handmade cass

I made two cards this weekend that qualify for Simon Says Monday Challenge this week - Love That Technique . I needed a card for a friend that just found out she is having a baby girl. For that one I used the fussy cutting technique to cut out a dress from another part of that patterned paper. Supplies : patterned paper - Amy Tangerine, Memory Box mini clothespins twine And I also needed a birthday card, but wanted to use this "hola" stamp from an older Studio Calico set. I flipped that clear stamp over and used the back to stamp solid circles on the card - love that technique! Supplies : stamps - Studio Calico ink - Stampin' Up glitter - Wink of Stella vellum patterned card base - Michael's

I am participating in this week's Simon Says Get Dotty Challenge. I needed to make a card for a friend expecting a baby that isn't feeling so great right now. Morning sickness is the worst! Supplies: Stamps - Lawn Fawn Ink - Memento Markers - Copic Stencil - Memory Box Embossing Paste - Dreamweavers Cardstock - Neenah Other - vellum, card base

There must be something in the air right now, because I have a bunch of girlfriends that are all expecting babies this summer and fall.  So I decided to send some happy mail to these special ladies and try out some new stamps and craft supplies. I fell in love with the oven image on this Lawn Fawn stamp set and then the sentiment really sealed the deal.  Everything else just came together in 5 minutes increments while unpacking and keeping my toddler from destroying anything in my new craft room. This is the sentiment from the same stamp set that I used on the inside. I used my Copic markers to color the oven images and found out the hard way that they smeared the new black ink I was using for the first time (Hero Hues Dye Ink).  I have always used black Memento with Copics in the past, but I thought this would be safe since it is a die ink...no such luck.  Stick with Memento Dye Ink for Copic markers.  Even after drying overnight, see the bleeding...

We had a John Deer birthday party for my daughter's 2nd birthday this year.  She is a little girl that LOVES trucks and tractors!  And this is how it all turned out: I made a little "farm-scape" on a bale of hay at the snack table. Individual portions of popcorn and green M&Ms were a big hit at the party.   Sunflowers were placed in mason jars and tied with natural raffia. Mini party guests received a personalized treat bag with truck books and a green bandana.  See my previous post for more about the party bags. Green bandanas tied together served as party banners.   Green and pink sugar cookies in tractor shapes. Even Frank got dressed up for the party. Yellow cake cupcakes with lime frosting fit the color scheme. It took so much time to get all the different pieces together for the party, and it wasn't perfect, but my daughter had fun and that is what counts!  If you would like to see the sources for some of my party ...

I have a toddler that started sleeping well just recently, so I will do anything to keep her in her bed longer.  When the weather (finally) started to cool off here in Southern California I noticed that she was waking up cold.  So off we went to my favorite fabric store and once she saw this minky she actually started cuddling it on the fabric bolt.  That made the decision pretty easy. It would have been really easy to make a blanket with minky on both sides, but I was worried that would be too warm.  And the only fabric I could find in the coral color I wanted was in the batik section.  So I knew I would have to do a quilting backing for the blanket because the minky is much wider than the batiks.   The lady that was cutting my fabric was super helpful and cut the smallest pieces possible to get the squares I needed for quilting.  One yard of minky measured 60" x 36" so I needed 15 of the 12.5" batik squares to quilt the backing.  And in ...

I had started this mini book way back in January, and intended it as a Valentine's Day gift for my mom.  But here we are three months later and I just gave it to her as a "thank you" gift. It all started when I tried to do an at home photo shoot with the baby.  She was not feeling cooperative that day, so most pictures have mad faces, tears, or show her holding a nail clippers (because that held off the tears for a few extra minutes).  When I got the pictures back I knew that they all had to go into a book.  Enjoy! The cover and pages of the book are all from a set of file folders that I bought at Target back when they had the special edition, Liberty of London prints.  Love these colors!  I used my trusty Zutter Bind-it-All and a red O-wire to put the book together. On the first page I used watered down acrylic paint to get some hand prints.  Also found a rhinestone circle in my stash, then cut it in half to accent the date.  You can als...

