Sunday, November 30, 2008

Jingle, Sparkle, Joy is a Wrap!

While down in San Antonio visiting with my dad and family for Thanksgiving, I put the final stitches in Jingle, Sparkle, Joy. I only had my camera to take pics of it, so none of the pictures I took really show the true colors of the piece.

Here's what happens when the ever-faithful, ever-present kitty assistant (aka Little Miss Nosey-body Hannah) doesn't land properly on the surface where the photographer has laid the piece and is snapping away.



After removing Hannah, the Helper-kitty and repositioning my piece, here's the "before" pic. I really did enjoy using the DMC on this piece, but kept thinking of overdyed colors in my head that would've looked good, too!



Because I couldn't find just the right color of fabric in my stash to begin with, I had already decided to try to age it using coffee grounds. We don't drink coffee in my house, but my dad does. Of course, he looked at me like I'd grown 2 more heads or something when I told him what I wanted to use his cooling coffee grounds for. He was like, "Why do you want to mess up such a pretty finish?!?" He acted like I was committing some kind of heinous crime! I just told him, "You're gonna have to trust me, Daddy. It'll look great when finished. Just breathe! Really, it'll be okay."

First, I took the grounds (in their filter) out of the the basket and dabbed that all over my piece. I don't have a pic of this because I'm not real good at taking pictures one-handed and I didn't want to lay the coffee ground filled filter down. (Say that fast three times...I dare ya!) Then, holding the coffee filter in the palm of my left hand, I grabbed grounds with my right and started smearing them all over my finish.



I left them there until they were dried out (all day, pretty much). Then I wiped them off into the trash can and found this hiding underneath.



I really like it! My dad was pretty pleased with the way it turned out, too! LOL

1 comment:

Suzanne said...

That looks great Stephanie! I wonder if you could dab the grounds only in certain areas for a more overdyed, mottled look? I might have to try that...