The First Post For April!!

Hey everyone! I'm back, once again, and I'm here with a new post. Just today I broke out my good ol' art journal and started messing around. I always have a lot of fun when I do, so I'm not sure why it doesn't happen more often. But anyways, I did. So here's the deal. I used several different types of prompts. Number one was Balzer Designs "art journal every day" prompt/series. I discovered this near the middle of last month and just thought that I'd wait it off until this month rolled around. So the thing is that you do SOMETHING in your art journal every day, whether it be just a simple doodle, or a complete technique. It doesn't even have to be a whole page.

In fact, when I started this page, I had initially planned on only doing a little bit, trying to merge my way back into it... the thing was, once I started, I couldn't stop! It just felt so good to create; to work once again freely with absolutely no fear. I started off the page with another prompt from daisy yellow, another blog that I thoroughly enjoy. She is just so inspiring, and her projects are so bright and "in your face"... exactly my style! Anyways, she was having a prompt session that she referred to as her Creative Experiments page. Apparently it's a monthly thing, and it seems like something I'll work with often!

There is a list of prompts and creative experiments to try, and I picked one to try out. I chose "switcheroo", which she prompted us to switch out one of the things in our art. She actually used this example, but I liked it so much that I couldn't help myself! I normally use acrylic paints in my journal, but this time I used watercolors! They aren't that thinned, since I still wanted the bright, bold colors, but they are watercolors never the less! They look so cool!

And, one last picture before I leave; a picture of my cross stitch!! Last time I showed you, all that was here was the train engine and the leg of the kid, but now there are 3 stacked alphabet blocks and about half a football. Also, all of these pieces aren't quite completed, but they will look even cooler when it's actually done! I promise! :P

An Update

Hey people. I'm back from a couple of days break. Sorry about that, but it couldn't be helped. I had a bunch of stuff going on, and I was just really busy. So yeah. I've got a bunch more pictures for you guys too. So I went to Hobby Lobby for the first time the other day and had a ton of fun. I just about fainted when I walked in the door because of the size, but it was all good in the end. What ended up happening was that I got some pom poms for a vest I want to make, some embroidery floss for my next cross stitch project, and some aida cloth to go with it. I also got a few mixed media/scrapbooking supplies. So anyways.

Here are some yarns that I've been working with lately, and they are all for a challenge that I've been working on. It's for crocheted jewelry on Craftster. The moment I saw the challenge, I knew what I was going to make, and pretty much got started with it right away. The winner of the challenge gets their pattern and pictures featured in a magazine (I can't remember exactly which one right now). Mine is pretty much done so far, but I'm just posting pictures of the yarn currently. I used all shades of blue along with accents of white and green.




Here's a full photograph of the cross stitch that I've been working on. It's not quite completed yet, but I'm still working on it, though not as much as I was before, since I ended up starting the new cross stitch pattern (I just couldn't help myself!!). What I like about this is all of the shading and the variegating that works through it. This was my first bigger piece.


Here are some pictures of the embroidery floss that I bought for my new project in rainbow order. It's pretty cool looking. I tend to do that when I make stuff, just because I get to fondle the materials a little and mess around with them.


Here's another.

And, on a finishing note, I want to update with a bit of progress on my second project made using the supplies above. This is going to be a toy train. I've got quite a bit more done on it since this was taken, but I'll post that another time. Tomorrow I'll try to get on again. And I'm hoping to have an ATC tutorial for you all.

I know that I've talked a lot about my ATCs in the past, but still haven't posted any pics yet. I think that a nice tutorial might be a good way to showcase that. Of course an ATC can be done in many different ways, but I thought you guys may like to see my progress. We'll see if I can get pictures. I might go work on that now. Thanks for the inspiration!

The Destruction of a Project

Hey all. I've got some good news and I've got some bad news. The good news is that the bad news isn't reeeally bad. But the bad news is that I don't have any pictures for you guys AGAIN today. I know. I'm sorry. My bad. You see, I had actually taken all of these pictures, and even took special care to make them cool looking and professional. But then, I found out that my cord was missing. And I was so ready to share some pictures with you too. I'd use my old camera and retake them, but it's not where I left it, so that's pretty much M.I.A. But anyways, I guess that even though the picture thing is disappointing and really stinks, I can still share with you. At least my internet isn't down. So yeah. I had some pictures of a cross stitch project I was working on today, and also a few of my in progress fingerless gloves. I'll try and clean my room today or tomorrow in order to find the cord, but my day is pretty busy. I just got done with my schoolwork, and soon I'm hopefully going to the craft store. I've got some cool stuff in mind for some projects I've got planned, so we'll see if that works out. Plus I have a worship/prayer meeting at church later this evening.

