Stamps and Stitches

I'm visiting...

2012-02-07T03:23:00.003-05:00

Today I'm really excited to be a guest blogger at my friend Jin's blog: Under a Cherry Tree! Please head over there and take a look at the project I made with the Silhouette SD and Make-the-Cut.

While you're there, be sure to look at some of Jin's projects. She does some amazing and magical things with her cutting machine.

Boxy Stars # 2

2012-01-19T02:47:00.004-05:00

I made a different boxy stars quilt a while back-it's still just a top and not quilted yet. So my friend Melissa asked me to make her one too. In exchange she sent me some cool crocheted things (see her etsy store link at the end of this post). So anyway it took me forEVER to get this done. I guess it was just a bad year for me and sewing because I didn't get much of anything done in my sewing room. But I finally did finish it and thankfully she was very patient with me and once she finally got it, she loved it. So here are the pics, complete with a model:

And a closeup of the label:

The print fabric is all from the Moda Bliss line and the brown is Chocolate Kona Cotton. I tried doing a bias binding this time and it was unbelievable how much easier it was to miter the corners. I've done bias binding on stockings and other curvy projects before but it never occurred to me to use it on straight sided quilts. I brushed up on my bias binding knowledge at Jaybird Quilts. I used my Big Shot Pro with my Go dies to cut all of the strips (and this quilt is made of all strips and blocks 2.5" wide) so other than cross-cuts, I didn't do much hand cutting at all. Nice.

The pattern for this quilt block is HERE.

And as promised: Melissa's Etsy Shop

Sprocket Pillow

2012-01-14T03:23:00.002-05:00

On the 23rd of December I suddenly decided to make my mother-in-law a pillow. I think mostly I was just in the mood for a quick easy project since I'd been working on a bigger one for so long (which is also done and will be posted in a few days after the recipient receives it). So I found this tutorial and it literally took me a few hours to get this done. I worked on it for a couple of hours on the night of the 23rd and a couple of hours on the afternoon of the 24th and it was so easy. The hardest part was finding my bag of poly fil.

Click here for the tutorial (shift click to open in a new window)

I used 30's fabrics from my stash and a big giant button from Stampin' Up.

2011 Christmas Cards

2012-01-02T03:17:00.005-05:00

Yep it's been a while. So anyway, these are the cards I made for Christmas this year.

This first one I made with a freebie file from the Silhouette store. I used my new favorite embossing folder, which is the stars & swirls from Sizzix. The baker's twine is Martha Stewart brand, the white card stock is Neenah and the red card stock and green patterned paper are both from Stampin' Up.

The next one was made with a file from Lettering Delights and cut out with the Silhouette SD. The embossing folder is from the evil Provo Craft. White card stock is Neenah and the rest of the card stock and the patterned paper is from Stampin' Up.

This is almost all from Stampin' Up. The off white card stock is Bazzill, the border punch is Martha Stewart and the baker's twine is Divine Twine from Whisker Graphics. I cased this card from Wrestlermomx2 on Split Coast Stampers. Thanks Wrestlermomx2!

This is a card I made to hold a gift card for my nephew. I used a tutorial from Jennifer McGuire. White card stock is Paper Trey Ink and colored card stock and stamp from Stampin' Up. I'm not sure about the patterned paper. The inside card stock is Bazzill. The image is stamped with memento ink and colored with copic markers. The inside scallop is from a Stampin' Up punch and the outside shapes were cut with nestabilities.

pin-up girl

2011-08-23T04:45:00.003-04:00

My dad is currently in the hospital and his birthday is this Saturday. I made this card and am hoping it cheers him up.

digital image: ginger beer from blue butterfly stamps
markers: copic
cardstock: stampin' up (blue and red) and paper trey ink (white)
patterned paper: stampin' up
border punch: ek success
greeting punch: stampin' up
greeting: close to my heart
brown ink: stampin' up
round clip: unknown
glitter: stickles
sewing machine

Quick and easy headband tutorial

2011-08-06T02:04:00.006-04:00

This is the easiest headband ever, both to make and to use. No ties to worry about and they are comfy. I needed to make one for my daughter to use for dance so I thought I'd take pictures of the process and share how I did it. There are tutorials all over the web for making these so they might differ from what I do. I made this for my 14 year old daughter who has pretty much an adult size head and she doesn't like tight headbands. You can adjust the length of the elastic for smaller heads or for a snugger fit. The diameter of it is 21" unstretched. Measure your head or your child's head and adjust accordingly.

You will need some fabric (you can make 2 headbands from a fat quarter) and some 3/4" wide elastic (no more than 8.5" is needed).

All seam allowances are 1/4".

First cut 2 pieces of fabric:
One will be 6" wide by 14.5" long - the headband part
The other will be 2.5" wide by 11.5" long - the stretchy part

Fold each piece with right sides together so the long ends match up and sew along the long edge. You'll end up with this:

Next you'll need to turn both of them right side out. The big one is easy-you can do that with just your hands. The small one is a little trickier. One way is to put a safety pin on one end like so:

and then push the safety pin through the tube, pulling it right side out.

I'm lazier so I prefer to use this method-a hemostat. I bought this at flea market for a dollar and it's worth 10 times that much. Maybe 20.

Just push the hemostat skinny end through the tube, catch the end of the tube in the pinchers like so:

And carefully pull it through to turn it right side out:

Use your fingers to adjust the tubes so the seam is in the center of one side like this, and press flat with an iron. I press the seam to one side. I can't even imagine trying to press it open, especially on the skinny tube.

Cut a piece of 3/4" elastic. I use a measurement of 7" finished so I add 1/2" for both seam allowances plus an extra inch for holding onto. So I cut it 8.5". Then I mark the elastic 1/2" away from each end (the reason is clear in the next step). Put a safety pin in one end to thread it through the tube.

Thread it through the skinny tube. When you get to the point where the marked line on the opposite end from the safety pin is lined up with the end where you started threading, stop and pin it. Make sure the line matches up with the raw edge like this and put a pin in to hold it:

Finish threading the elastic through. Pull it so that the other line matches up with the other raw edge like so, and pin it:

Sew along each end, just inside the raw edge. I sew about 1/8" in. You don't have to be exact here-mainly we're just sewing to secure it for now.

Take this piece and put it in the center of the bigger tube, with right (non seamed) sides together like this:

Then you'll fold the edges over. Here is the first one-folded over and pinned. Normally I don't pin until both edges are folded over but I wanted to make sure it was easy to understand:

And the 2nd edge. This will enclose the stretchy part inside the headband part:

Stitch across the end with a 1/4" seam allowance. This is THICK. You're sewing through elastic plus eight layers of fabric. I use a longer seam length. I also use a bigger needle (I use a 14 but a 16 would be good too) and stitch across like so:

I sew over it three times. Once forward, once in reverse, and again forward. It looks like this after it's sewn.

Do the same on the other end. It's a little trickier because you have more headband length than you do stretchy length but it's not hard. Remember to sew over the seam a few times.

At this point you can trim off that extra elastic that's hanging out. Turn the ends right side out (just pull the stretchy and headband parts in opposite directions) and you're done!

And flattened out:

I'll try to get a picture of it on a head and post it.

Drawing winner!

2011-06-10T02:28:00.002-04:00

I am so sorry-I forgot to do this drawing on the 7th. So it's a few days late-oops! So anyway, without further delay, the winner is...

KathyB!! Congratulations Kathy! I will contact you to be sure which email you want your gc sent to. thanks to everyone for visiting and commenting!

MTC Blog Hop-MY TURN!

2011-05-22T23:00:00.011-04:00

It's finally my turn for the Make-the-Cut Blog Hop. If you've gotten lost, just click the blog hop button on the right to find the main page with the list of all the participating blogs. Also be sure to read to the end of this post for the blog candy info! As many know, MTC does not work with the cricut anymore. But fear not! It works with plenty of other cutters, including the Black Cat Cougar, Black Cat Lynx, Bosskut Gazelle, Silhouette, Craft Robo, US cutter MH/Laser point series, ECraft, Pazzle, KNK, and any cutter using an HPGL printing support feature.

So on to my projects. I have the Silhouette SD and although it's not yet a native plotter in Make-the-Cut, it is possible to cut with it through the print menu. It works perfectly and I wanted to focus on using both a graphic and an svg file.

My first project is this summer card. I made it for my daughter to give her speech therapist since she only goes to speech therapy during the regular public school year. So it'll be a nice 'Have a Great Summer' type card. I used the pixel trace function in MTC to trace some images from the Sunshine Fun graphic set. I had to trace some of the images more than once, but usually only twice, to get all of the shapes I needed. (For tutorials see the end of this post-I will post links to them.) Patterned papers are from KI Memories and Stampin' Up. Cardstock from Bazzill and Stampin' Up.

For my next project I wanted to use an svg set. So I imported some shapes from the Doug's Outer Space svg set and cut them out for this cute boyish spaceman card. Using svg files in MTC is so easy and I love that Lettering Delights has so many to choose from. Cardstock is all from Bazzill, Neenah and Stampin' Up. I also wanted to mention that despite popular belief, the Silhouette SD does cut heavier cardstock without any problems whatsoever. I used Stampin' Up, Bazzill and Neenah paper on both of my projects and did not do any multi-cuts. All of the cuts came out perfect and clean, even in the corners and on the smallest shapes. Both cards here are 4.25 x 5.5 so you can just imagine how tiny some of these cutouts are!

And now for the blog candy. I'm offering a $10 gift certificate to Lettering Delights!! To enter, just leave a comment-that's it! If you want to follow my blog I'd be grateful but it's not necessary to be eligible for the gc. I will draw a name a week after the hop ends. And be sure to check the main hop page every day to see whose blog to visit next!!

Here are the tutorials I promised:
How to use pixel trace in mtc
How to import svg files in mtc

Toy Box card

2011-04-28T03:43:00.000-04:00

Since I've been neglecting my stamps, I decided to just open one of my stamp drawers, grab out a set, and make a card with it. Here's what I came up with.

stamps: Toy Box from Stampin' Up
cardstock: Stampin' Up
patterned paper: Die Cuts with a View (I think it's the recycle stack or something)
markers: Copic (used to color them and also I used it to [crudely] add color outlines to the rectangles).
buttons: I *think* they're from Oriental Trading and I used thin cuts of paper to make the 'thread'.

Easter Egg Boxes

2011-04-25T00:53:00.007-04:00

I used my Silhouette and a neat Silhouette cut file to make these egg boxes. I added a bit too, and I'll explain that below the pics.

After putting the first box together I decided I wanted something extra instead of just the cut outs of the egg. So I added some glitter-here's how I did it. First, while the egg box was still on the mat (in Studio) I created an oval that was just a bit bigger than the egg portion of the box. I dragged the box off the mat and cut out the oval using some scrap cardstock for a template. Then I took some packing tape and stuck it to the shiny side of freezer paper just to have it on something solid while I cut it out. I used the template to draw the oval shape on the tape and cut it out with scissors. I removed the freezer paper backing and stuck the tape over the backside of the box so the sticky side faced front through the openings of the egg shape. I covered the sticky side with glitter (Art Institute and Doodlebug brand). Then I used the silhouette to cut the oval from paper that matched the color of the glitter and glued that to the back to make the colors pop more. In real life it looks much more sparkly-it's hard to catch that with a camera. I stole borrowed some Easter grass from my kids' baskets and we settled the eggs into their little nests. Then we were off to give them to Grandma and Grandpa (along with some decorated cookies). Paper is all from Stampin' Up.

2011-04-24T02:40:00.001-04:00

My current project

2011-04-15T03:46:00.003-04:00

I apologize for not posting much lately. I am working on this quilt and it's slow going-it's not like a card that I can turn out in one night (but there are people who can make a whole quilt in one day. I am not one of those people). It's for my friend Melissa and it will be (when it's done) a boxy stars quilt made with Moda Bliss fabric. I can't wait to see this come together some more-it's an amazing line and a great pattern.

