Large birthday card featuring flowers, vellum and embossed greeting

Our daughter in law is celebrating her birthday this week!!  She is a gardener and flower lover so I made her this card.  

I started with a dark red card and added a lovely intricate background paper that coordinates perfectly!!  I trimmed a piece of vellum and tore it vertically then the both pieces horizontally which leaves the outside edges neat but the insides more natural.  I adhered the four pieces of vellum to my card using double sided tape.  I printed the flowers (CLKER), fussy cut them and then added black marker to the edges to make them neat.  I watercoloured them to coordinate with the background paper.  Once they were dry I added them to mu card using double sided tape.  I embossed a strip of white cardstock, trimmed out a piece long enough for my card and added two strips of dark red cardstock to the top and bottom.  I added a layered silk flower with a white brad before adhering this element to the bottom portion of my card!!  Very happy with how it worked out!!!!  Therese
 

Quilt top in bright colours

 I worked on this quilt top this week.  I had previously stitched together the triangles from some leftovers I acquired along the way.  I dug out my little box of precut square which were acquired a few years ago and came up with some rows that would complement the colours in the square that were already finished.  I like the way it turned out!!  I have set it aside and will finish it up later with batting and a backing.  It was fun to be back to quilting!!  Therese

Large birthday card featuring glittery balloons, embossed vellum and greeting

Our youngest granddaughter has a birthday this week.  She will be two!!!  I made this card for her and we will be sending it digitally.  

I started with a lilac card and then trimmed a piece of decorative rainbow paper to fit.  I embossed three strips of vellum with polka dots, folded the tops over the edge of the background and secured them on the back with regular tape.  I put a little piece on the bottoms as well to keep them from moving.  I glued the background to my card front.  The balloons I had made earlier.  They are digital (CLKER) and were printed on white and fussy cut.  I watercoloured them then added glitter glue to them and left them to dry.  They are beautifully sparkly!!!  I tied black heavyweight thread to them and then used 3D foam tape to position them on my card front.  Love how they look!!!  I embossed a strip of white cardstock repeatedly with the Happy Birthday embosing folder (CB) and then trimmed a piece the size I needed.  I layered it with pink cardstock strips - top and bottom.  I added this embossed strip to the bottom of my card.  I used glitter glue to embellish the little cake in the greeting and gel pens to colour the candles!!  Perfect!!!  Finally, I added a bit of white glue to the places the balloon cords fell naturally and placed them in the little puddle and left them to dry.  I am so happy with how it turned out!!  Therese
 

Small all occasion cards with handmade backgrounds for donation

 This is the next set of cards I made with handmade backgrounds.  Some were found in my paper stash.  Some of the others I made as I went which is always fun!!!!  The top left is a serendipity collage background which I toned down with ink with a little cactus (BlackBerryJelly), next on top - a faux leather background with a glittery butterfly, top right - sheet music painted with bronze acrylic paint with a little punched butterfly (SU).  The next row  -  sheet music painted with bronze acrylic paint and a die cut dragonfly (SX), pink and green acrylic paint background (using up leftover paint from a project) with a postage stamp, serendipity background with ink and a thankyou (BBJ), stamped doily with clear embossing powder resist with watercolour cut up into inchies with some little flower die cuts, bronzed song sheet with punched butterfly and a different serendipity background  toned down with ink and a little dandelion (CLKER).   Lots of fun and so enjoyed the freedom to create whatever I was inspired to!!!         Therese

Small all occasion cards for donation

 I found a set of small envelopes in my stash and decided to make some all occasion cards to donate to my church.  I trimmed cards to fit, search my paper scrap stash for backgrounds and then added focal elements such as butterfly punchies & die cuts, inchies, flower die cuts, leaf punchies, and postage stamps.  The embellishments were added to different layers including layered punchies and ribbon.  It was a fun day of creating with no limits or parameters so I could just go for it!!  I see that the leaf card has a hand decorated background which is stitched fabric paper!!  You can see more handmade backgrounds in my next blog post!!        Therese

QAYG - Potholder quilt in blues and browns

I started this quilt very early this year by cutting all the squares - decorative (12"), fabric batting (12") and the backing (15").  Each square has a front, batting and backer centered on each other in that order.  Once layered I pinned them all and put the stack aside.  I had managed to "quilt" three or four sometime in the spring and there is sat until this weekend when I took the stack and decided to get it going again.  I managed to add stitching to all the squares in a very all over fashion by going around the elements in a variety of way.  None are the same. The quilting secures all the layers to each other.  It went relatively quickly so I decided to see about stitching them together.  I laid them out in an arrangement I liked and sewed the top row together by putting the backers back to back and stitching along the edge of the front nice and close.  To bind these together you fold each backer twice over and stitch it to the front of its square.  Then you add another square and repeat the process.  In my case I only had three squares per row.  The benefit of this process is that you never have a large amount of fabric in the throat of your machine - only one square.  Once all the rows are done you sew them to each other using exactly the same process.  This finishes your quilt and all that is left is the binding.  Again, the binding of the outside edge is exactly the same process - fold over twice and stitch to the front.  Once you have gone all the way around you are done!!!!!!  This is a great method for doing squares as you go.  I used the same fabric for all the backers which frames the front squares quite nicely and gives a very even look to everything.  Making the squares in different patterns, with varied quilting and in different colours would make a very scrappy quilt.  I think I will try one in a rainbow of colours next time and see how that goes!!  Therese

A fabric wallet with place for coins, bills and cards!!!

