Welcome Baby Josiah!

Josiah David Bishop

June 9, 2010- 1:20pm

9lbs, 6oz and 21" long

Baby Thank-You's

No, I have not had my baby- yet! 6 more days and counting! But I have started a batch of thank-you cards. I was completely blessed & spoiled with a church shower on Saturday! I say spoiled because most people don't have showers with a 4th baby! But we believe every baby is a special blessing and celebration & so do my church friends! Anyway, I decided I better get started on my thank-you cards, as the gifts keep coming in! Josiah will definitely be well-stocked with diapers & wipes!

This card actually has little stamping, but the inspiration came from a tiny sailboat stamp that I have from a retired set. I decided to try to re-create the image & used punches to do so. The bottom of the boat is half of a 1" circle. The sail on the boat is half of a 3/4" square. The boat image is layered on a 1 3/8" circle and then a scallop circle. Notice the tiny button- it's one of the clear bitty buttons from the new summer mini! I tied some blue thread through it and used a glue dot to adhere it to the card. The patterned paper is from last year's SAB package- prints that are perfect for a baby boy! I stamped on the white scallop trim & that completes the card! I love making cards in batches. A hint- cut, punch, & assemble all pieces before putting the cards together. And sometimes this has to be done in several sittings, but it's much quicker than trying to put together one card at a time.

Sweet Flower Card

Here is a quick, sweet little card- no stamping involved! I used a white crocheted fleurette flower with a piece of the Sweet Pea stitched felt inside & leaves. The cardstock is Pink Pirouette- yes this color is returning!- + Regal Rose. The ribbon is a piece from one of the Clearance Rack packages (formerly retired). I love this little 4x4 size- so easy!

My 2nd Big Shot Rag Quilt Purse

Well, here is my 2nd attempt at the Big Shot rag quilt purse. Try to overlook the picture quality. I had to take this on my way out the door to actually deliver the bag! I used the scallop squre die + Big Shot to cut the squares, which are a little less than 5". I think this one definitely turned out better than my first, so I was pleased! This adorable little bag is going to a sweet little 3 year old girl as her birthday present. I thought the fabric was perfect for a little girl & I actually have everything cut out to make Isabella an identical bag! I bought the fabric in a bundle, so all of the pieces coordinate. And what a value- the bundle only cost me $6 & I cut 2 bags from it! As you can see from the picture, I used 6 different fabrics, which all coordinate. One reason this bag turned out better than my first is because I used cotton batting instead of polyester. I also used a SU gluestick to glue the batting between 2 fabric pieces. This made sewing the squares much easier because everything stayed in place. The other difference in this bag as opposed to my first is that I intentionally left the scallops on the inside, leaving the outside with neat squares. I actually really like that look better. And of course this bag is made up of 4 squares front and back, instead of 9. Let me know what you think!

A Quick Post...

Here's a quick and simple b-day card that I recently made and did not get a chance to post. I think this works well for a man. The cardstock is Kraft and then I just used some scraps of ds paper to make a central border. I also punched a circle from coordinating ds paper and layered the corderoy button over it. The small medallion stamp + sentiment were both from this year's SAB.

Monday Class Projects- A Flower Theme!

Here are the four projects that we will complete at tonight's class. The theme is 'Flowers' which seems very fitting for the month of May!The Flower Pot Pocket Card has an insert with a message on it! I love this card because it's so bright and colorful! Next, is the Scallop Circle Tote w/Paper Flower embellishment. I love making these flowers & am excited to share with you! Very versatile and lots of options for different styles and looks. As you can see, there's a box in the middle of the two scallops for holding a small gift. Note the Crushed Curry cardstock- this is retiring, so if you love it, stock up before it's too late. The Eyelet Border Punch Flower card features yet another paper flower. Very pretty and definitely springy! This flower was made using a 1x12" strip of paper, punched w/the eyelet border punch, & run through the crimper. It's attached to a sticky-strip covered circle. Very fun to make!

The first three projects turned out to be a little more time & material-consuming than I originally planned. SO, the last project is a simple clothes pin magnet. Cute, easy, & still flower-themed! The flower is made from 4 tissue-paper scallop circles, made in the same way as the flower on the circle tote. I attached a magnet to the back which makes this the perfect cheery & useful accent for your fridge!

If you did not get in on the RSVP for tonight's class, feel free to email me to purchase the class kit, which will include all supplies needed + instructions to make these projects on your own!

Embellished Notepad & Pencil Gift Sets

These are the little gift sets I made for the girls in my Awana class for an end-of-year gift. Somehow, amidst the chaos- school, feeding/bathing little ones, backed-up laundry, & last night's dinner dishes, I managed to get these made up! Sometimes I wonder how I get myself into volunteering for these projects!
I wrapped a simple 1" band around each notepad and glued a punched heart in coordinating paper. Then, I stamped the 'God is Love' image & attached the binder clip. The clips are embellished w/the same patterned paper + ribbons tied around each. I used the 5-petal flower punch for the flowers on the pencils. They're adhered w/glue dots- one on each side. I hope the girls enjoy them!

