Altoid Tin Padded Box Topper (Tutorial)

I've been wanting to try my hand at using a repurposed Altoid Tin to make a padded box that could showcase a bit of my needlework for years, and until now, I'd never gotten around to it.

But when I got my June Broderi Box subscription of fibers and other needlework goodies, I knew that a small project using these decadent teals and metallic golds would be just perfect for my first try.

I'm not going to share the chart (at least not today), because I haven't actually charted it out - I worked the stitches as I went, doing no more planning than it took to estimate the size I'd need to cover the box.  If I do get it charted, I will certainly share the graph, though!
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My piece was 30 x 44 on 28ct fabric over two - and could probably go as large as 34 x 46 without issue.  So if you do this with a needlework decign, keep the stitched area that size or smaller.  That said - you can make a lovely padded box this same way using just a piece of fabric you like.

This is definitely not the only way to go about doing this, and likely not the best way - but it is the way I did it:

Supplies:
Altoids Tin
piece of (stitched) fabric, cut to approx. 4.5" x 6"
Adhesive backed mounting board
Quilt batting
Ribbon or cord
Scissors
Exacto knife

Instructions:
1. Use the Altoid Tin as a template, and trace around it onto the matting board.

2. Use Exacto Knife to cut out the matting board shape.

3. Peel off adhesive backing and mount quilt batting to it.  Use scissors to trim batting so it is the same size and shape as the matting board.

4.  Center fabric over the batting, and fold over edges to the back of it. (use pins if needed to hold it in place.)

5. With thead, attach the fabric to the back by making a series of stitches across and back and forth - there is no specific order to this.  You simply want to create tension and balance until the entire thing is centered and neither too loose or pulled too tightly at the top.

6. Using either a cool heat glue gun or fabric adhesive (a friend recommended E6000 Craft Adhesive to me after I'd used a glue gun and I will follow her advice in the future), cover the back of the padded piece and fix it to the top of the tin, taking care to place it correctly.  Hold it in place for a few minutes (or compress with a flat heavy object, such as a book) to ensure good adhesion.

7. Cut a length of ribbon or cord long enough to go around the edge of the tin lid.  Working an inch or so at a time, glue the ribbon to the tin, placing it high enough to cover the area where the topper meets the tin.  Hold as needed to make sure it attaches solidly.

8. Carefully trim excess ribbon.

That's it!  Now you have a pretty little box that can hold everything from a sewing kit to tea bags to incense to jewelry!

What would you put into your little box of treasure?

May Stitchery Progress

I never did get around to sharing my April stitchery progress for one simple reason  - there wasn't any!  Due to a combination of reasons, including some travel and a bit of minor illness that made it uncomfortable to try, I just stopped. And then waited to be in the mood again, and it never came back.

So for May, I decided I'd better get myself a plan to get back into the habit, and decided I'd join the Facebook group Stitch Maynia's annual signature event - StitchMAYnia!  Those crazy people actually do 15 new starts in 15 days - but I already have around 23 Works in Progress (WIPs) so decided that instead I'd work on those, switching them out each day.

Big Ol' Bag O' WIPs

All together, I spent some time on 13 pieces, finishing 2 of them, starting 2 new projects and getting myself re-interested in them all.

And I was pretty amazed because I thought working in swift daily rotation like that would feel chaotic and drive myself nuts, but instead it was very motivational and kept things fun.

So I'm tossing my 'plan' for the year, and work this way for awhile to get through this big bag of WIPs (including the 7 or so I didn't manage to touch this past month), adding one or two a month as I feel like it.

I don't know that it will get any of them done any faster - but a bit of monthly progress is better than a half done stitchery project sit untouched for 10 years. And some of these have.

Here's a tour through what I worked on this month:

KITS

Celestial Gathering

128 x  198

Navy Blue 14 ct Aida

Todd Trainer / Dimensions

This represents about 1/6th of the finished work, and I first started it around 7 years ago.  What I like about it is the composition itself, and the colors that create both bright and subtle effects.  Much of is half stitch, using colors very close in hue to the dark fabric - and that is the challenge. My eyes and ability to concentrate both have to be in good working order to deal with this one.

