Aaaah, summertime -- no schedule, homework, etc. It was soooo nice. I got more sleep, enjoyed hanging out with both of my kiddos, did a lot of reading, played video games, and just had more time to relax. It is hard to believe that it is over already.
This summer I was trying to learn more about sewing as well as keep organizing/inventorying my craft room. So my crafty time has been harder to come by, but I did manage to accomplish a few projects. First, I did A LOT of mending and altering clothes. Definitely have to say that this is not my favorite aspect of sewing... however necessary it is.
I did manage a few fun projects however. I shared earlier the mini quilt I made myself on my birthday with my BFF on our Family Blog. At the time, I was trying to keep this blog more CTMH-oriented and didn't share it here. As I am no longer a consultant, that impediment is gone. So, I'll go ahead and share it again here.
I loved how it turned out, so I decided to make Delaney one for her room at school. (I was bound and determined to take a break from the mending and do something fun!) I incorporated the number 22 in the design, since that is the soccer number she has at Parkside. The base colors were black and white, which is the predominate color scheme of her room and I threw in as many little extras as I could from existing fabric I had here at home. I thought it turned out really cute.
She sent me a picture of it hanging in her room after she got it. (Her dad dropped it off with other goodies at an away game for her.)
As far as organizing my craft stuff goes, I have been trying to go through bins, boxes, baskets -- you name it, and organizing things together. I have also been inventorying things as I've been going through things with Evernote. I *love* it. I have all my acrylic stamps organized in there, and it is so easy to type in a keyword and see sets that match to select from, and then find exactly where the set is located. I have also gotten through my punches, dry embossing stencils, and even my old wooden sets. I still have a lot more things to get through, but I'm getting there. I also pulled out the many handmade cards I had everywhere and put them in one place, organized by theme to easily find a card when needed. That took a lot longer than I thought it would, but I finally finished them all up.
One other big project that I finished up was I made my first quilt! I used reclaimed denim and soccer fleece to make a rag quilt. I even had a little helper most of the time while I was working on it. It was basically, "Oh, you're working on this here? I shall sit on it." He's so cute, that he can get away with it too. He would usually fall asleep so I was trying to carefully work around him in a tiny area -- as he takes up most of the table.
The thing that took the longest wasn't the actual assembly of the quilt. It was all the cutting of the squares! I couldn't believe how long it took just to cut squares. The denim was really hard on my rotary blade too; it completely dulled it. I had to order new blades. But once I finally got through cutting all the squares, the actual assembly wasn't too bad. Delaney helped me lay out all the squares, to make sure that I had the different denim colors spread out nicely. Then I simply had to sew all the squares together row by row, then attach all the rows together. After everything was together, cutting all the seams was a tad tedious -- but then it was finished! Ta-dah!
It is currently on the futon in the soccer room -- a perfect match. All that denim makes for one heavy quilt too, I think it will be nice and toasty in the winter months.
I have a bigger "want to do" list than I actually have time to do. So I guess time will tell what I actually get to next.
Dani
Friday, September 14, 2018
Tuesday, June 12, 2018
Making Cards Again!
I guess I haven't officially put anything on the blog, so I will do that here now. As of this past April 1st, I am no longer a consultant with Close To My Heart. I have loved being a part of their company and their products for quite a while now, but with my illness things were just slowly coming to this decision. Thanks for being such great customers and keep in touch!
Now that that is out of the way, I will still be using this blog to post crafty stuff. Recently, I have been on an organizational and cataloging kick with all my craft supplies. I have been using Evernote for a while now. I started with my stamp sets and was so happy with the results, that I have been slowly adding in more and more supplies when I can get to it. I have a couple of bins filled with old projects of all types. Whether it was from a convention, a customer ordered but didn't actually pick up the packet, or something I never finished... they all went in these bins. I have decided it was time to start working through them.
So, I pulled out three old packages of card kits and went to town with them. I decided to use whatever stamps I wanted with them, so I would have a better variety of finished cards to utilize. I got to play with some new cat stamp sets I hadn't had the opportunity to use yet, as well as drag out a bunch of older sets too.
It was a lot of fun making these. Having everything pre-cut made it really quick to whip out all these cards. I wonder what I will be able to drag out of the Old Projects bin next?
