Took a Little Break

Didja miss me?

I went out of town for a stamping event and got so wound up in the preps for the trip, I ran out of time to post for a couple of days.

But the road trip was worth it!

We had a very fun "girls weekend" that included stamping, shopping, eating, and gambling, not necessarily in that order...

Here we are, at Jill's Stamp A Thon in St. George, UT


The photo was taken at the end of a very long day spent stamping, but we'd had so much fun all day, we weren't even tired!

Roxy and Colleen attended with Susan and I...

I thought today I'd show a few of the display items, and another day (or two or three!) share photos of some swaps I received and the items we made at the Stamp A Thon.

Here's a quilt Jill made using the Sew Sweet fabrics. It's darling!


Here's a close up of those fantastic buttons!



She used the Sweet Stitches fabrics for the main quilt and chose other fabrics in the same color families for the buttons, so that they would make a statement.

Did you notice there are some real buttons on the quilt too?

Go ahead - scroll back up there and check them out.

They're the Designer Big Buttons (Item 122302 $8.95) and match the Sweet Stitches fabrics perfectly!

And here are some fabric flowers that had been made using various Big Shot dies and fabrics other than those that Stampin' Up has sold.



Pretty, aren't they?

And you know what? They're EASY PEASY!!!

Want to learn how to make some? Contact me and let's set up a "play date"!

Thanks for stopping by - come back soon!

Sew What?

This is one of the display boards from Leadership. The "fabrics" on the models are all Designer Series Papers (DSP) paper pieced to represent a dress pattern cover.

It reminded me so much of my heritage. I've seen LOTS of patterns over the years, and this display just hit home.

When I was a kid, my mom sewed most of my clothes. As a little girl, it thrilled me - and my mom was a great seamstress, so everything she made was well done...

As a pre-teen though, I hated that I didn't have many "store bought" clothes. So, I was ENCOURAGED to learn to sew for myself, OR, find a way to make money so I could buy my own clothes.

Of course, living out in the country as we did, meant finding a job wasn't easily accomplished.

So, I joined 4-H and learned how to sew. It took me a long time to get really good at it (isn't that true of most things?), but I eventually got to the point where I was capable of sewing clothes for both myself and my husband.

I'm talking the '70s when the disco look was in. Sheer fabrics for both men and women - which meant double felled seams, so that they'd last through more than one wearing.

I made him shirts and trousers. I made mix and match outfits of scooter skirts, blouses, and jackets for myself. And I really enjoyed doing it. I loved shopping for fabrics - I still enjoy looking at fabrics.

But somewhere along the way, sewing got left along the wayside. Something about trekking around the country for 6 months, having to find jobs to feed ourselves, getting divorced and finding the dating scene again, buying a house and having to put time, energy, and money towards something besides fabrics and sewing...

I still have my old sewing machine. I don't think it's seen the light of day in over thirty years. And, when my mom passed away, I brought her machine home with me.

Hers was so much newer than mine! It was probably a much better machine! And it hasn't seen the light of day since I brought it out from Pennsylvania over 10 years ago either.

Stampin' Up! has started featuring fabrics in our mini-catalogs. It's wonderful fabric!

It's made me yearn to do things with fabrics again. But these days, I'm using my Big Shot die cutting machine for them.

Did you know you can cut up to EIGHT layers of fabric at one time with our "Mr. Big"? It's true!

I've made quite a few fabric flowers using Mr Big. When you can cut eight layers, and there are three or four different flowers on a die, you can make a LOT of fabric flowers with one pass through the machine!












I've also made a "card holder" using fabrics. The idea is to make it large enough to fit a couple of cards into it, then you can carry them around in your purse and not worry so much about them getting all mashed up.










I hand sewed the two I made. And I REALLY wanted to get my machine out - it would have made the whole process SO much faster. But I didn't. No where to leave it out just yet...

And we mustn't forget the quilters among you! With Mr. Big and fabrics, you can die cut a LOT of patterns for that quilt. My upline has been making quilts with the dies for about 2 years - and maybe that's why Stampin' Up! has started featuring fabrics.

And finally, just last week I showed you the banners I'd made by adhering fabric to paper.









Whatever the reason, I'm enjoying the fabrics, the matching DSPs and all the stamps they've provided us lately that have to do with sewing, quilting, fabric piecing, and any other thing you can think of to do with it!

Do you like fabrics? Would you like to play with some and Mr. Big? Give me a call - let's PLAY!

Team Meeting Projects

We had our monthly "we StAMp everything" Team Meeting a week or so ago, and I never posted the projects we made that evening.

BTW - if you'd like to become a member of our Team, too, please call or email me to find out the particulars.

There's a sign up special right now that includes the My Digital Studio (MDS) software, along with the standard Starter Kit - and the price is only $185! It's a great deal, since the MDS software alone is worth $80 and this entire kit is worth $295! Call me if you're interested!

I had two projects ready for them to make if they wanted.

The first I offered was the little containers I'd found at the 99-cent store. Remember, I'd had my stamp club members make those last month - decorating them with vinyl embellishments they cut out with Mr. Big.

