Slow Stitching Thoughts

 Well the slow stitching was interesting to say the least. I tried embroidery but didn’t go too far with it. It is a stitching that is stitching only for the sake of the stitch. It is sort of a stitching that is supposed to put you in a meditative state. Sort of a place where you only think of that stitch. I am a cross stitcher and I have been doing that very thing for absolutely years. Only I am not slow by any means. If I had to slow down that would absolutely bore me to tears. I could safely say any craft I am doing takes me into that state. It makes your troubles disappear completely. So Slow stitching isn’t for me. I don’t need that.  

Currently I am doing scissor fobs for my Etsy shop (SweetArtAlways) for Christmas. I really enjoy the process  I pick fabrics, threads, beads, metallic threads, and any charms if I am going to use those.  I am not much of a TV person. My husband is.  I get my thing and I cross stitch.  Or I watch videos on my IPad to learn more about my crafts.

I also do greeting cards, tyvek beads, and I make my friends handmade gifts. 

I am currently working on an ornament. It has a base of a foam ball, I have made oak leaves with a Tim Holtz 3D Impresslit made but Sizzix. I cut out a bunch of them. 

I then inked them up with all of these inks. 

   

I used the Reiner for the dark brown leaves!

Finally I had to ad the mica spray for a bit of bling. 

Now I have a lot of beautiful oak leaves. 

I had a foam ball so t glued the first leave on. I used good old Elmers school glue. I put quite a bit on especially down the center. I held it on with my hand. And I held it and held it. Well that was not going to work!  So I used my old micro cloth I use for everything. I put the ball in the center and pulled the first corner over the leaf. Then the other up and put a ponytail band around it. It now can dry that.

Working the ornament

I went on and painted the smaller leaves to do a smaller foam ball. I used cup hooks to hang them in my lantern.  I used the rest to decorate the outside as well. 

Well I also mad a Christmas Gift for my youngest daughter. This was at her request. Next year I will do her a Christmas one. 

I must say this was fun to do. In retrospect I really wished I had used a larger box. Perhaps next Halloween!

Oh yes we had to have tiny lights to show off the purple glitter stars. 

Roof top is for the white pumpkin stacks. 

Well that is all for now. Have a wonderful Halloween and Autumn

Alcohol Markers. Like Them Or Not?

Alcohol Markers

I bought some cheap markers. I was put off by some of the colors and they really don’t do like I have seen some of them do. I plan to invest in a few Copic markers soon. I was watching a video on the markers and so I did some nice color reference cards so I could actually see the colors. It did help. I now like the colors but I still don’t like the pens I bought. I also learned what the blender was for and how to use it. Like the “Newbe” I am I tried using it after the fact and not before. It didn’t work on my pens before either. My pens are garbage. The streak badly and don’t blend at all. I am bummed out about it. Hopefully soon I will try some others out. I realize you need to learn how to use them and I will be new at that as well.

Here are the color  cards I made. You can see how streaked they are.  My impression is they are not supposed to do that.  I think they are imposters.  It was however nice to see the colors. 

I was watching one of Jennifer McQuire’s videos. She said you could color accessory pearls with alcohol pens. I did try that. Worked very nicely. I am working on Christmas cards so I tried that out on the little acrylic jewel. So that is some salvation for these pins.   

If you would like to weigh in on this subject I would love to hear from you. 

Now I know that this is short but I just thought I would bring it up before I moved on. Hopefully next time I will go back to some fiber and my newly found “Slow Stitching”. It was brought to my attention by a customer. I am going to explore it. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Summer is Here!

 We here inOklahoma finally made it to summer.  The spring was rather chilly and so far our summer has been rainy. We have had several flash floods but the drought last year has left our lake extremely low. Our farmers need that water so the rain is welcome for the most part. The floods have made the mosquitoes huge!  

I have still worked on cards. I am still loving it. I have started using some Altenew items. They are interesting to say the least. They have some very talented makers. I am bad about using everything I own to do cards. I love learning new things.  I read a lot and watch videos.  

I have been hanging on to this butterfly for some time now. It is stamped and heat embossed in white then colored with alcohol ink pins on the back. I know this is simple but I like the soft look. I used an Altenew embossing folder for the stacked look in white. It is very airy look. Probably not for everyone but I know there is someone out there who likes this look. 

I have had this paper around for quite awhile. When I saw it I fell in love with it. I was reorganizing my paper and I thought I need to use that. Reorganizing is like shopping again. I for the life of me can not remember where I got this die set. I should start labeling them. My memory is failing me. For some reason I think it might be Spellbinders. I have been very attracted to the little square things. I have a couple of them. 

Now for my purple people! You know who you are!

This butterfly is one of my oldest dies  it is also one of my favorite. Purple has always been my thing. I grew up with a room just about this color. Now who loves bling? Purple and bling! Wow! That is so sweet!  The flowers is a sugar flower. It has  Tim Holtz Distress Glitter in Clear Rock Candy on it. The butterfly is Sizzix thinlit. It is a 2014 edition. The embossing folder is Tim Holtz Sizzix Texture Fade folder.  I am crazy about that folder too.

This is an Altenew design. Hill Blossom die and stencil. I had a heck of a time with it. I finally had to ask how to do it. So I am going to say how I was told to do it. You cut it out first. Then keep it in the card without removing it. Line up your stencils and ink it. I was making it very hard. I appreciated the advice. I mad it into a card for our new neighbors who are getting married in a few days. They are just so sweet and cute.  

Just so you don’t think I just like girly things I do like to do more masculine things too. I appreciate Tim Holtz immensely.  His twist on things and his encouragement is outstanding. On this card I used Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz stencil. It is a tutorial I did earlier.  I used one of his 3D embossing folder to do the large wooden letters. 

Well I need to wrap this up. It is fun to share. If you have any questions or comments please reach out. I would love to hear from you! As always you can find me on Etsy under my shop name SweetArtAlways. 

Cards and Hat Pins... on and on

Sharon here!  I am currently really enjoying the paper arts! I have 80+ cards in my Etsy shop. 

Yes maybe a bit much but I love it. 

Recently I have received a few layered dies. It is amazing how much you can do with colored paper. This one is done with Tim Holtz’s distressed inks and a back ground of colored card stock.  

As you can see this die can be used in lots of ways. The dies are an investment and you will need to use them in lots of ways to get your use out of them.  This one has glitter paper on it. 

This one is white  on white with a light blue in the center. 

The one above has the background done in alcohol pens. I think it is my favorite. 

Purple for those purple people. You know who you are. I love all colors but I have loved purple the most. It has decorated my bedroom when I was a child. I never get tired of it. 

This one features the rainbow of watercolor, vellum paper and roses in white embossing.

 Fun card to make!

Now for my other fun thing. I love putting together the hat pins. I just recently put these in my shop. There has been a run on the silver ones. I was getting short in the shop so here are the new ones. 

Well I have kept you long enough. I hope you have crafts that take your mind off of all the scary things going these days.