alpha stamps giveaway!

remember how i posted about the daily giveaways at the alpha stamps blog?

they've started!



today's giveaway is all valentine themed, and everything's so lovely! i'm really loving the valentine collage sheets that are part of today's package, and now i'm eyeing the others enviously as well! i've never been super into victorian images in my crafting, but valentines is totally different! plus, these collage sheets aren't quite as overtly floral as some imagery. i really like the child's valentine collage sheet, and the valentine in blue sheet is oh-so-lovely. the clown valentines and the art deco valentines are gorgeous, but i REALLY love the valentine bird hearts! (of course i do! amy+bird images=pure happiness!)


i found alpha stamps a while ago when my friend kristin joined their design team. they have SO MANY goodies, at great prices, and i've ordered from them several times now (i'd have ordered more if i hadn't declared a moratorium on online shopping for my credit card's health!! plus, the exchange rate's kinda sucking lately) and it's definitely time for another order!

their shipping has always been fabulous, not overpriced, and super quick, with awesome communication from their staff. i've always had my packages shipped to my us address though, so i couldn't tell you how they are for canadian shipping. (try explaining craft supplies to the border crossing guards! um, yes, the old typewriter keys? the dresden scraps? the diecut felt shapes? old game pieces? tarot cards? they're all for art!)

ooh, i forgot!

i wanted to show these off!


my younger brother's (i have to stop calling him my "little brother", since he's taller than me!) girlfriend brought us these for christmas. we're all so impressed!



the ones with pink icing and shavings are maraschino cherries, the ones with green icing or powder are green tea, the ones with white icing are macadamia nuts, and the grey looking balls are oreo!

she drew little cats on some of them because we love our cats so much. ;)

apparently making chocolates for the holidays is really common in korea (where jay's from), and the boxes like these are commonly available there, so she stocks up every time she goes back to visit.

they look so awesome that we're all scared to be the first one to eat them!

whew!

and it's over. thank goodness! i love christmas, but every year i say i'll start earlier so that it's not as stressful, and every year i fail dismally!

i know i'm terribly behind, what with christmas stress and feeling so crappy this month, but hopefully i'll be able to catch up soon!

once all the stress was dealt with and the family fights were settled, it was a very good christmas. lots of spoiling, lots of laughter, and lots of yummy food! i posted some recipe cards that i made last year, with a few of our family recipes on them. mom made the cheese ball on christmas eve, i'm excited to dig into it tonight! her cheese ball is amazing.

i need to make more cards with a few more of our favourites, like the amazing jello salad she makes for dinner, and the banana cream pie we always have for desert (pah on pumpkin, that's for thanksgiving!). considering that i'm allergic to dairy, christmas is very filled with it, and i can't resist eating everything. my birthday is only a few days before christmas, and every year i request my aunt's no-bake cheesecake for desert, filled with cream cheese and whipped cream!

everyone seemed to really like the gifts i bought them, which is always gratifying. i was really happy with my choices this year. i got spoiled too, an art piece for my studio, a decidedly yummy looking book of cupcake recipes (root beer float cupcakes anyone?), a vintage snowglobe in my stocking (snowglobe LOVE!), a gorgeous teardrop shaped pendant of lava rock, a bunch of craft books that are currently snowed in but i'll get soon, money from relatives (which is awesome, cause my serger died and NEEDS servicing!), and my brother's going to spend an entire day helping me clean my studio. i'm determined that one day i will have it completely clean!

so yes, a very good christmas. this was apparently the first time in 100 years that every place in canada had snow for christmas, and ohhh, did we have snow! we had at least 2 and a half feet, though it's condensed down a bit since, as the weather's warmed up. we're usually lucky to get a few inches in january or february! though it's been a royal pain in the butt, since we're not equipped to deal with snow here, i'm still loving it. it was a fabulous bonus present!


here's a belated wish for you all, and hopefully i'll have more eye candy up soon!





today is boxing day in canada, which means SALES SALES SALES! though i seriously contemplated going to the 40% off everything in the store sale at the scrapbooking store, i'm restraining myself, and leaving the shopping to other members of my family who are much more willing and able to stand in lines than i am! i may do some online shopping in the next few days, but we'll see. Leslie at Alpha Stamps will be posting sales and free giveaways daily on their blog, starting tomorrow, so i'll be watching that for sure!

