Lou's addictions

Stitchy stuff and sparkly stuff

2010-07-20T14:47:00.007+01:00

The past couple of weeks I have been keeping myself busy with stitching mostly but I have managed to stop and make a few pieces of jewelry.

The first piece is a prototype made using base metal wires, I cant wait to whip this up using silver wire. I am going to use square wire for the frame rather than round wire I think. In my mind it looks sturdier with the square wire than with round

I had a go at trying to set marquis cut cubic zirconia into rings using wire, now this was tricky but I have to admit that I love the setting I have came up with

The pictures arent great but you get the idea ;o). I just need to tweek these designs a little more and I recon I'd be happy to sell them.

On the stitchy side I've made a fair bit of progress on the five sisters

There are 2 pages to the chart which are A3 sized, this is about half of the first page. Not much there just yet, all cloud so far and a fair amount of confetti stitches but I am loving putting my needle to work again, so much so that I might dig out sister angels and work on that for the next couple of weeks.

Thanks for taking the time to have a look

Lou

Back in action

2010-07-01T11:55:00.003+01:00

I have been a naughty girl for the past 10 months, I have not had time for any stitching or jewelry making or even updating my blog, but my excuse is a good one, my kids needed my attention more than my hobbies.

But I am able to enjoy some me time again which means that I have picked up my stitching again and made some jewelry in the past month or so.

Stitching wise I decided to make a start on the Five Sisters project to get me back into the swing of things, I think if I had st start on my HEAD project straight away I will put myself off stitching. I am loving stitching again and this piece is working up quite quickly so hopefully wont take too long to finish.

I have also taken a step in my jewelry making, I have moved on to working in silver rather than copper core wire. Wow what a difference between these wires, not only is it a lot nicer looking but it is so much easier to work with.

I don't have any pictures though as everything I have made so far has been sold before I had a chance to get a picture. I am hoping to set up an on-line store in the next few weeks and see if my run of good luck with my jewelry making will continue.

Thanks for looking at my blog

xx

A great day out and some finishes

2009-08-15T14:11:00.011+01:00

Since my last couple of posts things have been a little better, my doctor has increased the dose of my meds and I have learned not to stress about the fact I have not had the time to decorate our new house. Its been the school holidays here in Scotland for the past six weeks so the kids have been up later than usual and I don't like decorating while they are up.

I have a sad day on Monday as my oldest girl Hollie is starting her first day at school, I can't believe how fast it has arrived and how excited she is to go to school. And to top it all off my other daughter, Jamie, starts pre-school nursery at the end of the month. Ughh I'm gonna have to stock up on tissues lol.

We finally managed to get out for the day on Thursday and went to Burntisland. Burntisland is a lovely town with an award winning beach, lovely town centre and a great play park right next to the beach called the links. The links plays host to a fairground during the summer months as well as having a great little water park and plenty of climbing frames doted around the place, but best of all great sized hills to play roly poly down.

We all had an amazing day and I thought I would share some pictures

These beautiful girls are my princesses, just before I took this picture they were walking along the beach hand in hand, but in typical fashion dropped hands just as I took the picture.

And this is the biggest kid in the household, my wonderful hubby, playing in the playground with the girls. Just after this picture was taken he fell off, I wish I had managed to get a pic of that lol...

While walking along the beach I found several pieces of sea glass, I have been following the work of a talented jewelry designer who makes jewelry out of sea glass and broken china and have wanted to have a go a making sea glass jewelry for a while. Check out Marjories blog here.

I plan on stocking up on some craft wire and having a play with these soon.

I also have a stitchy finish. I found a cute chart in the UK cross stitcher magazine for a glasses case and thought I would stitch a couple up for my mum and MIL's birthdays, they are only 11 days apart. Doing this chart though did mean having to attempt the sewing machine again, but I'm happy to report that there were no mess ups this time lol...

I made a start on the five sisters (pic on the side bar) but only have a little done so far so will take a pic after I next get a chance to work on it. I have decided to put sister angels aside for a while too and concentrate on the new start for a bit.

Hope everyone is well

2009-07-23T10:42:00.002+01:00

I want to say thank you for all of the support after my last post, I am feeling a little better and have an appointment with the doctor after much nagging from hubby.

Yesterday was our fourth wedding anniversary and as a present I got to kit up five sisters (picture in the side bar). I have decided to take a break from the sister angels and work on the five sisters for a while along with a couple of little projects for my mums and hubbys mums birthdays which are only 11 days apart. Once I have stitched the first one I will post pics, just need to wait on more threads before I can finish.

I also plan on stocking up on jewelry wire soon too which could lead to another giveaway on here too. I dont wear a lot of jewelry myself which means anything I make can go to whoever wants it lol...

