Card Workshop

Hi everyone!  I want to invite you all to a card-making workshop I am leading at my church September 25 at 10 am.  The cost is only five dollars and you will make four cards to take home.  I am doing my best to make the cards simple enough for beginners with no experience, but also challenging enough for experienced crafters to enjoy.  If you want to come please RSVP to me at owensmom1@yahoo.com so I will know how many kits to prepare. 

Baby gifts

I recently reconnected with a favorite great-uncle who I haven't seen in a while and found out his grandson, my cousin, and his wife just had their second baby.  I didn't even know about the first one!  So, I wanted to make a special gift to send to them.  This is what I came up with. 

I monogrammed a cupcake and the older little girl's name on this store bought apron.  Then I took a strip of coordinating fabric, added ric rac to the top and bottom and a few buttons and a bow.  I love how it turned out.  Hopefully it will hold up well after many washings because I pre-shrunk everything and made sure everything was stitched on very well. 

Here is the close-up of the apron.  It felt like I was scrapbooking with fabric! 

Sergio is the new baby.  I made him a set of three coordinating bibs with matching burpcloths.  The bibs are made with white terrycloth toweling on the back to make them very absorbent for teething babies who drool a lot.  I made sure to wash and dry all the parts and pieces in hot water before I cut the fabric so hopefully there will be minimal shrinkage in the final product. 

Here is a close-up of one of the sets. 

I don't know if the recipient of these gifts will see this blog, but just in case, I want to say congratulations again.  Sergio and Amelie are both beautiful children.  I pray God blesses you, your marriage, and your children!  Every good and perfect gift is from Him. 

more cards

Just playing around with my sewing machine.  I never have much luck sewing with paper.  These are some misc. scraps I had laying around.

This is me playing with a new white ink pad I got.  So happy to see how well it shows up on black!

New cards

Hello.  I've spent some time making some cards this weekend and wanted to share a few before I leave for a concert in a bit. 

I was inspired by a card in the new Cards magazine to make this quilt card.  I used solid colored cardstock and stamped each of the squares.  I just learned how awesome Versamark is!  If you don't have a versamark stamp pad, move it to the top of your wishlist!  You can stamp it on any color or cardstock and it is shows up a shade darker.  I used it for the flowers on the pink and blue squares above.  I used green ink for the green and yellow squares.  The original card had real stitching on it but I didn't want to bother since I don't have very good luck sewing on paper.  I didn't want to mess up my pretty squares so I "stitched" my card with a white gel pen.  I did drag out the sewing machine to stitch the buttons.

Okay, don't say it!  I know the bow is too far to the center, but I had stitched it to the base ribbon with my machine when I thought the card was going to be vertical and I didn't have enough length so slide it over.    Other than that I am happy with this cute little owl card.  I used the yummy polky dotty paper that brings me such joy when I see it and the Versamark again on the kraft background block to make the dots.  It is out of my comfort zone to make animals in colors that are not their normal colors in nature, but I got a little crazy and made a green owl.  I like him so much I might do a blue one or yellow one next.  I'm edgy.  :)

This one isn't very exciting, but I was trying out another new product.  Embossing powder.  I didn't do so well at getting the excess powder off before heating it so it looks pretty messy.  I used a paintbrush to try to knock the little sprinkles off, but wasn't very successful.  If you have any good suggestions let me know.  It is so fun to watch that powder turn shiny!  I can see a lot more embossing in my future. 

I have half a dozen or so more cards that I made this weekend, and will try to post them later this week, so check back soon!  Have a great evening!

Denim Jacket

I was shopping at The Children's Place a couple of weeks ago and found this denim jacket on clearance.  Immediately I was inspired that I wanted to decorate it for my daughter.  I had seen on another blog how you could use freezer paper to create a stencil with your cricut and was looking for a project.  I did use the new Hoot 'n' Holler cartridge available from Wal-Mart to cut an outline for my owl.  I bought Tulip fabric paint in several colors from Michaels.  I wasn't overly thrilled with the effect I was getting from the stencils and had a little trouble with the paint getting under the freezer paper near the seams... so I decided to forget the stencils and freehand the rest.  I like the freehand parts the best.  I don't love the colors I had to work with and had a hard time deciding which colors to use.  I'm still not sure I made the best choice, but at that point I was committed, so I went with it. 

