A large card featuring a reused panel and a watercoloured flower image - my own digital stamp!

This is my last card for my sister in this cardmaking session!!  I reused the second panel from one I made recently with the scalloped edge.  Unfortunately, I had already used the other layer to make the other card so I could not trace the pattern so I just made it up - drew it in with a pencil and trimmed it with small scissors!!  It worked out well!!  Better than I expected!!  I decided to frame this floral image.  This is a digital stamp that I made myself!!!! You can check out the pages of doodling I did while I was watching a doodling video on YouTube!!  I did not always follow her instructions and did not do all the ones that she made but I was pretty happy with my pages of doodling.  I recently found these in my craft room and decided to scan them so I could use them as digital stamps.  I scanned all of the pages but only isolated about a half dozen images so far.  I cleaned them up digitally before saving and printing them.  I am pretty happy with this one!!!!!  After printing I trimmed the image to fit in the opening I had cut in my panel with a rectangle die (Nestibilities).  I added a ribbon below the opening and then a little gold star brad over the knot leaving the ends to extend on both sides. I adhered this large element to my large green card.   I watercoloured my image and added it in the opening using 3D foam tape.  I will certainly be doodling more pages of images - maybe butterflies or mushrooms next time!!  There are a LOT of doodling videos online!!  I will be making myself a few more digital stamps!!           Therese

Another large card that features a reused card front and some silk flowers

Still making cards for my sister!  For this card I created a large blue card and then trimmed a piece of pink shimmery paper to leave a small border all the way around.  I trimmed my card front into three pieces - two plaid borders and the main section in the middle.  I adhered both borders to my pink layer and then added the middle section in between spacing it evenly top and bottom.  I found some coordinating silk flowers, added iridescent white sequins and mounted them in the gaps using tiny white brads.  This worked out so well - a beautiful card with lots of texture and dimension!!   Therese

A large birthday card featuring a reused card front and layered punchie greeting

What a cute little peacock!!  Another card I made for my sister.  The card front was just perfectly sized with rounded corners so I dug in her stash and found a piece of blue cardstock that had a white core and decided to create a sanded background for the peacock.  I embossed my trimmed piece of blue cardstock with a swirl embossing folder and had to do it four times to get it all embossed. The center portion was a little funky looking but fortunately it is covered and the edges look good after a bit of sanding!!  I adhered my background to a large white card and then adhered my peacock panel.  I added a little layered greeting  - a punched laser printed greeting laid over a little green scalloped circle (Nestibilities) and adhered to the card on the lower right.  I added two blue rhinestones to the greeting because it just seemed right to add a bit of bling to this card!!  Therese

A quick and easy card created with a reused card front with a beautiful saying & great artwork

Still making cards for my sister and this one was pretty easy!  I loved the artwork and the greeting so I decided to use it as it was!!  Unfortunately, the one side was straight because I had trimmed it from the original card so I used the other piece of the card and traced the scallops onto the back and cut them out!!!!!!!!!!  I am very happy with how that worked out!!  I did add a little gold star brad because it just needed a little bit of texture and dimension!!  I created a large blue card and simply glued this large element to the front of it!! 

Therese

A large card with a beautiful maple leaf on handmade paper and some ribbon and brads

This is another card I found in my stash of cards to be refurbished.  Again, it is one my sister made years ago which featured a large pressed leaf mounted to handmade paper.  Unfortunately, the leaf had missing pieces due to its travels so I managed to remove it and so dug in my stash of pressed leaves and found this one that worked well with the green and the handmade paper.  I wanted to add some ribbon below the leaf but that hid the end of the stem so I decided to cut the stem and rearrange the bottom down a bit.  I used white glue to position both pieces to the handmade paper.  When the glue was dry I added the maroon and gold ribbon which I had layered and mounted it over the bottom section of the leaf covering up the gap in the stem.  I added three little square brads which I coloured to coordinate with a maroom sharpie marker.  I glued the ends of the ribbon to the back of the green layer and then adhered this large element to the front of a large maroon card.  I was happy to be able to give this card another go around!!  Therese