Thank you again for all of your support

Hugs and happy crafting

x

2009-07-12T11:18:00.002+01:00

I've been feeling really down the past couple of days, it's like I have taken a huge step backwards. I have lost all motivation to do anything other than sit on my backside. I cant even make it to the doctors because I dont want to take the kids and have them hear me talk about what my true feelings are so I am running low on meds too which is really not good. I have no idea what I am going to when they run out, I already suffer from anxiety attacks from the thought of being without them.

Sorry for the moan, I just needed a place to vent a little.

Hugs xx

I haven't vanished...

2009-07-08T10:00:00.004+01:00

I have been busy busy busy, decorating, gardening and more gardening. Not the fun type of gardening where you are just pulling out a few rogue weeds, oh no... My front garden isn't very big but you can tell that when the last lady who lived in the the house planted it, it looked stunning. When we moved in though it was obvious that she was unable to tend to it. There was a good variety of shrubs and rose bushes ect and I was hoping to salvage at least some of them but they were all too overgrown so they all had to come out. Boy was that hard work, it took me two days of cutting hacking and digging to get everything out that I did. I have blisters, cuts, scratches and masses of insect bites all aver my hands and arms. My hands are so swollen that I have had to take off my wedding ring until the swelling goes down.
I am going to take the rest of the week off from gardening and hopefully concentrate on the inside of the house. I don't know if I will get anything done tonight my hands are that sore, I cant even hold a needle to do any stitching lol... I think I may have to soak my hands in some icy water today and get stuck into decorating tonight.

I do have an update on my sister angels project. I'm finding this one slow going and I'm not the fastest stitcher as it is so this is definitely going to take a few years to get finished but I still love it. I am going to take a break from this project and work on a few smaller projects.

Anyway, here is a pic of the angels so far...

I am tempted to substitute the krenik threads and use white instead for the wings, not that the kreniks dont add anything extra to the project, I just feel that I need to do something that will speed the process off stitching up a bit lol... The next time I pic this project up I'm going to frog the Kreniks I have used so far and use DMC B5200 to see how it looks.

Hopefully I will have another blog update soon, untill then

Hugs and happy crafting

Lou xx

Back on-line and a winner

2009-06-16T09:55:00.003+01:00

Well I am finally moved and back on-line. The new house already feels like more of a home than the last place did. It needs a lot of work but we are going to do it a bit at a time and get it just right. The kids are loving the bigger garden and bedroom and also the fact that they are closer to their cousins.

I am still surrounded by boxes and still haven't found my camera to take pictures of the giveaway prizes, but I do have a winner

drum roll please

Shelly - ILCS, please e-mail me with your address and favorite colour and whether you would prefer a piece of copper jewelry or a scissor fob (or both if you would like). loushw1@yahoo.co.uk.

I will get to work on your prize as soon as you get in touch.

Hugs

Lou xx

A little giveaway

2009-05-27T12:53:00.003+01:00

I know my post yesterday mentioned it would probably be my last but as I was sorting through my collection of cross stitch magazines I came across all of the freebie kits I have. These will probably just lie in a box somewhere begging to be stitched so I thought why not pass them on to someone who will use them.

I have no camera to take pictures of what I have as I cannot for the life of me remember which box it is in and don't want to go emptying the boxes to find it, however there are some lovely kits in there ranging from cute teddies to florals and animals. If I remember rightly there are a couple of Margaret Sherry kits there too.

Along with the kits I am also offering to make a braided bangle from copper with your choice of colour of beads, if you are not a wearer of jewelry I will whip up a custom scissor fob with a one of a kind charm hand made by moi.

To be entered into the giveaway all you have to do is leave a comment at the bottom of this post with your best story of moving home. This could be a disaster story or something funny.

I have not yet decided how many winners there will be, this will all be decided once I am moved and back on-line. There is a deadline though of the 14th June (my youngest daughters birthday).

Good luck and I look forward to reading your stories.

Lou xx

Just a quick update

2009-05-26T09:51:00.002+01:00

OK so we are still waiting to be able to move, but the good news is that it should be next week at the latest (or so we've been told) that we get the keys to the new house. And my kind neighbours have been good enough to keep reminding us of why we want to move lol....

I have been squeezing some stitching time in between packing boxes, but as it is as HEAD design with lots of colour changes I am not making much progress and have packed my camera too so I cant even show a picture of the little progress that has been made. I have reached the little angels face (you can see the picture of what it should look like on the sidebar), I am not really sure if I like the colours the chart calls for though. Her little face is a little orange looking but I am hoping that once the rest of the colours are added then the orange will be toned down a little. As soon as I am moved and get my hands on my camera again I will post a picture.

