Tag Archives: DIY

On Trying Something New

09 Sunday Sep 2012

Posted by in Embroidery

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I love to embroider, and I think I’m pretty good at it. I like to learn new stitches and new techniques, so when I saw Trish Burr’s book, “Colour Confidence in Embroidery,” I knew I needed to give it a try.

Whereas the usual type of embroidery I do is mainly outline with some filling in, this type of embroidery is know as “needle painting” and “shaded embroidery” using long and short stitches.

The project I’ll try first called for either church linen or cotton satin. JoAnn Fabrics had neither of these, so I’m going to see if plain old linen will work in its place. The pattern also calls for 37 skeins of floss! Each long and short stitch is made up of one strand of floss (the skeins of floss have six strands). That tells you how delicate this piece will be.

I haven’t started it yet, but as I do I’ll post the progress.

Have you tried this type of embroidery? What are your experiences?

Handmade Wedding Day Scrapbook

10 Tuesday Jul 2012

Posted by in Gifts, Love, Wedding

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We received many great gifts for our wedding. But the most special gift we received was the handmade scrapbook my best friend and Matron of Honour Debbie created for us. This would be a fabulous gift to give the the bride and groom. All I had to do was add the pictures!

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I’m Doing it for the Animals

07 Saturday Jul 2012

Posted by in Crafty Business, Life, Pay It Forward, Summerfield Zoo

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I’ve done several posts on Summerfield Zoo in Belvidere, IL. Todd and I love the Zoo, and I wanted to find a way to help. I did this by making jewelry that could be sold in the gift shop. I’m not doing this to make money, and as such, I’m not making a profit from the items that are sold. I make enough to be able to cover the cost of supplies. The profit of each sale goes back to the Zoo.

Bottle Cap Necklaces

Bottle Cap Necklaces

Bottle Cap Magnets and Steampunk Resin Necklaces

You can visit Summerfield Zoo on weekends and some Wednesdays. Check out their website for directions and special events.

No trip to Summerfield Zoo would be complete without a visit to Lilly the Vervet monkey. She seemed excited to see us, although she’s still grieving for Peanut, who passed away.

Lilly

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Button Initial Wall Art

06 Friday Jul 2012

Posted by in Craft

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This project has been sitting in my craft closet for a while,
and I’m glad I (finally) finished it.

Spray paint the letter

Hot glue the buttons

Finished!

Supplies:

  • Papier-mâché letter (I got mine at Michael’s)
  • Paint (I used white spray paint)
  • Hot glue gun
  • LOTS of different buttons (I got mine at Cracker Jax in DeKalb, IL)

How To:

  1. Spray paint the letter. This is so you don’t see the brown through the buttons (unless you want to see the brown)
  2. Hot glue the buttons onto the letter.
  3. Tips: Glue larger flat buttons to the letter, then layer with smaller buttons and buttons with raised bits on the bottom of the button.

Clips on a Canvas

05 Thursday Jul 2012

Posted by in Craft

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If you’ve been following my projects, you’ll see that I really like to use artist’s canvases. Recently, I’ve also been really into using magnetic clips. I combined the two to make this fun project. I like how easy it is to swap out the pictures to suit my mood.

Supplies:

  • 12″ x 12″ artist canvas (Buy packs of them at Michael’s using their 40% and 50% off coupons)
  • 12″ x 12″ scrapbook paper
  • Heavy duty tape
  • White card stock
  • Rotary cutter
  • Magnet clips
  • Hot glue gun
  • 4″ x 4″ pictures (I use the iPhone app Postal Pix to print out my Instagram photos)

How To:

  1. Tape the 12″ x 12″ piece of scrapbook paper to the canvas.
  2. Cut four 4 1/2″ x 4 1/2″ pieces of white card stock.
  3. Tape the four pieces of card stock onto the canvas. If you’re into measuring, you could figure the precise measurements out. I’m more of an eye baller, and I attached mine that way.
  4. Hot glue the magnet clips to the tops of the card stock pieces.
  5. Clip the pictures.

Updated: Easy Handmade Word Art Done Right

02 Monday Jul 2012

Posted by in Craft

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Yesterday I showed you how I created word art on a canvas using vinyl letters and paint (Click Here). I was disappointed that when I peeled the vinyl letters away after the paint dried, much of the paint had bled through, and I did not end up with speckled (not in a good way) letters.

I tested out my theory that by priming the canvas and using spray paint (instead of acrylic paint and a paint brush), I would get clean and crisp letters. It worked!

Supplies:

  • Artist’s canvases (I used 8″ x 10″)
  • 1″ Vinyl letters (I used Helvetica font from Staples)
  • Spray paint
  • Xacto knife
  • Magnet clip
  • Hot glue gun
Prime the canvas by using white acrylic paint. Let it dry and then place the vinyl letters.
Spray paint the canvas, let it dry, use an Exacto knife to carefully pick off the letters.
I hot glued a clip with magnet to the top center and added a picture.
Plain Love.
Enhanced Love.

My Crafty Business

16 Wednesday Nov 2011

Posted by in Crafty Business, Life

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For years I’ve wanted to start my own crafty business, but other aspects of my life kept getting in the way. I believe in signs, and I’ve had quite a few signs lately telling me that I need to do this.

  • Psychic Astrogloger Denise Guzzardo told me I would have a crafty business, and I would be showing my wares at craft fairs in spring 2012. (She was right about a BUNCH of other things.)
  • My best friend Debbie has been telling me that I need to do this.
  • My library has recently purchased a bunch of new books about starting your own crafty business.
  • And, probably most importantly, I’ve been thinking about it more and more.

I purchased the updated book Craft, Inc by Meg Mateo Ilasco. I had the original edition, but I never finished reading it. I also have the Craft, Inc Business Planner.

What’s In a Name?

I need a name for this crafty business. Because I do so many different kinds of crafts, I don’t want to be tied down to something that only tells about one aspect of what I do. I thought about, “Z and Me.” The “Z” stands for my Chihuahua, Zuzu. But I realized it doesn’t really say anything about me so much.

The name in the lead so far is “Random Acts of Amy”, which also happens to be the name of this blog. Random Acts could be used to describe the different kinds of arts and crafts I do, and Amy is me!

What do you think? Am I on the right track? I’d like to get started in branding my image so that I can use it to promote my products, but I also don’t want to get stuck with a name that means nothing to anyone else.

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