A fabric needle book case as a gift

 My Mom is having a milestone birthday this year and we are celebrating as a family.  Not sure she has ever had any sort of birthday celebration so I am so grateful to my sister for suggesting it and getting it started!!!  I wanted to make her something special that would be just for her.  She is a long time sewer and quilt maker so I thought it would be appropriate to have my gift connected to these activities.  After a bit of time I was inspired to make her a needle book.  Not sure she has one but I do know that she has a little metal box in which she stores her hand stitching supplies which she often took with her when they traveled and went camping.  She certainly in the last few years has embroidered panels for quilts with little scenes especially for baby quilts.  It keeps her hands busy when Dad is watching TV.   So I went looking for inspiration online and there are a LOT of images and tutorials.  I was tempted to make several of them but eventually came to the realization that I had to make a needle book that my Mom would appreciate rather than one that was most appealing to me.  So I decided it had to have a quilted cover and it would be best to be rectangle in shape.  Blue is her favorite colour so I choose four fabrics that coordinated and cut strips that when combined would give me a 5" x 8" rectangle.  I wanted to include some hand stitching so I cut a strip from plain fabric and embroidered some flowers in pinks to echo the bit of pink in two of the fabrics.  I went back to the notes I had made when I embroidered these felted wool coasters.   I drew in a few basic lines, stitched the stems in green and then added the flowers which are all french knots in three different colours of pink embroidery thread.  Love how they worked out!!!!!  I stitched the panel to the area of my rectangle which would in the end be the front of my needle book.  I cut a piece of batting and then a piece of cotton for the inside.  I chose a subtle white and gray with a few pink flowers to again echo the pink from the front.  I added an elastic loop then stitched around the edge leaving an opening so I could turn it inside out. Once I had it turned I pressed it really well.  I hand stitched the opening closed and then added hand stitching to the rectangle to better incorporate the three layers and to give a bit of texture to the front.  Finally, I machine stitched all the way around the edge to finish it off nicely.  I cut two pieces of batting to create pages inside my needle book and stitched on ribbon to add a decorative feature and to help give a bit of order to the needles as they are added.  I stitched the pages to the cover down the center using my sewing machine.   I created a heart shaped button for my needle case using shrink plastic and embossed it with a rubber texture mat while it was hot to give some texture.  I hand stitched to the front of my book and the elastic loop will now keep all the pages nice and neat.  

I am looking forward to giving it to her and I hope it will always be a reminder of a special day and how much I love her and how much I appreciate how much of an inspiration she has been for my life.  It sometimes takes years to really appreciate how another's life has been an inspiration for your own!!!!  I am grateful my mother is still here with us so I can tell her in person!!!!  Therese

A birthday card for my Mom (85) featuring a blue tag, an embossed collage background and a beautiful silk flower

My Mom will be 85 at the end of the month and we will be celebrating with her!!!!!  Blue is her favorite colour so I always like to include it when I am making a card for her.  I started with a large blue envelope and made a blue card to fit.  Next, I worked on a blue and white collage background. I dug through my scrap paper bucket and found a variety of white and blue pieces - a bit of watercolour trimmed from a decorative paper piece, some glittery gift wrap, tissue paper, etc.  I dug out a piece of scrap paper and glued on my white and blue scraps which included a few pieces of sheet music.  Once it was dry I embossed it with a large embossing folder which I had to do in three different runs to get it all done.  I stitched on two lengths of while lace and then adhered a length of white seam binding over the stitching tucking the ends to the back and adhering them with double sided tape.  I found this tag in my stash which coordinated so I added a small ribbon at the top and adhered it over my lace.  I found the greeting in my stash, trimmed it to size, distressed its edges and glued it to my tag.  A trip to my silk flower stash yielded these blue and white silk flowers which I layered and secured with a white button brad.  I added it to my collage background before adhering this large element to my blue card front.  I am very happy with how it turned out!!  My Mom is an amazing woman who has lived her life within certain confines but did it with grace.  This is a perfect card for her!!  She has been a seamstress and quilter most of her life hence the stitching and button brad!!             Therese

A birthday card featuring a sanded embossed background, bit of decorative paper and a layer with an image, a greeting and some fiber

