Stamp, Stitch & Swizzle Stix

Another Crafty Day

When we go on our retreats, we can arrive on Friday late morning and start working on whatever we want. Even though it's commonly called a "scrapbooking retreat", you can do anything you want all weekend. Sometimes ladies knit, crochet, paint, read, play on their computer and even sleep all day. The point is, YOU can do what YOU want. No housework, no cooking, no laundry, no kids, no husbands.  It's heaven! Our next retreat is scheduled for October 12-14, 2012 so if you want to go, you better get in touch with me and reserve your spot.

If you were with me this weekend, you know that my daughter was participating in the BIG D.I. competition on Saturday. Someone asked me to post the results so, here we go.  Awards were handed out on Sunday. Our team scored 2nd place for their grade/age group and category. They were only 5 points away from First Place. While they didn't score First, they still might be able to go to State Competition in Corpus Christi in April. Whether they go or not, will depend on how other teams throughout Texas do next weekend in their competitions. This is a photo of my daughter's team. They're really a bunch of comedians but they tried their acting talents at drama. Their skit was a "movie trailer" that had Hades battling the current world.

My daughter is the middle girl dressed in black. We're all very proud of them and their accomplishment this year.

Back to the retreat, here are some more fun photos of projects and artists at work!

 

 

Shelly working on her scrapbook pages.

 

 

  

 

 

 

Gorgeous wedding photos getting put into Lisa's scrapbook.

 

 

 

 

  

We all like to walk around to see what everyone else is doing.

 

 

 

Our wonderful hostess, Gina. She's beat this Sunday afternoon. She's worked all weekend taking care of us 20 ladies.

 

 

   

 

 

 

Linda's gorgeous creations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is Barbara's first "real" quilt. The fabric was yummy and the pattern delicious. I love it so much I could eat it!

Beautiful quilt, Linda!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An adorable christmas page. The reindeer looked like Scooby Doo with antlers. You can't see it very good but, there is green fuzzy yarn tangled up in his antlers. It looks like greenery.

 

 

 

 

 

Tricia and Sandi are admiring Jackie's scrapbook.

 

 

 

 

 

I hope you can "retreat" with us next October!

We're Worker Bees

Twice a year 19 girlfriends and I sneak off for a girl's weekend of stamping, sewing, card making, cocktails, movies and some more crafting. We wait patiently wait for our reserved date and then load up our cars and head out of town for some "me" time. For the very reasonable price of $180 we're treated to two nights away from home and 5 home cooked meals that we don't have to cook or clean up after! We shake up our cocktails and get to work right away. Here's some of the fantastic projects that have been completed so far. Mind you, this is just a few of the projects. When there are 20 ladies in a room with creative juices flowing, the projects are stunning!

 

Vickie's sock monkey quilt for her expectant niece.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Michelle's needlepoint on antique fabric

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kelly's cards made with the Big Shot

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kelly's best friend Sherri, who flew all the way from Atlanta to hang out with Kelly and 18 of her best friends ;-)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jackie copied this right out of our Stampin' Success magazine. This is a magazine that only Stampin' Up! demonstrators get each month.

 

 

 

 

 

Rhonda is scrapbooking this weekend.

 

 

 

 

 

Silvia is also scrapping away.

 

 

 

 

Lisa is working away on her pages. 30 so far and counting!

 

 

Fabulous mini scrapbook made by Linda

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Look how cute some of the inside pages are to Linda's mini scrapbook.

 

 

 

 

Time out from sewing. Shari has been working a Scallop Circle Quilt and she took a few minutes to check out Facebook, Pintrest and chat with her daughter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I found this crafty bag on Pintrest and decided to make it with some of my leftover scraps. What do you thinK? I love how it came out. Not sure I would make the handles as large as I did but I still love this bag.

 

 

 

 

When you finish a particularly tedious project you should reward yourself with a neighborly fist bump. Woohoo! Go Tricia & Eileen!

 

 

 

 

 

Tricia's project outside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tricia's project inside. Just a portion is showing. It's really fantastic throughout.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eileen's scallop circle quilt. Did you know this is made with Stampin' Up!'s Scallop Circle #2 Bigz Die. and the Scallop Circle Bigz Die.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The best thing I made this weekend was lots of mojitos!

Tune in tomorrow to see what else other ladies created.

Yes, I quilt ;-)

I love quilting. It feeds my fabric fix and lets me be creative at the same time. Little by little I'm going to keep adding pictures of my quilts to my photo album (right there on the right side of my page). These are some quilts that I completed a long while ago. The red quilt is the second that I ever made. It's a totally fun sushi themed fabric. This quilt was for my daughter. She LOVES sushi so this was the perfect fabric for her. The pattern isn't a particular one. I was just teaching myself to quilt and I trying a different block from my recently learned 4-patch.

