Life With Jules, and other stuff

Well, as promised, I am posting a couple of pictures on my latest little creations. This floss tag is my rendition of the GOS #6 Challenge . I had to play with the lettering a bit as the charted letters were too big. Fortunately, one of the charts I received from a giveaway had a perfect alphabet choice. So, without further ado I give you “I only have red thread”:  And here is the progress I made on the Christmas Design SAL over at Yoyo’s : Not much, but it’s something for the month of April. I am going to try to finish this section up for May, but I also have school deadlines, so we will see how it goes! My mom sent me a lovely card. She enclosed a photocopy of the MSU Football team’s autographs that one of the techs received. She told me that the team came to the nursing home to visit the residents and some of the techs went gaga over them. LOL! Anyhoos, one of them kindly allowed my mom to photocopy her autographs to send to her favorite Spartan…ME! Here is a pic of the...

Well, I managed to get the four card inserts completed. Here are the pictures: Not much else happening in my world at the moment. So I will keep this post short! Be sure to check out the giveaways happening (links in my side bar) and my other blogs located under "My Blogs".

I complete two card inserts for my mom over the past couple of days. Each of them took me approximately 5 hours to complete. I am stitching the first 6 inserts on 14ct Sea Green Aida using assorted DMC floss. The designs are from a booklet that came with one of the Cross Stitch Crazy magazines in 2009 called "126 Xmas Designs". Here are the pictures: I plan to complete 2 each month until November. I am storing them in a Glad storage bag to keep them clean. Now for my question. I recently asked which way is better when making ornaments. I now would like to know if anyone has, or has seen on another blog, any tutorials on how to make ornaments? In all of the magazines and books I have I cannot find anything the shows the steps clearly enough. For a firmer ornament, what type of backing is used? For a filled, what type of filling is used? I was also wondering if there are any tutorials for biscornus, pin cushions, etc that just gives basic instructions. Thanks for your help!

My niece's 12th birthday is in a couple of weeks and she just loves butterflies. I found this free pattern on Alita Designs . It's called Assisi Pattern 01. I thought that it would make the perfect stitched birthday card for my niece. Here is a picture of the completed design (before being transformed into a card): This is what the design looks like in the "Pop Art 1" mode on my camera. See how the color pops compared to the next picture!!! This is the same design in normal mode. 14-ct. Aida cloth (White) DMC Floss #746 (3 strands) and #902 (2 strands) for the X and #310 (2 strands) for the BS Design by: Alita at Alita Designs And here is the card: It took a little bit of doing, but I managed to get everything lined up just right so the entire design would show through the front. Now, I just have to scribe a short poem to place inside and this part of her birthday will be complete. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I have done a little bit of stitching on my Christmas Design for...

Ok, I am going to start this off with a picture of my January TUSAL update: I recently found out that my neighbor had a triple bypass over Christmas. She has been in Illinois since Thanksgiving and was scheduled to be home around the 5th of this month. The bypass changed those plans, so I stitched her a card: HalloSAL part 3 is "in the books". Here are a couple of pictures of it: Look closely at the bats above the haunted house. I used beads instead of french knots. I recently purchased a couple of patterns from Cindy over at Cindy Mae Designs , Paw Prints and Catnap Time . I also received one of her lovely Grab Bags of blended cording (although I haven't figured out for the life of me how to use cording - I have a little in the Christmas Design SAL that I am stitching so I am gonna learn soon enough!). Here is a pic: Thanks Cindy for the beautiful cording and great designs! Finally, I was really bummed at Christmas when the package my mom sent didn't arrive. I have b...

Well, I spoke with my mom today (a few times) and during one of our conversations we were looking around on my blog. She goes to it from time to time to see what I am up to in stitchy things, but this time I was pointing her to specific posts. As she was looking, she came upon the Christmas card (kits) that I purchased a few weeks ago, and the one I finished. She really liked them and [hinted] that she would love to make some cards this year like that but she doesn't stitch. Well, I will be stitching inserts for her over the next few months! She also asked about the design I am stitching in Yoyo's SAL. I pointed her to the original post showing the purchase I made at NeedleCraft World in Kissimmee, FL. She really loved Ink Circles, Cirque des Carreaux , so I ordered the fabric and floss and should get it before the end of the month. It was another subtle hint that she would like it for her west wall. Gotta love subtle hints from mothers!! I don't mind as it will be anothe...

Just a couple of quick finishes to share. I finished "Joy" a couple nights ago. Here is a pic: Last night, after much fighting with the fabric, I finished the reindeer ornie (well, as finished as it is gonna get for now). Here is a pic: As you can see, I used beads for the eyes and the dot on the "i" in Christmas. I still have one leg to complete, and that is where the fighting came in. I must have stabbed myself a half dozen times trying to get the darker brown outline and legs completed. Those stitches go through the center of the square instead of in the holes already there. I didn't like doing those stitches. The stars were simple, but a lot of work. You have to start and finish each star individually or there will be a lot of "tails" showing through. The border is done using backstitching instead of the called for "Blanket stitch". I am not sure if I will frame the little guy or turn him into an actual ornament. Either way, that part wil...

I did a little last minute shopping a few nights before Christmas and came upon some cool inexpensive/clearance items at JoAnn's! First, I must tell you that they already had their Valentine's stuff out, so I was a little disturbed while shopping. All that pink! Ugh!! But, as I moved back toward the stitchy stuff, I noticed an end cap display with several cross-stitch card kits for $1.99. I picked up four of those. Then, I got back to the stitchy area and looked at their clearance stuff and came upon several items that I really liked. I only picked up one though that spoke to the sailor in me. I looked without much luck for the Learn-A-Craft kits as my niece wants me to teach her how to stitch. I decided to head over to Michael's hoping beyond hope that they still carried kits. And yay! They have them still at that particular location (the one I normally shop in does not carry kits, but they do have all the other bare necessities - and I do mean bare)! I found a few LaC...

I have completed 3 Christmas cards (minus the inside saying) so far. I am enjoying making these; more than I thought I would. Here are a few pics (information beneath them): Tinsel Cat 14ct. White Aida Stitch Count 37h x 24w Cross Stitch Cards ~ Joanne Sanderson The next two are from Cross Stitch Crazy magazine's add-on 126 Xmas Designs : Snowman, p19 14ct. White Aida Stitch Count 40h x 48w (max) Three Kings, p16 14ct. White Aida Stitch Count 40h x 48w (max) I used scraps from my scrapbooking supplies to accent the designs and Staples brand Card Stock in beige. I have a couple of more that I want to make and then we'll see how the time is from there (as to whether or not I make more).

I purchased the frame for Zanesville last evening and got it framed. Now I only have to wrap it and wait for the party, which is on Nov 7th. Woo Hoo!! I have turned my attention to HalloSAL and Christmas. I decided to make a few of my own cards this year. So far I have one stitched piece done and about half of a second one. I will post pics when I have made them into actual cards (and before I send them out).

I went to my mom's card-making class tonight (Stampin' Up) and found it a bit interesting. Here are the cards I made: