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

Reused some images from a photo calendar to make a set of cards

 Made up a set of cards for a friend using photos from 4" x 6" photo calendars from my sister, Sylvia.
She is a photographer and produces several photo calendars every year.  She offers them for sale on her blog and also has several locations where she sells them as well.  DH and I are blessed every year to get one each for Christmas.  I love using the images from the expired calendars for making cards.  I used nature and tea related images from several of her calendars in this set of cards.  


 I trimmed the images from the 4" x 6" calendar pages and layered them onto coordinating card stock which I had embossed on the bottom edge using border embossing folders.  After adhering the photo to the layer I added a length of ribbon adhering the ends to the back of the background using double sided tape.  I glued these large elements to the front of white cards.  These are just a slight bit smaller than A2 cards and are perfect for notecards.  I left them without greetings to make useful for any and all occasions!!                 Therese

2012 Calendar

On AFTCM, I signed up for a desktop calendar swap. I created this one using two blank coasters which I bound together after they were embellished. On the right hand side, I added a label die cut (TH-SX) layered with an oval (NS) and a butterfly punchie (SU) using brads over the last bit of this decorative paper I had left from my trip to London two years ago. I left the layer loose so that little notes could be tucked under it. On the right hand side, I attached a clear acetate layer with brads and tucked a set of small calendar pages in behind it. After the year is over the recipient can add another set of small calendar pages or insert a photo or quote instead. It will be a gift that keeps on giving!!

I love the soft colours and flowery design of this paper!! Very happy with the way the calendar worked out!!

Therese

Baby Brag Book - gift

For the new baby! Decided on a brag book as a gift. Everyone wants to see photos of the new baby and this little album will be the perfect place to keep them and later it can be given to him to carry around photos of his family.

I used a commercially available photo album and created new covers for it using letter die cuts for his name, some layered stars for an accent and a few stamped stars in brown on the plaid colour printed paper!!

The letters are die cuts from the Bounce Sizzix alphabet set. I cut the shadow in brown and the letter from blue. The blue ones are quite slim and a bit of a challenge to glue in place with traditional adhesives. I have white glue in a fine tipped bottle which used to hold dimensional fabric paint. Worked very well to apply glue just where I wanted it!! THRIFTY TIP: If you have a bottle of paint with a fine tip consider making decorative paper with the paint and using the bottle for glue. I used this one as well for applying glue to an image when we were making glittered Christmas cards last year.

I cut the stars with a Sizzix die - clear (packaging), med blue, dark blue and brown - and attached them with a blue brad. I added stitching with a brown marker.

Kids like to have things of their own. By the time he is two he will want to have things to carry around and this album filled with photos of Dad, Mom, Grandma, uncles, cousins, etc will be a great way for him to stay connected to family.

Therese

Tea gifties

I created these little tea gifties for all the people who attended my SU party on Sunday afternoon!! It is always so much fun. I transform my livingroom/diningroom into a stamping studio and invite my friends over to stamp. My SU demo, Catherine always comes up with some great make and takes so we spend the afternoon stamping and being creative!! These little matchboxes were cut using the matchbox Bigz XL die by my daughter last year so I decided to make up the boxes and fill them with tea - we brought some back from London at the end of January - with a little note that they should enjoy a cuppa with a friend! I wrapped them with pink paper twist ribbon.
I hope they will all enjoy the tea!! I am hoping the orders will be in before Easter and we will have our goodies to play over the long weekend!! I would highly recommend hosting a SU party and having some friends over to play!! We had goodies to eat after all that stamping too!!

Therese

Heart Pins

Had a friend who wanted a few heart pins for her friends for Valentine's so I created a variety for her to choose from!! These are a few of the ones I had left! Forgot to scan all of them!!

These are created using shrink plastic, rubber stamps and paint!! I love shrink plastic and so did the students I was teaching. You will see that we made charms for our project with it!!

I like the vibrancy that you can achieve when you shrink the art you have created!! I use the Rough and Ready which can be purchased at Michaels!!

Therese

Tea souvenirs - collapsible tea boxes

Created these cute little boxes for tea!! Because I am mailing off these gifts I made the box so it would be collapsible and lay flat for mailing. It can be easily made dimensional again to hold the tea bags I am sending along!! Again, these souvenirs feature the postcard images nicely matted with red accents on the front of the little boxes!!
The sides and bottom fold out for mailing and then pop back towards the inside of the box to make it dimensional.
It was cool to invent this little box and it worked perfectly for my purposes of storing the little tea bags.

