: my family
Pattern: free from Homestar Runner
Materials: medium pumpkin, pattern, toothpicks
Tools: awl, carving knife, small detail knife
Cost: the cost of the pumpkin
Would I Do It Again? no...
Notes / Comments: i learned a lot about pumpkin carving using this pattern, such as what looks great on paper doesn't always work out on the actual pumpkin... you have to pay close attention to how close some of the cut edges are together because if they're too thin the pumpkin may break, as mine did... thanks to a little patience and a few toothpicks (note the bear's paws and the shark's mouth), i was able to salvage it for Halloween night, but it collapsed the next day... i think i'll try one of the other Homestar characters next year...

Jack Skellington Pumpkin Carving

Started: October 28, 2007
Finished: October 28, 2007
Made For: my family
Pattern: Zombie Pumpkins
Materials: medium pumpkin, pattern, LED candles
Tools: awl, carving knife, small detail knife, linoleum cutter
Cost: $5 for the membership to Zombie Pumpkins, plus the cost of the pumpkin
Would I Do It Again? definitely...
Notes / Comments: i really like how this one turned out... it was my first time using the linoleum cutter to carve... i like the overall look, but it took a long time to get down to a depth where the light would shine through enough... i had to use LED candles as regular ones did get enough oxygen to stay lit (and i was too lazy to cut a hole to let more air in... my main complaint was that it got stolen shortly after Halloween... boo-urns!

Starry Night Pumpkin Carving

Started: October 7, 2007
Finished: October 7, 2007
Made For: my family
Pattern: free from Pumpkin Masters
Materials: medium pumpkin, pattern
Tools: awl, carving knife, small detail knife
Cost: the cost of the pumpkin
Would I Do It Again? probably not...
Notes / Comments: it turned out well for my first attempt, but i intend to be more ambitious with my next pumpkin carving projects...

welcome...

welcome to my latest blog where i plan to journal my various craftiness efforts...

i'm not a consistent crafter, nor am i especially fast at churning out projects... but i do like to try my hand at certain projects every once and a while... hobbies that i've done in the past (and keep coming back to) include knitting, crocheting and cross-stitch...

with the birth of my son i've begun to scrapbook and, by extension, make cards... with my introduction to these things, i'm slowly being drawn into the world of heat embossing (which i love to an unnatural extent) and stamping...

what i plan to do here is showcase both my work-in-progress and finished projects, as well as review my work (what was used, how i feel it turned out, would i do it again, etc.)... i'll be adding older projects first, so stay tuned!