Sacred Space CAL

The new Sacred Space CAL by Helen Shrimpton started this week.  There are many crocheters who happily anticipated the start of this project.  Helen always creates magnificent projects.  We appreciate the thorough instructions and the accompanying videos - the videos are life savers.  

I am working on part one which contains 30 rows.  Part 2 will be released at the end of next week.  This blanket will be for my daughter-in-law, Koharu.  Blue is her favorite color too.

Myriad CAL

 

I have been making great progress on my Myriad CAL crocheted blanket.  The pattern is by Iman van der Kraan.  You can find the pattern as well as instructional videos for each part on Ravelry.  This complex design has 15 parts and I am working on part 11 at the moment.  I chose Caron Simply Soft yarn for this one.  I have learned some fun new stitches. 

Watercolor Diecut Background Card

 

I created this pretty card using watercolor paper and Lindy's Magicals for the CAS Watercolour Blog Challenge.  The photo doesn't do the iridescent shimmer justice.  This is an unbranded die full of flowers.  I added a funky floral flower die and a stamped sentiment in the corner to finish it off.  I love the pop of Lindy's colors. 

Pastel Flower Card

The new challenge at The Flower Challenge is Pretty Pastels.  I created my pretty pastel flower card using patterned and glittered papers, unbranded shine and leaf dies and packaged flowers.  I cut the shine sentiment 3 times and stacked the glitter piece over 2 pieces of white cardstock.  This will be perfect for someone who needs a little encouragement.

Water Challenge - Funkie Junkie

 

This card is for the Funkie Junkie Boutique Water Challenge this month.  I used Tim's Alcohol pearls on Yupo paper for the background.  For the greenery, I foiled alcohol ink paper which always adds a lot of interest.  The water plants were cut using some of Tim's funky floral dies as well as an unbranded die.   The fish was fussy cut using a fish that my daughter, Alexandra drew for me.  I searched everywhere, but couldn't find a fish stamp or diecut.  I think her fish is perfect!  I added Nuvo jewel drops for the eye.  To finish off the card, I adhered a little Distress glitter and Judikins Speckles as well as Stampendous embossing powder to create the sand. 

This isn't my usual style of card making, which is why I love the challenges.  They can really stretch your comfort zone as well as your imagination.  If you haven't tried a challenge, I encourage you to participate.  It is a good way to use supplies that have been sitting in your stash as well.  I had not used the Judikins speckles in many years, but it made perfect sand.

The Gardens

 

We are really enjoying our raised garden beds this year.  I planted early and filled the 9 beds with cool weather loving crops like spinach lettuce, radishes, beets, snow peas, carrots and potatoes.  As a result, we have been enjoying fresh salads from the garden for months.  I like to grow sturdy-leaved lettuce varieties like romaine so that they have a nice crunch in a salad. 

 

These are some of our different radishes and beets.  One of the varieties I planted was the Easter Egg radish.  They were very colorful.  The beets did very well in the raised beds.

 

We placed hog panels between the beds to form arches for the climbing plants.  For spring, we have peas and snow peas.  My new favorite snow pea is a golden variety called Golden Sweet.  The lighter color makes it much easier to see the pods when harvesting.

 

These are some of our pretty flowers from the perennial beds.  The iris is an older variety from a friend and the little purple flowers are called Wine Cups.

 

The beautiful and fragrant rose is a newcomer to the gardens this year.  I found it at Walmart.  The columbines are behind my house and have been coming back since 1994.  Some years the colors are different from hybridizing, but they are always pretty. 

 

 

Testing Lindy's Magicals

My favorite thing to do when I get new craft supplies is to try them out.  I love to see the colors and the sparkle of Lindy's Magicals.  5 ordered three new sets: Sweet Treats, Drink Me silly and Prairie Wildflower. 

 

I used a watercolor brush to test the colors on a piece of watercolor paper.  Once it dried, I used the scrap pieces for die cutting.  This is a creative use of the scraps and they always make unique die cuts.  All dies are unbranded.

