for all you crafty people...
 

ok this is totally random, but a couple of questions for all you crafty people!

firstly, this christmas break i am planning on creating a scrapbook for my first 2 yrs. of college life ... i have a ton of stickers, a ton of paper, those super fun crazy-edged scissors, and glue sticks... what else could you use on a scrapbook to make it fun & cute?

also.. just wondering if anyone on here cross stitches? sounds like a grandma past-time, but I have cross-stitched for a couple of months now and it's really fun.. I even made some DSP magnets for my 'fridge and they are super cute. would you cross stitch random stuff ( like pillows maybe ) for your sisters as big/lil or 'just because' gifts?

I'm one of those "crafty" (in more ways than one :p ) people who likes doing the stuff you mentioned. I've done a sorority scrapbook every year since I've joined, but I don't normally buy all that fancy stuff like printed papers that cost 50 cents a sheet and those precut paper objects. All you need is a bunch of scissors that cut cute designs, some glitter, some markers, and your pictures...and voila, you can come up with some neat-looking stuff if you're creative. It sounds like you're pretty much set. And I also cross-stitch...well, I've been doing it since I was five and old habits are hard to break! Do you do your own designs or use cross-stitch books, texas*princess?

I love to cross stitch. I actually did do a cross-stitch gift for my big - I made up a pattern with our letters and a spray of lily of the valley. I made two and kept one.

How do you do the magnets? Do you use those magnetic picture frame thingies, or what?

Can't help you with the scrapbooking, but it sounds like a great idea. :)

I usually "make" designs from other designs.. for example, I will use a crown design and then the greek letters under it. I only own a couple of leaflets though.. i have found a bunch of cute patters online for free :)


and for making my magnets, I used plastic canvas to stitch on. I stitched the letters.. about 24 stitches high and cut them out of the plastic canvas. I went to hobby lobby and bought magnet pieces (they have magnet strips 6 per pack for 99 cents!) and cut the magnets to fit behind the letters and hot-glued them on.

what interesting projects have you made with crafty-things?

I LOVE scrapbooking! You'd really be amazed at what you can do with just plain construction paper cut out in the right way. The only real "tip" I have for you is not to have an idea of what you want it to look like. Just let it go. And also- worship the diagonal! (Like, if you have a rectangular picture w/ a rectangular paper to act as a sort of "mat" for it, put them at different angles, or slightly askew of each other. It makes for an interesting contrast...and ALWAYS lay out what you want it to look like FIRST...THEN do the gluing!!! (use acid-free stuff so your pics don't ruin!!) have fun!!!

Has anyone ever seen the rub-on transfers? Well, if you haven't, they are kinda like temporary tattoos where you rub them on from the front to transfer the picture. Well anyway, I took a budvase and used sweetheart rose transfers to decorate it. I then painted over the outline of the roses to make it look prettier. I figured that in my chapter we are constantly giving out roses (or other flowers) that it would be nice to have a special vase to hold it in.

Another crafty idea that I had was to take our family pattern and make each sister within the family a pin pillow from it. I decorated them with glitter glue paint stuff and roses (our sorority flower, can you tell?) ;) All of the sisters that are not in my family are so jealous because they can't have one!

Hope these ideas bring some fun to your chapters! Keep sharing your ideas so I can "borrow" them :)

scrapbooking princess here
 

Make sure everything you get for your scrapbook is acid free. Someone mentioned construction paper in scrapbooks. That's great and all for a while but if you don't get acid free cardstock, it can ruin your pics. And avoid the magnetic pages like the plague. They don't hold up over time and also turn yellow. Some groovy things I own:
Die cuts
a circle cutter
templates for making shapes and cutting pics
sticker squares (god's gift for those who hate glue)
those groovy gel pens... journaling :D
curvy rulers for making squiggly lines for borders
time... something i don't have :(

I learned to cross stitch when I was 12. It's funny that you called it a grandma past-time because I always tell people that I do old lady things for fun in reference to the cross stitch.

Our version of the Greek paddles is to personalize a crest for our big/little. (not really the crest, but you get my drift.) Anyway, I did a cross stitch that I designed with the help of a mini pattern I have and put a blessing in the middle. That was glued to one side of my little's crest.

My chapter is really small now, and I got to go to formal in the spring. I wanted to do something for the "family" I had on campus this year, so I took the same mini pattern and stitched it on black cloth, then stitched the shape of our badge in gold metallic floss around that. Note: I will NEVER stitch on black again, and I hate the metallic flosses.

I made my hubby a cross stitch for Christmas last year, and I'm working on one for my mom now. If I ever finish that one, I'm going to make the same design for myself. (It says, "Our family is a circle of strength and love..." and I want to hang in in the middle of pictures of our family.)

I wish that I were crafty.

I made the scrapbook for our Krewe for 5 years. It was a pretty big deal and remained secret until the revealing of the new court. I always did it in sections and kept several item from each party-like the doubloons and programs, table decorations... The section dividers were always highly decorated, glittery and colorful.