One of my grandsons wanted a cyan wallet for Christmas!!  I knew right away that I had a piece of fabric that would be perfect.  It is a shimmery blue and sturdy!!!  I did some internet research.  I did not find one that suited my purposes completely so I just used them as inspiration and made this one.  I has a velcro close with a tab to make it easy to open.  There is room for bills in the little folders I made using a page protector.  

I added toppers so it would be easy to remember that the big bills are in this one and the smaller ones in the other.  They slide nicely into the back pocket.  There are two front pockets which hold cards. I cut one piece of fabric 4.25" wide and longer than I needed.   I hemmed the end and then started folding and sewing until I had all the pockets I needed. I tucked the other end all the way behind the pockets, trimmed and hemmed it.   I cut another piece of fabric which I doubled over as well to form the little pocket for change.  I used a decorative stitch on my sewing machine with coordinating thread and stitched up the edges to encompass the trimmed edges.  This piece comes all the way to the front to protect the front pockets and has velcro on the inside.  I stitched on a little pull under the velcro to help open up the flap.  I stitched it to the back of the first piece and added the velcro pieces.  I refolded all the pockets and then stitched up the sides of the wallet.  After checking to see how it worked I found that I should have stitched the bottom of the front flap where the velcro is to the front of the pocket for the bills because when you pulled on the flap to open it it pulled up the pocket.  No problem, I simply hand stitched those pieces to each other and now it works perfectly!!!   Therese

Fabric corner bookmark - simply stitched

 I made this bookmark for a special person this holiday and decided to simply stitched both trimmed edges instead of making one larger than the other and folding over stitching like the ones I made a while back.   I cut two squares of fabric 3" and 2.75" and folded them in half diagonally.  I placed one over the other and simply zigzaged the edges capturing the cut edge within the stitching.  I am quite happy with how it turned out and it was much quicker than the other ones I made.  A little less sophisticated but the recipient will be very happy with the fabric's theme which will be the most important thing!!!  Therese

Christmas cards featuring reused card fronts

 I created these fun Christmas cards for some of my grandchidren!!!  They are fun and reuse cute Christmas card fronts from past years!!!  It is so nice to be able to reuse these images and give them another opportunity to bring blessings to special people.  I simply trimmed the card, added a layer in most cases and then mounted them to a larger card and then added an insert!!  Ticking things off the Christmas to do list!!  Therese

Bookmark with slow stitched and painted butterflies and a card to mail it in

I stitched up this beautiful bookmark using a piece of slow stitching I did a while back that features little embroidered butterflies painted with Inktense paints which dry permanent.  I turned over the fabric about a quarter inch and then backed it with a black and floral fabric just a slight bit bigger so that it highlights the front.  I added a length of black ribbon while I was stitching the border.  I used a decorative stitch on my sewing machine and used a medium green thread - ivory was too light and black was too dark.  I am really happy with how it worked out but I might have made it just a bit shorter so it would be completely encompassed by most books!!!  I created a card which will accompany it to its recipient in time for Christmas.  The card reused a very elegant card front which I punched on the bottom edge and then embossed just above it.   Therese

All Occasion Card featuring flowers on handmade paper, vintage seam binding and decorative paper background

 My last card is also a landscape one using a floral image (Magenta). I watercoloured the flowers to coordinate with my background and the added paper piercing on all four sides.  I added a beige tab, added an eyelet and then inserted a piece of green vintage seam binding in it.  I used double sided tape between the ftont and back to secure the ends to each other.  I added faux stitching to the tab and around the perimeter of the background as well.  Just a little something!!  I have really enjoyed using these handmade paper elements and wil have to make more in the summer.   Therese

All Occasion Card featuring decorative paper background, embossed leaf on handmade paper and ribbon

 I changed it up a bit and used a landscape format for this card.  I watercoloured the leaf, added some paper piercing and the glued on a green tab (SU).  I added a pewter eyelet to the tab and then inserted two lengths of ribbon - orange and navy!! I folded them to the right and then tied them in place using copper cording.  The tab needed a bit of something so I added some faux stitching.  The leaf was silver embossed on white tissue paper and then incorported into the handmade paper in the couching process.  

Therese