from the tutorial files: making my own foam applicators

I found this tutorial on Pinterest and immediately bookmarked it because I can never seem to have enough of the foam for the Distress Ink pads. Since it's quiet and rainy here today I decided to try it out. I love the idea that I now can have a foam pad dedicated to each color.

Let it be known that I'm so jealous she used some rounded stamp mounts! I took all my mounted stamps apart last summer and kept the wood mounts to use for various projects. I did a little sanding to clean up my wood mounts and used some Red-Line Tape.

Super easy to put together and really, such an awesome idea. I like the size of the stamp mounts, as they fit more comfortably in my hand and I feel like I have more control. The only thing I'm not liking, or perhaps not used to, is the Cut n' Dry Foam. It's so much thicker than the pre-cut foam that comes in the packages. I'm going to play around with these and see how they work for me, but so far, I'm in love!

adventures in crochet

i have long wanted to learn how to crochet and finally found a tutorial that was actually effective. i'm one of those people who can learn things if someone shows me how first and i'm kind of slow about new stuff, so it has to be just the right kind of tutorial. i used crochet school by craftyminx and seriously, her entire series is so awesome. full on instructional and really taught me quite a bit.

unfortunately, crochet ended up being rather painful for me. after a while my arms and shoulders were sore, then i noticed it really set off my carpal tunnel, thus making my hands numb while sleeping. but i loved doing it so much i continued on. i have all kinds of little squares everywhere that i've been using as stamp scrubbers, so it's worked out nicely.

other than killing my hands i made this. i made a whole bunch of practice squares and felt confident i could make myself a scarf. so i got started.

then i noticed it started to ruffle. and not really getting longer like a scarf would but wider. i liked it so i kept going. i took it over to my parents on christmas eve and i think my mother laughed for a good five minutes before saying anything.

there were comparisons to those colorful mexican skirts you sometimes see dancers in. to tree skirts. there was lots of laughter over it and i was okay with that because i was still "learning but isn't it neat looking?"

she showed me where i screwed up and i went ahead and finished it. when spread out the way it is it literally turns into a circle. i’m thinking i can make it into a pillow…somehow.

project: glittered posies

sometimes i wonder why i bookmark things that i normally wouldn't use. mostly it's because i think it's a cute project and might some day have a use for it. someday being the key word. i bookmarked these glittered posies back in february and tackled them this afternoon. (there are no during the process pictures, though. it was just too much stuff to carry to bring along my camera!)

i loved doing these. super simple instructions and a great way to use those papers that come in sets. i used crate paper's emma's shop collection for these. in following the instructions i found it easier to spray my nonstick mat then swirl the circles around in it rather than spritzing each one. i got better coverage that way and was better able to control how much water actually got onto the paper. i think only once i got the paper too wet. once dry i ran some distressed ink over the edges and put them together with a brad.

also, this project reminded me i need some of that fancy german glass glitter to finish these off!

here's an up-close:


and here's how i ended up using the posies i made:


tutorial for the glittered posies can be found here.