Author: redheadcrafts

Decided connecting to social media would help keep me accountable. LOL We shall see what happens with that. I’ve updated my contacts page with everywhere I’m currently located. Instagram and Facebook should be big helps for keeping up to date with the things I’m doing.

Meanwhile, I have been crafting away, started a new job, and have moved, along with all of the usual day to day things. So, between the usual crafty things and house projects I should have lots to share.

My favorite house project so far has be refinishing the original hardwood floors before moving in. I love them so much!

I’ve finished a couple cross stitch projects and have been working on lots of other projects. So, soon I hope to be sharing all of those things with you all.

Until next time, happy crafting!

After seeing many cross stitchers start diamond painting, I was truly intrigued. I wasn’t sure if I really wanted to dive in though. Over the summer we visited my parents and their awesome craft store in my little hometown. My Mom showed me the diamond paintings and that they were doing really well there. It’s so similar to how a cross stitch pattern is laid out, but you don’t have to thread a needle so each “stitch” goes quicker. I told her that if she ever got a Starry Night by Van Gogh, I would do it. If you are also a lover of Doctor Who, you will understand my attachment to this piece of art. LOL I quickly forgot about it with everything else going on with daily life.

Christmas rolls around and their box of presents arrives. There were a few in there for me. LOL I was excited to see what they were because the present from my dad was heavy and likely a book, but what book could it be?!? And there was this long box that was quite unusual in size. The suspense was killer! Especially since we didn’t have Christmas until the Friday after, as the boys were with their dad. The book is “Becoming” by Michelle Obama and that unusual box was, of course, the diamond painting. I hope to sit down and read more this year. This book is on the top of my list.

I wish I would have taken more pictures of the box the diamond painting box and the goodies when I opened it. Lesson learned. LOL I was a little excited to just jump in and start.

It is a Diamond Dotz kit. The diamonds are round instead of square. I don’t know the differences between the two but it might be fun to see. So, you use a stylus with a cup and wax to move the diamonds to the painting. It sticks because the canvas is incredibly sticky. I will still probably spray it with a lacquer to make sure they never come loose before framing it.

Here’s a close up of what the diamonds look like. They’re so sparkly! Oh, I also put the diamonds in snack sized baggies with a piece of card stock and labeled them with their number and symbol to make it faster to find the ones I wanted without losing them all over.

I worked on it for an hour or two at a time. It probably took about 20 hours to complete. That’s not including preparing the diamonds for quick access. There are many ways to organize diamonds and it really has a lot to do with how involved you want to be in the hobby. I recommend watching several YouTube videos on storing the diamonds, how to do one, and the many ways to finish it. I had my cat wanting to be in the middle of things sometimes too. LOL It’s a good thing she’s so adorable and sweet.

Here is my completed painting. I would watch TV or listen to music while I worked.

I love it! Now to figure out how to frame and where to hang it.

Thanks for visiting! Happy crafting! See you soon!

Holy cow! I haven’t posted since October?!? It’s been a crazy few months. I started a new job, navigated the holidays with my crazy family schedule, finished a bunch of projects, and made some goals for the new year. I hope you had a great holiday season and are enjoying the New Year so far. This is incredibly long. I hope you can stick it out to the end.

I finished the Koi Pond and got it stretched on the canvas. My friend absolutely loved it and says she’s not worthy of such a gift. I love giving handmade gifts to fellow crafters. They understand how much time and effort goes into making things. Here is what it looks like completed and ready to package. I had a really hard time waiting to give it to her.

I designed and finished my quilled ornaments for the ornament exchange and potluck. It was so much fun. I was even able to get them all hung on my little tinsel tree to show them off. I made a simple cone, put a trim around the bottom, and stuck a pre-made paper poinsettia to them. They seemed so simple, so I added a jingle bell to the inside with the hangar piece, then attached a length of ribbon so they can hang from a branch. So simple, but still cute as heck.

I was also able to get another building finished on my Country Cottage Needleworks Santa’s Village. I was working on it as part of a stitch a-long (SAL), where we were stitching one a month. LOL I did great until April and things became a bit scattered. I am about halfway done with the fifth house. I’d like to have this finished before Christmas this year so I can display it. It’s so stinking cute!

I made some project bags for myself and to give as gifts. They’re so much fun and functional. I still have several I need to finish sewing up. I followed this video on YouTube by Calico for measurements and directions. She does a fantastic job of explaining everything. I only have a few left and they already have projects in them. They work great for many things. My boys want one each to carry things in. I’ll share the others when I get them finished.

