Can you guess what this is?

I have a mystery for you today?  Can you guess what this is?  I'll give you a hint.  It's a part of an old something that I used to create a super cool project.

I know.  That doesn't help much at all.  Anyway, while I'm nursing my allergies and asthma flare-up, that's all you get today.  Let me know if you have any ideas.

Alright, I'll give you another hint.  I used fabric as a part of my project involving this mystery object.  I promise that I won't hold you in suspense for too long.  Check back for my next post and I'll tell you all about it.

- Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the blogging world. 

- Click on the tab at the top of the page to see my class schedules and registration policies or click on the left for sneak peeks. 

- Come back soon and come back often for more creative inspiration.

A Decorated Basket for Spring

Today I have a basket for you that I decorated with more of our wonderful fabric.  The fabric I used for this one is from our Twitterpated collection.  It's a really good fabric for Spring projects.  Yes, I'm just going to keep making Spring projects until our Spring actually decides to show up for us.

The basket started out without a bunny, but I just knew that it wouldn't be complete without it.

I came across a super find at the fabric store for the pink tulle.  It is sold in the wedding/bridal section and it comes in a package of 25 (10" circles).  You can just gather them up in the middle and poke them down into the basket.  It makes a super nice filler and there's no mess.

The ribbon just makes it into a gorgeous little basket.  Our 2-Tone ribbons are gorgeous!
I made a tag for my basket using tags and flowers from our Pop-Up Posies kit.

The fabric insert for the basket was super simple.  I pressed 1 complete piece of the fabric (similar size to a fat quarter) and then folded it in half with wrong sides together.  I stitched it together leaving just enough opening to turn it once I'd finished stitching.  After turning it to right-side out, I sewed up the opening and then pressed it again.  The size just fits this basket and is big enough to make a liner and a 'skirt' all in one piece.

I tied a big ribbon bow on each side of the basket.

It does look best with a bunny though.  Right?

In case you missed it, check out yesterday's post to learn more about the bunny.  

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a creative day and don't forget to stock up on our fabric while it's 50% off.  I just ordered several packages --- all on sale!

Oh, I almost forgot to tell you --- I finished my taxes today!!!  Yay!  What a relief.  Now I can play more with my stamping goodies!!!  Again, Yay!

- Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the blogging world. 

- Click on the tab at the top of the page to see my class schedules and registration policies or click on the left for sneak peeks. 

- Come back soon and come back often for more creative inspiration.

More Valentines and Treasures

For now, I think my antique library table display is finished.  Of course, if you know me, you know I'll be constantly 'tweaking' it because that's just what I do:)

Here are the 3-D hearts I made with the new Framelits dies --- the Hearts Collection.  It's so easy to cut out lots of great hearts with them that you don't want to stop.  The ones on the left were all folded in half and then glued together, one half at a time.  There are SIX hearts in each one, with a little thread encased in the center for hanging it up.


Here are close-ups of the 3-D hearts.

Here are some close-ups of more of the cards --- all with Twitterpated DSP.  As you can see, I've used a lot of the Framelits Dies --- the Labels Collection --- love them.

Don't forget about my Product Share promotion 
          --- from now through Jan. 31.

Check here to see what is in the Product Share.
You'll get a cute little calendar from me, too:)

So........ hurry up and get Twitterpated!!!

Holiday Gifts

Over the next several posts, I will be sharing with you some ways to make your holidays easier, such as gift card holders, gift ideas, gift wrapping, etc...  Jump in and get ready for the holidays with me!

Let's start simple --- the Kraft Gift Box.  It's found in the holiday mini on page 15. (#124106)  You get 4 boxes in a package for just $2.95.  To me, this is a super deal!  You can present nicely wrapped small gift items, decorate as much or as little as you'd like and your recipients will love it!  Here are some of the boxes with a variety of presentations.  Both DSP and fabric look great on these boxes.

Order some Kraft Gift Boxes today and let me know how you decorate yours!  Have fun with them.

Happy Fall!

It's here officially.  Yesterday was the first day of fall, so here are some more fall projects for you to enjoy and, hopefully, inspire you to try some of your own.

I got this basket in some bargain bin last fall and it's quite nice and sturdy.  This year, I realized that I must decorate it.  The leaves for the pears were cut on the Big Shot and inspired from Stampin' Up! displays I've seen.  The candlestick holder is an old spool.  I don't know why, but I have a love of collecting old spools.  They come in so many different sizes and shapes and are so interesting.  I wrapped Spice Cake fabric around the spool and decorated it with a DSP medallion.  I used more mustard CS and then Spice Cake DSP to decorate the candle.  I won't burn it with the papers that close to the top.  It's just for decoration.

Close-up of the leaves on the pears.

I just tied a tiny piece of linen thread around the little pears.  The leaves would have been too big for the proportions.  I added a tiny dot of Liquid Tombow glue to each of the threads at the knots, to help secure them.  They can still be gently pulled off if I want to change my decor.

Here's a close-up of the tag on the basket.

Here's a close-up of the medallion.  It has pool party and more mustard circles (CS) layered in the middle and then I added an antique brad.

Here's the spool top without the candle.  I tried to heat up the soft suede taffeta ribbons a bit, to make them crinkly and give them a vintage look.

