A Touch From the Heart

Mojo? Where are You?

Hey stampers!  I am giving you fair warning.  While my body may be back from Maui, my stamping mojo is still somewhere on the beach.   I hope it's having a grand 'ol time because my body sure misses the beach!

This sketch is awesome, but I had the hardest time with it.  I am having a hard time adjusting to the time difference, and the creative side of my brain is completely shot!   I'm not in love with this card, but after three attempts, it's the best it's going to get.  So be gentle with me, okay?

 As you can see, I rotated the sketch for my card!

At Stampin' Up's Leadership Conference, everyone in attendance was given some fabric.  Can you believe this is the first time I've played with it?  I would love to say that I was hoarding it, but honestly, I was a little timid to put a new medium on my cards.  Now, that I've used it, I want to smack myself and say "what the heck were you waiting for?".   

My card starts with a Night of Navy base card. 

The next layer is Baja Breeze (the same color as the fabric I am using).  I inked up my Very Vintage wheel with Versamark ink and rolled it along my entire piece of cardstock.  I sprinkled on some Clear Embossing Powder and melted it with my embossing heat gun. 

My focal image uses my favorite flourish.  It's from Baroque Motifs, and it's hands down one of my most used stamp sets.  The flourish is inked with Night of Navy ink and stamped onto Whisper White cardstock.   I lightly sponged my edges with Night of Navy ink too. 

Now onto the fabric ruffle.  What's awesome about the Stampin' Up! fabric is that it rips straight.  So, I cut a little slice in the fabric and just tore it into a 3/4" strip.  I then ran a length of Sticky Strip on the bottom of my focal layer and ruffled the fabric strip by pressing it into the adhesive.  What a fun way to incorporate fabric onto a card!

My focal image is matted onto some Night of Navy cardstock.  I added a length of Whisper White Satin Ribbon and tied it into a classic knot. 

All that's left are my beautiful butterflies.  I would love to say that it was a lot of work to cut these babies out, but my Big Shot and my Beautful Wings Embosslit did all the work.  I glued them onto my card using Mini Glue Dots. 

Well, that's about it for this card.  Like I said, I'm not in love with it, but when the stamping mojo is still on vacation, I have to take what I can get, right? 

I am off to check out what the other Stamping 411 operators have done.  I am sure once I see their cards I will have a major "should've had a V8" moment.  LOL!

Until next time.....Happy Stamping everyone!

 

Fabric Flower Pins

If you live in the Twin Cities area, I will be at the Mustard Seed (in Chaska) for their Spring Ladies Night Out event.  The event takes place Thursday, April 29th from 6 to 9 pm. 

One of the items I will be selling that evening are my Fabric Flower Pins. 

These are so gorgeous!!!  I love how they can dress up a jacket or a purse.

Here are some of the ones I will have for sale:

 I have my favorite......which one is yours?

Finally!

You know.....if I don't write it down, I am not going to remember.

After the age of 40, my husband says that we all suffer from CRS disease.....which stands for "Can't Remember S%^T".

I was supposed to post pictures of my newest rag quilt bag.  I really do love it.....even though my sewing machine wasn't the most cooperative that day.

Amanda helped me pick out the fabrics.  Of course, I still went with pink and brown since they are my favorite colors to work with.  Amanda and I fell in love with the ivory colored fabric.  It looks like it has been misted with the Champagne Shimmer Paint.  It's so pretty in person!!

Now, as I mentioned in my original post, I made some changes to this bag.  I increased the size to 4 blocks wide and 3 blocks high.  This is a much nicer size for a purse. 

I also lengthened the straps to 30".  This is the perfect length to tuck under your arm but still have enough room if you have a coat on. 

The final change from my original bag was the addition of the closure and button. 

Here's a closer look at the closure

Now, I need to think of a way to make a pocket for my cell phone.  I know that it needs to be handstitched as I don't want the stitching to show on the outside of the bag.   I was thinking of taking an extra vanilla square and sewing it into the inside of the bag.  

Again, I apologize for the lateness of these photos.  I'll try to work on my CRS problem!!!!  Maybe it's time to buy stock in post-it notes!!!  LOL!!!!

If you would like to make a rag quilt purse of your very own, all you need is a Big Shot die cutting machine and the Bigz Scallop Square die.

My fellow demo Angie made a wonderful video tutorial on how to make these bags.  Click HERE to view her tutorial.   

Make sure you take pictures of you bag and place a link in a comment on this post.  I would love to see your fabric choices and finished bag!!!

