Etched Cheese Board

Hi Everyone!

Today I am etching a cheese board with etchall® etching crème.  Cheese is one of my favorite things to eat.  I think I like it even more than chocolate!  Cheese is so versatile - you can eat it for breakfast, lunch or dinner - and, of course, snacks!  And, there are so many varieties!

I started out with a piece of slate, which I purchased at Michaels.

I used adhesive stencil letters to spell out the name of the cheeses.

Then, I taped around the letters with masking tape.  Since I didn't put the letters in straight lines, there was a lot of tape!

I added etchall® etching crème over the letters and waited for 15 minutes.  I scraped the extra crème back into the jar.  (It's re-usable!)

Here is how it looks so far.


Now, I'll etch the other corners.  Here it is!


And, I did it with etchall®!

Here's another to show it without the goodies.

This takes a little time, but it's a very easy process.  Wouldn't it make a great hostess or wedding gift?
What will you etch with etchall®?

Sunbonnet Sue Tissue Cover and Coasters

Hi Everyone!

Just a quick post to share my latest plastic canvas set designed for Herrschners.  I've always love Sunbonnet Sue and I'm happy to have a chance to design this motif again.  Hope you like it!

Here's the link to the kit on Herrschners.

Fast and Fabulous Tassels

Hi all!

Beadwork for August/September is out and I'm happy to announce that I have a necklace published in the Fast and Fabulous section.

In this issue, the Fast and Fabulous section is devoted to tassels - all kinds.  So whether you like thread, ribbon, chain, leather or mixed tassels, there is one for you. Elegant or casual, they've got them!  And, you'll recognize the designers - Tamara Honaman, Fernando Dasilva, Nealay Patel, Debbie Blair and more - I've admired their work for a long time.

Here's the one I made with strips of my husband's old shirts, yarn, sari silk ribbon, chain and a little leather.  I found my bead cap in the plumbing aisle of my local hardware.  So, with the copper cap and the recycled bits in the tassel, the editor named it Plumb Scrappy!  So punny!  

Plumb Scrappy

I love to create with recycled materials and use up some of the bits in the cupboards and bins.  What do you have that you can create with?  I hope this idea inspires you.  And, do check out Beadwork and see all the beautiful designs.

Here are the tassels in an article from Interweave.

And, here is their photo of my tassel:

Pretty Palettes Challenge for May

Hi there!

Today I'm playing along with the Pretty Palettes challenge on the Halcraft site.  This Last month our inspiration was peacock feathers.



Here are the beads Molly Schaller chose for this month:


I ordered some of these - the purple dyed agate round, the green matte fire crackled agates, and the aqua dyed quartz stone drops.  And, of course, a few more that struck my fancy!

Well, I've been working on this for about a week now, trying to come up with something that I like.  I thought alcohol inks would be interesting, so I played with those for awhile.

Fun, but not exactly what I had in mind for a peacock.  It looks more ocean-inspired to me.   I need some purple ink!  So, I decided on a tassel.  I've been making lots of tassels lately - one of which will appear in Beadwork later this summer.

Here is my peacock-inspired tassel.

Peacock Tassel

These are fun and easy to make and I love the sari silk and sari yarn mixes.  (I got these at Darn Good Yarn.)  This is a little long to wear (for me), so I might just hang it on something for a fun splash of color - maybe under the umbrella on the patio.

Here are the steps to create your own tassel:

Cut lengths of sari ribbon and sari yarn.  For the above tassel, I cut 7 pieces of ribbon and 6 of yarn in 12" lengths.  It's a messy tassel, so you don't have to be exact.

Fold the strands of yarn in half and wrap a piece of 22 gauge wire about 7" long around the center of it.  Cross the wire at the top leaving one end longer.  Make a wrapped loop where the wires cross wrapping with the short end.

Slide on a large bead cap or two and a bead(s) and make another wrapped loop.

This bead cap has been painted with alcohol inks.

Trim any ends and you are done!

Check out the Halcraft site for more beady fun and join the community.

I'm so late with May that June's Pretty Palette is already out!  Looks like another yummy palette just right for summer!  Happy creating!