handmade cass

It feels so good to finish a project!  I had this banner done in almost one afternoon and I was so proud.  I had seen a Martha Stewart project for a baby shower that had a mini flag banner as a table decoration and wanted to do something similar but on a bit bigger scale.  So when I found myself with a Sunday afternoon to work on crafts (because it was WAY too hot outside) I dove right in. I remembered that I had some Basic Grey chipboard letters from a while back and was happy to learn that they are self-adhesive!  Did a quick paint job with some Adironack acrylic paint on my trust craft mat. Followed that with a generous coating of the Tim Holtz Distress crackle paint in my favorite copper color.  It took a long time for that layer to dry and crackle - but you can see that it turned out pretty nice!  After about an hour I sanded the edges to get rid of any excess and they were ready to stick right onto the flags. I had a stack of fall themes cardstock ...

Spent the last week making some baby shower invitations and I love them!  Pink vellum overlay with a Stampin' Up woodgrain background in pink pearl ink, and a couple forest animals from Hero Arts and Amuse.  To keep it from being "too pink" I used copper accents with the ribbon and some punched leaves (Marvy Uchida punch with Stardream metallic paper).  The cardstock backing is 100% recycled, as is the kraft envelope.  I showed my husband and he actually giggled when he saw the squirrels.   I've also been sewing some bedding for the crib in our baby room.  The fabric on the top right (from Alexander Henry) is the main one and I have some green batik fabric and an orange print that coordinate like a dream!  Right now I have all the pieces cut and in various states of assembly for a bumper and crib skirt.  Also bought some coordinating fleece for a stuffed hedgehog toy that I saw in Stitch magazine - which is my new favorite!  More pictures ...

With lots of help and moral support from my mom, the quilt that I started two years ago is done and ready for snuggling.  It would actually still be in pieces if she hadn't taken it from me and finished it herself!  I did all of the quilting on the long arm by myself, and helped with the binding (a little).  But it turned out great! Frank has already made himself at home with the quilt and says that he prefers the minky backing for his naps. My mom and aunts coached me on the long arm part of the quilting and made me practice my design on a white board beforehand - that was a good idea because it was harder than I expected!  I decided that I wanted contrast thread colors so you could see all of the hard work I did on the quilting: orange on top and brown on the back. And to finish it off I signed my name in one of the bottom squares.  So glad it's done so I can start on a new project!

I've had a number of reviews go up recently and I've fallen behind on my own personal blog. So here are the links.  Felt Comparison: Acrylic vs. Wool (lots of project ideas) Omnigrid Foldaway Cutting and Pressing Station Westcott Scissors and Paper Trimmers Enjoy! Hoping to show more progress on my Alaska scrapbook soon. Although I'll admit that I've already gotten sidetracked making a picture book on snapfish.com with pictures from a different vacation. It's always something!

I had a few new things that I've been wanting to try, including the Tim Holtz popcorn stamp that I'm convinced was made for me.  There are many days when all I want for dinner is a nice big bowl of stove-popped popcorn (using my Whirly Pop ...no Jiffy Pop in this house).  But back to the crafts... On this mini card I used a scrap of Creative Memories red cardstock from about 15 years ago, the Tim Holtz stamp, some Papertrey ink "vintage touch" ink along the edges before using the Making Memories distress tool, a Copic marker and Sakura Glaze pens to color in the image, and a bit of Distress Stickles on three of the popcorn kernels that I had cut out for extra dimension.  Now I just need to have a movie night so I can use this as an invitation. I've also made a resolution to finish up my Alaska scrapbook from our vacation three years ago.  As soon as we got back I was excited to get started and had printed all of the pictures, but then one thing or another go...

I am in LOVE with all that Hambly Screenprints has to offer (as evidenced by a very small sampling of their products that I have been hoarding). This lovely California company got some great press this week that included a behind-the-scenes slideshow of their screenprinting process.  Enjoy! And PS - the latest word on the Hambly blog is that they will be offering some great deals this Saturday, May 1st in honor of National Scrapbook Day.  So be sure to check it out this weekend.

My second official Craft Critique review is up!  This time I discussed my experiences with Clearsnap's Smooch Spritz, and you can see the whole review here . And I also learned that Stampin' Up is starting to sell Smooch Spritz, so I'll be using it in some of my club classes soon.  Can't wait to get more project ideas for it! disclosure statement

My little Franklin is always helping me whenever I'm working on the computer or a crafting project.  Tonight he wanted to be a part of an upcoming Craft Critique review.  I ended up leaving him out of the final review...but maybe it would have been better with this picture.

