All classes are up to 50 percent off. Crafting classes make a great last minute gift, or a fun way to treat yourself during the Holidays! Click on the image link to the right to check it out! Happy Crafting and Happy Holidays!
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Sunday, December 20, 2015
Sale on online Craft classes!
#ad Craftsy has sale going on right now on their online Craft classes.
All classes are up to 50 percent off. Crafting classes make a great last minute gift, or a fun way to treat yourself during the Holidays! Click on the image link to the right to check it out! Happy Crafting and Happy Holidays!
All classes are up to 50 percent off. Crafting classes make a great last minute gift, or a fun way to treat yourself during the Holidays! Click on the image link to the right to check it out! Happy Crafting and Happy Holidays!
Friday, December 4, 2015
Update - Completed God's Eye Gift Tag Ornaments
Happy December everyone!
I recently finished making my God's Eye Gift Tag Ornaments, which I had started in October. You can read about how to make the God's Eyes out of perle cotton and toothpicks in my previous October post.
After I finished making the God's Eye weavings, I sewed them onto pre-made Gift tags, which I had purchased from Craftsy.com earlier this year, during one of their supply sales. The gift tags have a nice gold glitter embellishment on the bottom of each tag. To sew them onto the tags, I used perle cotton thread, and sewed two opposite sides of each God's Eye onto the tag. I poked a hole in the cardstock tag on each side of the toothpicks, before beginning to sew them in place, I sewed through the holes about 2 times, and took a couple of stitches in place on the back, stitching into the threads to secure the ornaments onto the card.
I then embellished the corners of each gift tag with silver spiral designs, drawn with a silver gel marker. I experimented with a heart design on one of the cards, but opted for the spiral design for the other cards.
I added a Holiday greeting on the back of each gift tag, with my signature.
All the cards (except for two which I kept) are on their way to family and friends, along with my Holiday greetings.
#ad - Craftsy has a Holiday sale going on now, if you click on the link to the right in my blog you can check it out! Their supplies and classes are on sale, and they have free classes and patterns which you can download, too. Their free and paid classes are all great, and you can connect with other crafters through their online community. It's a great way to get creative, and try out new things. I love Craftsy!
I wish you a wonderful Holiday season, and if you are not celebrating the Holidays, I wish you a Blessed Winter Season.
Sincerely,
Denise A. Buchwalter-Losczyk
I recently finished making my God's Eye Gift Tag Ornaments, which I had started in October. You can read about how to make the God's Eyes out of perle cotton and toothpicks in my previous October post.
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| God's Eye Gift Tag Ornaments, sewn onto tags and before adding corner embellishment. |
After I finished making the God's Eye weavings, I sewed them onto pre-made Gift tags, which I had purchased from Craftsy.com earlier this year, during one of their supply sales. The gift tags have a nice gold glitter embellishment on the bottom of each tag. To sew them onto the tags, I used perle cotton thread, and sewed two opposite sides of each God's Eye onto the tag. I poked a hole in the cardstock tag on each side of the toothpicks, before beginning to sew them in place, I sewed through the holes about 2 times, and took a couple of stitches in place on the back, stitching into the threads to secure the ornaments onto the card.
 |
| Completed God's Eye Gift Tag Ornaments, sewn onto tags and with added corner embellishment. |
I then embellished the corners of each gift tag with silver spiral designs, drawn with a silver gel marker. I experimented with a heart design on one of the cards, but opted for the spiral design for the other cards.
I added a Holiday greeting on the back of each gift tag, with my signature.
All the cards (except for two which I kept) are on their way to family and friends, along with my Holiday greetings.
#ad - Craftsy has a Holiday sale going on now, if you click on the link to the right in my blog you can check it out! Their supplies and classes are on sale, and they have free classes and patterns which you can download, too. Their free and paid classes are all great, and you can connect with other crafters through their online community. It's a great way to get creative, and try out new things. I love Craftsy!
I wish you a wonderful Holiday season, and if you are not celebrating the Holidays, I wish you a Blessed Winter Season.
Sincerely,
Denise A. Buchwalter-Losczyk
Friday, October 9, 2015
Holiday God's Eye Gift Tag Ornaments
Thought I would share some photos of the Holiday Gift Tag Ornaments that I am working on this year. I plan to include them in some of my Holiday cards. My design this year includes God's Eye weavings made from toothpicks and perle cotton thread, no glue required!