One of our son in laws has a birthday coming up - same as my Mom's!!  I started with a large beige envelope and I created a sandy card to fit inside.  While in the drawer for cardstock I found the packaging for a neutral cardstock pack and I thought that maybe I could emboss it and sand it like white core cardstock.  It worked very well.  I trimmed the other edge and taped it to the other edge which added a strip of beige and brown.  I trimmed it to fit on my card front.  I added a small piece of decorative paper (gift wrap) with a driving theme just gluing it over the background.  I found the watch and scarf  image (Beccy's Place) in my stash and the greeting as well.  I watercoloured the image to coordinate with the paper and distressed its edges when it was dry.  I also distressed the edges of the trimmed greeting.  I mounted them to a coordinating rectangle of brown cardstock and added a leather looking fiber in between.  I tied a shorter piece to the front to simulate a bow!!  I mounted this large element to the front of my card using 3D foam tape.  Really like how this one turned out and it was fun to use free supplies!!  Therese

A large card featuring a beautifully embossed card front, some shimmery paper and a collaged focal image

I have been enjoying the process of making some large cards for my sister!!  This one features a large embossed card front which had a greeting in the center embossed area.  I decided to replace the greeting with a layered focal element.  I trimmed the shimmery pink paper first to fit in the embossed rectangle and then when looking for an image that would work.  I found a collaged postcard which I received in a swap which had the right colours and could be trimmed to the right size.  So I trimmed the large flower from the postcard.  I am guessing it is a floral paper napkin which has been stamped in black with a flower image and then the image has been coloured.  It is perfect!  Just what I needed.  I added two little strips of shimmery pink to the top and bottom of the card and mounted this large element to a dark pink card front!!  I tried to convince myself to add a greeting.  In the end, it did not get a greeting because I could not find anything that worked really well!!           Therese

A cute thank you card featuring a reused card front, some ribbon and silk flowers

Another large card for my sister!  This one features a very cute pink and yellow card front which was donated to me for cardmaking.  I made a large white card and then trimmed a coordinating pink layer leaving a even margin all the way around.  I trimmed the original card into three pieces - the yellow top portion, the little border and the bottom floral portion.  I adhered the top and bottom to my pink layer and then added a length of light pink ribbon in the gap between the two securing the ends to the back of the layer using double sided tape.  I positioned the little border over the ribbon and added three silk flower/sequin embellishments which were adhered with little white brads.  I then adhered this large element  to my large white card to finish my card.  I love this colour combination!!

Therese

Sympathy card featuring a reused card panel, a punched greeting and some ribbon

I made a few sympathy cards for my Mom.  They are at an age that they are often in need of them and she is no longer making them.  I chose a few envelopes and made cards to fit in them.  This one is a light green one and I trimmed this image from the front of a used card just fussy cutting on the to left and then cutting the other portion straight to the edge of the panel.  I used scalloped decorative scissors on the right hand edge and embossed a line using my scoring tool.  I used a push pin to pierce each scallop to add texture and interest.  I punched an opening in the card with the regular oval punch (SU) and then punched a little laser printed greeting with the small oval punch (SU).  I wanted to add a ribbon to the top right but needed a slot behind the layer to bring the ribbon up so I drew a very light line and used an exacto knife to cut it in the front of my card.  I inserted the pink ribbon into the slot from the back (inside of the card front) and the through the opening when I glued my decorative element to my card front.  I was then able to tie the two ends on the front with a double knot.  I sponged the edges of my little oval greeting before positioning it in the opening.  I will make a few more for her.  Therese

A nautical themed card featuring a reused card front

 I am making up some large cards for my sister who a few years ago left a pile of cardstock and decorative papers at my house with me promising to make cards for her from her stash!! I have been making cards for her regularly and usually when I know I will be seeing her so I can give to her in person.  With Mom birthday celebration coming up I decided to see if I could get a few made.  I dug through my stash of cards to be reused and found this one my sister made years ago that features a paper napkin image of a schooner which she laminated onto a piece of white handmade paper - a very fun and effective technique!!  The greeting below it was stamped and clear embossed.  Not much had to be done as this was originally a large card so I trimmed it from the back and mounted the card front to a large white card.  Perfect!!