I would love to spend every day working on craft projects.  But I usually get to a point every few months where I avoid my craft area entirely because it has become such a mess.  I was at that point this weekend.  So I spent a couple hours today filing away new scrapbook papers, storing fabrics I got for my birthday, recycling old magazines, deciding which product catalogs I want to keep (from CHA), and making a nice big pile of stuff to give away. I also came up with a pile of craft books that I really want to read but haven't had the time.  One quilting book, one with quilting stitches I want to learn for applique, another with felt projects (lots of pincushions), two on making books, and one with some great travel scrapbook ideas.  Now I just need to find some time... I also have a new fabric obsession.  My husband's grandmother made this pillow and I just recently put it out in our living room.  Every time I see it I can't help but think of h...

Happy Easter! We had an exciting family Easter that included mini golf, BBQ, and a 7.2 earthquake just south of the border!  It had all of our hearts pounding for a quite a while afterwards.  We just went back to cooking but kept saying, "Was that another aftershock?".  Glad everyone is okay and I don't think there was any major damage in the area. Before I knew how exciting the day would turn out I had been using my new Chocolate Bunny stamp from Stampin' Up.  We used it in a class and I fell in love.  Since you can only have so many chocolate bunny cut-outs, I decided to make a tag for my husband's easter basket.  I also used a new Stampin' Up bird punch and the Papertrey Ink Vintage Touch ink to distress the bunny edges a bit.

I got the idea to make some tulle flowers after falling in love with some really expensive headbands on etsy.com that had some pink tulle flowers with pearls in the center.  I searched high and low for a tutorial on how to make them, but settled on a technique that was originally intended for cardstock flowers. First I cut out 24 tulle circles using a paper template that measures about 3" across.  This is the spool of tulle I mentioned earlier that cost less than $2 for 25 yards! Then I layered three circles at a time, folded in half, and then into thirds.  You end up with a pie slice shape and I used my Tim Holtz tiny attacher to staple these to a piece of felt.  You can see the end result (bottom view) here. From there I used some different flower dies with my Cuttlebug to see which felt flower I wanted to layer on top of the tulle.  Also looking at different button and color combination options. Once I had secured the felt flower by sewing on the butto...

My mom is the best seamstress I know.  I was shocked when she came over last week with an apron she had just finished.  I had seen it in various stages of completion (and I was there about a month ago when she picked out the fabrics at Rosie's).  BUT the surprise was the applique she had put on the pocket of the apron - a long haired dachshund just like my Franklin Wiener! She broke her wrist on the same night that she showed me the apron, so her sewing projects will be on hold for a while.  She's going to get bored really quick.  Wishing her a speedy recovery!

Leave a comment on Craft Critique with your thoughts on the new Creating Keepsakes community and you'll be entered to win a one-year charter membership!  They also have a coupon code for a discount on the membership...just in case you don't win!  You can see all the details here .  The winner will be picked on Wednesday, March 31st. Disclosure statement

A few months back when Craft Critique put out a call for reporters I got a rare surge of bravery and submitted a test review for the site.  I was so surprised and excited to hear that they had picked me!  And my first review was just posted here . The fine print: whenever I link to one of my reviews I have to mention that I was not paid or bribed for my opinion.   Since my next review will be on Clearsnap's Smooch Spritz I decided to make a card to celebrate.  And I needed something to do while my husband was finishing up our taxes tonight. On this card I started with the antique text paper that I had sprayed for the review - it has the meanings of girl's names!  Then added a distress flower that I had made with the Smooch Spritz and a McGill scallop punch a while back.  It's topped off with and a Papertrey button and twine.  Purple cardstock from Stampin' Up matted it quite nicely and then I decided to use the "celebrate" sentiment fro...

I don't know about anyone else, but I'll drag out my birthday celebration as long as possible.  My husband put an end to birthday month last year - too much pressure on him I think.  So this year I got birthday week.  I have a number of friends with March birthdays, so there is still plenty of celebrating.  My mom was kind enough to give me a number of crafty items for my birthday.  I think most of them were picked up while we were on the quilt run a few weeks back. Of course...Frank wanted to get in on the picture taking. And speaking of that quilt run, I had picked up a Mother Goose panel to make a book for an upcoming one-year birthday party.  In typical fashion I got all of the supplies but waited to start the project until the morning of the party.  I was proud that a few times I ripped out a couple seams and went back to make sure they were straight - something I never would have done a year ago.  It turned out far from perfect, bu...