Pretty Thank You + a New Color Combo

I think this card turned out so pretty- perfect for Grandma! I love the timeless, antique look. And I love the color combo- which I don't think I've ever used! The main card is So Saffron. The other cardstock colors are Basic Gray & Rose Red. I actually watercolored the stamped image, which is a technique I rarely use. It worked perfect with the antique-look of the jars w/flowers (hostess Level 1 set). The ribbon is tied through vanilla hodgepodge. The 'thank you' was popped up w/dimensionals + a flower image stamped in the background, which really adds alot. I find myself frequently using the flower image from 'Together Forever' in this manor. I used the scallop edge punch for the bottom of the card. The entire effect just reminds me of my Grandma! She sent the kids money for Easter, so this is the thank-you from them. And the best part is that I know she'll appreciate and save it!

Shabby Chic Fabric Projects

Here are 2 sets of the 'shabby chic' fabric projects I've been working on. I used the Big Shot & Circles #2 die to cut coordinating fabric circles of different sizes. Then, I pulled around the unfinished edges to obtain the 'shabby chic' look, before layering the circles. Each one is glued together w/hot glue. The object is to try to kind of scrunch each one up so it's not laying flat. For the hair barrettes, I used my paper piercing tool to poke a hold through the center and inserted a crystal brad. The barrette snaps are especially for embellishing and they have a small hole at the top which works perfect for inserting the brad. I added leaves to the larger brooch + a felt backing w/pin & glued buttons in the center, instead of using a brad. I think these make great gift sets! They can even be attached and used as embellishment on a card! The brooches can also be attached to a handbag or other clothing article.
The 3-6 grade girls in my Awana class are making the hair barrettes Wed. night- a set for themselves + a set for a young girl at the Rescue Mission. I'm also currently making batches of these to sell, in various fabric prints. Email me if you're interested in purchasing any.
Brooches, $5.
Hair Barrettes, $5/set of 2.
Brooch + 2 Barrettes, $8.

Simple Thank You

Here's a quick, simple thank-you that hopefully leads towards manly. Colors used are Ruby Red, Crushed Curry, Night of Navy, Old Olive, & Real Red. The only stamping is the little bird from one of my favorite retired sets. The blocks each have something dimensional on them: punched star, popped up bird, button, & felt flower. I think the overall effect is clean and simple! And by the way, Ruby Red & Crushed Curry will be retiring in June, so get them while you can! I happened to have this card already cut & scored, so I used it. As for Crushed Curry, I have practically a full pack, so I will be trying to incorporate it in near-future projects!

Happy Together!

I love this adorable little set, 'Happy Together!' It makes such a cute little card, & this one is going to a baby shower. The designer paper is from last year's SAB choices, but it's once again a great example of how to use SU's double-sided papers. The patterns and colors are always coordinated for easy mix-n-match. I love patchwork looks. My embellishments are usually color choices pulled from various prints in the papers. This card uses a Bashful Blue brad and a Celery button w/ribbon tied through it.

More Easter Class Projects- Simple Embellishments

Here's the rest of the Easter class projects for Monday night (see post below for the watercolor card which is also included). I love the fresh, springy colors! They're fairly easy to put together. Each one features a different embellishment that can really make a big difference in a card. Various sentiments may be substituted for occasions other than Easter. The 4x4 'Happy Easter' note card uses one of the Beautiful Wings Embosslits butterflies. The perfect finishing touch!The 'Happiness Always' card uses the SU Beautiful Butterflies die & vanilla hodgepodge hardware- always a WOW factor! I used Sweet Pea stitched felt + a button on the card with the cross. The basket is from the Baskets & Blooms SU die & a simple bow tied w/grosgrain ribbon. Click on any pic to enlarge. I still have space in Monday night's class, $10. Just drop me an email to join! Since I was so late in putting this all together, I will accept late RSVP's all the way through Monday. OR, if you can't make it to the class, I can put a kit together w/instructions.

Watercolor Crayon Technique- for Monday's class!

I have been meaning to try the watercolor crayon technique and just haven't had a chance until now. It is really alot of fun & very simple! In fact, I think there are various ways to use watercolor crayons. I love the soft effect! The technique I will be demonstrating requires solid stamps, as opposed to line images. The flower image I used is from the hostess set, Of the Earth. This is one of the projects we will make at my class on Monday evening. Please let me know, if you can attend. I will post instructions for this sometime next week.Here's a close-up of the lovely flowers!