Therese

A large birthday card featuring a stamped & stenciled background, a bit of teal doily and a butterfly punchie

Another birthday card which features the last two pieces from my large teal doily!!!!!  I layered the last two pieces onto a layer of dull gold cardstock and die cut a 1 7/8" opening using my round Nestibilities.  I started my background with a warm leafy paper with I stamped and stenciled  with coordinating colours.  I mounted my background to a large light aqua card and then mounted my accent strip to it.  I found this fun paper that coordinated so I punched a little butterfly (SU) and tied gold cording to it center to create antennae.  After auditioning it on my card I decided to add a circle of gold paper to the opening before mounting my butterfly with 3D foam tape.  I found a little laser printed greeting which coordinated so I flagged one end and tucked the other under my butterfly!!  It has been fun to do a bit of collage, stamping and stencilling!! 

Therese

Teesha Moore patches combined to make a cover for our Trailer Journal

A Teesha Moore cover for our trailer journal!!!!!!! I have been making Teesha Moore inspired squares for quite a while as I really love the hand stitching and the very creative look of them.  For some reason I have been resistant to combine them into larger projects though there is enough inspiration online to make a wide variety of projects from journal covers, trivets, mug rug, and bags!! I did do a composition book journal cover a few years ago. You can check it out here, but have not really come up with anything else for quite a while.  Recently, we purchased a travel trailer and at an event on the weekend my aunt, Maria, suggested that we keep a trailer journal to document our travels and the repairs and improvements along the way.  I was immediately inspired to use my stash of Teesha Moore patches!!!!!!!   
I dug out my bag and started sorting them to general size and then placing them on the cover of a composition book leaving a bit of over hang on the top and bottom so I could stitch up the flaps on both ends that will hold the book in the cover.  It was so great!!!!!  I decided to use my three stitch zigzag on my sewing machine and multicoloured thread to attach them to each other.  The stitch is wide enough to have decent purchase on both pieces and with the multicoloured thread I found it did not distract from the colourful hand stitching I had done on the edges of the patches.  I ensured that I double stitched at all the joining points to ensure integrity in the cover and it went together fairly quickly using the sewing machine.  I had individually hand stitch the surface of the patches and then used hand stitching to combine them into a cover when I made the last cover which was a bit time consuming.  I still plan on hand stitching the individual patches on this cover and using one of them to give it a title - probably the coral ferny one which will give the best contrast.  It will be a great hand stitching project for around the campfire!! I am so very pleased with it!!!!!!!! Here are a few more photos!!

The back of the cover!  Love that little rainbow on the right hand side of the front.

The two inside flaps.  The one on the left is quite loose so I will be adding an elastic to the inside to tighten that up a bit but the extra give will allow the storage of a pen or two.  

Here is the inside of the cover with the composition book removed.  You can see here that I used a blue bobbin thread and it is less beautiful than the cover.  It might have been better to use a neutral colour but in the end no one is likely to ever see this part of it so all is good!!

Therese

A birthday card featuring a teal doily, handmade paper flower and a shimmery flourish

I found this handmade paper flower in my stash and thought it would work well with my teal doily so I trimmed a couple more pieces off the whole for this card.  I started with a large envelope and I created a large sun yellow card to fit inside.  I wanted to tone down the card colour a bit so I used a doily stamp(SU) and stamped in a few times on the front using a blue ink.  Did just what I needed it to do!!  I adhered the two doily pieces in opposite corners of my card and the auditioned my handmade paper flower.  It seemed to need something  - a flourish maybe!!  But what colour should it be?  I did a search online to see what sorts of colours would work.  It was suggested that green, orange or gray would be good choices.  I dug through my metallic paper stash and chose this piece of junk mail which I saved because of its shimmery finish.  I cut it out with a large flourish (SX) die and trimmed it into two pieces before layering it under my flower.  Just what I needed!!!  I found this perfectly coordinating greeting in my stash so I trimmed it to size, highlighted the edges in teal and adhered it my card front using 3D foam tape.  Love it!!!!!!!  Very bold!!   Therese

Anniversary card featuring piece of a teal doily, laser printed decorative paper and heart die cuts and a tiny greeting

 I have been gifted a little stack of these teal doilies and decided to see what I had that coordinated in my paper stash.  I had this fun flower decorative paper which is a digital image which I laser printed a while back.  I had started with a large white card and it seemed too stark so I sponged the edges with pink to help it coordinate with the paper.  I added two sections of the teal doily in opposite corners and then added two embossed white heart die cuts which I also sponged with pink to make them less stark.  To finish off my card I tucked a tiny laser printed greeting among the hearts which worked very well.  Those teal doilies have a lot of presence!!         Therese

