pine is here.

stamped quilt label project

In the spirit of the new Quilter's Sampler set with this month's release I wanted to share my quilt project that I have been working on for the past 8 (yes, 8!) years. I started this quilt when I was pregnant with my Tacy and it was originally supposed to be her baby quilt. I recently finished all of the hand quilting and am ready to completely finish off the quilt - finally! I wanted to create a quilt label for the back of the quilt and was so inspired by the new set...

Here's a close up of some of the detail of the quilt - even though this project has taken a long time, it's just the kind of project that I like. I could sit and stitch for hours!

To make the label, I started off with a piece of white cotton fabric. I decided to stamp a polka dot background with the Polka Dot Basics set in the Lemon Tart ink. Using the hybrid inks is perfect for a fabric project like this. I know that the color will stay even if I need to wash the quilt.

I stamped the 'handmade by' sentiment, from the Quilter's Sampler set, in the Dark Chocolate and then the elephant from the Bitty Baby Blessings set in the Aqua Mist. I stamped the elephant in the lighter color so that I had guidelines for doing some embroidery, but not so dark that it would show through the finished stitching.

When I do embroidery on cotton fabrics, I like to layer some cotton batting underneath. It gives the embroidery a little dimension and keeps the threads behind from showing through.

I used a basic backstitch for the elephant. If you are interested in learning more about basic embroidery stitches, I would recommend checking your library, local quilt or fabric shop.

I personalized my label by using the Simple Alphabet set and then added a running stitch around the outside of my label for a border.

Here's what the label looks like after I have everything stitched and stamped on it.

I trimmed some of the cotton batting away from the edge of the label so that I could turn the edge under when I stitched it to the back of the quilt.

Here, I have the label all pinned in place and ready to go...

And here is the finished label attached to the quilt. I love how it turned out. It just gives that little bit of me to Tacy when she looks at her quilt years from now and remembers that I made it just for her.

Embroidered Elephant Quilt Label

stamps: Quilter's Sampler, Polka Dot Basics, Bitty Baby Blessings, Simple Alphabet (Papertrey Ink)

ink: Lemon Tart, Aqua Mist, Dark Chocolate (Papertrey Ink)

accessories: white cotton fabric, embroidery floss, buttons, cotton batting

Floral Frenzy and Wise Owl

 Here are the rest of my projects from the July Papertrey release...

I was inspired to make the daisy order on this scrapbook page by a page Mish had emailed me where the creator had used the Prima type flowers cut in half this way. When I saw Melissa's Floral Frenzy set I knew I had to try my own border with her stamps!

 

I also had to break out my white acrylic paint for stamping the flowers. see my tutorial here if you are interested in learning more about stamping with acrylic paint.

And finally the Wise Owl set by Alli Miles. Between the cute bellies and fun sentiments, it's an owl I can definitely like!

Thanks for stopping by and have a HOOT of a day!

I am packing up for CHA in Chicago today and am looking forward to seeing friends, new products, and inspiration! Watch for my newsletter article for Papertrey later this week! I will be back next week with lots to share!

Papertrey July release - Quilter's Sampler

This was a great release - I love so many parts of all the sets this month (yes, even the owls...) In this post, I want to share my projects made with the Quilter's Sampler set...

When Nichole showed us the Quilter's Sampler set, I picked out this particular sentiment because it's one that just really describes family - my family - so well. It reminds me of everything our family has gone through and the support and love that we have for each other. Our lives are truly like a quilt - put together with so much love and care and even when things are not perfect it still goes together.

The log cabin quilt is one of my favorites and so I included in my scrapbook page project. I loved punching and piecing the quilt squares in the barn raising design. It brought me back to working on some of my own quilts and the sense of satisfaction I have when I have a whole quilt top put together and can see the results of the original vision in my head (and actually that is the same feeling I get when I finish a paper project too...)

I am a quilter as well as a paper crafter and have made many quilts and quilty projects. I can spend hours reading quilt books, browsing in quilt shops looking at the patterns and colors and feeling the textures of the fabric. In my former life (before I became a mom and while I was in high school and college) I worked for a fabric store, my official position being fabric specialist! One of my favorite parts of my job was helping choose fabrics for quilt projects. There's nothing better than stacks of fabrics and the dream of the quilt that is going to be made! I am particularly partial to scrap quilts (my own collection of fabrics reflects this!) and so when I worked on my projects with this set I colored my blocks to reflect the different shading that happens when putting a scrappy quilt together. The block in this card project is the ribbon star (friendship star is another name) - another favorite of mine.