Scallop Circle Fabric Hair Barrettes

I was so excited to make these adorable fabric hair barrettes! I've seen various versions of these on different blogs. I was recently asked to come up with an easy craft project for our Awana TNT girls group at church. I immediately thought of these barrettes & this is my first attempt. I used a combination of scallop circles from sizzix SU Baskets & Blooms & Scallop Circle #2 dies. The circles are each hot glued together and kind of scrunched up, so they don't lay flat. After allowing time to dry, I used my paper piercer to poke a hole in the center and then inserted a brad. The final touch was pulling the edges of the fabric to slightly fray it, giving it a 'shabby chic' look.

The only snap barrettes I had were Isabella's size, so that's what I used for this one. Here's some pics of her wearing one. Very cute & fun! Stay tuned for more of these using different fabrics and a slightly different format, including a brooch!

Sweet Pea Stitched Felt

I love the Sweet Pea stitched felt pieces! This card features several of them. Colors used: Certainly celery, rose red, pretty in pink, and chocolate chip. I also like the simple block layout. You could easily change this up with different images or embellishments in each block.

Another Butterfly Card!

I am enjoying the embosslits butterflies! They're pretty and can make a really quick and easy card! This one is also a fun & bright color palette on whisper white.

Embosslits Beautiful Wings!

My new embosslits butterfly die just arrived and I couldn't wait to try it out! I love the fact that this die embosses and cuts multiple images at the same time! This was a super-quick card that I needed to make for someone, so it's nothing fancy. I like the color combo- fresh and bright! I used Old Olive, Bashful Blue, Pumpkin Pie, & Pixie Pink. Since the butterflies are already textured, I thought I'd throw in a few more textures for added interest. The corderoy button worked well & then I embossed the white cardstock with raised dots. Very simple!

Embellished Cloth Diaper

Well, this is officially my 2nd sewing project! This one isn't super SU related, but I figured I would post it since I did use SU ribbon (although retired)! This is a Gerber pre-folded cloth diaper, which can be purchased in packs of 12. I chose a soft flannel fabric, cut the fabric 8" wide and about 19" long, which allows for 1" sides to be folded under. I pre-washed everything before I started & then ironed well. This is supposed to eliminate any future shrinking, if you wash it in hot water. I lined each side with ribbon and pinned it all together before taking it to the machine. Then, I simply ran 2 seams along each side and one on each end. I think these would make great baby gifts! And of course since we're expecting a new little boy in June, this one will come in handy for him!
I hope to try some more of these. The biggest challenge is the cloth diaper loosing a little of it's shape, which can make cutting and measuring a little difficult. Apparently the pre-washing is definitely a must! Check out the directions I followed here.

Rag Quilt Purse with the Big Shot!

Well, I finally got the opportunity to play around with the Big Shot for a sewing project! My grandmother recently gave me her sewing machine & I was excited about trying it, although I have no sewing experience! Through the blogging world, I kept hearing that the rag quilt purses were so easy and no big deal! Well, they were basically right!

This was a fun project and pretty much on a beginner level. My mom, who is a veteran seamstress, actually helped me. I was fairly pleased with how this turned out, however, I did use the wrong batting. Apparently there's a big difference between cotton and polyester batting- I had no clue. The cotton batting (preferred) gives a more stiff affect to the bag & a little more form. I was super frugal in choosing my fabric, but I really like the color combo. One half yard of each pattern cost me a little over $4!

I used the Big Shot and the scallop square die. I cut the fabric appx 5"x5," layered 8 pieces at a time, and ran them through the Big Shot. I can definitely see how quilters would benefit from the scallop square! The die eliminates tedious cutting and measuring.

I cut a total of 32 squares. Each is sandwiched with another square + a piece of batting in between. The first step was to sew an 'x' across each sandwiched block. Then, the scalloped edges were joined and sewn together as well. You can find a great step-by-step tutorial here.

I neglected to add a clasp before sewing the final edges, so this is an open bag. I thought about adding some velcro for a closure and some buttons on the outside to dress it up. The bag can be turned inside out for the clean-edge look or as pictured for the rag quilt look. I did have to go back and snip all the edges and wash/dry the entire bag to give it the final 'rag' look. I really need to get a sharp pair of scissors for fabric cutting!

There are several variations to this bag and it's easy to adjust the size. I'm looking forward to trying another one of these soon!- preferably in a larger 'tote' size.

Fox & Friends Invites

I just can't get enough of this adorable Fox & Friends set! I had to restrain myself from using it for any of the Valentine's class projects, since we just used it at my class 2wks ago. However, I decided they worked perfect for these invites! I totally C.A.S.E.D. this idea from the very talented Mary Jo Albright. Click here to see her original. Luckily I only needed to make 4 of these cards. They are EXTREMEMLY time consuming- but well-worth the effort! The tiny pieces of patterned paper were painstakingly cut from the Sale-a-Bration paper. All the circles were popped up w/dimensionals. Lots of cutting, but a really cute effect! Cardstock: Taken with Teal, Kraft, Chocolate Chip, Real Rust, Old Olive, & Crushed Curry.

