Let me introduce myself!

I am a self-proclaimed craft-a-holic. I love doing different crafts (cooking, sewing, etc.) and sharing the results with others. When I was in Junior High, I was introduced to cross stitch by a woman I used to babysit for. I would start looking for kits and patterns to work on. My favorite time to do my projects was usually when I was watching TV with my family. At that time, I didn't work on anything with gifting it in mind. As I grew older, I started making more projects with giving them away as the goal. Most of my blogs going forward will cover different things I do.

Time passes, as it always does, and I started getting interested in other things. My grandmother would make many beautiful things with plastic canvas, and I began becoming more interested in that. I never went for anything extremely complex, however. I stuck with things such as pictures, containers, bowls, and tissue boxes, mostly. Sometimes, I would adapt a cross-stitch picture into a plastic canvas picture. The colors were never an exact match, but they'd be pretty close.

For a long time, cross stitch and plastic canvas were my main crafting focus. But I am a curious person, and I am always looking at other crafting ideas and methods. Some ideas are beyond my capabilities but some, after a little research (such as watching videos), Sometimes I could figure out how to make certain things on my own.

My paternal grandmother knitted.... a lot. I grew up getting scarves, slippers, and mittens from her and I used them until they fell apart. My biggest regret is never taking the time to ask her to teach me how to knit. At the time, I was in elementary school, and I guess it didn't occur to me at the time. I have tried watching videos and getting how to books, but I could never grasp the technique. Enter the loom! First, I found a simple oval-like loom at Walmart and began making scarves that I gave as Christmas gifts to my siblings and my many nieces and nephews. I made some for my great-nieces and nephews as well, when they were slightly older than toddlers. At one point, I made a "purse" with a matching scarf for a nephew's wife. I found an infinity loom at Joann's Fabrics and my mother bought it for me as a birthday gift. That led me to making a blanket for a niece. A roughly 5-foot by 5-foot blanket. It took a while, but the end result was pretty good, if I say so myself!

Then I discovered the loopy yarn, and I made more blankets for my siblings and their children (and THEIR children). Made a few scarves with the loopy yarn, too. I have a LOT of yarn, loopy type and otherwise. I have three drawers in a dresser (turned storage) stuffed with it! I think I have a problem. Ha Ha! Luckily, my dad will sometimes dip into the yarn for any projects he may be working so I guess it works out okay.

In the last 10+ years, my interests have expanded even more! I tried my hand at making things with resin. That took a lot of trial and error as well as patience. It turns out it's not as simple as it looks! Some projects set up nice but sometimes others did not set up at all. My ongoing problem is air bubbles and getting the mixtures right. Yep, lots of trial and error. Still, I think I do alright. I do have a growing collection of resin molds as well as dyes and mica powders. :)

Diamond art is something I have seen for a long time but never tried to do. When I started working on pictures, I found it to be very relaxing and rewarding when it's completed. Quick story on Diamond art. I do the pictures for Vacation Bible School at my church every year. Have been doing it for more than 10 years at this point. In the beginning, I didn't have a setup. But after a few years, they would give me an area that I could decorate. I would buy props from Oriental Trading company, along with little treats for each child that got a picture taken. One year, the theme was art. Music, painting, etc. I used Diamond art pictures I made from kits along with freestyle pictures to decorate my photo area. And I gave ALL of those pictures away. Some were big pictures, others small. Some were made into magnets! Some of the bigger pictures I would put on easels and have palettes and brushes as props so the kids could pose as if painting. But I drew names of all the children who attended that year and every one of them received one of my projects. Yes, I have an extensive collection of diamond art kits yet to be started.

A few years ago, I bought a Cricut Explore Air 2 and started experimenting. I made shirts for everyone for Christmas that year. Okay, to be more specific, I bought blank shirts and put designs on them. My brother-in-law, who is very tall, got a sweatshirt that had "Sorry! You're stuck behind the tall guy!" on the BACK! He thought it was pretty funny. The following year, I purchased a bunch of sublimation mugs and made everybody special mugs with infusible ink. I even made a mug for the pastor and youth pastor at my church (EX: You can't scare me! I'm a Youth Pastor!). I even had a request for a specific shirt once for a friend at church. They wanted a mosquito along with the saying "There's power in the blood!". I couldn't find a weightlifting mosquito, but I did find a muscly mosquito and it turned pretty nice!

Recently, I started using fleece that I had purchased years ago, along with fleece my late mother had purchased. This past Christmas, I made stuffed animals for the children of all my nieces and nephews, as well as my brother's small children. It was funny how surprised everyone was that I made them! Well, I thought it was funny.

I do have some new project ideas I want to try with precut fabric strips my late mother purchased. But looking at braided rugs or jelly roll rugs and placemats. I have a book on making bags and different shaped bowls, jelly roll style. So, I'm sure I'll be blogging about that!

As I mentioned in the very beginning, I do like to cook too. I love looking up how to make dishes I've had at restaurants. Had pretty good success with that. Granted, I do like baking, but I love trying out new recipes I find online or in my extensive collection of cookbooks (some are mine; others were my mother's). Yes, I'll be covering that too. LOL

My apologies for the novel here! I just wanted everyone to know what I would probably cover more than anything. I'm sure there will be some non-craft related or non-cooking related content, but most likely not all that much. Yes, I know. Famous last words!

I hope that what I write about will be entertaining and maybe even encouraging. I'm not an expert by any means but I do like to try. You never know if you will succeed or fail if you never try! It's like the lottery. You can't win if you don't play! I haven't won myself yet, but one never knows what the future holds!

Please tune in and see when I post in the future! I will probably mention specific websites or content creators (You've been warned, Etsy! LOL) for things I've tried and enjoyed. I will be as honest as I can while being as nice as I can.

Please take care of yourselves and stay happy and positive! The world has enough negativity! Love to all!!

Liz