Origami Dress Card

Card made with dress design from a Klutz Origami kit and general card stock.

Origami Shirt Card

The shirt pictured is made using a Klutz Origami kit, Mrs. Grossman’s stickers, card stock, and sequins.

What you will need:

Tools – Crimp pliers, Needle or chain nose pliers, Small wire cutters
Flexible beading wire such as Soft Flex, Accu Flex, or Tigertail
Findings- Crimp beads, Jewelry clasps, Jump rings (for hanging pendants)
Beads – any colors, any shapes, but large enough to fit over the wire you’ve chosen
Work surface – a beading board or cloth will help your beads not roll away.

All these supplies can be found at a general crafts store such as Michael’s Craft or JoAnn’s Fabrics, or online at bead retailers like Firemountain Gems and Beads and Fusion Beads.

One of the most enjoyable parts of stringing is picking out the beads. When you enter a bead shop or a craft store, you may be overwhelmed by all the varieties and tempted to buy them all. Who can resist? But you need to try or your wallet will be left with lint. Try to focus on one project at a time and buy beads that seem to coordinate with one another in color or shape. That way you’ll be more likely to use them, Many beads are sold in 16-inch strands, and one or two strands should be enough for a necklace when you are mixing them with other miscellaneous beads.

Consider including some metal beads to act as spacers between your other beads and break up the color, or try mixing some smaller beads like 4mm ones with larger ones (such as 12mm) to act as spacers and give your design some breathing room.

The basic process for stringing a necklace is to start with a crimp bead on your wire, then add your clasp and bend the wire so it forms a loop by putting it back through the crimp bead. Then use your crimp pliers to close the crimp and hold the loop and the clasp in place. Firemountain Gems and Beads has a great online guide for using crimp pliers. The important thing to remember with crimps it to buy pliers and crimps that go together. Some crimps are smaller than others and require a smaller (micro) set of pliers to bend them properly.

After you have the clasp on one end of your wire, measure out about 24 inches of wire if you are planning a 16 to 20-inch necklace and cut the other end of the wire with your wire cutters. Now you’re ready to string.

A beading board can be very useful at this stage because you can lay out all your beads in the order you want to string them and adjust the pattern if you need to. Some beading boards, such as the model shown below, also have measurements on them to help you see how many beads you need to make a certain length necklace.

Once you know the order of the beads, start from one end of your design and string them on your wire. When your necklace is the length you need it, string another crimp bead, then your clasp and create the loop to hold the clasp and crimp as you did to start. Trim any excess wire from the edge of the crimp bead with your wire cutters. If you don’t like the look of crimp beads, bead covers are available that you can place over the crimp bead to hide it. The covers looks like small metal beads after you close them.

The links provide additional information you may find helpful and I’ve also listed some books about stringing that you may enjoy.

JEMLibrary.com: Beading Wire and Tigertail for Jewelry Making

Bella Online: Jewelry Making Techniques – Bead Stringing & Beadwork

How to Make Beaded Jewelry: How to String Beads

Rose Stamp and Rolled Corrugated Cardboard Stamp

After dabbling on scrap paper for a bit, I finally settled on a pattern and carried it out on cardstock (as pictured.) Not my all-time best design, but a pleasing effect for a spring-like notecard.

And since I still have plenty of corrugated cardboard to play with, I cut out a small piece and attached it upper center of the card with double-sided tape. I then used the rose stamp to create a single impression, cut it out, and attached it with double-sided tape to the cardboard. Viola!- instant pop out!

Flower Stamp and Corrugated Cardboard Stamp Design

I’m continuing with card creations for now, though, and next week will see what I can come up with just using the corrugated cardboard and craft paper. Join me for some more cardboard recycling fun!

Knit or Crochet a Heart for Valentine's Day

In honor of Valentine’s this year I’ve drawn a simple heart chart to inspire your next knit or crochet project. The panel can be  a wash cloth, the start of a potholder/hot pad, or even a block for a blanket. I saved the chart as a PDF file you can download and print.

For our knitters out there, the edges are 5 rows/stitches in garter stitch (knit both sides). This not only adds a nice frame to the piece, but it also stops it from curling. If you’d like the final product to be a wash cloth, use 100% cotton worsted weight yarn. For my sample shown here, I used Lion Brand Vanna’s Choice in Dusty Green and Cranberry and size 8 needles. The interior of the square is stockinette stitch (knit right side, purl wrong side).