So cheer me on because I have a hard time keeping up with my sewing.

Last of the freebies!

2011-04-14T02:33:00.003-04:00

Here are the last two freebies-they gave away ELEVEN!! Thanks Lettering Delights!!

this one is available at the Lettering Delights facebook page.

This one consists of a bundle and a bonus freebie!! Click on the graphic for the bundle and the link below it for the extra freebie from their facebook page:

Click HERE for the 4 x 6 prints bonus

A couple more freebies...

2011-04-13T23:11:00.004-04:00

A couple more freebies-click on the graphic:
this one is available at the Lettering Delights facebook page.

This one is at Lettering Delights:

Lettering Delights freebies!

2011-04-13T20:26:00.006-04:00

Lettering Delights is celebrating 10,000 fans on facebook so they're giving away lots of freebies! I'll post the ones that are up so far. Maybe there will be more so check back! Just click on the picture to go to the set at Lettering Delights. These freebies will be available until Thursday the 14th at midnight.

this next one has to be downloaded at the lettering delights facebook page:

the next one is at the facebook page again:

another facebook download:

More Silhouette cards

2011-03-26T02:05:00.004-04:00

Can you tell I'm having fun with my new toy?? I ordered some of the Silhouette sewable interfacing so I am hoping to have a fabric craft done soon. I am also working on a quilt for a friend and will probably start posting a few pics of my progress (so she doesn't wonder what is up with her quilt).

Last week I wanted to try making a card using Silhouette's Studio software to cut from, but using an SVG file. So I picked out a design from the Lettering Delights Spring-a-ling set. I opened it in Inkscape, did a path/object to path (this seems to make it work better), and then saved as a dxf file. Then I opened it in Studio and went from there to resize. Then I made a shaped card base by doing an offset on the flowers and added a rectangle to the bottom. I duplicated the shape, mirrored it, aligned the two sides, and welded them to make the base. Then I cut all the pieces out with the Silhouette. I used Paper Trey Ink cardstock for the card base, Stampin' Up patterned paper for the flowerpot, Lasting Impressions and Stampin' Up patterned paper for the flowers, Bazzill cardstock for the stems and Stampin' Up cardstock for the flower centers. The gray on the bottom is Bazzill cardstock I cut in a strip (with my paper trimmer). I am loving the shaped cards and they're so easy to make in Make-the-Cut or Studio software.

On this next card, I wanted to try out the Silhouette's print and cut feature. So I found a graphic I liked from the Lettering Delights Harajuku Girls set and used the Studio software to print it and then cut it out with the Silhouette. My first try was about a millimeter off. I don't know what I did wrong but the second try was a success! I used Make-the-Cut to cut out the letters from a font called Mouseyer (I don't think the Studio software has the ability to load a font that isn't installed) and I also used it to cut the pink oval. Card base and oval are Stampin' Up cardstock. The letters and background paper are KI Memories patterned paper and the design is printed on and cut from Neenah Classic Crest cardstock. When I showed this to my 13 year old daughter, she got that look in her eye. I think she's already decided to give this to her teacher or one of her friends.

note: these, as well as hundreds of other Lettering Delights files are all on sale right now! Plus, if you have ordered (even a freebie) recently be sure to check your confirmation email for a coupon code and save even more!

WIN A SILHOUETTE!!

2011-03-25T14:43:00.005-04:00

Lettering Delights and Silhouette are teaming up to give away a FREE SILHOUETTE complete with extra goodies!! Just create a card using Lettering Delights designs and upload it to their gallery. No purchase necessary! If you don't have any LD designs, just sign up for the Lettering Delights Newsletter to get some freebies and start creating! But hurry-the deadline to submit is April 20th. Click Here for more information.

You're a Hoot

2011-03-22T04:16:00.003-04:00

Looks like I'm really into birds these days! The next card I post will not have a bird. I promise. This card was made from some graphics by Nancy Kubo which I separated and traced using Photoshop Elements and Make-the-Cut. I cut it out with my brand spankin' new Silhouette SD. Paper is all from Stampin' Up and Bazzill.

You're Tweet

2011-03-17T21:34:00.004-04:00

I decided to upgrade from my Cricut to a Silhouette SD. It arrived yesterday so I got it all set up to work with Make-the-Cut and today I made this little shaped card. I used tutorials from my friend Jin's website, underacherrytree.com, to make the shaped card base and used svg files from Lettering Delights to cut out the images. The bird is from the Twitter Park svg set and the letters are from the Sweet Nothings set. There isn't a "you're" in the set, so I combined images to make it and used an apostrophe from a regular font. The silhouette cut like a champ once I got the hang of it (I have a cold so it took me longer than normal. That's my excuse, anyway)! The card base is Paper Trey Ink 110# cardstock and the rest of the papers are from Stampin' Up. Everything cut easily with just one pass of the cutter (something I was concerned about but had no reason to be-while I was "learning" I cut clear through my mat somehow). Even the intricate parts, like the flowers on the wing, cut perfectly. I am very happy with the Silhouette so far!

Blog Hop Winner!!

2011-02-24T03:32:00.002-05:00

Thanks to everyone for hopping with me! The winner of the Lots of Pun stamp set is...

Cathie W!!

congratulations Cathie! I will email you to get your information so you can get your prize!

*please note that when I did the drawing there were 217 comments. The others were made after.

Thanks for hopping-there's still time!

2011-02-21T17:18:00.009-05:00

I wanted to thank everyone for visiting and commenting during the Birthday Blog Hop so far. Today is the last day to leave a comment to enter the drawing! I did read each and every comment and wanted to clear up or comment on a couple of things:

I don't live in Canada. Sometimes I wouldn't mind it-because they are so much more allergy aware up there. So since I'm in the US, I buy my Canadian candy from Peanut Free Planet (link is in the sidebar in my favorite sites section). If anyone you know is allergic to nuts, tell them about this site. They have hundreds of items that are safe for nut allergic people.

Recoloring in Photoshop (or Photoshop elements) is pretty easy. I will try to post a quick how-to soon.

The best place to learn about using Lettering Delights and other companies' files in Make-the-Cut is at the Under a Cherry Tree blog. Jin does amazing work and has some great tutorials on her blog, including how to use a graphic (instead of an svg) and trace it to use in MTC.

I didn't make or decorate the bags. I saw them at Target and couldn't believe how perfectly they matched the colors I had chosen. So I decided to use them as props. But it would be a good idea, actually, to get plain bags and make a simple 3d cutout for them...

I think that's all so far. If you haven't signed up for the blog candy yet, just click here and leave a comment. thanks again!

It's a Birthday Blog Hop-with prizes!!

2011-02-18T03:50:00.019-05:00

Welcome to the Joyslife.com Birthday Blog Hop where we are wishing Joy a very happy birthday!! This is my very first blog hop so I hope I don't mess up! You may have come here from Ann Marie's blog. If not, then you can do the whole hop by going to Joyslife.com and clicking through to each blog on the hop. In case you get sidetracked, here is a list of all the stops in this hop.

Joy - http://joyslife.com/
Amanda - http://amandascraftsandmore.blogspot.com
Rosy - http://sweetdelightspapernmore.blogspot.com
Jin - http://www.underacherrytree.com
Melissa - http://melissa-moecreations.blogspot.com
Tammy - http://tammyjennings.blogspot.com
Jennifer - http://scrapaholicjen.blogspot.com
Lori - http://www.scrappinmystressaway.blogspot.com
Laura - http://www.lauraleesdream.blogspot.com
Zeni - http://www.scrappyzeni.blogspot.com
Theresa - http://www.thescrapbookingqueen.com
Kyle - http://thegreencricut.blogspot.com
Ruthie - http://www.septemberninth.blogspot.com
Ann Marie - http://www.yourstrulee.net
Gale - http://www.stamps-and-stitches.com (You are here!)
Erika - http://crafty-creations-by-erika.blogspot.com

So here is my birthday blog project. I decided to do a birthday place marker and cupcake picks. I love the new Lettering Delights Frogs and Kisses graphic set and svg set. Even though it seems to be a Valentine themed set, I thought it would make a cute froggy birthday theme. I did want to change the colors of my frogs so I used Photoshop to do that.

I used Make-the-Cut and my Cricut to cut out the parts for the place marker. The frog was directly from the svg file but I used googly eyes instead of the cut out eyes. I think frogs look great with googly eyes! I used various MTC functions to make the place marker with the sticking up part (technical terms here). The balloons were made from a balloon graphic I found online and converted to a cut file. For the two-tone balloons I cut out two, used punches to punch the holes, and then layered them together. I used some wire I had on hand to attach them to the place marker.

For the cupcake picks (easy peasy) I just chose a graphic from the Frogs and Kisses set, changed the colors in Photoshop, and resized and printed it onto card stock. For the other side I used a stamp from the All Around Sentiments set from Joyslife.com. I punched my stamped images and my printed images with a circle punch, matted it onto a larger colored circle, and then layered those onto scalloped circles cut with nestabilities. I stuck them together with Stampin' Up Dimensionals with a toothpick in between to stick into the cupcake. The doily is cut from a file I found on this blog and modified.

The bags were from Target. I like to keep bags on hand because I hate wrapping gifts. Hate it. The cupcakes are topped with crushed Smarties. Smarties are the Canadian version of M&Ms. Since my daughter is allergic to nuts, we don't buy M&Ms but Smarties are just as tasty and perfectly safe. I collected the red ones (had to eat a lot of other colored ones to get these), crushed them a little, and sprinkled them on.

Now for the blog candy, courtesy of Joy! Up for grabs is one of her amazing stamp sets, Lots of Pun. This is such a cute set! If you have the Create a Critter cricut cartridge you NEED this set-it goes perfectly with so many of the critters.

Here is how to win this set:
1. leave a comment on this post
2. become a follower and leave another comment letting me know you did. If you are already a follower of my blog, leave a comment letting me know that instead.

Sign ups end at midnight eastern time on Feb 22nd. Please make sure there's a way for me to get ahold of you. If you don't have your email in your blogger profile, please leave it in the comment for me. If you are interested in buying this or any of Joy's other stamp sets, just go to Joyslife.com's products page. Joy is offering free shipping right now too!

And now on to the next blog in the hop. Just click here to go to Erika's blog to see the next cool birthday project! But first, be sure to grab Joy's cute new button!! To add this button to your blog, simply copy and paste this code:

Be Prepared!

2011-02-17T05:11:00.002-05:00

In just 2 short days, my friend Joy will be having another birthday!! To celebrate, I will be participating in the Joyslife.com birthday blog hop, and any good party has a prize, right? There will be blog candy so stay tuned!

Kitty Cat Valentines

2011-02-09T02:41:00.005-05:00

I made these for my daughter to give to her dance classmates for Valentine's day. I saw them on my friend Jin's blog and let me tell ya, she is a dedicated crafter. It was all I could do to make these without throwing it all out the window and Jin made dozens! Good thing Sammy only has 4 other girls in her class. So I made 6 (but there are only 5 in this pic) so she could keep one for herself and also give one to her teacher. The svg file is called Animal Valentines and is from Lettering Delights. All paper is Stampin' Up. The original file had cut out eyes but I decided I liked the googly eyes better. The texture plate that I used for the body is from Sizzix. You can't see the texture on the first picture but you can in the closeup.

Monster High Skullette Card

2011-01-25T04:57:00.002-05:00

I don't know what a skullette is (a girl skull I guess?) but my daughter insists that's what this is. I found an image online and used my friend Jin's amazing tutorials here to make it into a cuttable file. I used my cricut and MTC to cut it out. My Monster High-loving daughter is thrilled with it! I feel like I passed some cool parent test or something.

Pink and black cardstock: stampin' up
white cardstock: Neenah
click here for the svg file
click here for the mtc cut file (size notes will not be accurate if you resize the file)

Fabric Organization (warning-graphic!!)

