Remember that little needle felted cosmic egg I made the other week? Well, it all lead up to this little beauty. Well, not so little, she's about 12" tall and full of love and wisdom. I'd say she took overall about 6 hours to make and was so worth it.
Meet my Inner Wise One: Briony
Her name just popped into my head when I was making her, so I guess that's what it's supposed to be.
She is my earth, air, fire, water and spirit doll. I'm a little bit of everything and so she is too. I couldn't pick just one color to put on her, so I figured a little bit of everything would be perfect.
I love her hair and her flower crown. I stopped coloring my own hair and had it cut super short at the beginning of the year to cut out the color and let the gray shine through. So far, so good, too; I haven't had the urge to color it. I think the natural highlights are growing in quite nicely! I aspire to have long hair one day to wear cute buns, braids and pony's, and I so want to wear a cute flower crown too!
If you are interested in how to make your own Spirit Doll, I recommend you look into the class I took at Sacred Spirit Weavers.
This little needle felted cosmic egg was a lesson in patience and a labor of love. 💕 I had purchased a kit from Amazon a while back, but I couldn't find any good videos to show me what to do. I came across the Sacred Spirit Weavers website while searching and was instantly intrigued! A Medicine Spirit Doll? That's exactly what I was looking for! Then, as if my mind was being read, a class was coming up to make one of these dolls. Holy moly, I was so excited, I signed up right away!
This little cosmic egg was the first project in the class. A perfect start for a beginner like me. Like I said, a test in patience for sure. Needle felting is not meant to be a quick crafting experience. So, I put on some nice and relaxing meditation music I found on Insight Timer and I set to work. An hour can go by very quick when you are felting! My eyeballs were a bit wonky after that, so I smartened up and set the time for 15 minute increments. Much better!
This little cutie is filled with my intentions and dried flowers - Rose for balance and love, Calendula for protection and strength, and Lavender for calming and joy. The shape came out looking more like a russet potato 🥔 or a small dinosaur egg 🦕, but I think for my first ever needle felting project and cosmic egg, it looks pretty cute. 😍
If you like a good jam or preserve but don't enjoy all the sugar and the canning part, you can always make some chia seed jam for the freezer!
I use frozen and thawed organic berries (I like the mixed berry ones), chia seeds, raw honey, lemon zest and juice, and some vanilla extract. I followed the recipe on the back of the Bob's Red Mill chia seed bag and I ended up doubling it for the amount of berries that were in the bag. I added the zest and juice of a fresh lemon and raw honey instead of agave nectar. Super easy, not loaded in tons of sugar, and you can actually taste the fruit. Very tasty!
I just used some little half pint jars and a few jelly jars that I had on hand. I found some regular size plastic lids made by Ball for canning jars for storage and freezing (check Walmart in the canning section). Much nicer than the metal lids and rings.
They just have to cool and I'll put one in the fridge to have with oatmeal in the morning for breakfast and maybe a PB&J for lunch, and the rest will go in the freezer for another day.
I wasn’t sure if I was going to like this transfer, but I absolutely love it! The color combo I chose for this is beautiful, the pictures just don’t do it justice. I have the wing cut outs that go with it and will color them up tomorrow. I love how it looks on its own, but I’m excited to see what it looks like with the cut outs on top.
Tiered trays are all the rage for decorating these days. You can decorate them according to season or to your decor, and they are super easy to change out. Here's my tiered tray that I decorated to match my cute kitchen decor. All the supplies need to make it can be found here.
Hey, Everyone! Thanks for stopping by! My latest mixed media projects turned out super cute, if I do say so myself! I got a lot of great ideas from a bunch of artists on YouTube and attempted to re-create the ones that caught my eye the most. Collage is so much fun!
This first one, Enjoy the Journey, was some scrapbook papers I ripped up into rectangles and then glued down overlapping one another, kind of like brickwork. I painted over with a light coat of gesso and used some water color pencils and a fine tip marker to add some details. I like to take my time and tend to have quite a few "Squirrel!" moments of crafting distractions, so it took me a few afternoons to get it done.
