A little play time

Hello! We have finally made it to our fall break at school and I couldn't be happier!  It seems like since we've moved, I find so many other things that require my time and I have little time to be creative...  But now I have an entire week off of school and I'm determined to get some things accomplished in my studio!  The past two days have been spent doing laundry and catching up with neglected projects, and, now my focus is on working in the studio.  This will include a bit of cleaning, reorganizing, and maybe even a trip to find more storage pieces! So excited!!

This afternoon, I was able to sneak a little time to make some cards for my stash.  My organizers are pretty empty and there are birthdays and anniversaries just around the corner.  I decided to focus on anniversary today and pulled up a design I pinned a very long time ago.  It was actually a quilt block design, but I love altering those to make some cute quilt like cards!  Click here to see the original design.

I used 1" squares of whisper white and rich razzleberry from the Sycamore Street dsp.  Some were kept whole, while others were cut diagonally to make triangles.  Personally, I find that it's easier to glue my squares/triangles to a piece of copy paper and then run that through an embossing folder.  I'm not sure how else to keep the pieces together...  

I decided to mix things up a bit.  I did the first one with the sentiment stamped on the side and decided that I didn't care for that as much as I originally planned.  So the next one was stamped under the quilted piece.  I also changed the patterned paper behind the quilting. I'm not sure which I like better.  I think the multi colored piece makes the heart stand out more.

Well, I really don't have much more to share today, but I am so glad you stopped by!  I'm going to try to be super productive this week and hopefully will have more to share with you in the near future!  Have a wonderful day!

Card Recipe:  Paper-rich razzleberry, whisper white, Sycamore Street dsp, Ink-memento tuxedo black, Stamp Set-Wonderful Words, Accessories-big shot, square lattice embossing folder

Color Me Beautiful inspired

Well, if you happened to see my post yesterday, you know that I was taking full advantage of my first day of fall break.  I did manage to spend a good part of the day in my jammies.  It was rainy and chilly so the weather was perfect for this.  I did several loads of laundry, blog stalked and started getting caught up on my emails, and most importantly, I crafted!  I even managed to tidy up my crafting space a little bit before starting, not that you can tell anymore! Teehee!

I managed to get a few scrapbook pages completed for upcoming DT projects and found some time to play with the colors from this weeks challenge at Color Me Beautiful.  I already had the paper on my table, so it wasn't too difficult to get started!  After pulling out a variety of DSP patterns, I knew I wanted to make a quilt card...um...make that two!

Such an easy way to play with all of the colors and now I have two more birthday cards for my stash! Well, I have quite a busy day planned-bridal shower and a family reunion, so there won't be much crafting today, but there's still two more days left of my fall break!! Woo! Hoo!

Have a wonderful weekend and happy crafting!

Card Recipe:  Cardstock-river rock, soft suede, Comfort Cafe DSP, Brights and Subtles collection DSP stacks, Floral District DSP, Stamp Set-Curly Cute, Ink-soft suede, Accessories-square lattice folder, big shot

Now that's my idea of quilting...

Hi! I am so glad you stopped in today because I am sharing a 'quilting' project we made at my stamp club meeting.  No, I didn't develop amazing sewing skills overnight! A shudder just ran down my spine thinking about that one!  But I do have a super easy way to give the feel of quilting to a card without touching a needle and thread.  

When I opened the package of Orchard Harvest DSP, I loved all of the great colors and fun patterns.  The country fabric style made me think of quilts.  So I set out to make my own.  This is by no means an original concept.  I have seen versions of this all over blogland and can't really credit any one person.  So if you've ever made a card similar to this, consider yourself credited and thanks for the inspiration!

I started with a 4x5 piece of cardstock (color doesn't matter, scraps would be fine) and attached 1 1/4" squares of different patterned paper.  It works a lot better if you start in one corner and work across and down at the same time.  Then I lined up the piece on the top note die and ran it through the big shot. Taadaa!    It can be made even more authentic with faux stitch lines from a marker or run it through the big shot inside an embossing folder.  I decided to keep this one simple.  I did however emboss the early espresso piece to dress it up a bit.  So there you go, your very own quilted card!

I hope you week is full of crafty goodness and thanks so much for visiting my little blog!

Card Recipe: Cardstock-island indigo, early espresso, very vanilla, Orchard Harvest DSP, Ink-early espresso, Stamp Set-Curly Cute,  Accessories-vintage wallpaper folder, top note die, large oval die, island indigo ruffled ribbon

The Only Quilting You Will Ever See From Me...

Don't adjust your computer screen... Yes, this is the 3rd crafty post from me this week!! And yes, you did see the word QUILT on my blog!

My regular followers are very aware of my love/hate relationship with sewing and also my very talented Mom and sister who do make quilts and other lovely sewn projects.  But don't worry! You will not be subjected to my horrendous sewing machine skills.  Instead, I have a paper quilt card to share.  The Friday Mashup has a challenge this week to use a quilting technique on your project, or use something you've forgotten (sitting in your stash forever), or 'mash it up' and do both.  I chose the first part of the challenge for my card.

This is not the first paper quilting project I have done.  Several years ago, I made a scrapbook page with lots of teeny, tiny squares and triangles and by the time I was done, the page was beautiful, but I was wiped out!  Trying to place all of those pieces and working from the center out was really a challenge.  This time around, I had a light bulb moment.  I was not using fabric, so I didn't have to put it together like a quilter would.  I cut a scrap piece of paper the size of my quilt block and started in the top left corner.  Then when I was done, I simply trimmed the edges, dry embossed,  and adhered it to my card front. Much easier and I actually enjoyed myself!!  So much so, that I am making two sets of these as a gift for my Mom and sister.  Won't they be surprised to receive quilts from me?!

Card Recipe: Cardstock-very vanilla, lucky limeade, pool party, Everyday Enchantment DSP, Ink-poppy parade, Stamp Set-Curly Cute, Extras-square lattice embossing folder, A GOOD TRIMMER