This will probably be my last update before I move so wish me luck that it all goes as smoothly as moving house can go.

Hugs
Lou

Finally the cushion is done.

2009-04-28T09:54:00.005+01:00

I thought I should take some time from organising the house ready to move and finish off my MILs cushion. So here it is

The pictures don't do any justice to the colours of this but you get the idea...

I am such a novice with a sewing machine, but since I wasn't following a pattern and had no clue as to what I was doing I think it turned out pretty well.

Going AWOL for a while.

2009-04-23T10:42:00.002+01:00

I am moving house soon (everyone cross their fingers and toes and arms, anything you can and hope this doesn't fall through) so I am now spending my evenings going through cupboards and drawers and packing or recycling the things that are rarely used. I don't get the keys till after the 11th May but I want to be ready to get moved.

I will have to pack up all of my jewelry making items and most if not all of my stitching stuff too, sniff sniff...

But hey I will have a lot to do instead. Now if only I could calm down enough to get some sleep so I have the energy for this move lol...

Health wise I am doing OK, I am trying new meds on a higher dose which seems to be doing the trick, but hubby thinks I am becoming manic rather than just depressed lol... Never mind we will get there in the end. I have something positive to focus on and keep me busy. The move would be right in the middle of hubbys exams so it will be super Lou to the rescue lol. My parents will be able to help and my MIL has already been fab in helping this to happen.

I haven't got her cushion stitched yet as I cant figure out how to use the sewing machine. I will get there with it. Hopefully before we move.

Anyway, as I will be away from the computer I just wanted to say thank you for all of the support I get through on-line groups and through my blog and I hope to be back on-line soon.

xx

I must be getting lazy....

2009-04-03T09:00:00.005+01:00

I dont have much to update today, I have been a bit demotivated with everything but playing on-line games. I have been Pogo mad the past week or so lol...

I am feeling much better today though and am planning to get a new start finished today. I started this with the hope of having it finished for UK mothers day (22nd March lol). It is for my mother in law who has been so good to us and helping us out big time while my hubby has been at Uni.

I am planing on turning it into a cushion, which should be interesting since I have no idea how to use a sewing machine. I might have to try sewing by hand first before I take the plunge.

My sister angels project hasn't really been touched, there is slightly more progress than in my last picture but not enough to show a picture of.

My Mum has given me some nice little stones that I can use to practice making jewelry with. Some of them were strung on elastic as a bracelet, so I may just restring them for mum or find another interesting way of using them. Either way she is gonna have a lot of new jewelry to wear.

I was comic relief last month too, Hollie's nursery class all looked fab, they wore their PJ's to nursery and had to have their noses painted red to help raise money for the charity. I never got a picture of Hollie but Jamie was not happy to be left out and got the nursery staff to paint her nose too. She kept her nose painted long enough to get a snap of her...

Spring has sprung!

2009-03-12T09:18:00.006Z

I was delighted the other day when I opened my garden door and found that the first ever bulbs I have planted had grown. Only one has flowered so far but it really brightened my day to see this cute little daffy

I have been having a hard time of it lately dealing with my depression and this little guy gave me a huge smile. I decided to get into the garden and tidy up and finally sow some seeds I have had (I had to wait till the snow and frost cleared a little before I could plant them). I forgot how much I enjoy working in the garden, even if it is a pitifully small one lol...

When I came in from the garden I found my girls cuddled up on the sofa watching TV, they had been bickering all day so this was a shock. I just had to capture the moment

On the stitching front, I have been focusing on Sister Angels. I love stitching this and don't really want to put it down at night, but even super mums need to sleep!

This is what the finished project will look like, I have the background in the top left done and will be starting on the smaller sister tonight once I get all of the foliage finished behind her. This is the part I have been looking forward too.

I haven't been able to work on jewelry for a while, I just haven't had a creative head on recently but I'm sure once my new meds kick on properly that will change.

For now I need to get my girlie's organised and ready for the daily grind.

Thanks for looking

Yuck

2009-03-04T08:45:00.006Z

Today I need to vent...

I am having a bit of a bad time of it with my depression just now and really am struggling to concentrate on things. I have decided to withdraw from my course and start again next year after a break. This has lifted a huge weight from my shoulders and can relax without feeling guilty that I am not working on assignments.

I have been given different meds to take in a stronger dose to see if this will help, but to be honest there is so much I am stressing about that I find no difference.

So instead of coursework I have been stitching on Sister Angels and collecting a couple of other charts...

I feel as if I am making some progress on this now but there is still a lot of confetti stitches in there, I cant wait to get to a block of colour and have a good run at it lol...

