Fire starters - wax and pine cones with cotton wicks

I had an evening last week with a bit of time on my hands so I dug out the wax I melted a while ago and the pine cones I collected before it snowed and made up a few fire starters.  We have been enjoying Girl Guide cookies - chocolate mint!!  They have been repackaged this year and come in these nice clear trays which I have been saving knowing they would come in handy for something!!  They work perfectly for these fire starters!!  I put a cupcake liner on the top of the opening in preparation for the pinecones to be ready to put inside.  I melted the wax in a double boiler and then turned down the heat.  The wax was not cooling very quickly so I removed the top of the double boiler and placed it on a cast iron frying pan which worked really well for lowering the temperature.  The lower temperature of wax makes coating the pine cone thickly very easy.  Once it temperature was right I got started.  I managed to get about 5-6 done and then had to put the double boiler back into the hot water bath to bring the temperature up a bit to get it a bit more liquid again.  It was an ongoing process - in the bath, out of the bath but it worked well.  I had added cotton cording to the pinecones by slipping it under the bottom arms and wrapping it around til it was at the top.  I tied a single knot there encasing the few arms at the top.  Not sure it was necessary to have it wrapped around the bottom part.  I think you could just tie it to the top few arms tight enough to secure the cord to the pinecone so you can dip it without burning your fingers.  It worked really well to have the cord to dip them.  With the wax at the right temperature it coats the pinecone thickly in a couple of dips.  Once my pinecone was well coated I placed in on the cupcake liner I had placed over the opening in the tray and simply pushed it down into the cavity.  Once the wax solidifies you can lift them out very nicely.  So if you choose to package these a different way for giving you would really only need a couple of GG cookie trays to make a production line.  I started with yellow wax and then added teal to the yellow which made green.  I managed to get 4 packages ( 6 each) of yellow ones and 2 green ones.  I did find a few pinecones that were too big for the cavity so it would be good to test your pinecones before you start to make sure they are the right size.   

After they were all done I found some heavyweight paper in my stash that was long enough to make some wrappers for the trays.  I just measured, scored, folded and then glued the flaps to each other.  Worked really well.  I will add some information and instructions to them before gifting them away!! The fire starters can be used up and the sleeve can also be burned.  The plastic tray is recyclable so it can be put in the bin for pick up.  No garbage to dispose of!!!     Therese

Sewing - a zippered bag with fun bright colours

There has been mention of bags for women in need in our larger community and I decided to see if I could make one that I was happy with.  For this one, I reused a bag that was already while.  I did take it apart to add the decoration and the zipper piece.  I reused the handles (30") they way they were and boxed the bottom for it to be shorter and more functional.  It measures 4" across the bottom, 15.5" tall and 12.5" wide.  I made french seams inside so it is finished neatly inside.  I added tabs to the end of the zipper to make it easier to open and close.  I added three strips of the fun turquoise fabric just to decorate the front a bit.  I stitched them on using a decorative stitch on my machine which also will help to keep the raveling to a minimum.  I have a desire to create panels using my scraps and quilting techniques which I can then use to make bags.  I will need them to be between 32" and 34" and I would make them wider - 16" to 18" wide so they finish up a little larger than this one.   Therese

 

Christmas card kits - Peace on Earth gold embossed on brown, a layer of red vellum and beautiful flourished metallic paper for the background

This is my last set of 6 card kits for my friend.  I started by embossing this elegant image of a dove and a Peace on Earth greeting (Stampendous) onto small pieces of brown cardstock.  I trimmed them to size and then used my distress tool to roughen up the edges.  I added clear glitter gel pen to the leaves and the earth below.  I trimmed pieces of red vellum to size and then ran my pattern tracing wheel to the four sides to create four rows of paper piercing.  I paired these two elements with beautiful metallic paper with  wonderful flourishes.  I cut green cards for all of them.  I glued the decorative paper to my green card.  I adhered the dove image to my vellum piece with double sided tape and then adhered this larger element to my card front using double sided tape.  Love how it turned out!!!  Therese
 