But anyways, as a type of update, I think I'll first talk a little bit about my fingerless gloves. Are they working? Are you doing it right. The answers to these are I think so and I hope so. Like I've said before, they're black, so that's a bit of a challenge for me. I'm more attracted to bright colors like lime and turquoise. So yeah. But now that I'm thinking about it, I'm wearing a black Tae Kwon Do shirt right now, so apparently I'm not totally turned off to black. Actually, they sort of look nice so far. When I do an outfit, or put together something to wear, I'm more of a one or two simple accessories in neutrals type of person. Because they match the brights. So maybe it was a good idea to do them in black after all. But yeah. Even though I'm fourteen, I'm not really all that into fashion. Normally I only wear jeans and a tee shirt. Year round. In the winter. I don't know why, I just do. I guess I take after my dad. He always wears tee shirts. But my mom will always wear a sweater. I can deal with the short sleeved ones. I've actually been thinking about knitting one. But the long sleeved ones? You might as well forget about it. Too scratchy in my honest opinion.

Sorry about that totally non related rant there. I don't know what came over me. :P. Sometimes when I'm doing something, like typing, my mind just starts to wander, and I totally have to tell somebody about everything. (Actually, I think I have slight A.D.D. At least I do A.D.D. things.) So yeah. Sorry if that bothers you, but that's my personality and I'm sticking to it. Anyways, back to the topic at hand. Those fingerless gloves. So you see; I was actually working on them last night when all of a sudden, I counted my stitches and found that I had dropped a stitch somewhere along the line. I was struck dumb. But, like the easily annoyed person that I am, I simply increased a new stitch and continued on like nothing had happened. *blushes* Anyways, when I got to the end of the row, I found the stitch I had dropped. And I couldn't just leave it there. And I didn't feel like ripping out a whole row just to get back to where I had increased. So yeah. You guessed it. I picked up that one too, and continued on as normal. I did one more row and realized my mistake. I couldn't see the cable anymore... I had totally cut off the pattern when I picked up an extra stitch.

I was so annoyed with myself, and I was totally freaking out. So I put away the knitting for the night, and devoted the rest of it to searching craft blogs. Sad, I know. But I found some pretty good ones... Okay, enough with the excuses. It was a sad thing to have done and I'm sorry I did it. So the next morning (this morning) I decided what I had to do. I ripped out two rows. And I know it wasn't that much. I'm just a lazy crazy person when it comes to ripping stitches, especially when it comes to knitting. Because you have to get each and every single one of those loops BACK onto the needle without letting them pull themselves out. My back starts to hurt, and I can't see very well. (I know I'm only fourteen and my vision shouldn't be blurring, but I have contacts, and sometimes when I stare at something too long it does.) So yeah. Thus the title of this post. Don't be afraid to rip when it comes to fiber arts. I know that I should know that with my experience (a good 7 or 8 years), but sometimes I just get annoyed and mad at the piece and don't want to.

So please, please, PLEASE learn from my mistake. When you're making something DON'T be afraid to rip. Whether it's embroidery or cross stitch, sewing or quilting, knitting or crochet... make sure you rip if it's necessary. So now, speaking of cross stitch, that's another thing that I wanted to touch on briefly. I've mentioned before that I cross stitch. Even though that is very true, my cross stitch box has been stuffed in my closet for three or four months now, because I was getting frustrated with the project. I know, I know. I shouldn't be so easily annoyed. But that's my personality. I can't be any other way. So anyways, today I actually dug out that box to see what I had left. I was left with a rather pleasant surprise. It seems that it wasn't as bad as I thought it was; I think I was just tired of it. It was done. Well, practically. All that's left is some of the backstitch outlining and some french knotting. Things like that. When it's that close to being finished, who knows why I put it away. So I should be finishing that sometime soon. I'll definitely try and post here when it is.

So yeah. That's pretty much all I have for you today. Again, I apologize for not having any pictures yet, as that's something I'd really like to have on here. I'll try. I really will. Until next time, have fun creating!