Craftie Update

I love all things celestial, so when I saw a picture on Pinterest of Galaxy Cookies, I had to try them.  So I made up a batch of sugar cookies, and I purchased a large, round cutter because I knew I would need a big surface to work on.  HERE is the link to the tutorial.  Of course me being the super impatient person that I am, I decided to cut corners on the icing.  For one, I just mixed powdered sugar with milk and added the food colouring, rather than deal with royal icing which can be a pain to keep moist.  I also opted not to pipe the colours onto the cookies and used a spoon and plastic knife to spread.  The icing was of course a little too runny, so dragging the toothpick through it yielded so-so results.  Then I did the white stars but again, with runny icing, the dots came out big and globby.  I had the patience to do only 5 cookies this way before throwing in the towel and doing the rest with the leftover icing.  Still though, very tasty.

Yet another fall project I had to try:  Glitter on acorns.  Came out pretty!

My friend Lisa gave me a bunch of wine bottles over the summer.  I spray painted 4 of the large ones with frosted spray paint, drilled holes in the back, drew the tree scene with a paint pen and stuff a strand of orange and purple lights inside.  I have 3 more bottles to do.

Finished the skull cross stitch and framed it.  Giving it to my stepdaughter.

I made a counting error on my shells so that set me back because I've had to go back and rip out stitches twice.  Still chipping away at it.

Hiding from the Humidity

I absolutely love it when my friends post or tag me in new craft projects.  A couple of weeks ago, a 'stained glass CD mandala suncatcher' project made the rounds and I decided to give it a try.  First you have to remove the silver from the disc, which is extremely easy.  You just scratch through it and then use clear packaging tape to lift the silver off.  Comes off quickly.  Then I found a mandala design in one of my colouring books, placed the clear CD over it and traced the lines using Tulip silver puff paint.

After that tried, I filled in the spaces with glass paint and let it dry over night.  Except for some bubbles (esp. noticeable in the purple), the results came out great!  I would probably use less glass paint next time.

Drilled a hole in it and added a beaded hanger.

Kinder Surprise Eggs are illegal in the USA, but thanks to a friend who shall remain unidentified, I received some a year or so ago, and I saved the yellow toy pods which are inside the chocolate.  What better use for them than to make minions?  Just a googly eye with silver puff paint, a black sharpie, and some denim bits adhered with double stick tape.

Remember the sand art kit I got a few weeks ago?  I decided to do that too.  

Pretty sand and blue glitter!  I kinda wish there had been some white sand too but oh well.  There was just enough to make the 4 bottles and 2 bracelets, although I ran out of blue and purple and had to dip into my glitter stash to make it up.

Finished!  The tops are sealed with clear glue which wasn't quite dry when I took the pics.

Still cross stitching the shells.  I have since added the last 5 boxes with shell names, done 2 more shells and working on a 3rd.  

This is a skull pattern I found online.  I decided to do black on purple and I had a hell of a time getting the purple Aida cloth but I finally found it on the 123 Stitch website.  The boxes are kind of hard to see and count on the pattern so I had to do the center row all the way across and build from there, doing one side at a time.  Since this was taken, I finished the teeth and am starting up the left side.

I'm hoping that the heat and humidity is behind us now, so hopefully I can get back to getting in some day trips before the leaves fall and the snow flies!

One Done, Three Started

Here is the final Hummel cross stitch project that I was commissioned to do.  I got it done one day before she arrived in Massachusetts for a two week visit and I was so pleased to be able to give it to her in person.  To say she was thrilled is an understatement, and that made me feel so good.  

I immediately jumped into some new cross stitches.  This one is beyond difficult, despite the fact that it's being done solely in black thread.  It's really hard to count the stitches on the pattern and I have to use a white pencil to cross out each row as I go along.  The first row was the worst but I think I can work off of it OK.  

Another sea-themed project by the now defunct Bucilla brand.  I hope I have enough of each colour floss in this kit.  My goal was a shell a day but I think we can all agree that's not gonna happen.  

This project has been moved to the front of the line because it's going to be a housewarming gift for one of my best friends who is moving this week.  She loves her wine. I hope she's too busy packing to check my blog!  

The weather's been too hot and humid to do anything fun.  Nothing has gelled this summer to allow me to go on any day trips.  I was about to leave for Newport, RI a week or so ago, when I discovered I'd forgotten to charge my camera battery.  By the time it was charged, it was too late & too hot.  The days I'm free, it's raining or humid.  The days I'm busy, it's nice.  Summer's nearly over; it went by way too fast.