A Little Paper Crafting

Oh my goodness, do I love playing with paper.  Even though I love my sewing machine (which I do use in some of my booklets) and my knitting needles, I love playing with paper.  I make cards, books, bags, boxes, you name it.  And tea bag folding is another favorite which I will blog about later.

Recently, we had a good friend to get married and I thought I would put together a little journal for her to use to put down her thoughts and extra pictures that she might have.  I put in lots of pockets and tags and neat little hiding places for special notes.  Here are some pictures for you to see . . . If you haven’t played with paper lately, you really ought to give it a try.

 

 

Sorry about the orientation of this picture . . . It doesn't show up portrait on computer or my camera.  Guess the computer took over and decided on its own how to print picture! 

 

 

 

Added handmade envelope for extra pictures, journaling notes, or whatever she wants to tuck away in it!

 

 

These pages left blank for pictures or journaling . . . paper just too pretty for me to cover up.

 

 

 

And . . .

 And back cover . . .

 

 

 
I punched holes in the book and used rings for binding.  Added the front and back clear cover sheets for extra protection and lots of little ribbons.  Loved the way it turned out!

I cannot tell you how much joy I found making this book for this special friend.  Now off to knit a beaded cuff!  Until next time . . .

 

CREATE AND HAVE FUN!!

Snowed in . . .

 

We have just survived a snow storm of “epic proportions”, a “historic event”, and one that could be “catastrophic”.  These are a few terms used by our local weathermen and women about the Ice/Snow Storm heading our way.  We live in Georgia and if we get 2” of snow, we all panic!  I do okay with snow if we do not lose power!!  That was the only worry I had when they started predicting ½” to 1” of ice.  I have lived through two terrible ice storms before and they are anything but pleasant.  Luckily, no power was lost at our home; however, I believe in and around Atlanta, there were about 150,000 customers who did.

Some of our snow pictures . . .

 

Just say the word “snow” and I immediately start getting sewing and knitting and card making fever.  I guess you could say, I never am bored or still for very long!!

I made six KnitClutches® that I market at Main Street Yarns.  And if I do say so myself, the fabrics on these are to die for.  Three of which are completely finished . . . And on the back of the clutch you will find two grommets where your yarn can easily slide through, making your project portable and I might add, stylish!  I usually do not make two alike; however, the Paris fabric is so very popular that Dee ordered 6 more in that fabric. I still have two more to make in this fabric.

 

 

Two almost finished . . . Just need to add closures . . .

 

and one that I need to add the lining and then the closure . . .

You can see the lining that I chose for this bag!  I love it!!! 

I did make a couple of knitting needle clutches.  I love making these.  Simple, quick, and very functional as well as pretty to look at.

 

 

and Opened . . .

 

AND

 

 

and Opened . . .

 

 

 

Love shoulder bags, too!  So I took scraps and made this one for me:  Cut the flower from another piece of fabric and appliqued to the top of the bag where I used an old pair of jeans to make the flap and strap.

 

I know I said that I had knitting fever, too, and when I finish up the knitting project(s) that I started, I will post pictures of these in my next blog.

 

Have a great weekend!  Stay warm!

 

CREATE AND HAVE FUN!!

We are freezing here!  Woke up to 13 degrees and for Georgia that is COLD!  We will be this cold till next week they predict and with a possibility of some light snow and freezing rain.  Hate that freezing rain!  Sounds a lot like knitting weather!

We just got back from Hiawassee, Georgia and the mountain house.  We use to go there quite a bit in fact every weekend and most of the summers; however, seems like retirement keeps us closer to home.  Who would have thought that we would not get to go as often after retiring???

On the way up the mountain we always see wild life and here are some pics of what was in the road.

 

A flock of wild turkeys . . .

 

 

 

One of the first things I do when we get there is go out on our front porch and soak this in . . .

 



 

The very next thing after unloading the car and letting the dogs do their business is go see one of my favorite people at her store downtown Hiawassee.  It's one of the last 5 & 10 cent stores in the country.