Christmas card kits - cute little tree tags over hand decorated backgrounds

While I was in my stash of Christmas supplies I also found this set of tags which I printed off a while back.  They are also from Homemade Gifts made Easy.   I trimmed them from the sheet using my paper trimmer, added a large gold brad in the hole at the top and a gold confetti star to the tops of the trees using glue dots.  Next, I embellished the pots with gold gel pen and gold shimmer water colour.  Added a tiny bit of brown watercolour to the stems as well.  I auditioned them with several different backgrounds and eventually selected two different hand decorated ones from my stash. They are paste paper from a session I did a while back with my sister.  We had a lot of fun that day!!!  I trimmed them to size and ran my pattern tracing wheel on all four edges.  I trimmed dark green card fronts for all of them.  The tags still needed something to I added two short lengths of gold ribbon which I secured with double sided tape.  That was much better!!  So I adhered my background to my card front, added 3D foam tape to the back of my tag and secured it over my background.  Green and gold - great Christmas colours.  Therese
 

Christmas card kits - black and white tags with colourful seam binding

For this set of card kits I used tags I found in my stash.  They are printed from a printable PDF that I downloaded from Handmade Gifts made Easy.  I printed them in black and white probably in error a while back and when I dug them out I thought they would work well with a neutral colour scheme and bright seam binding.  I cut black cardstock and gray backgrounds for all of them.  The tags were trimmed from the letter sized sheet of paper with my paper trimmer.  I punched the hole at the top with a hole punch.  I chose six different colours of seam binding and cut two pieces - one long one and then a shorter one.  I tied the shorter one to the longer one with a single knot and then inserted the bottom end of the long piece into the hole sliding the tied piece to allow enough on each end of the longer one to be folded over the top and bottom of the decorative paper.  I added two strips of 3D foam tape to the back of the tag on each side of the ribbon and two pieces of double sided tape on the top and bottom of the back of the decorative paper.  I adhered the tag to my decorative paper and then folded the ribbon ends over the top and bottom securing them to the tape.  I trimmed off the ends if they were too long.  I added glue to the center area and adhered it to my black card.  I trimmed the ends of the shorter piece to be reasonably even.  These all have different greetings on them so they will all be different though they all have the same card and decorative paper.  Again, I added extra little pieces of release paper between the tape and backer to facilitate their removal.  Therese
 

Christmas card kits - a cute little gingerbread man and a snowflake

I got an order for some Christmas card kits from a good friend of mine.  She has limited vision so I made an effort to make the card kits user friendly for her.  I assembled the focal elements and added little piece of release paper between the pieces of double sided tape & 3D foam tape so they could be easily be identified and removed.  She really loves making cards so I know she will be enjoying the process of making these up in preparation for the holidays.  

For this card I started with the little gingerbread man (SZ).  I die cut it from brown cardstock and then recut the little hearts from scraps of red cardstock and replaced them in his belly securing them in place on the back with regular tape.  I added small white rick rack to his arms and legs securing the ends on the back using double sided tape.  I added a small scrap of black behind his eyes and secured that with regular tape.  He still needed a bit of something so I tied white cording around his neck - that was better!!!  I found the red strips in my scraps and cut them to fit either landscape or portrait with a bit of trimming.  I added a snowflake punchie to it using a brown brad.  It allows the strip to be used horizontally or vertically with the snowflake on either end.  I added double sided tape to the back of the snowflake strip and to the back of the decorative paper as well as a strip of 3D foam tape to the back of the gingerbread.  I used all different backgrounds and cardstock colours.  I made one up for a sample and she had five kits to put together.    Therese
 

Floral fabric cards featuring little embellishments of flowers layered and stitched

I have finally finished the whole set of these wonderful little floral elements which came to me from my Mom.  I would guess they were part of a panel.  The images are beautiful!!!  I have trimmed them from their original strip, layered them onto coordinating fabrics and then stitched the layers.  Some with hand stitching and other with machine stitching.  I have made the one on the right a Christmas cards to celebrate the poinsettia on the front.  You can see the other four here on my blog. They are going into my stash.  Therese

