Home is Where the Heart is...Altered Canvas

This is a new canvas I finished last week and I really love the notion of "Home is where the heart is". Now that we are completely settled in our new home and everything is just how we like it...I really do feel my heart in this home. I know we are exactly where we are supposed to be and it's wonderful!

Tattered Florals Challenge

I decided to create an entry for Tim Holtz's Tattered Florals Challenge. I love Tim Holtz and his Tattered Florals Die is really cool, so I knew I had to at least give it a try. I debated about what to make, and almost chose a floral cuff bracelet, but then I remembered a wooden owl shaped die cut I bought at Mike's. I I decided I could use the the Tattered Florals die to embellish the owl. Here it is: I used the die to cut flowers out of some natural and synthetic fabrics...I cut a TON of flowers and then cut a TON more!! The die cuts layers of fabric beautifully, thank goodness. After the flowers were cut I used my distress inks to add just the right amount of color and shading. I used the wooden owl for my base and sketched the basic design for my feathers. I used grunge board for the wings, I think the wings are my favorite part, so soft and fluffy! I used Tim's vintage knobs for the eyes and a silver crown I also bought at Mike's. Other than that the owl is full of flowers and petals! I couldn't tell you how many flowers I used, but it was A LOT!!!

Merry Christmas to you!

Finally finished my Christmas configurations box, yippee! Wishing everyone a very merry Christmas and happy New Year!!!

Happy Halloween!

This is the pendant I made to wear this year to celebrate Halloween.

I love Tim Holtz watch case pendants, anything you decide to put in them looks great! Hope everyone has an exciting Halloween!

Haunted Houses

I seem to be attracted to haunted houses this season...is it because we are house hunting?? Any way, I was looking at the Joann's ad and saw a cute haunted house pillow that they said they had directions for on their website. After much searching, I found the PDF. Here is a link to save you the trouble Haunted House. So I made myself a haunted house pillow, and used my Tim Holtz number plaque for the house number, 31 of course, and tied a skeleton key to the bottom and I love it!

Loved it so much I made 3 more to send one to my Mommie, my Sissie and a Bestie:

Didn't have anymore number plaques, so used more Tim Holtz metal numbers for the house numbers. I used a little glue to hold them in place and then gently poked a hole in each one and used a brad to hold it securely.

A couple of notes: I used wool blend felt. I used heavy duty Heat n Bond (which is no sew) for the houses and unlike the directions, I put another color of felt under the house to show through the windows. After I sewed around the house I trimmed the seams with pinking shears.

Halloween Projects

I love crafting for Halloween! What crafter doesn't? It is probably the most fun time of year to craft for. I wasn't planning to decorate for Halloween this year because we are in a temporary rental home, but what can I say? I am weak and did anyway! It was great to unpack all the decor I have made and purchased over the years. Today My BFF and I got together for a Halloween crafternoon. We made altered canvases that I came up with as we went along. I think they turned out great!

When I was setting up my sewing room in the temp house, I realized I had a ton of Halloween fabrics I seem to be hanging on to for whatever reason...So, I decided to make 2 patchwork tablecloths one for the eat in kitchen area and one for the dining room. The one for the eat in area is made of all the colorful fabrics I had in my stash...and can I say it's pretty colorful!

The dining room tablecloth is almost done...maybe I can tackle it tomorrow??? Wish me luck!

Altered Canvas

I am part of a monthly class at The Enchanted Scrapbook, back where I used to live in FL. Each month participants get a "kit" and have to use every item in the kit to complete a project of their choice. My kit came with this stamp set:

I also got some Art Parts from the same designer, a large piece of black chipboard, and 2 brown zippers. I decided to do an altered canvas, and chose an 8x24 canvas. Lucky for me my BFF gets my kits for me and mails them, then I send them pics of my completed project. The group meets tonight, so I can't to see March's kit. Wish I could be there in person to see everyone's work. :(

Breaking Dawn Fever!! Literally >:(

Well, as any Twilight fan can tell you, tonight is the premiere of Breaking Dawn 1. I am a Twilight fan, and not only because of the books, and the movies...but also for the CRAFTING!!
I was supposed to board a plane yesterday bound for my old stomping grounds in Florida for a Breaking Dawn Extravaganza with 15 other great girls. But instead I am stuck here at home with bronchial pneumonia. Major BUMMER!!!
The best part of this Extravaganza was that each gal was making a Twilight themed craft for everyone. My task was to make charm bracelets, similar to Bella's with a wolf charm and a crystal heart charm. I had already finished all the bracelets before getting sick, so I mailed them to FL, and hopefully they will arrive in time!



I also added an acrylic charm made with either the Breaking dawn cover image or a picture of Edward, Bella and Jacob. I used Tim Holtz acrylic Fragments and Glossy Accents to make them.

I also made special pendant necklaces for me and my bestie:



Back:



I made little purse boxes with paper rolled roses for each bracelet:



Well, at least my bracelets will make the premier party, even if I don't.



I'd invite you to my pity party, but I'm probably contagious! LOL >:(

Crafty Sistas!

My sister came to visit us this weekend and we did a whole lotta crafting in a short amount of time...it was great!!

I wanted to try some pumpkin painting, so I picked up some medium sized black pumpkins at Mike's and we free hand painted them with fabric paints. The kind in the squeezy bottles.

Together:



Mine:



Sister's:



This was fun, but time consuming...I had debated about buying the large pumpkins for this craft. Thank goodness I didn't or we never would have finished!