Dolphins

138 x 138

White 14ct Aida

Roger W. Reinardy / Janlynn

This one got abandoned by me about a decade ago, after the dolphin-loving person I was making it for told me she no longer liked dolphins. Oh.  I left it untouched for a long, long time but I think I like it fine for myself and in spite of all the variations of blue requiring me to have good lighting, it's an easy, relaxing stitch.  There is a fat border of shells that get stitched around this center section, so I still have a long way to go here.

Mediterranean Mares

80 x 75

Navy Blue 28ct Linen over 2

Laurel Burch / Mill Hill

More blue, more dark fabric - so another challenge here!  This one is a new start - I picked this up in a local craft shop in Delaware at the end of April, when we took a trip up to Bethany Beach for the  weekend.  When the stitching is done, there will be a lot of beadwork, and I am looking forward to how pretty this will be once done.

SMALLS

12 Days of Christmas

63 x 49 ea

14c Aida

Satsuma Street

FINISHED: 3 French Hens

NEW START: 4 Calling Birds

I began this series at the beginning of this year, hoping to get one done each month - so I'm a little behind, but I'll keep plugging at it. These are really fun to stitch, and low energy compared to some of my other projects.  Adding in finishing time (I plan to create a banner garland out of these), I hope to have it ready for display by Christmas 2018.

Boo! (Freebie)

43 x 35

White 22ct Hardanger over one

The Pure Palette Baroque Silk Thread

The Stitcherhood

Really fun floss to use - I expect this will be complete by Halloween. I started this last fall, mainly to see how the floss worked on a finished piece. A bit fiddly working it over one, but otherwise, I like it!

By the Full Moon

48 x 43

Lt. Blue 28ct Linen over 2

Ink  Circles

Just Cross Stitch Sep-Oct 2010

Begun in January 2017, I have the rest of the trees and the large full moon to go.  A very fun little stitch I will make sure to have finished by Halloween this year.

Tropic of Cancer Mini Mandala

45 x 45

beige 28ct Linen over 2

roll your own colors

Ink Circles

This was started about two years ago, when I needed something small to play with while on a trip.  I didn't put a lot of thought into the colors, and I honestly don't think I chose that well.  There are four optional corner pieces that could be stitched, turning the finished item into a square that is 59 x 59, but I think I'm going to call this complete, and perhaps try it again at some point with a better eye to my color choices.

GRAPHS

One Hundred Years

243 x 75

28 ct. evenweave over one

Lizzie*Kate

Started two years ago as a gift. It may get done this year but I'm making no promises.  I'm a bit less than half way done.  A fun, easy stitch, although working it over one means my eyes have to be in the mood for it.

ABC Lessons

207 x 136

28ct Oatmeal Linen over 2

Lizzie*Kate

I started this about 3 years ago, and am nearly halfway done - I had lost some of the flosses, and had to go reclaim them (cannibalized for other projects). Lizzie Kate's patterns are always relaxing to do.

Mountain Bluebird and Blackcurrent

100 x 100

28ct Sand Sable Laguna over 2

Ajisai Press

I love this project! Started in January, this is a combination of cross stitch and blackwork. I clearly have a thing for using lots of blues, but as long as my eyes aren't overtired, this is a fun and relaxing stitch.

Metamorphosis

359 x 47

18ct Burlap

Threadworx floss (my choice)

Ink Circles

Begun two years ago - I expected to have this done by the end of last year.  Then I lost my floss for it. (!!!)  Once I figured out what I needed to proceed, I got to that last mandala and wow, it is so much more complex than the previous one.  There has been much frogging and gnashing of teeth and I make no predictions on when I will finish it. But when I do, this will go to a professional framer and I will hang it with pride.