 

Crocheted washcloth

I found a bag of yarn on our  tour of Trash to Treasure last week. It had some cotton yarn in this soft brown to peach colour combo and I thought I would try to crochet a wash cloth with it.  I did a bit of online research because I have not crocheted much of anything lately.  I found a place that recommended a #6 hook for this yarn and found one in my bin!  Easy single crochets - 31 with one extra on the end to turn the corner.  It makes a very decent pattern with enough substance but not too tight!!  It took me about 4 hours to make but it is very quiet handwork which is beneficial in so many ways!!  It was fun!!  Therese
 

Cards as Gifts - Note cards featuring aqua flower confetti with a stamped greeting and some with doodling

I was feeling like doing something different for cards the other day so I dug out the little bag of Paula Dean aqua table confetti and played a bit.  I found a dozen small light aqua envelopes in my stash and decided they would go nicely together.  I decided to use the little note greeting which includes a little envelope and went from there.  I started with the set of cards that are below.  I added black centers to a few confetti and that looked good with the greeting.  The little circles are punchies which I saved a while back while I was punching holes for something!!  Generally, I arranged my confetti leaving room for my greeting then glued them into place, added the black centers and then stamped my greeting with black Versafine.  I just kept playing and coming up with new layouts.  I got to thinking I could draw in black lines so I did the one with the confetti in the corners and added dotted lines.  That went well!!  So I just started adding lines and dots to the rest of them.  Then I thought I could add leaves to some and finally I went a bit over the top with all the swirls around a central greeting.  They still needed a bit of something so I decided to add a bit of colour!!  I watercoloured the little envelopes yellow which was just the trick.  It was good to do that at the end when everything had dried really well.  

Had a wonderful time creating and got all of them done in a long afternoon!!!  I will be donating these to our church office.  Therese

 

All occasion card featuring a lake scene over ribbon with brads

 Made up a large taupe card to use in a large blue envelope from my stash.  I added a ribbon to my background and three brads before adhering it to my card front.  I watercoloured the trimmed the laser printed digital image of a lake scene (Public Domain Vectors) then added it to my large card using 3D foam tape.  I used this same image on this card.   This one is going into my stash!!  Therese

All occasion cards featuring fabric and hand stitching of cute little floral elements

I have finally managed to get a few cards finished using the little fabric floral elements I got from my Mom.  They were on a strip of fabric and I expect were on the edge of a panel of some kind.  They are very nice and I have layered and hand stitched them with coordinating floss on coordinating fabrics and then used double sided tape to secure them to a coordinating card front.  I have a few more to finish and have chosen and cut the fabric pieces for all of them and once they are stitched I will add them to card fronts.  I will be bringing these for Chili for a Cause tomorrow.  
 

Therese

Chili for a Cause - Fundraising for SLF - African Grandmothers

 Gramma Link Africa - Red Deer is having a chili fundraiser tomorrow at Gaetz United.  

Join us in helping empower women in Africa!!

Therese

Quilting - QAYG quilt using my Mom's squares and fabric

I finally finished the quilt (58" x 36") I started a while back using the squares Mom had sewn.  I used a Quilt As  You Go method which I modified to strengthen the quilt over all.  I cut blue squares which I stitched to Mom squares using a diagonal line following the row of dark squares with a layer of cotton flannel for batting in between.  I stitched the squares into rows and then added little strips of blue fabric to finish off the rows.  Then I stitched the rows to each other and added longer strips to finish off those seams.  I used strips of the same fabric to create my binding which only shows on the back.  I found the piecing together of the quilt a bit boring as I was always looking at the blue backing.  I much preferred the stitching together of the scrappy quilt which used the same QAYG method.  I will be using more interesting fabric for my backings when I use this method.  Much less of a problem in the traditional method of assembling a quilt.  You can see that I found a little cut in one of the squares on my final pressing!  I had not noticed it before!!  It needed to be repaired so I chose to cut a small square of dark blue which I fused over the cut.  I then stitched all the way around with dark blue thread and then used white thread to simulate the white stitched seam which ran right through the cut.  It barely shows which is what I was wanting when I made the repair.  Makes it unique and interesting. 

