Mad Hatter Burp Cloth

Well it's another rainy day here in Florida.  Perfect for sitting home, drinking coffee and just playing in the craft room all day.  Sadly, I can't do that and need to go to work instead. 😉

But, before I do that I have a project I would like to share with you today.  It's another burp cloth but have no fear as I will soon be branching out to start on my towels and other items for the Christmas season.

This is another flannel fabric that I found at Joann's.  It's called Blue/Brown Dot.  Pretty original huh?  Hey it works though.  Because this is a basic print many different appliques or sketches would work well.   This time I chose to stitch a sketch of the Mad Hatter.

What I love about this guy is that his sketch includes an autograph.  So it looks like he's signed his own portrait for a fan.  Isn't that a fantastic addition?

Sleepy Bear Burp Cloth

Combining a printed fabric with an applique can sometimes be difficult for me.  Especially when I've purchase a fabric just because I love the print.  I mean I'm at the store and I have nothing specific that I'm looking for I just know that I want new fabric.  

Such was the case during a sale Joann's was running on their flannel fabric.  They run great sales like this often but when I have a little extra cash I'll go to the store and take full advantage.  After all, why buy something for full price if you know you can get it for half or less?

During one of my recent trips I came across this Celestial Sky print and I knew it would be great to use for my burp cloths so I picked up a little to play with.  Well it's been sitting in my fabric cabinet for about a month.....waiting.  And finally, the perfect applique came along.

I found this cute as can be Bear on the Moon applique over at Stinkin Cute Applique.  If you haven't checked out her designs yet you sure should.  Her store has only been open for a couple months so she's still growing but what she has to offer is pretty awesome.

And how about this beauty?  Doesn't that applique go perfectly with this fabric?  It's as if she knew just what I needed.  

Peppa Pig Burp Cloth

While shopping at Joann's the other day I came across this cute flannel fabric featuring Peppa Pig.  Now I'll admit that I'm not a huge Peppa Pig fan, but since I know others who are I thought I'd pick up a yard to play with.

Well of course this fabric called for an applique so I went to Etsy to check out what some of my favorite shops had to offer.  And then I also checked out a couple of shops that are not on Etsy.  After all was said and done my search ended when I found this Peppa Pig over at Appliques with Character.

She stitched out beautifully, and I couldn't be happier with how this burp cloth turned out.

Happy Camper

Ladybugs and picnics, not necessarily the insect I expect to find at a picnic but when I look at this cutie all ready to pig out I'd much rather it be her.  😀  I found this adorable ladybug over at Marjorie Ann Designs and immediately knew she'd be a cute one to use for a card.  She's from the file Ladybug Picnic.

After I cut and pieced the ladybug together I was searching through my files and papers, trying to decide how I was going to lay out my card.  During the search through my paper stash I came across two different papers that I really wanted to use.  One was all ladybugs and the other was different insects but I thought they worked well together. 

Problem was that I'd already cut the papers to splice together with others and the two remaining pieces wouldn't fit together.  As I played around trying to figure out the hopeless puzzle I had another piece of the insect paper cut the same way that I turned around and that's when the light went off.  I would use all three papers and cross them over each other to create the look you now see on my card.

On the front of my card I stamped a row of ants walking across the bottom of the card.   They are from the Lawn Fawn stamp set titled Happy Summer.

The stamped sentiment at the top of my card is from the Cardz TV stamp set titled Summer Fun.

And now I'm off to enter my card into the following challenge:

Cut it Up - Picnic - Ends June 28th

Dementor Soap

Today's project is a quick, easy, fun one that has absolutely nothing to do with the crafts that I typically create.  A while back I purchased a copy of The Unofficial Guide to Crafting the World of Harry Potter.  The reason for this was because I wanted to see how they made their wands, but then I found some other cool ideas that I wanted to try.   One of them was Dementor Soap.  

After reading how they made theirs and being taken back to the days when I homeschooled the older children, I quickly remembered using glycerin soap base when we made soap.  (We were using the Prairie Primer as our unit study and we used to make all sorts of fun things.)  So off to Hobby Lobby I went in search of the tools I would need for making my Dementor soap.

I picked up the rectangular mold, glycerin base and a rain liquid soap fragrance to add to the soap.  I scoured the aisle trying to find something that could be used for packaging and was sad that there was none to be found.

Once I arrived back home I pulled out some scraps of black fabric and cut out shapes in the form of a Dementor.  Following the directions for melting down the glycerin I added my scent and then poured a small amount into the molds.  I then set my Dementor in place and continued to fill the mold with soap.

When the soap was set I removed it from the molds and wrapped in saran wrap to protect it from the elements.  I really have to find a better way to package the soap but for my first attempt in some time I figured it would work.

Now I need to find other play "pretties" that I can add for variations on the Harry Potter theme.  You know like mini snakes for house Slytherin.  I think this could be really fun.  Especially for a Harry Potter fan themed bathroom.....

