New Year, New Rules

It's been a while, hasn't it? I have no crafty updates in this blog, although I have been working on another cross stitched alphabet, which will be completed soon. After that, I'll be stitching for me, as well as making paintings for the upcoming Gilbert Bouchard Art Show in Edmonton. This years theme is Gutters, so you'll have to wait and see what I have in store!

What have I been up to?

I have so many half-finished stitching projects, it's not even funny you guys. I have however received a very thoughtful (And crafty!) Christmas gift from the bestest friend in the entire world Smoonie! (http://smooniegoestohell.blogspot.ca/) This month's project was making clay dishes with doily imprints. Mine turned out better than expected! Here's the process:

First I opened it and I was like "What the sweet hell is this?!" Then I actually read the e-mail they sent.

I'm rolling the clay flat with a cup, since for whatever the eff reason, I don't have a rolling pin. (Mental note: GO BUY ONE dummy!)

After that I put the doily under the clay and roll over it again making an impression in the clay.

Then I used the "giant cookie cutter" and cut out the shape of the plate.

I'm a genius!

To get a bowl shape, I let it dry in a bowl so it would get concave.

Filter fun with iPhone apps!

Here are the two completed dishes. Sanding the edges was really easy since the clay is paper-based. I think I'm going to like this Whimseybox!

Dusting off the olde blog.

When I last left you (2) blog followers, I was almost done my Superhero alphabet from WeeLittleStitches on Etsy.

Jean Grey, the last letter to finish.

Well, it's done now. Here it is after a nice little wash.

And here it is in its home at Happy Harbor Comics in the All Ages section!

Not too long after that, I started this project on Black Aida. I wanted to do a classic game screen, so I chose one of my (As well as the husbands) favourite games, Galaga.

I have to say, I would have had this done a lot faster, but I kept losing interested and getting frustrated with the Black Aida cloth, since by the time it's 6 pm, it's dark as hell outside and hard to see what I'm doing.

This was also my first time using DMC glow in the dark thread. Which I will say NEVER AGAIN to, because it feathers like a bitch. Thankfully someone on twitter recommended Kreinik glow in the dark threads, and there's more than just on colour, so next time I'm using that.

Another reason this project got done so fast is that I've been couch ridden due to a blood clot in my leg, so between watching Netflix, playing Skyrim, doing design work and reading books I had plenty of time to focus on this project.

I love fonts, and I love stitching video game stuff. Each pixel is a stitch, so it was really awesome to see how it turned out. 

Now all I need is something to frame this baby in. And I've already planned my next project, but it likely won't be done before Christmas:

If anything it will keep me busy since I can't put up my tree this year. I will do better at keeping up with progress shots this time though, I promise!

Progress!

I've finally settled a bit and got down to work on my stitching, since allergies basically make me hide inside from the poplar fuzz!

W and Z are some of my favorite Super Heroes!

I'm almost done the "W" and then I start the V, and then I start some more characters. I'm doing the letters first since they are just grey. Kinda boring. I'm going to aim for this to be done for September when school starts up again. (Even though it hasn't even ended for the kids! Suckers!)

I also tracked down some of the Disney Thomas Kinkade patterns. I bought the Little Mermaid one online because that one is a bitch to track down, and today went out with the mother-in-law to Frame Corner in Edmonton ( http://www.framecorner.ca/ ) where there are two doggies to greet you and the lady who owns the place is a dear! There's even stitching nights and days where I can meet fellow stitchers in Edmonton. A way better experience than my last few visits to Craft Connection where I was essentially treated like dirt (Unless I had questions about framing, then they were all ears and had the cash register ready!) 

Also super exciting news, I finally got replies from a pen pal request I wrote in June 2013's Cross Stitcher magazine ( http://crossstitcher.themakingspot.com/ ). This is going to be an exciting experience! (Also when did I turn into an old lady?!)

I'm alive! And stitching!

So, I've been slacking on this blog, but a lot has been happening in my little world! I've made it full time at Happy Harbor Comics, and have had a few mini projects here and there to keep me busy. 

I had Wee Little Stitches make up a few custom patterns for Christmas gifts. So here's my mom and my dad!

My sister and her family.

