Day 38: Gold Dragonfly Metal Bookmark

i came home a bit late tonight, so i made a quick and simple (yet elegant) bookmark.  i got the charm in a Swap-bot swap and used the gold bookmark from my stash.  took me only 5 minutes to grab all the supplies, open the jump-ring, and put it all together.  not bad, huh?

Day 37: Freehand Mini Butterfly Embroidery

using an example for the Doodle Stitching book, i stitched a few more little butterflies to fill in empty spots on my tote. i used left over thread to make these little pretties.



now, i have to finish the inside... so, i ironed on some fusible interfacing to keep my stitches from getting caught on stuff i throw in my bag.



and then i ironed the front so it doesn't have circles on it from the embroidery hoop.



and TADA! i've finished my tote! yay! 
all the patterns came from Doodle Stitching: Fresh & Fun Embroidery for Beginners and Doodle Stitching: The Motif Collection: 400+ Easy Embroidery Designs by Aimee Ray

Day 36: Doodle Stitching Brown Moth Embroidery

another little cute winged creature!  and i'm almost done with my tote!

Day 35: Handstamped Ant Notecard

what to do today? i didn't feel like embroidering today, since my finger still hurts from where i stabbed myself yesterday.

i went online and looked for some inspiration... and found these by Bailey Doesn't Bark!

i really don't see myself spending $12 on a set of 4 notecards, so i took her idea and made my own!  of course i'm not going to profit from using her as inspiration... i hope she doesn't mind!

here's the one card i made today:



mine is not as elegant as her's, but i used a pre-cut/packaged notecard set i bought to make Christmas cards, a simple little Judith ant rubber stamp, and my StazOn jet black ink pad.

i'll have to try the ant stamp in different designs on another day!

Day 34: Doodle Stitching Moth

i changed the colors from the sample in the Doodle Stitching Motif book.  i used random colors that i picked out of my collection.  what do you think?

Day 33: Ladybug Bottle Cap Pincushion Ring

i made this pincushion ring for my Swap-bot friend, naurwen for the Swap-bot swap, "Oh So Cute Pin Cushion Ring" in the Love to Swap group.



it's very quick and simple, and i used this instructional. 



cute, huh?

Day 32: Doodle Stitching Mini Blue Butterfly

another little butterfly!  i used some of the extra threads i had used on previous pieces.   i had all these short pieces... and i wasn't going to throw them away... so i'm saving them for smaller pieces.  makes them go together better, yah?

Day 31: Butterfly Fairy Domino Book

did something a little more time consuming today.

i created an altered domino book for naurwen for the Swap-bot swap, "Domino Booklet Swap - Free Theme" in the Love to Swap group.




the book is 8 pages inside. i decorated the pages with various vintage images i got from piddix. 



and the sparkles are crystal embossing powder.  i had a really hard time getting all the powder to melt.  i usually use the mini hairdrier, but that died (i over heated it).  i tried the iron, but i don't think i got it hot enough... and burned my thumb on it.  ouch!  so i decided to pop the whole thing in the toaster oven.  i walked a way for a minute, and came back... and it was bubbling!  and the embossing powder turned a cool burnt brown color.  makes it look vintage. :)  anyways, all the powder melted!



i just have to label the back and it'll be ready to go to Switzerland!

Day 30: Doodle Stitching Blue and Gold Butterfly Embroidery

another little butterfly added to my tote. i'm almost done with the whole bag! i can't wait to show you the final product!

Day 29: doodle stitching trio of ladybugs embroidery

A different version of the little lady bugs, but just as cute!




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Day 28: Doodle Stitching Bee Embroidery

embroidered a cute little bee with simple stitches in black and yellow embroidery thread.  kinda cute, huh?

Day 27: Doodle Stitched Winged Wonders Pink Butterfly

more little stitches... cute little butterfly!

Day 26: Doodle Stitching Red Fire Butterfly

this didn't take as long as the blue ice butterfly for some reason.  i changed the colors a bit too.

Day 25: Doodle Stitching Ants Embroidery

got these little critters from the Food section in the Doodle Stitching: the Motif Collection book.  my ants are not as detailed as the ones in the book.  maybe it was the way that i transferred the pattern and i used too many threads (should've used 2 instead of all 6?).



oh well, they're cute and i'll probably add more.

Day 24: Doodle Stitched Blue Ice Butterfly Embroidery

continuing with the embroidery, but from the first Doodle Stitching book by Aimee Ray.  i used the pattern to make a simple embroidery (and didn't make the patch like the project in the book).  it took me 2 hours to stitch the whole thing!  who knew something so small could take so long?

Day 23: Damselfly Embossed Pocket Notebook

ah! so i've finished my project, but now i'm posting 6 minutes after the day is already over. but... this still counts as Day 23, since i started and finished my project... just didn't get it posted. ugh.

anyway, i bought a new plain black blank notebook at Borders tonight, so i thought add a little more character to it. it's been a while since i've used any of my embossing powders, so i thought i would add a bug stamp to the book. and, i haven't used the Stampin' Up Bugs and Slugs stamp set i got from Ebay yet, so it was the perfect time to test them out!  picked out the little damselfly stamp, my VersaMark stamp pad, the silver embossing powder, and the mini hair-drier.



it took me a little while to figure out how close to put the drier, but i got the powder to melt finally!



it's not perfect, but the design is now permanent!  yay!  new notebook for work!

