It's been so long! The Christmas Holidays are keeping everyone, including me, so busy!! Here's a quick tutorial for some fun Free Standing Lace ornaments.
Glittered Free Standing Lace Christmas Ornaments are fun and easy to make. For the most part you let the embroidery machine do all the work. Then, you just rinse away the stabilizer and glitter!
To begin with, take the Husqvarna Viking Christmas Lace, embroidery design pack and choose any of the designs. I stuck with the snowflakes for my tree, but there’s many different designs in the collection. Choose the correct sized hoop for your design and you’re ready for the stabilizer.
Water Soluble stabilizer is the best choice for these designs, I chose two. One very heavy weight Inspira Dissolve-A-Way Max layer, and another Inspira Aqua Magic. Hoop these two together and make sure that it’s a nice tight taught hooping.
If you have the option, lower your embroidery speed to about half of what you would normally embroider at. Metallic threads are a special kind of thread and require extra care. For the bobbin, wind it with matching metallic thread, at a lower speed than you would normally wind your bobbin at, if you have that option.
Stitch out the design, and rinse away the stabilizer, warm water does a better job of rinsing away the stabilizer than cold. Once you’ve rinsed all the stabilizer away, put the ornaments on a wire rack to dry out flat overnight
The next day, take some clear permanent adhesive spray, and spray a light coating of glue on the top of your ornament. Glitter with your desired glitter, I chose Martha Stewart White Gold Glitter, and let sit to dry for a few minutes. Shake away any excess glitter and hang on your tree!
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Friday, September 16, 2011
Filming Today
I'm really excited to be working with some new crafty sites! FaveCrafts and FaveQuilts have graciously asked me to make videos for their sites! Of course I said yes, and today I'm filming.
The early morning where it all comes together, the part that no one sees. Cleaning up, getting the props together, lighting the room, blocking out the interfering sunlight, what am I going to wear, and the list goes on. Believe it or not, I enjoy the entire process, it's very fulfilling to be the full driving force behind what content you produce, and how that content is created.
This morning I had the pleasure of picking flowers for the set. I'm using a new prop, a new owl vase. I do love owls, and am always happy to pick up a new owly friend. I had wondered how the vase itself would work out, as I feel like the flowers arrangement would need to be quite large otherwise the whole thing might look awkward. I was pleasantly surprised that a smaller arrangement actually looked, to me at least, like a little pillbox hat for the owl. What do you think?
The early morning where it all comes together, the part that no one sees. Cleaning up, getting the props together, lighting the room, blocking out the interfering sunlight, what am I going to wear, and the list goes on. Believe it or not, I enjoy the entire process, it's very fulfilling to be the full driving force behind what content you produce, and how that content is created.
This morning I had the pleasure of picking flowers for the set. I'm using a new prop, a new owl vase. I do love owls, and am always happy to pick up a new owly friend. I had wondered how the vase itself would work out, as I feel like the flowers arrangement would need to be quite large otherwise the whole thing might look awkward. I was pleasantly surprised that a smaller arrangement actually looked, to me at least, like a little pillbox hat for the owl. What do you think?
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Masquerade!
Well another Masquerade has come and gone. The 2nd Annual CTC Masquerade was actually the first one I stayed after helping to attend. It was a great night, and I wish I had been at the first.
My duties this year were the same as the last, make some tasty treats and help do whatever else is needed. Simple enough, although the better part of the day of Masquerade was spent on my baked goods. In the past I've had the pleasure of being in charge of doing opening receptions for the first night of some of the CTC's new shows. And as time has passed, some of the things I've made have been "retired" as many of the reception guests are some of our long standing supporters, so I try to keep some things changing, and I always try to make it so that any new supporters would still be very impressed.
So for Masquerade I decided on doing a little tasting of everything I had done in the past. Well almost everything I had done in the past, for allergy reasons the peanut butter cookies were retired forever. Not because of any accidents, but we all agreed it better just not to risk it in future receptions. (Although they were and still are quite tasty cookies when I decide to make them) But the menu was as follows: Open faced Apple Pies with a drizzle of Creme Caramel sauce (from scratch, of course!), Mini Vanilla Bean Cheesecakes (Some were decorated with sliced strawberries, and some weren't), Lemon Squares, Chocolate and Vanilla Cupcakes (Both topped with Swiss Meringue Buttercream), Chocolate Chip Cookies (These have made it to all of my CTC shows), and my very special Gingerbread recipe (The one cookie recipe I made while in baking and pastry school).