I showed you those I'd made here, but forgot to take photos of those the club members made. I didn't forget at our Team Meeting!

This is Natalie's.

She chose to use the "N" from the Serif Essentials Big Shot die to "make it hers".

Then she added quite a few flowers cut from various colors of vinyl and several Big Shot dies.

She also decorated the lid, but I forgot to take a photo of that part.

I have to tell you, the one I made myself is doing wonderful duty as a scrap bin on my work table in the Stampin' Garage!



Here's the other side of the container, showing additional flowers she used.

It turned out quite lovely, didn't it?












Del and Susan decided they wanted to try to make some of the fabric flowers I'd been playing around with.

Here's Susan's. She made hers using the directions I'd used to make my earliest attempts here.

She chose the fabrics she wanted and proceeded to cut them with Mr. Big and one of the flower dies.

She folded each flower into quarters, tacked them together, then fanned them out and hot clued them to a circle she'd cut from CS. Notice the netting and the corduroy button she added to the mix.They really give the flower personality.


And this is Del's.

She had seen some flowers Veronica made using the Daisy die, so she decided to try that approach.

For hers, she put the layers together on top of a circle of CS, then proceeded to lift the layers (starting at the bottom one) and apply Crystal Effects between each layer.

It worked out very nicely! She didn't have to "futs" (is that a real word? It is where I come from - I'm just not sure how to spell it!) with re-aligning each layer as she went.

And I love how the flower turned out! She also chose a button out of a bag of buttons Veronica had given me. These are OLD buttons, so you don't find them just every where these days.

I liked Del's flower so much I made myself a couple with the daisy die and Crystal Effects. I put about 10-12 layers on mine, and each time I wear it, it becomes fluffier and fluffier!

Hope you've been stamping! If not, drag those stamps, pads, and paper out and make yourself something that makes you happy!

Tutorial - Making Fabric Flowers

I'll bet you thought I forgot I told you I'd show you how to make these, didn't you?

Well, I didn't - but had stamp club on Saturday, and have been working on the family calendars, so the fabric flowers had to take a bit of a back seat.

While trying to decide what I'd blog about tonight, I just bit the bullet and made a new one, so that I could photograph the various steps involved.

DISCLAIMER: This is how *I* make the flowers. I've spoken with others who are making them very differently than I do. So, check around, see which method will work best for you. Or, alternatively, try them all and see which you prefer!

So, here goes:

Select a number of fabrics that coordinate with each other. Remember how at first I didn't "have it together" for this step? Well, I think I've got it now!

Check these out!

They're a pretty good set of coordinating fabrics, don't you think?




Next, select 4 folded pieces of fabric (this will give you 8 flower pieces) and decide which flower die you'd like to use.

I used Flowers Layers #3 die (Item 114527 $15.95).

I chose this one because all three flowers are quite different from one another, and I'm curious how they'll all turn out...



Top the fabric pieces with the CREASE PAD (Item # 113476 $8.95).

You'll notice I've written "crease pad" on this. That's because there are a lot of different pieces for the Big Shot that are black, and over time, I've gotten confused about what is what.

Sometimes you have to do these things, in order to keep your sanity! ha ha

The function of the crease pad is to help build up something a little more solid for the fabric to push against, in hopes you won't get tiny little threads that don't cut cleanly. I'm still working on the build up to achieve a clean cuts, but will get there eventually. It's one of those "play with it til you're happy with it" situations. And it changes, according to the fabrics you're using.



Next I placed a shim on top of the crease pad.

The crease pad comes with two of these opaque shims.

DO NOT DO WHAT I DID - the first time I used one of these I placed it directly above the die, and I now have tiny little opaque flowers floating around that I really don't want to throw away, but which I have no idea how, nor where, to store!



Now I've added yet more shims. This time I'm using CS. There are two pieces for this stack. I contemplated using three, but when I started to crank it through Mr. Big, he seemed to think it was too much.

So, I backed off to two - and really should have used all three. I did end up with the fabrics not cutting cleanly, and had to spend about 5 minutes freeing the flowers from the rest of the fabric.


Here are the "piles" of flower pieces that I got from 4 folded pieces of fabric.

I'll use four of the flowers on the right to make my flower. (the one with the red in the fabric).







Next, I folded four of the 8 pieces in half.












Then, into quarters.

And then I tacked these together from the center.

Be sure all your folds are on the same side!

I used the Linen thread for tacking purposes.




Now comes the tricky part. You want to overlap each of the fabrics to form a circle.

I have one half of each fabric on top, the other half behind the next piece of fabric.

It's a little difficult to hold and unfurl at the same time!




Next, cut a circle out of card stock. You will use this as a base, and hot glue the fabric to it.

This is the 1-1/4" circle.









Add a dollop of hot glue.

Watch for strings! Those pesky devils always seem to be hanging around!









And, working quickly, before the glue sets, push the folded, splayed fabric into place on the CS circle.

Once you're satisfied with how it looks, add another smaller dollop of hot glue to the center of the flower and plop a pretty button in place!




And, voila! You're done.

Well, except for adding a pin back. If you want to glue it to something else, of course you don't NEED a pin back. But I like wearing mine, so I generally put one the back.



