Gimp Tutorial

Posted on | June 25, 2010 | 1 Comment

Want to learn how I did the below in Gimp? Gimp is a free Photoshop like application. I posted a tutorial at the Hybrid Chick’s blog. Come check it out!! Oh, I think the video’s messed up — kind of — just some pixels in certain areas. It’s my first one on the Mac… will get better!

Yes, short and sweet tonight… I need to get to my Was Gonna stuff before Jovie’s 2 a.m. wake up. Do you know of anybody who sleeps in their kid’s crib? If not, you now know one! How many weeks now since we put her crib up? Come on, Jovie, you can do it! I am still sore from sleeping with her all night last night. I got suckered cause she’s been sick. Suckered by a 1-yr-old. Pathetic, huh?!?!

Laters!

PS: I was gonna scrapbook the above but obviously never got to it. Ok, back to my was gonnas!!!

Crochet Flower

Posted on | February 23, 2010 | 4 Comments

Hey! I’ve been learning how to crochet again the last few nights. My grandma taught me the basics when I was in middle school but I haven’t done anything much since. I bought some thread and crochet needle a few months ago and I finally sat down to do it using this book: Teach Yourself Visually. Now, if you’re new to crocheting, I don’t recommend this book. Yes it’s visual but if I were brand new I’d have a hard time in a few spots. A few times I had to re-read a part over and over again. My grandma taught me how to turn around but I forgot and I spent a good 30 minutes or more trying to figure it out according to the book’s instructions. The book did though have a nice crochet flower recipe which was pretty easy:

Slip knot (you always start crocheting with a SK)
2-Chain stitch (CS)

Stick your needle into the 1st CS and do a slip stitch (this basically ties the two edges together)

After the SS make 5-single crochets (SC) — keep putting your needle into the 1 CS when creating each new SC

After the 5th SC, stick your needle into the last single crochet you did (closest to your needle) and do 1 SS.
After the SS, do 2-CS and then do 3-Double Crochets (still sticking the needle into the same hole)

After the 3rd DC create 2-CS
After the 2nd CS stick the needle into that same hole one more time and do a SS to tie it up
You should now have completed one petal!
To start on the next petal go up to instruction #5. Just stick your needle into the next hole and do it again!

Here is a video that takes you from start to finish. It’s a bit different than mine. For example instead of 2 Chain Stitches at the beginning she had 4. This I think depends on how big you want your center circle to be. When she started the petal she did a Single Stitch instead of a Slip Stitch and before I did the 3-Double Stitches I did 2-Chain Stitches. But overall they’re more less the same. I guess experiment and see which flower you like better. Oh, I got my thread, they’re cotton, from WalMart. My crochet needle is 4.25mm.

Here are mine:

Tut: More Flowers

Posted on | January 2, 2010 | 4 Comments

I’ve been messing with flowers the last two days and today I made this for M. This flower hair piece was created using two tuts… or a combination of. The main idea came from this party flower tutorial minus step 5. Instead of the fluffy look I wanted to do this flatter look based on the Fabric Flower tutorial (plus I only have this fabric, scissors, white thread, and a needle). The two tuts were created by the same person. Pretty neat huh?

Next time I’m going to use these flower techniques using pattern/tissue paper. I think it’ll give the flower a very nice fluff. I don’t have my die-cut machine either but when I get back to my machine I want to use some flower die-cuts on fabric/felt also. It’d be fun to ink up the paper and sparkle the tips of the flowers. I also want to get some stamens. I think the stamens will make the flowers really fun.

M loves her little hair piece. It took me 15-minutes I think to make this thing.

Ok, off for a little date with the hubby! Tomorrow we’ll be driving back to good old Missouri. We’re in the Memphis area now and looking at spending some time in the world famous (that’s what the site claims) Beale Street. Laters!!

Tut: Spiral Paper Flower

Posted on | January 1, 2010 | 13 Comments

Jovie’s laying on my lap sleeping and here’s me bloggin’. I can use a nap but I think I’m ok. I did get a card put together and I even did something extra… followed a tutorial on how to make this pretty paper flower (very fun blog! You should give it a few minutes of your time!!). It took a bit to get it right but once I got the hang of it it’s easy.

If you want to try this flower out, follow the instructions and once you get to the end, let go of the flower and let it expand naturally. If you use a nice heavy cardstock the flower will keep its form. I did though super glued the last two petals together and before the flower was glued on to the card I did push the center of the flower in so that it adhered to the super glue on the last petal. It just holds the shape better for card purposes.

For this card I used Caardvark’s sketch, PTI stamps and paper, Martha Stewart butterfly punch, Fiskar border punch, SU cardstock and ink, and you can see it because I didn’t take a side photo but the flower was created on pattern paper… more Dani Mogstad digital paper from Sweet Shoppe. The part you see is the white part.

I’ll be making cornbread this evening. My first time. Wish me luck!!

Tut: Bunny Ears Ribbon Tying

Posted on | October 24, 2009 | 13 Comments

Ok gals, some of you requested a video on how to tie the bunny ear bows. Well I’m not sure if it’s the proper way but it’s how I do my ribbon tyings. It’s not the best video because I did it really quick but I hope the visual in the video can help you tie your ribbons better.

I never cut my ribbon before I am done tying. I think I waste less ribbon doing it this way. If I have too long of an edge I’d take my bow apart and shorten it and redo the process again.

Hope your Saturday is wonderful! If you need some inspiration you still have time to play along with M’s sketch challenge. It doesn’t end until the 26th.