My Reading Blog

I'm not sure if you all are aware, but I do have a reading blog. The link is at the top of the page. I started my reading blog at the beginning of this year. I always wanted a space to share my thoughts about books I have read or are reading and I thought a blog was the perfect way to do. Plus I wanted to enter some reading challenges in blog land and for most you need a blog. I haven't been good about the challenges, but such is life I'm afraid. You long to do everything, yet there aren't enough hours in the day to them. 

If you like to read, I encourage you to visit me on my blog space over there and share your thoughts with me. I'm always looking out for great authors and other books to read. What better way to find out then through other people who have read them. I'm currently reading the final Harry Potter book. I know there are many fans of this series. I haven't finished the book yet, but I did write a post today on some thoughts I wanted to share about the series and the author. If you share in the feeling, please feel free to comment and share your thoughts with me. I would love to know what you think about the series being over.

http://jenscozyreadingspace.blogspot.com/2011/07/im-reading-again.html 

Enjoy your weekend!

Jen

Some X-Stitch and Crochet Progress...

Happy Monday Morning!

Well it is 2AM my time, so yea that would make it Monday morning then right?! :) I was very fortunate to have a crafty productive weekend. I was able to make a card (two actually, one was not my original design). I worked on my "J" fairy cross-stitch project and I managed to work on the baby crochet afghan blanket that I started a few months ago. I really do like stitching on the weekends because the TV always has some re-runs of movies going on. I managed to watch some of the Harry Potter movies for the 100th time as well as the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie for like the 90th time. It is all good. It is just noise for me really since I pay more attention to my stitching than anything. I also happened to catch a Lifetime TV documentary movie on J.K. Rowling. It was very inspirational and some parts of it made me cry. Lifetime movies tend to do that to me sometimes. I honestly never knew what her life was like before her Harry Potter fame. Actually once I watched that documentary, I decided to finally watch the first installment of the new Harry Potter movie that is out. Don't get me wrong, I've read the first 6 books and saw those movies, but I kind of put off seeing the 7th one until I read the book. I finally said Oh Well and watched the movie anyways. Since I hate going to the theater, I have no choice but to read the 7th book to catch the ending to it all. The first movie ended in such a cliff hanger with so many questions unanswered that I now have to read the book to satisfy my curiosity or I will go crazy! Better for me since I will finally have a book to talk about on my reading blog. I've been neglecting it these last few months. Just haven't had much time to read.

My progress pictures: Nora Corbett "J" Fairy - I did some more bead work today

My next progress picture is my Round Ripple Baby Afghan:

I purchased this pattern with yarn kit online from Herschnerrs.com. I wanted to practice my crochet skills and pattern reading skills some more while also making a co-worker a little gift. This has given me really good practice and it is an easy pattern. It is all double-crochet (except the middle). I have about thirteen more rows to do which doesn't sound like much but it is. The design grows more in stitches every few rows so it takes longer to do a full circle of the stitches as more stitches are added. I have no set deadline for this, but I'm gonna try to do a row or two each week until it is done.

Enjoy your week everyone! Thank you as always for your kind comments.
Jen

Some Christmas Card Challenges...

Happy Saturday!

I finally got around to making a Christmas card like I wanted. Unfortunately though some of the card challenges I wanted to enter are already over. But there are a few still open so Yay!

I've been watching Mary over at Cardz TV and I absolutely love her videos. She is so talented and I have learned so much. I decided to take a cue from her and make a smaller card base size. She uses 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" card bases, which are much smaller than what I was using. I have to say that I really like the smaller card bases. Sometimes working on a smaller area is so much easier than a bigger one, unless you are someone that enjoys going embellishment crazy on your cards and need the extra space. Plus your papers go a longer way i.e. you have more to use on another project. I also practiced using my paper trimmer as a guide for my cutting. Before I was measuring and cutting in a different manner, but it seemed so cumbersome and my papers never came out quite straight. After watching Mary's videos, using the paper trimmer made a lot more sense.

