Catching up....

As I pull up my blog, I am realizing it's been nearly a full year since I last posted and shared any of the crafts or projects I've done with you in alllll this time!!

I mean, it's not like you're not used to my going on a hiatus, but, even I have to admit that's a little ridiculous!!

I started working on a post in January where I was going to share with you my WIPs that I was planning on trying to finish this calendar year, a sort of "New Year's Resolution" type of post, and that simply fell to the wayside and didn't get finished (obvs). 

Long story short, the reason for this is that at my job, my whole team was transitioned to a new role, and it pretty much stole ALL my focus and concentration, and certainly my emotions as it wasn't a role I ever wanted to be in, was a significant change in thinking and work style than I've been in for the last 14 years, and was just generally a difficult time. 

The days turned into weeks, turned into months, and well, here we are!

My company is actually doing another re-organization where my role will be changing, AGAIN, and will be adding other role responsibilities I never wanted to do. Therefore, I am looking for a new job again, if I can't get a different role I'll be going for, or even if I do get it, and get a better option presented that doesn't make me absolutely miserable most days and drain me of any happy thoughts I would otherwise have put into my crafting. This also means that unfortunately, I've mentally checked out quite a bit, so that's also helping with my working on posts again as a way to distract myself and help me get through my days/evenings...


With that said, I will be trying to play catch-up, and will be putting together as many posts as I can for all the things I've made/done this year that I've wanted to share with you, and basically taking advantage of my rediscovered excitement and passion for my crafts.


First thing I will be sharing is the clean-up, de-stash, and re-birth of my craft room at the house we bought in July (YAY!!).

I know I've posted before about trying to clean up and organize my room, but y'all...... this time, I'm tellin' ya, it's GONNA WORK!! You'll see!! I can't wait to share!!

I've also done so many little projects here and there, have learned/done new things I'm excited to post about, and just a whole bunch of stuff in between!!

With that, keep an eye out for these posts, and...

Craft ya laterz!!

Piece 2 of a pair for Mom

A couple years ago, I did a cross stitch piece for my Mom, Spring Flowers in Blue, from one of my favorite stitch pattern websites for simple patterns: Daily Cross Stitch.

Anywho, I found a pair of flower patterns that I thought my mom would enjoy, with this one being the first:

And this one being the second:

I finished the first one, and gave it to her...

...but stole it back so I could make the second one on the same fabric (wanted to make sure they matched), and so I could try and frame them both and get them back to her as an actual completed pair.

I started the second one last Wednesday, and my progress so far...

It's hard to tell which picture shows the yellows better, with flash...

Or without flash...

I hope to finish this piece in the next couple days so by the weekend they're ready to get to her again (time to wash/iron and determine best frame options), and will show you how they look at that time!

UPDATE: Yellow flowers is done!!

And the pair together look great!!

Obviously I haven't washed/ironed this one, but wanted to share as soon as I got done!

I'll see how I get them framed, and perhaps share again! :)

Until then...

Craft ya laters!!

Monthly Flowers - March Done!

I unfortunately didn't take too many pictures of the work in progress, but wanted to share that I've (finally!!) finished March's flowers!!

Finished piece first because that's how I roll:

And of course, folks love to see the backs of projects:

Something I wanted to share however was the before and after of the back-stitching in the pattern around the flowers, and how much of a difference it can make!!

This is before any back-stitching:

And of course, the back-side at that time:

And this is the middle point, where I back-stitched one flower, and left the other bare so you can see the comparison:

So there you have it!

I've gotten 3 of 12 done, so I have 9 more to go, plus the base calendar grid, to be done with this major project!!

Craft ya laters!!

Black and Purple Burst Sheath Dress - Pt 1

After making my watermelon halter dress, I decided to try making another dress.

I found this pattern that seemed pretty simple... 

...and this neat purple flower/sunburst-type fabric:

Neat, huh? Yeah, I can do this... totally!!

Look how nicely they go together!! I mean, it's hard NOT to go well with black, but still! 

So I cut out the pattern pieces, and got to work....

It's a bit hard to see in this picture, but I made darts to bring in the sides!! Have only done that maybe once or twice before...