2011-01-22T02:50:00.005-05:00

I have this little metal cabinet thing (yard sale special) that I keep my yardage in. Over the years I've crammed a lot of fabric in it and have not done a bit of organizing. Until now. Warning-the before pictures are graphic. There's some overlap in the before pics too so I don't have quite as much fabric as it appears. That's my story, anyway.

I took out some of the fabric that I don't think I'll use along with 3 fat quarter sets that I decided on for projects. I put the project fabric in zipper bags with the pattern and hopefully will get to those soon. I also added some fabric that wasn't in the before pics that I got recently, thanks to my sister. The top shelf holds my completed tops plus layer cakes and a few fat quarter bundles. The middle shelves are all just yardage from various companies. On the right all my pre washed stuff and on the left, my unwashed. The bottom holds some yardage that was too long for the bolts, some yardage that goes with layer cakes or jelly rolls in my stash, plus some of my batting. Plus a few bolts of fabric that I couldn't decide whether to keep or not. So here are the after pics:

This blog shows the basic method I used but I didn't wrap the fabric all the way around the boards. I just folded it selvage to selvage, folded again from fold to selvages, and then wrapped like a regular bolt. I had no trouble putting up to 3 yards on a bolt but more than that would have been too much. The comic book boards are actually sturdier than I thought they'd be.

Next month I'll try to post my fat quarter storage. I have a little in this cabinet, mainly ones I bought in sets, but I have a LOT more than this. This cabinet also doesn't include any of my apparel fabric. I haven't sewn clothes in years but I might again someday.

Penguin Card using the Cricut, MTC and some awesome tutorials

2011-01-18T01:56:00.004-05:00

I've been following and trying out the MTC Beginner Tutorials at the Under a Cherry Tree blog and this is what I've come up with so far. I'm planning to hopefully make a few of these for my kids to give for Christmas thank you notes (a little bit late).

white paper: paper trey ink white
patterned paper: stampin' up
the rest of the paper: bazzill
chalk for cheeks: stampin' up
graphic from lettering delights
cutting program: make the cut

These show how I loaded my mat so that it all cut out in one pass. So much easier and other than the white, I used all scraps for this.

**please ignore the mess. I didn't feel like dragging out my light box and lights tonight.

2010 Christmas Cards

2011-01-03T04:23:00.003-05:00

Here are the cards I made and sent this year:

green cardstock, embossing folder, and word stamp: stampin' up
patterned paper: doodlebug
blue cardstock: bazzill
glitter: doodlebug
string: dmc
border punch: ek success
cricut cartridge: joys of the season

cardstock, patterned paper, ribbon, ink, and word stamp: stampin' up
embossing folder: sizzix
wreath stamps: the angel company
dies: nestabilities

blue cardstock, deer stamp, embossing powder, ribbon, tag punch: stampin' up
patterned paper: digital
phrase font: 2 peas
silver cardstock: unknown
dies: nestabilities

(unless you're Japanese or know about Japanese food you may not understand the humor of this one. Trust me-it's funny)
cardstock and patterned paper: stampin' up
embossing folder: sizzix
markers: copic
stamp: 2 scoops rice designs
dies: nestabilities

this is a small bag I made for giving away candy canes

paper: die cuts with a view
tag punch: stampin' up
stamp: stampendous (I think)
ribbon: unknown
snowflake: cricut (joys of the season cart) and a punch
bag: cricut (tags, bags, boxes & more cart)

Don't Drink and Quilt (really)

2011-01-01T03:29:00.002-05:00

After seeing the link on a message board I was reading the bitchy stitcher's blog. While I was there I saw a button for her cafe press store with the funniest logo. A block done wrong with the caption "Don't Drink and Quilt". Well personally I can do a block wrong without the fun of drinking. So anyway I knew my sister, who also quilts, would love this. I bought the mug and made a matching block for it. And I was right. She loved it. :)

Pillow gifts

2010-12-27T02:31:00.004-05:00

I have decided I love making pillows. I can make one fast and don't get tired of sewing the same block over and over again. These are pillows I made for my mom (bottom one) and my mother-in-law (top one).

This is is made with 30s prints and a white on white.

And this is made with the Easy Dresden ruler with Kona chocolate and tarragon and parts of a Freebird charm pack. Bad lighting so the colors don't look quite right but you get the idea.

To all of my blog readers...

2010-12-24T18:33:00.001-05:00

Create a Cute Reindeer Critter

2010-12-20T03:55:00.002-05:00

I don't post my Christmas cards on my blog until after the holiday so that any of my blog readers who get cards from me won't see it before they get one. But this one was made by my 13 year old for her dance teacher. I cut the shapes out on the cricut for her (only because she was busy doing her math lessons-normally she does it herself) and she put them together. I also made the snowy ground for her. I used some 1" wide miracle tape from Viva Las Vegas Stamps and I stuck it to white paper, tore the top (being careful to tear it toward the back side so that the entire front would have adhesive on it) and dipped it in glitter. Sammy put it all together and added snowflakes drawn with a white gel pen (I think Sakura) and spica pens. Paper on cutouts is all Bazzill. The card base is made with Stampin' Up card stock. I don't know what the white is-it's from a scrap I found lying on my desk. Cricut cartridges we used are Create a Critter for the deer and Christmas Cheer for the tree.

Good Tidings of Great Joy! -- Advent Calendar

2010-12-13T05:10:00.005-05:00

We were shopping at a quilt shop and saw this advent calendar displayed. I thought it was pretty cute, and I like the designer, Nancy Halvorsen, a lot. So I bought the panel for it. I fused the shapes to green felt and trimmed around them (you can't see the felt). The buttons are from my stash-some from bazzill, one from stampin' up and some from walmart. The entire panel is a cheater-it's all printed on and I just sewed it up with some batting inside and quilted it (around the printed designs) and sewed the buttons on. I took this picture with all the shapes on it but took them all off and the kids put on one shape each day until Christmas Eve. They like it and have no idea kids all over the world are getting candy or a small toy in their advent calendars each day. So don't anyone spill the beans, please.

Thinking of You - sympathy card

2010-12-07T05:09:00.002-05:00

A friend of mine lost her mother recently so I made this card for her. I haven't made many sympathy cards so I never quite know how it should look but this came out nice, I think. I used an older mojo monday sketch.

stamps-stampin up
ink-memento black
markers-copic (see below)
papers-stampin up
nestabilities
ribbon-unknown
punch-stampin up

copic colors used:

My early Christmas present to myself

2010-11-30T04:48:00.004-05:00

I was in a quilt shop the other day and saw this cute little Singer featherweight machine so I bought it! Yes I have a new computerized machine but this one is supposed to be a great little workhorse and I thought it would be nice to teach my youngest daughter to sew on. Plus I got a great deal on it! And it was too cute to pass up.

It also came in the original case and look what I found in the case with it (along with a cool old buttonhole attachment). Remember when JC Penney sold bias tape for 8 cents? I don't.

Click here for more pics. So I guess the tradition is to name them so now I need to come up with a name. Any ideas?

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-25T16:24:00.002-05:00

Just wanted to with everyone a very happy Thanksgiving!

Belated Merry Christmas

2010-11-22T03:06:00.003-05:00

Belated you say? Yep. I started this wall hanging at least 2, maybe 3 years ago. I had it all done except the binding and all these years, I never finished it. I would think about it, and pull it out, and then suddenly it was Christmas eve and I'd think 'maybe next year' and put it away. Well this time I did it. I finished it! And even more miraculous, way before Christmas! It's from a book by Nancy Halvorsen called Heartfelt Holidays Too and is made with fusible applique. I hand stitched the letters around the border and also around each appliqued shape.

close up of the top (actually it's not very close up. doh!)

and the bottom

Bazzill organization-and a card from the scraps

2010-10-30T04:25:00.003-04:00

For years now I've had way more Bazzill card stock than I need and the worst part is, I never use it. The is mainly because it was all crammed into a filing cabinet and impossible to flip through, and I had no idea what colors were in there. Someone on Split Coast Stampers came up with the idea to pull the swatches from her Bazzill swatch book for the colors she owned. It sounded great so I decided I'd do the same. Well it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be.

First I had to separate my stash by color (which was loosely done already). Then I had to pick through all of the swatches and find the ones that matched the paper I owned. Oh man, this was a job. I had stacks of paper everywhere. Even within single color groups I had a dozen or more varieties of that color. And some colors did not have corresponding swatches, for some reason, so I made them from the paper. And to make it more fun, with some colors it was very difficult to determine just what color family it should go with. Is it orange or red? Or brown? Is that one blue or green? Blue or purple? Purple or red?

So I just made some decisions that may or may not be right but they'll have to be good enough. I sorted them in rainbow order and from light to dark within each color family. So here is my new and improved Bazzill storage (I thought I had before pics but I don't-but trust me. It was a mess)

and here are my two new swatch rings. Hopefully they'll help me to use it up.

and the good news is that this stack here? It's all the swatches I DON'T own colors of. It's bigger than the ones I do own so that made me feel a tiny bit better.

So when I was all done, I had a stack of scraps that I did NOT feel like putting back in with the full size sheets. So I challenged myself to make a card with some of them, and I'll keep them on my desk to remind myself to get them used up first before using anything else. I also just got the super-cute new owl punch from Stampin' Up so I decided to use that too. Here's my card:

Paper is all from Bazzill
branch is from the SU Bird on a Branch punch
SU owl punch
SU scallop edge punch
SU 3-flower punch (for the wings)
Martha Stewart edge punches (for the top and the fence)
Computer printed sentiment-the font is called Sweet Pea

Quick and easy table runner

2010-10-29T16:57:00.003-04:00

I used this tutorial (shift click to open in a new window) to make this quick and easy Halloween table runner. Fabric is by My Mind's Eye for Riley Blake fabrics. I used the leftovers to make the binding-even though I hate making scrappy bindings, I love the look and you can't argue with the economics! Plus it always matches.

ps-I'll probably post later about my adventures organizing my bazzill paper stash. It's shameful, really. And I'll post a card as well.

First mug rug

2010-10-17T02:15:00.003-04:00

A mug rug is basically an oversized coaster. I guess it's so that you can put your mug on it but still see the design. So I made this mug rug but I still need tons of practice on my binding. I've spent all day watching binding videos so maybe they'll help me-time will tell. I decided to use the buttonhole stitch on the applique but I think with the busy prints, it was a bit too much maybe. Anyway I'm sending this to my sister even though it's not perfect-so hopefully she doesn't see it here. I don't think she reads my blog anyway. I'm planning to make one for each of my sisters (surprise ruined-but no plans yet what design). This one is made with 30s fabric from my stash.

the back-I made a little tag for my name

What's been happening around here

2010-10-16T02:38:00.003-04:00

I'm working on a couple of projects but I don't have anything to post yet. Probably tomorrow. But here's what has been keeping everyone busy. Steve, of course, is super busy picking corn. Since his dad isn't able to help anymore he has to do it all-all of the picking and the hauling. In the evenings and on weekends his brother helps him a bunch. I've been semi busy taking him lunches and helping him move equipment around from one field to another, not to mention hauling the kids to all of their activities. The kids are busy with lessons plus swimming, dance, speech and karate. I can hardly wait until harvest is over!

.

And the winner is....

2010-09-29T00:28:00.001-04:00

congratulations Erika!!

I have other sets to give away someday so stay tuned!

A Birthday Giveaway

2010-09-21T04:45:00.002-04:00

Since it's my birthday I decided to have a little giveaway. I'm offering this clear-mount hostess set called Because I Care and a 6x6 Patterns Pack, both from Stampin' Up. Here's all you have to do:

1. leave a comment to get one entry.
2. become a follower of my blog and leave another comment saying you did this to get a 2nd entry.
That's it! Be sure you have your blogger account set to show your email or leave it in your comment. I'll close this giveaway in one week (September 28th).