Well, my break from social media didn't last long! During the past week, I have been trying to reconnect with my crafting soul. It got lost somewhere during the past few years (I'm blaming Covid!) and while I was crafting, I just wasn't feeling it. So the little hiatus was good for me! I found some crafting sites on YouTube and became instantly hooked on the style of Mixed Media. I now have a purpose for all those craft supplies I haven't used and have been hoarding saving over the years. 😂 I guess I knew deep down there would come a day when they would all come together for a common project.
I literally watched dozens of videos of different styles of Mixed Media by different artists; Laly Mille, Tiffany Solorio, Keren Tamir, Graphic 45, Prima Marketing, and a bunch of junk journal artists, to name a few. Each has a different style, but the techniques were pretty similar. My first attempt at it was terrible. Made no sense whatsoever because I tried to do it all at once and in way too many colors. 😂 I was way to excited and couldn't wait to give it a go. Then I stepped back, tried a couple techniques to see if it would work, and then I jumped back in and made this little beauty, which I am quite happy with!
I haven't played around with my Cameo for a while, so I thought I would take the chance to brush up on my Silhouette Cameo 4 skills and learn some new stuff. I found a great class and I am learning a few more tips and tricks with regards to crafting with this fun piece of technology.
If you are not familiar with Silhouette America, the Silhouette Cameo 4 is a desktop cutting machine that lets crafters cut (or draw) digital designs out of paper, cardstock, vinyl, fabric and a variety of other materials. The software used is called Silhouette Studio and the basic version of the software is available for free, with paid upgrades depending on your crafting needs. I have been a Silhouette user since way back when it first came out under the Quikutz brand about 15 years ago. The software back then was very intimidating and there wasn't a lot of training available, but I figured it out and have come across tons of helpful videos and training since.
For this project, I used my We R Memory Keepers (WRMK) Foil Quill. This tool is a like heat pen that goes into the blade holder and is used with a special type of foil to add designs to cards and scrapbook pages. I'll start at the beginning on how the project process worked.
First off, I got my design sized up in Silhouette Studio and added the sketch and cut lines.
These purple lines are where the Cameo will sketch with the foil quill heat tool over the foil I taped onto the cardstock.
These red lines are where the Cameo will cut out the wreath with the Autoblade.
Then I printed it out on cardstock with the registration marks; they help the Cameo read where to cut (red) and sketch (purple). I taped the foil over top of the design, being careful not to hide the registration marks. Then into the machine it went. The machine reads the registration marks and then proceeds to "draw" the lines as they are on the screen.
After the cardstock had been foiled, I'd removed the mat from the machine and gently removed the tape and the foil to expose the beautifully foiled designs!
I put the mat back into the machine with the cardstock still attached, let it read the registration marks, and off it went to cut out the pretty wreaths.
After it was all done, I carefully removed the wreaths from the mat and then cut out a card base and made a cute sentiment to attach to the card with the same foiling technique I used for the wreaths.
Super cute or what!? Someone is getting this little cutie for Christmas.
Well, my new Fall decorations are a bit late and I didn't put out my usual full-on pumpkin display this year. In my last post, I shared my new Fall tradition of putting up the "Christmas" tree, but with Fall decorations ~ the Fall Celebration Tree. Next year, my plan is to put the tree up at the beginning of October along with all my Fall decorations, and I will probably add some Halloween decorations on it as well. What the heck ~ why not? 🎃
You all know I love my crafts, especially my chalk art! I had to make at least a few new chalk art items to put on display. The Fall Blessings is Chalk Couture's November's Club Couture transfer and other one, Autumn Skies & Pumpkin Pies, is an adorable 5"x7" transfer that fits perfectly on the CC Board & Pillar surface. Sooooo cute!! Did you know that Chalk Couture™ dabbles in ink as well? I tried my hand at some pillow covers the other weekend. It's the exact same technique ~ lay the reusable silk screen stencil on the fabric and smooth out the bubbles. Apply your ink with a squeegee. Remove stencil, wash and dry it for another day. Let the ink air dry (overnight or so), then heat set. I threw mine in the dryer on high for about 5 minutes after the ink was dry ~ I won't be washing them, but I might just spray them with some Scotch Guard to protect them from spills. I think I'll put some Christmas designs on the back of them so that they are reversible and I can just pack them away after the holidays.
