Paper cutting, Needle Felting, and Modge Podge

I love my local library…when we first moved here it was the first place I sought out and visited. Over the years I’ve grown to love and appreciate what a fine library we have! When I saw the book Creative Paper Cutting blogged about I really wanted the book…and sent a link to our awesome librarian, Peggy, and she ordered it!! Woo-hoo!!! So the first things I’ve cut are projects that I will be bringing to the library later today to say thank you…

Aren’t they cute! There are several other projects I have bookmarked and will cut asap!

The other night I sat down and needlefelted another chair…there is just something about chairs…I sketched this chair based on a chair I saw on chairblog …there are blogs about everything out there! One reason I like sketching chairs is because you learn a lot about perspective, and perspective is something I need to practice!

So then I loosely needlefelted this chair…holy demon dog batman!

Oh, and by the way “Hello-my name is Kim and I am a recovering hoarder”…I came to this conclusion after cleaning my office again, cause I had piles of stuff in my way again, and I ended up throwing away a lot of  junk again, I even gave a few things away…again…how and why does this seem to happen over and over again!!

In using what I have I took a plain old box and mod podge’d pattern pieces all over it. The end result is a very sturdy box to hold my (what I’ve gathered together so far…there’s more) notebook collection hoard.

Have a great weekend and Happy Crafting!!!

PS: If you want to leave a comment click on the time stamp at the bottom of this post…weird…I know!

Last minute crafty gift ideas!!

This is an old barbeque sauce bottle…

 

There is still time to whip up a couple gifts…with minimal supplies…Here is a bottle I etched with etching cream…for myself. However, I also made one up for Carmen, she already knows because I wanted her input for the words…she picked “Drink Me” (remember? Alice in Wonderland?) Anyways, I then made one up for myself. It’s as easy as sticking on some vinyl stickers (the kind you would use on your mailbox-you can get them at the dollar store) outlining the letters with masking tape, and painting on etching cream. (Thank you Julie for letting me use your etching cream!)

Here are some paper cuttings I cut out…I did a google search for “Free Holiday Clipart” and this is one of the images that popped up…there are two more elves that I want to cut out…I love the attitude! All this required was paper and a scissors!

I needle felted this little guy last night. I think I’m going to keep him. This required some roving and a felting needle. For a small investment you could have a whole herd/flock/gaggle/school of snowmen!

This little deer was made using my scroll saw, free clipart again, scrap wood, clothespin, hot glue, paint and glitter. I couldn’t tell you to go out and buy a scroll saw…but ask around! I personally know of at least four people who own them…and would let me use them! (I’ve completed three of these so far).

I made everything except the etched bottle yesterday.

Good luck and Happy Crafting!!!

Card for my mom…

I made this card for my mom’s birthday using a free pattern from mmmcrafts – thank you!

Over the weekend I made another shelf for my crafty stuff – and got a little more organized.

Also…in the words of my little goof-ball during Grace at dinner last night “Thank you God for the delightful deer dad got.” Hee hee – he uses words like “delightful” – geez I hope he doesn’t get beat up over that some day

Another paper cutting…

This is another paper cutting using an embroidery pattern! I know – this is the last one for now.

But I really couldn’t resist! You can get the free embroidery pattern here! (Click on the picture below!)

Paper pieced owl

Over the weekend I made this owl – isn’t he cute!

Take a look at the work in progress to see how it was done -

I first cut the owl shape and leaf shapes out of quarter inch plywood with my scroll saw. Then I painted them white. You wouldn’t have to do this, but I liked the dimension it gave the owl. I also cut out the eyes and beak again. I didn’t end up using the eyes – mostly due to my poor cutting job, but I did use the beak. (It’s that tiny little white piece of wood in the upper right of the picture.) Then I used the template (under the pink scissors) to cut out the paper in the correct shapes. Used a little Modge Podge to glue everything down and wallah! Want a closer look at the owl?

The eyes are simply two circles cut out of white and black paper with some Diamond Glaze over the top. The pattern was a free embroidery pattern I found online. You can click on the picture to be taken to the link.

I am really loving using embroidery patterns for crafts other than embroidery. If you have any other ideas let me know!! Happy Crafting!!

Have you ever gone to Skip To My Lou? Well - if you haven't you should! Click on the link below!

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Papercutting

Here is the last papercutting I did. By the way is it “paper cutting” or “papercutting”? I never know. The last tip I can give you is that when you’re cutting curves turn the paper, not the knife. You can break the tip of the blade very easily and by turning the paper it should last a little longer and (hopefully) make a smoother cut! Happy Friday and Happy Crafting!

