Day 325: Felt Embroidered Hair Clippies

Quote:

“Human happiness and human satisfaction must ultimately come from within oneself.”

-The Dalai Lama

I can

make me happy

I

am

enough

so all that is good in the world

comes from me

and all that is happy in the world

comes from within

me

within my

mind, my

body, my

soul

and spirit

I

create

happy

inside me

Today, I worked on some embroidery work. I made a pair of hair clippies, and a hair pin.

These are simple, and kind of plain, because I made them to match most of my daughter’s outfits.

Nice, right? This one is pour moi, my friends.

That’s all for now. I have to catch up on emails, write an article, and clean the house.

The Craftaholic

Day 322: An Embroidered Hamsa Talisman

Quote:

“In other words, if someone remains in a peaceful and tranquil state of mind, external surroundings can cause them limited disturbance.”

-The Dalai Lama

A verse for the the man I see, frenzied and hurried:

I wish you peace

and when I see you speak loudly on your expensive telephone

I wish you peace

I

wish you peace when you worry about everything

when you worry about things that are

out of your control

because you see,

peace comes not from a happy situation

but in your ability to be

centered

even through the storm

like the trees

they move

they waiver

but they stay

rooted.

Even if their branches break

they stay

rooted

So, my frienzied friend,

stay rooted

in whatever it is you believe in

and if you believe in nothing

start believing

in something

because life is bigger

and grander

and better

than we could ever imagine

with our human senses and our

small brains

Today, I did some embroidery work. I actually really love doing embroidery. It’s so much fun, and so easy for me!

I made an embroidered Hamsa talisman. Click here to find out what a hamsa is. Anyway, here it is:

Do you like it?

I used DMC Thread Colors: 930, 3722 and 932. The pendant in the middle is a millifiore pendant from Fire Mountain Gems.

I did post a template for the hamsa, to my scribd account, and here it is. You’ll excuse the raw sharpie drawing.

What else? Oh, here’s a couple cheesy pictures of my daughter dancing. This time we were dancing to Lou Reed’s “Walk on the Wild Side”. What a good song.

Yes, she has no pants on. It’s better that way.

Here’s one in action.

haha, she’s so funny. The TV was on, and she insisted on leaving it on, tho I did mute it so we can hear Mr. Lou Reed properly.

I hope you liked my thing for today!

The Craftaholic

Day 294: Embroidered Matroyshka Doll

Quote:

“It is wrong to expect some final satisfaction to come from money or from a computer.”

-The Dalai Lama

But we do, don’t we? We expect things. Expectations are what lead to disappointment, especially when it comes to money. I never worry about money, not because I have a lot (because I don’t). I never worry about money because the truth is, it goes as easily as it comes.

It’s wrong to think that your life will be better with money. Life is better when you make it better. It’s not about money, it’s about your attitude toward life, and how you see your future, and what you do with your life.

Today, I did a bit of embroidery work. I of course, used DMC threads.

You like it?

This doll is for a workshop I’m teaching at Sacred Vibes Apothecary in Brooklyn, NY.

You can call them to sign up for it: (718) 284-2890.

This is a “passion” doll. She embodies everything that I am passionate about. The colors are symbolic, and she’s stuffed with herbs, money, and beads.

The beads represent my art, the herbs represent different things (depending on the herb), and the money represents my desire to allow my passions to “pay my rent” so to speak.

Anyhow, that’s what this doll is.

The doll has one eye, which is “The evil eye”. The evil eye is an old superstitious symbol that supposedly protects from bad vibes. I struggled with the eyes, so I just gave her this.

Yesterday, my little one and I went to the park.

It was hot, but fun.

Today, we’re going to manhattan. I never dropped of the samples for that class, so I’m doing that today. But I’m going to be frugal and pack my own lunch. It’s more eco friendly that way, right? Then I can buy some ice cream.

Oh! The peanut butter pie was made and devoured.

Here’s a link to a good recipe for it.

The Craftaholic

Day 217: A Felt Embroidered Cupcake

“Even death is not to be feared by one who has lived wisely.” -The Buddha

I have decided that I want to continue the quotes every day for a year, but mix it up a bit. I normally just use the quotes from the Dalai Lama, but you know what….I’m starting to come up dry lately, after using a different one of his quotes every day for over 200 days. So from now on, it’ll be The Buddha and the Dalai Lama every day.

So this that the Buddha is talking about , just means we must live our lives to the fullest. Right? I mean, it doesn’t mean you have to be UBER impulsive, spending all your money on art supplies and traveling the world (although really, that does sound grand). When you’ve lived a good positive life, you have nothing to fear. You have no death to fear, no judgement. Because you know that you’ve lived the best life you can, for yourself and the world around you.

Live a positive life. Be happy. Don’t poo poo on another person’s happiness.  Choose today to go beyond the comfort of your own little circle, and go beyond that. Go beyond yourself. That’s what enlightment is, really. The whole idea of reaching Nirvana, to me, means going beyond yourself and your ego and all the things that you THINK make up you.

What you are is pure spirit, and nothing else. The whole point of buddhism, is for you to get in touch with that side of you. So…maybe if you remove the negative distractions in your life, you will be able to see the good things in your life, you will be able to create your happiness. And then this perhaps, will make your life a little bit better.

Today, there is a fun crafty how to.

I made a half a dozen little cupcakes. They are so cute!  I made them out of the Eco-Fi felt, with DMC Embroidery Threads and Tapestry Wool.

