Oh, those are lovely! We should have another pin cushion swap, does anybody remember Really Big Jen and her free bottle cap pin cushion tutorial? She made it look so easy! It’s not though, I’ve made a few and they are tricky little buggers.
It really doesn’t take much to convert people to the Purple Thang club, all you gotta do is take one in your hand and that’s it, you’ll be hooked for life!
This is on my desk right now, it cost a buck at the $store and was sold as a jar opener. I’m cutting it into smaller circles to use as needle grips for hand stitching. This for real saves me so much pain and frustration, it is the handiest tricky bit!
Oooh!! A purple thing is on my wishlist of supplies… I’ll buy one eventually- but I’d love an @AIMR manual if you can spare one!
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AIMR
(Linda -2024 Choose Projects that You Want to Do :us:)
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Don’t buy one!!! I don’t want my nephews cleaning out my stuff years from now and asking why Aunt Linda had all of those funny purple sticks…ha ha ha ha
I forgot to mention— I bought one of those dollar store vinyl tablecloths and it’s my drop cloth for all messy goings-on! Much cheaper than buying an actual drop cloth and big enough for any project I would have going. For now, anyway.
Wow! Those are gorgeous. Her work is so incredibly precise.
I have never used the “Purple Thang,” although I have a very small, short bamboo skewer I use for many similar tasks, along with a small bodkin that ends in a clamp for threading elastics.
I think my favorite small sewing/crafting-related thing this past year has been felt. It’s way more versatile for beautiful adult crafts than I ever would have expected, as the pin cushions up there clearly demonstrate! It’s fairly forgiving to work with, but there are a myriad of ways to put it together and then dress it up. Like the magnet I made in the Magnet Swap, or the Cheeseburger Pincushion I did for the Needlebook, Pincushion, & Needleminder Swap.
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Lynx
(In a world where you can be anything, be kind.)
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I’ve been having fun with felt this year, too!
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(Linda -2024 Choose Projects that You Want to Do :us:)
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I saved an entire plastic pretzel jar of the bottle caps before they shrunk them down to reduce waste…I love making those pincushions! I also love using felt…I am addicted to wool felt…it makes a big difference in how some projects look…which reminds me…I am supposed to be making a felt pizza set for my newest great nephew…oops…I think I can get it done by his birthday in August!
You should first them, I bought mine because of you! I’ll say…my knitting needles instead. Learning to knit recently was opened a whole new world of crafting for me!
Crafty thing that has made me happy lately? Hm, I’ve been playing with UV resin. What I’m looking forward to arriving (should be tomorrow) is a Sizzix big shot pro so I can do embossing (which my Cricut cannot do).
Whoo-hoo! Can’t wait to receive them! Crafty thing that’s made me happy lately is working on my partner’s swap items. Seriously. What I’m making is meditative, which I really need now and I’m happy with how they are coming out.
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Lynx
(In a world where you can be anything, be kind.)
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I am so glad we have some additional days to work on this. I have finally had to acknowledge that my original plan is NOT working out well and will be scrapped. I STRUGGLE with randomness, y’all. It is my crafting nemesis. No matter how hard I try to just “go with the flow” when laying down color or whatnot, it just falls into obvious patterns. sighs Back to the drawing board…
I have a friend’s website to update, and I am a week behind because…I just automatically after dinner gravitated to the craft room to work on my little good things. Never even crossed my mind that I had other work to do.
P.S., I did get the website updated and just have a few things hanging.
Same!! All these people with their random looking art pages…it’s hard to make things look organically random. I’ve come to terms with the fact that I just don’t work that way. I work much better with structure and balance. Embrace the patterns! Lol. Good luck on round 2!
@EriChanHime@Whistlefish, I too found myself creating symmetry even when I aimed for randomness. I was ok with it, after all it seemed to be my natural inclination and style. The only time I found it frustrating was when I envisioned a project with a more loose and, as you say Alex, organically random look, and I couldn’t get there. Something that really helped me was making masterboards, just experimenting without any expectation of the end result and then being surprised at how beautifully they turned out. It was a revelation. I even held a class at my place with some friends who were coming over for Saturday Crafternoons, it was the first project we did together and unanimously enjoyed.
I wonder if either of you might be interested in participating in a craftalong to try it out? I made a masterboard project recently and took progress pics, I’ll share them later for a better idea of the steps. It starts out uglier than you can imagine which sort of takes the pressure off since you just think there’s no coming back from the hot mess in front of you, lol. I am surprised at the end result every single time without fail, it’s truly amazing how it goes from butt-ugly to gorgeous almost by accident.
Oh no! Sorry that I am the cause of this struggle, LOL. Randomness is my BFF. I honestly am in awe of you guys and your orderly ways (@Whistlefish and @Magpie included - Magpie, you even make scrappy look neat!).
I am working away on my LGT for Erin…it’s…not random, HA!
I don’t want my nephews cleaning out my stuff years from now and asking why Aunt Linda had all of those funny purple sticks…ha ha ha ha
I honestly am in awe of you guys and your orderly ways (