 

 

 

Then off to lunch at our favorite spot for lunch . . .

 

This little café is in Hayesville, North Carolina and has the best chicken salad sandwich around!!

 

What a great getaway!

 

ENJOY your weekend!

 

 



 

 



 

 

 

 

 

I LOVE VALENTINE'S DAY!!

I love Valentine’s Day!  Not because of chocolate (although that doesn’t hurt), but because of the hearts!!!  Love them! Also, this holiday is a reminder to be sure to tell the ones you love just how much you love them! You do not have to go out and spend lots of money to celebrate this holiday.  You can get creative!!!  In fact, I thought that I would take this pile of fabric . . .

 

To see what I could do for the granddaughters for this special day.

I follow Alisa Burke’s blog and remembered seeing a heart tee-shirt she had made a couple years ago.  I decided to try my hand at it and this is how I did mine.

I drew hearts on the paper side of fusible web.  I used fabrics from my pile to fuse them to.  After they cooled, I cut them out and fused them randomly onto the tee-shirts.  In order for them to stay after washings, I decided that I had better sew them down.  I just used a straight stitch and sent around all of the hearts.  This should keep them on the shirts before they outgrow them.

 

For the youngest grandchild, I decided to “crazy piece a heart to fuse onto her shirt.  I cut a heart shape from my fusible web and randomly layed out pieces of fabric and then ironed them down.  I cut out the heart shape and fused it onto the tee-shirt and then stitched around each of the pieces and the heart shape as well.  Think it turned out kind of cute . . .

Lately, at night I have been knitting and found this really neat pattern on Ravelry (free) called the Abbey Sampler Scarf.  This scarf has 12 panels each depicting a character from Downton Abbey, a popular British show that all the girls around here are completely addicted to.  I have started my 7^th panel and I am having a great time knitting this one.  This is a great beginner scarf as it uses different stitch patterns in each panel.  Aren't the colors beautiful and the patterns are each unique.  This kind of pattern keeps me interested!

 

I love journals!!  I am not quite sure if I like journaling or just the creating the covers for them.   This is my latest journal and it is ready for me to get creative inside it as well.  Stamping, paint, Mod Podge(r), tissue paper, cutouts, oh my goodness what fun this was to make!

 

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you have a great week!  Remember in whatever you do, have FUN!!!

My New Year's Promise . . .

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you enjoy yourself, learn something new or get a new idea, and visit me again.

 

Long time since I last blogged!  I made myself a promise to blog weekly during 2014.  Notice I said “Promise”…  I don’t make resolutions as they are likely to be broken so this year I decided on coming up with just one word to help encourage me throughout this new year.  I read about this on Julie Fei Fan Balzer’s blog and thought I would give it a try.  I decided on COMPLETE.  Oh, I know if you read my FB page, you will see I chose another one, but I think this one suits me better.  Let’s see how this year goes with that one word in mind . . . COMPLETE.

 

Christmas was really busy around here as I know it was in everyone’s home.  I usually try to get too much done and get myself frustrated.  I seemed to be able this year not to be too frustrated and stressed and that’s a good thing. 

 

I follow Jennifer Jangles blog and she posted a really cute JOY wall hanging as one of her free Christmas projects.  It had my name written all over it.  I ended up making 6 and using them as gifts, but I could have made so many more as this little project was quite addicting.  On the first ones I made, I used Jennifer’s fabrics and the rest I used fabrics I purchased from Sewcial Studio located in Athens and owned by Anita Heady.  They were all beautiful!  This is a picture of one . . .

 

 

 

I quilted all of them differently and here’s some closeups of some of the stitches I used.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also made several Snowmen Mug Rugs for presents.  The fabric came

from Sewcial Studio and the applique of the snowman came from a Nancy Halversen book.  Fun, quick, easy . . . what more could you ask for?

