The Embroidery Lounge

Today I am lounging around my wonderful Brother Innovis 2500 Embroidery Machine that gives me so much joy in the creations I can do.  My friend has a little precious granddaughter who is turning one year old.  She sews like I do ...so I thought it would be a lot of fun to create some embroidery panels for her to sew up some sweet little totes, bibs, pillows.  

She calls this precious granddaughter "Tylar Bee" so there is a color scheme going on of yellow and black and white.  I incorporated that into some of the designs.  

This is a Happy Birthday Panel.  Might make a cute little pillow. 

 Oh this is a pillow for sure.  A heart shaped pillow with a heart shaped design.

 This would be cute on a little bib, doncha think?

 A tote?

This is my favorite embroidery design.  

 Another Happy Birthday design.  Maybe a second pillow?

Now you know I am not lazing around.  I am lounging near my lovely sewing machines.
Have a happy day.  It's very hot here in AZ.  We had a 121 temp in some areas yesterday and when I stepped outside, I could almost attest that was the temp here as well.  I am sticking inside.

Tote it all...

eful in neglecting my blog.... I am busy, I really am.  I sew constantly and have special orders for this n' that, but somehow I don't get the things onto the blog...So.... with that said, my long time friend from the 1950s had a birthday.  I made her a little tote which featured 4 different designs of pink fabrics. .... It was fun to sew and she was pleased.  I make a LOT of totes.  They are so easy to sew up, use not a lot of fabrics and I love the way I can mess around with the designs so each is a bit different than the other.  

Journal Journal, Write it Down...

Recently a cherished high school friend asked if would do some handmade journals for her grandchildren.  Time past I would have hauled out my wonderful Zutter Binding Machine, the wire binders and create a totally handmade journal.  Now I use those premade black and white school journals.  Add some paper (6-1/2x9-3/4) on the front, back and inside cover, toss on a few embellishments  and a pretty cute journal is ready. 

This one was for Aliyah who someday wants to be a Florist. 

 Ari is a good student, she helps out with meals and she loves to read.

 Caleb loves to read, and he plays the piano and guitar.

 Josh wants to be a pilot.

Simple stuff but fun to make.  Today I put away all of the paper crafts for now and I headed to the sewing machines.  In July I go down to Tucson for the annual Card Over and I need to make some gifties.
Thanks for stopping in.  Have a wonderful week.

Slam Dunkem #40

Happy Sunday from hot Glendale, AZ.  It's only 99 right now but they tell us it will climb to about 108 degrees today.  Our reprieve is over, and summer is here.

I worked on about 30 cards for First Families of Arizona for their social committee to mail.  I love doing these gifts from  my heart, and when one of the members receives one of my cards, I hope they smile.  I am still slam dunking cards, using up the trays and box lids that gather left over papers and embellishments and sentiments.  Here are just a few, but I think I've made about 100 at least just in the last week.  Slam dunks are easy.  I like the little chick and birthday cake shaped cards which were cut from Birthday Bash.  

that's it for now.... just loading these up so you know I am still around and doing something creative.  Have a great week.

3D No Cricut Cards

I am knee deep in remodeling my laundry room and that has kept me a wee bit busy.  I had a full room sized pantry which was nice but became a "oh well just shove this in the pantry" area.  My laundry room was a small room with washer and dryer crammed together.  So, they tore out some walls, and when finished I will have a wonderful laundry room and a smaller pantry.  Meantime I haven't done much in the way of creating paper stuff.  I did have a few sheets of the 3D punch outs that come in from the UK so I tossed together some really cutsey little cards.  Here are 3.  TFL...have a great week. 

New Light Reading....

I recently asked a friend to take a look at something on my blog.  I was told it was hard to read because of that dark color and small print.  I heard!  I started this blog in October 2006 and because I wasn't adventuresome, I picked the first choice and it's been hanging around since.  I see so many cute blogs and yearned to be brave to make a change.  So, today I asked my dear friend Donna Mundinger to help me get the blog appearance changed.  I love "Cutest Blog on the Block" so that's where we went.
I wanted something light .... and for now, this is it.  In a few days I will get braver and take a look at some of the other choices...Hope it's easier reading for everyone.  Big hugs and thanks to Donna for plodding through this with me.

