The Introverted Crafter

Finished another t-shirt tonight, this one for my friend and fellow Supernatural fan. The icon is the tattoo that Sam and Dean get to stop a demon possessing them. Normally it would be black but as it is a black t shirt this would not work. It took almost an entire skein of red!  I got paid on 26th so the day before I put the remainder in the savings, which was 200.13, bringing me to 53% of my total target. Not where I wanted to be but still not bad. I do have to be careful for the rest of the year though. Spending wise I have spent twice since payday, once on the skeins I needed for the last two t shirts (25 skeins plus delivery £11.25) and another pair of work trousers as that stupid broken chair at work wrecked another pair, and gave me a lovely scratch on my arse! I couldn't find my usual ones in New Look so looked in Peacocks, where I found a pair for £9 - £3 cheaper than I usually get.  Finally, the tasks 1. Starry night stitch (DONE) 2. Project book...

Another short post today, and another t-shirt. I was going to do the same design I'd done before (the pirates one) for my older brother's shirt but then I found  this design by Lara Brown . Isn't it amazing? I'd love to be able to do my own designs but my brain doesn't work that way. Anyway, I changed a couple of things to suit the colour of the shirt better. First time I've done back stitch on a t-shirt, so I double stranded it so that I could anchor it properly. It's turned out really well, and he'll appreciate the geeky aspect (he was totally into dinosaurs as a kid but I didn't tell you that!) Happy crafting Ems

I managed to finish the mixed media project today. It started off as a box that held dominoes. I got it from Poundland, obviously for the dominoes not for the box, but thought I'd do something with it anyway. I started off by painting it black, then adding some G45 papers that I'd distress inked. I used a stencil to add a little more dimension to the stains, before covering in multi matte medium. After doing this I was at a bit of a loss, for some reason. I ended up going for a more masculine approach, rather than covering it in butterflies and flowers. I was tempted to do burlap flowers but the burlap kind of fell apart after I'd cut it. There are some beads on the top (including a couple of hidden Mickeys). The main finding in the middle actually started off a pastel blue with white bells. I painted it with black gesso, then added some tarnished brass distress paint to emphasise the decorations, as well as some green lustre spray.  Here you can see the lus...

I was actually planning to finish some mixed media I've been working on this week (still may do that but not today) but the inspiration still wasn't hitting me so instead I stitched another t-shirt. The pattern came from  this site  . Check it out, as she has loads. Lots of talent. I substituted a few of the shades, as I didn't have the ones specified. Here is the result. So I'm now halfway through next years presents!  I received my two packs of charms the other day, well worth the cost. There are loads of them and none of them are ones I wouldn't use. I've already had a few ideas for some of them, but I have a few things I want to do first (finishing the project I started for one) Happy crafting Ems 

Just a quick one to round out the week off. I love weeks off, means I get to work on my crafting full time. If only I was good enough for it to be a full time job but then, would it be as much fun if it was a job and not a hobby? The last thing that I did this week was to stitch another t-shirt for next year's birthdays. In a way I have been doing these to put off doing the Dimensions stitch, as I'm finding that very hard. I worked on this all day yesterday, and actually managed to finish a whole cross stitch in one day. I chose the colours for the hearts myself, which is the first time I've altered a cross stitch more than picking a shade slightly different from the one asked as I didn't have it in my stash.  Spending wise, I bought the last two t-shirts I needed for the presents (£8), sausage rolls, crisps, cereal bars, milkshakes, yoghurts and nectarines for work next week (£8.52) and bought my treat. I took £20 out and got a Burger King for mum and m...

Yesterday I managed to finish making the christmas presents, and also made another birthday present for next year. We'll start with that one. I die cut white shrink plastic, used alcohol inks (let them dry before using a heat gun) and shrunk them. Then I used glossy accents on the bird, added a few gems, a plastic rose, and a mask. Simple but effective. Onto the christmas presents, the first thing I had to do was to finish the domino books. I used various papers with these, along with a few black gems and some remnant rubs, which were perfect for them. You can see with the bottom one how effective the remnant rubs are. Once they were dried I tied them up, and got the rest of the things together. Each heart shaped bauble has a cross stitch keyring/necklace, a domino book and a quote (bit like a fortune cookie). Then the tags were tied on with red ribbon so that they can hang on the tree.  This means I've earned another ...

I decided to do the last birthday present today, knowing that I had already forfeited my treat for it. It'a another altoid tin, which I covered with Madame Payraud paper inside and out, before adding a few extras. I painted a grungeboard lamp silver, then rubbed versamark on it randomly, before adding black soot distress embossing powder. The bats are painted black then stickles added, and the wooden word fun was dripped with red alcohol ink before black soot and silver distress paints were dabbed onto them. The skull is a little extra, in case the recipient doesn't like the tin. That's the problem with making your own presents, there are always some people who may not fully appreciate the work put into them. I've also made a bottle necklace today, for a present for next year (I should really work on the domino books but I wasn't feeling it today). I used clear shrink plastic and alcohol ink on some die cut flowers and butterflies, then got a bottle...

Another quick one today, and another t-shirt. I've actually been working on this non stop for two days straight! How cool is this! The pattern only cost me 68p on Etsy, and it works really well against a plain black t shirt. Be careful with the temperature/soap as the black can run a bit. I won't be doing any more stitching this week, as I have plenty of papercraft still to do, but I have cemented the designs for the other six t-shirts I need to do.  I will do an update on spends at the end of the week. Suffice to say, things have gone wrong yet again, and I'm not feeling in the right mood to explain it all right now.  Emma

Just a quick one today, as there will be more posts than usual this week, being my week off. So, before I begin my review, here are the two updates to the Holiday Village stitch. To be honest, I'm slightly worried about the threads with this one. Dimensions seem to be very economical with what they provide, and I'm thinking there may be at least one colour I will run out of. Apparently if I do then I can contact them for extra, which is good.  Right, onto the review. I found out the other day about water soluble canvas, so thought I would try it out for next years birthday presents. You are supposed to tack it on, but I didn't as my hoop worked well to anchor it until I started stitching. Here is what it looks like. I'd advise using one long bit of thread each time, so that you can loop it through to anchor it on the first stitch. After I had finished I cut off the excess so that I could use it for something else in future. (Hoping to have enough f...

I don't know whether anybody else has the same problem as I do, but I have a tendency to overplan. This can extend from holidays being planned in the smallest detail (actually a benefit for somewhere like Disney, where it pays to have military-like precision) to planning christmas and birthday presents waayy in advance. I haven't even finished this years birthday and christmas presents yet, and I'm already planning the next ones. The disadvantage of this is that projects I've planned to do for myself get put on the wayside. I've got next week off so I'm hoping to work on a lot of projects throughout the week, especially as I've no spending money. Gotta keep myself busy somehow! I've completed a little cross stitch this week, and started another one. With the one that's in progress, I've decided to do something a little different. Rather than take a picture when the page is complete, I'm going to take one at the end of each stitching session...