And also sewed in some vertical darts to adjust for the "feminine figure", on the back side...

Got the middle and 2 side front pieces sewn together...yeah, this is lookin' good!

I got a little bit of puckering at the top corners unfortunately, but hopefully it won't be that noticeable once I'm wearing it?

A quick sexy angled pic of the front pieces sewn together.....teeheehee....

Got the fronts and backs sewn together (really hard to tell....)

Then came time to cut the collar pieces, no biggie, right?

Hmm... something doesn't look right.... Oh darnit!! I forgot to fold the fabric so I get two of each!!

Oh well, at least I have plenty of black fabric to cut more!

Now for the interfacing pieces...

Got the collar pieces sewn on to the body... but there's just the ONE darn spot that puckered, and I didn't realize it! :(

It's a little hard to tell, but you can somewhat see the pucker/foldover below.

I haven't yet sewn down the top-side of the collar, or rather, attached the underside pieces yet, but hey...let's see if this will in fact fit ON me, yes?

I have... NO...idea what's going on with my hair tbh...

W00t!! It fits around me!!

Now for the zipper!!

Hmm... the bottom of the zipper has this weird fold-over looking part, but the first time I've done a cross-stitch at the bottom, to make sure it doesn't break?

But y'all..... you guys....... hey......the method of how the zipper is stitched, with the fabric covering it and making it a hidden zipper... I am SO proud of myself for getting this done SO WELL!! I've never done a zipper like this, and was soooo happy when the 4 times I re-pinned ended up working out once I finally took needle to fabric! :D!!

Secret zipper!!! hahaha

I would just say, I could do for improvement at the top, since this happened (below).... but hey, the rest of the zipper looks pretty darn spiffy, so I'm still pretty happy with how it turned out! :D

I only have 3 more major steps left and this dress will be done!!! It asks me to hand-stitch the outside and inner pieces of collar together/down, I have to add the arms, and seam up the bottom of the dress. 

When I saw the hand-stitch part though, I kiiiiiinda noped out and I haven't picked up this dress for months, so hopefully I will get to this before summer's here and/or I have a reason to where this dress somewhere!! 

Once I finish it though, I will definitely share, so keep an eye out!

Until then... Craft ya laters!! :D

Finally, some more mini canvas painting!!

I finally painted some more mini canvases!! :)

There's no real chatter to put with these, so I hope you enjoy!

Cherry blossom in the wind is on a 2"x3" canvas.

Simple daisies on a black canvas is on a 4"x4" canvas.

And one of my new favorite pieces!! Lovebirds on a branch, with flowers and green background is on a 3"x3" canvas. LOVE IT!!

This 3"x3" canvas I had painted with a blue gradient a while back, and could just never decide what I wanted to put on it. Well, I brought it out when I was hanging out with my mom this last weekend to paint together, and she just 'saw' a boat on it, so I offered her the canvas, and this is what she did! Pretty good, huh? :)

This is another canvas I painted a while back, didn't know what to put on it, but left it with my mom to see what she puts on it! Whenever she decides, I'll try to show y'all, too! :)

Until next time.....

Craft ya laters!! :)

More play with mini perler beads!!

Got in the mood to play with my mini perler beads again, and wanted to share with you all!

These are all some basic little pieces, but definitely make a cute little impact!

Although, if you can't tell... being so tiny, these guys are just a little harder to iron. I accidentally got a few beads static electricitied to the parchment paper when I shifted the iron, and didn't realize until I was done ironing. 

See below vv

It's ok, you can hardly tell from the front.... right? haha

I also did a couple other types of unicorns (I'm in a mini unicorn phase right now...can you tell?? lol), and a rainbow poop! I couldn't resist, they were just sooooooooo cute!!

They're just so tiny, aren't they!?

I also made some lightsabers, a minion, and a butterfly.

Aaaaand..... didn't realize static electricity struck again, when it shifted a couple beads off to the side in his arm area.....

So this guy's just got a random hole in his side! (Please excuse my nails, I'd just recently gotten my acrylic nails off on my own, and hadn't buffed them out yet :"> )

I am just going to leave this little guy as-is, not going to worry about trying to fill in the spot.