PS: If you do cut one of my patterns send me a picture – I’d love to see it!

Another paper-cutting

Here is another cutting for you! The tip I’ll give you this time is always cut from the middle out. See the little grassy things? don’t try to cut from the pointy end to the bigger end – you’re paper will wrinkle. Give it a try!

I added a spot of glitter to the middle of the flower – It really sparkles! Happy crafting!!

Tulips and a paper-cutting

I was browsing through a book in the library – Country Woodworking – and was intrigued by what they had to say about tulips. They say “Tulips were a potent symbol among the Pennsylvania Dutch.  Three-petal tulips reminded them of the Trinity – Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Tulip boxes often held three tulips, the middle tulip slightly higher than the other two. This was another symbol: Jesus on the cross between the two thieves.” Isn’t that interesting?

This got me thinking about flowers and since I’m on a paper-cutting kick I came up with this -

Feel free to cut your own. I pretty much strictly cut with a craft knife but have been known to use scissors if it is a large cutting. I cut on a self-healing cutting mat, if you don’t have one you could cut on a magazine or the back of linoleum. First tape your pattern to your paper. I wouldn’t use paper that is too thick or textured. A nice smooth card stock would work well. Don’t use your kids colored paper – the fibers in the paper are too short and will tear, it could end up looking “furry”. Always start with the inside cuts. Then cut the outline. Just play around. It ain’t rocket science – and paper is cheap. If you goof up you can always try again. This is a good cutting to practice on – or try these simple cuttings from Cindy. I’ve made several vases of flowers over the weekend and will be sharing them this week. Happy Crafting!!!

Not much crafting going on…

Besides learning tricks on my serger, I cut out this wonderful papercutting by Cindy – as always I think she’s awesome! Otherwise I’ve been doing a little sketching – nothing worth sharing.

Carmen and I went and saw Alice in Wonderland a couple weeks ago and I really liked it. I think Abby liked it too because she didn’t fidget at all and was very pleased to be included in an “afternoon out with the girls”. I love that she is getting mature enough to take places. It was very difficult when she was younger. Specifically I remember we took her to McDonald’s and she ran behind the counter to check out the deep fryers – shudder – she was always so quick and unpredictable. She could and can disappear in an instant!

Anyways, I probably won’t be posting as regular as I have been…it’s starting to warm up outside and I’ve been busy picking up the yards. It is just amazing what the snow uncovers. I’m also still working on the office (former craft room). Today I got out my circular saw and cut down the counter top. I have to admit the circular saw is a scary tool – I cut very sloooowly so the saw would make as neat a cut as possible and so I wouldn’t accidentally cut off a finger! I also moved a filing cabinet I really had no business moving because it is so HEAVY – sheesh! I’ve filled the holes in the wall with wood filler a few days ago and am going to do it a second time today. We’re not talking about pin holes here – I had a love affair with wall anchors awhile back and it’s biting me in the arse right now. So I better get back to work…Happy Crafting!!!!

Bunny Papercutting

Here is a free papercutting pattern of a bunny sitting amongst flowers for you! (I think he’s resting before the big day!) Sketched by me. Here is the cutting unmounted on a piece of paper.

Here is the actual sketch. Notice I was going to add little balls on the flowers…I just got too impatient. I may still add them via thread and circles…this is just to show you that there are no rules in papercutting…

 

If you do cut this I’d love to see it! Take a picture! And, remember to “friend” me as there will be a give-a-way later this week…”friends” will automatically have two entries… here’s a hint – one part of the give-a-way is made of wood and paper! And that is only one part!!

Happy Crafting!!

A Cutting…

Thank you again to Cindy for the awesome pattern!! I did cheat cause I hate cutting circles so I used a hole punch for those…

Dinosaur Papercutting

Yay!! Cindy has resumed her “template Tuesday’s”! As soon as I saw this one I knew it would be perfect for my youngest son!

You can find the dinosaur papercutting template at Cindy’s site. I especially love this because it is always so hard to decorate for a boy! There are a ton of designs and ideas floating around blog-land for a girl…but sometimes I think the boys get forgotten. My boy appreciates crafts (duh – he’s grown up on them) and will just love this! Now I just have to go find some good background paper and a frame…

PS: Shanna – you can cut this out for your dinosaur-lovin boy! This wasn’t too hard at all…

Buckets again -

I made another bucket yesterday. Here it is -

And for the lining I used plastic canvas – and added a zipper to insert it -

And gave it to my youngest son for all his cars. This will look much cuter on his shelf than the box he was using before. Notice I didn’t finish top-stitching on the top left? My bobbin ran out of thread with about 4” of stitching to go – I HATE it when that happens!!! I’ll finish it… someday. I also think I made the handles a little long – and would have liked to appliqué something red on the front but couldn’t decide on what – it’ll do. It’s a practice bucket anyways. Happy Crafting!!