If you don’t know how to draw very well, or normally draw strange and abstract things, never fear.

All you need to make your template is white watercolor paper, a good sized rubber stamp, a black ink pad and scissors.

I used the stamp, “Simple Birthday Thanks” by Stampin up, because it’s a good sized rubber stamp, and it’s a cute cupcake. But someone needs to tell those stampin up people to take the lettering off the stamp. I think the cupcake is just fine without it. Don’t you?

Anyhow, stamp the image onto watercolor paper. I did this so that when you use it as a template, it can be nice and sturdy, as watercolor paper is.

Anyway, cut out all the pieces, and then cut out the pieces with felt.

You get something like this. Although it is kinda cool all by itself, I wanted a little embroidery into it.

It’s cool, right? I used DMC Embroidery threads on this beautiful…aplique, I guess? I wanted to make it a luggage tag, but then I realized I don’t really travel much. So I’m keeping it as an applique for the future jean jacket that I’m getting my daughter this year. It’s either that, or an applique for a tote bag. Either way, I like this little cup cake a lot.

And it’s so easy to just use stamps as a template! Choose a rubber stamp that is easy enough to cut out. The possibilities with this technique are endless! You can make little embroidered flower clippies! This is a fun thing to do for those of you who want to make cool embroidery, but don’t necessarily draw all that well. Or, maybe you have a lot of rubber stamps, and you’re just bored like we all get sometimes.

What else? I have tried to clean my desk to no avail. I try, I do. But then I end up starting a project, and then it gets messy again.

The Craftaholic

Day 216: Embroidered Felt Clutch Purse/Wallet

Quote:

“If you help and serve others, you will ultimately gain.”

Basically, we need to not be so selfish. In our race to accomplish our goals and reach our dreams, we must realize that we are not the only ones out there in the world, scrambling towards our goals. That’s all.

Think of others first, sometimes. Make others first sometimes. Maybe then you’ll be able to see the blessings in your life. You know?

Today, I made myself a purse! Cool, right? Well, it’s more of a clutch or a wallet.

I made it so I could put my money, credit cards, id, coins and keys all in one place. This is made with recycled plastic bottle felt sheets from a wonderful store in midtown, called Daytona. It’s called “Eco-Fi”. Cool, right?

Here’s a few close ups:

Yes, I even put a zipper on it. I used DMC Embroidery thread for this project, and hand sewed the entire thing.

You like it?

The Craftaholic

Day 203: Crocheted Jewelry

Quote:

“Each of us in our own way can try to spread compassion into people’s hearts. Western civilizations these days place great importance on filling the human “brain” with knowledge, but no one seems to care about filling the human “heart” with compassion. This is what the real role of religion is.”

Filling the human heart with compassion. What does this mean to you?

Maybe it’s just me, but sometimes I feel like I have too much going on to even focus on the condition of my heart. Don’t you? Between being a full time mom, artist, buisiness owner, wife, writer, craft teacher, and everything else, who has the time, right?

Well, there is always time. You must take the time to check the condition of your heart. You must take time to check your intentions and your desires. There is ALWAYS time. Try to take a few minutes just on your own, just to clear your mind, just to focus on you and your soul. Every day. Think about it. You don’t have to pray, or believe in prayer, or god or anything. If you do, that’s great. But focus. Just on you. On your soul. Cleanse your thoughts. Every day. Forgive, every day. Even if you have to forgive the same person over and over and over again.

Try. Every day. A preacher at a church that I grew up in said that prayer is like lifting weights. At first, it kinda sucks. And it’s annoying, and you don’t feel like you’re doing it right. But you keep on. Every day. You don’t have to believe in god. Just take 5 minutes to cleanse your mind and your soul.

On another note, my crafty endeavor for today, was a cool workshop that I taught, in midtown manhattan. We made some crocheted jewelry.

Here’s a few pics, before I post a simple pattern.

A desk shot, because I ALWAYS bring too much stuff.

This is Lexis and Vera. Can you believe that they are BOTH sagitarians, like me? Crazy! I never meet my fellow sun sign, much less two of them! And PS, both of them had boyfriends with the same sign. Even more spooky…woah.

Lexis. She’s REALLY trying to get the single crochet stitch. Keep trying, Lexis! You’ll do it!

This is Maria. She knows her shiaat. For reals yo.

Okay, so what we did, was we made a very funky crocheted bead garland. This is so fun, and SO easy! So fun.

Use any random skein of worsted weight yarn. I used amazing yarn for mine, Maria is using a nameless cotton yarn, because I forgot who made it. Sorry. I bought it about 2 years ago.

We also used some shimmering embroidery thread, by DMC Threads. I used pink, Maria used blue.

Here’s a better shot of what we made:

So, this is super duper easy.  Here’s a pattern, for what we made today. Note that there is no end really, because you just keep going until it’s as long as you want. You can actually connect it, and make a super long necklace, or you can make this for special occasion, like for Xmas or something.

So, you can either use Lion Brand’s Amazing Yarns, or a skein of Cotton Classic by Tahki Yarns, together with shimmering embroidery thread by DMC Yarns.

Here it is:

Ch2

Row 1-8 SC in second ch from hook

Row 2-2 SC in each around (16)

Row 3&4-SC all around

Row 5-SC Dec. in each around (8)

Row 6-do it again, to make 4 sc.

Row 7-once more for the road, to leave 2 sc, then do a sc in the last two

Ch 12

repeat, repeat, repeat!

It’s that easy.

What do you think? You like it?