This next quilt (kit) was a gift from my very dear friend Jackie Ross. I saw it in a window and loved it but, the kit was very expensive. A couple of weeks later I babysat her daughters so that she could go on a cruise that she earned with Stampin' Up! Her thank you to me was quilt kit. It's not colors that I normally choose, they are too pastel-ly but, I LOVE the quilt and use it all the time. I even love the colors and I know I sleep warmer for all the pinks and yellows that surround me :-) I wish I could remember the name of the pattern and fabric family. It's been a few years since I've made this but, if you know the name of this fabric family, I might have a little gift for  you!

 

And finally, this quilt was a two year project. Not because it was so hard but, because I'd pick it up and then forget about it. Then I'd sew a few blocks and put it down for 4 months. As a matter of fact, I quilted this in November 2010 while I was in San Antonio. My sister was with me at the quilters and asked me who the quilt was for and I told her "no one". She asked if she could have it and I said "sure", all I had to do to finish it was sew the binding. Fast forward 14 months, I just finished the binding this week. Ahem...

The pattern is from the Block Explosion book. It's perfect for large scale prints that are too pretty to cut up into little pieces. The fabric isn't from any one family. It's a collection of prints that I've gathered over the years. It's a huge quilt. I think it could easily fit a queen size bed. My sister's bed!

Well friends, that's all for tonight. I'm at a craft retreat this weekend and I want to get working on some projects. If you know the name of the fabric from the middle quilt, leave it as a comment and I'll have a little gift for you.

Designer Fabric

I love fabric. It doesn't really matter what kind it is. It can be upholstery, drapery, cotton, satin, hand woven, it just doesn't matter to me. Maybe it stems from always playing with the left over scraps that my grandmother dropped on the floor when she was making me clothes. I would gather all the little scraps and try to make clothes for my Barbies by hand stitching them with a needle and thread.

 When I was about 5 yrs old my grandmother decided to teach me to sew on her Singer Sewing Machine bought straight from Sears. That's when I remember falling in love with the hum of the sewing machine and motion of the fabric passing through the pressure feet and sewing foot. From that time on, it was a love affair with fabric and sewing. I learned to sew Barbie Clothes first. Can you imagine that I learned to set a sleeve on a microscopic piece of fabric?! I worked so hard on that, it was like my own mexican sweat shop and I WAS THE MEXICAN!

My love affair with fabric (and now paper) continues today and Stampin' Up!'s fabrics are just feeding my fetish with all things woven.

One of my favorite fabrics from Stampin' Up! is the Timeless Portrait Designer Fabric. I love this combination because it features the classic Black & White color scheme but also throws in a splash of red. Red is my ALL-Time favorite color. And, it perfectly coordinates with the Timeless Portait Designer Series Paper. Beautiful! So, when I found a pattern on line for a make-up bag, I immediately thought of making it with the Timeless Portrait Designer Fabric.

I really like how it turned out and the most exciting part for me was that I learned that you can purchase Iron On fabric laminate from your fabric store and iron on to your fabric to make it water proof! Who knew?! When I did the iron-on part, I was so excited about how easy it was to do, that I wanted to laminate everything! Truely amazing! My world was rocked!

I'm going to make this bag again but next time I'm going to add Iron On Fleece to give it that quilted feeling ala Vera Bradley. I might even use Duck fabric to give it a little more body. Nonetheless, this pattern and fabric is a keeper!

 

Blossom Punch

We get really spoiled when we get a new stamp set and a matching punch. Whenever I see a card that has a lot of images cut out, I automatically look for a matching punch for the stamps. Stampin' Up! spoils their stampers with matching products. It takes the guess work and tediousness out of crafting. You'll love this card because it features the new stamp set, Mixed Bunch and the Blossom Punch plus the gorgeous Designer Series Paper Everyday Enchantment from the Sale-A-Bration Catalog.

Stamps: Mixed Bunch #125535 $27.95w  #125537 $21.95c, Creative Elements #122645 $32.95w, #122647 $24.95c.