Field Flowers

This card was made with pear pizzazz and soft suede CS and stamped with the Field Flowers stamp set.  It also features some of our Spice Cake fabric.  I just tore a strip of it and tied it around the front of the card.  I added more texture by using the Color Sprizter tool with a soft suede marker in the top right corner of the card.

Button, button, who's got the button?

It's no secret if you know me at all.  I LOVE buttons!  I confess that I have jars and jars of them in and around my studio.  It all started when I was a child and my mother let me play with her button box while she was sewing.  She had all kinds of mismatched and wonderful buttons in there and I loved them all!  I inherited them from her and have been collecting more ever since.
I thought I was in heaven when they came out with the wonderful buttons in last year's holiday mini, but I was wrong.  Heaven is the new buttons in THIS year's mini that coordinate with the Spice Cake suite.  How wonderful it is to have fabric, CS, DSP, stamps AND buttons that all coordinate!!!  I am trying to make myself use them more, rather than hoarding them, but it is a difficult task for me!

Today's projects include a coordinating card and little treat container.  How fun it is to give coordinated items to a friend or loved one!

The card features a strip of torn fabric, pinched in the middle and tied with hemp.  Leave longer ends of hemp, so you can tie on a button and a tag.  I used the scalloped oval and the large oval punches for the tag.

Fall cards, to me, need lots of layers and texture so I added an embossed layer of more mustard over the more mustard card base using the square lattice embossing folder.  In this close-up, you can see that I lightly stamped a more mustard and a pear pizzazz leaf over the stamped tag.  Stamp off to achieve a very light color to your stamp. 

I call this little twisty treat container a sour cream container because it mimics just that.  I embossed a 4 1/4 X 5 1/4" piece of CS with the square lattice embossing folder.  Roll it over the edge of a table to break down the fibers a little and it will be easier to shape it into a tube.  Roll it so that your tube is 4 1/4" long.  Attach the ends with sticky strip.  Glue 1 end shut (Liquid Tombow) and let it dry a bit.  Crimp the end for a fun look and to help hold it firmly shut.  Drop in a few treats (I used 3 kisses.) and close the opposite end the same way, but turned differently -- to give it that sour cream container look.  I then tied a torn strip of fabric around it, added a button and a tag with hemp, attached the cute little punched shape I shared with you in my previous post (over a curly label punched shape) and added a cut out leaf.  Now that's a fun treat!

Here's a close-up of the tags and leaf.

Tips:
Place your sticky strip where you see my scribbled ink line.
To get a good, rounded shape easily, bend your CS around a Stampin' Mist bottle and hold it there while you attach the sides with the tape.  It really helps make the job a LOT easier.  After you've attached the sticky strip, remove the cylinder from the Stampin' Mist bottle and use your bone folder to go inside the cylinder and smooth it down tightly.

Here are some other views of the container so you can see the crimped ends a little better.

Here's a tip on tearing fabric:
Open your fabric piece all the way, cut a tiny notch at the position you want to start tearing.  Now, gently tear it all the way down to the opposite end.  (You are tearing it length-wise.)  It tears easily and gives a wonderful, frayed look that I love.

A New Little Shape from a Favorite Old Punch!

While still sharing Spice Cake projects with you, I'd also like to teach you how to make a cute little punched shape that I learned from my demo friend, Patty.  This is great for making tiny little labels and tags when you are using tiny little stamps.

Stamp a tiny text on a strip of CS in the direction shown.

Insert the strip into the decorative label punch as shown.

Punch it out and you'll have a strange little shape like this one.

Attach a sticky note to your piece, as shown.  The sticky note acts as your 'fishing line' so you can lower the tiny piece into the punch and be able to align it where you want it to be.

You're trying to line up the image in the opposite end of the punch from what you used the first time, so that you get little rounded 'knobs' on each side.

Punch it and here's your cute little new shape, all ready to attach to a card or project!

...and here's your cute little piece used as a tag on this card.  I used the Gently Falling stamp set and stamped acorns over a portion of the card base.  I had a TINY scrap of torn fabric that I wrapped around the pool party layer 3 times, pinched it together and tied it with hemp.  I added my new little shape as a tag and layered it with a cut out leaf.  Both the 'tag' and the leaf are on dimensionals.  I used my new Stampin' Up! Simply Scored tool to create the medallion from a 1 X 12" strip of Spice Cake DSP, attached it to a punched circle and attached that to my card.  I added more circles on top of the medallion, along with an antique brad.

Here's a little close-up of the tag and the fabric strips.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you'll try making the new little punched shape.  It's so easy and fun!
In my next post, I'll feature some of the wonderful buttons that coordinate with the Spice Cake suite of products and I'll share with you how to make a coordinating little treat holder.

Guest Artist!

We had a guest artist at my last Team Meeting -- my daughter.  She and her family were here visiting and she was excited to actually get to attend our meeting.  I had her lead us in one of the projects, with a new technique.  She showed us how to create a flower with a little strip of fabric.  Isn't this just a great card?!!!

We used the stamp sets 'Curly Cute' and 'Raining Flowers' and the CS is Wisteria Wonder, Lucky Limeade and Elegant Eggplant.  It's difficult to see in my photo, but there is paper piercing in the top right-hand corner of the eggplant layer.  You'll also notice a tiny strip of DSP (Flirtatious Specialty) that coordinates perfectly with our fabric --- Flirtatious.  It's so nice to learn new ways to use our gorgeous fabrics.
Thanks, Jenn, for joining our meeting and leading us in this project!