Works in progress...

I've been working on a few projects but haven't finished them yet so I wasn't going to do a post and then I thought, why not? Why not show a project in the middle of it. Aside from cross stitch, most people aren't willing to show their pieces until they are finished, thereby avoiding any mistakes etc. I'm going to do the opposite. I'm going to showcase the mistakes I make, and then (hopefully with advice from other people) I will show how to rectify it. So here are my current WIP's

The first is my current cross stitch. I've just started on page 7 (on the left hand side) which is mainly black so will be a little boring!

This is the calendar so far. I ended up leaving the inside of the boxes as they are for now, and concentrated on other parts. The stars are grunge board. I glued them on the calendar, painting them black and then spraying with the green lustre spray (over did it a little) and adding stickles. This choice of decoration has saved me from all the fiddly little cutting if I'd papered this bit! The background of the inside is a christmas stamp page from a Hobbycraft christmas pad. I had two, so I cut one up and used foam pads to give it a three dimensional aspect. 

Finally the third project, which I'm going to leave a bit of a mystery for now. Anyone like to hazard a guess?

The interior of the box was painted black, and then I cut out card. The white card was coloured with black pen to give a checkerboard effect, the card on the sides is kraft resist card which has been inked to match the card and the back is core-dinations card which has been embossed and sanded. 

Spending wise now. I found out that Heaven and Earth designs was having a 45% sale so bought one of their designs for £7.86. It's a huge map of middle earth. I underestimated just how big it is though, as when I got the file I saw it was over 100 pages! Will not be starting it until I finish the ones in my stash, which will take a while. I must admit I prefer the counted cross stitch ones now, rather than the ones with back stitch and french knots. 

I also bought some frozen veg, cheesecake, banoffee pie, cake tubs, cheese rolls, chicken burgers, fries, milkshakes, mash and burgers for £16.53. Rent was £406.16, Sky was £21,50 and I went to the craft shop near here and bought four mini distress ink pads (black soot being the main draw) an acrylic block so my stamps aren't so wonky, some decorative pins (I don't know why!) and a bead set for £19.42 I seem to be slipping into old habits at the moment, thinking that I have a certain amount of money until payday makes me want to spend it for some perverse reason. I'm hoping it's just a blip and I get back on the straight and narrow. One thing I did do last week as a non-spend treat for myself was to paint my nails. It's been ages since I've done that.

Finally the tasks

1. Starry night cross stitch (DONE)

2. Project book (DONE)

3. Book plans (some progress)

4. Read and review 100 books (68/100)

5. Make 14 christmas presents (no progress)

6. Make 11 birthday presents (no progress)

7. Make calendar, G45 box and tags (see pics)

8. Hit minimum savings target (47%)

9. Kili cross stitch (6/9 completed)

10. 50,000 words (6800 completed)

Happy crafting everyone and if you have any tips/questions please comment

Ems