Here is the front.  I painted the panels below the pocket flaps purple and sprinkled it with a washable glitter also from Tulip.  I thought the back was plenty bold, so I went a little milder on the front.  I had hoped to use some rhinestones on it, but after doing the polka dots around the seams I couldn't figure out a way to incorporate them that I liked.  So... I guess I will just have to use the rhinestones on another project.

This was my first attempt at painting on fabric.  I am fairly pleased with the way it turned out, but will definitely do some things differently in the future.  For example, I now know that if I do a name it will be higher, up across the top of the shoulders.  I bought a jacket that fits me too, but I am having a hard time committing to a design.  I hope this inspires you to try your hand at fabric painting.  It was fun.  Emily wanted to wear her new jacket to daycamp today.  I snapped a few pictures quickly just before she left incase I never see it again!  She does have a habit of losing things at school!

Misc...

I was looking for a profile pic and had to go all the way back to November to get one of just me without a kid in the picture.  While I was searching I found several pictures of cards I had not posted yet.  I also just finished painting a denim jacket for my daughter.  I will try to post a picture of it very soon. 

This little cutie was made with my cricut and the Create a Critter cartridge.  I used the BoBunny double dot paper and some misc. patterned paper from my stash. 

 

This Bee Yourself card was made with the same BoBunny paper and Cricut cartridge.

I made this last fall.  I dont have a clue where the paper came from or which Cricut cartridge I used!  Oh well, that was before I knew these things were important in the blog world!

I made this little card with some stamps my dear friend Patty gave me.  I was helping her clean out her scrapbook room one day and she was in the "get rid of everything" mode.  I still feel a little bad about taking so many of her stamps... so Patty, if you're reading this, do you want your stamps back?  I colored them with colored pencils. 

Cards

"Sending TONS of love" card using Create a Critter cricut cartridge.  Paper is by K & Company. 

"Thank You" card using K & Company Amy Butler paper and stickers.  Stamp by Close to my Heart.

"Lucky Day" card using Stamping cricut cartridge.  Paper is by My Mind's Eye.

"Have I TOAD you..." card using Paisley cricut cartridge

"You light up my life" card using K& Company Paper and Chipboard stickers

"You're Elephantastic" card using Create a Critter cricut cartridge and BoBunny Double Dot paper.  Stamp is by Close to my Heart

"Howdy" card using Create a Critter cricut cartridge

"Families are Forever" card using Just Because Cards cricut cartridge and BoBunny Double Dot paper

"You BLOW me AWAY" card using Paisley cricut cartridge and BoBunny Double Dot paper

"When life gives you lemons..." card

"Friend" card using Paisley cricut cartridge and K & Company papers

"So Dear" card using Create a Critter cricut cartridge

"I love you" card using Create a Critter cricut cartridge

"Thank you" card

Denim Tote Bags

I made my first denim tote bag when my oldest son started preschool.  I made this bag for his first day of school.  I wasn't quite happy with the way it turned out so I made another one, and another one, and a whole bunch more after that! 

This bag was my first attempt at applique.  I hand-cut the letters, used fusible webbing to adhere the strips and name, and zig-zagged over it.  I thought it turned out pretty cute.

back of "Sarah" bag

Close up of the embroidery on this bag.  I loved these little "knobby kneed" girls.

"Knobby Kneed" gymnast

Flannel Tote Bags

These flannel tote bags were inspired from a baby quilt I saw and made for my nephew. I used the same idea and constructed a tote bag using the same techniques.

Placemat purses

A couple of years ago I made dozens of placemat purses. I still have dozens of placemats to make more purses, but no desire to make any more. These are a few of my favorites.

I think this pink and black one got monogrammed in a cute hot pink!

I still carry this one in the fall.




Someone ordered this one to go with a specific outfit for their daughter.
I thought it turned out cute.



interior view of above

This one was one of the more popular ones. Several moms got this because it matches South's school colors.

I carry this one in the Spring. Its about time to dig it out now.