Friday, January 30, 2015

Papertrey Make-It-Monday #199: Confetti Garlands

Hello! I thought I would sneak in here towards the end of the week and make a card using confetti garlands in a technique Betsy demonstrated over on Nicole's blog this week. You can read about it here.

My card uses the Text Block: Party die, American Crafts glitter paper, and the Papertrey sequin die. Patterned paper is from Lily Bee.
 A close up of all that sparkly goodness!
Thanks for stopping by!

Lots of Blocks

Hello! I have been playing around with Papertrey's Block Party stamp set and dies. I hesitated in December when they were released, and wasn't able to get them again until mid-January. I knew this would be a versatile set for me since I make a lot of cards for my grandchildren. When I started looking at other stamps I could pair with this set, I was drawn to Tiny Treats. And lo and behold, the images fit very nicely with the blocks!
 Funny thing about the tag above on the left, I cut out the dies before I cut them apart, not thinking that they had nested some of the shapes inside of others. That's how I ended up with the blue block and yellow block with shapes cut out of them.

  The tag above on the right uses a Mama Elephant stamp set "Tiny Heroes" for the images and the sentiment.


The above tag uses both Tiny and Tremendous Treats images. Sentiment is from Block Party.
I also played around with arranging the blocks to make other shapes - so far I have come up with a heart and a boat.
 The tags below don't use Block Party at all, but I thought I would include them here. They are tags I made for my granddaughter's strawberry themed party. They use images from Tiny Treats and Strawberry Patch.

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Sophie's Big Girl Bed quilt

Hello! I wanted to share a quilt I made for my granddaughter Sophie, who is turning two this Friday. She recently moved up into a big girl bed from her crib. It's not going very well because she insists on coming out of her room in the middle of the night. But once she learned how to get that leg up over the side of her crib and fall crawl out, there was no choice but to put her in a regular bed. Anyway, I thought it would be nice to make her a quilt for the bed since the one I made when she was born is small. I used alot of the same fabrics on this quilt. Her room is painted a beautiful lilac shade of purple.
This was the first time I have made a quilt from 60 degree diamonds. Wow - it takes a lot of precision to join them with the offset seams!
 This is the label I put on the back of the quilt. I used some of my Waltzingmouse stamps for the elements and colored them with copics. I heat set it with an iron.
 The back of the quilt is pieced with 12" squares of the fabric on the front. I am trying to use up scraps.
 I quilted the quilt with free motion hearts all over.
 I used Susie's Magic Binding method for the binding on the front (the narrow purple right by the binding. You can read about this method here. Very easy to do!
 I mitered the borders.

 I will give the quilt to her at her birthday party this Saturday. Hope she likes it!


Sunday, January 25, 2015

Papertrey Ink January Blog Hop - Hearts

Hello! I was able to make a card this month for the blog hop! The theme this month is Hearts. We had some beautiful inspiration photos on Nicole's blog. Her challenge was to:

"Take just a moment, close your eyes and open your heart...think about those you love most...then think about the last time you told them that you love them...the last time you put into words just how much they mean to you.  I challenge you to create a card that is as beautiful inside as it is out.  Your project should incorporate some sort of hearts in the cover design to hint at what's inside.  The interior should be filled with your own heartfelt words to one of the first people you thought of when you began reading this paragraph.  Tell someone how much you love them and remind them why.  After you photograph your card or the blog hop, be sure to address the envelope and mail it to that special someone!"

I used some of the paper from the Sparkle and Shine MIM kit, the Big Hugs stamp set and dies, and the Limitless Layers: Hearts dies on the card front. I made a trifold card as demonstrated by Ashley in this week's Make-It-Monday video for my card. A good friend of mine is going through surgery and treatment for cancer right now, and I wanted to send her this card to tell her how much I love her.


 The inside of the card also used some paper from the S&S MIM kit, as well as a Matt Stack 3 die cut with a sentiment from the Faith and Hope stamp set.
 The back of the card was made using embossing paste colored with Sweet Blush re-inker and a stencil I cut out using my Silhouette.
Hope you enjoy the Hop! All your comments are appreciated and enjoyed!