The first chart I got was Angel of Cross Stitch. I have saw so many WIPs of this and fell in love with it everytime I see it,

This will be a huge challenge for me but one I really think I will enjoy.

The second chart is a selfish buy. Usually I buy kits and charts because I like them but with a view to giving them away, this one is for me. I wanted a nice landscape picture for my living room and have struggled to find something I like (I am really fussy lol...), I was browsing the website where I found the landscape for my parents christmas and found this

It is of the five sister in the highlands of Scotland, it was a common sight for my family when I was younger. We went into the highlands for day trips several times a year and loved to picnic in front of sights like this.

Thanks for looking and sorry for the venting x

Jewlery and stitching.

2009-02-22T10:32:00.006Z

Wow, I have finally had a productive week. I managed to get everything I wanted done for my coursework for the week and had plenty of time to play with wire and stitch.

I came across a tutorial in a blog I follow which gives great tutorials for jewelry making. I was a method of weaving 5 strands of rubber together to make a kind of celtic braid. So I though I would give it a try in copper wire. My first attempt wat this one done in 0.8mm wire, I never really gave mutch thought as to how I would finish it offso it is a bit messy looking.

With a bit of tweeking I think this weave could be really nice, It also has the potential to add some sparkle to it. I need to wait and buy more wire though before I can play with this one a bit more though.

The second one was made with 10 strands of 0.4mm wire and I pulled the weave tight for a different look.

It's not the clearest picture but you can see the weave. This turned out really delicate looking, I would love to use this to make baangles for my girls but I have to figure out a way of securing the clasp a bit better, 0.4mm wire is not the most secure wire in the world.

Stitching wise I feel as if I actually made a bit of progress on sister angels. I am about a third of the way down the first page, getting there slowly but surely.

I may decide to take tonight off my studies and work a little more on this before I start back studying next week. Its an assignment week next week too (argggghhh!!) so I think an extra night relaxing wont hurt in preparation for my busy week ahead lol...

I couldn't resist posting this picture of my new doggy Rory. It's just the cutest pic of him and makes me smile whenever I see it.

He looks as if he has a huge cigar or something hanging out of his mouth, its one of those chew sticks that help keep teeth clean but he wanders about with it like this for ages before he eats it.

Thanks for looking, take care x

Updates on everything(now with pics)

2009-02-17T10:17:00.003Z

Its been a busy couple of weeks for me. We had yet more snow which was awesome, we had so much fun and since the schools were on half term break we didn't ave to cut the play short. The one thing that was missing was our rescue dog. He still wasn't fit to be re-homed at that point. Good news is.... Three weeks after choosing him we finally got him home.

He is such a sweet little thing, doesn't bother a soul and puts up with the girls pestering him without a complaint.

On the stitching front I have made some progress on my HEAD project, sister angels. The problem is those cheeky confetti stitches, I am forever changing colours lol...
Jewelry wise I have been playing with macrame and playing with wire too. I purchased another one of Corra's tutorials and gave it a go (check out her blog on my sidebar) problem I had was i didn't have the recommended wire size so I had to use a thicker wire. I think I may have to try it with a thinner wire again when I have a chance.
I am working on a macrame necklace just now too, unfortunately there isn't much to show yet but hopefully over the weekend I will get more done.

Course work wise things are going well, the module I am working on is about child development and I am really enjoying the reading for a change lol...
My hubby is going well with his degree, he got 93% for one of his exams, the rest of the results are still to come, but isn't he just a smarty pants lol... I am so proud of him.

SNOW!!!

2009-02-02T11:00:00.008Z

We go snow today!!! OK we had to settle for it being the crappy snow you cant make snowmen from, but my girls and I had a ball.

My princesses made snow angels for the first time

Jamie had a ball just throwing the snow about. She had snow coming out of every piece of clothing when we went back inside.

Hollie decided she wanted the snow from the bottom of the green taken to the top to make a snow seal. She wasted it before I could get a picture of it.

Isn't it great how excited kids get when they first set foot out in the snow. They saw a huge path that hadn't been stepped in and decided they had to run through it, yeah OK I joined in, but someone has to show the kids how to play in the snow ;o)

The weather is supposed to stay the same for the next few days so hopefully we will get more snow and with any luck it will be proper snowman building snow.

On the jewelry and stitching front... I have managed to do nothing. This course is going to be pretty full on.

My hubby and I did manage to get out for a night out though. The first in like two years... Needless to say I was pretty drunk, gosh I must be getting old cause I really didn't have that much to drink... But you know what, we had a ball and I can honestly say that I'm not gonna need another night out for a while. (I cant quite handle the morning after quite the same any more lol).

