Happygrams for FCSS

 The Family and Community Social Services in our area has been giving out Happygrams to their clients.  There was an article in the paper this past week with an invitation for anyone who wanted to share a story, a joke, a drawing or anything else created from the heart to drop off their creations to help those who are struggling during this time of uncertainty.   I made a few fun little creations - mostly little panel cards - that I will be dropping off tomorrow.  I simply dug into my stash and found an item that inspired me and then gathered a few more bits to make it whole.  I also found some shrink plastic hearts which were created a while back.  I added holes, shrunk them and added hangers to them.  They would make fun window decorations!!  I had a fun day playing in my craft room in order to cheer others!!

After some internet research on Happygrams I found Tammy Tutterow had created a line of stamps with which to create Happygrams.  I downloaded some completed images, sized them and then colour printed them.  I layered them with cardstock and they will be added to my little creations and donated as well.          Therese

Another set of six crumb quilting squares

With the weather outside this morning being windy and cooler I decided to spend the morning on another set of crumb quilting squares.  I discovered two long strips of squares (2.5") which were obviously coordinating but not exactly the same so I decided to add what I could to make another set of six squares.  I started by dismantling the strips into the closest measure to ten inches, the final size I wanted for my finished squares.  Next, I cut strips from a piece of a green fabric which featured a country side landscape with flowers and animals and stitched them onto one side of six of the 10+ strips.  I then, stitched another piece of the original ones next to it.  I needed to add about 4" to what I had so I could trim out a 10" square.  I dug through my little stash of crumb scraps and found the brown and pink floral fabric of which I had enough to add a strip to each of the pieces I had already stitched together.  I then played with what was remaining of the original strips deconstructing and adding a floral pink fabric to make up the 4" that I needed.  I trimmed them all to 10" and have another set of six squares for quilting with.  It is interesting to me that this set also has a pink and green theme with brown thrown in as well.  These ones look much more quilted because of the originals strips I started with.     Therese

Quilting - Crumb square for trading

I had a bit of time this afternoon so I thought I would get started on some crumb quilting squares for my sister.  She has agreed to pass on her fabric scraps to me and I will pass back some 10" crumb quilting squares.  I started with a fairly large quilted piece which came in a bag of scraps and found a few other pieces that coordinated and got started.  I just kept sewing on pieces and making strips to add on until I could trim what I had to 10" square.  I see that there is one that has less green than the others but they generally coordinate fairly well.  I am really enjoying the crumb quilting process but I prefer to crumb quilt with larger pieces rather than those that are really tiny.  I am looking forward to making a few more in different colours!!

Therese

Slow Stitching - second little house

I have finished my second little house in my Slow Stitching project!!  I used a fused panel of fabric for the base of the house because it allowed me to match the pattern and have a slimmer house.  I added brown roof, a chimney, two windows and a double layered door.  I like the fun look of this house.  I stitched the chimney horizontally to give it more texture and interest.  I did three rows of stitching around the edge of the roof.  I used soft teal thread to make the three rows around the base of the house and I like the softness of the colours.  I added two windows and stitched them in place using similar colours instead of contrasting which makes them really bright.  I used two layers of fabric for the door - a brown in behind and a turquoise/peach pattern for the double door which echoes the house colours.  I added to dark red stitches for the handles one for each door. Happy with this one!  I will use try to change up a few things for the next house - roof line, windows and maybe a different front door placement.  We shall see!!!!!!!  Therese

Exchange cards featuring stamped greetings, decorative paper and punchies

For my Exchange cards this month I have made another attempt at creating cards from a card sketch which I rediscovered in my Inspiration file.  These are pretty much CAS cards though they are not necessarily quick in that some thought and auditioning has to be done with the elements you are using to get good balance.  I used rectangles and hearts in my last two cards and I thought that circles might work well so I hauled out my circle punchie stash and put together a few in varying size ( 1", 1.25", 1 3/8", 1 3/4") which I thought would work together.  Next, I went looking for some subtle decorative paper which I could use with my little collections.  After that I created coordinating cards to fit in the large envelopes I had chosen.  I cut the circles in about half - one part just a bit bigger than the other with scissors.  On hindsight, it might have been better to use my paper cutter because it cuts straight.  I found two different greetings  to use and stamped them onto the subtle papers I trimmed out in a coordinating ink colour.  I used a square triangle in order to get the lines of elements perpendicular to the sides of the backgrounds.  My purple greeting was created with magnetic letters - I am still missing my mount - so you can see that the greeting is not really straight but this only became very evident once I was gluing my elements in place so I decided to just go with it!!  I arranged all the half circles until I was happy with the layout of them, moved them up a bit, added a length of double sided tape and then glued the bottom ones in place on the tape and then added the upper ones over them using white glue applied with a fine tip applicator.  The circles give a more balanced look for this sketch but I did have to strongly resist adding dots or "something" to them.  I am enjoying the challenge of this sketch and look forward to using other elements to see if other shapes work better than the ones I have used so far.               Therese

