May through August 2023

I finally tackled some of the projects I'd been meaning to do for a while. But a lot of them are ongoing so I don't have pictures to post yet. 

First, here are some of the kid's projects we did in Summer Camp.

First week, we did three projects, a multimedia banner, a folding dinosaur, and a foam unicorn picture. Here are two of them (I forgot to take a picture of the third one. The banner has dowels top and bottom to give it structure and there are a lot of different media included from felts to paint to crayons, and added decorations like pom-poms, sequins, and foam. 

 
The second week, our projects were a tissue paper horse, a lion face, and a toucan that can move. I just did the toucan. The pieces are connected with brads, so his mouth can open and close, his wing can move, and his feet can move. 

The third week was beach themed with an alligator at the seashore, a scuba diving critter and a shark keychain. Here's the alligator. Done on a 4 inch canvas, that was preprinted with the design, the background is painted with the paper alligator wrapped with yarn and glued on, and the some foam accents added, along with the paper sun pieces, and the sequins. Quirky and fun!

The last week was a multimedia sun, a bug, and an underwater landscape. The base of this sun is a plastic plate with more paper rays added to the back, then yarn and foam letters. 

Our regular crafting continued as well, with projects from rock painting to watercolour landscapes to beading. 

This piece was for Pride month in June. A painted panel with a heart cardstock and a supportive phrase.

Then a watercolour landscape. 

Papercrafting

I also tackled some projects that have been waiting in the wings for a while. This piece is a course I took from Yvette Ja online. It makes a cute and handy Chinese sewing box. The video was well done and I was able to finish it in an afternoon, with her kit, some supplies of my own, and my own ribbon. 

The mini-book has two interior boxes to hold sewing supplier like thread and needle threaders. 

I also did some textile work. 

I finished a cute alphabet piece called Heard It through the Grapevine by SamSarah Designs. It used a lot of overdyed variegated threads.

I'll be posting a picture of the framed piece later this year. 

I also worked on some other embroidery projects for gifts and won't post those until after they've been given. 

I started making a small Hexie quilted table runner, and really enjoyed learning this new craft. I was able to have a friend who did this teach me techniques during an August get-together. No pictures of that yet as it is in beginning stages. 

Catching Up: from July and August 2021 to July and August 2022

I spent a lot of time reading and being outside near the end of the summer of 2021, despite more rain than usual, but also spent time with family. I started quite a few pieces that are in progress and will finish them at some point, but here are my finished items.

First, I got my Sedona Soleil piece back from the framers and couldn't be happier with it. They did a lovely job.

I also finished Scarlet Letters, by Tempting Tangles, a piece I began pre-pandemic. I had to do a little adjusting because it bothered me that one of the words wasn't in alphabetical order. I charted out just switching the order of the words to fix it, but had some letters running into ones from the line below when I did that, so I ended up choosing a different, and I think a better word to substitute. I used a similar font, borrowing elements from other letters in similar fonts elsewhere in the piece to make it, and am happy with the results. 

 

This is a Mill Hill kit for a small piece that you could make into a brooch, a magnet, or another small item. I thought it was a really fun piece. 

I also started working part-time at a crafting shop in the fall of 2021, and am involved in some of their crafting workshops, camps, and classes. Since I had to do a sample for many of these, I am including a few of the ones I rather liked here. 

These ones are from the Kids Summer Camp. My favourite is the solar system necklace.