 And then because I'm completely selfish around Christmas, I wanted to make something for myself. I love Ghibli, and found a pattern for Totoro for a custom cross stitch iPhone case. I bent soo many small needles making this, but it turned out well.

 Tooting my own horn here on my awesome stitch job.

 This project is still in the works, but I put it on hold for another Wee Little Stitches project I've been wanting to make for the all ages section at work.

In the meantime I've been busy sketching blank covers for charity and designing a beer label for Happy Harbor's custom brewed beer! Happy Harbeer! It made it's debut on May 4th,
also known as Free Comic book Day to us awesome geeks.

I've been working on this Superhero alphabet since about March, but with all the wackiness going on in my life and my dad being in and out of the hospital, my stitching has been sort of neglected.

Eventually I start getting more progress on the alphabet

And here's where I'm at so far. 18 more letters to go! I'm going to start with the last letters of the alphabet so I can start on some of my favorite Superheroes. I'm going to do my best to keep this updated bi weekly so you can see my projects and progress. 

Coming up: Hanky gift for a friend moving to Ireland.

A gift I made

I recently stitched this in between my big project that I messed up on with stitching white on white, the wrong way on my aida cloth. (Many foul words were spouted upon making that discovery)

In case you were wondering, it's my in-laws who have recently helped me out a lot and I wanted to show them I appreciated it.

I got the kit (And soooo many others) from http://www.etsy.com/shop/weelittlestitches and am planning on stitching the same gift for my parents and my sister and her new family. (She's having a baby boy today!)

Anyways, a small update from the stitchery world. I'm going to start making my own patterns soon and putting them up on my etsy shop, so be prepared to deal with a lot of etsy updates.

Peace out!

Non-Craft Topical Post!

There’s been a lot of talk about bullying lately, especially with the recent events of Amanda Todd. Let me first start off with saying that it was a horrible thing to have happened to anyone, let alone a 15 year old girl.

Although, in her case I wouldn’t say it was bullying, I’d say it was more to the effect of harassment and stalking that drove her to the edge. It still doesn’t make it any less worse though, someone has taken their life yet again.

As someone who was bullied rather harshly throughout junior high and high school it always upsets me when I read an article about someone getting pushed past the brink of their emotions and ending it because I’ve been there. I was the girl who hid in the library with her friends, loved video games, comics and anime, was overweight and not very pretty. I was picked on for my weight and pretty much anything anyone could find abnormal with me. I remember I used to hide in the shower stalls to change for gym because the girls would act all grossed out that they had to look at me. I’d get slammed into lockers, and told I caused a solar eclipse when I walked by windows. Then in grade 11, a misunderstanding cost me my only friends who were only so quick to completely turn against me and continue the bullying. It was then that I started cutting for a brief while, because I had no one. Changing schools for my grad year was a step in the right direction even if it was running away from my problems. I was still picked on, but I had better friends, who every once in a while made me forget about my issues.

The whole time I was picked on, my friends and family would tell me to just ignore them and the things they were saying/doing, but it’s really hard to ignore something like that when it happens every day. Even worse, you start to believe those things that the girls and boys all say, which really doesn’t help an already awkward teenage girl. (And still in my near-30’s)

We have bullying programs in place in schools, but in reality, they don’t do anything because those who are being bullied are afraid to stand up because things will get worse, and the bullies just scoff at the programs anyways. Then we have the “It Gets Better Campaign” which, while I appreciate the sentiment I sort of disagree with. Is it really getting better for people, or are we just sweeping this whole issue under the carpet and telling ourselves it’s getting better?

Sure, once I got out of high school I never saw any of my bullies again, but nothing has really been “better” so to speak. I am still super self-conscious and I have days where I really hate myself. For example, let’s say I’m walking in a mall and I hear a group of girls laughing, I immediately jump to the “Is it me they’re laughing at?” instead of the “Oh, those kids are so happy with each other, to be young again…etc.”

Granted, I’m still more confident than I used to be. Not by much, but every little bit helps. I’m also taking initiative for my health and made a 6 month goal with the doctor to lose 25-30 pounds. I know I shouldn’t worry about my looks, but I have found that with the last 17 pounds I’ve lost I’ve gained that much confidence. Even after typing this out I feel a lot better. It's always going to be one step at a time.