For humor, the photo shops have these little stickers that you can put directly on the photo and there are some pretty funny sayings. You can also write your own captions underneath the photos. Also think in terms of cartoon panels. Put a series of three or so pics in a row and "create" a story.

The BEST pictures are not posed-they are the random shots of your friends looking a tad foolish... Save the still shots for a separate section.

Re: scrapbooking princess here
 

I don't know if you would like this idea, but I don't have those curvy rulers either.

I have just used the crazy-edged scissors to cut out borders instead of using curvy rulers and then cutting out the borders :)

deltaphi, those are really cool ideas to incorporate your craft with your chapter!

There is a computer program out there that you can turn photos into a cross-stitch pattern. It even gives you the color key :) So it could be fun for cross-stitching your crest, or something cool like that.

I wanted to cross stitch some more of those magnets, but for some DPhiE friends I have from back home.
I don't know if I will have them done before Christmas break, but if not I could surprise them and mail them to the girls ;)

Jadey, those sound like awesome ideas - thanks for sharing! :)
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Back when I had time to cross stitch, I made one our crest. It is beautiful! I have it framed in my office!

I hear you on the time issue! I have to do all of my stitching if and when hubby is working and the little one is sleeping. Of course, that's when I get to do all of my other chores, too. So, unless I skip cleaning -- which I can't -- it takes forever to get something finished!

Oh, and when my son was newborn, I learned to make those padded photo albums. I have some that have baby Looney Tunes covers, and I gave one to my son's grandmother with lighthouses on it for Christmas the year he was born. She collects lighthouses, and I've heard it's full of pictures of him now. :) I haven't done any of those since he passed the constant sleep stage, though.

ooh, oooh, oooh
 

you absolutely must have your own personal paper trimmer for scrapbooking. i think it costs $10. it is perfect for cutting pics, trimming pages, etc. i have seen them in both ac moore and michaels. i also got a laminator/sticker maker/ magnet maker. it was a pretty pricey investment ($50 or so), but i have so much fun with it.

the one thing i would avoid like the plague......spray adhesive. the first scrapbook i made, i used that and i managed to glue myself and everything around me to the scrapbook. i found double sided tape that is photo safe and it is sooooo much better!

i just recently tried soap making. i bought the mold for the relaxing massage bars. it was pretty easy, but i think it could get expensive if you want to make them very complicated. has anyone else done that?

i also cross stitch...and i am trying desperately to get one finished for my friend for xmas. i have to say that i was never particularly crafty until i joined phi mu. when i had to make a quatrefoil for my big, i was introduced to the world of ac moore....and slowly, but surely, i have been sucked right in!!! lol


ooh, before i forget....is anyone good at crochet? i try so hard but i make everything slope...it is awful!!!

oh goodness........*eyes open wide* ACMOORE......when those big, beautiful, shiny, glass doors slide open and I round that corner.... it's like a chior of freaking angels screaming in my ears! I never know where to start!
I just wish they had a fabric section (like bolts of fabric, not clothes...)hmmmm......we should start a petition!!!

walmart has a pretty good selection of fabric...of course, i can't sew a button on a shirt, so i am probably not a good judge!!! i do hit their dollar bin bc the fabic makes great, lasting backgrounds for my bullentin boards.

My newest crafty addiction is Mod Podge....cut out magazine clippings, pictures, whatever and make a collage then paint the mod podge over it and it dries hard and clear....its way fun. I've made vases with different squares of color all over them, stools, picture collages....anything!

maybe it's because I live in Texas?
 

I have never heard of ACMOORE.. sounds like an awesome crafty store, though ;)

Oh my god...I can't believe there are so many crafty people on here! I used to do cross stitch, stuff with Mod Podge, etc., until I got to high schoool and it wasn't 'cool' anymore. Like pinkyphimu, I got sucked back in once I joined AGD!

BTW, anyone know where I could get a cross stitch of AGD's coat of arms? That just sounds so cool!!!!!

Never heard of ACMOORE either... must be a regional thing. There is a Michael's not far from my house... that's where I get most of my supplies.

A few months back, I found a needlepoint/cross stitch store while on vacation. I wanted to buy up half the store - my husband practically had to restrain me :D I did get a few kits, including my current project, which is on black cloth (ugh - deltaphi94, I hear you!)

I did find a very nice lily of the valley needlepoint kit (which has been in my "to do" pile for about 4 years!), but I had to create all my other sorority designs myself. Apparently I am the only AEPhi on the entire planet who does cross stitch :confused:

AGDPrincess - try a Greek store if you have one in your area. You may be able to find one on eBay, too. There's always a ton of cross stitch stuff on there, but it's a little harder to find a lot of Greek oriented patterns in the listings.

aephialum - Please tell me you don't have to use any type of metallic floss! You definitely have my sympathies. I was warned more than 10 years ago never to do anything on black aida. Wish I had listened! lol

Unfortunately... yep, that project has some gold metallic trim. :( I'm still working on the cross-stitch parts, though.