Lindy's Inspired Doodle Cards

Lindy's designer, Asia, posted these beautiful cards she made using her own doodles and Lindy's Magicals.  Her post can be found on the Lindy's blog.  I was inspired to try making my own.  My daughter, Alexandra, is a talented artist and she created all of the doodles.

As she was drawing more doodles, I began coloring the designs with Lindy's Magicals and a watercolor brush.  Each design is unique and will make a beautiful card.

I used several colors, listed below and each time I switched colors, I :cleaned up" the mess on my glass mat using a piece of watercolor paper.  I really hate to waste the pretty sparkly watercolors.  The end result turned out beautifully.   

I used an unbranded die to cut a glossy black flower design.  I glued this over the Lindy's scrap color background.  Beautiful!

Lindy's Magicals Used:

Clam Bake Beige

Prima donna Purple

Hi Maintenance Magenta

Whale Watch Blue

Blingy Blonde

Autumn Maple Crimso

Sassy Sapphire

Drop Dead Gorgeous Green

Ponderosa Pines Olive

Time Travel Teal

Salt Water Taffy

Sea Grass Green

Dragonfly Collage

 

This month I decided to create a piece for the Lindy's Color Challenge.  I chose canvas board as my substrate and added lots of Lindy's color.

 

I started with Lindy's Magicals and their new Squirts.  I lovve the shimmer from the classic Magicals, but the intense color of the squirts make this an exciting new coloring medium.

 Once the background color was dry, I added texture using Bo Bunny Glitter Paste in a couple of colors using two different stencils.

 

Next, I added Lindy's embossing powder to select areas of the purple glitter paste.  This softened the glitter look and gave me the Lindy's color I was looking for.

 

This dragonfly has been in my stash for years.  This piece was too big for a card, but perfect for this larger canvas.  It is solid metal and was originally a rusted copper color.   I swiped it with embossing ink, sprinkled Lindy's embossing powders and melted.  I love the shimmery look you get from layering these powders.  

I used Lindy's squirts to color the paper clay plaques at the top and bottom of the collage.  I sprinkled a little embossing powder on them as well. 

 

For the leaves and flowers, I added a layer of foil leaf cutouts in purple and gold and then adhered a few pre-made flowers.  I colored  the smaller flowers with Lindy's Magicals and then finished them off with Nuvo Dream Drops.

 

Products used:

Lindy's Magicals: Hi Maintenance Magenta, Blingy Blonde and Prima Donna Purple

Lindy's Squirts: Poutine Gold and Polite People Purple

Lindy's Embossing Powder: Golden Angel Wings, Cafe Au Lait and Hydrangea Blue Mauve

Bo Bunny Glitter Paste: Pink Punch and Gold

Nuvo Dream Drops: Gold Luxe

Crochet Baby Blanket Progress

 

I have been working on the new brightly colored baby blanket.  I only have a few rows left on each square before I assemble them together.  There are three squares each of two colorways.  I like the feel of the Carol, Simply Soft yarn.

 

I whipped up llama for my daughter's birthday last week.  I found and purchased the pattern on Etsy from Nellas Cottage.  I modified it a little, but it turned out really cute.

Thanks Tags

 

I had fun playing with new stamps from Simon Says Stamp.  My inspiration came from Papertrey Ink.

 

I started by smearing a little ink directly from a Memento ink pad to create the background color of the flower.  Then I stamped the image with a slightly darker color.  Then I diecut all of the flowers and leaves.  I used alcohol inks and blending solution to apply color to Heidi Swapp glitter paper and then die cut the thanks from it.  The color is subtle when dried and gives a different look than Ranger Silver Sparkle Alcohol ink paper.

I also used the same glitter paper to diecut the hole cover and the flower centers.  These tags are very simple, but the pops of color against the white make an impact.