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Grandchildren Cards and More Hugs

Hello! I have a couple cards to share that are for my grandchildren. The first one is for my granddaughter's 2nd birthday, which is next week. All my grandchildren love shaker cards, so I made her one for her birthday using Sweet and Treats by W Plus9, and Papertrey's smaller By the Numbers dies. I filled the shaker with some of my hoarded Shakers and Sprinkles sprinkles.
This next card is cut out with my Cameo using some Lettering Delights cut files "Frogs and Kisses". It's for my little 4 month old grandson. I send them all cards every month for their monthly birthdays until age 2, then I usually just send them for holidays and other special events.
Two more Hug cards before I go - just can't stop using that set! I've been cutting the Hugs words out of foam and gluing them to the back of the cardstock die for more depth. It's quicker than cutting out several from cardstock and them gluing them all together. I colored the words with copics in an ombre pattern - love how this adds so much to the word!


Thanks for stopping by!

Papertrey MIM #198 - Three Panel Cards

Hello! I had some time yesterday to make up a three panel card using the dimensions and technique Ashley used in her Make-It-Monday video on Nicole's blog here. I really like making this size card - there are several panels to decorate and you can really bring in alot of ideas and embellishments with it.
This first card will be the Valentine for my husband this year. I used the Embellishments set (an oldie, but a goodie) for the background, the Wonderful Words Love die with felt, a stitched heart, and some pretty patterned paper. I used Edgers #3 for the front top panel.  I also used embossing paste on the back with a hearts stencil I cut out with my Silhouette Cameo.



 
Thanks for stopping by!




Sunday, January 11, 2015

LOTS of Hugs

Hello! Thanks for stopping by my blog today! I have been playing with a stamp set I purchased from Papertrey Ink called "Big Hugs". I just love this set so much! It ranks right up there with Thinking Of You cards in my book! Who couldn't use a Hug card in the mail to cheer them up? So here are some of the cards I've made in the past few days with this set. Hope you enjoy them!

Added a little patterned paper.
 Shaker card with Lil Inker hearts dies.
 Shaker card with Snowglobe die.

 Actually, this card uses the new Phrase Play set and die.
 Using up the negative of some of the Hugs above.
 A la Laura Bassen...
 And again...
 Using the new envelope zipper die too. :)
 Inside is a coaster with a scripture verse - see below.

Hope you enjoyed them! Have a great day! 

Saturday, January 3, 2015

Catching up after the Christmas Rush

Wow! It seems like forever since I've sat down and written a blog post! I was so busy making things for my grandchildren during December that I barely had time to look up. I sewed and made gifts right up to Christmas Eve this year. Thought I'd share some of them with you here today.

For my two granddaughters, ages 3 and 2, I purchased a rolling cart at Michael's with 10 drawers. From a suggestion from their mom, I filled each drawer with craft items. There were pom poms, googly eyes, pipe cleaners. popsicle sticks, stickers, foam shapes/stickers, die cuts, A2 size paper, envelopes, patterned paper, glue sticks, Elmer's glue, crayons, and much more! It took me quite a while to accumulate all these things, some were purchased, some were out of my stash. The girls started sticking stickers all over everything when they got this gift! I think it will get alot of use around their house. I did not get a picture of the actual cart unfortunately, but here is the same cart I use in my craft room.



 
 For my granddaughters and my grandson, I also made Super Hero capes. I used a pattern I found here. They were a big hit too, although my grandson, age 2 1/2, does not watch much TV and really had no idea what a Super Hero was. I think he will get the jist of it though.

For my new baby grandson Henry, I made a soft minky/flannel ribbon blanket. I had some help from my 3 year old granddaughter on it. She sat on my lap as I sewed on the machine and took out the pins as we sewed along.I also finished a quilt I have been making for Henry, and made a stocking.
 

For my 12 year old grandson, I made a little wool penny mat for his dresser. It has an owl listening to an ipod and says "You Rock". 


I also made sewing kits for each of my two daughters. I made the actual zippered pouch which measures 12" x 21" when opened. Then I filled it with all kinds of things I thought they could use for casual household-type sewing - good scissors, pins, a pincushion, safety pins, neutral colored thread, needles, a marking pen, a tape measure, etc. This kit was alot more complicated to sew than I had thought at first glance. It is a pattern by Atkinson Designs called Classmate.



On top of all these crafts, I also made all of our Christmas cards and several ornaments from the Papertrey Tinsel and Tags Make-It-Market kit.  The most special thing I RECEIVED for Christmas was this one of a kind fabric that my daughter designed. She made inked handprints from each of the grandchildren, uploaded them to a website, and had this fabric printed. I will treasure it forever and will try to find the perfect project to use it - that is if I can ever cut into it!!!