Dani
Now that that is out of the way, I will still be using this blog to post crafty stuff. Recently, I have been on an organizational and cataloging kick with all my craft supplies. I have been using Evernote for a while now. I started with my stamp sets and was so happy with the results, that I have been slowly adding in more and more supplies when I can get to it. I have a couple of bins filled with old projects of all types. Whether it was from a convention, a customer ordered but didn't actually pick up the packet, or something I never finished... they all went in these bins. I have decided it was time to start working through them.
So, I pulled out three old packages of card kits and went to town with them. I decided to use whatever stamps I wanted with them, so I would have a better variety of finished cards to utilize. I got to play with some new cat stamp sets I hadn't had the opportunity to use yet, as well as drag out a bunch of older sets too.
It was a lot of fun making these. Having everything pre-cut made it really quick to whip out all these cards. I wonder what I will be able to drag out of the Old Projects bin next?
Dani
Thursday, March 22, 2018
New stamp set: Gimme Some Sugar
Have you checked out the current Seasonal Expressions?
There are some beautiful new paper collections: Chelsea Gardens, Make Waves, Stargazer, and Gimme Some Sugar along with several embellishments and a variety of stamp sets. One of my favorite new sets is C1702 Gimme Some Sugar - Cardmaking. (You can even get the set with a coordinating set of dies.) Here are a few cards that I made with the set.
Keeping this card clean and simple, I randomly stamped the background with all the cooking images in Heather ink. Then I cut out a heart and coordinating scallop with my Cricut and stamped the sentiment "baked with love." For a final touch, I added a few Bashful Pearls as accents.
Since I always seem to run out of Thank You cards, I loved the "grateful for you" sentiment. Using the new Gimme Some Sugar collection, I added a piece of the printed paper on the bottom -- wrapping it with a ribbon from the Basics ribbon collection. Then I stamped the grater on top with the sentiment.
I also played with the cute little oven mitt. I stamped, colored and cut out the mitt and attached it to a Lemon background. Then wanting to use a different color scheme -- I pulled out the new Nutmeg color and made my own striped accent attaching it on the bottom with a thin strip of the Nutmeg n bottom. Then I used the adorable sentiment "I must admitt you're the best." Too cute!
And last but not least, I made a 6"x6" card using the Gimme Some Sugar papers again. I used 2"x2" squares of the patterned paper to set up the grid, then stamped the measuring cups in each corner. I colored each cup in a little bit and attached some thin strips at slightly off angles to give it a more varied look. I finished it off with stamping the sentiment "You always measure up" and adding a few Bashful Pearls.
Don't you love this set? Make sure to get yours ordered while you can. Enjoy!
Dani
There are some beautiful new paper collections: Chelsea Gardens, Make Waves, Stargazer, and Gimme Some Sugar along with several embellishments and a variety of stamp sets. One of my favorite new sets is C1702 Gimme Some Sugar - Cardmaking. (You can even get the set with a coordinating set of dies.) Here are a few cards that I made with the set.
Keeping this card clean and simple, I randomly stamped the background with all the cooking images in Heather ink. Then I cut out a heart and coordinating scallop with my Cricut and stamped the sentiment "baked with love." For a final touch, I added a few Bashful Pearls as accents.
Since I always seem to run out of Thank You cards, I loved the "grateful for you" sentiment. Using the new Gimme Some Sugar collection, I added a piece of the printed paper on the bottom -- wrapping it with a ribbon from the Basics ribbon collection. Then I stamped the grater on top with the sentiment.
I also played with the cute little oven mitt. I stamped, colored and cut out the mitt and attached it to a Lemon background. Then wanting to use a different color scheme -- I pulled out the new Nutmeg color and made my own striped accent attaching it on the bottom with a thin strip of the Nutmeg n bottom. Then I used the adorable sentiment "I must admitt you're the best." Too cute!
And last but not least, I made a 6"x6" card using the Gimme Some Sugar papers again. I used 2"x2" squares of the patterned paper to set up the grid, then stamped the measuring cups in each corner. I colored each cup in a little bit and attached some thin strips at slightly off angles to give it a more varied look. I finished it off with stamping the sentiment "You always measure up" and adding a few Bashful Pearls.
Don't you love this set? Make sure to get yours ordered while you can. Enjoy!
Dani
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