Thanks for looking, take care x

My free time is up :o(

2009-01-25T10:05:00.002Z

My new module is due to start at the beggining of Febuary, I'm going to start this weekend though to get a head start. There is a chance I may have to go into hospital at some point and would have to take time off the studying. Its nothing serious thankfully and is not definately something that will need surgery but I am preparing myself just in case. The story? I had my gall bladder removed in Febuary last year but am still having pains in that area, so my surgeon is running some tests, the next one is on Thursday and we will soon find out what the problem is. The very worst it could be is that I have a tendancy to develope gall stones and they are forming in bile ducts. If I do need to go in to hospital it will only be overnight and I will be recovered in about a week. Surgery is never nice but I am thankful that it is nothing serious and pretty routine for most surgeons.

On the stitching front, I have made very little progress. I had one night of stitching so I wont post a picture but the nights that I do get a chance to stitch from now I will make the most of it.

Jewelry wise, I have been playing with a tutorial for a bangle which I purchased from Corra. I am struggling to get the knots tight to a point that I am happy with, I am getting there with practice and so the next time I get to play with wire I should be able to have a go at the bangle.

And in other news... We are adopting a dog from the local animal shelter. He was taken in as a stray and needs treatment for a flea allergy. The shelter cant legally claim ownership of him yet as they have not had him for seven days yet, but from the condition of his skin they do not think that he will be claimed. Once the seven days has passed and his skin has cleared up we can bring him home. He is an old boy, about nine or ten years old and is a mixed breed, but he is so calm and relaxed and you can just tell he has a lot of love to give in his last few years. The girls adored him when we met him and he warmed to them right away. I cant wait for the day that we can bring him home, I am so excited and want to go out and buy everything that we need for him right away. But I think it may be wise to wait until he is legally in the ownership of the animal shelter and can be ours before I do that.
We have been thinking of names for the old fella, my oldest has stuck on the name Rory, and do you know what, I think it suits him to a tee. When we get him home I will post lots of pictures.

with my course starting back up I may not be able to participate in forums as much as I would like still but I will be following the posts and everyones blogs as much as I can.

Thanks for looking and happy creating.

My first succesful attempt at braiding.

2009-01-19T15:59:00.005Z

I had a peek at Mei's blog the other day when i noticed she had a free tutorial about braiding. From looking at this simple tutorial I now know where I have been going wrong in braiding. This inspired me to get creative and so here is the latest...

I really wasnt sure what to do with the ends so I just twizzled them to give it some sort of finish. Next time I do this I will take more care with it though and also have a design in mind of how to finish it off. The other thing I need to do is to experiment with hardening wire, I dont sell jewelry so I'm not worried about it yet and I dont wear much myself either.

Next thing I want to try is a tutorial of a stunning bangle by Corra. I'm hoping to do that this week and also make some progress in stitching.

Stitching wise I have not really had much time to get much done, but this is the progress so far on the sister angels from HEAD

Its got a few hundred stitches in it and you can sort of tell that this part is an arch of some kind. This is the first project I have done using fabric with a count like this, the highets count before hand was 18ct this is 25ct I'm sure. So it is a bit of a challenge and the frogs have been visiting (yay!). But despite that I feel I can get it done in the next two years lol....

Have a great week.

Completed landscape and tag.

2009-01-11T19:28:00.003Z

I stitched a picture of a landscape on the Isle of Skye for my parents as a christmas present. My parents absoloutly love Skye and would love to live there so this was the perfect thing to sticrch for them. Finally here is a picture of the finished piece...

My photography hasnt gotten much better since the last post, I couldnt quite get a decent angle on the picture with good light so you can see my shadow and you yougests shadow in the glass.

My mum and dad were thrilled with their pressie, and I was thrilled with how it turned out too.

I was tagged by a very talented jewelry artist called Jamee. She sells the most beautiful wedding jewelry from Maui alongside some great beaded creations. Check out her blog and her Etsy shop.

This version of tag is to give six random facts about yourself, here are the rules.

1) Link to the person who tagged you on your blog

2) Post the rules on your blog

3) Write 6 random things about yourself

4) Tag 6 people at the end of your post and link to them

5) Let each person know they've been tagged

Ok so my random facts are

It is my 26th birthday this year (tomorrow the 12th)

I'm scared of the dark (yeah I know how ridiculous is that ;op)

I have kived in the same town all of my life (Airdrie, Scotland)

The first birthday pressie I got my hubby was a tattoo of a lion rampant with the number 1314 underneath it. My first daughter was born two years later in the 13th of October and my second daughter was born on the 14th June (freaky huh!!)

