Well, I sure did not mean to take a week long break from GFK. However, I was incredibly busy and distracted. First, my mom came into town over the weekend and we had a blast! Walking, hanging, watching Roku, crafting, shopping, and of course eating. Second, work has been kicking my butt. I start a new assignment and to say that I’m taking to it like a fish to water would be a lie. I’m struggling. I know things get better with practice and time, but it’s difficult at the moment. I’m mentally really tired. I haven’t been able to craft as much lately simply because my brain is overloaded. Third, GMAT prep is just crap. Wow the positive vibes are radiating out of me here – but – spending 15+ hours a week on something and seeing no improvement is just shitty. There I said it. I stand by my claim that I’ll pray to God I’ll pull a great score out of my ass on test day, but realistically it looks like I’ll need a formal ($$$$) class this fall. Le sigh.
Things getting me through the weather, life, work, and stress of May 2014: Long walks during lunch, epic BBQ sessions at my house at night, Yoga – handstands, Runs/Gym time, Candy/Sweets/Chocolate, T-we Tea, Roku 3, and the ugly tribe.
I decided to make some special gifts for my mom and usually I always make or buy some sort of cross/crucifix since she collects them, but this time I came up with an idea that would be a little more original. I’m sure we’ve all seen the heart that is made of wood, nails, and string on Pinterest, but I wanted to do something more specialized for her. So I decided a day of the dead-esque skull and a matching shaped card I used my Cricut machine to create.
I found (i.e. stole) a small perfect piece of wood that my dude was planning on painting on so my project off the bat was going to be much smaller than the heart I had seen online.
Then I actually found that the silhouette for my Cricut card was the perfect ‘skull’ like template for me to symmetrically build the skull shape.
Then I just decided visually where to put the nails for the skull teeth and I again just ‘eyed’ where to put the heart eyes. Before actually pounding the nails in I gently pushed them in so they left a small mark in the wood and not a huge gapping hole. I did make a mistake in the teeth and had to adjust the amount of nails that I used. I ended up covering up those holes by gently pushing the grains of the wood around it to ‘faux’ fill the hole. It worked perfectly because the texture of this wood is so rough. I would most assuredly NOT do that if you are using a shiny or high gloss stained wood – in that case measurements and not eyeing would be mandatory.
Once I finished gently placing the nails and got the shape I wanted I hammered the nails (wire nails in this case since this project is so small) and I ensured they were in there very well. Remember if one falls out the thread on the entire skull will unwind and it will be ruined. So once that was done I began weaving the thread (if larger use yarn), around the outline and inside the heart eyes. Then I did the same for the blue skull. I didn’t use much thread for this small project, but considering how large you decide to do yours make sure you have enough to cover the project sufficiently. Another helpful hint in winding the thread around the nails is to stop more often than not and tie the thread off so that if you lose tension (which you’ll have to maintain the entire time), all the thread will not slack and make the project look badly. All in all it was a simple, but great project. I hope she likes it!
For the second project I used my Cricut machine to cut out a really unique and beautiful card. I used my Cricut Florals Embellished Cartridge and found a great unique shaped design to use. If you haven’t ever heard of or used the Cricut system you are really missing out. It cuts out the greatest shapes with all kinds of intense detail and then you simply put the paper, vinyl, etc together to make a great unique die-cut or item. It makes cards, cakes, you can airbrush around its stencils, the list really goes on and on….
So with my Cricut I made her this beauty:
Ah yes – crafting, it truly is in my blood. Do any of you have simple crafts like this or a Cricut machine?
ghostfaceknitter.com 