Have another busy week so I hope you enjoy these creative little gifts I created as souvenirs of my trip!!

Therese

Tea souvenirs - mailable folders

I created these folders for mailing tea to several friends and family! They feature the matted photo images from the postcards and hold two little packets of tea. The front flap tucks into the two photo corners I added to the bottom edge. I made them from cardstock so they would be sturdy.
Therese

Tea souvenir - magnet

I have been working on more of my souvenirs from the London trip. This is a magnet I created using the small photo images from the postcards we purchased there. Just layered onto black glossy cardstock and then added a large thin magnet - business card magnets - to the back.

Made a cute little gift for several of my family and friends!!

Therese

Tea packets for gifts!

Just got back from London, England!! Great trip! It was a bit cool for the clothes we brought the first couple of days but we went sightseeing anyway!! We did a lot of walking, enjoyed pub food for our meals - fresh ingredients done with a little panache at a reasonable price for England, rode the TUBE and did some shopping!! Bought myself some Paper Artsy stamps at Blade Rubber which was within walking distance of the hotel!! Took a lot of pictures and had some R&R which we both needed.
We brought back tea for our friends so I made up these cool little presentation packets for them!! I have come to appreciate tea in a way that I never had before!!
I bought postcards to cut up for the front images of my little packets which I layered over white cardstock which I laser printed with LONDON. Added tabs with brads to hold the inside flaps and ribbons to tie it closed. The tabs are snipped on the center fold to allow the ribbon to come through. I just used a 1/4" punch to snip.
I punched the inside edge with a MS border punch and snipped the middle of the flap to help it all fold togeher nicely.
Have a busy week ahead of me so will have to hit the road running tomorrow morning but hopefully I will have more to post by the end of the week!!

Therese

My Art - Pocket calendars

These are pocket calendars I upcycled!! Purchased them at a local dollar store and created new covers for them! It is a quick and easy way to make personalized gifts for everyone on your list and they certainly will think of you every time they dig it out to check their availability for a project or a lunch!! Everyone should have one in their briefcase or purse and it really does help to keep you from double booking!!

Make a few for your friends!!

Therese

My Art - Hugs in a Mug

Here is my version of a hot chocolate treat for Christmas morning!! I have altered a tea tin (Tetley) with decorative paper, a belly band with instructions and a scallop with my "Hugs in a Mug" name!! I searched the internet for some hot chocolate poems and ended up modify one to fit my needs. The can contains hot chocolate mix, Hershey kisses and marshmallows!! These have been delivered to the Merchant's Mill. My sister has also made up a few of these for her sales this year and sold several yesterday so I am hoping they will be popular!! These would be great as gifts for hostesses, teachers, etc.

Therese

Last minute gifts

Two last minute gifts you can make for those people on your list that have everything!!
Monogram cards for their notes of congratulations or thanks! Everyone can use these! I colour printed an initial on a panel card that fit into a set of envelopes I had handy. Consider stamping and embossing instead or hand lettering them and then adding colour - lots of possibilities!!
I also did up some address labels!! Used some of the photos I took last year, added names & addresses and printed on labels! Quick and easy and everyone can use them! Always nice to have some special ones for those special cards!!

Have a wonderful Christmas season! I expect I am pretty close to having my prep done so I can enjoy the season. My cards and newsletters will go out tomorrow, bought my baking at the bake sale last weekend, gifts are bought and only need a bit of wrapping! Have been listening to the Christmas music too!! Do enjoy your holiday activities and take a bit of quiet time in the new year to set a few goals, think of areas that need work and make a plan, do what is important and plan so that things don't get too urgent. We all struggle with something and a "one step in front of another" approach is best if you are going in the right direction!!
Therese

These so made me think of Harry Potter!!
I created them from plastics which I melted together and embossed with a stamp!! You just never know what you are going to get when you start creating these and that is what I love about the process!! Used some metallic paint to highlight the texture!! I embedded a hanger and added a cord to make a pendant. The center of this one is clear but some of the others have different coloured centers!! Very cool!!

Therese

I attended the Women's Art Festival in Kingston as a vendor last weekend!! It is a wonderful outdoor festival with music, children's activities and music - all by women!! I created a few new items for sale this year which you will find in the following posts!!

Created these cute little pins! They are based on the Big Blossom from Stampin UP which was a feature during Sellabration earlier this year and made from shrink plastic!! I paint and stamp then shrink them!! Added some glass beads in the centers for texture and interest!!

Sold quite a few!!

Therese