I started making the God's eyes by holding 2 toothpicks together in my hands in a cross shape. I used a long length of cut perle cotton thread to weave around the cross shape. To start weaving hold the tail of the thread in the back of the design, against the bottom of the center toothpick. Wrap the thread around the bottom toothpick once, and then to the right or left (choose the direction you are most comfortable with wrapping in), and over and around the adjacent toothpick. Continue wrapping around the cross shape, being careful to line the threads up next to each other. If the wrapping doesn't look neat or right to you, just unwrap a bit, and start over.
Tips: I used flat toothpicks for this project, they may be a little easier to hold together, versus round toothpicks. Also, variegated thread is great to use, as it creates its own striped design, when wrapping, without having to change threads. I like starting with a light piece of thread at the center, it helps draw attention to the center of the design.
I plan to sew the God's eye weavings to gift tags which I purchased earlier this year from Craftsy during one of their sales. They are nice with gold glitter already applied to the bottom edge of the tags. I will add a little extra decoration to the corners, something simple. I' ll post an updated photo once they are complete.
Check out my previous post for information on a current Craftsy supply sale going on. You can use my sponsored ad link to check it out, if you like.
You can find out more about God's Eyes in this Wikipedia article: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/God%27s_eye
They are very meditative to create, and a great introduction to the weaving craft. According to the Wikipedia article they have been created by the Ancient Pueblo people and are made as a blessing and a part of celebrations. Check out the article to find out more! Also, if you search on Etsy.com, you will find many examples of God's Eyes for sale, and some are very intricate and creative.
Happy Creating and weaving!
Denise A. Buchwalter-Losczyk
I started making the God's eyes by holding 2 toothpicks together in my hands in a cross shape. I used a long length of cut perle cotton thread to weave around the cross shape. To start weaving hold the tail of the thread in the back of the design, against the bottom of the center toothpick. Wrap the thread around the bottom toothpick once, and then to the right or left (choose the direction you are most comfortable with wrapping in), and over and around the adjacent toothpick. Continue wrapping around the cross shape, being careful to line the threads up next to each other. If the wrapping doesn't look neat or right to you, just unwrap a bit, and start over.
 |
| God's Eye Holiday Gift Tag Ornaments in process. |
Tips: I used flat toothpicks for this project, they may be a little easier to hold together, versus round toothpicks. Also, variegated thread is great to use, as it creates its own striped design, when wrapping, without having to change threads. I like starting with a light piece of thread at the center, it helps draw attention to the center of the design.
I plan to sew the God's eye weavings to gift tags which I purchased earlier this year from Craftsy during one of their sales. They are nice with gold glitter already applied to the bottom edge of the tags. I will add a little extra decoration to the corners, something simple. I' ll post an updated photo once they are complete.
Check out my previous post for information on a current Craftsy supply sale going on. You can use my sponsored ad link to check it out, if you like.
You can find out more about God's Eyes in this Wikipedia article: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/God%27s_eye
They are very meditative to create, and a great introduction to the weaving craft. According to the Wikipedia article they have been created by the Ancient Pueblo people and are made as a blessing and a part of celebrations. Check out the article to find out more! Also, if you search on Etsy.com, you will find many examples of God's Eyes for sale, and some are very intricate and creative.
Happy Creating and weaving!
Denise A. Buchwalter-Losczyk
Sharing news about a great Craft Sale!
 |
| #ad Get ready for Holiday gift-making! For a limited time, Craftsy has discounted all craft supplies up to 70%. Get started on gift-making with fun project kits and more here: http://www.shareasale.com/u.cfm?d=304111&m=29190&u=1027856 |
Monday, August 24, 2015
My KIP (Knitting in Progress) and a Free Holiday Gift Tag Ornament Pattern for you to try
Greetings!
For me, this is a busy year, and I'm not able to blog as much as I would like. I hope you have been having a fun, energizing and creative summer.
I thought I would share my latest knitting project. I have been knitting a shawl (stole) with 100% merino lace weight yarn. It is my first time knitting with lace weight yarn, and it took a while to get used to knitting such a fine, delicate yarn. I'm sharing photos of my work in progress today, though I have actually finished knitting the shawl and need to block it, and perhaps add fringe, tassels, or another trim to the ends of the shawl.
The yarn used is from www.KnitPicks.com. I purchased it a few years ago, and I'm finally using it to make a project!
