Me and my Mod Podge

One of the many thing I've been slowly working on for a couple of months now is my second checkerboard collage. The process is long and tedious, but can be meditative and the results are worth it. Here's the first one, which I completed last Spring and was one of my first craft projects ever. I've been displaying part of it in my profile picture.

It takes forever because after cutting out all the little squares, I had to arrange them in a contrasting checkerboard pattern - draw the hearts and then go back and very carefully cut the pieces along the outline . . . meanwhile . . . rearranging the entire row to get the shades right.

At this stage I think Andy really thought I'd gone off the deep end. Now when he sees me reading a needlepoint book, a quilting book, and a folk art book in bed it's no big surprise. Thank you honey.

The final stage of course is gluing it all down in place and painting it with layers and layers of Mod Podge.

The gluing process on this was especially challenging because I used paint sample card stock for the squares (thank you Benjamin Moore) and the thickness of made it hard to glue down the

curling corners.

My work in progress is a seashell image, mirrored as well. This time I just used different shades of blue craft paper and a fabulous little gadget that punches squares out like an over sized hole punch. It's truly amazing all the craft goodies that are out there - I could roam the aisles of Hobby Lobby for hours. Funny, I used to be embarrassed to shop there much less admit I enjoy it - don't ask me why. The craft revolution has allowed all of us tomboys to come out of the pink closet. Does that even make any sense?

Anyway . . . I have the squares cut and the image oulined but have only just started the cutting. I'm writing about this to inspire myself to get working on it again. It's actually collecting dust . . actual dust bunnies - which really isn't saying much here in Santa Fe; things get dusty here in a day.

Cuddle Me Critters

I've rediscovered the public library lately. There's something really wonderful about actually holding a book in your hands and getting to keep it for a while - not that I don't fully appreciate the web as an amazing resource, but real books are good for the soul I think.

One such book I checked out recently is The Big Book of Soft Toys by Mabs Tyler. I've been making my little stuffed birds for a while now, but I have finally expanded to other members of the animal kingdom. The first being an owl for my niece Lily. The body is made from one of those purple upcycled sweaters Ann gave me. The embroidery stitches I learned from YouTube - awesome how to videos ( learning stitches from a book is next to impossible). I think it turned out pretty darned cute for my first go. I have a thing for owls . . . but I'll share more about that in another post.

So then I got encouraged and decided to try for another, this one being a caterpillar for a my nephew David. This one went a little quicker. I added a few things that were not in the pattern: the embroidery on the head and body, the little felt ball feet, and a couple of pipe cleaners sewn into the body so it could bend a little. This one I liked even better. I thought about adding antennae, but David is only about 18 months so I thought they's most likely be ripped off anyway. So he's kinda like a worm / caterpillar which suits me just fine.

If anyone would like the pattern to these critters, let me know. I may add them in anyway at some point, but right now I need to move forward on to the next thing on my list: hat for cousin Stephanie.