Stitching Chart

The graph can be knitted as shown, changing yarn colors for the heart. Or if you’re not comfortable yet with changing colors, knit the panel all in one color, then use Duplicate Stitch and a second color yarn, as I’ve done in the sample, to add the heart.

If you would rather crochet the heart, use the single crochet stitch throughout. You can single crochet in back loops only for the border stitches, to give the edges a slightly different texture than the main body, and single crochet in both loops for the interior. When you need to change colors for the heart, use the tapestry crochet technique of carrying the unused color along the tops of your stitches and crocheting over it as you go. This way you don’t need to worry about weaving in cut ends or attaching multiple balls of yarn as you move back and forth following the chart. It also gives you a firm fabric, which is nice if you plan to use the square as a pot holder or hot pad.

Just as with the knitted version, there is a stitching alternative if you don’t want to change colors while crocheting, and add the heart design after the piece is finished. With crochet, you can cross-stitch over the single crochet rows with your second color, following the blocks on the chart.

These links below provide additional information to help you with this project:

Sweaterscapes.com: Changing Yarn Colors While Knitting (Intarsia)

Squidoo.com: Intarsia Knitting Tutorial and Video

KarensVariety.com: Knit Duplicate Stitch

Videojug.com: Changing Yarn Colors while Crocheting (Video)

iWeb.tntech.edu: Tapestry Crochet Technique For Working With Two Colors

CraftStylish.com: Cross-stitch on Single Crochet

Additional inspiration for your crochet this Valentine’s Day–frame a heart shaped doily:

Valentine's Day Crochet Framed

Valentines Day Treat Bag

Easy Valentine’s Day Treat Bag (pictured) Easy-to-make paper craft treat bags to fill with love.

Friendship Blossoms Paper flowers with a sweet-surprise center.

Hearts and Blocks Valentines Simple and contemporary stamped paper cards.

Be My Valentine Wall Hanging Recycle brown paper bags into a gorgeous shabby chic wall hanging. This craft gets my “green” thumbs up!

Framed Filgree Heart An elegant idea for turning paper filgree into a long lasting memento of love.

Simple fabric flowers can quickly add interest and texture to your cards.

 1) Recycle and/or use what I already have on hand

2) Keep it simple (fancy is fun, too… I’m referring to simplicity in design and function.)

 1) Cut a square piece of fabric (about twice the size you wish the flower to be.)

 And voila!  Instant garden!

Shabby Chic lip stick holder- it's a recycled vinyl record!

If a record no longer plays, give it a new entertaining purpose. This simple craft that allows you to recycle an old warped record into a useful, versitile, and nostolgic bowl.

Bowlscan be used as planters, catch-alls, potpourri, candles, and they make great gifts, too. The possibilities are as endless as your imagination.

If you cannot bear to part with your vinyl or do not have any records on hand, baskets full of vinyl history await the creative crafter at thrift stores.

When weeding through to find titles, I choose records with obvious scratches or wear and tear that indicated the record had damage rendering it useless (don’t worry, these imperfection disappear during the molding process or add character to your piece.)

If I’m not able to find a band that I knew I, or the recipient of my finished piece would like, I look for movie soundtracks, well-known icons, or funny titles to use instead.

Recycled Vinyl Record Bowl

Items Needed:

1 Vinyl Record (full album or small single versions work equally well)

Glass or Ceramic Oven-Safe Mixing Bowl

Cookie Sheet

Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees.

On cookie sheet, turn glass or ceramic bowl upside down. Place record on top of the bottom of the upside down bowl. Carefully place items in the oven, making sure the record stays squarely on top of the bowl.

Counted cross stitch transfers a design from a printed graph onto evenweave fabric. The stitcher uses embroidery floss to place X’s on the fabric corresponding to symbols on the chart. Each symbol on the chart represents one X on the fabric. The different styles of symbols on the chart represent different colors of floss.Cross stitch is easy to learn and requires only a few supplies.

Graph. This is the pattern or design you chose to stitch. There are thousands to choose from.

Evenweave fabric. The fabric for cross stitch is woven in an even manner so that you know exactly where to place your needle. To keep the fabric from raveling either sew the edges on a sewing machine or use Fray Stop to prevent fraying.