It's a really pretty set and these little paper packs are awesome. I have a big stack of all the different ones that have been offered over the years.

Objects of Desire

2010-09-15T03:13:00.004-04:00

I finished this top a while back and it's been folded up in my cabinet, waiting to be quilted. I was going to wait and post it when it's done but that might be a while at this rate. I used an Objects of Desire jelly roll by Sandy Gervais from Moda. I love this line! I got the pattern from an American Patchwork and Quilting magazine and used Electric Quilt to figure out my color placement. I love how the pinwheels were formed-each block is just 3 longer strips and one shorter strip with a half square triangle on the end. When the blocks are assembled the half square triangles come together to make the pinwheels. Cool!

I apologize for the less-than-perfect pic. The top is a bit wrinkled from being folded up and it is really hard to take good pics in my living room for some reason. I'm going to commit to taking pictures during the day and possibly outside from now on. Obviously this is just a portion of the quilt. I'll share the whole thing when I get it quilted.

You're My Favorite

2010-09-09T04:19:00.003-04:00

I have not been making anything lately. But as far as cards, the only ones I really give, other than Christmas cards, are thank you cards. So every time I went to make a card other than a thank you, I'd think 'what am I going to do with this?'. Sadly I rarely even give out birthday cards. Really horrible for a card maker. Then a few weeks ago I saw a post about Operation Write Home (shift click to open in a new window). It's a program where people make cards and they are sent overseas for soldiers to use to write back home. Now this is something that I can do-because I am always wanting to make the 'thinking of you' or 'just a note' type cards but have no one to give them to (apparently I don't think of anyone. lol) but who better to use such cards than people who really are thinking of and missing their loved ones. I have not technically committed to it because I am terrible at not getting things done but I am planning to make cards with this organization in mind and when I get enough to send, I will sign up. So anyway I thought a "You're My Favorite" would be a great card for them. I used a sketch from Split Coast Stampers.

stamps: ducks from Penny Black, verse from Stampin' Up Vases in Vogue set
cardstock: Stampin'Up So Saffron and Pumpkin Pie
paper: Deja Views (old stuff!)
punch: Stampin' Up small oval and pinking hearts edge punch
ink: memento tuxedo black
markers: copic Y00, E00, Y35, Y38 and Colorless Blender

And a moment of self pity-my computer's hard drive died and it's in the computer hospital. So when I get it back it will be my ultimate test of Carbonite's backup service and how well it works. Keeping my fingers crossed!

Where we've been and what we've been doing

2010-08-18T02:25:00.003-04:00

Last Thursday we dropped the pets off at the vet for boarding and left home for a mini vacation. Here are some pics from two of the places we visited:

Can you guess where we went?

A new camera case for a new camera

2010-08-02T05:26:00.004-04:00

A while back we were at the zoo and the kids were at the shark petting tank. My daughter had my small purse camera in a case around her neck and when she bent down to pet a shark, the camera dunked into the tank. Oops! We let it dry out for a while but it never was right after that. The screen would be like a pink smear a lot of the time and while the pics didn't look like a pink smear, they didn't look as good as they used to. Since I had the camera on my personal articles policy, I filed a claim and they sent me a check to replace it. Rather than going with the same brand I decided to shake things up a little. I'm a dedicated Canon gal since high school. I have had a couple of non-Canon cameras but for the most part, I stick with Canon. Even my printers are Canons. But I'd read so many good things about Panasonic point and shoot cameras I decided to go with one of them instead.

The camera arrived on Friday but I couldn't find my old camera's case. I admit I didn't look super hard-it's just an ugly black case and it may not have fit this new camera anyway. Instead, I decided to make a case. I found a tutorial on the Moda Bake Shop site (shift click to open in a new window) that wasn't exactly what I wanted, but pretty close. I made a few changes. I didn't make the strap since the camera has one, and instead I put a buttonhole in the flap to thread the strap through (which was a questionable idea-it takes some effort to get the camera out when the strap is threaded through it so I'll probably just not use it when I'm out using the camera a lot and thread it through when it's being stored-I may also find a different strap that is easier to get in and out). I also squared the corners at the bottom so it would be more form-fitting and I changed the size to match my camera (sort of-it came out a tad bit short). I also used just one fabric for the outside instead of 2 like in the tutorial.

I used a couple of fat quarters from Moda's Frolic line (I thought I should use fabric that the men in my family won't mind carrying if they have to.) and fusible fleece for the padding. I used 2 layers of fleece for the body and one for the flap, which I made longer. The button is from Oriental Trading-it's pretty much just there for decoration. I thought it came out pretty cute-way cuter than the ugly black one I had before. I decided not to put any extra pockets or spaces for memory cards or batteries. If I need to take extras of those, I can either keep them in my purse or my pocket-they don't take up much room-I wanted this case to be as compact as possible. So here are the pics:

the case is empty here (obviously)

standing...

lying down...

You can see here that the camera peeks ever so slightly out the top. That's ok though-I think the main parts will be well protected. I wasn't thrilled with the color of velcro, but my other option was black (I don't have any white on hand and didn't want to wait to finish it). It doesn't show anyway, most of the time.

Please stand by

2010-07-08T00:32:00.002-04:00

and excuse the construction. I'm working on my blog and it's a big change-I'm switching to a 3 column layout like I've seen on some other blogs. The main reason is because my left column ends up so long even when viewing a single post. So hopefully anyone who reads this won't hate it and I won't hate it. So as I get it done the blog might look a bit funky at times. Just disregard.

edited to add: I'm still working on it but it's late so I'm off to bed. The sidebar titles are too big-I need to make them smaller.

Nature Silhouettes

2010-06-21T05:15:00.003-04:00

I tried out one of the tutorials on Michelle Zindorf's blog but I think I have a lot of practicing in my future-it definitely came out very streaky! And I wasted quite a bit of cardstock trying to get it right-this is as close as I had patience for. After I finished I realized I could probably get a better look with my copic airbrush. Oh well.

everything from Stampin' Up except the black ink, which is memento.
cardstock: apricot appeal, bordering blue, not quite navy
ink: going gray, apricot appeal, bordering blue, not quite navy
stamp set: nature silhouettes
circle punch and post it notes (for the masks)

Boxy Stars quilt

2010-06-18T05:10:00.004-04:00

I've been doing a quiltalong at Quilters Club of America. This is a boxy stars quilt-the pattern is from Quiltville-and I used a Neptune Jelly Roll from Moda. I also used some Kona Khaki for the sashing. It's only the top-I'll be quilting it soon and binding it with some green that sort of matches. I used the leftover strips from the jelly roll to make the border and I'll use what little of them I have left on the back along with the same sorta-matching green fabric. I'll post a pic when I get it quilted-I'll probably do straight line because that's all I can do right now. I really love these fabrics.

Hot Dog!!

2010-06-02T15:07:00.003-04:00

My daughter made this card using the Create a Critter cartridge (and others) and the cute pun stamps from Joyslife.

carstock from Stampin' Up. Patterned paper from Imaginisce. The grass is from the Everyday Paper Dolls cartridge and we made a stencil for the clouds from the Hello Kitty Greetings cart. I helped a little with some of the gluing, sponging the clouds and stamping the words and she did the rest. You might notice the mouth and eyes are funky. That's my cricut-for some reason it cuts funky like that. I've tried 4 other machines and they all do it, even if I take it to someone else's house. So I don't know what the problem is but it bugs the ever lovin' heck out of me.

Update on Scary Trend

2010-05-30T00:45:00.002-04:00

I posted a week or so back about the pincushion trend and walnut shells. Now tonight, I was browsing an Etsy store that sells fabric and they also sell pincushions with walnut shells. UGH. So now, every time I want to buy fabric online I'll have to make sure they don't sell something like this and also should probably let them know about our allergy issue so if they do make these in their spare time (because I'm sure most people who sell fabric also use it) it won't be a problem for us. This is a real drag because I have no decent fabric stores near me. The internet is it.

Another frustration that is completely non-craft-related. A while back we started going to McDonald's again because they started putting their nuts (for the sundaes) in sealed bags-presumably to avoid cross contamination for people with nut allergies (which is one of the most dangerous food allergies). A couple of weeks ago we found out that McDonald's now has Reese's Peanut Butter Cup flurries-no sealed bags and since they are chopped up, even if they're very careful there is a big chance of cross contamination-and I don't believe for a second that they will wash their hands after every time they prepare one-which is what our local McD's told us. Makes no sense. So McDonald's is out for us again for now and if they continue to serve these (which they may depending on popularity) it will be out permanently. We have very few places from which to choose as it is, and vacation is especially challenging when we have to avoid one of the most prevalent places for fast food. And yes I know fast food is terrible but I don't want to cook every single day of every single week and none of the 'good' restaurants is safe either-we only trust Outback and sadly, we don't have one nearby.

Pity party over.

Hey Chickie-you're sssss-weet!!

2010-05-23T04:27:00.003-04:00

I mentioned a couple of posts back that my friend Joy has created a set of saying stamps for the Cricut Create a Critter cartridge. I love this cart-it is so cute and along with Joy, my friend Jin has made the most amazing things with it. Joy was nice enough to send me a few of the stamps to try out and this is what I've come up with so far. I have been so out of the mood to make cards lately that I was planning to make just one for now, but honestly, it was so fun I made another one! And tomorrow my daughter is hoping to make another one for me to share.

All paper from Stampin'Up except the white, which is Neenah. I also used retiring or retired colors apricot appeal, eggplant envy and rose romance, plus current colors tempting turquoise and basic black. The tag is from the Tags, Bags, Boxes and More cartridge. I also used an embossing folder on the tag (I thought it looked kind of like scales) and inked the edges with craft ink. I don't know who makes the ribbon but it matched perfectly.

All paper from Stampin' Up except the white, which is Neenah. I used retiring barely banana and green galore, along with current colors bashful blue, pumpkin pie, basic black, and so saffron. I used the paper doll dress up cartridge for the grass, and I used the hello kitty greetings cartridge to make a cloud stencil for the cloud-which was sponged on with white craft ink.

Scary trend

2010-05-22T15:56:00.003-04:00

I read a lot of sewing and quilting blogs so I am pretty much up on the trends (I don't do them, I just know them). One I've been reading a lot about is making pincushions, for both sewing and non-sewing people. A lot of bloggers stuff the pincushions with crushed walnut shells. Knowing the seriousness and unpredictability of a life threatening food allergy, this scares me. If someone is sewing with pins that were in such a pincushion, all of the pins, the item being sewed, and even the sewers hands will have walnut oil or walnut protein on them. This is so easily spread to anything else in their house. This is the main reason I almost never sign up for giveaways-I would hate to win something from someone who (unbeknownst to me) uses this type of pincushion and then put my daughter at risk of a reaction. I know I can wash most things like fabric but a lot of the giveaways are for precuts, which cannot be prewashed.

I just wanted to put the heads-up out there-if you're sewing for others please be aware of any allergies or sensitivities they or their family members may have. Food allergies seem to be on the rise lately, and no one knows why, but until someone comes up with a cure, avoidance is the only defense. Since walnut is the one thing my daughter has reacted to (the rest were determined through testing) it's the one that strikes the most fear in our hearts.

Blogger's Quilt Festival

2010-05-22T01:08:00.004-04:00

This is my first time participating in the Blogger's Quilt Festival, which is being sponsored by Amy at Amy's Creative Side-a blog I've been following for a while. Since I'm a beginner and rather slow I decided to share this large wall quilt (or maybe small lap?) that is the very first top I ever pieced. I can't believe it's been 3 yrs and sadly, I've only done 2 more quilts since this one. I'm getting faster though. :D

Making this quilt was such a learning experience. I learned how to piece 9-patch blocks and how to snug the seams so they would match up. I also learned quick-piecing methods that made it work up really quickly. It was the first time I did any amount of machine quilting (not counting stockings) and first time I used clear thread-which may not sound like a big deal but it's different using it. It's also the first time I used quilting software (at the time I only had Quilt Design Wizard but I use Electric Quilt now) which I used to figure out color placement.

