AZ, thanks! I am definately going to try waste canvas this break!

all i have to say is ... YAY MOD PODGE!!!!

Mod Podge ROCKS!! :D

seems like we have a crafty crowd here @ GC :)

have any of you thought of making crafty things to sell?

Yes, I've thought about it, and I actually did sell some of the photo albums. My mom and I made them as a team, and my dad would set up at the flea markets to sell them -- along with all the other stuff they wanted to get rid of.

That worked pretty well, but I haven't tried to sell anything else yet. Maybe in 50 years when I have enough time...

deltaphi, those photo albums sound cool.

I was thinking of making stuff and selling it on eBay or something like that.. but I don't know if anything would sell very well... :)

I thought about doing the same thing. I haven't decided if I will or not, but I know there's a lady who makes tote bags to sell on ebay. She seems to do pretty well with those.

Best craft that I have ever seen...
 

The best craft that I have ever seen is something that my mom made as a present for me.

For my wedding, she covered a pair of satin heel shoes with lace and individually sewed pearls all over the shoes. They are stunning.
I hope my daughter will one day wear them.

My mom is wonderful.

AOIISilver

those shoes sound lovely!!! i'm sure they took a lot of time and effort!

Just thought I'd share that... I looked forever for a key holder. You know... one of those things with pegs that you can hang car keys from. Well, the only one I found that I could use was unfinished. So, I cracked out the paint that was used for the trim in my kitchen and painted it to match. Then I found those rub-on transfers as mentioned earlier in the thread. I got all crafty last night with the transfes, and I'm REALLY happy with the way it turned out. Those transfers are great!!!

Now, if only I could get hubby to hang it... lol.

OK.. There is this lovely store @ College Station called "Scrapbook Country"... talk about SCRAPBOOK HEAVEN!!!

Awesome store!!!.. although I think it is locally owned & operated so it's not a massive chain like hobby lobby

Ooooo! How did I miss this thread? I've been cross-stitching since I was 6 and rug hooking, creweling, and needlepointing since my teens. When ASLFRose pledged AOPi, I won an AOPi cross-stitch book on eBay and mentioned to the seller that I had a ton of daughters I hoped would rush. She sent me the pattern books for about 10 NPC sororities!:)

That AOPi rose was hard to do--the reds are really close to each other. Now I have to get to work on a Chi O pattern-- and maybe the other books will get used sometime in the future too!

Carnation, that is really cool! I recently won 10 NPC cross stitch booklets on eBay. I can hardly wait for them to arrive! I want to stitch up some cool things for my friends that are in NPC GLO's.

My family tends to make pin boxes for each other. We get the pre-made boxes from Michaels or The Rag Shop, and line them with some fabric--velvet works well, so does felt. Then we stain and decorate the outside. Sometimes we use wooden letters, sometimes just paint, sometimes mod podge. It's a really nice tradition, and it's very easy to do, especially as some in the family are fabulous artists.

I like the pin pillow idea. I might use that for my little's pledge pin and save the box for initiation. Whenver I get a little. Hopefully in the fall.

I'm a scrapbooking fiend, too. I need to take more pictures, though. We've definitely gone digital these days.

~Emma

So you're the person who outbid me! :)

::blushes:: oops. hehehe :)

Re: pin boxes
 

Emma, I think pin boxes are a really sweet gift to give each other! That is definately a cute tradition I would like to see incorporated into my GLO.

Pin boxes are inexpensive, can easily be personalized, and sure come in handy! I decoupaged some carnations onto a pin box while I was in college and I still keep my pins there. Ballerina, an art major, bought a miniature unfinished trunk for her big sister and painted some gorgeous white carnations onto a cardinal-colored background. Michael's has a huge selection of boxes!

Another inexpensive but really useful gift--acrylic frames. Pick up a bunch of paint pens and decorate the borders with sorority symbols!

french knots?
 

I'm cross stitching a pattern for a friend of mine, and the design calls for a french knot. I never learned to do these .. can someone please explain the process or do you have a link that explains it? :confused:

Thanks!

Look at the stitching instructions... there should be something there. French knots are pretty tricky, at least IMO.

Basically, you have to bring the needle up from the back of the material, wrap the floss around your needle a couple of times -- the floss needs to be held tight -- then take the needle back through the front of the material within the same block. As you pull the needle, it should form the knot on the front. I hope this helps.

Good luck!

I'm working on a cross stitch pattern right now that calls for french knots. They are such a pain! There are diagrams with my stitching instructions; I'd scan them in for you but I don't have anywhere to put the image.

Basically - you bring the needle up, then insert it right next to where you brought it up. (If you're using aida cloth, don't use the same hole, because you may end up pulling your knot back through the fabric.) Wrap the thread once around the needle, hold it tight, and gently pull the needle through to the back.

french knot tutorial...
 

I just did a search of about.com for french knots and found that there are tutorials there.

link

thank you sooo much everyone for your responses & helpful hints!

another cross stich related question
 

I thought I'd dig up this old thread to see if anyone can help me out...

I've never cross-stitched a bookmark before, and just recently started one that I want to give to my Diamond Sister.. however I have a question: Do you cross-stitch the 'empty' part of the bookmark so you can't see the little squares?

So far I have the ADPi letters, and some violets as a border, and I can't decide if it looks silly or not, and am thinking about filling in the 'empty' space with white thread.

What do you all think?