Birthday card featuring a stamped greeting, decorative paper and hand drawn bows

I have been reviewing my Inspiration file folder and found a few cards using a similar sketch and decided to see if I could make that sketch work for me.  I took me a while to decide what shapes I was going to use and finally chose rectangles.  I cut a brown card to fit in a large envelope and then found this subtle decorative paper which I thought would work well with it.  I used my Making Memories magnetic stamp set to stamp the greeting in dark brown ink.  My metal mount is MIA so I had to improvise - took a bit of time!  I have a lot of stamped greetings that were stamped before I was happy with the coverage and layout of the letters.  While it was drying I dug out my little stash of orange scraps and cut a variety of rectangles and auditioned them to make an arrangement above the words.  Once I was happy with it I adhered them in place.  I turned my background over and created another set of rectangles and glued them in place when I was happy with the layout.  After they were all mounted I thought they were a bit boring so I added little hand drawn bows on the tall ones and added kraft fiber bows to the two small ones.  It adds some texture which was nice.  On hindsight, I could have flagged the ends or cut them with decorative scissors or a border punch to add some interest.  I like the straight edges on the pieces which nicely highlights the greeting!!  Not as successful as the originals but I will try again.  Happy with the result!!           Therese

CAS Get well card featuring a digital greeting and decorative paper

Still finding scraps to make cards from in my green paper scraps stash!!  These scraps had to be trimmed to create this background on the blue card I created to fit in one of my smaller envelopes.  I found the greeting (Desert Diva) in my stash and it perfectly filled the middle section on this card.  I distressed the edges and then sponged on some blue ink.  I ran the pattern tracing wheel all the way around and the added a bit of green sponged ink in the center section.  I adhered it to my card using 3D foam tape.  Again, this is a card layout I have used in the past but not recently.   Therese

Anniversary card featuring an embossed background and die cut label and an serendipity heart embellishment

My parent's anniversary is coming up and they will have been married for 66 years!!!!!!  Good on them!!  They are still living independently and are safe and well during this health crisis!  We are all grateful. 
I started with a large envelope and I made a white card to fit inside.  I chose a double sided white core green paper and embossed and sanded it a bit to get some texture on it.  I added a wide white ribbon and then adhered it to my card front.  I tied the remainder to the bottom portion using a single knot to simulate a bow. I rotated the knot on the ribbon to have the knot behind which gives a more elegant look on the front.  I die cut a white core pink layer and embossed it with the Swiss Dot embossing folder.  I sanded the dots and edges for texture and interest.  I dug through my serendipity stash and found this die cut heart that coordinated very nicely.  I tied on some pink fiber and mounted it to the label using 3D foam tape.  I mounted this focal element to my card front overlapping the ribbon. 
Therese

CAS Birthday card featuring decorative paper, digital greeting and tracing wheel texture

I kept digging into my green paper scraps and found these three that worked together.  These had to be trimmed to size.  I was happy to find a layout that worked well with this colour printed font greeting which I found in my stash.  The scroll frame is from CLKER.  I added the colour and greeting digitally and then laser printed it.  It had a white border which was quite distracting so I fussy cut it off and used my distress tool on the edges.  I masked the scrolled ends and added a bit of green sponged ink to help highlight them.  I added texture to my card base using my pattern tracing wheel before I adhered all of my elements to it.  I made this red card to fit in a small envelope.  