I saw a quilt like this at a quilt forum and asked how I could find the pattern. It turned out that it was from an old magazine that was probably not available anymore. The lady that made it actually sent me her magazine! So I made it using some 30's prints I had been hoarding and also made a pieced backing. The back was as much work as the front! So anyway, here she is:

and the back:

At the time I swore I would never do another pieced backing like this. I still may not-it was a lot of work. And honestly, I am totally not up to the caliber of all the other quilters participating but thanks to all the great blogs, magazines and my prior experience sewing clothing and crafts, I'm learning!

So sorry for the down-time

2010-05-20T03:01:00.002-04:00

I want to apologize for the cobwebs on my blog. The thing is, my computer died. **SOB** It kept shutting itself off and eventually, wouldn't even turn on. Luckily I have carbonite (which hopefully works) and I also was able to transfer some things onto my external drive but not everything (totally forgot to transfer my itunes stuff-doh!). So I tried all kinds of things with no luck and finally gave in and took it to the shop. My motherboard is fried. Well maybe not fried but it's messed up. So to replace that, they have to reload windows. UGH. I hate reloading programs. Luckily the shop will reload all of my documents and picture files but it's still going to be a gigantic pain in the butt.

So in the meantime, I have been using our laptop, which I hate. And not doing much of anything else other than some playing with my new sewing machine a little. I'm hoping to post something soon because my friend Joy (shift click to open in a new window) is coming out with a set of stamps for the Create a Critter cricut cartridge and I get to try them out soon!!

So I will just leave you with a cute pic of our dog as a puppy and again as a grownup (but she still acts like a puppy). That thing in her mouth is a Kong Wubba.

Happy Mother's Day!!

2010-05-09T15:04:00.001-04:00

Just wanted to wish everyone a very happy Mother's Day!

Another grocery bag

2010-05-09T04:30:00.002-04:00

I decided to start looking at (and buying, of course) some clearance fabrics for making more grocery bags. I found a few good ones at Joann's so I made another bag to use for "wrapping" a gift. Paper gift bags are ridiculously expensive! And these are cuter and more useful. I used a blue daisy print for the outside and a pink with white dots for the lining (sorry for the dark pics-I didn't realize they were dark until I uploaded them to photobucket).

this picture shows how the lining looks.

It took me about an hour and a half to make this (not including cutting out the bag-but I cut out enough for 2 bags while I talked to my sister on the phone today so since I was multitasking it doesn't count, right?) I think after this it will take much less time, maybe an hour, since I won't have to look at the instructions each time. Also if I do a few assembly-line style, it'll take even less time.

This bag contains a folded up lap quilt and that red thing is a metal utensil holder from Target.

I have the BEST HUBBY EVER

2010-05-08T03:07:00.003-04:00

Happy Mother's Day to me-this is what we brought home today:

I can't open it until Sunday (but I did take the book out to read in advance) but when I do, this is what it should look like:

I'm going to have to do a LOT of sewing to justify getting this baby. I cannot wait.

Cathedral Windows pillow

2010-05-06T03:31:00.003-04:00

I saw this on the a la mode fabric blog (shift click to open in a new window) and thought it looked so neat I just had to try it. So I decided to make one for my mom for Mother's Day. I had some trouble keeping things all lined up nicely in the intersections but otherwise thought it turned out pretty darn cool! I made a few mistakes but I hope my mom likes it anyway. I may make one for myself once I get a few other projects done. I think a pillow size is about all I can handle-it's not super hard but it's tedious. The green fabric is Tarragon Kona cotton from Robert Kaufman fabrics and the colored inserts are from the Freebird line from Moda.

Felt Flowers and Tweet Tweet

2010-05-01T05:14:00.005-04:00

I am completely out of mojo lately so I took this almost directly from the Stampin' Up demo magazine. I changed it a little. Not much. Not sure how happy I am with it but guess what-my mom is getting it anyway.

Embossing folder from Provo Craft, liquid pearls from Ranger. Everything else is from Stampin Up.
Also this came in the mail today-Moda's Tweet Tweet jelly roll!! I have been wanting this ever since I saw the preview. I'll soon be getting this in layer cakes and charm packs too, and probably some yardage too. I love it.

my favorite view:

or maybe this one:

or wait-I like this one:

Forget it. I like them all. I also got this today-I can't wait to make something from it!

Grocery Bag

2010-04-27T01:34:00.005-04:00

I've been wanting to make homemade grocery bags for a while so tonight, I made one. I used this instructable by Compwalla (shift click to open in a new window) which is probably the best one I've found for making a bag that looks a lot like a plastic grocery bag. I used a Target bag as my pattern. The fabric I used for the lining was a little heavier than I should have used-but most of my yardage is earmarked for a certain project or not big enough. I may try doing patchwork ones. I also added a pocket so that the bag can be folded up and slipped in the pocket. Because of the thicker lining it's a challenge to get it in there though, but the pocket can also be used as a regular pocket. I also did a french seam at the bottom but I probably won't do that next time-my machine had a little trouble with it.

The bag, empty (sorry for the crappy lighting-I have the worst time getting the white balance right in this room)

The bag, full. Some of this was stuff I hadn't put away yet and some I pulled out of my cupboard. The things I go through to get a picture

all folded up in its little pocket

I also wanted to thank everyone for the nice comments about my Father-in-Law (and poor pitiful me) and wanted to update. He was in the hospital for about 5 days and then was transferred to a rehabilitation facility. He should be in there for another week or so, depending on his progress. The stroke was mild and the main things it affected were his speech and swallowing. He's eating solid foods now (but can't handle liquids so all of his drinks have to be thick) and is speaking much better. They are also working on his balance and walking-he's having some trouble with those too. He's joking around and flirting with the nurses, so that's a good sign. He's complaining about doing nothing though, so I can't even imagine how hard it will be on my Mother-in-Law once he is home and in the house all day wanting to do some work and not being able to. So anyway, things are definitely improving. We've had some rain the past couple of days too, so my husband is home for a few days (but still really busy during the day, but at least not working until late into the night right now). So anyway, thanks.

Pitiful Me

2010-04-21T03:22:00.001-04:00

This is a total pity party post. This is a rough time of year for me in the best of circumstances. It's not the best right now. My husband is a full time farmer. Spring is one of his busiest times, which means he's gone most of the time (or it seems like it) and when he does finally get home, he crashes on the recliner or the floor because he's exhausted. Plus he gets stressed out due to weather, equipment, etc. You name it. Well on Sunday my father-in-law had a stroke. He's in a good hospital and in good hands but to say he's a bad patient is an understatement. He doesn't want to be there and he's letting it be known. He won't talk to anyone because he's mad which is making it tougher on the doctors and nurses. He's 81 yrs old which is another big concern. The hospital is 2 hours away. So besides being extremely stressed out about his dad being so sick, my husband is having to do the tasks that his dad has always done. This means running equipment that he's not completely familiar with and having to ask for help (not easy for their family). Luckily his brothers are available and willing but one of them works full time and one lives in another state (he is here, though, to be with his dad-but he's helping with the farming too). Normally this time of year I'm very full of self pity but now, I can't be. Or I can't show it. Until I'm alone. So that's when all the great sewing and stamping blogs save me. I can read and admire and forget to feel sorry for myself. So thanks to all of you with wonderful blogs that keep my mind occupied.

And it all starts again in the fall during harvest. Hopefully without anyone being sick.

Hidden Stars-finally

2010-04-15T03:03:00.004-04:00

Here is the quilt I showed a sneak peek of a couple weeks ago. I actually got it done right after I posted the sneak peek but I was waiting to wash it until I got it labeled. It took me a while to figure out how I wanted to label it, then I discovered that my old pigma pens were all dried up. So then it took me a few days to go buy a new pen. Then I decided I should wash it first, then label it, so that any writing would be able to set for a while before going through a wash. So I finally washed it today and here it is. It's about 50" x 63".

In the first pic it's hanging kinda wonky but it actually came out square. In order to take the pic I hung it over my curtain rod (with some of those bib clips-I knew those things would come in handy again someday) and it's not hanging perfect so it looks a bit out of shape. The 2nd pic is just a close-up. I quilted this one about 1/4" inside the four-square blocks and cornerstones, then went diagonally through each square of the four-square blocks and down the center of the sashing squares. I only do straight line quilting at this time and not in the ditch either, because I can't seem to stay in it right.

This quilt is called hidden stars because the stars just appear as a result of the sashing design. I did that with the method where you put a square on the corner of the rectangle and stitch down the diagonal center, then trim. It was super easy because I used my Angler tool so I didn't have to mark any of the diagonal lines. I don't do triangles if I can avoid it so this is the perfect way for me to make a star quilt. The fabric (other than the white) is from a set of fat quarters I got from Joann's a while back. I bought it because I liked the tin that it came in. :) I also did a scrappy binding on this and while I love the look, it was a pain in the butt to do. So at the time I told myself I would never do that again but when I look at it, I like it a lot, so I will probably put myself through the torture again. The pattern is from a book called Layer Cake, Jelly Roll and Charm Quilts (this fabric was not any of the above but I faked it).

Easter-y stuff

2010-04-05T02:17:00.006-04:00

Hope everyone had a nice Easter! Here is a pic of our cutie pie Easter bunnies (not really-we've had them since last summer) Lola and Shadow.

They will be one year old on April 22nd.

And here are the baskets I made for the kids to take eggs to Grandma and Grandpa. I used the cupcake holder on the Sweet Treats cricut cartridge and various Martha Stewart border punches for the trim. The ribbons on the baskets on the left are from American Crafts and I am not sure where the blue and brown ribbon is from. All papers are from Imaginisce except for the brown trim which is from Stampin' Up.

The eggs were decorated by punching shapes from adhesive vinyl, sticking them on a colored egg, and redying-then we removed the vinyl stickers. You can't see it but the one on the far right has blue dots on it.

Penny Black Cow

2010-03-30T03:23:00.001-04:00

I haven't done any stamping in so long I almost forgot how. My sister in law just had a medical procedure done and will be recovering for a bit, so I made this card for her. She and her husband used to have a dairy farm, so that's why I used the cow. Plus she prefers funny or cute cards rather than the mushy type. I used an older sketch from Taylored Expressions AND I used my copic airbrush thing for the first time. It's definitely uneven and splotchy but I suppose it takes a lot of practice. I also paper pieced the balloon plus I shaded it with copics and I colored over it all with a clear spica glitter pen.

Oh and I completely forgot to take pictures of the markers I used.

stamp: Penny Black Stamps
Copic markers and airbrush kit
Spica glitter pen
Sakura Gelly Roll pen (white for shine on the balloon)
Stampin' Up cardstock, patterned paper and hardware
Sewing machine
Nestabilities

Happy Meal Toy

2010-03-21T03:34:00.003-04:00

My kids love McDonald's-probably more for the toys than the food. Right now the toys are iCarly and Star Wars. My 12 year old LOVES iCarly so we've been to McD's a lot, where she has collected several of these little laptop notepad holders. I noticed that the size is perfect for holding a 3 x 3 post it pad so I took one and decided to fix it up a little. Here is the before and after:

before, closed

before, opened

after, closed

after, opened (I would probably find a better color post it pad-this is one pretty bright). Also the color is a little off in this-probably due to that post it pad (and my lack of skill with custom white balance).

Papers and flowers from Stampin' Up plus I used liquid pearls, a labels 1 Nestabilities die, and a Sakura Gelly Roll white gel pen.

And here's a sneak peek of the quilt I am working on right now. I'll post it when it's all done.