Card Supplies:
4 1/4" X 5 1/2" Card Base
Christmas papers from Hot off the Press - Christmas Creative Pack
DigiStamp: Christmas Mouse with Mistletoe by Bug A Boo Stamps
Red Nail Head Stickers by Hot off the Press
Gold Stickles by Ranger
Snowflake Sticker from my Stash
Crayola Colored Pencils
Basic Markers

I would like to enter my card into these challenges:
1) Paper Sundaes - Christmas in July
2) Christmas Card Challenges - Any Christmas Card
3) Creative Inspirations - Christmas in July
4) Paper Cutz Challenge - Anything Goes

If any of you are interested in seeing Mary's video's, just click the button on my sidebar and it will take you directly to her blog.

Now time for some stitching! Stay cool and creative everyone. :)
Jen

So Beadwork can be easy...

Don't you just love those moments when things just "click"? You stare at something and analyze it 100 different ways to figure out how to do it and then all of a sudden you go Ah Ha! Now I get it!. Well that was me tonight with the beading on my Nora Corbett "J" Fairy Design. As I mentioned, this is an adventure for me cause it is a new technique. Until recently, I was an Aida and DMC only stitcher who basically only stitched kits. Hearing the word "Evenweave" scared me! So Bead work is totally a new realm for me as you can imagine.

I was working on my design tonight going about doing the beading and ended up stopping because I didn't like how the beads were laying. I kept looking at the chart picture and telling myself that my beads didn't lay like the ones in the picture. Plus my other clue was just the fact of how frustrating it was for me to count and find the right holes to attach the beads. That coupled with me using invisible thread just increased my stress level and made me stop to think about what I was doing. Then finally, I realized I was going up at the right holes but down in the wrong ones. That is what caused my beads to lay weird. Cue the "Click" and Ah Ha! moment. Well I was so happy to figure it out, I went and took out the beads I did and started over. Now they are laying like the chart picture. YAY!

Here is my updated pic. I'm really slow with the beads because 1) I check, check and re-check that I'm putting the beads in the right place and 2) I'm using invisible thread which I can barely feel in my hand let alone actually see. Its almost like I have to imagine the thread is on my needle.

I'm so looking forward to the weekend. This week has been crazy at work and I just want to vegetate in my house for at least one day this weekend and just stitch.

Happy Crafting!
Jen

Attention all Paper Holics!

There is some amazing and I do mean AMAZING paper crafting blog candy up for give-a-way over at Scrappin for Kenzie's blog. Check out this lot she is giving away. She's basically cleaned out her stash of the old (at least old to her :) and is making room for the new. I think anyone who wins this will need a closet just for it all. LOL. Hop on over and check it out. She's looking forward to meeting some new crafty friends. :)

Happy Crafting!
Jen

A Best Wishes Masculine Card

Happy Tuesday Everyone:

First off I wanted to say Welcome to my new Followers **Hugs**. It is always so exciting to meet more people who share the same love of crafts and needle-arts as I do. Thank you for being a part of my little space in blog land. :D

Well I mentioned before that I was going to be back with a Christmas card, but it turns out I was asked to do another card. I was watching TV on Sunday night at 1 AM (having one of my insomniac moments) while also texting my dear boyfriend (he works nights) when he asks me if I could make his best friend a card for his going away dinner party this Wednesday night. His friend has decided to attend a college in Charlotte, North Carolina to finish his degree in Architecture and he is set to officially leave with his girlfriend this weekend. I know my boyfriend will really miss him. They are more like brothers than friends and the adventures of dumb things they did in their younger days could easily fill a 500 page book. Enough said!

So how thoughtful of my darling to tell me A) about the party two days before hand and B) ask me at the last minute to make a masculine card of all cards at the next to last minute. Because masculine cards are just so easy to make....? Of course he laid some ground rules for me. The card could not have any girlie froo froo or cutesy things like bows or flowers or glitz. Well duh honey! it is a card for a MAN. Too bad for him I got the Stickles on the card and it still screams man so he has to deal with that. I was very tempted to stick a flower on it for giggles but thought better of it.

