Bella Dia

BHG Holiday Crafts and Me!

I am thrilled to tell you that two of my projects are in
the Better Homes and Gardens Holiday Crafts issue out now!
See the little pine cone girl skiier on the cover - that's mine!

There are tutorials for the mini felted wreath and the pine cone girls
that I made last year and it is so fun to see them as new again.

This issue is full of really terrific ideas from great artists
like Betz White, Wise Craft, Linaloo, and Jenn Docherty
that I want to try as well.

Watercolor #9

A new watercolor and pen illustration in lots of shades of
pink. I'd like to make some prints - does anyone have
any paper suggestions for printing at home? 

Early Fall Watercolor

My head has been spinning with all that I have to do but
these watercolors have a way of calming me down and
relaxing me enough to go to sleep. This one is much
smaller, about 4" x 6".  I hope everyone has
a happy and safe Halloween.

Fishbowl Pumpkin Tutorial

These fishbowl pumpkins are a fun and inexpensive way to add
some Halloween atmosphere to your home! Working around
the face is a little tedious so I would leave that for the adult to
do but kids can get in on the rest of the action. They look best
with a variety of sizes and different expressions!

You'll need:

any sized fishbowl - I got mine at the thrift store for $1
orange and yellow tissue paper
Mod Podge
paint brush
dish of water
pencil

Tear the yellow tissue into a variety of sizes

I thinned down the Mod Podge with a little bit of water in a dish.

Paint a smallish area of the bowl with Mod Podge and lay on
the tissue  then cover with more Mod Podge.

Repeat until you have covered the whole bowl in about two
layers of yellow.  I didn't do the bottom and don't worry if you
go over the top edge, you can trim that later.

After the yellow layer has dried (maybe about 20 minutes) take
a pencil and very lightly draw on the Jack-O-Lantern's face.

Tear the orange tissue into different sizes but also cut with
scissors some small straight edge pieces to work around your design.

Cover the whole bowl with two layers of orange tissue.

After it has dried, trim the top edge with scissors.

Put in a candle and admire your work!  As always,
never leave a lit candle unattended!

Crocheted Stone

A new addition to my quarry: the crocheted stone! Inspired
by Resurrection Fern, I decided to give crocheting with thread
a try. I wanted to cover a stone like Margie and
I think it came out so pretty!

I used four colors of itty bitty thread and made three rounds
of each color. The stone is about 3" long and 2" wide. 

I wasn't sure how I would do the back so it was kind
of a spur-of-the-moment thing but I really like
the spider web look it has.

Collecting rocks is one of my summer past times and I'm
building up a stash of stones so I'll have plenty to work
with this winter. I'm going to experiment with
color and contrast next. 

Quilted List Taker

I made this Quilted List Taker from JCasa Handmade's pattern
here and it has been my constant companion ever since I finished
it! I haven't sewn for awhile and it was so nice to get back to it if
only for a little while. (I am moving my studio so all my craft stuff is
in chaos). The instructions are very easy and there
are endless ways to personalize it. 

I only made a few changes to suit me. I added some fairly
heavy interfacing to the body of it and instead of a wrap-around
closure I made a loop closure. Everyone that has seen it wants one
too so I'll be making a lot of these for Christmas.

I used one of my favorite vintage buttons for the closure. It's
amazing how these simple things can give you so much pleasure.

*9/23/08 edited to add: The calendar fabric I used is from a
vintage tea towel, you know the kind that has a calendar on the
bottom and an image at the top.

Tiny Yarn Animals

Isn't my little hippo sweet?!  I made him from a pattern in Tiny Yarn Animals by Tamie Snow.  I've never really done this kind of amigurumi before but it was very simple and easy to put together and because of its small size it travels well too.  My kids and niece and nephews were quite taken with this little fellow and now I have a whole queue of tiny animals that have to be made!  Next up is the turtle, then the penguin, the lemur, the fox...

The beginning of the book has step-by-step photos of all the basic crochet stitches so even someone new to crochet has everything they need to get started.  For more inspiration and some free patterns visit Tamie's website too!

My Contribution to The Softies Kit

I can't tell you how thrilled I am with the most
recent book by Therese Laskey (author of Softies). This
is The Softies Kit and it has 15 projects with instructions
and materials to make the cutest softies ever! The
packaging is gorgeous - colors, design, photography -
and couldn't be better.

I have two projects in the kit. The one above is
a gingerbread house featuring lots of sugar dots and
candy cane. You can make it into a house
softie or an ornament.

My other contribution is this Spring Chick in a Hat -
she even made the cover! You might remember her
from several Easters ago. This would be a great baby
gift - you could even add some lavender to
the stuffing for sweet dreams.

Please check out The Softies Kit,
you won't be disappointed!