Monday

Yeah, it's been a while.  I have been busy IRL, and rearranging stuff in the basement.  In fact, I'm just taking a break, and I'll be going back down there to do more work after this.  I know, excuses, excuses!  hehehe. 

My new OTT-Lite Lamp arrived, and I'm really happy!  No other kind of lighting really beats this lamp.  There's such a big difference.  With that, I'm hoping to finish my cross stitch WIP soon.  I'm thinking about finishing the darn thing by the end of the month.  We'll see...

Now that it's back to normal for me, and my jetlag's gone, I went back to my normal internet browsing, especially for craft stuff.  In SplitCoastStampers, I joined 10 swaps, excluding the other three that I'm already in.  Six of these swaps are for card making, one is for jewelry making, two are image swaps and one goodie bag swap.  I guess I got too excited, and now I realize that I joined too many.  But that's ok.  I have more reasons to make cards, now that I have 3 of the Spellbinders Nestabilities die sets.

I am almost done for the jewelry swap, where I had to make 9 necklaces.  It's been a while since I made some accessories like these.  I decided to create my own pendant using UTEE (Ultra thick embossing enamel).  I melted it on my Ranger melting pot, add a few drops of Suze Weinber's To Dye For (Magenta) and two hues of Pearl Ex powders.  When I was happy with the color, I poured the melted UTEE on a non-stick craft sheet, and pressed an "O" shape cookie cutter.  UTEE hardens up pretty fast, so when it does and while it's still warm, I take off the UTEE I don't need, and smoothen the edges with a regular craft knife.  It took a while for me to decide on what to do next.  Especially because my heat gun quit working.  I tried a bunch of things - from adding some dimensional embellishments using Inkssentials Glossy Accents and Beadazzles micro beads, to adhering "bling" stones with KandiKane Applicator Wand.  But they didn't work.  Somehow, they just can't adhere "permanently" to the UTEE.  Until yesterday when I thought of just using beads and trim instead.  This is how they look so far.

 I still have to put "enclosures", but I'm happy with the the way it looks.  This is really easy to do.  I'll make a tutorial of this one soon :)

Last week, my DSIL asked me to make a poster for her son's graduation party. 

With this project, I am again thankful that I have the Cricut machine, because the poster was done in a snap.  For this one, I used Mini Monograms and George and Basic Shapes cartridges.  I don't think I'll get rid of my Cricut anytime soon.

OK, time for me to go back down the basement....