Decorative Journals

 If you follow by blog, you might be wondering where have I been.  I had to have hand surgery back in November to replace one of my thumb joints with tendons from my arm (I know, yuk!).  It wasn't an easy surgery and I was out of commission for months.  It is slowly healing and I'm starting to get back into making my crafts.  I hope that it continues to heal and that I'll be able to use my hands again soon. :) 

A few weeks ago, I was invited to teach a craft day for ladies at a church that one of my friend's attends.  We decided to make these cute decorative Journals. We cut up some designer papers and each of the ladies got to design their own journal.  The papers are just glued on using a glue stick.  I had some Scripture stamps to use for the sayings and some punches and cut-outs from the Big Shot to add a personal touch.

We decorated the inside covers, too and added a pocket in the front.  It was a lot of fun choosing the papers and making the Journals.

Here is a pic of the ladies with their finished projects.  They get together once a month to make different crafts. What a fun way to spend a Saturday morning!

Here is me in the cast that I did not like at all!  Although I have to say that going for months without making crafts was even worse.  I'm totally ready to move on.  :)

Gifts for the Sewists

 

The past few weeks I've been as busy as an elf working on Christmas gifts!  Pictured here are some gifts that I have made for the women who come over to my house to learn to sew.  I had a lot of fun making them and love watching the ladies choose a Christmas gift from the "gift basket!"

These were my favorite ones to make- a little quilted pincushion!  Easy and fun to make, they will make a great addition to anyone's sewing basket.  One of the fabrics is from Stampin' Up's Sew Suite collections of fabrics.  Can you guess which one?  Note the cute little stamping tag, too!

I only made 6 of these little pincushions, but let me tell you, they are addicting!  I could have made a TON more! They use just scraps of fabric and showcase those pretty buttons that you have laying around in your sewing drawer!

 Next up I made fabric needle cases.  They have 2 pockets on the inside for assorted sewing and machine needle packages and a felt insert to hold the spare needles.  What an easy way to keep track of the needles.  (I use mine all the time!)

Here is a photo of what the front of the cases look like.  I held them together using a hair tie in the seam to wrap around a button closure on the front!  These are all made with Stampin Up fabrics!

A lot of the time the ladies who come over to sew need some sort of a book to write down the measurements and instructions (and homework!) for their projects.  I had some small composition books in my craft closet and took them out to make sewing notebooks!  I found some cute papers, added some cut outs and sewing sayings.  Then I sprayed the books with Krylon sealant and added the ribbons.  What a great rainy day project!

Mostly I don't like to make any projects exactly the same.  Here are some variations on the notebooks.  Although you can't see it from the photos, I decorated the backs of the books, too.

I put the books into clear envelopes so that they don't spilled on or get damp.  The envelopes also protect the books from getting dirty.  They display so nicely in the envelopes.

Which book do you like the best?  I think that I will keep the orange one on the top row for jotting down my crafty notes!