Imaginisce Blog: CHA Sneak Peek: Berrylicious, Little Cutie and Hap...

You have to go and check this out! They are also having a giveaway so you can win this product before it even hits the stores.

Imaginisce Blog: CHA Sneak Peek: Berrylicious, Little Cutie and Hap...: "We are so excited to show you our three newest collections being released at CHA this weekend. We're going to show you the yummy papers and ..."

Cross Stitch Stockings

Besides Scrap booking and paper crafts my first LOVE is Cross Stitch. Most of what I have made I have given away. I don't do alot of large projects anymore, I tend to do smaller ones that I can send to hostesses for gifts in the swaps I do or ones I can include on my LOs.
This stocking I made for my son when he was born, he is now 13. everything on here is cross stitch...the little white garland you see on the red bookcase is made up of tiny french knots. After this project was done I refused to do another french knot and now use seed beads instead. This tends to give my work a little more pizazz and dimension. This takes me about 3 months to finish if I work on it every day. I have several different patterns and if someone wanted one made for them it would cost about $400 which would include all supplies and shipping in Canada and the United States. I am currently working on one for one of my little girls and I have made my own design for my husband but his will be done later this year.

 This was the first stock I ever made in cross stitch. It has gold thread and red seed beads. I am in the process of finding a new pattern for myself to replace this one as I don't really care for it much any more. The town in the back ground is done in all half stitches and the colours are very much muted Victorian which is no longer my style.

 This stocking is the first one I made on linen. I at first was very worried about how it would look and if I would make a ton of mistakes LOL. By the time I had finished I love this fabric and choose to do as much of my cross stitch on linen as possible. I made this for my oldest daughter and was able to finish it in under 2 months but then I was home all day with her and had nothing else to do as she was a very good baby. It depicts a little girls room and above the window is a little nativity. The angel has wings which you cant see in this picture.

This is a close up of the pictures on the stocking. What is amazing here is that the stitch are half the size of normal stitches. This is called petite point. I will never ever do petite point again...it is very time consuming and strenuous on the eyes. People who enjoy doing petite point have my complete awe from now on. I have no problem admiring their work and would willingly pay a lot of have some on my walls. They are incredible works of art done on such a small scale.

Once I have complete the other 3 stockings I have to do then I will post more pics of them. I will do custom orders and there are a ton of different designs out there if you search under "cross stitch Christmas stocking".
Thanks for looking and I read all comments.

Imaginisce Altered Challenge

 Imaginisce first challenge of the year was to take something you have and alter it. I had this wooden plaque for several years. Originally I was going to make it into a necklace holder but it was too small, lol. I took it out of my closet and thought it would make a great name plate for my 2 littlest girls room which they will start to share this spring.







I started by painting the edge in Laguna Blue by Delta Creative, then traced out the top for the paper. I used Enchanted-If the Crown Fits, which I Mod Podged on to the wood plaque then distressed the edges. I will note here that the new d-Stress tool from Imaginisce would of been nice to have because it too forever to distress the paper. Next I cut out the names using the "Once Upon a Princess" cartridge from Cricut on Iridescence Blue card stock. Before placing the names on the plaque  I used an Adhesive Border Strip from the Enchanted Collection, next I adhered the alphabet using Glue Dots. I noticed that the letters did not show up very well so I filled them in using Cinnamon Stickles. Once that was all dry, I then applied Glam Rocks Color Fussion with my i-Rock tool, to the crowns. To seal it all I applied a thin coat of Mod Podge over everything and onto the sides as well. Finally I stapled the ribbon to the back and made a bow for the top. I love the way this turned out and wish you could see that ribbon better it is two toned, Turquoise boarded with brown and the whole thing is iridescent.
I love how this turned out and now plan on making ones for my nephews using the Dino Roar collection by Imaginisce.

New Tools

2010 has been a huge learning year for me. I participated in my first card swap because I wanted to start making more cards. It was a lot of fun but discovered that I am limited in what I make because I don't have all the tools I need. I have a ton of supplies thanks to different themed envelop swaps so don't really need to spend much there except when it comes to my DCWV Card Stock Addiction, lol.
Towards the end of the year I purchased my first MS punches. I have to say I am not a fan of MS so I stay away from her products but Michael's had a couple of her corner and boarder sets on sale so I picked one up to try. Loved them, very easy to use, comfortable in the hand and once I figure out were I will store them they are easy to store. I need to get more of these set and have decided they will be a splurge item this year, maybe if I am lucky I will get one set a month :).
I also received from a pal on sb.com, love pal swaps, an i-Rock. What a incredible wonderful tool this is. I LOVE bling and tend to try and use it on all my projects, even for my son LOL. At Christmas's I received all the little containers of metallic studs now just need to pick up all the rhinestone sets. This is one tool that I think every crafter should have, it is very easy to use and it sits on my desk in easy reach because I tend to grab it so much. Other brands of heat sink rhinestones work with it but Imaginisce brad works the best. Now on to the new tools I think I need this year. Imaginisce has several that they have put out that I was not sure I needed but since then after seeing some wonderful products using them know they are now a MUST have.
First on my list is the i-Top, I cant believe all the wonderful things you can do with this tool, it is definitely multipurpose which for me is important. You can make brads, magnets, badges, pins, snaps, rings, headbands, hair accessories the list goes on and it looks like they are coming out with more things this incredible tool can do. I have 2 little girls and the idea of making my own headbands and other hair accessories for them is a thrill. I also have 2 teenagers that have lockers at school so the fact I could make them magnets for them is exciting too.
Second is a Crop-a-Dile. I have a eyelet punch and setter but it is hand held and a pain to use. Plus because I have to hit it with a hammer, loud, which is not good to use at night, which is when I tend to do most of my crafting. But since the i-Rock came out this has another function as well. I watched a tutorial on how to make your own i-Rock templates and the Crop-a-Dile is use to make the holes. So it has now become a MUST have as well.
Third as said above more corner and boarder punches. I have plenty of the other type of punches but I never really use them. I guess that is the out of site out of mind issue so I might have to think of a different way to store them.
Fourth is a biggie. I want to upgrade to a circut Expressions. I love my personal cutter but some of the things I have been coming up with need a large machine to cut LOL. Also with that would love a gypsy but I think I might put that one off until next year.
Fifth I need a new camera. The digital one I have is a few year old and there is a huge delay in taking pictures so I miss some of the great facial expressions my little girls make. So time to do some shopping around and find one I like and is not too much money LOL.
And last but not least a new computer. This may not seem like a tool for scrap booking but I am finding I use it a lot more for digital storage, editing of pictures and really I am on it everyday. So I plan on buy a new one and moving my old Hard Drives from it to put into the new one. That way I don't have to do a file transfer which can take forever. Besides I have 2 huge size HDs in this computer and my kids don't need them in their computer because that is what happens to my old ones, the kids get them.
Well I think that is along enough post since there is now crafty goodness in it. I am looking forward to learning new techniques and being more inspired and sharing that all with you. Thanks for stopping by and remember to follow, I would love to have 50 followers then I could raffle off a Rak that would include some of my favourite things!