Therese

 

All occasion cards featuring reverse printed photos on transparencies, decorative paper and brads

I had printed several sheets of images when I created the third card for my September Card Club.   I made them all up to add to my stash!!  These are all fun images that were downloaded from Pixabay.  I used different coloured brads but other than that they are cardstock with coordinating decorative paper and a reverse printed transparency which leaves the front glossy and protects the image in between the layers.  I have used this technique with my own images in the pass and hope to again.  Therese

 

All occasion cards made up using small handmade paper sheets, embossed vellum and die cut embellishements

I had a few of these card kits leftover from my second card at my September Card Club.  I dug out a few more sheets of handmade paper and made up a few more kits before getting them all made up.  You can see again that I changed things up a bit as I got going.  

For this first one I embellished the die cut with gold foil on the back, a star brad which I coloured to coordinate with Sharpie and then added dots of red glitter glue.  I embossed the handmade paper with a snowflake embossing folder (CB), the vellum with a different one and then layered them wrapping the vellum behind both of them before I added them to my card.  I added the tree with 3Dfoam tape. 

The teal one has a serendipity heart die cut layered with silver cardstock which is scalloped and paper pierced. 

I added paper piercing to the handmade paper sheet before layering it and then added the embossed vellum and tree.

I tore two strips of vellum for the butterfly one and arranged them in a cross and layered them on the paper pierced handmade paper before layering them over the decorative paper and card front. 

The brown one has dark gold vellum wrapped on the onion skin handmade paper sheet to which I added two dark brown leaf die cuts (TH) and a little fussy cut button which I tied on with cording.  This large layer was added to the decorative paper on the card front. 

I embossed the green handmade paper sheet, added to the green paste paper then the strip of vellum wrapped around all the layers.  I added the hearts and then three iridescent sequins with small white brads before adding this larger layer to my pink card front. 

For the last brown one I tore a very slim vellum and added to the onion skin handmade paper.  I added a wider strip to the decorative paper.  I layered them and then added the brown leather leaf with cording and a brown brad through all the layers before mounting to my card front.   

Really enjoyed adding different elements and using the ones I had in a different way!!

Therese

 

All occasion cards featuring embossed handmade paper, paper piercing and ribbon

 I had quite a few more sheets of embossed handmade paper than I prepped for my first card at my September Card Club so I decided to make them up.  I will be needing more cards for our Chili for a Cause (GA) event in October so it made sense to make them up now.   

They were pretty much the same sketch - card front, decorative paper, embossed paper and ribbon flags attached with staples.  I am always changing things up so you can see that one has a brad and another has a little ribbon bow!!!  These are all handmade embossed paper sheets which were made up from moulds I created using hot glue on Jcloth scraps.  Therese

All occasion card featuring a hand stitched fabric patch, handmade paper and a little bow

My oldest granddaughter went on a trip this summer and brought me back a wonderful tea towel and so I made her this fun card.  She is really into creating and art - little crocheted stuffies and patches at the moment - so I made her a little fabric patch!!  Two layers of fabric with flannel in between.  I did blanket stitch in red all around the edge and then added stitching in red and black to keep the little pieces of fabric secure.  I added a little bow to created a focal point!! I stitched it to the handmade paper and then secured the handmade paper to the card front using little staples.  She will be able to remove the patch and add it to her collection!!  

Therese

 

September Card Club - cards featuring photos printed on transparency and mounted to our card over decorative paper

 For our last card I like to make it quick and easy!!  I printed a variety of photo images which I found on Pixabay onto the back of transparencies in reverse so they would show right side to the front.  I have used this technique before but it had been a while.  The last time I used photos I had taken but this time I decided for best use of my time I would pick a few from the site.  I was looking for photos with really good contrast so the backgrounds would have quite a few places to show through especially in the white or highlighted parts.  I was able to find quite a few that worked well.  I printed a few more than I printed for the class so I will have a few spare to add to my stash once I get them made up.  