Order your Stampin' Up! Products from Patti

Until next time....Happy Stamping everyone!!!

Fabric Fun

Can you believe it?  Patti Chesky put the words "fabric" and "fun" in the same sentence. 

Last night, I decided to try one of those amazing fabric flower pins everyone seemed to be wearing at Leadership.  Some ladies had them on their jackets/sweaters while others had them pinned onto their bags.

These pins are all the rage in the clothes catalogs......but they are so outrageously priced.  You can make them for a fraction of the price. 

Now, for these pins, I recommend using home decor fabric.  It's thicker and sturdier......it makes the flowers look more full.

I purchased three coordinating fabrics at my local fabric store. 

I cut my fabric into 5 1/2" x 13" strips and stacked them onto the Flower Folds Bigz XL die.  After running through my Big Shot, I had a bunch of perfectly cut fabric flowers.

Since I plan on wearing this pin on my jacket, I used the three smallest flower sizes on the die.  I will use the bigger flowers when making a pin for a bag.

I followed the basic directions on Shelli Gardner's blog.  She sewed.....I hot glued (as per the recommendations of the ladies at Leadership).  Wow!!!  It was so easy putting it together with the hot glue gun!!!!

If you would like to make one of these pins, I am holding a class on February 24th (1:00pm) and Feb. 27th (10:00am).  Just let me know which class you want to attend. 

If you don't live near Chaska, MN, you can make these pins at home.  All you need is the Big Shot die cutting machine (#113439.....you know you've been thinking about buying one for a while now), Flower Folds Bigz XL die (#115970) and the extended cutting pads (#113478).

If you purchase all the items above, you qualify for hostess benefits.  You can choose $15 in FREE catalog merchandise, a free Level 1 hostess set and THREE Sale-a-bration items for FREE.  Woo hoo!!!!

If you have any questions, you know I am here to be your creative coach.  Just email me!!!

Until next time.....Happy Stamping everyone!!

Click HERE to place your order with Patti

Alien Abduction in Chaska, MN?

Amanda, my 15 year old daughter, insists that little green men came down from the sky and abducted me last night.

Why, you ask?

Well, I guess it has to do with me sewing today.   The people who know me well know that Patti doesn't like to sew.......ever......hates it with a passion!!!!  If Dennis or Christopher need patches sewn onto the TKD uniforms, I pout. 

At last week's Leadership Conference, so many ladies had these beautiful rag quilt bags.  They are made with the Big Shot and the Scallop Square die.  They all insisted how easy it was to make.  I told them all that sewing gives me the cold sweats, but they encouraged me to try it.

On Wednesday, I headed to the local fabric store.  I picked up two patterns of fabric in my favorite color combo:  pink and brown.  I also had to buy a rotary cutter and a quilting cutting mat.

The guys were at a Taekwondo tournament in Iowa, and Amanda was at dance all morning.  So, I pulled out all my stuff and made a bag of my own.

Would you like to see it?

 
Isn't it cute?  (Even if you don't think so, lie to me.........so I'll have the confidence to make another one).   

It took about 2.5 hours for me to make.  If I had a bigger cutting mat and acrylic grid (for measuring and cutting), it would have easily chopped off at least 30 minutes of the total time. 

I did learn a few things:

• for my next bag, I am going bigger.  This bag is too small for me to use as a purse.  I am going to use it to hold my swaps and mini catalogs.  It's the perfect little bag for me to show how the Big Shot can be used for quilting projects.
• the bag seemed to shrink a bit after washing
• you can sew without using any curse words (yup, I told you the bag was easy to make....not one expletive came out of my mouth)

I've been showing you Big Shot projects for over a year now.  If I haven't convinced you to buy one yet, seriously, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? 

You can make these bags and sell them at craft fairs.  The Big Shot will pay for itself.  Plus, don't forget.  It's Sale-a-bration time.......so for every $50 you spend, you get to choose one item from the Sale-a-bration brochure for FREE.

So, that means if you buy the Big Shot and the Scallop Square die, you get to choose TWO Sale-a-bration items for FREE.   Have you seen the choices this year?  Stamp sets, punches, patterned paper packs.  Such cool stuff!!!!

Well, I am going to oogle over my bag some more.   I wonder if I walk by Amanda's room saying "take me to your leader" if she'll freak out.  LOL!!!

If I convinced you to buy the Big Shot and or the Scallop Square die, it's really easy to place your order.  Simply click HERE to go to my demonstrator website.  Click on Shop Now to go to the Online Store. 

Until next time....Happy Stamping (and sewing) everyone!!!