Maiden Voyage

2010-03-12T05:14:00.005-05:00

I finally finished it-my first *real* quilt. The first one I've finished that isn't just a wallhanging or a stocking or a pot holder (ok I've never made a potholder-but I've made other small things). I pieced this top last year-or maybe it was the year before-in just one day. And then I sandwiched it and then it just sat in my fabric cabinet, neglected. I suddenly got back into sewing recently so I decided to just go for it and get it done. I took these before I washed it-it's in the washer right now so it's still a mystery how it'll be when it's all shrunk up.

the top

the top and part of the backing

the binding-I decided to machine stitch it to see how it turned out. I've always hand stitched it on the wall hangings I've done but I wanted this to be quicker and stronger. I used a zigzag stitch and I really like how it turned out.

I'm going to keep this one for us but now I am working on another one that will be a gift plus I'm going to be making some Downy Quilts for Kids soon. I'm planning to use up as much of my stash as possible making gift lap quilts and more quilts for kids so I can buy NEW stuff.

iLove Jelly Beans

2010-02-10T15:41:00.003-05:00

My 12 year old has a few dance classmates that she wanted to give valentines to so we made these rock candy valentines from Family Fun. Instead of conversation hearts (which seem to be made in China now) we got small boxes of Jelly Belly jelly beans and instead of the peanut butter cups we used chocolate kisses. Also we taped the cord to the bottom because that's where the headphone jack on my iPod touch is.

cardstock is from Stampin Up and the labels are from the Family Fun website.

Another pincushion

2010-02-08T03:07:00.005-05:00

So I'm in a sewing mood lately. I go through these moods. For a while I'll be in a mood to make cards or scrapbook and right now the mood is sewing. To celebrate I went and spent way too much money at the local quilt shop today...but they were having a sale. So that makes it okay. So anyway my new cupcake pincushion got filled up with pins pretty quickly and I realized I may need more than one. Before this I just put all my pins in an empty butter tub and would poke my fingers getting them out. It is convenient to just throw the pins in, but like I said, getting them out is another story. I liked using a real pincushion so well I decided I better make another. I saw this one in a Quilts and More magazine a couple of years ago. It's also online now-you can see it here. Very easy to make the actual fabric part but the ribbon was a little bit of a bear because I didn't have a proper doll needle and the buttons were tricky because they're so tight against the fabric. But it came out pretty darn cute, I think. And it holds pins, which is what's really important.

TV Tray-repurposed

2010-02-05T02:51:00.003-05:00

I saw this post at the Oh Fransson website the other day and I just knew I had to do this. My room is so full that I can't fit a real ironing board in there (which is a shame because I have a cool antique one) so I have always had to go through two rooms to get to the room with my ironing board in it. This was such a pain for when I just needed to quickly press a seam or two on a small piece. So I made this to keep next to my desk and I can just fold it up when I'm not using it. I will still use my big board for big stuff but for the times I just need to iron seams in a single block this should be perfect. The only things I did differently: I used two layers of insul-bright thermal batting (which I had leftover from when I covered my big ironing board), no batting, and a layer of canvas under the fabric. Also instead of stapling the top fabric on, I stitched a casing and put elastic in so that I can take it off to wash or change it. I made sure it was pretty tight but I'm not worried that it's not super tight since it'll only be for little things. I did get the same exact tv tray-it was still $9.99 at Walgreen's. I apologize for the weird reflections (I used flash) and the hideous carpet (someday...).

Last storage post...for now

2010-01-31T01:36:00.003-05:00

Here is how I store some of my goodies.

First, my Twinkling H2Os. I have a LOT of these and don't use most of them. I may get rid of them someday but for now they fit nicely into these containers. I got these at Joann's. I keep them in two stacks because one tall stack is too tall to fit where I have them.

This is where I keep my stickles, liquid pearls and glitter. First of all, I have an L shaped desk. The part where I sit and work is lower and the other part which is to my left is taller. There is a space right next to me where I keep a few things. On the wall of that space, I hung these little drawer organizer basket things to hold my stickles and liquid pearls (on top) and glitter (middle and bottom).

This is my ribbon box which is also kept in that space where my glitter and stuff is. I also have my sewing machine in behind there (it's so small I can lift it out easily when I want to use it) and to the left are the containers where I keep my twinkling H2Os and my zig pens (which I never use but my kids do, so I kept them). This is but a small portion of my ribbon. I have a lot of SU ribbon which, as you might know, is on huge rolls and too long to put on this type of storage. That iris cart to the right is underneath the corner of the desk and it holds stuff I rarely use plus my wood mounted Christmas stamps. The blue thing is my trash can. As you can see I stuff envelopes, plastic bags (those giant ones that paper comes in) and cardboard in next to the trash can.

This is the side of a metal cabinet that I use to store fabric. It's right up against the end of my desk. I put these magnetic hooks on it and have a few goodies hanging from them. Stuff that should go somewhere else but I haven't decided where yet. Also my long rectangle nestabilities are here because they don't fit in the drawer where I keep the rest of them. This, to me, is an eyesore so I would like to do something different with these. But they are handy here.

This is a shelf that is at the end of my sewing desk. It is right near my big shot so I keep my big shot stuff in it. This pic shows the baskets plus my cute HK clipboard which, by the way, is hanging from a cute HK hook that Siobhan sent me.

And the baskets showing my stuff. Yes almost every one of those is a Hello Kitty die. I have about 4 or 5 regular dies which don't fit in here so they're in an iris cart drawer. The other basket has a little tupperware keeper which holds my sizzlit dies and embosslits and behind it are my extra cutting pads and the various shims and other cutting pads that I have.

I keep my cuttlebug folders in these two tins. Also there are buckets from the Target dollar spot where I keep some pens, sharpies, and other little stuff. Below that you can see the top part of my pegboard which holds a couple of tins plus my crop a dile and you can't see them but my brayers (three of them-I'm sick I tell ya) are hanging there as well. To the left you can see my Hello Kitty pez dispenser and eraser.

This is actually a makeup case. I keep some small post it notepads plus some of those little spiral bound $1 walmart scrapbooks in it. I mostly keep it there because it's cute.

My SU inkpads. There is an area on top for refills and I put hooks in each side to hang things. The only real useful things hanging are my SU cardstock rings and my USB drive. I took those markers from my kids-they were leaving them all over the place. They're scented. (the markers)

And last of all my Making Memories wall storage thing. I keep my MM paint, some prima flowers, my background stamp wood mounts, small pieces of ribbon, some spools of ribbon I don't really use (my kids use them), embossing paste, big containers of UTEE, my bazzill swatches, some tins to alter and a few other goodies. Just whatever fit I guess.

Cupcake Pincushion (tutorial)

2010-01-28T17:11:00.003-05:00

This is the first time I've tried to do a tutorial so I apologize if it's too long, too short, too detailed, too vague, etc. Let me know if it's any of the above so I can try to improve the next time.

So anyway I wanted a cupcake pincushion but I couldn't find a free pattern. I have so many magazines and patterns so I vowed to quit buying more (for now) but none of them had a cupcake and that's what I wanted. So I decided to wing it and make one. Here is the finished pincushion:

It does look more like a cupcake and less like a ball in real life. But if I did it again I'd make the sides more up-and-down rather than slanted like a regular cupcake liner. But when I showed it to my kids, they immediately recognized it as a fake cupcake.

OK let's get started. First I took a plain cupcake liner and cut it into pieces. I traced it onto some paper to make a pattern-I did not flatten the side of the liner because it would have been too big. After I traced it I used my handy dandy 1/4" seam allowance adder thing to add seam allowances.

Then I made a top circle using my curvy cutter. I kinda guessed and cut it at 4-1/4". It turned out that it fit perfectly but if it hadn't I would have gathered it a little to fit.

I pinned all 3 pieces to the fabrics I wanted to use and cut them out.

Now the sewing begins. Sew everything with right sides together and with a 1/4" seam allowance. Pin and sew the ends of the strip, leaving an opening to turn and stuff it later. I forgot so I had to pick out the stitches.

Then make little cuts all the way around the bottom edge, like so:

This makes it easier to fit it to the round bottom.

Use pins to divide the bottom circle and the cupcake side into quarters. Match up the pins and pin and sew the bottom.

This is how it looks after the bottom is sewn to the side:

Again, use pins to divide the top circle and the side into quarters. Match up the pins and pin and sew the top.

Turn the cupcake right side out.

Then I cut a circle the same size as the bottom from cardboard to keep the cupcake flat and sturdy on the bottom. Insert this into the opening (you may have to roll it a little) and work it down to the bottom.

Stuff the cupcake firmly. While stuffing, keep maneuvering the cardboard circle back to the bottom because it'll try to move around in there. After it's firmly stuffed, hand stitch the opening shut.

Then I took some pink rick rack and hand stitched it around to hide the seam. Turn the ends of the rick rack under and put that side to the back because it's not super pretty. Or maybe put something over it. I'll just choose to not look at that spot.

For the flower I made a small yoyo using my clever clover yo yo maker. I love that thing. For the leaf I took a Stampin' Up felt flower and cut it apart. I sewed the leaf to the bottom of the flower and a pink button to the middle of the yoyo.

Then just sew the flower to the top of the cupcake. I chose to put it in the center but it would be cute offset to one side too. Or covering those unpretty rick rack ends.

And there it is, complete with pins.

More storage

2010-01-28T05:12:00.006-05:00

Here are a few more pics of my storage. Tomorrow I'm going to post a tutorial to make a cupcake pincushion-my first tutorial. Hope I don't mess it up! So anyway on to the storage photos:

This is my Pampered Chef tool turnabout. I covered it with batting and fabric and some ribbon. I keep rulers and other tall things in the center section, handheld punches in the middle row and miscellaneous tools in the outer section. In front of it is a glass prima bottle that I keep my mono multi glue in. It keeps it upside down and ready to use but it catches any glue that dribbles out. Those square things underneath are a couple of plastic tray things I got in a mystery box. At first I thought "what are these lame things?" but it turns out I use them a lot. I use them for holding small items while I'm working on something and also when I'm working on something that requires a paintbrush I put a folded up paper towel in them to blot it on. They are really handy and if I ever broke or lost them I wouldn't even know where to look to find more.

This is a metal silverware bucket I found at Target. It's pink on the inside but you can't see that. The sticker was made with sizzlits dies and vinyl. It was a pain in the butt to make. But it's cute. I keep my prismacolor pencils, blending stumps, hot knife, some of my paintbrushes and my corner chomper in it. Plus a few other miscellaneous things.

This is my copic storage. I've weeded out about a third of my markers to see if I can live without them. If I can, they are outta here. To the left, on the desktop, is a stack of tins from the Target dollar spot-I use the top one to hold glues and the ones underneath for various projects like holding cards in progress, supplies while I'm using them, etc. Next to that is a little metal drawer thing. I keep a few stamps (neglected ones that I need to try to use more often) in the drawers and notepads on the middle shelf and inkpads (ones I'm using and don't want to put away right away but need them off my table) on top. On top of the copic shelves I keep some of my 6 x 6 paper packs (I keep the extras in a drawer), a tin with my smaller acrylic blocks, my mini xyron and a pouch that holds my SU markers. It was a gift (one of many) from my friend Siobhan. In the extra cubbies I keep my longer acrylic blocks, spica pens, kai scissors, stamp-a-ma-jig and some other miscellaneous stuff.

This is a magnet board I have above my desk. I keep these bulldog clips on it to hold stuff plus some mm baskets and other magnetized things. On the notepad on the far left, I've written down all of my goodies that I sometimes neglect to use. When I make a card I look at the list to decide what to use-some of it is stuff I always forget I have so it helps me to use that stuff. The container of stamps is a small SU stamp case which holds the stamps I use on the backs of cards. I glued a couple of magnets on the back of it to hold it up there. The magnet is from Siobhan. The white cards behind the pink stickers (in the bulldog clip) are half sheets of cardstock on which I punched out my punch shapes and then laminated them. I have bought more punches since I made that so it's pretty outdated. The marks on the board are where the paint is coming off. I didn't let the paint cure before putting the magnets on it. Oops.