in the meantime, about 7 or 8 years ago i kind of started my own tradition of cleaning/organizing on boxing day, so i'm going to start sorting through the giant box of papers in my bedroom... not so fun, but it'll be nice to be get rid of the box!

on the free side of things, Lisa Vollrath did her annual Holiday Printables Countdown again this year. I was so far behind on e-mails and such that i almost missed it, but they're still up right now! she doesn't leave them up much after christmas, so snag them now! and don't forget that they're not entirely free, they're linkware, so post a link before downloading!

i'm back!

gah, it's been longer than i thought!

i've been feeling really awful lately, and i'm super behind on everything. in addition to the usual stuff, i was having a really hard time with my ribs, and i couldn't sit at the computer for more than a few minutes. once that started getting better, i slipped in the snow and fell down the stairs! seriously, just one thing after another these days!

anytime i was able to do stuff (ie, the pain was less), i was frantically working on xmas gifts, so you've been neglected!

i've been sooo sooo tired lately, it feels like i'm sleeping constantly! and then other days, i'm wide awake at 5am, go figure! if i could actually do stuff at 5am, it wouldn't be as bad, but i'm pretty much incoherent that early. i'm definitely not a morning person!

in good news, i sent out a crapload of packages last week, and they've almost all been received. most of the packages were little purchased things that i'd picked up for friends throughout the year, and i was so scrambled that i didn't take pics, but a few of them had a TON of crafted items in them, and they've been received, so i'll be posting pics of all those goodies!

i DID scan a few images that i sent to my friend lori before i mailed them, so i thought i'd share them here. they're both vintage labels, from the 1920s, maybe early 1930s. gorgeous, aren't they?





feel free to swipe them and craft with them, i'd love to see what you make!

crosstitch with waste canvas! (update post 4!)

this'll be the last update post of the night, since it's already way past my bedtime! i keep forgetting to post this, but beelisty reminded me.

i was SOOO HAPPY with how this turned out, i'm so in love with it. it was a total bitch to do, but oh, the results!

i fell in love with the dmc satin floss, which is rayon instead of the usual cotton.

i made a skirt out of black cotton twill with a little bit of a stretch to it, and decided that i wanted to cross stitch the word "femme" on it in the satin floss. i used the same lettering as on the queer piece one post earlier. since the skirt obviously wasn't made of aida cloth, i had to use waste canvas. this was my first time using waste canvas, and all they had left at the store was 11count or larger, but i figured that would be fine, since i was working on clothing, and wouldn't want a really small scale piece anyway. it ended up being perfect for this project, but i'd like to try a smaller count as well.

in progress!

obviously cut the waste canvas larger than your design. set your sewing machine to the largest stitch size and baste it onto the fabric. seriously, baste the hell out of it. around the edges, across the middle, up and down, whatever you need to do.

when you're stitching, you'll want to use an embroidery needle, not a cross stitch needle, because it needs to be sharp to go through the fabric smoothly.

the back, showing the basting lines

mine was long and narrow, so i mostly just basted in one direction. if you're doing a square, you'd definitely need to baste both ways.

removing the waste canvas

after you're done stitching, remove the basting. starting at one end, start pulling the threads of the waste fabric out one by one. they told me that you're supposed to do all in one direction at first, but i found it easier to do a bunch from the side, then a bunch from the top, etc. if the waste canvas doesn't pull out easily, get it slightly damp, and it should work better.

done!

the women at the needlework store warned me that the satin floss was more difficult to use, and they were definitely right! it frays a lot, i ended up cutting a lot more off the ends than i would with cotton floss, and it doesn't seem to slide through the fabric as easily, but that may have just been due to the fabric of the skirt. i also found the waste canvas kind of yucky to work with. i HATE it when my hands feel dirty, it totally squicks me out, and since the waste canvas will dissolve in water, it has some stuff on it to help that. that stuff made my hands feel icky while i was working. of course, if you're not as OCD about washing your hands as me, you'll probably be fine!


and here's the action shots!


(blurry, i know, i'm sorry! i wish i'd realized it at the time.)

i love it!