Two more thank you cards featuring punched greetings, decorative paper backgrounds and glittered embellishments

These two cards are made up from kits from a previous class.  I followed the sketch for the pink one - punched a hole in the decorative paper, added an embossed strip with a bit of ribbon tied to it and used 3D foam tape to adhere the flower into the opening!!  I sponged the greeting before adhering it to my card front using 3D foam tape.  This large element was adhered to a coordinating card front.  I changed up the other one to include a longer strip, punching the opening to the side, using a landscape format but I did use the same type of greeting which I sponged a little before adhering with 3D foam tape.  Chose not to add ribbon as the greeting was going to be placed across the strip instead.    Therese

Birthday card featuring an upcycled card front, ribbon and a punched border

I found this card front in my bag of donated cards and thought it would be perfect for my sister whose birthday is coming up soon.  She loves to sew and makes all sorts of beautiful bridal gowns so I think this will be perfect!!  I love the colours and I am sure she will too!
I started by finding a large pink envelope and made a dark pink card to fit inside.   I trimmed the card front, layered it onto black cardstock which I trimmed to leave an even border when placed on the dark pink card.  I punched the bottom edge with a eyelet border punch (SU) and then added a length of iridescent ribbon in between the pattern and the card front which coordinates with the glittery accents on the image!  I adhered this large element to my dark pink card to finish it off!! 

Therese

A Minion clay creation!

I had the opportunity to do a creating with clay session earlier in June and my creation was finally dry enough to paint so the last week of school I went back and started painting him.  It was a short session so I did not get it finished but I did manage to bring him home.  I finished painting him at home with the acrylic paints I have on hand and it worked out pretty good.
How did this come about??? 
My friend and neighbour, Alison gave me a call and invited me to come at the last minute to make a clay creation so I headed out with her to the art classroom at her school and was given a large block of clay and encouraged to make something with it.  We had basic tools and mostly used our hands to get the clay to look like we wanted.  There were more than a dozen people there  - staff as well as friends.  With such a short timeline I did not have many ideas.  For some reason I thought a Minion would be good, though as you can see from my creation I did not have the finer aspects of their construction down pat so he is a bit of a hybrid.  I only came to that realization when I searched for an image to get the colours right!!  So this one is wearing a vest over his denim overalls!!!  I had already started with some of the elements the wrong colour so I had to change those but in the end it worked out quite well.  The acrylic paints dried quite quickly so I was able to clear coat him the next day.  I gave him about 3 coats of glossy clear finish so I think that will keep him looking good for a quite a while.  The others in the session were much more creative that I was - Alison made a cute little pig to add to her collection.  There were angels, movie characters, etc!!!  The art teacher made a very well executed Viking!!!!    Therese

Thank you cards featuring hand printed maple leaves, laser printed greetings and some border texture

A couple more Thank you cards!!  I found these printed maple leaves a while back and they have been hovering in my craft room for a bit!!  I printed these a while back using acrylic paint onto my own handmade paper!!  I trimmed down their backgrounds and added greetings - a punched greeting (SU- Word Window) with a copper brad and a vellum greeting folded over the edge of the handmade paper.  I added texture to their borders using an embossing folder on one and my tracing wheel on the other before mounting them onto coordinating card fronts.  Love these printed leaves!!  Therese

Fabric name tags

I made fabric name tags for our reunion this month!!  I started with scraps of fabric about 3-4 wide and stitched them all together making sure they were not too wide so there would be different fabrics in each tag.  I made a LONG strip and then folded over the edges and pressed it to be 2" wide.  I then cut white cotton strips 2.5" wide and folded the edges over until them met in the middle to provide more opacity.  I used multi coloured embroidery thread as my top thread and stitched both sides of my piece strip making a wavy line on each edge.  Next, I laid my white strip (folded side down) on the open side of my strip to cover the raw edges and stitch up both sides to secure them together.  Then, I cut this long strip into 3.25" pieces to make each name tag.  I then stitched all around the edges of each tag with a few extra on the raw ends to secure all the pieces to each other and provide stitching between the raw edge and the hole for the tie.  Once they had all been top stitched I ironed them and stack 4 to a pile and punched the holes for the ties using my Cropadile.  Worked beautifully!!  I had a few ties (T Shirt yarn) cut but my sister has cut a lot more in vibrant colours which she will bring along.  You can see below how the ties are threaded into the holes. 