A bunch of ladies in my family have been going on quilt runs for a few years now and this was my first time joining them. Glad I did - it was really fun! We left at 8AM yesterday morning to drive north for an hour to get to the first store and then 10 hours later ended at our 10th store for the day! It was quite a feat. But I got to see 7 stores that I had never been to - most of them fabulous and ones that I plan to go to many more times (a few not so much). I fell in love with all of the colorful quilting and projects artfully displayed at Starry Night Hollow Quilts & Crafts . Loved walking through each room in this converted house and was so happy to see a whole rack of 1930's reproduction prints. Near the end of our adventure we ran from our car in the rain to get to get to The Country Loft - another store that used to be a little bungalow house. The fabrics here weren't really my style, but I loved their selection of wool and wool felt and fell in love with a b...

For some reason I had a bit more time than usual for crafting this week. It was awesome! I always forget that I should set aside time when I get home from work - another goal to work towards. But on to the projects... I got my Color Cubbie in the mail and had so much fun filling it up. All of my scrapbooking pens had started to take over one of my office drawers, and the Copics were overflowing for the case I had for them on my desktop. The perfect solution: I didn't even think I would have enough to fill in each of the cubbies! Just goes to show that I should start using all of the supplies I buy. Speaking of which - still haven't tried the Copic airbrushing can sitting next to the Color Cubbie. Once I had that all organized I wanted to use my Copics on that fabulous doughnut stamp from Hero Arts that I mentioned earlier . Also ended up using some Distress Stickles for the frosting. And since I found myself with so much extra time this week, I dug out all of the Pape...

I have loved aprons for a long time - which my husband finds really funny since I don't do much cooking. But nonetheless the spark was ignited again when I found a really cute custom designed apron style on etsy.com. I order three aprons from a seller that isn't available anymore, but she gave me three different and very cute aprons that I gave to a group of friends. This one was my favorite: And once I got over the excitement of giving those beauties, I got to work on an apron that I had started a while back. I fell in love with some Amy Butler fabric and had cut out all the pieces for this apron more than a year ago. Now it's done and I've been wearing it while crafting!

I went to the CHA Craft Super Show back in January and had so much fun! A couple of the booths made some fabulous make-n-takes using Avery manila tags ( like Mr. Tim Holtz does ). I was inspired to make some - and figured it would be great to have some extra on hand to attach to a card or scrapbook page when I'm short on time. I picked up a pack of 100 at the office supply store for about $5. I just made the one on the left using a Tim Holtz script stamp and distress inks, Martha Stewart butterfly punch, Stickles lavender glitter, Copic purple markers, Papertrey button, the pom pom flowers I described here , and a scrap of ribbon. The middle and right ones were started at the CHA Craft Show and I brought them home and changed them up and embellished a bit. Both used the distress inks, and I even hunted down that ruler stamp afterwards because I fell in love with it. And last night I decided I had to make a change in my Copic storage situation. I have outgrown the 36 marker ca...

My obsession with using party store crepe paper continues! At less than $1 for about 100 feet - you can afford to play around and perfect your technique. I needed to send a congratulations card to my good friend who just had her baby girl. And I figured I would keep up my valentine's trend....and it was still sitting out on my desk. This card also uses two Memory Box stamps, Copic markers, Marvey Uchida circle punch, and Tsukineko inks (Memento and Brilliance). I had a chance to get to a few local craft stores this weekend and found some great new items that have come out recently. My favorite is this doughnut stamp from Hero Arts! Anyone who knows me knows that doughnuts are always on my mind. I had to have it and can't wait to play with colors on the frosting and sprinkles.

I decided to make treat bags for my coworkers with homemade butterscotch cookies this year. And what better way to use up all of those scraps you've been saving than to make a bunch of gift tags! I had so much fun making these with all the random bits and pieces that I have collected over the last couple months. I also used some crepe paper from the party store (70 cents for a roll) and a couple different colors of felt (on sale for 16 cents per square). I also used some Stickles, a set of Marvey Uchida heart punches, and a new set of Stampin' Up clear heart stamps (on the left).