Then we made some bird cage pendant necklaces using Tim Holtz bird cages. I love how these turned out! I put an owl in my cage and my Sissy put a raven in hers. Then of course we added some dangle charms too.

Together:



Mine:



I named this owlie Timmy ;)

Sister's:



It was an awesome weekend that also included bowling, fall festivaling and movie watching at home and at the theatre! Love having visits from my sister, miss you Jay! xoxo

Art Journaling!

My first completed layout from an Art Journal Club I went to today. It was a MUCH needed outing for me and I had a blast! I didn't know a soul in this club, and everyone was very friendly.

We used the Distress Stains and stamps from the Dylusion Stamps line.

On the right page I added an envelope I made journaling tags for. I really liked the stamps, and I could see wanting all those Distress Stains too, the colors are beautiful!

Quilt Along Week 2 Done!!

Better late than never! ;) I was a day late with getting these done. We lost our a.c. over the weekend and the last thing I wanted to do was sew and press seams with a steamy hot iron.







I am fairly happy with these, although I am running out of the black and white polka dot seen in the left black/white square. I am having to sub with some other polka dots I have. Hopefully it will all look okay in the end.

I also wish I hadn't used so much red in the background of the middle red/white square. But there is no way I am going back and redoing it! LOL

So I have yet to work on the new squares for today, but plan to do some cutting tonight and sewing tomorrow. Trying not to get too far behind, wish me luck.

Quilt Along Week #1 Done!

Finished my quilt along squares for the week, and I have to say it was fun and easy! Here they are:



They were so fun and easy in fact I decided to also make a black and white combo quilt...



And then I decided to make a red and white combo quilt...



Hopefully I can keep up the pace for the next 3 weeks. But how nice will it be to have 3 quilt tops made when I am done?! Woot! :) If you want to join along you can do so HERE.

The quilt along starts today! And these are the fabrics I've chosen:



I've decided this quilt will be for.....

ME!!

So I made sure to add in some Chocolate Lollipop (second in from the right) by Anna Maria Horner. I have used this fabric so many times in so many ways, but what can I say, I love it! I think this quilt will pretty much wipe out the bits and pieces I have left of it. :(

I will also be using white, and the background and back of the quilt will be white.

The first square is the Star of Virginia, pretty appropriate since we are fairly new residents of the state of Virginia. You can find the tutorial for the square HERE and info about the quilt along HERE.

Perfect Summer Quilt Along

Yippee!! Just saw this link for a summer quilt along that you can find and join HERE and HERE and this is the amazing quilt you will be making:



We'll be making 3 squares a week, so over 4 weeks you'll have a 12 square quilt top.

I am especially excited because about 5 minutes before I found it, I was just sitting here thinking that I need to start a new stash-busting quilt. So this is it! Lucky for me it will all be planned out for me, gotta love that. :)

I know some are buying fabric collections to make this quilt but for me it will be a stash buster and my plan is to not buy any fabrics for it.
Wish me luck, and join in!

Teacher Totes Yay for Summer!!

Tomorrow is the last day of school for my son. YiPpEe!! He has been in school since August 16th...moving from Florida to Virginia in the middle of the school year will do that to you. So I guess you could say he has been over educated this year!

I made his teachers each a big tote/beach bag using the Lands End type bags as my inspiration. I have always wanted one of those bags with my initials embroidered on it. Someday....

Anyway here they are:

I can't even really say how long it took me because I made 4 more bags for my family, so 9 total...seems like it took weeks! hahaha

A fun diversion was making the tags to go with each bag, love paper crafting!!



So tomorrow we will deliver the bags and get ready for summer, hallelujah!!

Cuff Love

I have a LONG list of crafty ideas and things I want to try and create, but do I ever have enough time??? No. :(
About 2 months ago I bought 12 two inch wide aluminum bracelet cuffs with the grand idea of making cuff bracelets for my Etsy shop. Well, hasn't happened yet ;). But, I saw a cuff bracelet swap on Craftster and joined knowing it would get me started!
Let me tell you I had so much fun making this bracelet!! Can't wait to make many many more, in fact I ordered 12 more cuff blanks.
Here is the cuff in action:


My swap partner likes butterflies and the colors blue and purple, so I am hoping she loves it.


I covered the aluminum cuff with fabric interfaced with heavy interfacing and fleece interfacing. So it is very comfortable on the wrist, and you can still bend the cuff to make it the perfect size.


The flower was made with batik fabric that I fused to itself and then cut with my Big Shot die cutter to make all the layers. It is hand sewn together with glass beads


My partner hasn't received it yet, so I am a little nervous. Creating these bracelets is very addictive, and I have 3 more in the works for my shop. Wish me luck! xo

Hangin' With My Peeps

I decided my Easter plush project for gifting this year would be little chicks.
My first little chick was super cute but very small and needed to be hand sewn. I decided that because the plan was to make and send several the pattern would have to be bigger so I could machine sew them. Much faster that way!
And in the end I think they turned out pretty darn cute.

Here is the whole peep party:



Sent a couple to my parents:



Me and the hubs (notice I get the pink tutu and rolled fabric rose! teehee):



All this peep making has tuckered me out, time for a nap in the hydrangeas:



One of the tags I made to go with the chicks:


Some of the other tags read, "to my peeps" "to my favorite chick" "to one cute little chickie" and so on.

Here's a little chick package ready for mailing:



They should all arrive by Easter and I hope everyone enjoys them! Happy Easter!! xo