Spoilt Rotten

Here's another project that I never blogged about: a dog sweater for my sister's dog. It's from the booklet "Dog Gone Cute" published by Leisure Arts. It was not hard to knit, but hard to size. Kelly is a chow-lab mix, and rather fluffy. I'm not sure if she lost weight between the time I started and finished, or if her fluff gave me an incorrect measurement. It was too big around the chest, so I had to take it in about in inch. Also, the back didn't stay very well, so I sewed on a button and loop to keep it in place. One other note about the pattern, work the first and last stitches of the back shaping rows loosely so that it will be easier to pick up the stitches for the body ribbing. The yarn is Lion Brand's Wool-Ease "Blue Mist" The contrast is Bernat Soft Boucle "Softest Straw".

Beaded Bracelet

Now that I've been dragged into the world of scrapping, I've discovered a few projects that never got posted here. First up is a beaded bracelet that I made as a Christmas gift for my sister in 2007. Shortly after I gave it to her, the charms fell off. My Mom helped me reattach the one charm that she still had, but she couldn't find the second one. I ordered a new one, and finally fixed it.

The black beads with floral designs are Tensha beads; the two long black beads are wooden; the large rectangular ones may also be wooden, but I'm not entirely certain about that. The charms are pewter, and the 'Sister' message bead is sterling silver. The Chinese character on the clasp is "joy"; the charm on the left is "love", and the one on the right is for friendship. I don't think the design is entirely accurate, though.  I designed the bracelet using Fire Mountain Gem's virtual bead board. It no longer seems to be working, though, which is a big disappointment. If anyone knows of another (free) virtual bead board, I'd love to hear about it.
~Sarah

What I've Been Up To

Making Ink! Ok, so that was just today. My ink had turned into sludge, so I made some more, and got my hands stained in the process.

Here's a project from a while back. I couldn't share it because my Sister's Boyfriend was taking his sweet time to propose to her. He finally proposed on September 25. This is a Bride's Altered Notebook. I considered making some for my Etsy shop, but this was a lot of work.



This is a composition Notebook that I covered with scrapping paper. I divided the pages into four tabbed sections. Below - Front and Inside back cover.

The front of each dividing page has a space for notes and the back has an envelope for clippings, receipts and such.

I used a lot of Spellbinders Nestabilities dies.

I knew I had to put monkeys in somewhere - Grace collects monkeys.

I was running out of steam by the time I got to this divider. It has a lot of stickers, and not much else.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures. My busy life is experiencing a temporary lull, so I hope to get more posts written soon!

Sarah