1873 Elizabeth Taylor Reproduction Sampler

100 x 118

tea dyed 28ct Linen over 2

Gift of Stitching Magazine, May 2010

I've had this in my WIP bag for about 4 years - I've had a desire to do a reproduction sampler for several years, and the small size and the name of the 11 year old girl that worked it charmed me.  And then I abandoned it.  I was so happy to find myself enjoying it again.  Parts are worked over 2 threads, and parts over 1.

Tree of Life

28 ct evenweave over 2

various flosses, my choice

The Stitcherhood

I love this graph, and started it a couple years ago as a way to 'doodle'.  I use a variety of variegated and overdyed flosses and basically grab one at random for each curly branch. It's one I tend to save for trips and other low-concentration stitching times.  Will be finished whenever, and I'm not sure what I will wind up doing with it - I sort of see it as a journal cover?

So that's it - I managed to get some done nearly every day this past month on one or the other of these.  In June, I plan to take a crack at the remaining WIPs in my bag, and take up a couple new starts, as well as try to catch up on the 12 Days of Christmas.

I also have a plan to start a daily stitch project on my birthday, which is Friday - with luck, I'll have something to show off at the end of the month.

Until then, take care and I hope you've doing something to include some creativity in your life!

Review/Giveaway: Demon Monkey Craft Cross-Stitch Designs

I love doing reviews and discovering interesting businesses but my special favorites are always the ones that showcase talented artists.  I was especially eager to get to review Demon Monkey Craft, because designer Rebecca Martz-Burley not only specializes in one of my greatest loves - cross stitch! - but she also showcases B-movies and horror pop culture themes in her designs.

Be warned - they're not your gramma's cross stitch! You'll find zombies, Hollywood vampires and some graphic (and hilarious) nods to R-rated gore, along with a few grin-inducing pop memes.  At her Etsy shop, she not only offers .pdf file graphs for stitchers, but also several already stitched and ready to frame items that would be absolutely perfect for your favorite hard-to-shop-for geek.

The name Demon Monkey Craft comes from DMC - the largest and most popular brand of 6 count embroidery thread, used for most cross stitch projects.  There are other threads out there, many of them fabulous to work with, but the beginner stitcher can almost always be assured that any graph they buy will include DMC colors and they'll be easy to find at any craft store that carries needlework supplies.

I had a great deal of fun deciding which graph to select from Demon Monkey Craft. and decided on "By the Pricking of My Thumbs", a simple yet evocative sampler bearing the famous words from Shakespeare's MacBeth in the scene where the 3 old witches are casting a spell around a cauldron. In this scene, they're interrupted by the arrival of MacBeth and the 2nd witch cries out:

By the pricking of my thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes.
Open, locks! Whoever knocks?

I've been working on several 'witchy' pieces for awhile now from various designers - eventually, I hope to have an entire wall motif of them, and as soon as I saw this design, I knew it'd fit right in.

Purchasing was easy - after you've ordered via Etsy, you'll receive an email giving you a link to go to to download your .pdf file.  I received two files -  one has the chart printed out onto a single page, while the other breaks it up into five pages for easier viewing.

Unless you have eyes like the Six Million Dollar Man, I strongly suggest printing out the enlarged version - I set my printer to 2 sided paper, with 2 pages on each side (the 5th page is just the thread information), so I still only used one sheet of paper, but it was much, much easier to read.

Like many stitchers, I have a ridiculous stash of fabrics and threads already on hand, so I pulled from what I had.  While this graph would have been perfectly fine in its original black thread on white fabric (or reversed! White thread on black fabric), I have had a large piece of beige 14-count Aida on hand for awhile and wanted to use that to give this a somewhat rustic look.

For the same reason I used DMC 3371, a very dark brown instead of the black and then got the impulse to pull in a little color by using DMC 115, a variagated floss that ranges from bright to very deep red. I used it for a portion of the top and bottom border and then by whim decided to highlight the word 'wicked' with it as well.