I purchased a different shawl pattern at the time and have misplaced it, so I decided to use a pattern I found in the May 2009 issue of Creative Knitting magazine. The pattern is called Zigzag Wrap, by Nazanin Fard. It is a beautiful design, with a repeating lace pattern across the shawl, with fringe trim. The pattern calls for DK weight yarn. It is also a beginning lace project, so you may want to give it a try. If you don't have the back issue of the magazine, I did a search on www.Ravelry.com, and found it is also published in: Creative Knitting Magazine Presents, Spring 2013: Easy Everyday Openwork & Lace by Kara Gott Warner, executive editor
If you click on the following link, it will take you to a page where you can purchase the publication:
anniescatalog.com
I ended up changing the pattern, by using lace weight yarn (I adjusted my stitch number a bit to get the correct number of stitches needed with the finer lace yarn). I decided to use the lace pattern on the side edges only. I had started knitting the pattern all throughout the shawl, but found I wasn't in the frame of mind to concentrate, and kept messing up my knitting. I often find myself changing the patterns I am using a bit to suit my own mood or style. This is a great way to get used to working with patterns and begin thinking about designing your own work from scratch. Just like taking a quilt pattern, picking out your own fabrics, colors, rearranging the layout and adding your own special touches to make the project your own.
I may still go back and knit the pattern the way the designer intended, as it is a very pretty wrap pattern.
Speaking of patterns, I have just published a Free Downloadable Holiday Gift Tag Ornaments pattern on www.Patternspot.com and also available on www.Craftsy.com.
Here is a photo of the design:
The pattern can be downloaded for free at: https://patternspot.com/patterns/sewing-patterns/5301-holiday-gift-tag-ornaments-by-denise-a-buchwalter-losczyk-pdf
or
http://www.craftsy.com/pattern/paper-crafts/holiday-gift-tag-ornaments/158622?rceId=1440474339273~cyrytry3#
There is also a sale currently going on at www.patternspot.com, with 20% off Downloadable Beginner Sewing Projects, with code SCHOOL2015.
if you have been interested in purchasing my Yo-Yos Cubed Ornament and Pincushion Pattern, and would like a bit of a discount, the discount is available on my pattern, which can be found at Patternspot.com. Here is direct link to that pattern, as well: https://patternspot.com/patterns/holiday-seasonal-projects/4705-yo-yos-cubed-ornaments-and-pincushion
Hope you will give the free project a try, you can use the techniques to create the gift tags, and also create your own designs, or alter the design to personalize the Gift Tags for your own use.
Happy Creating! Enjoy this wonderful Summer season! The holidays are just around the corner....
Denise A. Buchwalter-Losczyk
For me, this is a busy year, and I'm not able to blog as much as I would like. I hope you have been having a fun, energizing and creative summer.
I thought I would share my latest knitting project. I have been knitting a shawl (stole) with 100% merino lace weight yarn. It is my first time knitting with lace weight yarn, and it took a while to get used to knitting such a fine, delicate yarn. I'm sharing photos of my work in progress today, though I have actually finished knitting the shawl and need to block it, and perhaps add fringe, tassels, or another trim to the ends of the shawl.
The yarn used is from www.KnitPicks.com. I purchased it a few years ago, and I'm finally using it to make a project! I purchased a different shawl pattern at the time and have misplaced it, so I decided to use a pattern I found in the May 2009 issue of Creative Knitting magazine. The pattern is called Zigzag Wrap, by Nazanin Fard. It is a beautiful design, with a repeating lace pattern across the shawl, with fringe trim. The pattern calls for DK weight yarn. It is also a beginning lace project, so you may want to give it a try. If you don't have the back issue of the magazine, I did a search on www.Ravelry.com, and found it is also published in: Creative Knitting Magazine Presents, Spring 2013: Easy Everyday Openwork & Lace by Kara Gott Warner, executive editor
If you click on the following link, it will take you to a page where you can purchase the publication:
anniescatalog.com
I ended up changing the pattern, by using lace weight yarn (I adjusted my stitch number a bit to get the correct number of stitches needed with the finer lace yarn). I decided to use the lace pattern on the side edges only. I had started knitting the pattern all throughout the shawl, but found I wasn't in the frame of mind to concentrate, and kept messing up my knitting. I often find myself changing the patterns I am using a bit to suit my own mood or style. This is a great way to get used to working with patterns and begin thinking about designing your own work from scratch. Just like taking a quilt pattern, picking out your own fabrics, colors, rearranging the layout and adding your own special touches to make the project your own. I may still go back and knit the pattern the way the designer intended, as it is a very pretty wrap pattern.
Speaking of patterns, I have just published a Free Downloadable Holiday Gift Tag Ornaments pattern on www.Patternspot.com and also available on www.Craftsy.com.
