Long-term projects

A friend was recently giving me a hard time because of how long a certain project was taking me. I had started it on February 25, and the last stitch was completed on August 3. Now, obviously, there were a lot of other projects that were done during that time, but the fact remains that it sat in my 'in-process' stack for several months. (That's not too bad considering the blanket that was 'back-burnered' for 4 years.)

After reading this story, I don't feel so bad anymore.

Source

Wow!!! Talk about incredible craftsmanship! Simply beautiful.

What's the longest you've ever worked on a project?

Quick Earrings

I'm still not sure if the pictures will be working on my computer, but here's an attempt anyway. =)

Here's a pair of earrings I put together tonight.

Mother's Day Cards

Interesting time of year in the U.S. for this post. That's what happens when you look through last year's photos! You suddenly find a project you forgot to post.

Nothing special, just some stamped cards. But since I'm never very creative about making original cards, I was pleased with the final product. One for my mom and one for my mother-in-law.

This was done with a Stampin' Up! set. I stamped the letters, trimmed them close, stuck them to the turquoise paper, trimmed that close, and stuck them to the card which I had already stamped to create a colorful background. Fun geometric look!

This one was also done with Stampin' Up! stamps. It is just a stamped image and ribbon with layers of purple, red, and silver paper. It's hard to see in the photo, but the silver has a nice matte shine to it.

Do you ever hand-make cards? Do you have an intense amount of guilt buying any when you know you could just make them if you'd planned ahead or had enough time? Some people are so talented at it that I'm often afraid mine won't measure up, but that's what keeps us trying, right?

Scarf Organizer

A lot of crocheting = less time for posting!

But here's a little project I did one night.

I looked into my (extremely tiny) closet and found this:

What a mess! I was instantly reminded of something my mom made for our belts when we were younger. There wasn't a sample to follow or anything, but here's what it became:

Not perfect, but it will certainly work! Grab a few milk rings and a wire hanger, crochet around, and voila: a neater Scarf Organizer!

(After the picture, I took the thicker brown pashmina and draped it over the middle so it didn't get wrinkled squeezing through a tiny loop.)

Several more projects to post soon! Two of them will have to wait until after their recipients have received them. Yay! One of them was the classic 'just-taped-it-up-and-OH CRUMB!-I-forgot-to-take-a-picture' scenario. =)

Iris Folding - Teapot Card

Apparently scanning it in is the way to go...

Now you can see the texture a little better! (Click it to get an even better view.)

This is Mother's Day card #2, the one for my mom.

These can be used for framed art, scrapbook pages, or cards. Give it a try!

Iris Folding - Square

Once you get out all your paper, scissors, X-acto knife, and everything, you want to make more than one project. So while I made Mother's Day cards (second picture coming...), I made some samples for a friend.

Here's the square.

I really liked how the bright colors turned out for this with the silver-Sharpied border.

It would make so much more sense if you could feel the texture of these and see the 3-D look of it. If you want to give it a try, check out my tutorial.

Iris Folding - Mother's Day card

One of my catch-up projects is a card I made for my mother-in-law for Mother's Day.

This is a pretty simple Iris Folding pattern, so it was a fun and quick project to finish up one evening of a very busy week.

If you're looking for how to make something like this (they look much more intricate in person...pictures don't do them any justice), I have a tutorial here. I'll be sharing a few more later this week.

(Yes, I know that's not what tulip leaves look like...oh well!) =)

Secret projects...for now

After all the crazy April posting, I've had a wonderful time catching up on other projects!

I have several items to show you and some that need to stay hidden for a bit longer. Mixed in will be some crochet, some paper crafts, some bead jewelry, and maybe a few more if I'm feeling brave.

It's a crazy week ahead for us! Today begins a flurry of activities that will die down sometime on Sunday afternoon.

Tutorials

Tutorials are one of the best things about sharing craft ideas and recipes in the blogosphere, right? T is for Tutorials.

There aren't many here at In the Loop, but here's a compilation of what I have:

Chain Link Scarf

Curly-Q or Curlicue Scarf

Iris Folding - Paper Craft

Bead Crochet Rope Step-By-Step Tutorial

Refried Beans

Chicago Style Deep Dish Stuffed Pizza

Oreo Truffles, known around here as Bloodshot Eyeballs (2nd attempt was much prettier)

I think that's all I have. Did I miss any?

Let me know if you've tried any of these things! I'd love to see pictures.

Joy!

J is for JOY!!

I have a little personal soapbox about the difference between joy and happiness.

Happiness is fleeting and is dependent upon circumstances.

Joy is internal and can continue despite circumstances.

So, I encourage you to find JOY in what you do: crafting, cooking, working, et cetera (that one's for you Marie Anne =) ).

Even when you run out of yarn on a project,

try again.

Even when your thread breaks and you have tiny seed beads everywhere, plow ahead and try to fix it.

Even when life just keeps you too busy to do all the projects you want to do, keep at it! Find the JOY!

A winter craft

After Christmas, I told you about a fun craft that hubby's cousin did with the kiddos, and I promised pictures. Well, I finally remembered to grab it out of the drawer to snap a picture.

Grab some fabric paint (she's SO much more brave than I am) and paint the bottom of each child's foot (generously). Press the footprint into the middle of the shirt. Then let them make fingerprint snowflakes all around. Let them decorate the snowman according to their abilities/age.

Yep, his snowman is sporting a baseball cap rather than a top hat! Funny boy.

I decided to go ahead and put the year on the sleeve for memory reference. Later we decided to put his name and handprints on the back. That didn't work quite as well. I wasn't generous enough with the paint the first time, so I ended up doing it again (and tried to line them up again...crazy). I put an outline around each handprint, and that seemed to work.

So now you have a fun kid-approved craft idea for winter or to commemorate a snow-day or something!