Note Pad Cover Tutorial

Still not sewing. Despite my plans to do so.  I found a cache of little 3.5x colorful note pads that come in a pack of 5 from Dollar Tree.  I love these little pads.  And they are such fun, and so easy to cover with coordinating papers.  

Here you see the 12x12 flowered lavendar paper, and a piece that was cut 4x12 which I fold in half,.  My Scor-it helps me with the second step which is to score just 1/8th of an inch down from that fold mark. These pads are not thick and that small siding works great when the whole piece of paper is folded over.   (Once the notepad is glued in, you might want to trim away some of the cover.  That is optional.)

 I have added the bottle of glue.  These are one-time covers so I simply glue the cardboard back of the notepad to the inside cover.  If I wanted to make a notepad cover that can be used over and over again, I will cut a 6"Lx2"W strip and cover it with the pattern paper.  I score 1 inch on each end, and those are folded over a reinforced panel (covered with matching papers) which is then glued to the inside bottom.  This allows the cardboard backing of the notepad to be slipped into the strip, and therefore it becomes something that allows a new pad to be replaced.   Also shown here is a folded strip with the notepad glued in.

 Once the notepads are glued in, then it is time to decorate the outside.  Again, if this notepad is one you design for repeated use, I put an additional cover with design papers on to sturdy the cover.  In this case, however, I simply added a Nestie's mount with a butterfly from several punches.

These make great gifties.  And so easy to create in very little time. Thanks for visiting.  Have a happy week.

Slam Dunk 'em

I still had trays of prefolded cardstock, trays of embellishments and trays of stamped and printed sentiments.  That alone always seems to fling me into a stressful state because I feel like I should be using everything.  So, with that said, here is my latest "slam dunk adventure"... The cards are put together as usual by grabbing up and assembling.  I like to share my slam dunks and I know there will be some takers one day.  Meantime the aforementioned trays are just about empty and that makes Carole a happy crafter-girl.  

Thanks for visiting. Hugs to ya all...

Fishy stuff....

I cannot seem to wander off from my paper crafts to get back to sewing.  My mind floods with ideas, and gifties I need to make for friends.  AND I had a little idea to surprise the local fish restaurant.  We have a wonderful Fish n' Chips restaurant called Pete's that has been around for years and years.  It is awesome food, and without a doubt the best red sauce I've ever had  I made these little tags to hand to the gal in the drive-in window next time I pick up an order of Shrimp n' chips.  Not sure what they will do with these, but hopefully they will say "oh how cute"....  I figure everyone ought to have a hanging tag that says they eat at Pete's. 

Card Orders...

A friend I hadn't heard from in a while popped up, and I was so delighted to hear from her.  And she's ordered about 36 cards for herself and 2 other friends.  I was able to pull up the 14 birthday cards out of my stash but I had to create the Get Well and Thinking of You cards.  They went together fairly quick and now I am free to start my sewing tomorrow. 

Thanks for taking a look at my cards.

Cards and More Cards

Recently I had a great adventure attending a group representing the First Families of Arizona.  My grandparents, my mother and her 5 brothers came to Arizona in 1909.  To join this respected group of pioneer families one must have come to AZ by Statehood which was 1912.  Although I am not quite ready, time wise, to join the group, I offered to do some cards for their Social Committee to send out to members when needed.  

This first batch is just 4 cards to give to the lady who actually invited me and my friend Brad.  Brad runs an absolutely fantastic web site to honor old Phoenix in it's glory.  

 The cards needed were "Thinking of You", "Get Well", and finally "Sympathy".  I moreorless constructed the cards using some left over papers and embellishments so these came together quickly.  Hope they like them, because I was honored to do them for this wonderful group.

Thanks for your visit.

Crochet Coasters

Today I will deliver the tub of sewing projects (shown earlier) to Lucy Anne's place, and I've added some bright and colorful crochet coasters.  Initially I had each color in a stack of 6, but the blast of delightful colors were muted.  So I separated them into 3 of each color.  As the little red head gal on the Wendy's commercials says "now that's better"....