Love You, Coffee

I'm excited to share today's project with you because I think it's just the cutest thing ever.  While browsing through files over at Apex Cuttable Designs I came across this Love Coffee design.  It immediately made me think of my oldest daughter who is a coffee addict.  And so of course I had to have this design so that I could put together a little gift for her.

Instead of using the same old, boring black vinyl that I generally use on my white mugs I opted this time to use a red vinyl.  For my vinyl projects I like to use the Oracle 651 vinyl since it's a more permanent vinyl with a life expectancy of up to 6 years.  I have 'bumper sticks' on my car that are now six years old and they look just as new as the first day I applied them.

Now I just need to find some of the edible coffee beans so that I can slip a pouch of them inside the cup and give this to my daughter.  I know she'll love it.  Only draw back might be that the cup isn't big enough.  🤣

Potion Bottles

My husband and I have started scouring the antique stores in search of items that will compliment our Harry Potter collection.  Thus far we've found a courting candle and snuffer, a set of 1880's French Pathologie books, a set of eyeglasses (not sure of the time period), skeleton keys, apothecary bottles, and a 19th century ebonised scale.  

Today I'm sharing with you, three apothecary bottles we found that I turned into potion bottles for my collection.  The large bottle on the left has a glass lid which we fell in love with.  It's the first one we saw like that that was not a perfume bottle.  The store had a couple of them but I purchased only this one and now I wish I'd grabbed another one or two.  A different store had the other two. 

The small snuff jar was missing it's lid as were all the snuff jars we saw.  Fortunately the craft stores sell an assortment of corks.  After finding the right sized cork I used my distress inks and inked the cork then gently roughed it up by rubbing it across some pavers.

The bottle on the right had a cork top that was cut up so I got the idea to alter it by adding hot glue around the neck of the bottle.  Then I thought about adding a bead to the top and searched through my drawers until I found this last flat bottomed one in my stash.  After the hot glue dried I painted the glue and bead in a chocolate brown metallic color.

The labels are ones that I found doing a google search.  I wadded them up and then brushed across them with my distressed ink.  I then ran them through my Xyron creative station and adhered them to the bottles.  After that I added twine to the large bottle along with one of the Tim Holtz Crossbones adornments.  On the Amortentia potion I added a flat backed heart I found during Valentines.

Now I need to find a small cauldron, beakers, test tubes and other odds and ends to complete my collection.

Thanks for Behaving

Now that the month of June is half over I figured it was time I started getting some Christmas cards made so that I'll have enough for giving out this season.  It never seems to fail that I have to buy one box of cards every year.  Well not this year!  And with Christmas in July around the corner it'll be even easier to get them done.  Of course craft show season is also around the corner so I'll have to find that happy balance. 😀

Today's card was made using the Just Elfing Around file from Marjorie Ann Designs.  Since I have issues with piecing some of the smaller pieces in this file I opted to do a couple of things differently.  I used printed paper for my shopping bag and instead of piecing the stripes on the leggings I opted to 'draw' them on using the tip on an ink pad.

My stamped sentiment is from the Jaded Blossom stamp set titled Elf Workshop.

Flying Keys

While we were in Alabama last week, my husband and I took a trip to Hanna Antiques, one of the antique flea malls in the area.  Not having been there before, we were quickly amazed at the items they had and decided it could be a dangerous place to shop.  However, we behaved ourselves since we were looking for specific things that we could use as 'fillers' in our Harry Potter collection.

For example, we came across several booths that had antique spectacles so we picked up a pair of those.  We also found a couple of skeleton keys which we quickly snatched, along with a candle snuffer to go with a courting candle we found at a different venue.

After arriving home from Alabama, I searched the Silhouette store looking for some wings that I thought would work for flying keys.  I found two files that I liked.  The first was a set of fairy wings. The second was actually a butterfly that I cut the wings from using the cutting tool in Silhouette.

I cut the wings from vellum and attached them to my keys using hot glue.  I then curled the wings a bit so that they weren't so flat and lifeless.

Since these keys are the real deal and not the 'decorative' type they're heavier.  So instead of trying to hang them from the ceiling I'm just going to place them on a shelf in my curio cabinet.

Swizzle Layout

I have one final layout to share with you, featuring the Cabana Bay Resort.  Since I had collected some of the swizzle stirs from my margaritas I thought they would be fun to use on a layout and thus the one picture was all I wanted to use.  At first I wasn't sure how I'd pull it off but I kept playing around with ideas until I settled on the one you see here.

The background paper and the paper used for my couch are both from the October Afternoon line titled Saturday Mornings.  This is an amazingly fun line of retro prints and they have been absolutely perfect for my layouts.  Now I want to take more pictures when we go back in September just so I can try to use the prints that are on the back of these papers.  That's right - there's double sided!!  And the papers have great names too.  Like this one is called "Bacon".  😁

The couch that I used for this layout is from the Marjorie Ann Designs file titled Classic Redhead.  It's another great, fun file where I've been able to use the different pieces as elements in my layouts.