Sparkly Cardinal

Here is another version of the dove. It is a sparkly cardinal instead! Here is the template -

I know it isn’t fancy, but this is my real life and a representation of how I do things. As you can see I took the original sparkly dove pattern and changed the wing just a bit and added a pointy head. Easy peasy. Happy crafting!

Sparkly Dove #2

Geez – this is a bad picture – but it’s been drizzly and I haven’t set up a light box yet. This dove has been painted with a metallic gold acrylic paint. Then stamped with black ink. Then glittered! The end effect looks like a glittered paper bag – ha ha! I actually like it.

 

Happy Crafting!

Sparkly Dove Ornaments

I’ve seen some dove ornaments that I really like these days. And…since I’m too cheap thrifty to purchase any I thought I’d try to make some. So I got out my pencil and paper and started drawing. And erasing. And drawing. This is the shape I came up with. (Which has been inspired by other ornaments I’ve seen as well as various clip art.)

 

Just click on the image to make it bigger, then right click on it and choose save. Then print it out in any size you want. I cut these out from chipboard (the back of a notebook would work) with scissors. Then I painted them and then coated them with glue and glitter!!! I was happy to find a use for my coarse glitter. I’ve had this glitter for years and years – always preferring to use the ultra-fine glitter. But, bigger area – bigger glitter! (And it’s less expensive!) Do you see the gray area behind the dove? Well this is the cheap thrifty way to transfer an image. I scribble all over the back with a graphite pencil and then lay the picture right side up over the chipboard and trace. My youngest son has been helping me with these ornaments. He plans to give one to his teacher for Christmas. I just cut it out for him and he happily painted, glued, and glittered to his heart’s content. I have a few (OK more than a few) hanging from the ceiling right now and they catch any little ray of light and sparkle! I’ll show you other variations in the next couple days.

I’m taking part in a craft challenge – and this is my first project. I’m a little early – but I’m sure there will be days when I don’t get anything done so it’s OK.

Happy Crafting!!

Making it work. . .

When I took this photo of the refurbished bird on top of the fridge I realized the top of my fridge looked just a little sad…

I didn’t show you the entire top of the fridge cause I had painted a terra cotta pot and it didn’t turn out. Not everything turns out, and I just hadn’t gotten around to fixing it. ha ha! Well, since fall is here and I will be having a lot of company this weekend I grabbed some burlap from my stash and wrapped the pot up. Then I gathered a couple other plants from the kitchen that, sadly, were still in their original plastic pots and wrapped them up too! I tied the fabric on by wrapping some jute around the tops – take a look -

Just remember to put a large bowl on the bottom of the pot to catch any water that might run through! Oh – do you like the Halloween paper cutouts? You can find the templates here! I made these last year and had them stuck in our jack-o-lanterns.

Halloween Decorating On A Budget

All of these are made from paper cuttings. . .

I got one of the mouse templates here, and I really can’t remember where it came from? Maybe One Pretty Thing? Anyways, aren’t they cute! The other mice templates came from Martha Stewart’s website – she has so many good templates free to download. The witch came from somewhere? If anyone recognizes it let me know – I like to give credit where credit is due.

I’m trying. . .

So, I’ve been practicing my sketching. It is HARD! As I’ve said before, the hardest thing for me is to come up with an original idea. So I sat down and just let my mind wander and was thinking of that birdbrain that built the nest next to my back door. This is what I came up with. I was also inspired by this post from Snippity Gibbet and I cut this using only a pair of scissors. No craft knife. Just sitting on the couch with my hubby late in the evening. It’s OK – It could use a bit more detail on the bird house. That may come later using a craft knife. Why is it so tricky getting the picture in my head to come out onto paper? Why is it so tricky getting a picture in my head to begin with? Crazy. Try it – if it is easy for you, you have a real talent and need to use it. :)

Country Papercutting

So, thanks to another blogger, I found another website offering free papercutting patterns. Yippeeee! It is here, and I found that website from here, which is a blog that I follow via google reader (I love, love LOVE Google Reader!!!). And here is the first one I’ve cut out so far.

I think I’d like to cut this one again in some funky color. We’ll see. It’s hard to cut anything twice cause there are so many other designs to try!! Too much fun, not enough time.