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Now that May is upon us, time to post March crafts! Ha! I was going to combine it with April crafts but I did not do much in April. I’ve been slowing down the swapping so I can better concentrate on other things. My mailbox will surely be lonely! I haven’t stopped swapping completely, just being more selective.

I’m kinda being lazy to write descriptions but they are all for swaps except for the 6 shirt, which I made for Sienna’s birthday. The wire bracelet with red seed beads and hemp and leather bead bracelet was for a Covert Robin swap.

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It’s very rare for me to schedule 2 personal events in one weekend. I signed up for a resin jewelry class at Little Bird Creations months ago and was really looking forward to that. Then when I found out Dyan Reaveley was teaching at a LSS on Long Island, I had to go to one of her classes! I decided on the collage workshop since I find that to be my biggest weakness and that was on a Friday afternoon. My hubby reluctantly agreed to take the day off work so he can pick Sienna up from school. Well, poor Sienna picked up a stomach virus from school and threw up Thursday night after she had gone to bed (at 7:30! should have known something was up!) She proceeded to wake up numerous times throughout the night to throw up or almost throw up. Needless to say, sleep was not on my side. I considered canceling on the class but it’s not cheap and thankfully, Yves was going to be home. Really no point in canceling, he can handle it. Off I went in the morning trying not to worry about my family!

Well, Dyan is a hoot!! We got a brand new Dylusions journal as part of the class. Knowing that most people are afraid of messing up their brand new journal, she had us rip out a page at the seam. EEK! Then rip out another page at the seam! YIKES! Then rip out half of a page! Then pick a spray ink and spritz it on a random page! Then spritz a random page on our neighbor’s journal! Well, now the journal wasn’t brand new anymore! We started doing some backgrounds, techniques I’ve done at Little Bird but still neat to do with it’s creator!

We started looking for some images in a magazine and once we picked something out, we had to give it to the person across from us! Aack! LOL! Basically, she was reiterating that it wasn’t about the end result but the process of doing the journaling. Here’s what I came up with:

This page isn’t complete and I added a few more details to it since then but Dyan didn’t want us to finish the page as she wanted to teach us other techniques. We did some doodling on images from magazines and also some more collage work using color copies of cut up collages she had done. Did not take any photos of these pages but perhaps I will show some in a future post.

On Sunday, I head up to the Upper West Side for an all day resin jewelry class with Isolina Perez at Little Bird Creations. I was really excited for this! I’ve done some resin before but not much. I was also excited to try Crystal Clay and Resin Klay.
We did the resin first since it would take the longest to cure (3 days!) Picking out images to use was the longest process! Next was Crystal Clay, I think that takes 24 hours to cure and we stamped into it embedded swarovski crystals into it. The last thing was transfering an image into Resin Klay and we had to work fast for that one, since it only took 7 minutes to cure! We got to do some metal stamping and banging texture into copper to add to the resin klay. That was a lot of fun!
Here are how my pieces looked after class:

Here’s what I did with some afterwards (thanks to fellow classmate, Eileen, for posting her finished pieces and motivating me to finish mine! I tend to procrastinate!)

These images are postage stamps from Belgium! I’m not sure who the guy is but I liked the pink! The hearts were earrings from Isolina’s stash. I added some crystal dangles and made ear wires with crystal to match. This could probably use another layer of resin. Maybe I’ll add some one day!

I tried to do a bit of layering with these. I think the star was also an earring. For the owl, I tried to keep the glitter contained to the edges but it spread. I’m ok with it, tho!

The last of my resin pieces. The purple piece is a bead and maybe one day I will turn it into a charm and make a matching necklace for the earrings. This definitely needs more resin! The square piece was just some glass glitter and red glitter and I popped a crystal in the middle. Not sure what I will do with this!

This is using the Crystal Clay. I have to be honest, when I first saw Crystal Clay on the market, I wasn’t really impressed. It’s not my thing and after working with it, I did not change my mind. Maybe the problem is, it needs more crystals! Here are 2 more. The one on the right is stamped. Again, I think it needs more crystals!

And finally, here is the piece with the Resin Klay. This was my favorite after the resin. I hadn’t done image transfers in awhile and this reminded me of how much I enjoy it. I also had a lot of fun adding texture to the copper! At home, I had to file the edges of the clay and I added some vintage photo distress ink on the edges. I wish I added more. You can hardly tell! Anyway, I then glued it to the copper and added a bead dangle. I plan on doing more of these!!

All in all, a very fun and creative weekend even if my mind wasn’t always fully there in the classes. I felt bad that Yves picked up what Sienna had and stayed home from work on Monday and Tuesday! Sienna went back to school on Tuesday. I’m happy to report that everyone is back to their happy selves again! Yay!

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A quick update of the creative things I’ve been doing. There’s more than what I am posting but these are ones I want to remember (for good or for bad!) I hope to update with a March one!