This is my ATG gun and the stand. I bought the stand from molly-moo at SCS. Also there is a cup of pens, pencils, tweezers, a craft knife, and some other junk that I like to keep handy. Toward the left there you can see this foam thing that came in a pack of brads that I use to stick pins into. Before I started using this I lost pretty much every pin that I put on my desk.

My big shot-just because it's so cute. In a future post I'll show how I store my dies and plates.

Some of my storage

2010-01-26T04:02:00.004-05:00

I took a bunch of small pics of my storage today. I did not take pics of my room overall because it's still a mess in places where I'm still doing some organizing. So I took a LOT of pics since they were all of specific areas. I'm going to post a few each day or else it would be way too long for one post.

The first one is my Stampin' Up cardstock. I have 3 desktop hanging file boxes which I tied together with some wide ribbon. I put hanging files in them and then regular folders in the hanging files with my SU cardstock sorted by color. At the front are also some other brands of white cardstock. In the very back I had some extra room so I have my PTI colored cardstock, extra shimmery white cardstock, and some textured cardstock I got somewhere. I *think* it's from Hero Arts.

This one is my Bazzill cardstock. This is one drawer of a 2-drawer filing cabinet. The other drawer is also completely full. This top drawer is all Bazzill-the bottom drawer has Bazzill plus Lasting Impressions patterned paper. I have a serious problem with paper.

This is a smaller tabletop file holder where I keep charts (color charts, ribbon charts, etc) as well as printouts for different projects and also some sketches.

This is my newest way of storing my nestabilities (other than the long rectangles which I will show in another post). I've tried several others so I hope I like this method. It's one of my jetmax cube drawers-I made a divider thing out of mat board so that they would stand upright and then each set of nestabilities is on a piece of mat board with magnets on it. I made labels for each one so I could quickly find the ones I want.

This is my Cricut Expression. I keep it on this wooden printer stand I got from Lakeside Collection. I keep papers (like ones I've used for testing or sizing) and small mats (for my personal Cricut) in the open sections. In one drawer I keep my extra blades, cricut markers, etc. In the other is all of my manuals for my various craft toys. My 12 x 12 mats are stored underneath. This cute cover was given to me by Kim O. I'm going to make a different one someday but for now this one works perfectly to keep the dust out of it.

This isn't exactly storage. Well, not for craft supplies anyway. This is my Hello Kitty collection (most of it). The big one is from Build a Bear Workshop and the two small ones are from Inside Scoop. The clock is from Target and the little ones are all past McDonald's Happy Meal toys. It's all sitting on a metal cabinet that is filled with fabric. And yes I hate the wallpaper in this room but for now it's staying. I don't even want to think about moving all of my stuff out to paint.

Last of all (for tonight). This shelf is actually a basket that I screwed to the wall. It used to hold my Hello Kitty clock-radio but I got the Target wall clock instead and will give the clock-radio to my daughter, who will at least be able to get more use out of the radio and alarm clock part of it (both of which I never used). So I put these two plush kitties in there. I got them both from Target. To the right is a bag from the Target dollar spot. I have one hanging on either end of my curtain rod and I keep empty Nestability packages and other things like that in them. Stuff I don't need out but I want to save for shims or using on projects.

Stay tuned-I'll post more in the next few days.

One last Christmas card

2010-01-03T04:15:00.003-05:00

This is a card that my 10 year old son made. I gave him my reindeer cutouts from the cards I made and also cut out a sleigh-I think from Joys of the Season. I let him loose in my room and this is what he made. The white stuff is cornstarch-I gave him that to brush on where he overdid the glue. He thought it looked like snow so he was happy with having to use it. He made one for each of us and wrote our name on top with a sakura souffle pen. The cardstocks are lasting impressions and SU (for the sleigh). The color is a bit off here-the top part is actually more green and not so yellow. I forgot to do a custom white balance before I took the picture. This one was his dad's card. For some reason he put our actual names on instead of mom and dad.

Last two Christmas cards

2009-12-29T01:47:00.002-05:00

Here are the other two cards I made for Christmas.

This one is made using digital papers by Crystal Wilkerson. I printed them on shimmery cardstock. The stamp is from SU and it's stamped with Brilliance Rocket Red Gold ink and punched with a punch from SU. The heart punch, ribbon, blue paper and vanilla card base are also from SU.

This one is from the Very Merry Tags cricut cartridge. I used a cuttlebug embossing folder, digital paper from Jerri Ingalls, cardstocks from SU, Bazzill and Lasting impressions, shimmery vellum, SU border punch (from an upcoming catalog) and ribbon from SU.

Fox & Friends baby card

2009-12-24T05:35:00.003-05:00

This is made with a new set from the upcoming Occasions mini. I pretty much cased this card from Jennifer McGuire. I made it for a family member who recently had a baby girl. In real life the lion's mane matches the darker pink paper-not sure why it doesn't here. I use my old DRebel to take card pics and it's not the greatest camera anymore.

stamps: SU Fox & Friends
cardstock: SU and PTI
embossing folder: swiss dots
ink: SU
circle and scallop punch: SU
border punch: Martha Stewart

Card holders

2009-12-21T17:34:00.002-05:00

First of all this card was NOT made by me. It was made by a lady in my upline named Gail Beezley. Isn't it cute?? It is all glittery and the embossed background is so neat. So anyway I was trying to think of a better way to display our cards. Usually I use poster tape and tape them all to my front door. Really wasteful-that poster tape is expensive. And they couldn't be rearranged if we got more cards. So the other day this idea popped into my head. I don't know if I saw it somewhere and was subliminally channeling that or what. If so and you know where I might have seen it, please let me know so I can give credit. For the card holders I took ordinary clothespins and covered them on one side with patterned paper and put a magnet on the other side. I used paper cut to about 3/8" x 2-7/8" and glued it on with Tombow Mono Multi liquid glue. Then I took these magnetic business card blanks I had leftover from another project and cut them into about 1/4" strips and stuck them to the other side of the clothespin (they are self adhesive). Clipped the card into the clothespin and stuck it to our front door. Our door is steel-this wouldn't work with a non-steel door.

Two Christmas cards-and a sketch challenge

2009-12-16T01:43:00.004-05:00

I'm posting only two of my cards right now. The other two cards I did are going to people who read my blog-so I'll post them later.

This one is made with a digital stamp that I found here. I used the same background as the freebie but changed the color and then put the image on top and then printed it. I colored it with copic markers. I tried shading and all that but the colors looked so light (pink instead of red, for example) so I just colored it solid. The markers I used (forgot to take a picture) are C5, G07, G17, R17 and Y38. I printed the image on shimmery cardstock but you can't tell from the picture. It's shimmery though. I used some Stampin' Flock on the white parts of the hat. Cardstock and patterned paper are from Stampin' Up and the Christmas Greetings stamp is from..I think Hero Arts. Embossing folder from Cuttlebug. For this card I used Aly's sketch shown here, turned on its side. I didn't have room for the 3 dots so I left them out. I didn't want to make square cars since I don't have enough envelopes that size and shape.

the sketch:

This next one was made using a digital kit by Crystal Wilkerson. I printed the patterned papers onto some cardstock and then cut them up just as I would regular patterned paper. The tree and sentiment were printed on shimmery cardstock. I cut the tree out and glued it to the oval (which is SU vanilla cardstock). I also used nestabilities and my SU scallop border punch. Kraft cardstock is from Stampin' Up. I used stickles at the top of the tree.

Shaped card and a sketch card

2009-11-22T03:35:00.002-05:00

These are the last two cards I made on World Card Making Day. The first one was for a shaped card challenge. I found this file on this blog and I thought I did everything right but it didn't cut quite right. I used SCAL and it was the first time I'd actually made something with it so I was completely clueless. So I changed it so that it was welded at the shoulders to make a folded card and somehow the parts cut out smaller than they were supposed to but I used it anyway-I thought it still looked ok.

paper is Bazzill
stamp is hero arts
prisma colored pencils
stickles and liquid pearls (also my first time using liquid pearls-and it's pretty obvious)

The next one was for a sketch challenge. Other than the greeting there's no stamping on it at all.

papers: DCWAV
stamp, ink, ribbon, corner punch: SU
dew drops colored with copics (they get sticky when you use copics on them so I guess I'll have to buy a bunch of colors)
sewing

Snowglobe Ornament

2009-11-14T02:24:00.004-05:00

I don't remember where I got the idea for this-I think at split coast or maybe from a blog. But the other day when we were shopping at Hobby Lobby, I saw some soap molds and suddenly remembered that I wanted to try it. The idea didn't originally use soap molds but I thought they would work-so I bought them. They are just your standard bar shaped mold-there is a pic down below.

So here's what I did-I cut out the house, trees and snowman using my cricut. The house and trees were made with the Christmas Cheer cartridge and the snowman was done with the Snow Friends cartridge. That snowman was cut at 3/4" (real dial size) to give an idea of how little he is. The house was cut at 1-1/2" and the trees at 1" and 1-1/4". I cut around the soap mold leaving about 1/4" of the backing plastic. I then cut the background paper (SU soft sky designer series paper) the same size and shape. I used some shimmery white cardstock to make the background snow-I just cut it freehand, glued it on, and trimmed to the same shape as the background. I used pop dots to attach the house, the snowman (after adding detail with copic markers) and one tree and tombow mono multi adhesive for the other trees. The snow inside the globe was made using this "make your own flower soft" tutorial. I mixed in some glitter too but it's not really very glittery so next time I'll use more. I used an anti static bag on the inside of the mold but it looked dusty so I sort of wiped most of it out.

I put sticky strip all around the flat outer part of the soap mold. Then I added the fake snow. I removed the sticky strip backing and then attached the background w/ the house, trees and snowman.

I didn't have any green lace so I took some white lace and used water and reinkers and dyed it. I used SU gable green first but it was too light so I added some green galore reinker. I dried it with my heat gun. I used sticky strip to attach the lace to the edges of the globe. Then I used tacky glue to attach the pearl strand. (btw I've had this lace and pearls for about 15 yrs. Finally I remembered to use it on something!) I made a double loop bow using my bow easy and stuck it to the top with a glue dot. Then I just used diamond glaze to glue the ribbon hanger to the back. I used a lot of different adhesives on this.

So anyway I thought it came out pretty cool. Here's a picture of the soap molds (this is a stock picture from online-I didn't take a picture of the packaging)

Blog update

2009-11-05T05:15:00.001-05:00

I've decided to go ahead and update my blog for the holidays-I hope no one is offended by seeing holiday images so early! I didn't want to wait until after Thanksgiving because it takes me a long time to make all this stuff and I want it up for a while. Also I decided to make an animated signature-if it bothers anyone PLEASE let me know. Flashing graphics bother me sometimes and although this one isn't flashing, I understand it might bother people so if it does let me know. I just wanted to see if I could actually make one by myself (and yes that's my actual sloppy signature).

Doodlebug flowers and critter card

2009-11-03T03:58:00.003-05:00

This was for a bingo challenge. We got a bingo card and had to pick any line across, down or diagonally. So I made this and below the pics are the requirements and materials I used.

use 2 or more pp: my mind's eye
use at least 3 flowers: doodlebug friends stamp set (I think)
use red: SU cardstock
use at least 3 buttons: oriental trading
use glitter: stickles
also used twinkling h2os
ek success edge punch

This next one was for a critter challenge While cleaning out my room I found these cutouts that I don't even remember ever buying. I have a lot of that kind of stuff (the kind I don't remember). I got the sketch from a Joy of Cardmaking book.

cardstock and pp: SU
brads: bazzill
embossing folder: cuttlebug
cutout image: we r memory keepers
punch: fiskars

More WCMD cards

2009-10-26T01:59:00.002-04:00

I'm posting more than one today

This one was for a red and yellow color challenge. I don't usually use red and yellow together that much so it really was a challenge. I think this is a bit busy but I was happy to finally use this set.