Therese

All occasion card featuring decorative paper and serendipity heart with a fiber bow

For my oldest daughter I am sending her this very cute all occasion card!!!!!!!!  I started with a small envelope and made a green card to fit inside.  I added a piece of colour printed decorative paper which I printed off a while back with strips of colour and a leafy pattern.  I punched a coordinating serendipity heart  and added a bright yellow layered heart (SU diecut).  I adhered it to the card front using 3D foam taper and then added the little turquoise bow using a small piece of glue dot.  I love the simplicity of this design!!!         Therese

Sewing - a fabric pencil case and coordinating book mark

Wanting to send a small gift to my grand daughter for her birthday I decided to make her something.  After a perusal of the options I decided on a pencil case and book mark. I found the heavyweight black fabric in my stash and then remembered that I had sorted through some very nice fabric scraps with black backgrounds a while back.  These floral strips were just the right colour to coordinate with the zipper I had chosen so I used them to accent the pencil case and the bookmark.  It took longer to decide on the project than it did to actually make it.  It was a fun little project and I hope she will find them useful.  Her large gift is one she is sharing with her siblings and because her brothers had their birthdays in February she already knows what it is.   This will be nice little surprise for her!! 

Therese

Anniversary card featuring embossed layers, border punched eyelet ribbon and serendipity hearts

Our daughter and son in law are celebrating their anniversary this month and I have made up this card for them. 
I started with a large envelope and created a brown card to fit inside.  I dug through my white core cardstock and found this similarly sized off cuts.  I embossed them with different embossing folders and then sanded their edges and middle to reveal the embossed design and them texture.  I adhered them to my card which left a gap perfectly sized for another scrap I had in my little stash.  I did not emboss the green one and trimmed it just a little longer.  I mounted red strip which was punched with the ribbon border punch from Stampin Up before mounting the green strip.  Thinking it needed a bit of something I stamped it with a script stamp (SU) in a dark ink which helped to unify the design.  I added two serendipity hearts punched with the SU heart punch over the green strip and then added three little brown rhinestones.  I found a coordinating greeting and mounted it just below the hearts.    Therese

Birthday card featuring a fun cupcake with a star and some ribbon flags

A fun card for one of my grandaughter's birthday which is coming up soon!!!  I started with a large envelope and created an off white card to fit inside.  I cut the piece of polka dot red paper for my background and decided to embellish it.  With a black Sharpie I added some hand drawn circles and three dots in all the large circles and put a single dot in the each small circle.  Next, I coloured all the circles in with yellow.  Finally, I used the open end of a nerf bullet to stamp red circles in between all the other ones.  The result adds some pizzazz!! I adhered it to my card front.  I laser printed the cute little cupcake (Melonheadz) after adding the birthday greeting, trimmed it to size and then watercoloured it using shimmery paint on the icing and a clear glitter gel pen on the dots and the swirl at the top.  I ran my tracing wheel on three edges and just below the greeting on the bottom.  I punched the bottom with a scallop punch (SU) and then added four shimmery embellishments in the four full scallops.  I layered it with red cardstock and added seven little red checkered ribbon flags on the right hand side.  To finish off my card I used 3D foam tape to adhere this focal element to my card front.  I like how the star echos the little yellow circles in my decorative paper.          Therese

Slow Stitching - my first house is finished

I have finished slow stitching my first house in my new Slow Stitching project!!  I have changed my daily routine in order to add a daily walk outside so slow stitching has moved to the evening but I don't always get to it so this project may take a little longer than I expected but it is summer time and there are other tasks that will need to be a priority.  No problem, this is a relaxing activity and I will do it as often as I can. 

I pinned the house body - a 5" square - and then added the windows and the door which I cut from scraps.  I used a 7" hoop to stabilize the area and then started stitching.  I did the perimeter of the house body with three rows of running stitch using a light yellow floss.  I stitched the windows in place using running stitch and dark brown floss.  I went around twice filling in the spaces on my first row on my second go around.  I like how that works!!  I added some bright yellow running stitches on the corners of all the panes to create a highlight.  I stitched the door using purple floss and then added a half round window and a door handle in light yellow floss.  I removed the hoop, pinned the roof in place and then flipped the top edge and put the chimney in place and stitching it down with several rows of running stitch in dark brown.  I replaced the roof and stitched it into place using dark maroon floss using three rows of running stitch all the way around.  I added some small black stab stitches in each little black line in the roof to give it a bit of texture.  Pretty happy with how it worked out!!  I am hoping to give all my little houses their own unique look so we shall see what the next one will look like.  I will consider adding foliage and flowers in between and possibly in front of the houses once they are all stitched in place.  We shall see!!          Therese

An all occasion card featuring TH wild flower die cut in purple, a strip of serendipity and a layer textured with my tracing wheel