I love my Gingerbread recipe, when I went to school at Johnson and Wales, I wanted to learn of all things, a recipe for bread that was just like Wonder Bread, and a recipe for Gingerbread that would rival my beloved tubes of Pillsbury Gingerbread, that unfortunately only come out once a year. Well Pain De Mie (almost certain that's what it's called) was the bread that I fell in love with and it does indeed have that deliciously soft texture and crust of Wonder Bread. And in Baking and Pastry Formula Technology, was where I learned the rhymes and reasons of all the different flours and sugars, and leaveners and chemical reactions, in such a way that I was able to devise my own recipe for Gingerbread that I feel does in fact rival Pillsbury's Gingerbread Dough. It's a recipe I keep closely guarded until the day I get to film my segment and am able to share it with everyone. It's coming soon, but until then I hope you enjoy these pictures from Masquerade, I must give all photography credit to: Anne Marie Spatharakis, I hope she doesn't mind I "borrowed" these!!
My duties this year were the same as the last, make some tasty treats and help do whatever else is needed. Simple enough, although the better part of the day of Masquerade was spent on my baked goods. In the past I've had the pleasure of being in charge of doing opening receptions for the first night of some of the CTC's new shows. And as time has passed, some of the things I've made have been "retired" as many of the reception guests are some of our long standing supporters, so I try to keep some things changing, and I always try to make it so that any new supporters would still be very impressed.
So for Masquerade I decided on doing a little tasting of everything I had done in the past. Well almost everything I had done in the past, for allergy reasons the peanut butter cookies were retired forever. Not because of any accidents, but we all agreed it better just not to risk it in future receptions. (Although they were and still are quite tasty cookies when I decide to make them) But the menu was as follows: Open faced Apple Pies with a drizzle of Creme Caramel sauce (from scratch, of course!), Mini Vanilla Bean Cheesecakes (Some were decorated with sliced strawberries, and some weren't), Lemon Squares, Chocolate and Vanilla Cupcakes (Both topped with Swiss Meringue Buttercream), Chocolate Chip Cookies (These have made it to all of my CTC shows), and my very special Gingerbread recipe (The one cookie recipe I made while in baking and pastry school).
I love my Gingerbread recipe, when I went to school at Johnson and Wales, I wanted to learn of all things, a recipe for bread that was just like Wonder Bread, and a recipe for Gingerbread that would rival my beloved tubes of Pillsbury Gingerbread, that unfortunately only come out once a year. Well Pain De Mie (almost certain that's what it's called) was the bread that I fell in love with and it does indeed have that deliciously soft texture and crust of Wonder Bread. And in Baking and Pastry Formula Technology, was where I learned the rhymes and reasons of all the different flours and sugars, and leaveners and chemical reactions, in such a way that I was able to devise my own recipe for Gingerbread that I feel does in fact rival Pillsbury's Gingerbread Dough. It's a recipe I keep closely guarded until the day I get to film my segment and am able to share it with everyone. It's coming soon, but until then I hope you enjoy these pictures from Masquerade, I must give all photography credit to: Anne Marie Spatharakis, I hope she doesn't mind I "borrowed" these!!
Thursday, September 8, 2011
What a whirlwind of a day!
And it's not over yet! I work third shift baking Bagels at a place called Bagelz. It's a fun job, but it does mean that on most nights I'm up and baking all through the night and into the early morning.
Today during the day though, I was busy baking as well. Tomorrow is the Contemporary Theater Company's "Masquerade" fundraiser. It's where people come all dressed up, masks optional, and get together for an auction to raise money for the CTC's upcoming season. Last year was quite a success, and this year we've raised the bar, and aim to do even better. I'm so excited to be making cupcakes and other sweets to be enjoyed by any and all who come!
I also got around to editing together one of the videos from the other days filming! Hope you enjoy it!
Today during the day though, I was busy baking as well. Tomorrow is the Contemporary Theater Company's "Masquerade" fundraiser. It's where people come all dressed up, masks optional, and get together for an auction to raise money for the CTC's upcoming season. Last year was quite a success, and this year we've raised the bar, and aim to do even better. I'm so excited to be making cupcakes and other sweets to be enjoyed by any and all who come!
I also got around to editing together one of the videos from the other days filming! Hope you enjoy it!
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
A Great Wednesday!
A perfect and very productive day! For reasons I'd rather not bore you about... I had to put off filming, AGAIN, yesterday. Luckily today I was able to film both the clips I had in mind and I really think they are going to come out great.
Yesterday was my Uncle's birthday, and I was pleasantly surprised to get a call from my Aunt asking me to make him a birthday cake. A Spice Cake with Cream Cheese frosting. The cake was simple enough, a two layer butter based cake, but I cut the two layers into four and decided to use a cake stencil to decorate the top. Because this was a special occasion,I pulled out my Waterford Crystal cake stand from it's safe hiding space and got those long skinny birthday candles. I was pretty satisfied with the outcome, I hadn't decorated a cake in a while and everyone seemed to enjoy it!
Here's some pictures of the cake, and also a little sneak peek from my filming today, a look into the making of one of my videos, today's video actually!