Everything except the spica pens (for the red dots), the die, and the sun punch are from SU. The sun punch is from EK Success and the die (for the shape behind the flower) is nestabilities.

This one was for a sketch challenge. It's a belated birthday card for my nephew-it is not easy to make teen boy cards and I have NO teen boy stamps! So I used a digital image.

copics used:

digital stamp from birdscards, papers from SU (white cardstock is from PTI), copic markers, stickles (on the snow), snowflake punch from carl, spica pens (to color the snowflakes), wave punch from ek success, computer font.

Foal card

2009-10-17T04:24:00.003-04:00

I was late doing Aly's Sunday Challenge but even though the deadline had passed, I wanted to get it done. I have been cleaning up my room and finding things I never knew I had, like this cute foal stamp from (I think) Impression Obsession. Or maybe it's from Biblical Impressions. Anyway one of them or maybe somewhere else. So anyway I decided to use it on this card. I didn't put anything in the lower right like the sketch shows because I didn't want to put another bow there and I want to stamp a sentiment whenever I decide who to give it to and why. I feel like this is a little unbalanced-I should have lowered that far left panel some. I still might.

ink: SU
cardstock: PTI
paper and flower/button cutouts: sassafras lass
ribbon: american crafts
nestabilities
copics (I only used them for the foal's muzzle and the grass so I didn't bother to take pics. I used YG03 and E00)

the sketch:

Build a Roo

2009-10-14T03:24:00.003-04:00

Another card from WCMD. This one was a copic challenge-I just had to use copics. I used a sketch from an old Joy of Cardmaking magazine.

colors (I missed the yellow one that I used for the words-I think it was Y02):

stamps, cardstock, patterned paper, corner punch, and pink ribbon: Stampin' Up
Nestabilities
brown ribbon: unknown
copic markers
stickles (in the corners-it's hard to see)
I don't have a Bow-Easy so I used a hair pick to make the bow-it's hard to see it too but it's there. It came out ok-I think a real Bow-Easy would be easier.

Before and after

2009-10-12T02:28:00.006-04:00

I'm very lucky to have my own craft room. It's a decent sized room, too, with a big window and everything. However I've always kind of had this mix of cheap ugly shelves and desks and stuff. Over the past couple of years I have been slowly changing some of my stuff over to better stuff. My hubby built me a nice work table which I love (click here to see some of it). I switched my ugly green yard sale sewing machine desk to a nicer one that we made together. Now I got rid of the ugly gray metal utility shelves I was using (hey-they were cheap-only about $10 each) and replaced it with jetmax cubes from Michaels. Here are the before and after pics. Warning-these before pics are downright scary. There was no easy to way to store things on these shelves and I was using my old highsmith cardboard storage which was falling apart.

and after:

The round boxes on top are from Hobby Lobby-I covered them with wrapping paper and put some of my fabric in them. The white boxes are large storage boxes from Walmart. The colorful drawers are Fira chests from Ikea (I don't have an Ikea-a friend got these and sent them to me). The pink and white baskets are from Michaels. The smaller cubes (far right of the 2nd picture) on top of the file cabinet (which holds most of my bazzill cardstock. Well some of it) are from Big Lots-only $10 each. The vertical storage cubes hold my 12 x 12 patterned paper, which is organized by company and put in craft keepers, and also they hold my quilting books and magazines (I keep my scrap/stamp books and magazines in a different shelf unit which I will post later). That junk on the left side of the cubes is just that-junk. I'm going to make a little narrow shelf for that spot which will hold more books and/or magazines.

closeup of the label holders (which I printed on the computer and stuck to chipboard)

my cricut storage (2 drawers but they aren't both full):

and my unmounted stamp storage (I have 12 drawers of these-but they aren't all full):

It's still a mess-it always will be because I have way too much stuff. But it's definitely better and I can find things more easily. I'll post more pics as I get it all cleaned up and presentable.

Smile!

2009-10-09T17:09:00.003-04:00

This was for a WCMD sketch challenge. I LOVE this line from October Afternoon.

markers:

supplies: october afternoon stamp, sticker and patterned papers, SU and Gina K cardstock, memento ink, copic markers, ribbon, nestabilities

World Card Making Day

2009-10-05T05:44:00.002-04:00

For WCMD I am doing the challenges at A Walk Down Memory Lane. There are a LOT of them-nine. I did eight so far but I'm going to space out the posts because I may not make more cards for a while. I'm exhausted. So anyway here's the first one I did-it was for a recipe challenge. I had to use the following: 1 ribbon, 1 flower, 1 button, 2 pattern papers, 2 word sentiment like Happy Birthday, 3 brads, 3 circles. I'm not overly thrilled with this card but it's better than the first one I came up with (which was all this stuff, just arranged differently). Maybe I don't work well with all those rules.

1 ribbon-unknown
1 flower-prima (I actually stacked two-don't tell on me)
1 button-oriental trading
2 pattern papers-imaginisce
2 word sentiment like Happy Birthday-stampin' up
3 brads-queen & co
3 circles-circle circus stamp set (SU)
I also used Stampin' Up ink and circle punches

Basket Full of Fun and a new sketch challenge blog!

2009-09-14T05:52:00.005-04:00

First of all one of the girls on my SCS blog group has a young daughter who has decided to start her own sketch challenge blog! What a great endeavor. So her site is Aly's Sunday Challenge and here is my card for her first sketch. I used my cricut and some DCWAV, SU and Bazzill papers plus a Martha Steward border punch and a Making Memories flower. I think the button is from Bazzill.

Here is the sketch:

And here is another sketch challenge from Beate's blog (I can't seem to link just to the sketch challenge post). I used a stamp from SU plus SU papers, corner punch and felt flowers. I also used copic markers, pearls, nestabilities, a brad from Oriental Trading, and a border punch from EK Success.

and the colors I used:

the sketch:

Just Celebrate

2009-08-26T05:01:00.005-04:00

This was made from the Mojo Monday sketch. I pretty much followed it exactly. I'm not back in the groove yet so I have to copy. lol

I am going to *try* to put the marker colors on the cards where I use copics. No promises though. I just happened to remember this time.

Ink: Memento Black
Patterned Paper: 3 Bugs in a Rug Celebrate
Ribbon: Unknown (I tried to recolor the yellow stripe with markers because it was too bright. It bled a little but I still think it looks better this way. It was really light and bright before)
Circle Nestabilities
Sewing Machine
Copic Markers

Vacation

2009-08-21T03:19:00.002-04:00

We just got back from our vacation a few days ago. We drove from Indiana to California and Oregon and back. Lots of driving and lots of beautiful country. I may not have time to make anything for a few days while we recuperate so here is a pic I took while on our trip. I took this while we were driving down the highway somewhere in California (Steve says he thinks it was around Baker). I love it.

I'll try to share more vacation pics soon. We went to Disneyland, the beach, the Monterey Bay aquarium, the Lava Beds in Northern California, and more-it was great!!

Photo editing-exposure, brightness and contrast

2009-07-23T04:41:00.004-04:00

I'm taking another class at Jessica Sprague's website. This time it's photo editing. It's high time I learned how to use Photoshop properly. So this is the first lesson-exposure, brightness and contrast. My very first try at one of my own pics so I'm sure it could be a lot better. I have a lot of pictures to practice on. So this is a picture of my son holding the flowers we bought for my daughter's dance recital last summer.

Before:

After:

I know it looks like I only have one kid but really I have more. It's just that this one is the easiest to take pictures of. I'll be trying to use more of my older photos (from when my girls would actually look at me to get their picture taken) later in the lessons.

The whole nine yards

2009-07-18T00:31:00.002-04:00

This class combined a bunch of things we'd done already plus overlays. So it had a clipping mask, textures, text, edge burn, plus the overlay. I am loving this class. It's so easy to follow and understand. Also someone asked about doing them in Photoshop Elements. There are videos for that but I've only been watching the Photoshop ones so I don't know the method in PSE.

The original:

the edited copy:

Edge burn-how to do it

2009-07-16T04:56:00.003-04:00

I got a request on how to do the edge burn. I learned in a free class I'm taking from Jessica Sprague so I can't really duplicate her lesson here, but I will quickly tell how I did it in photoshop.

1. open your picture (I always duplicate it and close the original) and crop as desired.
2. I would probably sharpen at this point but I didn't do that.
3. Add a levels adjustment layer and move the center triangle to the right to darken your picture.
4. Click on the mask in the adjustment layer in the layers palette to be sure it's active.
5. Make sure your foreground color is black and the background is white.
6. Click on the gradient tool. Make sure that at the top, the circular gradient is selected and in the blend mode select multiply.
7. Click and hold on a spot at about the center of the picture and drag to the corner and let go. If you need to you can adjust that levels thing to darken more or less.
8. Using a soft black brush, brush over any areas in the center part (the part that is lighter) to lighten them further if desired.
9. I always save with layers intact as a psd and then I flatten and save as a jpg. Resize for the web if necessary.

Hopefully it is ok to post this. If not someone can let me know and I'll remove it. :)

photo editing class-burned edges

2009-07-14T17:09:00.005-04:00

Here is the picture for today's class. This picture has no post processing other than the burned edges. Isn't it gorgeous?? I took it at the White River Gardens-they have a butterfly dome there.

Before:

After:

Photo lesson-adding text

2009-07-13T04:09:00.002-04:00

Today's lesson is adding text to a photo. I've done this a lot (not with photos but with graphics-my blog is proof) but I still learned a few things. I also used a couple of previous lessons to tone down the color and add a texture to my pic. Believe it or not this cat in the picture never ran away from the kids despite all the lovin' from them. He is now almost 20 lbs and they still pick him up and he still loves it.

Wow! Win a new lens!!

2009-07-12T21:37:00.002-04:00

I found this via a friend on facebook so I went to the blog. I think I've been to this blog before-it looks very familiar. So anyway I'm posting about it here. :)

WIN AN SLR LENS: Brand New Tamron Lens – 18-270mm or 28-300mm

the details plus how to enter (copied from the mcpactions blog):
I am very excited to have my 1st BIG lens give away on the blog. Tamron USA, Inc. is sponsoring the MCP contest for a brand new lens. The WINNER chooses from the 18-270mm (for a crop sensor Nikon or Canon) or the 28-300mm (for a full frame Nikon or Canon).

This would be an amazing lens to have for travel when changing prime lenses is inconvenient. I can just picture this lens on a trip to Disney World.

To enter, you will need to do the following:

- Post to your blog, twitter and/or facebook about this contest (let people know how to enter and provide a link)

- Come back here and leave a comment writing where you posted (with link so that it can be verified if your post is picked from the random drawing)

- In your comment, please write why you want to win this lens, where you would want to most the lens, and for fun tell us how many lenses you currently own.

To qualify, you must:

- Have a US mailing address that the lens can ship to – this can be yours or a friend or relative but make sure you have one prior to entering (Tamron USA is only authorized to sell and distribute in the US)

- Have a Camera that works with Tamron Lenses. If you do not have a Nikon or Canon SLR, a similar range lens for Pentax or Sony will be substituted.

- Do all the above items explained in the “enter section.”

- Please do not add comments more than once. I approve all comments to limit spam (unless have commented and been approved on another post in recent days). I will approve posts at least once every 12 hours - if not sooner. So be patient and check back. If you see your comment is on many times, email me and let me know what name was used and what post numbers, so I can delete the duplicates in fairness to all.

next photo lesson

2009-07-11T03:26:00.000-04:00

The lesson for today is to use a special texture that makes a picture look like an old fashioned photo (dirt and all. lol) Here are my projects-no originals this time. Too lazy. The project also included adding a brush, word art, etc. I added the brushes but I honestly think I prefer them without.