Ink: Calypso Coral #122939 $5.95, Lucky Limeade #122935 $5.95, Early Espresso #119670 $5.95

Paper: Pool Party #122924 $6.95, Calypso Coral #122925 $6.95, Whisper White #100730 $8.50, Everyday Enchantment DSP #126154 $Free SAB item

Misc: Blossom Punch #125603 $16.95, 3/4" Circle Punch #119873 $10.95, Baja Breeze 1/2" Seam Binding Ribbon #122331 $6.95

Blossom Builders

A lovely card made with the Blossom Builders Designer Printed Kit from the Occasions Mini. This kit includes 2 12" x 12" sheets of printed flowers and 1 sheet of pink rhinestones. The flowers are double sided printed, die-cut on textured paper. It makes it a snap to mix & match, layer and stack. Perfect for gift cards, notes and project embellishments. The embossed stripes are the Stripes Textured Impressions Embossing Folder which is FREE as a Sale-A-Bration item. The Butterflies are from Kindness Matters Stamp Set also A Sale-A-Bration Free Item.  The card edge was made with the Labels Framelits. Here's a list of more supplies:

Stamps: Kindness Matters #127723w  #127724c  $FREE as Sale-A-Bration Item, Loving Thoughts #125843 $29.95w  #125845 $23.95c

Ink: More Mustard #103162 $5.95, Early Espresso #119670 $5.95

Paper: So Saffron #105118 $6.95, Very Vanilla #101650 $8.50

Misc: Blossom Builders Designer Printed Kit #125410 $9.95, Modern Label Punch #119849 $16.95, Certainly Celery 3/8" Taffeta Ribbon #119963 $6.95, Labels Collection Framelits #125598 $26.95, Stripes Textured Impressions Embossing Folder #127710 $Free Sale-A-Bration item.

Totally A-maze-ing

That's the name of this new stamp set from the Occasions Mini, Totally A-maze-ing and we had some fun with it at stamp club this month. Paired with the Maze Game, it's too cute to pass up.

Stamps: Totally A-maze-ing #125505  $28.95w, #125507  $22.95c

Ink: Poppy parade #119782 $5.95, Soft Suede #115657 $5.95

Paper:Pool Party #122924 $6.95, Poppy Parade #119793 $6.95, Whisper White #100730 $8.50, Everyday Enchantment DSP #126154  $FREE! Sale-A-Bration product. Glimmer Paper Red #121790 $4.95, Glimmer Paper Silver #124005 $4.95

Misc: Heart to Heart Punch #119881 $16.95, Petal Card Double Punch #129273 $17.95, 2 1/2" Circle Punch #120906 $16.95, Everyday Enchantment Ribbon #127279 $Fee Sale-A-Bration product, Clear Rhinestone Brad #113144 $10.95

Waxahachie Fun!

I recently treated myself to a wonderfully fun class in a little town south of Dallas named Waxahachie. It was an opportunity for me to indulge and appreciate the talents of some artistic women and allow my creativity to explore new avenues. As I expected, the classes, the teachers and the projects were inspiring and fun!

One of the three projects were these three antiqued and distressed fabric hearts. They were made with plain muslin and stuffed with poly-fill until they were nice and taut. We painted the fabric with acrylic paint and then sanded them to distress the surface. They were stained with a combination of very strong coffee, acrylic stain and a walnut stain (I dyed each one differently). Using embellishments that were included in our kits we finished our vintage hearts adding our own personal touch. I love these three little hearts and they've found a home on my entry table.

 This beautiful pocket heart was another one of our projects. We were given beautiful papers to work with but I chose to use our Sale-A- Bration Everyday Enchantment Designer Series Paper, Rose Red Seam Binding, Trinket Hearts and Bird Punch. One of the ladies I met that day, shared a page of her yellowed sheet music that I included with this ensemble. I finished it with mist of Blushing Bride Smooch Spritz. This little creation found a home on my china cabinet door.

 

 

 

 

 

This last piece was molded paper clay. It was originally designed to be a necklace but I wanted to show it off more often so I adapted it to be framed (translation-it's hot glued to a frame insert). The paper clay heart was painted with acrylic paint and embellished with wire, little pearls and crystals and decoupaged paper bits. A few scraps of burlap were tied on with the wire to add a bit of texture. I added the mini silver heart from our Trinket Hearts collection and a scrap of Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding, crinkled up as a finishing touch.

I hope you've enjoyed seeing these as much as I enjoyed making them. It makes me smile when I get to "play art".

 

Observation of the day - I want the same hardwood floors in my house that the bowling alley uses. Watching kids chunk 10-17 lb bowling balls on them, and not cause any damage confirms that they can survive the 2 kids, 1 husband, 1 cat and 1 dog in my house without showing a scratch. I'm impressed!