I hate spiders

I love all things sparkly.

Ok so the lucky bloggers I am tagging are

Marjorie (marjories cracked plate jewelry)

No regrets

Rene

Meari

Carolyn

Sadie

Have fun guys, I found it really hard to come up with things to say about myself.

A try at some rings.

2009-01-06T19:30:00.005Z

I have finished my final assignment for my last course and now I have a whole month to play before the next module starts, so to celebrate I got my wire out and made an attempt at some rings without the use of tutorials. A big step for me as I have not had nearly enough time to practice making wire jewelry for a long time and have only used tutorials in anything I have made. So without further ado I present my new creations...

The first is made using a black bicone glass faceted bead as the focal with a sort of herringbone weave around it. Unfortunately the light here recently has been shocking so I cant get a decent picture, this is the best I got

You can sort of see the weave, but I will have to get better pics when the weather brightens up a bit.

The second ring is an adjustable ring with three dangles. Within the weave I added some amethyst coloured seed beads for a bit of sparkle.

I have given myself the challenge of making rings for my girls tonight, they have such little fingers that I'm not quite sure how to go about it, but I have a bit of confidence back after making these so I'm sure I can manage it.

The rest of the week will probably be dedicated to stitching, I have a small chart I would like to do and would also make some progress on my HEAD project too.

Thanks for looking and I hope you have a great week.

Happy new year

2008-12-30T11:12:00.004Z

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

2009 is almost upon us, can you believe it? I sure cant... It seems like there isn't enough time in the world to do everything that we would like to. And now there is even less time to stitch or play with my beads. I have so many ideas and tutorials that I would like to do but cant seem to get the time to do it. And to top it all off Santa brought us a Wii. Now there is another excuse not to do my course work ;0).

We had a great Christmas this year, my youngest had her first Christmas where she was aware of what was going on. The girls went straight to sleep because they knew santa wouldnt come if they stayed awake. If only I could have gotten some sleep. I was awake till 2am and woke up every hour till 5am and finally went and woke my girls up at 7.30am. Can you believe I had to wake the kids up on Christmas day!! Just goes to show who is the bigger kid lol...

I dont normally do resolutions but this year I think I will. So here it goes...

I will make more time for my hobbies

I will listen to my doctor and do as she says (I suffer from depression but I hate taking medication so am really bad at taking my tablets, I tend to forget and end up quite weepy and suffer from mood swings)

I will make enough time for my course work (and try not to find an excuse as to why I dont have to do it)

I wonder if I can stick to these!!

I hope everyone has a great 2009 full of health and happiness.

Its nearly chcristmas.

2008-12-20T14:01:00.003Z

Wow, I'm so excited this year. I'm already having trouble getting to sleep at night lol... I dont know who is going to be worse on Christmas eve, me or the kids!!

I got my partents landscape finished last week but in my excitement I wrapped it before I could get a chance to take a picture. I wasnt sure if I was going to like it but once it was in the frame I had to change my mind. I will take a picture once my mum and dad have opened it and post it.

Now I am working on a chart by HEAD. Its called sister angels and the girls in the design look just like my two girls. Its going to take me a while to get it done but it will definately be worth it.

I am just about finished another module in my degree, just a report to write and send off, then I get a months rest and another module starts in February. I wasnt sure if I wanted to start another one just yet, my motivation is a bit lacking just now (except for making things lol...).

The Christmas holidays have just started here and my girls and I have been busy crafting and decorating their play room with lots of snowflakes and trees and paperchains and pictures, we have no space left for toys lol...

This is one of the trees my girls made, they had a blast with the glitter making this, it was awesome to watch their little faces when they were playing with it.

I have two of these, one made by each of my girls, its the first thing we see when we come down stairs in the morning and last thing we see when we leave the house. It was my 4 year olds idea to put them in the spots they are so that Santa will see them when he comes to visit.

This was made by my oldest at nursery, it was the first thing we put on the tree and boy was she proud of it, needless to say so was I.

This wasn't made by any of us, it was made by my mother in law for our christmas last year, I just had to show him off. I love this little guy and couldnt wait to get him out this year.

Have a great Christmas and pray that I will get some sleep before the big day lol...

Its been a while....

2008-11-26T13:15:00.003Z

Wow, I didn't realise how long it has been since I've posted a blog. In my time away I've managed to finish a few things to show. I have finally framed my Christmas angel, and couldn't resist hanging her up now (yeah, I know its a bit early but I couldn't wait.).

I have made a fair bit of progress on the landscape I am doing for my mum and dads Christmas pressie too... I am now using a colour other than grey and am sure i can get it done in the next two weeks (fingers crossed).