Journal page swap. My word for 2013. Not doing so well with it so far! HA! Done with gesso, stencils and ink sprays. Word handwritten but style copied from graffiti creator

Rainbow journal page swap. Do not like but posting in the hopes that I will look back at this and marvel at how far I’ve come!

For a handcarved stamp swap.

Made this for Sienna’s bestie using spray inks and stencils

For a friend’s son’s birthday. He’s a Monty Python and dragon fan!

These 2 were for a stamped masterboard swap. Tutorial here.

These cards are pretty self explanatory! The first card was used with a stamped masterboard I received. The Valentine’s card is used with Shimmer Sheetz and Sizzix embossing folder and sanded (maybe alcohol ink too? Can’t remember!)

Made this for Yves for Valentine’s day. File from the Silhouette store.

For a doodle me some notecards swap. I really am happy with how they came out!

For a Keepsake Book swap. Front and 1 spread shown. Too lazy to post all the spreads. Tutorial here.

Envelope book swap. Front and 1 spread. This uses business size envelopes and scrapbook paper. Tutorial here.

Gift tags using hand carved stamps

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I may have not posted much, especially my crafts, but I’m still making stuff! For Christmas I decided to sew some pencil cases for the kids and wanted to try a new pouch pattern. I probably have only pulled out my sewing machine twice before my sew-a-thon the week before Christmas so I guess I made up the time!

I had wanted to make Sienna a pencil case since the start of school and I’ve used Noodlehead’s pattern before so I knew it was a good one. I made Sienna’s and Emma’s using Princess fabric and Sylvie’s using Hello Kitty, both fabrics from Japan.

I used my Silhouette to cut out the names. I actually made a mistake with Emma’s and Sylvie’s (the names aren’t on the same side) but when I did it first on Emma’s, I liked it so repeated it with Sylvie’s. I made Nico’s using Superman fabric.

I liked how I positioned his name on each side. I also made a Snoopy one for a swap. It was also my first time making a key fob from this tutorial.

The new pattern I wanted to try is called a mini clutch from Sew4Home. Since this was the first time making one, I made one for myself first to work out any kinks.

I think I actually did better on the first one than I did with Jessica’s (Emma’s mom). The sizing on hers is a little smaller but her phone is smaller than mine so it worked out!

I also made Jessica this bracelet, since she admired the one I made for myself:

I was struggling to figure out what to give for Sienna’s teacher, since she lost her house due to Hurricane Sandy (she lived in Breezy Point. The surfer that died in Puerto Rico was who saved her and her husband!). What do you give someone that lost everything? Your standard smelly soaps seemed kind of silly. And Sienna’s suggestion of buying her a house was noble but not realistic! LOL. So, remembering that the teacher has an art background, I decided to make her one of my coptic stitch journals. Only the 3rd one I ever made! I covered it with mulberry paper and used watercolor paper inside. I think it came out rather nice! I also sewed her a bookmark/pen holder (I’ve made before) and key fob. Sienna picked out the fabric for the key fob. You might not be able to tell but it’s owls. The teacher told Sienna how she was just saying the other day how she needed a journal!

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This might end up being a big post so I can be up to date on the crafts I have done. Some date back to March, like this shirt I made for Sienna’s birthday!

Me and Sienna made this pirate hat and eye patch together as part of the monthly kit I signed her up for called Kiwi Crate. She loves getting the box in the mail!

I also made a few notecards that I’m showcasing each separately since they are all different. I had a lot of fun with these, using stencils, stamps and embossing folders.

This embroidery was for a swap via Wild Olive’s blog. My partner loves unicorns.

This was for a swap to carve a set of stamps to create a scene. My partner is a gardener.

I made this juggler stationery using a stencil I made with my Cameo machine.

This kit was for a DIY art-o-mat swap. Learn more about art-o-mat here. I provided materials to make a macramé bracelet and made a little booklet of instructions.

This is the outside of an egg carton decorated for the Easter Egg Hunt swap. I put little Easter themed items inside eggs. Unfortunately, I got flaked on for this swap!

A butterfly pendant

A faux dichroic glass pendant using Friendly Plastic. Looks a lot better in real life.

A felt skull keychain

A skull wire wrap ring

A t-shirt for Nico’s 6th birthday! Made with vinyl and Cameo.

A macramé bead bracelet for Sienna’s Pre-K assistant teacher.

A set of notecards for Sienna’s main Pre-K teacher.

The card I made for her

And the necklace I made her (the pendant is glitter, resin, vinyl)

Another faux dichroic pendant, I think I like it better smaller and with a focal point.

I did the same pendant again for a swap via Craftaholics Anonymous Summer Gift Exchange but I also made the cord. Her favorite colors are pink and black. I used the kumihino technique.