For Mother's Day I created this card for my youngest daughter.  I features a TH wildflowere die cut in dark purple which I layered onto a strip of coordinating serendipity paper which I punched on the bottom using a label punch (SU).  I inserted it from the back so I only punched the edge.  I like the look!!  I added a gray ribbon to finish it off.  I chose a pink layer and tore the bottom edge then ran my tracing wheel all over it to add some texture.  I mounted my serendipity focal element  to it using double sided tape.  Next, I cut a light purple card to fit in a smaller non standard envelope and mounted my large element to it using double sided tape.  After mounting it I decided to add a row of piercings on both sides using my tracing wheel which frames it nicely.    Therese

CAS Thankyou card featuring decorative paper, a font greeting and some tracing wheel texture

Another CAS card that I created with inspiration from some online that left less blank space.  I have trouble leaving a lot of blank space.  I had the green scraps on my desk from another card I decided to see if I could come up with another card from that stash.  I found these scraps and only hand to trim them to length for this card!!  I adhered them onto a red card which I created to fit in one of my smaller envelopes.  I found the greeting in my stash, added two lines of piercing using my pattern tracing wheel and layered it onto a coordinating piece of green cardstock before adhering it to my card front over the decorative paper.  It still needed a bit of something so I added two little red circle punchies which I adhered with my white glue fine tip applicator.  I have made this sketch before but not very recently.  It was nice to be using designs from the past.    Therese

All occasion card featuring a serendipity heart, decorative paper flags and a square of green cardstock

This is the card I am sending my Mom for Mother's day.  It is my favorite colour combination - green and pink.  I chose a small envelope and made a green card for it.  I mounted a square of green cardstock and then added two pieces of flagged decorative paper - a pink one with tracing wheel texture and a green and pink one with roses just a little offset from each other.  I mounted a coordinating serendipity heart over them and added a little pink fiber bow using a small piece of a glue dot.  I have been seeing a lot of double flag cards on Splitcoast Stampers and it is the first time I have made one!!  Therese

CAS Sympathy card featuring three decorative papers, a die cut sprig and a little font greeting

Needed a sympathy card this week and decided to see if I could do Clean and Simple.  I admire many of the CAS cards I find on the internet but usually I cannot convince myself to leave so much white space. I did find a few that had a little less white space so I took them as inspiration and got started. 
I started with a smaller envelope and made a white card to fit inside.  I had my green scraps on my desk and decided to see if I could find three that coordinated enough to make a card.  I found these three which worked and so I just adhered them to my white card front.  I found the little diecut sprig (TH) in my little stash of leaves and used white glue applied with a fine tip applicator to secure it in place.  The little font greeting punchie (SU - Word Window) I found in my stash and adhered with 3D foam tape.  I am very happy with the result!!  I made a few more which I will be blogging soon!!

Therese

Birthday card featuring fabric, buttons and a cute sewing machine

I made this sewing themed card for my youngest daughter who is celebrating a special birthday this year!!!!!!  She is the owner of Winnipeg Sews and has been drawn to sewing since high school and is now using her talents to spread the love of sewing and quality handmade clothes that fit.  I found this digital sewing machine image online, sized it and added a font greeting before laser printing it.  I watercoloured the image to coordinate with my background - a piece of beautiful fabric.  It is removable in case she decides to add it to a little something she is making.  I trimmed the printed buttons and watercoloured those as well.  The fabric is stitched to the brown embossed piece of cardstock with gold thread through the holes in the buttons.  After adding some texture with a few strokes from my pattern tracing wheel I added a fabric ribbon and a button to the image and then adhered it to the fabric using four tiny pieces of double sided tape. I adhered this large element to my large ivory card front.  Wishing her all that is good on her special day!!         Therese

A little cowboy quilt

I have been working on and off on this little cowboy quilt which has been made up from two fabric panels I have had in my stash for a while.  After a bit of playing around with them to figure out how I could make them into a quilt I discovered if I overlapped them the designs lined up so I stitched them together!!  All the fabrics are heavier than the regular so it worked out well.  I stitched the two outside strips from precut pieces and they make a really nice border.  I added a couple strips of a solid taupe in between to help make a cohesive design.  I added fabric as batting and then a heavyweight cotton as the backing.  The binding is dark brown polyester cut from a raveled pillow sham.  I am please with how it turned out.  I will be washing it tomorrow and adding to my little pile of quilts for donation.           Therese