Tag: diy

Polymer Clay Heart Ornaments

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I first picked up polymer clay in middle school. I went through pretty much all of the Klutz kits the local Barnes and Noble had to offer, making all different kinds of art projects. I specifially remember the polymer clay set because I made an adorable little mouse “clay doll”, complete with changeable clothes. By that, I mean it was flat, cut-out clay in a more sturdy form of a paper doll.

Recently I grabbed a variety set of Sculpey clay at a Staples that was going out of business. Or a different Staples that was just having a sale on a day I was bored shopping. Either way, I was confused and delighted to find that Staples carried clay and it was something like 30% off.

Most of that clay has been used up fixing things the kids have broken or making beads (which is a great way to keep kids busy for the afternoon), and I recently felt like making more things. So I grabbed another variety pack on a recent trip to JoAnns and set about making heart ornaments.

These heart ornaments are super cute and available on my Ko-Fi Shop and Etsy Store. They are $15 each with free shipping no matter which shop you buy from, but if you buy from my Ko-Fi shop you get access to subscriber content for 30 days which includes exculsive coloring pages, downloads, and videos.

A Double-sided Halloween Pillow

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When I joined the Snarky and Modern Facebook Group for the RBG Stitch Along, I found out that there was also an embroidery stitch along happening at the same time. I’ve been wanting to do more embroidery, so I decided to pick this one up as well. Here is the finished result:

As the opposite side of a scrap-stuffed pillow with this piece designed by 8.Bit.Stitch that I stitched last year:

I wasn’t entirely certain what I was going to do when I started, but luckily I made it on a large enough bit of fabric that it fit perfectly with the cross stitched piece I had finished a year earlier. It was a great way to work on some stitches I needed to practice, like French knots.

I think I can finally say I’ve got the hang of the French knot after not being able to do them consistently ever.

I really like the way it turned out on the dark purple, even if it was difficult to see the lines on the water soluble stabilizer. Though some of that difficulty may have stemmed from the fact I didn’t have the printable type and instead had to use some from a roll I had laying around. I don’t think it was meant to be used for pattern transfers.

It worked, though. I printed the pattern on paper, originally intending to trace it directly onto the fabric with a water-removable fabric pen, but I couldn’t see the pattern through the fabric even on my lightbox’s highest setting. The clear stabilizer worked with the pattern traced in a micron pen. No marks were left once I washed it away, so it can work in a pinch if you happen to have it on hand.

Test Knitting The Snuggle Bug Sweater

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Recently, Claire Jackson (aka Perfectly Knotted) released her Snuggle Bug Sweater pattern and I had the pleasure of being one of the test knitters before the release. I had trouble getting gauge with the namesake Snuggle Bug yarn, so instead I used Brava Bulky. Still makes for a very soft, very warm sweater.

This pattern works up so quickly in the bulky yarns that I was able to make two within the two months of the pattern test, even with having to wait for two different yarn shipments to come in. The sweaters feature raglan sleeves and a split hem, along with an optional neckline zipper. I added the zipper into the first version, but I left it off the second one.

I did modify the second one slightly by starting in the size 34 instructions and then increasing to the size 38 instructions for the body to give a bit of a closer fit in the shoulders and the regular amount of positive ease. I also created stripes in the second one by changing colors every 20 rows in the body after doing the top section in a single color. In fact, I ended up with more stripes than I intended because I was using some old yarn that I had and some new and the dye lots were so different that it let me create different stripes out of the same color.

You can find more detailed infor on yarn, needles, etc. in the Ravelry project for each sweater. Click here for the plain sweater. Click here for the striped sweater. You can get the pattern and make your own version on Ravlery here.