Aw...You're Gonna Love This One

I'm gonna learn ya how to make this here a-dorable note card holder with our fab-a-less fabric from Stampin' Up! (I'm watching Swamp People on t.v. like my imitation?) Here's what you gonna need,

2 Fat Quarters (that's quilter talk for 18" x 22" square of fabric. did you know I'm a quilter too? You can see some of my quilts under the Photo Albums heading on the right side of this page. Scroll down a little) I used Twitterpated Designer Fabric #125412 $9.95

32" of ribbon. I used Pink Pirouette 3/8" Taffeta #122981 $6.95/10yds

Buttons, Subtles #119745 $8.95/72 pcs, Twitterpated Designer Buttons #125579 $6.95/48 pcs

Extras:Trinket Hearts #125605 $6.95, Labels Collection Framelits #125598 $26.95, Little Leaves Sizzlits Dies #114511 $5.50, Basic Pearls Jewels #119247 #4.95, Big Shot Adhesive Roll #122194 $14.95, Baker's Twine Lucky Limeade #125572 $2.95/25yds

Let's go....

 

Cut your 2 Fat Quarters to 7 1/2" x 15 3/4" each.

 

 

 

 

Layer the fabrics WST (Wrong Sides Together) and stitch all around the four edges with a 1/4" seam. I like the vintage feel of the raw edge so I don't hide the seams on the inside. If you want to hide the seams on the inside, you should layer the fabrics RST (Right Sides Together) and stitch around leaving a 3"-4" opening on one edge to turn it right side out. Then go back and stitch the opening closed from the outside. 

 

 Determine which is your inside and outside fabric and lay it out horizontally. Fold over each edge 3" to form a pocket on each side. Finger press or iron the folds into place. Don't stitch it yet. You wan to lay out your ribbon and stitch that in place first to hide the little stitches on the inside of the pocket.

 

 

Lay your ribbon flat across the middle of the folder. Pin it in place on the spine and both edges.

 

 

 

 

Close it to make sure that there are no puckers where the ribbon lays. Sometimes the ribbon is laid out too tightly.

 

 

 

 

Open it up and sew just a few stitches on the edges and spine to lock the ribbon in place.

 

 

 

 

 

The stitches should be just a few and hidden on the inside of the pocket. Don't worry about the spine stitches. They won't be distracting.

 

 

 

 

 

Now, refold your pockets and stitch them in place at the top and bottom. I conceal my stitches by stitching right over the serged seam.

 

 

 

Use the Big Shot Adhesive and iron a 3" x 4" piece unto a same sized contrasting fabric. Then cut out your shape using the Labels Framelits. Don't get discouraged if you have to finish trimming it out with the scissors. The framelits aren't made to cut fabric very smoothly so you have to help it a little. Iron on your design to the front of the folder.

 

 

Cut out leaves with the Little Leaves Sizzlits in the same manner as the label above. Iron this unto the label.

 

 

 

 

For the flower, using some scrap fabric about 16" long and 1 - 1/2" wide,  run a gathering stitch along one edge with a needle and thread.

Don't cut off at either end, you're going to pull the threads to gather the fabric.

 

 

 

 

Scrunch all the fabric together on the thread and add a few stitches across the bottom to make it stay in shape. Knot that sucker up so it doesn't unravel. Get your super duper glue out for the next steps. I like to use E6000.

 

 

 

 

Glue all your little embellishments to the cover of your folder.  Make it real purdy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You're done sweetie! I don't know who is going to get your little creation but, they sure are lucky! You done a right-fine job.

If you like my project, please leave me a message. I love to hear your thoughts. Then, I don't feel like I'm writing to a big black void. If you don't like my project, go have a couple of drinks and come back to see it again. You'll probably like it more when you have a little alcohol to cloud your judgement ;-)

Justa Pretty Card

It's Thursday night here and I just finished with a totally fun Valentine Stamp Camp. I really love my "job". It's the best of all worlds. I can have friends over anytime I want. We can drink cocktails. We make pretty things and we laugh for hours. Really, life just doesn't get any better. I'll have a photo of the Valentine Cards later this week. In the meantime, enjoy this one. Did you know that you can color our Basic Rhinestones with a Sharpie Marker? Have I already told you? I'm In LOVE with this!!

Stamps: Bordering on Romance #125480 $27.95w, #125482 $21.95c, Clearly for You #121911 $23.95w, #121976 $17.95c

Ink: Markers, Blushing Bride #119801 $14.95/5, Real Red #100052 $3.50, Certainly Celery #105106 $6.95, Lucky Limeade #123002 $14.95/5. Riding Hood Red Classic Ink #111836 $5.95, Chocolate Chip Classic Ink #100908 $5.95. Red Sharpie Marker (yeah, I said a Red Sharpie). Basic Rhinestones Jewels #119246 $4.95

Paper: Crumb Cake #120953 $6.95, Riding Hood Red #111348 $6.95, Whisper White #100730 $8.50, Twitterpated DSP #125406 $10.95

Accessories: Adorning Accents Edgelits Dies #125595 $9.95, Pinking Hearts Border Punch #117649 $15.95, Simply Scored #122334 $29.95, Big Shot #113439 $99.95