Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Decoupaged buttons and tiles








When I was at the CQI retreat, Kerry taught us how to do decoupaged buttons. Recently I found Annie Howe's Keepsake's (a blog) that teaches you how to do nearly the same thing with scrabble tiles. (http://anniehoweskeepsakes.blogspot.com/2008/03/how-to-make-gorgeous-scrabble-tile.html)

I decided to try using the scrabble tiles since I knew just where to find some at my local antique store, and had also found some old flat wooden beads that I also wanted to experiment with (aren't these the coolest!). All I needed was the tiles/beads, some images printed on paper, Mod Podge, and some diamond glaze. I decided to burn the edges of some of my pictures so I also had a candle and a wet rag handy. Let me tell you that I needed the wet rag. It was easy for these little images to burst into flame, so be careful if you try it!

First, I placed the image on the tile/bead and held it up to the light so I could find the right placement. Holding it in place I cut around the image with a scissors. Then I brushed some mod podge (like a glue) on the tile/bead and placed the image on the mod podge pressing it so it would lay flat. Then I took an exacto knife to further trim the image; well I really used a scissors, but an exacto knife would have been better. lol! Brush with the mod podge and let dry 15 minutes. Then brush the crystal glaze over the mod podge and let dry 24 hours. You can put another coat on after about 5 minutes and then let it dry for the 24 hours if you want. The crystal glaze makes a really thick shiny (like glass) coating on the tile/bead.

These tiles/beads are so cute and you can sew them onto fabric by glueing felt on the bottom and then sewing the felt to your fabric (thanks to Gerry K. which is where I first got this idea) and/or you can bead them on using the peyote stitch.

I am making a memory quilt so I also tried to print some family photos in miniature and put them on the tiles/beads and they turning out really well! Just make sure your image is not too small.

Inktense Pencils




I got a pack of Inktense pencils for Christmas and decided to try them out. All it requires is the pencils, some fabric to paint on and some textile medium. I used a paper backed black and white silkie for the fabric and Golden textile medium as the medium http://www.dickblick.com/products/golden-gac-900-fabric-medium/. This is a liquid that you can use in one of three ways. You can wet the fabric first (didn't work so hot for me), use on a brush after you've colored the item (works good), or dip your pencil into it (worked the best for the detail work I was doing. The biggest problem I ran into was the colors spreading outside the lines I was working within. The pencil basically turns into a paint when wet with the medium. The colors are really vibrant and when you use a brush to paint the golden over the colored area, the colors will blend a bit if you brush from one color to another.

I found a couple of websites that illustrated how to use them: http://hugsnkisses.typepad.com/hugsfromhelen/inktense-colourque-r-tutorial.html , and http://painting.about.com/od/fabricpainting/ss/fabric_painting_Inktense.htm, and http://creativity.amblique.net/files/files/Project%20Sheets/Quilt%20hints%20and%20tips.pdf were ones I looked at.

Sunday, December 26, 2010

A Christmas Present

Here is a hint to what one of my Christmas presents was. I'm going to have fun with this!

Merry Christmas!

These are my granddaughters opening Christmas presents at our house. Cola has his new "chicken" toy with the cats like a lot better than his old "cat" toy! He once even had a "human" toy. lol! Oreo looks pretty handsome in his place under the Christmas tree. His favorite gift was the blanket that my husband got in his emergency car kit. He planted himself on the blanket and got some nice belly rubs too.

Monday, December 20, 2010

Dessert!


This is what I had for dessert last night. It is made from a recipe out of "Eating for Life", a way of eating that is based on the glycemic index and is relatively low carb. It is a yummy psuedo cheesecake and contains some interesting ingredients. (-; My plan is not to gain weight and with any grace I will also lose some weight.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Needle case finished



This is a needlecase I made as part of a challenge in my Stitchmap yahoo group. It was a lot of fun to make and I just love it. I'm thinking of making another. (-;