Needle. A tapestry needle is used, usually a size 24 or 26 (size 26 is smaller than size 24). This type of needle has a blunt point and a large eye. Use a size 24 for stitching on 14 count fabric; use a size 26 for fabric with a stitch count greater than 14.

Floss. Embroidery floss is a cotton thread used for stitching. Floss has 6 strands, but usually you will use only 2 strands at a time for stitching and 1 strand for backstitching. On Hardanger fabric (22 count) you usually will use only 1 strand; on 11 count Aida use 3 strands to stitch and 2 to backstitch. Most books and graphs suggest either DMC or Anchor brands.

Embroidery hoop. A plastic embroidery hoop is helpful to hold the fabric while you stitch. Remove the fabric from the hoop when you are not stitching to keep from getting ‘hoop marks.’

Scissors. You can start out with any pair of scissors, but pretty soon you will want to get a nice pair of small embroidery scissors. Get a good quality pair with sharp points. A good pair of scissors makes stitching a lot more fun.

Choosing Your Fabric

There are dozens of fabrics to choose from. They will all work, so you just have to decide on what you like. White or ivory Aida 14 is the most common and 14 count is an easy fabric to start on. The number of stitches per inch will determine the finished size of the design. A design that is 28 stitches wide stitched on Aida 14 (14 stitches per inch fabric) will be 2″ wide. The same design will be 2 1/2″ wide on Aida 11, and 1 1/4″ stitched on hardanger (22 stitches per inch). Thankfully, most designs show design sizes for different counts of fabrics. Be sure to allow extra fabric for finishing (at least 4″ extra on length and width).

To Begin

Find the center of the graph. For most patterns this is shown with arrows or a bold line. Next, find the center of your fabric. An easy way to do this is to fold the fabric in half vertically and “pinch” with your finger to make a small crease. Open the fabric, fold in half horizontally and make another “pinch”. Open the fabric up. The two creases will mark the center of the fabric. Most stitchers like to start stitching close to the center of the design. For the “I Like You” graph, start with the pink balloon.

Knots on the back will show through, so do not use any knots to start or end. To begin stitching, bring the threaded needle up from the back of the fabric leaving about a 1″ tail of thread behind the fabric. Stitch the next 5 or 6 stitches over the tail. Clip off extra thread. To end off, weave your needle back through the last 5 or 6 stitches and clip the thread short so as not to leave a loose tail.

Stitching

There are two methods. The first method is to work a row of half stitches (////), then work back (\\\\) to complete the X’s. Use this method for most stitching. The second method is to complete each X as you go. Use this method for vertical rows of stitches.

It is important that all the X’s are crossed in the same direction. That is, the top thread of the X should always slant in the same direction (either \ or /). It does not matter which way they slant, but if they are mixed the finished piece will look uneven.

Relax as you stitch. Your stitches should lay flat on your fabric and not distort the holes or the fabric.

Backstitching

Backstitching is a running stitch (not an X) used to outline an area or to form lettering. In the graph, the words “I Like You” and the strings on the balloons are done in backstitch. Normally you use one less strand of floss for backstitching than you use for cross stitching.

Carrying Your Thread

Sometimes a color will have only a few stitches and then “jump” to another area. Most of the time you should end off and start again, other times you can carry the thread along the back. Just jumping from area to area is easier than starting and stopping, but sometimes the thread will show through. This can be a problem if you jump a dark thread over an unstitched area of light fabric. In general, you can carry the thread to another area if the jump is short, the floss color is light, and you are jumping over a previously stitched area. In the “I Like You” graph, the white highlights on the three balloons can be done by starting at the top balloon, jumping to the middle balloon, and then jumping to the bottom balloon.

Finishing

When your stitching is complete, wash in cool water using a mild liquid detergent. Rinse well. Do not wring, but roll in a clean towel to absorb most of the water. While still damp, place face down on a terry towel. Place another cloth on top of the needlework and press lightly with a warm iron. Let dry. Then frame or finish as desired. The “I Like You” design will fit nicely in a flat round, scalloped, or octagonal glass paperweight.

Thanks to Yarn Tree for these instructions.

Yarn Tree offers this excellent video to learn Cross-Stitch.