I'm Back!

Hello, Hello, Hello, all my wonderful, amazing stitchers! I have missed you and my blog but have been so busy with so many things it was hard to keep up with it all but even in my absence I was thinking of AND missing my blog. So here we are coming into spring and new beginnings. I just love this time of year when things turn green and lush again. So let's get started on fun stuff for spring shall we?

PAINTS, PAINTS, AND MORE PAINTS!
I love the fact that there are lots of paints out there that can be used on fabric and can add so much to cross stitch. But let me stress before I go further that it is IMPERATIVE that the sizing be washed completely out of the fabric before paint can be applied. The best way I have found to do this is to let the fabric soak for a while to loosen the sizing and then I use dish detergent to wash and then rinse it several times. I can hear gasps out there at the mention of dish detergent but that is what I have used for decades and it works great for me. Aida cloth, to me, is like the "bulldog" of cross stitch fabric, it is tough and takes just about anything that is thrown or sewn on it.



A sampling of all the beautiful colors this amazing paint comes in!

You can see here the whipped consistency of the paint. The sample in the middle shows an Aida piece with the sizing still on it, as well as some gilding flakes. Although the sizing didn't seem to affect the gilding flakes, it certainly made the paint chip off. Lesson learned!

I recently ran across a product by Viva that I believe is nothing short of fabulous! Inka Gold is a creamy paint that takes on a metallic or very shiny appearance on Aida fabric. It comes in nice sized jars and has bee's wax as one of the ingredients. That has to be what gives it the buttery consistency. It comes in a very wide range of colors so a great palette to choose from. This will NOT adhere to sized fabric, trust me, I learned the hard way. It will just chip off. It stays beautifully when the fabric has all the sizing removed. What is so lovely about this paint is that it is multipurpose so you can put it on just about any other surface as well. It can be applied thinly and then cross stitched over but then you really do miss out letting the true beauty of this paint come through. From what I have seen on the videos, I will caution you to not put your fingers in the paint. Get a clean tool of some kind (small palette knife is perfect) and get the amount needed out of the jar with it. DO NOT put your fingers in the jar because it can, and does, transfer cooties from your fingers that results in mold growing in it, and who wants to deal with that mess?! You can play with your fingers in it outside of the jar just don't put anything you touched back in the jar.

Here are some of the Viva Pearl Pens. Nice size so you get a good amount for your money!

Great examples of the lovely little pearl drops the pens make! Love this product!

Viva Pearl Pens
I am absolutely astounded by this product! Why haven't I seen this before!!! So I this product on sale and decided to give it a try. It does what the name says, makes those beautiful little pearl domes on a surface. After giving the first one a go, I ordered a bunch more, because it is amazing. It does make perfect little domes and is super easy to use. The tips are already on it and the size you need to make multiple sizes of pearls and it does settle into the dome without the Hershey Kisses twist at the top. It comes in a great assortment of colors too and here is the real kicker (drum roll please!), it comes in a transparent version that looks like drops of water. So you can use this to look like rain drops, dew drops, or whatever your imagination can dream up!

Future Posts
Since I have been busy in the studio and doing the monthly "Confessions of a Cross Stitcher" column on the Mr. X Stitch site, I will be posting on my blog at least once a month and possibly twice if I can pull it off. More than likely these posts will be at the end of each month, so I will be posting here again the end of May.

KEEP CREATING!