Finally, here's a photo of a die cut piece of CS (from the same die) beside the finished flower so you can see how it changes, once you've put it through this process.





I hope you enjoyed this tutorial! Are you going to run to your craft closet and dig out that fabric that's been sitting there for years and make yourself some of these?

They do add a bit of dash to your outfit!

Enjoy!

NOW we're gettin' it!

Finally, I was able to get my act together re: fabric coordination!

You don't think about 8 different fabrics going together unless you're a quilter, I guess.

I do with paper - it just never dawned on me that I'd need the same mind set for making fabric flowers!

As I mentioned before, I used a lot of different Big Shot flower dies to cut out my fabrics. I was curious if it really made a difference which one I used. Would I like the flowers better from the Flower Folds die or the Scallop #2 die? Or would I like those I'd made with yet other dies?

Well, I think I tried them all!

It's very easy to make these flowers, since you can cut EIGHT LAYERS of fabric at the same time! YES! Once through Mr. Big and you've got all your flower petals - and more!

Wanna see?


This one was made using the Flower Layers w/Leaf die (Item 113470 $19.95).

There are three different flowers and a leaf on this die, so I just folded my fabrics in half and cut two of each one at the same time.




This is one of the other flower patterns on that same die.

Isn't it interesting how different the two flowers look once they're put together? Yet both of them look like the flowers they're supposed to be! I love it!



I used some fabrics with music, musical notes and a yellow with a small pattern. I used buttons for the centers of both. These seem to be the handiest things I have laying around, and I think they're just about perfect!

I have more to show you, but will need to finish them first! I got off on another tangent for a couple of evenings and need to get these done by Sunday afternoon, since they're going to be my swap for this month's Demo get-together! SHHH - don't tell them, OK?

I hope seeing these fabric flowers has struck some resonance within you. If you're a quilter to start with, I'm sure you can see myriad possiblities here!

If you love flowers as I do, well, they're just great accessories to make and give as gifts!

I've taken to wearing one of them on whatever shirt I'm wearing for the day. Lately, because it's been pretty chilly here, I've been wearing my white vest - and they ALL go with that!

Next post I'll give you step by step instructions on how to make these, OK?

Don't forget about SAB, Haitian relief - oh, and I hope you had a very

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Thanks for stopping by...

More Fabric Flowers

Last time I posted, I showed you the fabric flowers that I'd adhered to quilt batting before running it through Mr. Big.

Tonight I want to show you other flowers I made, without the batting.

These were made using cotton fabrics - I've been on the search for coordinating fabrics to make these from.

My first stab at it wasn't the best - I bought about 8 1/4 yards of fabrics, with Spring in mind. But what I didn't take into consideration, until I'd "built" my first flower was that the fabrics needed to coordinate better.

Here is my first attempt:


Yeh, coulda done better at coordinating the fabrics, although this flower DOES go with a lot of colors! LOL

I took one of the Kraft corduroy buttons and dyed it using the gold shimmer paint and Rich Razzleberry re-inker mixed together.

I used the Flower Folds die for this one - I selected the third smallest flower.

The shimmer paint gives a nice little touch to the button, don't you think?

Here are a few others I made the first night:


I used left over fabrics from some scallop cones I made a year or so ago. I can't locate the photos I took of them but will, and will post one of these days.

The fabrics are great choices for Fall colors, or if you wear a lot of browns, gold, yellows and/or oranges.

I used a button in the center of this one as well.

I used the Scallop Circle #2 die for this flower - used the smaller of the two flowers on the die.

I've just hot-glued all the layers together for these flowers. I punched out a circle of CS, then glued layers, then the button. After everything cooled down, I adhered a pin back to it.

And here's the third flower made during my first attempt:



Again, I was using any fabrics I could find laying around here. And it's been a very long time since I've worked with fabric, so you KNOW I had to dig to find stuff - especially if you've ever been IN my Stampin' Garage!

This flower was made using the Flower Folds die again. Third smallest flower on the die...

I used a corduroy button for this one as well - it's the discontinued color Pacific Point. Always one of my favorite colors - I'm sorry it's no longer available. Sigh...

The next time I post, I'll show you some I made after I started getting my act together re: color coordination.

In the meantime, don't forget - it's Sale-A-Bration (SAB) time! For each $50 you purchase in product from the Idea Book and Catalog (IDBC), the Occasions mini-catalog or either of the Decor Elements catalogs, you've earned FREE item from the SAB catalog!

And this year, not only can you get FREE STAMPS, you may also choose to receive a 6x6 paper pad or a NEW PUNCH!

Specifically, the corner Scallop punch.

And it's a doozy! I've shown you samples using that in the past two - three weeks, so dig back in my blog a little and you'll find them. Probably late Januaryish...

AND, as if THAT'S not enough - should you purchase so much product that you actually get one of everything in the SAB catalog and run out of options, this year there is a list of additional stamp sets from the IDBC that you may choose as well! AWESOME!

What would YOU like for your SAB freeby? Look thru the catalogs along my side bar and give me a call and let me know!

Thanks for stopping by...