Here is how it looks tied on to my wrist!  They will be wristbands which is a new way of doing things but this way some of my stash disappeared, used up some thread that was older and what was thin on spools and maybe they will actually keep them for future use.  If not, we will collect them and maybe we can use them to make a book cover or something!!!  We will be provided black fine tip markers for them to add their names.  I expect we will find them tied to all sorts of things like ankles, belt loops, hat bands, buttons, zipper pulls, etc which works just as well.  I was able to tie this myself because the t-shirt yarn is so stretchy!!  I am happy with them though they did take a bit more time than I first thought.  I did change up the design a bit using decorative fabric instead of the plain white and creating finished edges on two sides as well.  Initially, I thought a rectangle of white, gray or denim, two holes and a t-shirt yarn tie.  Not to pretty - but quick and easy!!!           Therese

Thank you cards featuring felted wool acorns with hand stitching, embossing and a laser printed greeting

Needing a few more thank you cards I dug through my kits to see if there was any that I could make up.  I found these two which were created for my May cardmaking class.  I changed them up though which often happens with me as I always have more inspiration of how it could be done.  I tore my papers and embossed the center space before adding the decorative papers to my layer.  I adhered these large layers to my coordinating card fronts and then adhered only one little acorn in the gap.  I trimmed and sponged some coordinating laser printed greetings from my stash and adhered them to my card fronts to finish off another two cards!!         Therese

A thank you card featuring stitched handmade paper, a punched greeting and a glittery butterfly

I had a request for a few thank you cards so I had a go at making a few today!!  This one features a stitched handmade paper background which I made a while ago.  I simply tore strips of coordinating handmade paper (which I made myself) and then stitched all the way around with white thread using my sewing machine.  I adhered this background to a purple card, added the laser printed punched greeting (SU) and finished it off with a glittery butterfly embellishment. 

Therese

Birthday card featuring stars, ribbon and a laser printed chalk greeting

I made this  card for my son's birthday!!  I started with a large envelope and made a white card to fit inside.  I found this blue colour printed background paper in my stash and thought it would work well.  I cut it to size, added a black ribbon and adhered it to the front of my card.  I added a wide variety of stars from tiny ones to a large gray multi die cut one!!!  I mounted the large one with 3D foam tape after gluing all the stars together on the back with tape.  I mounted the others with white glue using a fine tip applicator.  After they were dry I added the greeting which is a digital image which I laser printed and trimmed to size before tucking it under the edge of the star and adhered it in place using double sided tape.  I finished off my card by adding glitter and shimmer!!  I added pearly shimmer paint to the medium stars, clear glitter with a gel pen to the second smallest die cut in the large star and a silver foil confetti to the star on the right.  Perfect!!  A blue sky full of stars will be perfect for him!!        Therese

A birthday card featuring a cute little birds digital, some ribbon and a font greeting

Working on cards for next month's family birthdays!! 
I chose this fun digital of cute little birds for this card.  I added a font greeting to it and left enough space in the between to add a ribbon.  I printed it onto white cardstock and trimmed it to size.  I added a dark pink ribbon which echoes the colours in two of the birds adhering the ends to the back with double sided tape.  I trimmed the bottom edge with scalloped decorative scissors and used a push pin to pierce each scallop to add interest and texture.  I used my distress tool to roughen up the other three edges.  I mounted a piece of coordinating green decorative paper to the front of a white card and added my large focal element!!  Thought it needed just "a bit of something" so I added three clear rhinestones above the ribbon on the left hand side.  Better!!!                     Therese

Birthday card featuring a digital image of leaves, a sanded embossed layer and a laser printed greeting