I thought the result was really good! (and yes, daughter of mine - I will 'sign' it, I promise) (She nags when I forget, bless her.)

This is going to look just wonderful with my other witchy stitcheries and has me highly motivated to get a few of them done before too much more time passes.

I found the chart to be very easy to follow - any mistakes in the work are mine alone.  I liked how easy it was to modify to my taste and in looking at the other charts Demon Monkey Craft carries, almost any of them would work well for stitchers who like to personalise with a color change or two.

I think most of them would be just right for a beginner wanting to do something a bit more ambitious than a flower or heart. While they are larger, they all seem like they'd be pretty fast to stitch up without getting lost.

This particular graph is 139w x 109h, or 9.93" wide by 7.79" done on 14 squares per inch fabric.  That also means it can be framed in a standard sized 8"x10" frame or mat.

While the end result is large enough to really show off well, the stitching itself requires only simple motifs and each letter stands alone, making it suitable for stitching without needing to concentrate overmuch.

I like projects like this for TV watching/listening - this one went through a marathon rewatch of Breaking Bad, a few old black and white movies, and tried to go to court for a murder trial but that didn't end well. (But I do wonder what would have happened if they'd caught me eyeballing the proceedings while stitching 'something wicked'? hah!)

I'm holding off on framing it for now, because I think it needs a really primitive looking frame.  If I didn't have plans to hang it with other witch themed designs, I think it'd make a great pillow, too!

As far as I can tell, all of the Demon Monkey Craft graphs use full cross stitches only - that is, no half stitches or French Knots or anything that might be more challenging than desired. That also means you can use Aida cloth, which has clearly visible holes to help know where to stitch - although for stitchers ready to use evenweave, wouldn't this pattern look great done on some gnarly tea-stained linen??

I will definitely be keeping an eye on this Etsy shop to see what new graphs might appear. I like several of her finished needlework pieces that are not currently available as graphs, and I'm excited to say that one of them will be given away to one of our lucky readers!

The winner of our Demon Monkey Craft giveaway will be able to pick from the following:

World's Okayest Mom - a simple traditional sampler with a more realistic than typical sentiment!

World's Okayest Dad - same as above, but for the dads who are keeping it real.

"We can't always be the WORLD'S GREATEST MOM ON EARTH, but we are always the World's Okayest Moms. It's ok to be, well....ok! Sing it loud, sing it proud, sisters. The mommy wars are over when we accept the best from ourselves and quit comparing ourselves to others. Who's with me?

This is a 7 inch x 5 inch UNFRAMED cross stitched piece. It comes mounted on acid-free board and ready to frame" Value:$15

ROFLcopter - with glow in the dark thread!

"ROFL Copter fits an 8 x 10 inch frame. It is cross-stitched on 14 count black, Aida fabric. ROFL comes mounted on an acid free mat board. All you have to do is take out the glass in your frame and pop the ROFL in. It will fit like a glove!" Value: $25.

This is my BOOMSTICK! - Just for Army of Darkness fans.

"The scene when Ash (Bruce Campbell) shows the villagers his BOOMSTICK! Groovy. 5 inches x 7 inches, framed and mounted on acid free mat board." Value: $28

Read on to see how to enter!

Demon Monkey Craft on Etsy
Demon Monkey Craft on Facebook
Demon Monkey Craft on Twitter

To enter the giveaway, leave a comment in this entry as instructed by the Rafflecopter, then leave the name you commented under and your email in the box in the Rafflecopter entry. (This allows us to contact you if you win!)  This will open up additional optional entries to increase your odds of winning.

This giveaway is open to US RESIDENTS ONLY
and will end just before midnight ET on 7-15-15. 

The winners will be notified by email within 24 hours after the end of the giveaway.  In order to claim the giveaway prize, the winner will need to respond within 24 hours of notification, or an alternate winner will be selected.

Good luck everyone!

a Rafflecopter giveaway