If you haven't already, stop by Mish's blog and read this post. I love her story about being inspired by her visit to the quilt shop and the projects that she created are beautiful!

Make sure to stop by the Papertrey gallery to see all of the wonderful projects that the design team created for this release. I will be back with more about my other projects later!

 

Papertrey sneak peek!

I have a confession to make. I am NOT really an owl person... Don't get me wrong, I love the bird itself in nature, but I don't need one on my shirt or on my wall. My friends know this about me and like to tease me about the owl pictures, shirts, figurines, etc. that they are going to get me for a gift or wear when they are with me. Ha ha...

To be honest, owls are growing on me a little bit lately. My daughter chose an owl tank top to wear this summer and it hasn't scarred me - yet. I have been even been heard saying, "That's pretty cute - for an owl..." every now and then.

Alli Miles designed the Wise Owl set for this release, and I think Nichole heard how fond I was of owls and so assigned me to feature it for the countdown (just kidding, Nichole!) But really, this is a very fun set to use and all and all the owls are very cute - for owls!

I like the fact that this set is a build-your-own owl idea. You can add wings, or no wings. I used the wings for this project. One tip for lining up the wings just right is to aim at lining up the bottom part to the owl body.

I stamped the owl on kraft and then wanted the eyes on white. I could just cut them out, but found that my 1/2" circle punch is just the right size.

I stamped and colored the beak and then my most favorite part is all of the fun bellies that you can choose for your owl. There are some bellies to get you started in the main set, but you will definitely want the add on of extra bellies that will be available to purchase as well. Now my owls are looking good - for an owl - and look at the CUTE BELLIES!

Here, I stamped on some owl feet...

I punched the owls out with a giga square punch and if you look close, you can see that I outlined the owls with a very light warm gray colored Copic Marker.

Can't forget to add some white ink to my edges...

I stamped a star background with white pigment ink...

Decided on the Plum Pudding ribbon for an accent...

And finished off my cards. Don't you just love the little 'hoot.' sentiment? Alli included some great little owly sentiments in the set!

Be sure to stop by Nichole's blog to see more with the Wise Owl set. Also stop by Alli's blog as she has great Wise Owl sneak peeks everyday during the countdown. Melissa Bickford has a sweet flower set that is being released this month and so you can see some sneak peeks of that over at her blog too!

I will be at the online release party on the night of the 14th over at the Papertrey Ink forums - see you there!

Little Hoot Owl Cards

stamps: Wise Owl (Papertrey Ink)

ink: Unicorn Memories (Stewart Superior), Jet Black Archival (Ranger)

cardstock: kraft, Spring Moss (Papertrey Ink)

accessories: Plum Pudding stitched ribbon (Papertrey Ink), 1/2" and 5/8" circle punches (EK Success), giga square punch (Marvy), star brads (Creative Imaginations), dimensionals, Copic w1 warm gray marker

dimensions: 4 1/4" x 4 1/4"

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend. Our family 4th of July weekend at my parents house was wonderful - I loved being able to spend time with everyone...

Here's a view of my parent's house from the dock...

Thursday night we celebrated my Grandma's 75th birthday...

My cousins and Hana hanging out on the 4th...

We had a variety show (think Dan in Real Life)...

watched fireworks around the lake all weekend...

Did lots of swimming (That's Chad playing hide-n-seek with the girls)...

Boating, kayaking, and canoeing...

It was a perfect weekend...

Now we are back to a regular, busy schedule. There's lots coming up this week and next: The Papertrey Ink sneak peeks start at the end of this week, I am heading down to Apple Valley for a day of stamping with fellow SCSers this Saturday, and I will be getting ready to head down to Chicago for CHA next Thursday!

Have a great week!

it's in the bag - challenge!

Okay, June flew by way too fast.

It's time again for the Papertrey Ink senior design team challenge. This month our challenge was to use the coffee bags in our project. It's just about time to celebrate the 4th and for our family we have an extra special event to go along with it - my grandma's 75th birthday! We have a large family gathering planned at my parents house this weekend and I am looking forward to spending time with everyone and celebrating!