Kissing Birds & a Hanging Heart Basket!

Here are the other 2 projects for my Valentine's Class tonight! I've seen the 'kissing birds' idea fluttering around several blogs- so cute. They are really adorable! I love the new punch! The cardstock is kraft & of course the Sending Love Designer paper. It's hard to tell from the pic, but I used a sponge to add burgundy ink around the edges of the birds and their wings to add dimension. I also popped up the wings.And this is my first attempt at making a Hanging Heart Basket using the Sizzix Petal Card die! Really easy. Click here for a short tutorial. The hearts & tag are die-cut from some little sizzlits. Besides 2 pieces of the 4.5x4.5 ds paper, I cut a 2x5 piece of real red cardstock which makes the 'pouch.' It's large enough for a small bag of candy or whatever other goodies you can think of! I used brads to attach my ribbon- simply b/cause I was running short. You could also insert eyelets or just punch a hole and knot the ribbon. Very easy!

Valentine's Projects

Here's a few Valentine's themed projects I've been working on. We will make these plus 2 more at my class next Monday, Feb.8! Please email me with questions or to RSVP!

The first card pictured features the new Sending Love Specialty DS paper from the Occasions mini. This paper is very pretty & sparkly-lots of glitter! I couldn't decide which pattern to use, so what better way to use 5 on one card than a patchwork pattern! Very little stamping required!

Next, is the new adorable little SU Mini Milk Carton! This box is really cute! I simply ran the Bigz die through my Big Shot & folded at the score lines. The little bird is from the hostess level 3, 'The More the Merrier' set, punched w/the 1.25" circle. I used yet another pattern from the Sending Love Specialty DS paper (12 in all to choose from!). I may add a band to this- not sure yet- but I wanted to get it posted for you to see. The little clip holds the top together. Just squeeze to open & reveal some goodies!

And the 3rd (but not final!) project is a neat little treat package! I noticed several of these on various blogs & they're so simple. I actually used one of my favorite retired paper patterns for this one. I believe it was offered on a SU clearance rack awhile back. Anyway, I love the color combo: Pretty in Pink, Chocolate Chip, & Taken with Teal. Untie the ribbon to open the circle flap. The cardstock is actually scored to hold something up to 1/4" thick. It's large enough to hold a cd or whatever else you can think of! Come to the class and be surprised at what I give you to put in here!

Well, that's it for now, but stay tuned for the other 2 Valentine's class projects! Hope to hear from you and see you there!

Baskets & Blooms Tea Bag Holder

This adorable little tea bag holder was actually cut from felt! So fun! I used the Baskets & Blooms exclusive SU die and ran it through my Big Shot (which happens to cut various materials). I changed the felt color for the large flower & added the green button and leaves. The tag is from the sizzlit 4pk- Lots of Tags. I did not use the basket bottom, so this one is flat. I used hot glue to seal the bottom and sides. Another option would be yarn or use your sewing machine.

I was originally inspired by another stamping blogger who had made something similar to these, so this is not totally original. Check out her blog here. The purple felt happened to match the Orchid Opulence perfectly, so I used the grosgrain ribbon to attach the basket to the teacup.

I actually gave this cute little set away at Monday night's class as a doorprize! Congrats, Jean!

More Sale-a-Bration projects!

Here's the additional card we made at Monday night's class. The Good Neighbor set was so much fun to work with! This is a Sale-a-Bration choice- FREE with any $50 merchandise purchase! Although I threw this card together literally right before the class, I can see endless possibilities for many more! The patterned paper is part of the Designer Series paper pad, Welcome Neighbor--also one of the Sale-a-Bration items which happens to coordinate perfectly with the stamp set!I used Whimsical Words (yet another Sale-a-Bration choice!) on the card front as well as on the little tag for the treat bag which goes inside the Fancy Favor bag! I love the 'loopy' script! And, as mentioned in my previous post, the Clear Mount blocks are totally awesome! They're especially convenient for word stamps, as you can see exact placement. Check out the pic- the classic rubber has not been compromised! And notice the dvd storage case in the background. Quite convenient & space-saving!And one final little fun project- So Cool rub-ons. I demonstrated how to use them on cute little 3x3 notecards. This is a cute package with fun color combo choices: bashful blue, basic grey, certainly celery, & bermuda bay. I added the little button + thread & stamped a sentiment at the bottom to top it off. I actually used a rub-on on the inside as well, but neglected to picture it. Tons of possibilities with these cute little things.