I did one special thing for this card that I have never done before. The yellow on the beer mugs is actually a piece of paper behind the image. I did not have a good beer yellow colored pencil to color the digi-stamp with so I had to improvise by cutting those pieces of the digi-stamp out and backing the image on the yellow paper. Pretty clever I thought!

Card Recipe:

5" x 6" White Cardstock Base
Cheers DigiStamp by DigiStamp Boutique (Get it Here)
Papers - Hot off the Press - Earth's Palette CardMakers Kit. (The best papers for man cards)
Buttons - Hot off the Press - Masculine Embellish-Abilities
Silver Stickles
Gold and Silver Mini Brads - Hot off the Press
Martha Stewart Zig-Zag Border Punch
Colored Pencils
I made up the Sentiments for both the inside and outside.

Thanks for looking!

Happy Crafting,
Jen

Weekend Stitching Progress

Hello Everyone:

I can't believe this weekend is over. They just never seem to last long enough I tell ya. Well this weekend I devoted some time to stitching. Joyce over at Random Ramblings hosts the International Hermit and Stitch weekend on the 3rd weekend of every month. Everyone that signs up commits to working on their stitching projects over the weekend and posts their progress pics on Monday to share with the group. There is no set amount of hours you have to stitch which is great, although I did my fair share.

I'm currently working on two projects. I switch off so I don't burn out on doing just one. The first is this coaster and trivet set of Flip-Flop motifs I bought from The Stitchery.com right here. Now I bought this kit to make these as a gift for my aunt and her friends. They are from Phoenix, AZ and just came down to Key West, FL for a vacation. Since I live in Miami, it was just a hop, skip, and jump to go join them. They had such an amazing time I wanted to make them something with a beach/laid back island theme to remind them of their wonderful vacation. I thought this little set of flip flop coasters with the trivet were very cute. Plus they are a quick stitch which was a plus. I finished my first coaster this weekend and here it is.

 

The acrylic coasters came with the kit which was great too. The designs are stitched on 18ct White Aida using DMC floss.

My second project I worked on was my Nora Corbett "J" Fairy. I am finding that this design is not going to be as quick to stitch as I initially thought. The bead work is definitely a slow go and there are many color changes in the design. I'm very fickle about keeping my back neat so I'm always stopping and turning it over to look. However, I don't mind the slow speed because I'm loving the colors in this piece. It uses Crescent Colors Hand Dyed Floss with Mill Hill Beads. This is my first piece with beads and I love it. Too pretty! Watching this come to life is going to be exciting.

I hope everyone has a good and fast week. I know my week is going to be crazy at work. We are missing a worker in our department so the rest of us have to pick up the slack till she comes back. :/  I'll be back with a Christmas Card creation this week so stay tuned. There are so many card challenges this week with Christmas in July as a theme. I can't pass up not entering those. :)

Happy Crafting!
Jen

A Cute Penguin Card

Happy Sunday Everyone:

Check out this cute Winter card I made this weekend. This cute little penguin is the freebie this week over at Pink Gem Designs. You can pick him up here. I love Winter cards and I really enjoyed making this one. Taking the picture was quite interesting too. Any person watching me on the floor trying to get a decent shot would have been laughing. It is not easy photographing cards with foil paper because it is so shiny. I had to use a little photo editing to make it look pretty to post.

Card Recipe:
5 x 5 White Square Card Stock
Winter Foil Papers and one piece of matching color cardstock by Hot off the Press
Winter Penguin Digi by Pink Gem Designs
Colored Pencils (Nothing Fancy)
Snowflake Dazzles by Hot off the Press
Border Punch by Recollections
Silver and Pearl Stickles by Ranger
2 Satin Ribbons in coordinating colors from my stash. The bow is a blue ribbon. The ribbon stuck to the card was a wider white satin ribbon.