Sewing For Giving

When my son went to college, I took a second job at a fabric store near my house.  I worked all day at a mortgage company, rushed home, fed the dog, changed into slacks and a tee shirts and headed for a delightful store full of fabrics.  It was a moment to moment inspiration as I cut each fabric for the customers.  I was home by 9:30, sewing by 10:00 and forced myself to quit so I could get the rest for the work the next day.  I was paid $1.10 an hour which was scale back then, and in retrospect, I paid them to work there.  I worked 3 days a week from 6PM to 9:00, all day Saturday and noon til 5PM on Sunday and I think everytime I left the store, I was carrying a bag of delightful fabrics. This was 2-1/2 years of buying in 1987-1989.  I think I still have some of that fabric in tubs...  I am the proverbial ole' lady who has the bumper sticker that says "she who dies with the most fabric, WINS". (I need a bumper sticker for paper addiction as well). 

I sew willy nilly things... my favorite description for picking up a cut of fabrics and on the spot deciding what I wanted to sew with it.  Now, at long last, I have another "cause" which is a delightful place called Lucy Anne's Place. This is an Adult Day Care Center in the conclave of Benevilla in Sun City West.  I sew, they take it.  How much better could that be?...  They have little games, Bingo, and daily activities that allow a drawing for a winner.  And now they have a big tub of "things" to chose from that I have donated.  

Below are some bibs I just made for my high school friend who had a stoke.  Her towel bibs are now replaced with bright and colorful bibs from me.  

 I love making Tissue Cozies.  It takes only a little 6x9 cut of fabric, a little rickrack or buttons or decorations to make a cozy.  All of my friends have them in their purses because I love using up little scraps of fabric that I simply cannot toss out. This batch goes to Lucy Anne's place, as well as the projects below.

Below you see  Eyeglass cases and one little pouch.  I love the little felt red flower that I added.  Long ago I did a lot of little whatnots with felt so now I make felt flowers.  I have tubs of rick racks and ribbons and the little sewing projects easily use up that stash ...

 Here you see some cell phone purses.  And little felt flowers I cut using one of my Sizzix die cuts.

 More Napkins.  I am told they can always use as many as they can get.  I try to make the napkins in a finished size of 16x16 but if I have less fabric, I make whatever size that is still decent.  A great way to use up fabrics not of quilting quality.  I found a wonderful easy way to miter the napkin corners so the finished napkin looks pretty nice.

Thanks for wandering through my sewing adventures.  Soon I hope I have a few cards to upload.

A worthy delight

Happy Wednesday.  I am driven to create be it paper, beads, fabrics, .. And recently I decided I wanted to give back a little more than I had in the past.  I love to share the things I make, and I've donated to some pretty wonderful agencies in the past.  Last month I went with my friend Pat to a place called Benevilla.  In this conclave of several agencies resides an Adult Day Care Center.  Pat told me they loved to get handmade fabric napkins so I made a batch and she and I delivered them.  I decided if they wanted an array of sewing things, I was the gal to give them.  Monday I drove out to Sun City West and I delivered about 22 napkins, 4 placemats, 8 bibs, a small lap quilt in colors of Christmas and a few "giftie" items like an eyeglass case, a little purse of corduroy.  The napkins, of course, were gratefully accepted but I was also told that the other are indeed "gifties".  The Center has a Bingo game, and a drawing for prizes.  The quilt could become someone's special lap cover, the little eyeglass case could be a tagalong in someone's purse.  That particular day the Center was full of gentlemen, and the nurse told me that when a prize was won, basically the men pick out something they think their wives might like.  BINGO..... Carole has a new place to share some willy nilly sewing items ...

 This is one of the bibs I made.  I sew a little pocket across the bottom of each bib and although sometimes the fabrics aren't completely coordinated, I am using up some scraps much to my delight.

 This is a tub I shall deliver tomorrow.  It is full of 9 fabric totes, some purses, eyeglass cases, coin purses, wall hangings, some felt Christmas tree ornaments and some tissue cozies.  I am a happy girl.  I am creating, I am sharing and I believe my fabric items will be used.