Here is a photo of the design:
The pattern can be downloaded for free at: https://patternspot.com/patterns/sewing-patterns/5301-holiday-gift-tag-ornaments-by-denise-a-buchwalter-losczyk-pdf
http://www.craftsy.com/pattern/paper-crafts/holiday-gift-tag-ornaments/158622?rceId=1440474339273~cyrytry3#
There is also a sale currently going on at www.patternspot.com, with 20% off Downloadable Beginner Sewing Projects, with code SCHOOL2015.
if you have been interested in purchasing my Yo-Yos Cubed Ornament and Pincushion Pattern, and would like a bit of a discount, the discount is available on my pattern, which can be found at Patternspot.com. Here is direct link to that pattern, as well: https://patternspot.com/patterns/holiday-seasonal-projects/4705-yo-yos-cubed-ornaments-and-pincushion
Hope you will give the free project a try, you can use the techniques to create the gift tags, and also create your own designs, or alter the design to personalize the Gift Tags for your own use.
Happy Creating! Enjoy this wonderful Summer season! The holidays are just around the corner....
Denise A. Buchwalter-Losczyk
Friday, June 19, 2015
My Yo-Yos Cubed Pincushion and Ornaments Pattern is now posted on Etsy.com!
Hi everyone!
Just a quick note to let you know, my Yo-Yos Cubed Pincushion & Ornaments Digital Pattern is now posted for sale on the Etsy site.
It can be viewed here:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/237592843/yo-yos-cubed-pincushion-and-3-yo-yos
Hope you will check it out, and give it a try. I would love to see what you create!
The projects make great gifts and ornaments for the holidays, or for everyday use.
Happy Friday and have a great weekend!
Denise A. Buchwalter-Losczyk
Just a quick note to let you know, my Yo-Yos Cubed Pincushion & Ornaments Digital Pattern is now posted for sale on the Etsy site.
It can be viewed here:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/237592843/yo-yos-cubed-pincushion-and-3-yo-yos
Hope you will check it out, and give it a try. I would love to see what you create!
The projects make great gifts and ornaments for the holidays, or for everyday use.
Happy Friday and have a great weekend!
Denise A. Buchwalter-Losczyk
Friday, April 10, 2015
Resettling and Creating
I haven’t written in a while! Sometimes life gets in the way
of creating and writing. We recently had the good fortune to sell our real
estate property. This lead to packing boxes of belongings and donating and
tossing items no longer needed. You don’t realize how much you have
accumulated, until you have to pack it all in boxes. I plan to downsize some
more this year and hopefully it will become a habit!
We were lucky (blessed!) to have a wonderful real estate agent who
helped us through the selling process. I highly recommend Kiki Ress, of
Coldwell Banker, if you are planning to sell or buy a property in the
Chicagoland area. She handles both commercial and residential properties and is
a very knowledgeable, caring and helpful agent. She truly takes the time to
assist her clients and maintains a positive, cheerful and professional
manner. Her assistance made the process much less stressful than it could have
been. You can read about Kiki Ress and Coldwell Banker at: http://www.coldwellbankeronline.com/real_estate_agent/8109/Vaciliki-Kiki-Ress.aspx.
Even though I’ve been busy with moving and resettling, I
find myself still needing to create – I recently finished and submitted an entry for
Piecework Magazine's Annual Pincushion contest. The design I
submitted is a new variation of my yo-yos cubed pincushion. My yo-yos
cubed pincushion and ornaments pattern can be purchased and downloaded from the
Craftsy.com and Patternspot.com websites. You can view them by clicking the
links on the side of my blog page.
For my entry in the Piecework contest, I used fabrics I had
hand painted, and added hand embroidery embellishments. I plan to experiment
with painting additional fabric in the weeks/months ahead, and I hope to post photos
of the results here on my blog.
I love creating and entering challenges. I believe I’ll complete some creative projects this year, even though life has gotten busy in a
good way. Taking the time to create art can also bring joy to life and enhances
it in a very good way.
Denise Buchwalter-Losczyk
Thursday, March 12, 2015
National Craft Month discounts and giveaways
Sponsored post:
Happy March everyone!Did you know March is National Craft Month? It is a great time to enter contests for craft related giveaways, and also to find discounts on arts and crafts supplies and classes. Try searching for "National Craft Month giveaway" on the internet, and you will find many that you can enter.
You can also celebrate National Craft Month by learning a new craft, or improving the craft skills you already have. Craftsy is offering a BIG sale with all online classes up to 50% off so that you can spend this month (and beyond) doing more of what you love. Money-back guarantee. After you sign up for your online class, your access to the class never ends. You can learn at your own speed. This sale ends Monday, March 16, 2015. Visit Craftsy and check out all of the classes available. Just click on the Craftsy ad to the right of this post.
Enjoy exploring and learning this month - Craftsy also has many free classes that you can sign up for, to try out their site. All of the free classes give you unending access, as well.
Happy Crafting and Creating!
Denise Buchwalter-Losczyk
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