The stars are stamped onto the gift bag with acrylic paint and I made the window in the bag a shaker with some glittered stars and confetti. It's so easy to do! I filled a small cellophane bag that seals at the top and then used some super sticky double stick tape to adhere it to the inside of the bag so that it showed through the window.

I can't wait to give my grandma a special little gift in this bag, although the best gift is going to be spending time with my family.

Make sure you stop by the other senior design team members blogs to see their take on this challenge...

Nichole

Debbie

Lisa

Amy

Lauren

Patriotic Gift Bag

stamps: Text Boxed, Mixed Messages (Papertrey Ink)

ink: Unicorn Memories (Stewart Superior), Jet Black Archival (Ranger), Real Red craft (Stampin' Up!)

cardstock: kraft (Papertrey Ink), Real Red (Stampin' Up!)

accesories: kraft coffee bag (Papertrey Ink), Real Red grosgrain ribbon (Stampin' Up!), star eyelets, silver cord, small silver eyelet, large silver eyelet (Dritz), red, white & blue acrylic paint, Cuttlebug star dies (Provo Craft), white gold glitter (Martha Stewart), misc confetti, small flat cellophane bag, distressor

happy birthday tacy!

We celebrated Tacy's 8th birthday today at my parents house. Here are a few pictures to share from the day...

Happy Birthday, Tacy! We love you!

answering questions...

My ribbon rack is actually an over the door pantry shelf that I picked up at Walmart. I cut matboard for the bottom of the shelves so that the ribbon wouldn't fall through. The ribbon I have that is not spooled I have organized by color in jars in a wire basket below the ribbon rack. It's all together in one place which I think is the key thing - put all your like stuff together. You will be able to find it and use it easily in your projects!

 

Here's another corner or my space. I do my cutting and binding in this area and the shelf holds all of my tools and accessories/embellishments.

The pillows you saw in the last post are an Ink & Nickel project. We have our first craft sale of the year next Thursday at the Lemonade Art Fair here in St. Cloud, MN. My house is a pile of projects to finish up for next week...

The Christmas advent tag calendar you can see in the ribbon photo of the previous post was a project I did for the Dirty Dozen gallery way back when. You can view it and the details here if you are a Fan Club member at SCS. I bring it out every holiday season, but it hang it in my craft space the rest of the year so it doesn't become smooshed in a box.

I pick up my empty CD cases where ever I am running errands when they are on my list of things to get. Find the blank CD's at Target or Walmart or where ever and the CD cases would be right there too. If you order stamp sets from Papertrey Ink, you will get the CD case for storing your stamps right with your order.

The other thing I wanted to mention is that you should click on the pictures to see anything bigger/clearer. I have noticed a big photo quality issue with the new Typepad updates. I am disappointed with how pixely the pictures are looking on my blog!

Thanks for stopping by - have a great weekend!

corners of my space

I wouldn't say that I am the most organized...

But I know where things are - for the most part...

Someday I will have a space up out of my basement with lots of natural light and beautiful storage...

But, for now, I am happy with what I have...

It's a space that I love to spend time in. A space to create in.

buttons!

I had some scraps of stamped background paper left over from my Father's Day Envelope book ( 2 posts below) and stitched (yes, hand stitched...) a bunch of buttons from my stash to the intersections of the grid from the Guide Lines set. You could use so many fun things to highlight the intersections: pearls, brads, beads, gems, etc... just play around with your supplies and see what you can come up with!

Buttons are one of my most favorite embellishment - and I have to have mine stitched on or at the very least they need to be threaded before I glue them down.

As much as I love buttons, my Hana does not like them. At all. And the distaste started way back before she could ever tell me that she didn't like them. I would have screaming and kicking happening in the morning when I was trying to get her dressed and I didn't know what was going on? It all became clear when she could finally tell me. Shopping for clothes can be a challenge since buttons are a necessary thing on many clothing items. I have convinced her that buttons on the back or at the top of her pants need to be her exception - because no one sees those buttons anyway. However, I know she's not thoroughly convinced about that.

"You can wear buttons, Momma, even though they are ugly..." Thanks Hana.

Life is a Journey Button Card

Stamps: Guide Lines, Birds of a Feather (Papertrey Ink)

Ink: Unicorn Memories (Stewart Superior), Jet Black Archival (Ranger)

Cardstock: kraft, white, Spring Moss (Papertrey Ink)

Accessories: buttons, linen thread (Stampin' Up!), sewing machine/thread, large oval punch (Stampin' Up!), dimensionals