Weekend Stitching...

My weekend began on Friday, stitching this pendant for a customer. I'll make another soon for my shop to replace this sold one. The new owner already has and is wearing this one.

I added the bee charm to the bottle I created on Saturday, so I took a few photos, including showing it lit up with my fairy lights. The little charm is on the neck of the bottle and has crystal wings for a bit of sparkle. 

I'm not sure why the lights cause a blue cast (in spite of my trying to edit that out), because it doesn't read that way at all "in person". It just has a soft white glow, which is much preferred to this blue cast!

At any rate, now it's completely finished and I can enjoy lighting it up for a while at night to enjoy.

After our Saturday craft session, I came home and contemplated how I wanted to make my Corgi brooch sparkle. This is where I stopped at the end of my session. I moved the nose bead down a bit, added a beautiful opal thread - couched in a brick pattern - and will do the feet next. 

After the feet are done, I'll start adding the chipping for the rest of his body. As always, I keep the first one, which is good. I'm my own worst critic, so I see where I could have done better on the white "ruff". I know I'll perfect the second one, knowing ahead of time how I'll put it together, having already done it here.

Yesterday was spent canning. I'll share photos of that tomorrow. I'm working today, so I'd better get organized so I get there with time to spare. See you tomorrow!

April Craft Day...

Last Saturday was our monthly craft day, and we decoupaged and decorated bottles this month. We were asked to bring empty wine bottles, but as I had none and wasn't willing to buy and empty one on short notice (a week), I reserved an extra empty the ladies had brought from yard sales they'd attended.

Half of the ladies chose to paint their bottles first, and then decorate them, but my bottle was so interesting in its own right that I didn't want to hide that under paint. I love how each of their bottles turned out, and the wonderful thing about our group is that we're all so supportive of each other. No competitions here. Just love and admiration.

This is my bottle. I was so taken with the shape. Isn't it interesting? I wondered whether it was a decanter of some sort in its prior life, or just a pretty bottle. Either way, I went with a floral/bee theme. I have a bee charm I'm going to add to the neck, but I haven't done it yet.

I'm going to add a string of battery-operated fairy lights with a plastic stopper with an on/off switch. I'll use that to light up my bottle at night just for fun.

Marie also showed us how to make ribbon brooches. The finished product is beautiful, but getting it there was murder on my hands. Wrap. Secure. Cut. Trim. Floof. Embellish. If you're interested, I'd be happy to show you how they're made in a future post. Just let me know in the comments.

Here's a little closer look at the details on my bottle. I'll add the bee today (now that I've reminded myself) and take one more photo that I'll share along with my other weekend projects when we visit tomorrow.

It's already Monday again. I hope you have a wonderful week, and that you make time for something creative this week. See you tomorrow!