I'm entering this card into these challenges this week:

1) The Beary Scrap Design Challenges - Sketch
2) Crafty Emma's Challenges - Recipe - 3 Papers, 2 Ribbons, 1 Image
3) One Stitch at a Time - Anything Goes
4) Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes

Thanks for looking and I really do love reading your comments. :)

Happy Crafting!
Jen

Blog Candy News

Hello Paper Crafty Friends:

Just wanted to share the news about some blog candy up for grabs from Crafty Emma's Store. They are turning one this year and are offering up this blog candy to a lucky winner on August 13th.

Go on over to their blog and enter for your chance to win. I love their store. If you haven't looked around, you really should. They always have some great sales going on.

http://cesinspiration.blogspot.com/

Happy Crafting and I hope you are all enjoying your weekend so far. I also wanted to give a big welcome to my new followers. :D I'll be back with some project updates soon.

Talk at ya soon,
Jen

An Autumn Paper Wreath

Happy Holiday Weekend!

I hope everyone is enjoying their relaxing weekend with friends and family. I love fireworks so I am definitely looking forward to tomorrow. The only downside is going to work the following day, but such is life right.

So between yesterday and today, I worked on a different paper project. Paperwishes.Com has many kit clubs and they are all wonderful values. If I had more money, I would get all of them. Unfortunately since food is more important, I have opted for a couple. One of the kits I get each month is called Class in a Box and they are fantastic. You get two projects to make and all of the materials to make them. It is a great way to try new paper crafts and you make beautiful items to either give as gifts or keep for yourself. Needless to say I have many kits I have yet to work on, so since I had extra time to play this weekend, I pulled one out. It was an Autumn paper wreath.

It is made from 64 paper leaves. The blue/orange leaves are made from a specialty paper called Color Me Paper. They come as white glossy papers with embossed images and you can color them with many mediums. The more popular method of coloring the papers is by taking an ink pad to them directly and then wiping the excess ink off so the embossed designs show up and the ink stays as the background color. A lot of fun to play with. I add a little bit of gold stickles to the tips of the leaves for a little shine. I think I will have a go at making another one but out of Christmas colors this time. I really enjoyed making this. Cutting the 64 leaves was not that much fun, but once that is done the rest is easy.

Enjoy the rest of your holidays everyone. :)
Jen

Pretty Tea Time Paper Tole

Its me again!

I have one other card I wanted to share. On the Paper Wishes Message Board, the June card swap theme was Paper Tole.

The Teapot and Teacup are the Paper Tole Image. I actually got these for free from Paper Wishes just for being a VIP customer i.e. cause I spend a lot of money on their products. LOL. All of the materials (except the punch) are from Paper Wishes. The paper is from the Floral Card Makers pack (which I believe was just discontinued). The sentiment came from a stamp set called "Fancy a Cuppa". The roses are handmade by me using the 3-D Roses template. The ribbon came from a Sheer Ribbon set. I love these ribbons. They are so elegant. You can't see the Gold Stickles well, but they are there. There is some on the roses too...just a little.

Hope you like it!
Jen

A Cute Winter Card

Happy Friday Evening!

Here is my newest card creation I made tonight. The sketch is from the Elisabeth Bell's World Challenge Blog. It is a monthly challenge blog and it is the first time I have entered a card into one of their challenges. The digi stamp is an Elisabeth Bell design. Isn't it sweet?!

All of the papers and embellishments are from Paper Wishes. The fan looking punch on the left side of the image was made using a Martha Stewart punch. I used Stickles to give some snowy shine to my card. I really did enjoy creating this card. The sketch was a refreshing challenge, not too easy and not too difficult.

So you all know, over at the Paper Wishes Message Board I am leading a bi-weekly Christmas Card Challenge using Paper Wishes supplies. If you are a fan of Paper Wishes and need to get started on those cards, come join us! The more the merrier. We are a friendly group. :D

I am entering my card into one challenge:

Elizabeth Bell's World - June/July sketch

Enjoy your weekend!
Jen