Day 22: Doodle Stitching Celebration Butterfly Embroidery

more embroidery stitching!  i'm still practicing different stitches.  the outline of the butterfly is split stitched, the body of the butterfly is chain stitched, the details on the butterfly are satin stitched, and the ribbon is herringbone stitched.



and yes, i stabbed myself with the needle so there's a teeny bit of me on the right side of the butterfly.  i hope that washes off!

Day 21: Doodle Stitched Snail Embroidery

another cute little critter embroidery from a pattern in the Doodle Stitching: the Motif Collection book.  i'm trying out some different stitches today.  previously i used  only the back stitch.  so i used the split stitch for the shell and the stem stitch for the body.  not quite sure if i like the stem stitch.  i was having some issues with it today.  might just have to practice more.  looks cute though!

Day 20: Doodle Stitched Spider & Web Embroidery

still stitching!  today is a spider and web design taken from Doodle Stitching: the Motif Collection book.  i didn't follow the pattern exactly, because i was too lazy and didn't take the tote off the loop before trying to transfer the design.  of course, the design didn't transfer as dark as i'd liked, so it's a little different from the picture.  i also changed the web color from blue (in the book) to metallic silver (which is really hard to work with, but looks really nice) and instead of a brown spider, i made her black.  her legs seem shorter too, but i think she's cute. :)

Day 19: Doodle Stitched Blue Beetle Embroidery

like yesterday, i'm continuing on embroidering my tote.   today was a blue beetle taken from a pattern in the Doodle Stitching: the Motif Collection book.  maybe by the end of the month i'll have a completed totebag!  yay!

Day 18: Ladybug Doodle Stitching Embroidery

i'm starting a bigger project today... that will consist of lots of little ones.
the goal is to fill up the front of a totebag with little creepy critters all embroidered by hand. so, today i started with a little ladybug pattern i got from the book, Doodle Stitching: The Motif Collection.



i traced the pattern on the bag using a mechanical pencil (without lead) and some carbon paper.  it did a pretty good transfer.



the bag is a pretty thick canvas, so it took me a while to get the stitching done.   but it looks pretty good.



the other bug in the picture will be stitched tomorrow. :)

Day 17: Spider Stickers

i got a new phone!  yay!  but a few guys at work have the same phone and the same case, so i decided to decorate mine a little so they don't accidentally think that my phone is theirs.

got out my Martha Stewart large spider punch again, and punched out some self-adhesive metallic paper.



peeled off the back, and just like that i have a temporary spider sticker for my phone!



alright, so i put the sticker on... and i tried to seal it with some Diamond Glaze... and it fell off.  good thing Diamond Glaze is water-based, so i could just run the case under the tap and wash off the rest.  wow that was temporary!  so... i'll have to try something else another day.



but i got a few more stickers and decorated some nice flat, clean, smooth surfaces with the spiders.  these look nice and should last a little longer than a few minutes!  haha!

Day 16: Spider Elastic Bookmark

i used a tutorial i found on WhiMSy love and thought it would make for a great craft today!

to mimic spider webs, i used clear stretchy elastic thread (instead of white or black beading elastic) and cut it to 15 inches



strung the spider charm to the middle of the elastic and tied a knot close to the charm to keep the charm in place. then tied a knot at the ends to create a loop. simple enough and... all pau! (that means "finished" in Hawaiian)


here they are in use:

Day 15: Fly and Grasshopper Pocket Mirrors

Today, i actually got to leave work after working only 8 hours, come home, go out with my husband and have some dinner, play with my dog, and make some buggy crafts!

i'm still pretty pooped after this long week, so here's a simple craft.  take out some pocket mirror supplies, my handy dandy 2.25-inch button maker, and some wonderful Piddix digital collage print outs... and here they are!  only took me 10 minutes too.  awesome!





maybe i'll make more and post them in my Etsy shop. :)

Day 14: Paper Quilled Fly

Another late night at work. More paper quilling results in a funny fly.






- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

my gosh, these photos from my iPhone are looking worse and worse. here's better pics:

Day 13: Chex Mix Bug

i showed my husband and he said, "does that count?!"  awwww....
it took a lot more effort than it looks...  i was trying to use the things within my arms reach and i only had a little bit of chex mix left.

i tried to round off the corners, but well, you can see how well that turned out.  at least i had a pretzel (for antennae) and some peanuts (for legs).

i'm really tired from working so much this week, so i'm not really feeling creative today.  i didn't have time to think of or make something at work today, and i barely made it for completing something today, after coming home and eating dinner, but well, here it is.



and yes, my husband took the remark back after i explained what i did.   he's such a funny guy.

Day 12: Paper Quilled Spider

i'm stuck at work all night, so i only have office supplies to work with.  i got an old 2010 calendar, cut it into strips using the paper-cutter and quilled a fun little spider.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

wow.  kinda blurry yah?

here's some better pictures.

Day 11: Pipe cleaner bedbug

time for pipe cleaner crafts!  i've had a bunch of pipe cleaners in my crafty stash for a while now, not doing anything...  they got together and made a cute little bedbug!