It wouldn't be the rose in a vase, would it? I think that pattern is just beautiful, but my eyes can't handle it. Niether can my level of patience...

For all of you interested in Greek alphabet cross stitch, someone sent me this link. It has a Greek alphabet listing.
~ the queen of freebie sites~

www.angelfire.com/or3/jpezzat/alphabets.htm

Hmm... it isn't working... I'll get back to you.:)

deltaphi94,

No - it's a picture of a cat asleep on a bookshelf. All the book titles are cat-related - "Tale of Two Kitties", "Corporate Fat Cats", "Holy Cats" (the Bible), etc. It's very cute, but it's going to take me forever to finish :(

That link you posted didn't work...

http://www.freepatternsonline.com/chart/page/abc21.htm

It's missing the upsilon, but this link should work. There are lots of other freebie alphabets and designs, too.

that is one of my fav free cross stitch pattern sites :)

I own a couple other cross stitch leaflets with greek-orientated designs. It's really hard to find newer ones.. most of the ones I have found were published in the 70's-80's!

I haven't cross stitched since high school, but I used to make up my own patterns...only simple ones, though!!! I was in art then, so I could draw half decently. It's amazing how once you stop, it's ten times harder to start again! I should, though..as geeky as this sounds, I miss it:p
As for scrapbooking, our big sisters make scrap books for us and then give them to us after the new member period....everyone in the chapter has one that we continue (more or less) throughout our Phi Sig years. We use glitter glue pens (for both writing and smearing across the pages as a background), jelly pens, construction paper, fun scissors, foam letters and cut outs, LOTS of stickers, little bits of confetti (can get messy), cut up pictures (of roses and such, not the kodak kinda pictures, but the published kind), letters cut from magazines and flyers, and gift wrapping ribbons to make "frames" for our pics. We also have a chapter scrapbook. A bunch of us are going to get together after Christmas break and work on them, cause I've just been putting pics in and not really "scrapbooking" them. It makes a fun sisterhood kind-of activity!
Sorry such a long post. I *Love* scrapbooking! It's such a good way to keep memories!

My main projects right now are cross stitch on waste canvas on sweatshirts. I've done our letters on blue shirts and yellow shirts (both look great). I also do christmas theme shirts for our alumnae association philanthropy auction.

how exactly does waste canvas work? I always thought it would be fun to try and stitch letters on a sweatshirt.

I love needlepoint. It is very theraputic to me. I can sew and think about things or I can sew and think about nothing. Wish I had more time. I sew a lot when I am doing a play, especially if I have a lot of time between scenes or acts.
My cousin the Pi Phi used to own a needlepoint store and we used to joke about my $200 a month needlepoint habit. Unfortunately, the bad middle aged eyesight is taking its toll. Cross stitch is too stressful for me because I have to pay too much attention to what I am doing following a chart.

I recently started doing cross-stitch and I love it. I like knitting too. It's so hard to leave Michael's with just one thing. It's a crafty person's heaven.

for those of you who have never heard of ac moore...it is like michael's. i have both near me and it is a wonder how i ever have money to pay bills.... :D

We have a crafter's heaven right down the street... Hobby Lobby. I could live in that store. They have a lot of finished, framed cross stitch patterns above the kits, and I'm sure my husband is glad I don't have enough free time for them. We'd be flat broke otherwise.:p

I used to cross-stitch and do needlepoint when I was younger (like 8-12). I did a cross stitch bib for my cousin when she was born. I also did a few random projects that my mom has stored somewhere.

My mom also used to cross-stich, embroider, needlepoint, etc. She made a beautiful embroidered Christmas tree skirt with the Night Before Christmas on it. Santa's beard is done with individual French Knots! Its beautiful, but one year, we were going to water the tree and spilled water on it, and some of the red dye from the thread bled on it :( We still use it though. She also made me a "baby's first christmas" cross-stich stocking. And she and my grandmother made me a Raggedy Ann and Andy christmas stocking that was Applique and embroidery.

Maybe one of these lives I'll get back into it. I tried to do scrapbooking but it was too expensive and I lost interest pretty easily. I would still like to finish the book I was doing of my college years.

Santa's beard = individual French knots?! WOW. She must have the patience of a saint. I have such a hard time with those.

She seriously worked on it for years. It probably took 5 years to finish, just because she didn't have the time to sit and work with it continuously. We were *really* pissed when the red embroidery floss used for the words bled all over the white background of the skirt. Hmm...wonder if OxyClean will get it out...

I can totally understand. I wish I could tell you what would remove the dye. Unfortunately, I don't know of any good tricks for that.

waste canvas is really neat. You have what looks like needlepoint canvas but its for cross stitch. You place it on the fabric where you want the design to go. The directions say to baste it down, but I don't bother. The hoop holds it until you get enough of the design in place to hold it. When you're done, the waste canvas just pulls away from between the stitches and the fabric and volia there's your design.

PM me if you want any more information....