Stitching of a different kind

I've been a bit more productive this week, at least at the beginning. The end of the week has not been great to be honest. Anxiety is high, and the side effects aren't appreciated by everyone. I'm working hard on curbing it though, but whether I am successful or not is another matter. Still, you never know if you don't try do you? I bought a planner for next year, to be a bit more organised than I have this year, and I hope to utilise it to monitor my good days, and my bad.

Anyway, on to the crafting. I'll have to apologise for the bad pictures; the lack of lighting at this time of year is a nightmare for bloggers. First of all, the stitching. One thing I have noticed is that the supposed dark blue thread is about a shade darker than the normal blue, when on the picture it's a much darker shade.

These are a couple of tealight candle holders. I saw this in a magazine, done with cityscape dies, so I dug my treeline dies out. These were cut out of black card, and glued on to the glass with matte mod podge, Then layers of sparkle mod podge were added to the outside of the glass, before glossy accents and distress glitter was added to the top.

Another thing I saw on-line that I thought I would do my version of. These are iron orchid design plaques made from paper clay. Each were painted with black gesso, before being painted with red, green or brown paint. They were then brushed with gold or silver wax, and names were cut out of card and painted the corresponding colours. Finally I added some festive wooden shapes, either trees or stags, before adding a ribbon to hand it up.

making some comfort

for to rest my weary head

from cloth and stuffing

This week was originally something else, but I should learn to walk before I run, so I started off small, by making a couple of cushions. This used up two items in my stash; a piece of material I got from a Crafty Creatives box absolutely ages ago, and stuffing from even longer ago than that. It was also the first time I used my mum's new sewing machine and, while I am not going to be whipping up designer dresses any time soon, I did manage to sew a couple of simple cushions on my own.

They turned out quite nice I thought. I love the material. It probably would have done better as an apron really, or at least a tea towel, but I wanted to use the stuffing. I need to start making a dent in my craft stash, and that's never going to happen when I am getting more stuff in than I use.

Emma