And finally, a nerd pendant. I was inspired by these awesome pendants and wrote out nerd myself and scanned it in.

Whew! I made it through! If you are still reading down here, thank you! I haven’t done much crafting in July but the month isn’t over yet. But don’t think I haven’t been creative! I’ve been taking Joanne Sharpe’s Letter Love class (part of my birthday present from the hubs) and getting into some zentangle with another Joanne, Joanne Fink.

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Marine Park had an Easter Egg Hunt for the kids a week before Easter. I thought it would be fun to take Sienna. They did a pretty good job with organizing it. We ran into Emma and Leah with their grandparents and joined them on the line so that saved us from going to the back of the line. Each kid got a limit of 5 eggs to find. In each egg was a slip of paper with either small prize or medium prize written on it. You can only pick 1 prize to redeem so obviously if you had a medium prize, you would redeem that one. Well, all Sienna’s eggs had small prize in them but a kind dad gave us one of his medium prized eggs. I guess his kid found 2 eggs with medium prize. The majority of the medium prizes were candy and she picked chocolate covered marshmallow eggs. The small prizes were mostly paper stuff so I’m glad she didn’t get more of that junk! They had 2 bouncy slides and face painting. It was quite windy and we didn’t dress as warmly as we should have.

Running to ger the eggs

Sienna picked a heart
On Good Friday, I invited Sienna’s best buddies and their mom’s over for some Easter Egg dying in the “back yard.” I ordered pizza for lunch. It was a little bit chilly but the kids had fun.

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I had a groupon for Brooklyn Bead Box that I bought last year. I finally used it last month for a wire wrap ring class even though I had pinned a wire wrap ring tutorial on my pinterest. I like to take classe as you never know what tips and tricks you can learn and it’s focused time. No other distractions (except all the beautiful beads and jewelry that surrounds you!) Well, I loved the class! The teacher was super cool and the class was small (we were 3 and it goes up to 4). I think I made about 4 rings. The technique they taught was slightly different than the tutorial on my pinterest. At home I tried the tutorial and I like both ways. So, can you say addicted? Here’s the rings I made in class.

This was the very first ring I made. The stone was like 50 cents so I was ok with it if I screwed up. I think I did pretty well!

This stone was pretty big, that’s why there is wire across it as well. I have yet to wear this one. I’m ambivalent on this one.

I think this one is my favorite. I love that it’s not round and I like the colors.

I couldn’t resist this pink skull! This one is a little awkward as I wanted to make the skull look right side up, which means the holes are on the top and bottom. It’s easier to wrap when the holes are on the sides. I might do this one over as the bead is a little loose.

Here is what I made at home from the tutorial.

The stone is from the bead shop and I thought it would be fun to use a bright wire for it.

Bead from my stash. I really love how this one came out. I wear it the most, I think. Until the black started scratching off. I realized that the wire I used is square, as opposed to round, which I guess makes it more prone to scratches. The scratches are on the other side, I wanted to show the good side!

I made this pink stone ring for Sienna. She asked me to make her one after seeing all the rings I was making for myself. She still hasn’t worn it for more than 5 minutes!

The bee is a mood bead that I bought from beadaholique. I thought it would be fun, although I don’t know how accurately it reads your moods! HA!

I just made this ring today for a swap. I haven’t mailed it yet so I hope my partner is not reading this! The bead is actually a swarovski crystal button and it changes color depending on what it is reflecting.
And some earrings too:

Wire wrapped rhinestone chain around a ring. Got the idea from ornamentea. Their so sparkly and kinda fancy. Haven’t worn them yet!

These earrings are copied from the bookA Bounty of Bead and Wire Earrings that I got from the library. Lots of inspiration in the book.

And here is the last item, a wire wrapped pendant. I usually glue a bail to the back but thought this would be more interesting. I made this for a swap and my partner should be receiving it any day now. I hope she likes it.

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As I mentioned in my last post, Sienna had a party weekend last weekend! Saturday was her party, the first official party we ever paid for! I figured 5 was a mini milestone so why not? The place we booked was very reasonable so I decided to invite her whole class. It was easier than covertly trying to invite just the people Sienna wanted. Then I crossed my fingers that not everyone in her class would be able to come. We ended up having 18 kids, some from her class and some of her buddies outside of school. Everyone had a great time!

Party Bags ready to go!

She took a disco nap about an hour before the party!

Playing “air hockey”

Caius told me to take a picture of him!

A blur in the ball pit

Leah gets a tattoo

Party Table

Dancing

Vinny spun her around so much, she got so dizzy and fell!

Blowing out the candles on the ice cream cake!

The loot! And this isn’t even all of it! She had already opened a Rapunzel and Flynn doll, a Barbie Ballerina doll and an X-men figurine! And this doesn’t show some clothes that she got. She made out very well!

