It's Time for the New Catalog!

 Most of you know that one of my obsessions hobbies is rubber stamping.  June is when Stampin' Up puts out their new catalog and it's always so much fun to look at what new products are offered.

This year for my New Catalog Kick-Off party, we made small muslin bags that you can use to put a small gift, treat or a gift card into for easy gift-giving.  You can see from the photo that I made my sample bag similar to the one in the catalog.

All of the ladies loved making the muslin gift bags.  They each used different stamps and colors and all of the bags came out great.

One of the stamp sets that I thought was cute is the new Sprinkles of Life.  With this set, you can make cupcakes, ice cream cones, trees and clouds- all from the same stamps!  And there's even a punch to punch out some of the images - stamps that coordinate with punches are my favorite!

I got the idea for this card from the Stampin' Up blog.  Of course I changed it a bit to make it my own.  I even added some glitter to the "ice cream" to highlight it.  I love the colors on this card. 

When you buy the Sprinkles of Life set, $3 is donated to the Ronald McDonald House charities.  So not only can you be creative, but you are helping people, too!

What are your favorites new products from the new catalog? 

Money Speaks

I wasn't sure what to give my son for his birthday, so I made the "present" into a card!  I got the idea from Jill Hilliard on Pinterest (of course) and thought that it was a cute idea.  I hope that he likes it. 

I wish that I had moved the "candles" more toward the middle of the card, because when I was done adhering them, there was a lot of blank space near the right of the card!  So I added some buttons to fill it in! 

What do you do to fill in the empty spaces on your projects or cards?  My stamping friends know that I don't like to start over!

Happy New Home

Just recently my oldest son bought his first house.  I wanted to give him a little something to welcome him into his new home.  I looked on the internet for a saying that goes well on a "first-home craft" that I could put into a small frame.

Don't you love this saying that I found by Ethan W Post - "May your home know joy, each room hold laughter and every window be open to possibilities?" I printed it onto some cardstock and came up with this cute little framed project to give to him.

Of course, I made him a card and a little magnet for the fridge to match!  The colors in his new house are mostly grays with some pops of green.  I'm sure it will look great. 

I used the house image from the Sale-a-bration set, You Brighten My Day.  It's just the right size to put on a little something.  I stamped the 3 hearts from the same set and cut them out to decorate the front of the house. The trees are from Life in the Forest and the kitty is from an older stamp set. 

He doesn't have a cat right now, but everyone in my family loves cats.  So I put a little kitty next to the house in one of the spaces in the shadow box frame.  The kitty looks like he wants to go in!  :)  Who knows, he might find a sweet little pet to love.

Gift for Teacher

 This week one of my sewing friends wanted to come up with an idea for a little gift to give to her children's teachers as an end-of-year thank you. She thought an apple-shaped coaster would be just perfect for the teachers to use on their desks for their coffee mugs.

 So I found a pattern for an apple and made this little coaster!  I sewed two fabrics together and then quilted the top piece with thin batting underneath.  Then I cut out the apple shape, added a backing fabric and a thermal batting piece to the inside.  I inserted the jute rope for the stem before I sewed it all together.  Then I turned it right-side out and stitched around the edge, closing up the opening for turning.

I made a fabric leaf and attached it with a small flat button.  To complete the project, I added a little stamping tag complete with an apple!

The gift is all ready to go! 

Birds on a Wire Wall Hanging

Last week I was looking through some of my Debbie Mumm quilting books for inspiration and I came across the pattern for this cute wall hanging.  I remembered that I had wanted to make him for my home.  It certainly looked easy enough and quick to finish, so I started working on it.

I chose some greens and browns that match my decor and added bits of turquoise and yellow for some extra color.  I wanted to make one of the birds in a floral or patterned fabric and love how he came out.  Then I added just a pop of orange for one of the beaks and tail feathers to finish it up.

I did some simple background quilting in two of the panels with straight and diagonal lines.  It's hard to see in the photos, but I think it has just the right amount of quilting. 








Here you can see some of the lines in the bottom panel.  I edged the "wires" and the borders with some topstitching close to the seams. 

When it was done I added black buttons for the eyes and some vintage buttons to embellish the wings.  I gave the center bird two eyes to give the wall hanging a bit of a quirky feel.  What do you think?






Finally, here's a photo of the birdies hanging in my sitting area off of the kitchen.

 I can almost hear them singing.

Craftin'

 This past weekend I had a booth at a local Spring Craft Fair.  Funny thing is - I woke up to a very snowy day!  Someone forgot to tell the weather here in NY that it is now supposed to be Spring.

Anyway, for the sale, I made more of the lovely vintage fabric hearts.  Didn't I say that I would love to make more of them? They are so much fun to make.

Start with a fabric heart for the background, add strips of various fabrics like you're making a crazy quilt, add some lace and fancy stitches along the seams.  Then stitch together the heart front to the backing.  Turn and embellish with some fabric yo-yo's and fancy buttons.  I hand-sewed the hanging ribbon to the top at the very end and added a button to cover up the ribbon ends. 

Before the sale, I shopped around at a couple of flea markets and picked up this vintage wire shelf.  I put some of my items on it for a display.  Even the antique linens that I had on display were for sale!

Check out this little vintage jar that I filled with antique spools of thread and embellished with some ribbon and stamping.  Of course the threads were peach, pink, cream and purple! 

I crocheted some face scrubbies in colors to match all of my items so that every item had something to "go with it" in coordinating colors!  The idea paid off when I showed each customer that every item had things to match it.

Little fabric bunnies were in abundance at my table.  I made them in peach, pink, cream and purples.

And what would bunnies be without carrots?  I have been wanting to make these for a couple of years and finally sat down to do it.  I cut out a long triangle, sewed up the two sides, then turned and stuffed them.  Then I gathered the top edge and stitched the oval leaves right into the gather.  I finished them off with a ribbon on the top.  I love how they turned out.

Then I made some epsom salt "bath teas" to go along with the crocheted face scrubbies.  I love to use epsom salts when I take a bath.  I decored them using toppers for the bags in the matching colors.

Remember the fabric flowers from last summer's Boho party?  I added some stamped cards to clip them onto (using all the same colors) and they sold like hotcakes!

My biggest seller was the matching cards.  I sold every card along with a coordinating item. 

And who wouldn't want one of these lovely gifts?

Making Flannel PJ's

I have been catching up on making some gifts lately- I know, I'm always late in getting gifts to people on time!  These were the last of some of the Christmas gifts. 

I've been making flannel pajama bottoms for my sister and three nieces.  These pj's with the cute little kitties on them are for my sister who likes, you guessed it- kitties!

I made little matching note cards to go with the gifts.  When I took this pic, I didn't notice that one of the "kitties" was photo-bombing the shot!  Too cute, right?

My niece likes cats, too, so I made her this teal-colored pair with gray princess kitties.  Check out the matching note card with a gray siamese cat on it!  It says, "You're the Cat's Meow!"

I love the tie-dye look to these pajamas.  They're so colorful.  I even made a little matching pajama bag to go with them! 

Here's a peek of the card to go with them.  Yup, that's a little kitty, too! 

I also made more pj's, this time with hedgehogs on them for my niece that is away at college.  But I can't find the photo of them.  Maybe I forgot to take the pic!