A couple years ago, one of my pledge sisters and I helped another sister when she took two littles in one semester. We cross-stitched one of those baby cross-stitches that has a crescent moon, the baby's name, date of birth, and said "A Star is Born" only we changed it to the new sisters' names, initiation date, and wrote "Gamma Phi Beta" on it. Since then, the sister that did that with me has made one for every one of her littles that got initiated (there were three of them) and has made them for two of her grand littles as well.

that's a cute idea nyrdrms!

I have a Greek Alphabet cross stitch book and an Alpha Omicron Pi cross stitch book for sale if anyone is interested!

ME TOO!!!
 

I LOVE CROSS STITCHING! While I've been in Germany, I've gotten a lot done. It's great for me while watching TV, I can't JUST sit and watch Tv. I have to be doing something else too. I just finished a fraternity crest for my husband, and I'm making that into a pillow! Then I've recently found this site, and I'm gonna order one of these lovelies! Looks like a lot of work, but still a fun project:

http://www.stitchworks.com/sortyang.html

aj

cross stitching & pillows
 

OK.. silly question.. I haven't taken cross-stitching 'to the next level' (haha!) like some people have and have a question about cross-stitching pillows...

I have a beautiful ADPi pattern that I made.. is it possible for me to turn it into a pillow?

Is there a cross-stitch pillow kit or something like that, that can help me accomplish a pillow?

Do you need a sewing machine? I'm not much of a sewer:p I have a sewing machine but haven't used it in forever!

That stitchworks site doesn't have an AEPhi angel... :( Well, maybe I can adapt the KD one.

texas*princess, I've never made any of my cross stitch work into pillows, but I have with needlepoint. You can use either a pillow form or cotton or poly stuffing material. Pick out a nice fabric as your backing, and cut it to match the size of your aida cloth (so you have a margin). Then put the two pieces wrong side out and sew around 3 sides. Turn it right side out, insert the stuffing or pillow form, tuck the edges in, and overcast stitch the 4th side. Obviously, if you are using a pillow form, you will have to adjust your sewing to the size of the form so that it fits properly. HTH :)

aephialum, thank you so much! I had no idea it would be so easy! (At least it sounds easy! We'll see how it goes when I actually try it! :p )

I love crafts
 

Hi There,

I've been thinking about starting a scrapbooking thread but for now I'll post here. I'm very new to scrapbooking - just started it in order to complete our Chapter Excellence manual. Had a lot of fun with and plan to do mine own pictures once finals are over next week. I have gone absolutely wild buying stuff already - I have tons of templates, scissors, the zig pens, and who knows what else. I can't wait to start working on my very own book _ I was thinking of doing one just dedicated to my life in the sorority only at first.

I've been doing crossstitch for years. Sometimes one project takes me years though as I have to fit it in with school, sorority, and everything. I remember at one point seeing a Phi Sigma Sigma crest to stitch but can't remember what site I saw it on. anyone have any clues.

Carolyn

She's crafty
She gets around :p

My sister in law is very into scrapbooking and has introduced me to all kinds of new ideas. She recently sent me a package of extra stuff - buttons, tags, ribbons, stickers, those little metal things with prongs that bend back to hold it in place (I think they're called brads). I'm not exactly sure what to do with some of it, but I can't wait to experiment!

I started saving things including programs 4 months ago for my new (new all together) scapbook. Do any of you just use the first page of prgrams or sheet protectors to keep items like that in. Does anyone have suggests for setting up Greek organization scrapbooks?? (Please post here or PM me.):)

I'm a huge scrapbooking and cross-stitch fan!

My scrapbook is mostly Kappa stuff - different socials, rush, philanthropy, etc. Then I also have sections on camp, and a big section from when I did study abroad in London. I have all sorts of paper and cut-outs and stickers... when I really get going, I spread my stuff out all over the floor and make a huge mess. :) It's so fun!

I've been cross-stitching for a few years I guess, but I've been really into it for maybe a year. Last summer I was really bored (taking one class, not many friends in town, working like 20 hours a week at Michael's) and started it as a way to pass the time - I sort of watch TV while I do it, but it's more for background noise - it's amazing how quickly time passes when I'm working on a project. I made a small framed iris for one of my littles, with her initiation date on it - it turned out really cute. Now I'm working on a HUGE Winnie-the-Pooh Christmas scene, I didn't really have too much time to work on it at school, but at home here I don't have anything else to do (I live on a farm, the nearest town is 6 miles down the road and it only has one stoplight... boooooooooooring place to live!) so I've been working on it a lot, but I still don't think I'll ever finish!

Mod Podge / Decoupage
 

I am ready to take on a new hobby and Mod Podge seems like lots of fun... just wondering.. is there specific decoupage paper that you have to use? or is anything fair game?

scrapbooking!
 

I am a scrapbooking fanatic. I can spend up upwards of 2 hours just browsing in JoAnne Fabrics/Michael's/scrapbook stores.
Almost every activity I have been involved with not only has a scrapbook but a matching bulletin board.

I am not sure if anyone has bought from them before, but I am trying http://www.creativecollectiblesdalla...reek_items.htm
for my next scrapbook. I would normally make my own, but I wanted to try something new.

About decoupage, I have never tried it, but I am going to soon (lots of free time this summer). Let me know how it goes!

-sunnygirl

random question -- would places like Hobby Lobby have sheets of styrofoam? I think I may have a crafty idea if they do...

:)