Baby Stuff....

Happy Saturday....  I love weekends.  I worked for so many years (50+) and weekends were so precious.  Now, even after over 5 years of retirement, I still cherish a Saturday or two.  Recently one of my wonderful clients from my work years asked if I had a pre-made baby scrapbook.  I said I didn't have one pre-made, but I would be so happy to do pages all designed so that the recipients could just add photos.  I did 40 pages, 20 for each scrapbook. I pulled out every cartridge that had baby die cuts available.  

A Child's Year, All Mixed Up, Creative Memorie's Stork Delivery, Cricut Sampler, Cuttin' Up, Doodlecharms, Gypsy Wanderings (Gypsy) Heritage, Life Is a Party, B is for Boy, Lyrical Letters, New Arrival, Paper Doll Dress Up, Simply Charmes, Stamping, Stretch Your Imagination, and Wild Card.  

I kept two trays, one for a new baby boy and a second tray for baby boy twins just born.  So basically I was cutting 3 die cuts almost in each case. . Once all of the die cuts and sentiments were cut or stamped, I pulled out a new designer's paper pack with baby theme papers.  The pack had 48 pages, and once they were trimmed to the 12x12 size, I started designing assembly line style (my fave way to go...)   I was so pleased with the finished pages, and I made one final little baby themed door hanger.  

My friend just has to decide which new parent or grandparent to give it to.

Thanks for stopping by.

Post It Note Covers

*CORRECTION MADE ON MEASUREMENTS: You all know my penchant for "slam dunk" cards.  Another one of my favorite things is to whip up a batch of Post It Note covers.  I buy the packs of Post It Notes with great abandon, and then they end up in a drawer until they have gathered so abundantly, I cringe when I open the drawer.  After I finished the my personal card marathon (a secondary card camp after the gals left from  the real Card Camp), I grabbed up about 20 post it notes of all colors, grabbed up some left over  pattern papers and voila', I have a big batch of gifties to share.  These are the simple covers, using pattern cardstock cut 3-1/4x7, with a half inch score area in the center for the fold over section.  It is a great way to use up piles of little scraps.  I punched out flowers and butterflies, added some blingy jewels.  My typical Post It Note cover is generally done using chipboard squares that are covered with papers.  The style below goes together in a snap.  I will say, however, that on the cover, inside cover and bottom part are strengthened with additional cuts, perhaps 3x3.  This is especially important for the top cover because that little bit of extra weight allows the cover to lay nicely over the post it notes inside.  Before I add the embellishment for the top cover, I add yet another mount for weight.  These are so much fun and the use of different patterns brings them to life. 

Have a wonderful week...and do try some Post It Note covers just for fun.   They are addictive.  I promise.

3D Cards

 At Card Camp, there is a 'gifties' exchange.  Pat gave each of us 3 sheets of 3D punch out floral designs that make awesome cards that have such a delicate and glorious presence to each one made.  The sheet has multiple prints of the same flowers, they are numbered so that the design can be applied correctly.  Once each 3D flower has been added with a small popdot, maybe some pearls put here and there....the final effect is fabulous.  The embossing folders you see are the Anna Griffin Cuttlebug folders.  Truly beautiful stuff. 

                     Just behind the two cards below you can see a glimpse of the 3D punch out page.

                                 Thanks for stopping by and taking a peek. Have a wonderful day.

CARD CAMP 2013

Our 6th annual Card Camp at my house was February 22-23 and part of the 24th and I realized I hadn't posted a photo or two.  We had such fun.... Here you see Pat, Kris and Sandy.  We missed Deb this year as she was on a trip. I posted this on Facebook and Kris said "that spot where we stand previously was filled with tables and tools and there was hardly room for anything else".  I made Sweatshirt Jackets for everyone and you can see Pat wearing hers. 

 Tacky me.... Did I both to comb that hair that morning?...

Thanks for your visit.  It's raining here and I am lovin' it.  I am doing two baby boy scrapbooks for a former work client and it is delightful to sit in my craft room and look out on a bit of rain.