This cake is from my parents. I had them come over on Sunday instead of her actual birthday since I was making cupcakes for her class. Might as well spread out all this cake she’s getting!

This picture is so adorable!

When my dad asked her what she wanted for her birthday, she told him Beyblade. My father asked me for confirmation since there were only boys on the box. She loved this game when she was at Nico’s and Sylvie’s house.

And this was Sienna at her school party on her actual birthday! I made the cupcakes and also bought munchkins. She threw up shortly after this photo! She said it was the white munchkin and not the chocolate one that made her throw up. I suspect it was from all these sweets she’s had the last few days. I don’t usually give her so much cake days in a row!

Sienna and her teacher! This photo is so cute too! My baby is growing up! Sniff sniff!
Here’s a video from the birthday party!

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Let’s get right to the crafts I haven’t posted yet, those that weren’t heart related.

I hosted a swap called Anything But My Heart in the hand carved stamps group. Carve something love related that isn’t a heart. These are the ones I made my partner. Only 1 other person joined so it was like a private swap. My partner sent me 2 bunnies kissing. Super cute! I’ll need to post a photo of that one!

These 3 photos were not for swaps but for one of Sienna’s best buds from school. It was Emma’s birthday on Jan. 31st so I made the front of her card while Sienna decorated the envelope and wrote on the inside. I made the shirt too. I always forget how easy the glitter heat vinyl can mess up especially when I use the newer (and hotter) iron. If you look closely enough, perhaps you can see the mess up?

Another birthday card, this one is for Daniel. As you can see, he turned 2 and he likes trains. The pop up is from the Silhouette store.

Before getting back to swap crafts, I made the top shirt for Daniel also. I gave it to Shirley at her baby shower brunch in January and didn’t give her the onesie until she gave birth to Lucila in February (they opted to be surprised!)

I crocheted this rose and made it into a pin for the How Do I Love Thee swap I hosted.

A huge 4 inch wide stamp I carved of a coffee cup for a Wacky Holiday swap. My partner was in search of a rubber stamp of this size so I thought I would carve her one. Forgot what holiday I made this for!

January 23rd was Asian New Year and it was Year of the Dragon. I joined a card swap for that. The dragon pop up was free online and I traced it in my Silhouette program so I wouldn’t have to cut it by hand. The Cameo spoiled me! I also had the Cameo write the sentiment on the front of the card.

I was excited that I won the My Friendship Bracelet Maker on a blog so I joined a friendship bracelet swap! It was really fun to make and I’ll have to make some more.

Another chalkboard pin!

I can’t remember the swap I made this for but this is so cute, I have to make a set for myself!

I made this one for a pendant swap. The star is a bezel and I embedded some gems inside with diamond glaze colored with some pearl ex.

oop! A Valentine card that I guess did not make it into the heart post. I crocheted the heart although it doesn’t really look like a heart, does it?

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Yves’ cousin, Samy, and his wife Sabine came for a visit last week from France. They live in Brittany, by the sea. This was Sabine’s first time in New York and they did all the usual touristy things. I met them for the first time on Wednesday. My dad came over to watch Sienna and I met everyone at the restaurant, Da Andrea. It was a wonderful time! The food was delicious and the 2 bottles of wine were devine! Sorry I don’t have any photos of the food but I do remember that I got the tower of grilled vegetables with goat cheese for appetizer, the squid ink taglioni with fresh clams for entreé and chocolate gelato for dessert. Samy and Sabine are such good people and it was very easy to talk with them. They sent us off with loads of crepés for Yves and a huge box of macarons for me! And a cute outfit for Sienna. So generous! They were leaving Saturday night so we invited them over our place so they could meet Sienna. We took them to Brooklyn Bridge Park. It was a super windy day, up to 60 mph! But sunny! We had lunch at Bubby’s, where I had one of the best sandwiches I had in a long time (THE PILGRIM – roasted turkey, cranberries, stuffing and cream cheese on housemade sourdough bread)! We walked around a bit but probably not as much as we could have because of the wind. Then, before heading back to the house, we swung by Coney Island just to show them. I felt it was colder by then so it was a super quick trip. Back at the house, we had coffee and cocoa and the banana bread I made that morning. Yves drove them to the airport with promises of visiting them in France soon. They will be back in August with their son and entourage so we will be seeing them again in no time. Sienna enjoyed their company as well and said to me that it was very nice that they came.

MMMMM macarons! NOM NOM NOM. They are all gone now.

Group shot!

By my favorite bridge

Sienna’s point of view! (I should have given her a camera for the day!)

Sienna and Sabine running

On the wall

Squinty by Coney Island

We sent them off with some gifts of our own. We bought a Brooklyn t-shirt for Simon and a notepad with a colorful Manhattan skyline on the cover as well as a couple of handmade items. I made Sabine an S pendant and a set of NY coasters from my photos.

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