 

 

Got to stay warm tonight and tomorrow.  At the moment it is 18 degrees in Oconee County Georgia.  Tomorrow's prediction is for really frigid temperatures.  8 degrees when we wake up with a wind chill of somewhere in the neighborhood of 14 degrees below 0.  Oh my goodness, that seems to be knitting/sewing weather if only we do not lose power.

 

My next blog will be all about Selvages!  Another one of my favorite things.  Until then believe in yourself, create something, and have FUN!

Welcome . . .

Hi, and welcome to my blog . . .

Been really busy lately knitting, quilting, and painting for the holidays!  I have long decided that I stay busy to keep out of “trouble” . . .

I recently had a request for a knitting pattern that I wrote for a cowl and I am finally getting around to posting it!

 

 

 

And Another Drop Stitch Scarf

Materials:

1 skein Lorna’s Laces Sportmate Yarn

String-a-Long Sequin Yarn in color to match

Size 10 – 16” circular needles

Stitch Marker

CO 110 stitches and join in the round being careful not to twist

Round 1 -  K

Next two rounds add sequin yarn with main yarn

Round 2 – K

Round 3 – Purl

Cut sequin yarn leaving a 6” tail

Round 4 – K

Round 5 - *K1, YO two times, K1*, repeat around

Round 6 -  K dropping YOs

REPEAT Rounds 1 – 6 four more times.

BO in Knit.  Weave in ends.  Block if desired.  Wear and Enjoy!!

Pattern designed by Cole Springs Studio®

I used yarn purchased from our local yarn shop, Main Street Yarns, which is Lorna’s Lace yarn (quite yummy) and for a little bling I added String-a-long with the yarn.  The string yarn has sequins in it and is quite easy to knit while holding another yarn.  You can chose not to add the bling and a different yarn as gauge does not matter on this project.  In fact, if you want a longer or infinity scarf just add more stitches as long as you keep the number even.

 

A close up of the stitches . . .

 

This is such a quick and easy knit.  Hopefully, you will make lots of these for Christmas, birthdays, special occastions, etc. 

I have also tried different techniques using fabric and one of my favorite products, Peltex®, on one of the projects.  If you know me, you know that I love to applique and this little quilt came together pretty quickly.  I made four 8” log cabin squares using blue fabrics and then found some orange and yellow fabrics to make the flowers.  And of course had to add embellishments . . . beads, brads, wire, and even a washer.  My goodness it was so much fun to do and quite colorful, too.

 

 

Two close-ups . . .

 

Oh, and had to get ready for Christmas with a few ornaments.  I love birds, so I made a template and found the colors I wanted (I did the wings different on each bird), peltex, and ribbon.  I affixed the fabrics to the two-sided fusible Peltex® and traced the bird onto one side.  I then cut it out and painted the edges with acrylic (cheap kind) paint, and sewed on a ribbon for hanging.  And for a little more bling, I stuffed a bird, painted with Mod Podge®, sprinkled with glitter and sewed a ribbon on for hanging. Easy peasey!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I found in one of my old paper crafting books a woven heart pattern.  I found the fabrics I wanted, ironed them onto Wonder Under®, cut them out and put them together weaving in the strips.  I painted over the surface with glitter glue, and attached a ribbon for hanging.  I should point out that this heart is made from two heart shapes and any size. You need to cut equal size strips on each heart and then weave the strips together to create this look.  It would be really neat to do larger hearts and putting it on a quilt, pillow, bag, etc.  Possibilities are endless. 

 

 

I will post some more Christmas ornaments in my next post.

I am an ardent follower of Quilting Arts and on one of their shows I saw where an artist, Barbara Schneider, made a leaf from fabric.  She specializes in 3-D art and it is fabulous!  Now hers is so much better and quite a bit larger, but I just had to try it on a smaller scale.  For the first one, it wasn’t half bad.  One of her art pieces was a 6’ square of leaves and quite awesome.  I don’t think I will ever get that big, but the small leaf was a neat and fun project.

 

A close-up . . .

 

Have a great Halloween.  Remember that in whatever you do just have FUN!!!