I'm still giddy after taking my first crafty class since I had my little baby (10 months ago!).  I saw that Paper Tales had added a last minute class with Amy Tangerine and called the same morning to make sure I could join in the fun.  She gave us supply bags packed with tons of scrapbook goodies, mostly from her line with American Crafts. And she taught a few great techniques I have used in sewing but are new to me for scrapbooking.  We made yo-yos without the plastic tool thingy and it was really easy! Also did some stitching using this great crochet thread that is just a bit thicker than embroidery floss.  I need to find a local store that carries it! And two more layouts that I am still working on.  Also need to add journaling to the two above. Oh and I should also say that the class was for four 12x12 layouts but I scaled them way down so I can use them in a 6x6 book I am working on. And since I was at one of my favorite craft stores I had to ge...

I always wanted to preserve my baby's hand and footprints, especially while they are still tiny.  I tried a baby safe ink pad when she was 3 months old, but it turned out neon pink instead of a nice subdued color.   The color was a little too jarring for any keepsakes I had in mind.  Onto the next project...  I saw some Crayola clay at Lakeshore when I was there last week to laminate the covers for my mini album.  That gave me the idea to preserve these precious prints in clay!   I ended up buying the clay at Michael's with a coupon, and they didn't have white in the big tub option.  So I figured the terra cota color would be next best.  It dried a bit darker than I expected.  And the color was uneven where I had tried to smooth over some areas with a wet sponge.  So I pulled out my Twinkling H2O watercolors that haven't seen any love in many years. Since I had to do a trial run I made a little handprint for my mom's birth...

One of my very good girlfriends just had a baby!  I met her on my first day moving into my college dorm - her room was right across the hall from mine and she had a can opener when I needed one.  That was more than 10 years ago and we live a few thousand miles apart but we try to stay in close contact and both love to make gifts for each other. I had been excited to make this set for quite a while, and managed to get both projects done in one afternoon.  The first is a onesie with some fabric embellishment.  I'm not sure if you can call it applique if you use a machine to stitch it on?  I did.  And like always, I learned the hard way that you need a special needle and a stretch stitch for knits.  I just used my pinking shears and a zig zag stitch, so at least it looks cute.  Sorry if it doesn't survive the first wash Katie! Next was a set of "wee wee tee pees" that I saw in a fancy baby boutique.  They were really expensive and I didn't ...

I am so happy to be sewing again!  My mom helped me out by playing with my little one on Saturday and it gave me a few solid hours to start and finish a sewing project.  Look for a much longer and more detailed review on Craft Critique next month.  Topic is the Olfa Chenille Cutter tool. I had lots of fun making this little baby blankie and I think she likes it too!  It has a few different flannel prints (including a pink plaid John Deere), as well as two chenille panels with different textures, and yellow eyelet trim. ** 7/6/2011 UPDATE** The official OLFA Chenille Cutter review has been posted here .

It's been too long!   While I was off having a baby I managed to squeeze in a couple crafty projects.  I'll do a quick recap and then hopefully stay on top of more regular updates.  I have lots more planned for this year - quilts, scrapbooks, mini books, cards, baby clothes, applique, and the list could go on and on. From the baby shower...   A whole mess of onesies before they were decorated.  We had a table set up with iron-on transfers, fabric markers and paints for everyone to decorate.  Then I got to pick the winner! I made a felt goodie bag for everyone to load up candy from the candy bar on their way out.  The batik fabric leaves are die cut from the Tim Holtz sizzix die. Yay for the candy bar!  I still have leftover candy corn three months later...  Thank you notes for a co-worker that was having a baby...  I got a set of cards and envelops from Michael's and fancied them up with a Stampin' Up punch, baker's twine from The Tw...