In between this I did a quick stitch that was a freebie with crossstitcher UK magazine, Its hanging just now too... (again I know its early for Christmas pictures but I cant help myself, I'm worse than the kids lol...)

Jewelry wise I have also managed to get a fair bit done. I have given up on my macrame bracelet and will give the necklace a try another time, but for now it has been chainmaille practice. I made some bracelets for my girls in the byzantine weave, a bracelet for myself using mobious flowers and a pendant made from mobious flowers. Alongside this I also mad a charm bracelet for myself, It could do with a few more charms on it but I want to make some from wire. So they will have to wait till I have the time to play again.

I still have to take better pictures than this and try to get some of the bracelets I made for the girls.
Other than that I have been getting my Christmas shopping done and took my girls to see the Christmas lights being switched on in the town centre. Which was magical, if i had only taken my camera to capture the amazement on the girls faces. Especially when Santa turned up.

Back to course work for a while so it may be a while before I get a chance to post again. My course has also been the reason that I haven't managed to post much on my yahoo groups but hopefully that will change soon.

So for now Happy crafting and if I don't get a chance for another post before hand have a Happy Christmas. xx

Course work birthdays and progress.

2008-10-15T10:13:00.011+01:00

It was my oldest girls birthday on Monday, I cant believe my baby is 4. It seems like it was yesterday she was born. We had a little party for her with her cousins and we all had a ball.

This is her on her new bike, I think we should have got her the bigger size lol...

And my baby girl who is 2 trying on her sisters birthday crown. She is such a cutie.

And my two girls with their cousin and the cake (which I am proud to say I made myself).

I had a new module for my degree start this week too so less craft time again, I will have to fit some in though or I wont be able to cope, that and the fact that my parents wont get their christmas present.

This is my progress so far

Yeah ok it looks like a big grey blob but it is about a quarter of the way done and works up really quickly. This is what it should look like when its finished

I have also gotten a chance to play with some beads too, I wanted to practice my wire loops and found the best way to do that was to make a bracelet. So here it is.

Hopefully I wont find myself too bogged down with this course that I cant play with my thread wire and beads any time soon.

Cross stitch jewelry!!

2008-10-05T10:52:00.005+01:00

Oh my gosh I'm so excited. I have just came across a site that sells kits to make cross stitch bangles. I don't know why the idea never crossed my mind before, and its not really a bad idea.

These designs are really simple but the threads to make them are DMC precious metal effects and light effects so will look stunning when worn. Now, when i find time I'm just going to have to get a cross stitch design programme and start coming up with my own jewelry designs that way. I've wanted to design and sell my own jewelry for a while now and was selling for a while, but the time to make and promote my pieces was cutting into the little time I have for course work. (I have a new module starting next week too). Anyway, what a way to combine two of my addictions. Now all i need is a way to find the time to satisfy my cravings lol....

Well.. she's finished!

2008-10-02T13:20:00.000+01:00

Well stitch wise anyway. It has taken me a year on and off but she's finally ready to frame.

I spent 9 hours putting all of the beads on the background of the piece but it was definately worth it. My hubby decided that after all of the beads were on he preferred her without the snowflakes, can you imagine how horrible that felt. His reasons were only that snowflakes arent that big so the picture could have done without them. MEN!! Its a good job that he has no say in the things that go on our walls lol....

Im in two minds as to how to frame her, I'm really tempted just to stretch the material and hang it like a canvas (don't think i've described that very well) but I think i would like to see her in a silver coloured frame too.

Now that the angel is done I can start thinking about other projects. I have a kit to make for my mum and dad for christmas. They absolutley love the Isle of Skye, so I thought it would be nice to stitch a landscape for them. So I chose a view of the Cullins, you can see a picture of how it should look here. I have started it but I didn't have enought time to make much progress so I wont pst a picture yet.

On the jewelry front, I made a ring using a tutorial bu Eni Onken, the ring turned out OK, but I am a begginer and am doing intermediate and advanced tutorials which shows in my work. I would post a picture of this too but I got a new camera and cant quite get it to focus properly (me and technology dont mix!) The tutorial I used can be seen here. I will post a picture of my version as soon as i can figure out how to work the camera.

I also want to say thank you for all the comments that have been left on my blog, It really helps keep me going and motivated to get things done.

Nearly finished.

2008-09-25T09:30:00.000+01:00

I have been working constantly on my angel over the last week and she is nearly done. I am about halfway through the firts colour of backstitching, I have some backstitcking to do in the Krenik threads in her dress and then the fun starts with the hundreds of beads that go into this design.

I know i've said it in previous posts, but I'm really proud of this. It's the most detailed piece i've done and it hasnt put me off trying anything with even more detail. Its just made my addiction stronger, which is bad news for the purse strings and my hubby.

