Thursday, December 22, 2011

Happy Birthday to me...

Today's my birthday.  Don't tell anyone, but I turn 27 today.  Livi wants to take me to the movies to see TinTin.  Then we are going to come back to the house and watch movies and "chill out" lol.  Of course, I'll be eating some Baskin Robbin's ice cream cake.... my favorite. Chris got me one of LadyShuttleMaker's silver shuttles for my birthday and I am SOOO excited to get that in the mail.  I bought a silver chain so that I can wear it as a pendant if I want to.  :o)
Oh, I went to Hobby Lobby yesterday, and was delightfully excited to find a Lizbeth thread holder there.  Of course, I had to support their carrying it by buying one for myself... naturally, right?

I'm *hoping* to get some tatting done today because I've been super swamped with card making that I haven't been able to do any tatting and it makes me sad.  My cards are going to be super late to getting in the mail, but oh well.  Mom put a special "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year" insert in the cards; so, hopefully that'll make it okay that they will arrive after Christmas :o)

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Hen and Chicks... scrapbook paper!

I have a problem.  When I get stressed, my first "remedy" is ALWAYS a stop to the craft store.  So, despite the fact that I don't actually have money to spend because I don't have a job, I just feel the need to go buy things to craft.  I always justify this practice with self promises to make something sell-able or gift-able.  I have a not so secret desire to start up an Etsy shop, just saying...

So, after taking two dreaded finals, Livi and I took a trip to Archiver's in Cordova (it's about a 30 minute drive). They have loads scrapbook paper and stamps.  I actually went looking for something for my dad.  I was making some earrings for Livi's teacher's the other day and he asked me what I was going to make him.  I went blank for a while.  I had no idea that he had any interest in something handmade from me.  I've thought of something wonderful though, but I'll wait to share just in case he comes across my blog.

But, while I was looking for "manly" paper, I found this sheet that had pretty lace flowers.  They look "crocheted" and then on the back was a pretty pink and white "lacey" kind of design.  I fell in love and bought it without "really" looking at it.
Then when we got out to the car, I decided to give my purchases another look-see, and this what I found:
It's so obviously Hens and Chicks.  
This made me love my purchase even more.  I may even go get some more.  Who knows?

But if you are interested in this paper for yourself, it's made by Cratepaper, part of the Emma's Shoppe Collection.  Let me tell ya... I'm in love with it. :o)

I also, unintentionally I might add, picked up my dad an item from the same collection.  I picked up a sheet of the crossword puzzle with the back side being wood-grain, I guess that's what you'd call it anyway.

Pulling an All-nighter....

I have 2 finals in the morning.  Back to back.  It would probably be a good idea to sleep tonight but since my little one has been sick all weekend, I didn't get much studying done.  Plus, it's torture to try to get to the campus in time to be in my seat at. 8 am when I don't stay up the night before.
So, you remember how I said in my last post that I had on done one skein/ hank of thread?  Well that wasn't completely truthful.  It was the only full skein. (over 50 yards) I did however do this small one (I don't know the exact length, but it is much smaller than the other.)  Anyway, I haven't had the heart to undo the other one.  It's so pretty and hanging on the wall right now.  I did however want to see all the colors were going to look worked up.  I think it's really pretty don't you?



And then I tore off like a 1.5" piece of cardboard and wrapped some thread around it before I started dyeing stuff and this what I produced:

I actually really like how it turned out.  It actually has a "tie dye" kind of look to it.  I felt like I was tatting dangerously lol As you can probably see, I didn't see any point of taking the thread off the cardboard to start tatting.  I think it will be very interesting to see if the shades get lighter as I progress through this sample.  Also, I didn't do a very good job at dyeing this evenly, so the top portion had more red which is why the first little medallion I did has more red speckles than the second.  I will definitely be trying this method more... maybe with just 2 colors instead of 3 though :o)

BTW These were all done with either DMC size 80 tatting thread OR some white vintage thread that I had bought off etsy.  

Saturday, December 10, 2011

3 down and 3 to go

3 more finals and then my brain can focus on tatting.... and take a break from all the craziness!

I have been doing some painting, but I'm wiped out so I'm not going to post pictures of them yet.... especially since they aren't done yet. ( and when I say "they" I am referring to some wooden jewelry/ trinket boxes that I was decorating for yet another birthday party for one of Livi's friends)

I did however come up with this super cute idea tonight while thinking of teacher's gifts.  They are going to be earrings.  The design is actually Baiduri from Jon's Elegant Tatting gems, just not the whole round...
Both are size 40 Lizbeth Charcoal.  The one on the left I added antique  copper  Pearl Ex  to  Mod podge and then  painted the entire piece.  On the right, this one has only been painted with Mod Podge.
But I didn't stop there, because I plan on these being earrings, I not only painted them with mod podge, but added some of Jacquard's Pearl Ex pigment in with the mod podge before painting.  I've done two so that you can tell the difference.  I rather like the effect over all.  I makes it look really shiny (though you can't tell that it's shiny due to the scan :o(  ).  I would definitely not do it to just any piece of tatting.  But for this occasion, I think it looks nice.


Also... try not to drool too much.  And certainly don't get your hopes up too much, because I'm still working at it.  Just being able to do something once doesn't mean a whole lot.  But... here's my first real attempt at dyeing thread.  I've tried doing a little before with hot water dyes, but only very small batches and only messing around.
This however turned out beautifully.  I only did one though.  Really I just didn't have enough white thread to make another hank. Plus, the hanks are not exactly the easiest things to make. I don't think they are easy anyway.

Friday, December 2, 2011

Blog name change....

So I changed the name of my blog.  It's not a huge deal, but I didn't care for the other one.  Livi and I are big fans of the Pinkalicious series by Victoria and Elizabeth Kann. So that and the fact that it seems like you can put "ilicious" on the end of any word and make it super cute inspired the name "Tat-ilicious".

So, what do you think?