I modified a card kit from the January card class to make this card.  It had a heart as an embellishment which did work really well for the cards I was making for my friend so I changed things up a bit.  I used the gray card and the purple embossed and sanded layer.  I chose this leafy garland image (Anne's Cards4U) from my image stash and trimmed it down some before watercolouring it.    I layered a piece of yellow cardstock on the left hand side and then added a green strip next to it which spanned the width of the card.  I trimmed it even with the background at the top and flagged the bottom edge.  I adhered this layer to the background leaving the lower part of the strip free as I wanted to tuck my little laser printed greeting under it.  I flagged the end of the greeting and tucked it under the strip and then glued down all the pieces.  I adhered this large element to the front of my gray card!!  I thought that my image needed a bit of something so I added little bits of clear glitter with a gel marker on the leaves and most of the dots.  That was better!!         Therese

Birthday card with a punchie greeting, decorative paper and some ribbon

I made another card today for my stash.  I features a piece of decorative paper with a floral pattern.  I mounted it to a green layer, added a short piece of ribbon adhering the ends to the back and added a little laser printed greeting punchie (SU).  I mounted this large element to a white layer, then a maroon layer and finally to a coordinating blue card.  Not my usual sort of sketch and I don't usually manage to get this many layers in either!!  Stretching myself creatively!!          Therese

Fabric pouch made for dishes for one person

 In anticipation of bringing our own dishes to our family reunion this year I worked on making carriers for them this weekend.  I had thought I would make them square but when I got started it seemed that round would work better so they are round.  I made one for me and one for DH.  I used polyester/cotton upholstery samples and included some mesh in order to allow the dishes to dry if they are stored away wet or damp.  I included a zipper just above the middle making sure it was going to be wide enough to insert my plate.  I cut the back 12.25" and then used the scrap to create the top of my front and inserted a zipper.  I thought the zipper in the mesh might not work quite as well.  I added the mesh and trimmed it to be the same as the back.  I used the small scraps to make a hanger and positioned it at the top and then with right side facing each other I stitched all the way around double stitching where the holder was.  I turned it inside out and ironed it flat ensuring that the seam created a nice edge.  I added two lines of stitching - one about 1/8" from the outside edge and one about 1/4" from the outside edge.  Worked out really well!!!!!! I stitched a napkin from fabric and added it to my carrier.  It works well to wrap the utensils in the napkin which prevents the tines of the fork from poking out of the mesh!!
All the girls at Guide camp have to bring dishes to camp which they use for all of their meals.  It produces so much less garbage and each girl is responsible for her dishes and for washing them after every meal.  It creates an awareness of environmental responsibility as well a personal responsibility for their own "stuff".  We are encouraging everyone coming to the reunion to bring their own dishes in order to drastically reduce the amount of garbage we will be producing.     Therese

Sewing project - upcycled beach cover up!!

I made up this beach cover up for my grand daughter who is going to a Guide camp out east this summer.  Her Mom thought a beach cover up would be a good idea, bought several coordinating t-shirts at the thrift store and provided the instruction in the way of a library book with ideas for teen sewing projects.  I was more than willing to do the sewing.  I combined two t-shirts to make the cover up using a more lightweight pink one I had on hand from a garage sale for the bottom.  It was more comparable in weight and fabric which will mean that they should dry at about the same rate when it gets wet.
I cut the sleeves off the navy one and simply turned over the edge and used pink thread and a triple zig zag stitch to finish it off.  I left the navy one as it was and cut the pink one long enough to make the cover up just above the knee on me so it will be a little shorter on my grand daughter as she is grown a lot this year.  Once I cut the pink t shirt I ran a basting stitch along the cut edge, gathered it just enough to fit in the bottom of the navy one and folded the seam allowance over on the stitching line.  I pinned the fold to the inside of the navy one to line up with the stitching on the hem.  I used the same triple zigzag stitch using pink thread to sew the two together which put the decorative stitch just nicely within the two lines of stitching on the hem of the navy shirt.  It helps to make it look like it was originally all one piece and coordinates with the stitching on the arm holes.  I cut a strip off of the remaining piece of the pink shirt to make a tie knotting each end and fringing the ends.  I dug through my stash and found a piece of trim that coordinated so I made two loops and hand stitched them to the cover up on either side of the middle just a bit lower than the natural waist line so that there would be a bit of extra on the top when it gathered.  I embellished the loops with pink buttons.  These will be easy to move should they not be in the right place as I did not have my grand daughter around to try it on when I was sewing!!  I am sure it will do the trick for her trip and will be a good thing to have for the summer when they got to the beach.        Therese