For card one I layered the swan transparency over a very shimmering blue hand decorated paper which I made a while back - just leftover paint from a project painted onto scrap paper.  It beautiful the way the shimmer comes through the transparency!!  

For my second card, I layered this vintage car over a light blue decorative paper which gave the sky a bit of colour and texture.  

I applied a small piece of double sided tape to the back of the image in a place where it is quite dark.  I adhered this to my background paper.  I placed another small piece of double sided tape to the back of the decorative paper and applied it to my card front.  I pierced a hole in each corner with a push pin and then added a small brad in each one.  This secures all the layers very nicely and leaves the front neat.  I added a full insert in these cards to hide the tangs of the brads which show on the inside of the card.  

Great all occasion cards!!!  Therese

September Card Club - handmade paper sheet embellished with embossed vellum and unique 3D elements

 For our second card I chose to use some of the small handmade paper sheets we had made at our paper making session.  For my first card, I started with a teal card and added a coordinating decorative paper.  I wrapped a strip of embossed vellum around my teal sheet of handmade paper and glued the ends to the back.  I assembled three embossed flowers to which I added a little while eyelet to keep them all in place.  Love this little floral embellishment!! I added it to the front of my card using 3D foam tape.  

For my second card I started with a deep plum card and added a piece of hand decorated paper which coordinated nicely.  I wrapped a strip of embossed silver vellum around my sheet and then glued it to my card front.  I layered an "Always" tag to a coordinating tag and added a ribbon with a tiny white brad to create my focal element.  I added to my card using 3D foam tape.  The "always" message can be used for a variety of occasion - always there for you, always my best friend, etc!!!  It was fun to use our handmade paper in our cards.  Therese

September Card Club - all occasion cards featuring embossed handmade paper sheets, ribbon and decorative paper

 It was so good to be back to cardmaking with my friends!!!  So good to see them all!!  Some of us had made handmade paper together at the end of August so I was inspired to create with the sheets we had made.  Our first card was created using white embossed handmade paper sheets.  There was a wide variety of images which helped to expand the occasions they could be used for.  I started my first card with a sheet that featured a rose.  I added some paper piercing with my pattern tracing wheel on all four edges and then adhered it to my pink decorative paper.  I folded three little lengths of ribbon in half and stapled them over the edges of my handmade paper sheet.  I added a small staple to the lower left hand side as well.  I glued this large element to a light green card!!  My favorite colour combo and a card perfect for a friend's birthday or the arrival of a little girl!!  

For my second card I chose a sheet with a little bird on it.  I repeated the paper piercing and the ribbons. These were all in teals and blues.  Again, a card for any occasion you can start with " A little birdie told me. . . . ." or perfect for the arrival of a little boy!!!  

We had a wonderful time and everyone applied their creativity to their cards to make them truly their own!!!    Therese

Sewing - casserole carrier with one of Mom's quilted squares

I made up a square casserole carrier using a quilted square that was in her stash.  I had to add a border to make it 22" but I found a large piece that worked perfectly for the border on the front, the inside of the carrier and the handle.  These are my Mom's colours - just what she loved most.  I found some blue scraps to create the loops and got it done!!  I will offer it to my sister who shares the love of blues.  

Therese

 

Large all occasion card with a watercoloured lake scene over a stamped and pieced background

This lake scene is from Public Domain Vectors.   I laser printed it, trimmed it to size and then watercoloured it.  Fun to try something new - reflection of the sky on the water in yellow, oranges and reds.  I wanted a textured background for this beautiful scene so I found some gray paper and then stamped it in a light gray ink with this harlequin stamp (SU) but because this stamp is hard to clean I got a very grayed brown image.  It worked so I just kept going.  I stamped "worn" (SU) over the top in black and that was even better.  I collaged two strip of gray to a black one and embossed that with a diamond embossing folder.  Added three pewter eyelets and tied in a piece of black ribbon.  I adhered this background to a dark gray card and then mounted by lake scene over the strip using 3D foam tape.  Very happy with how this one worked out.  Theres
 

Quilting - QAYG modified with lots of poly cotton scraps from Mom

I have finished my QAYG experiment where I have stitched scraps of fabric on one side of my flannel batting and then did the same on the other side leaving an extra seam allowance on all sides.  I did the same colour on both sides of the squares so they could easily be laid out.  I stitched the rows first finishing the seams as I went.  To finish the seams I cut strips of fabric about 1.25" wide and then folded in both sides and ironed them down.  I used a cardstock strip 1" wide to make sure that my strip would over the seam allowances after I pressed them open.  

