CELEBRATIONS: RETIREMENT, SPRING AND A GIVEAWAY !

GLORIOUS SPRING!

You just have to Love Early Spring Blooming Flowers!!  My Crocuses always put a big smile on my face and make my heart soar with JOY~  Our whole Winter has been very mild so hence my wee delicate, delightful beauties have arrived early!

 

  I have been very busy creating symbols of Spring! My first creation is this crocheted bowl.

 But this bowl is far from being finished. In my next posting you may not even be able to recognize it.  It may turn into something totally different.  

I have gotten back to doing some wet felting.  I just love the feel of creating with wool. 

 So one afternoon I decided to make some wool felted eggs.   Nothing fancy but the wee eggs will soon have a home.

These baubles were on My Country Bucket see photo on My Header. I thought they needed a bit of sparkle so I added some beads to them.

When I was felting my eggs, a thought came to my mind to felted some wee Pink Baubles to "Celebrate" My Retirement and Spring"! 

The Wee Pink Baubles can be made into ear rings, a bracelet or to embellish any creation.

I now have over "200 Followers" ( Very Big Smile)  so I thought a wee giveaway would be nice to celebrate all three wonderful events. 

Along with the Wee Pink Beaded Baubles I am also giving away this very unique embellishment I found in a Yarn Shop this past weekend.  It shaped is very unique and on the package it is called a "Ruffle".  Can anyone guess what it is made from??? 

There will also be a "Surprise" "Handmade by Me with Love"!!

As always My Sweetie will drawn the "Winner" on March 22nd. This time there will only be 1 winner for all three gifts. Good Luck to All.

I have been waiting for over 1 year for the release of the BBC Land Girls Series 3.  It was release the day after my birthday in February.   My sweetie bought it for me and we have now watched 2 episodes.  I absolutely LOVE this Movie Series.  I would highly recommend this movie series to everyone. Has anyone else watched this Movie Series?? I would love to hear from you.  

In January I "Retired" from being a nurse for 36 years.  For the last several weeks I have been thinking of all kinds of things I would like to do.  

First My Sweetie and Me will be spending more time with family.  Exploring new places with our RV.  I hope to spend more time in My New Studio My Sweetie created for me a couple of years ago. 

Which bring me to the "Next Step" in My Journey of Retirement.  I have decided to open a "Etsy" shop and see if anyone would like to buy any of my creations. 

I have been thinking for weeks what to call this new "Etsy" shop and in the middle of the night it came to me to call it

"CJ's Artsy Creations"!  What do you all think??

So now I need to create some Fancy Business Cards.  Then actually go through the process of setting it up.  In the next few weeks hopefully I will be taking "The Next" step.

I feel blogging makes the world a little smaller and shows me each and everyday that "Our" Journeys are not so very different after all. 

I hope you all will continue to join me as I slowly venture down this new of path of my life called "Retirement"!

A Very Heart Felt Thanks to all my Blogging Friends for their many years of chatting with me.  I have enjoyed every minute of My Blogging Experience!!

Don't forget to leave a comment to be in My Retirement Giveaway!

Hugs Judy

MY VERY FIRST ENCRUSTED EMBROIDERY PEBBLE

Hello Everyone,

I have been doing some very fun stitching lately.  My Sweetie will not let me help much in the kitchen redo so I have been happy stitching away and loving it.

The photo below is the inspiration for My First Encrusted Embroidery Pebble.

 My sweetie and I was walking along the Lake Michigan Shoreline last Summer and out of all the stone we found this one was my favorite.  It is called a Petoskey Stone.  I think it is so very pretty. Not a good photo but it is all shades of beige and creams and white.

Below is an up close photo of the top part of My Encrusted Pebble. It is 5 inches wide and 6 inches tall. I used 100% wool cream fabric as the background for the pebble.

 The stitch I used at the tip is called Buttonhole with and Detached Buttonhole stitch combined together. I used EdMar Brazilian thread called Boucle.  I wanted it to look like the white caps where breaking over the pebble laying on the sandy beach.  Do you think I captured the look I wanted with this stitch? 

Below is the bottom of the pebble.  I also used the same technique twice more on the bottom of the pebble.  I used many shapes of beads. 

 I also used hand dyed wool roving twisted tightly and swirled around on the stone and then I couched over it with the bullion stitch in a hand dyed silk thread.

 I forgot to take a photo of the elements I used on this pebble but I used very similar one I used on the Heart which I have not started to stitch yet.  

I used many different kinds of threads.  I really like using 100% wool threads. I also used The Thread Gatherer Hand Dyed Silks, EdMar Brazilian Threads, Finca # 8,  DMC Perle Cotton, Valdani Pearl, and several Silk and Ivory threads of silk and wool. 

Below is My First Encrusted Embroidery Pebble finished.... What do you all think?

 I used many many different kinds of stitches.   I used the Drizzle Stitch in many different places.  It is one of my favorite stitches.  

I also used  Whipped Buttonhole Stitch, Needle Weaving Open Base Picot, Raised Cup Stitch, Blanket  Stitched Pinwheel,  Back Stitch Spider Web, Bullion, and lots and lots of French Knots.

I had so much fun creating this pebble. I hope I have inspired a few of my blogging friends to give this Encrusted Pebble a try. 

Many of us on "Stitchin Fingers" are also participating in the "Pebble Adventure" but you need to be a Stitchin Fingers Member to give this project a go.

  Now I am thinking of doing an encrusted Easter Egg.  Hmmmmm, So many ideas and not enough time.  LOL

Take care and thanks for stopping by and leaving your comments. 

Hugs Judy