No, It's Not a Joke. Finally Spring Has Sprung!

At least it has in my world and I'm not letting Old Man Winter back in this year.  Though I haven't quite put away my winter jacket and boots, I am going out more often in my spring jacket.  How about you?

Though I don't have much to show you, it's been a busy week as we work toward the second All Day Card Class on Saturday. I also heard through the grapevine that Barb was in today making up her personal kits for the Mega Crop Weekend, so that's coming really soon too.

Linda and I spent a couple of days last week cutting kits for the 20+ people taking the class  of the 32 attending the weekend.  We haven't finished yet, but we're well on the way.

So what do I have to show you?  

Well Ronna kindly sent us a photo of a layout she's just completed. She was in the store on Friday looking for brick paper.  We had some but it was predominantly red and not what Ronna had in mind.  

I suggested the paper that we used on one of the cards at the last Technique Thursday Class. It really was more of a barn board, but with a little imaginative suggestion from us, Ronna was able to make it into the brick paper she wanted for her layout.

Here's what the original paper looked like.  

It's made by Chickaniddy Crafts from their "Date Night" line and called "Backwoods Lovin".

This is how we made it into a garden fence. 

Using a wood-grain stamp, Walnut Distress Ink to enhance the grain. A black Permopaque Pen created shadow between the boards and also created nail heads.

And here's how Ronna made it into a brick wall.

Using a black pen to make the mortar joints it did exactly what she needed for her layout.

Great use and differences from the same patterned paper.

 Thanks for sharing Ronna.

It's always interesting in the store to see trends happening.  

Last week I had a couple of people asking about chalk paint.  It has become a very popular choice of paint to use on furniture re-do's, but can be hard to come by and expensive too.  

I came across the "recipe" for making your own chalk paint and thought I'd share it with you.  It's very simple to make and if you aren't needing too much then you can use one or two of the small bottles of Delta Ceramcoat paint that we carry in the store. 

We also carry the Plaster of Paris that is one of the key ingredients to chalk paint. 

Here's the link to the recipe.

Here's another link to some furniture renovations, it may inspire you to alter a piece of furniture you already have.

I came across some great Ding Bat Fonts too for all the lucky owners of a Silhouette Cutting Machine. When you install these fonts, (put them in your main font folder)  your machine will cut out the appropriate graphic associated with the keyboard letter.  This one I may well have shared with you in the past and it cuts all kinds of different shapes.  Circles, Scalloped Circles, Rectangles, and Ovals to name a few.  It's called 09 Kutups and can be found here.  Make sure you print out the "key" as well so you know which letter makes which shape.

Another that cuts a variety of different bicycles if you should ever have need for that type of embellishment on your page.  
You'll find it here, it's called Sepeda.
Here's a sampling of the font. 

The third font cuts many different flowers that you're sure to get some use from.  It too is a Dafont.com file and I safely downloaded it to my computer a long time ago.   

Click here to download Saru's Flower Ding Bat font.

Remember to print out the "key" or "legend" for each of these fonts, so you aren't guessing which letter is which.  

Do you have a favourite font that you like to use for your journaling, not necessarily a Ding Bat font that you'd like to share?

The other day I was browsing Google Images looking for some Crewel Embroidery patterns.  I came across one, though the link was broken so I don't know who to give credit to. 

It made me think of these felt coasters I made last year for my Mother in law.  These coasters were made with felt and embellished with embroidery floss.  Both available at the Craft Nook.

Crewel work is usually worked on a linen cloth with crewel yarn or even knitting yarn.  Here's the Crewel work that I fell in love with and will have to re-create some day.  

A very talented artistic piece of work, wouldn't you agree?  I think the cutwork that creates the sheep's coat, could be a stitch called Turkey Work embroidery.  I found a video tutorial here for this stitch if you'd like to explore it.  

This lady also has many video tutorials for embroidery stitches here.   Well worth a look.

And for our knitters.  I came across this lovely men's cable sweater on Ravelry. It's a free pattern and although there is the time taken to work the cables, the end result would be well worth the effort don't you think?  This could also be adapted for a ladies sweater just by working the buttonholes on the right hand side of the button band.

If you love to knit or crochet you should take the time to look at Ravelry and set yourself up with a free account.  

There are so many patterns available it's amazing.  Many of them are free for you to download.

There are also forums and groups you can post to if you're looking for something specific, or if you simply need some help.

A great resource.  Keep in mind that although we don't carry a huge assortment of yarn in stock, we can order  Patons, Bernat, Caron, Red Heart, Premier/Deborah Norville, Mary Maxim, to name just a few. Plan your next project, and tell us what you would like to have ordered in for you.  A short lead time is all we require.

And something to think about.  Last Sunday was Mothering Sunday in England and into my inbox came these words. Though we haven't yet celebrated our Mothers Day, I thought they were appropriate for all Mothers or indeed for any woman who has children looking to them for guidance.   

Until Later....Happy Crafting

Lilian