Yesterday was my Uncle's birthday, and I was pleasantly surprised to get a call from my Aunt asking me to make him a birthday cake. A Spice Cake with Cream Cheese frosting. The cake was simple enough, a two layer butter based cake, but I cut the two layers into four and decided to use a cake stencil to decorate the top. Because this was a special occasion,I pulled out my Waterford Crystal cake stand from it's safe hiding space and got those long skinny birthday candles. I was pretty satisfied with the outcome, I hadn't decorated a cake in a while and everyone seemed to enjoy it!
Here's some pictures of the cake, and also a little sneak peek from my filming today, a look into the making of one of my videos, today's video actually!
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
A Rainy Tuesday!
Ahh I do love the rainy days, especially when I'm filming. Not having any light coming in through the windows makes for great taping days. I love the way the colors look on screen when there isn't much, or any, interfering light from outside.
An early dentist appointment today, which I'm actually looking forward to, I love going to the dentist. Crazy I know. I like it because everyone there is nice, and it's so close, if it wasn't raining outside I could ride my bike!
I do have a bad habit of cracking my knuckles and neck and whatever else there is to "pop". Nasty little habit, I picked up from my sisters, as I grew up amazed by their own ability to pop their knuckles and neck. My one sister Dobie even used to ask me, when I was just a little tiny thing. to walk on her back to crack it for her, and she herself also was the first person I ever saw "pop" her wrist. My mom hated it, and I still remember the first time I cracked my neck in front of her, she let out a most disgusted sound and told me not to do that again. Well all these years later this morning I cracked my neck to a most satisfying sound, and low and behold it's gone stiff on me! I can't really turn my head to the left very easily. So it looks like I'm going to head to Shaw's and grab some Tylenol. I don't think my filming will be effected by it.
Which by the way, I'm so excited to be filming a little video on fixing rips and tears the easy way with embroidery, and another on utilizing the 4D software pack that comes with any new Husqvarna Viking Designer embroidery machine. I got mine with my Ruby, and really love the applique text stitch option. So a fast tutorial and keeping right in sync with National Sewing Month!
Here's my first ever, Quilting Video!
An early dentist appointment today, which I'm actually looking forward to, I love going to the dentist. Crazy I know. I like it because everyone there is nice, and it's so close, if it wasn't raining outside I could ride my bike!
I do have a bad habit of cracking my knuckles and neck and whatever else there is to "pop". Nasty little habit, I picked up from my sisters, as I grew up amazed by their own ability to pop their knuckles and neck. My one sister Dobie even used to ask me, when I was just a little tiny thing. to walk on her back to crack it for her, and she herself also was the first person I ever saw "pop" her wrist. My mom hated it, and I still remember the first time I cracked my neck in front of her, she let out a most disgusted sound and told me not to do that again. Well all these years later this morning I cracked my neck to a most satisfying sound, and low and behold it's gone stiff on me! I can't really turn my head to the left very easily. So it looks like I'm going to head to Shaw's and grab some Tylenol. I don't think my filming will be effected by it.
Which by the way, I'm so excited to be filming a little video on fixing rips and tears the easy way with embroidery, and another on utilizing the 4D software pack that comes with any new Husqvarna Viking Designer embroidery machine. I got mine with my Ruby, and really love the applique text stitch option. So a fast tutorial and keeping right in sync with National Sewing Month!
Here's my first ever, Quilting Video!
Monday, September 5, 2011
Monday, Monday!
I actually like all of the days of the week, Monday's especially because it's my first day off from my string of baking days. In the professional world I'm a bagel baker, and all of my videos and blogging are my attempts to professionally break into the crafting industry.
Last week, I was working on a method for turning Cricut Cutouts into Applique's and I'm so pleased that so many of the people I was trying to help have eagerly jumped into appliqueing with the technique I used in my video! I don't think anyone person ever owns a technique, so I don't really ever call them "my" techniques.
Monday is an important day for filming, Monday and Tuesday are my busiest days, and this Monday is no exception, I've got two videos planned for today, possibly more if I get motivated and inspired with an idea for one.
Filming the videos actually take the least amount of time, it's all the prep work leading up to the filming and then editing all the video together. So time consuming but it is rewarding to see people watching my videos, and using the techniques in them.
My set is usually decorated with whatever flowering plants I have, either in my house or in the garden. Last night as I walked to my car I noticed some of the Dahlia's were going to be in excellent shape for picking. I couldn't wait to put them in vases and use them on my set!
Update: Change of plans, unfortunately because I am not yet a professional crafter and work out of my home I occasionally have to deal with problems like when the people upstairs want to come and do laundry. So annoying. No filming today, tomorrow will be better because the people who live upstairs and their noisy kids won't be around. Little miffed, not going to lie.
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