I want to stitch my christmas cards this year too, fortunately the designs i have chosen are pretty simple and i should be able to fit this in alongside my new module for my degree and some jewelry making. I dont think i will be as bogged down with this module as i was with the last one which is a great feeling.

I have had a chance to give macrame a go again too, I have made up one half of a bracelet and should be able to get the second half done this weekend too (in between finishing the angel and starting christmas cards of course.)

The centre motif will be twice the height and double the width, the same design is used for the centre of the neclace in this kit and also will hold a knotted pendant. Hopefuly it shouldnt take too long to do and I can get back to playing with wire. I have recently purchased some tutorials from Eni Onken and I'm just itching to give them a try.

Till next time, happy crafting.

Course work is done......

2008-09-16T12:15:00.001+01:00

Well, that's it done so now i can take it easy for a few days before i have to start working on my next course. So to celebrate I got a full day of stitching done. My girls were in the mood to play together so I managed to get some done in between normal mummy jobs. So here is the latest progress on my Christmas angel.

Once i have filled in the rest of her dress I can get on with the back stitching and adding the huge amount of beads that is going to be in this project, that's the part I'm looking forward to most.

Alongside doing this i managed to give macrame a try, i bought a kit at my semi local craft store, not realising that the design is not a simple one for a beginner. So needless to say i began with the easiest of the designs.

I had to use my scanner to post this so the picture is not great, but better than what my camera could get lol... (If you click on the picture you should be able to see a bigger picture)
You can kind of see the pattern in this. It is a spiral of knots followed by four seed beads, this repeats all through the design. The next one i am going to try in the kit has a fancy knotted centrepiece which looks kinda tricky, if i get enough of my angel done this week then i will give that a go at the weekend.

Happy crafting.

Just a rant...

2008-09-09T13:56:00.000+01:00

I'm starting to feel a little bogged down with course work this week (and its only Tuesday...). I have the motivation to get on with my christmas angel, start making christmas cards and to finish a jewelry piece that im halfway through too, but to study.... it's not happening just now.

But enough moaning... At the weekend alongside getting the gorgeous choker done i did do some of my christams angel, its not noticeable though so i wont post a pic just yet, just imagine her dress being a little bit longer lol....

Anyway, back to the housework so i have no distractions at study time...

Beaded choker

2008-09-08T09:20:00.000+01:00

I've been tempted to give this design a try for a while now, as soon as i saw the desgin i fell in love with it. The instructions are by a lady called Ruby who puts many tutorials on her site for free. I came across Ruby's site through a yahoo group called beadingaholics.

When this is on it looks like something you would see an aristocratic lady wearing in a period drama, its so elegant. The tutorial i used can be seen here, she also has many other well written tutorials which are so easy to follow, so thank you Ruby for sharing your wisdom and techniques.

Time for jewelry.

2008-08-24T09:50:00.000+01:00

Last night I managed to get a chance to play with my jewelry supplies again. I purchased a tutorial which has been raved about on some jewelry forums and gave it a shot. My first attempt was an absolute disaster so I wont post a picture of it, this one though is nearly how I wanted it to look... I have to appologise for the quality of the pictures, my last camera doesnt work any more and I am left with a camera at 2.1 mega pixels, not good for jewelry photography unfortunately...

The braid is called the Tucman braid, the bottom picture shows the clasp which is so simple but looks great (I think you may have to trust me on that one, the picture isn't very good sorry...)
A great wire artist who has made this design her own is a lady called Mei, have a look at what she has done using the same tutorial, if you want to give the tutorial a go for yourself just follow this link.

Some progress at last.

2008-08-24T09:45:00.000+01:00

I've taken a week off the studies this week to relax before my big end of course assignment needs to be started, so I took this opportunity to make some good progress on my Christmas angel. Heer wings took all week for me to do but hopefully the rest of her wont take as long.

This is the biggest design I have stitched and the first time I have used any speciality threads and it sure has got me bitten by the stitching bug again.

Hello world

2008-08-16T10:06:00.000+01:00

Welcome to my addictions. I love to craft... O.K its really only two crafts, but its enough for now. I love to make jewelry and I love to cross stitch. I used to make jewelry to sell, but my degree is taking up all too much time just now so I'm afraid I can only keep up with it at hobby level just now. This has however gave me more time for cross stitching and I have recently picked up a prooject I started a year ago.

Isn't she gorgeous! I know the quality of the picture isn't great but hopefully I will be able to get a new camera soon.

Because of the lack of a good camera just now I cant post pictures of my jewelry, the one I have just isn't good enough.