Back to work!

I'm really trying to get back into a routing for crafting, now that school has started. Yesterday, I worked to finish punching this Santa piece. I aged it lightly with walnut ink, but it still shows the over dyed floss.
I had previously cut out some hornbooks, but got around to painting them. I sanded them, painted them, sanded again, then aged them with gel stain. The two boards aren't the same. I try to cut unevenly ~ on purpose. Can't have a primitive board looking too perfect! :-) I think it gives each one a uniqueness and character of it's own.


Tonight, I put the finishing touches on the Santa. I aged a hang tag with walnut ink, and tied a string of buttons around the top. On this one, I took a brass tag, and stamped NOEL. I then oxidized it to age it, and left some of the aging around the edges of the metal.
While I was in a finishing mode, I put the final touches on the snowman punch needle. I liked the Santa pattern so much, that I took the idea and put a snowman in the center instead. I put mittens instead of Christmas trees around the border. This one also has a brass tag that reads SNOW. I just put both of these on Ebay tonight. If the same person wins both auctions, I will offer FREE shipping to the winner!


While I had my metal stamps out, I stamped out GERANIUMS on the spoon I had previously flattened. I realized how hard it is to stamp on spoons! This one is a silver plate, and not sterling. So, it's a bit harder to get the impressions than stamping on a thinner, softer metal. But, it's fun to experiment with different ideas. This garden marker will go into a pot of geraniums on my front step.

I next have some bowl fillers that are half sewn, and need finishing. Now that I'm motivated, they might get done! :-)

~*~ Laura ~*~