I received a diamond painting from my mom for Christmas that I have been working on when I have spare time and am not completely in a stitching mood. It’s a lot of fun. I can definitely see why it’s so popular right now. One of the cats loves jumping up and “assisting” to get some pets and let me know it’s dinner time.

So much more happened I’m sure but I know I’m not remembering it all. I started a new job with the government in November. Luckily I work with the Department of Defense, so the shutdown didn’t effect my pay, but it was a huge realization that my savings isn’t where it needs to be in a situation like that. I’m going to be working through my Financial Fitness program and I may or may not share bits of it here. There was also an incredible wind storm and power was out for us for 15 hours and many in our neighborhood were out for 4 days just before Christmas. This made me realize that I’m not completely prepared for emergencies. The boys and I did a paint and sip together. We all had a blast. I still need to find a place to hang mine. Hedwig from the Harry Potter series.

With the New Year comes new goals and a revitalization of others. This year I want to get my house organized and I’m working along with A Bowl Full of Lemons‘ home organization challenge. I will put some pictures up as I go through it a couple weeks late. Hopefully it helps to clear out some of my clutter and along with it some of my anxiety. I’m paying more attention to my health and trying to make sure I get some form of exercise in more often. I want to get back into reading. So, I’m starting with Becoming by Michelle Obama. I received it as a gift for Christmas from my dad. I’m still in the first Chapter. Finally, with my crafts I’m going to try to use my stash up and finish up some of the half and nearly completed projects I have sitting around. We shall see how this comes along, but I’m hoping putting it here and updating this as much as possible will help keep me on track. I also joined the “Stitch From Stash 2019” group on Facebook so I will hopefully be able to get some help with not wanting to buy all the things.

I hope you have time to craft and relax before I visit again!

Always staying busy, sometimes too busy. I’m almost finished with the Koi Pond and have been working on the crochet project for the JoAnn’s mystery stitch along. Both have been fun. I’m a couple clues behind on the mystery stitch along though.

Here is the Koi Pond. The last little bit is mostly water and a flower so it should go pretty quickly. I see having this finished before the end of the month, but I’m not going to hold myself to it.

This came from The World of Cross Stitching, I’m not sure which issue though as it’s not easy to figure out. It came out in 2018 though.

The mystery stitch along has been an interesting experience because I’ve never done a mystery one before. You can find it here. I’m hoping I can get caught up before the next and last clue is put out on Monday. It’s Bernat Blanket yarn. I’m sure it could be done with any other bulky yarn. Here’s where it’s currently at, my son decided he wanted to curl up with it because it is so soft.

I also need to get to work on my ornaments for the annual ornament exchange I attended. It’s a lot of fun. You make 20 ornaments that are as identical as possible and you exchange them with the others in the group and every year you have 20 new handmade ornaments to put on your tree.

I hope you have a good day and that I will post again soon.

Time has gotten away from me. There is so much going on around here but I really wanted to put an update out even if I don’t have a lot to show and I have to do it from my phone.

So, I was figuring I would be working on a bunch of other things, but have yet to put the Koi Pond down. I have other things I want to do, but I’m addicted to how this piece is working up. I finished stitching the left lower portion. It’s cute, but looks way better with the back stitching. Here are the before and after of the back stitching. It always surprises me how much it gives to the project.

Here it is while the hoop is off. This is the left half. I’m hoping the rest doesn’t take too long to finish because I have plans for this one.

This is currently where I’m at on the upper right section. I’m still struggling to put it down. And I’m so excited to get it finished

I’ve had this blog set up for almost a year and have been too nervous and busy to add content. So, here it goes.

Lately I have been working on cross stitch projects primarily. I bounce between all of my crafts. I am trying to figure out what I’m going to make for the annual ornament exchange I’m a part of. It’s a fun night of showing off our craftiness as well as all of the frustrating steps it took to get them figured out. I have always done something paper related. I’m pretty sure I have a solid idea for this year’s event keep tuned and I’ll post my progress here. It will be a quilled object.

Today, I’m working on a fun cross stitch project that I’m looking forward to getting finished. It’s called Underwater Jewels by Carol Thornton in The World Of Cross Stitching. I’m not sure how to tell which issue it is though, so here’s a picture of the cover. I’m working on a few projects from this one. So many cute patterns in there!

I hope you have a good week ahead and that I’m able to start regularly adding content.