You can see where the green square is joined to the blue square on the left hand side of the photo. The seam has been pressed open and I have the piece that will cover it laying over the open seam.  There is already a blue one stitched in place on the right.  I simply pinned it in place and stitched both sides down through all the layers.  This method makes the quilting more integral and with the seams reinforced less likely to unravel if there is tugging and so on.  I added the same sort of strips over the seams which I used to stitch the rows together. 

Here is one side of the quilt.  Here you can see all the small strips I added to cover the seams between the squares and the rows. In this method of assembly the binding only shows on one side of the quilt as it is stitched to the outer seam allowances on each side and then folded over twice onto the quilt and stitched in place.  I did the top and bottom first and then each side with square corners.  I am really happy with how scrappy it looks!!!!!  Both sides!!!!  Therese

 

Slow Stitching - a cute little folk art bird

 I found this little bird online. It is offered by Chloe Redfern - Folk art Bird.  I sized it for my piece of fabric and traced it with a Crayola Ultra Clean gray marker.  Christi Johnson in her Mystical Stitches book indicated that she had good luck getting this ink to wash out after finishing her embroidery.  With school supplies on sale last month I picked up a set of 10 for about $4 which I thought was pretty good.  I have been working on it off and on and will be posting an update very soon!! 

Therese

Papermaking session

I have a few of my friends over to make paper a while back.  We started with white paper and made a few embossed sheets that are the perfect size for the front of an A2 sized card.  I have quite a few moulds I made using hot glue so I dug out a few and everyone could choose the ones they wanted.  

 I had several batches ready to go so we made some sheets with blue paper that incorpated snippet of blue paper, white paper with geranium petals, teal paper (white coloured with paper napkin), purple with snippets, ivory with onion skins, green with snippets, warm green with naturals and snippets of paper and dark teal with snippets.  It was a very fun evening and everyone took home their stash of little sheets and laid them out so they could dry.  Mine took a little longer than I remembered - the better part of overnight and the next day.  

I used up the leftovers from the session making the larger sheets - 8.5" x 5.5".  Ivory and petals, pink and petals, more pink and tissue paper snippets, yellow with onion skins, several more batches of greens and browns with naturals as I combined previous batches with others to finish them off.  Finally, the greens and teals and the purples and I was done.  I have a stack of new papers which I hope to use in my cardmaking class at the end of the month. 

Therese

 

Large all occasion cards with fun backgrounds, ribbon & lace and cute gnome and cupcake images

My last two cards for family occasions!!  The top one started with a deep red card and then I used a hand decorated piece for the background.  I embellished it with embossing and then rubbed it with a red stamp pad.  Perfect!  I added an embellished ribbon and three little blue eyelets before adhering to my card.  The gnome is from  skogstokiga  (has bee removed).  I coloured it to coordinate, paper pierced all four sides and added it with 3D foam tape.  The next cards features a little cupcake by the same person.  I used an off white card, pink polka dot paper to which I added ribbon and lace before adding it to my card.  I watercoloured the cupcake, paper pierced all four sides and mounted it to a pink cardstock before adding it to my card with 3D foam tape. 

Therese

 

Large birthday card with a lovely girl with balloons over an embossed serendipity background

 An elegant card for a special person!!  The girl with the balloons is from Pixabay.   I colour printed it, trimmed it and then added paper piercing on all four sides before layering onto green cardstock.  I have had the pink and green serendipity in my stash for a while and it coordinated to nicely with the girl's dress.  I embossed it and added the border punched green layer and the pink ribbon before adhering to my pink card front.  I added the image using 3D foam tape.   Therese