The key cards are from my trip last year that we held onto.  I used them on this layout because they too had that retro look (before they started printing different pics of the Universal rides/characters on the keys).  I love having little souvenirs like this to add to my pages.  While the keys have the dates of stay printed on them I didn't want that part showing so I hid it behind the couch.

And that completes my layout tour of the Cabana Bay Resort.  If you missed my other layouts for the resort you see them here and here.

Baby Groot Burp Cloth

Today I have a fun embroidery project to share with you.  It's been a while since I've sewn a burp cloth and since I had a couple of them cut out I just picked one, found a design I liked to compliment the fabric and off I went.

 

As you can see the design I chose for this cloth is Baby Groot.  He's from Thanks for the Adventure.

Isn't he a cutie? 

 

I love how this sketch stitched out on the green plaid flannel, and it looks even better in real life.  The best part is that these sketches are always great when you need a quick, last minute gift for someone. 

 

I don't remember how I came across this company but I'm sure glad I did because she does phenomenal work.  Not only that she's the only one I've found that does sketches like this and I absolutely love them as much as the appliques.

Cabana Bay Layout

I found more pictures of the resort we stayed at when we went to Universal Studios so of course I had to get them scrapbooked. 

 

I started off with this great paper from October Afternoon.  This is from their Saturday Morning line.  I love the retro, throw back look and it works perfectly with the retro theme of Cabana Bay.  The papers I used as my photo mats are from other companies but the prints worked well together and fit with my theme.

 

The TV is from Marjorie Ann Designs' file Classic Redhead.  I changed it up just a bit so that I could add a picture I took of the TV in the Bayliner Diner.  If you look at the photo on the bottom far right you'll see the complete picture I took.

 

The jukebox is also from Marjorie Ann Designs.  It's from the file 50's Diner.  I used the jukebox because as you walk around the resort you hear 50's/60's music playing. 

 

Needless to say we love this resort and we've already booked for our next trip later this year.

Harry Potter Craft Room

 

You've heard me talk about it, and you've seen sneak peeks.  Today I'm going to take you on a tour of my new craft room.  When I started the remodeling in this room it was still my son's bedroom.  But since he's in process of moving out I talked to him about wanting to start on the painting and he was okay with it.  In the room was a white accent wall that I thought would be perfect for transforming into a brick wall. 

 

After researching several techniques on how to do this my husband sat down with me one evening to help with the taping off for the 'grout' lines.  Once that was complete I used a Cello sponge and a can of brick red paint and began my faux brick painting.  After allowing the paint to cure for 24 hours I came back with another shade of red in the pallet and lightly sponged on each brick to add color/depth.  This same process was used to paint the wall on the outside of my room.

 

 

I recently purchased a china cabinet for next to nothing and turned it into my fabric cabinet.  Each fabric swatch is folded and wrapped around a comic book board and filed in the cabinet.  Because this cabinet would not fit into my craft room it sits on the wall in the hall just outside my room.

 

 

Last week I shared with you the owl lamp and Diagon Alley 'sign' that are just outside the doorway.  If you missed that post you can find it here.

 

 

As you enter the room you see the wall where I have my crafting tables set up.  To the right of the window I have hung the pictures I created using alcohol ink and vinyl.  The post on how I created these can be found here. 

 

To the left of the window is my wand holder.  I love the way that this turned out.   Especially because it was made in such a way that it can be added to.  This was a fun project to create and you can read that post here.

 

 

Turning to the next wall you see my sewing space.  To each side of my sewing table are a set of drawers on which I have used vinyl to create labels identifying what is inside.  Below the table is a garbage can I vinyl'd using a file I created from a picture I found doing a google search.  To the right of the table is my cage of Cornish pixies.  (Eventually I will fill in that dead space on the wall.  😀 )

 

On the next wall is my curio cabinet that holds my still growing collection of horcruxes and other collectibles.  On top of the cabinet is my potion bottle display.  This too is a work in progress as I will be adding other items to this display. 

 

 

The post for how I created the bottles and potion book can be found here and here.  Eventually I'll be adding another death eater mask to this wall. 

 

In the meantime though, I wanted to include a trail of spiders (Why can't it be follow the butterflies?) so I found a set of spiders in the Silhouette Design Store and used them to create my trail.  I cut the spiders from vinyl and adhered them to the wall and trim.  My Lumos Nox plate cover is one I created a while back after being inspired by others I found on FB.

 

 

On the last wall I have more of my storage drawers and shelves.  Here I was able to use a bit of space to display my Cornish pixies light, Savings Managed bank, and owl.  The owl is a bank that I found on clearance at Michael's.  It was solid white but I wanted to give it a bit more life and so I altered it. 

 

 

I used some gray paint and lightly edged under the 'feathers' and painted the beak.  Using vinyl I colored his eyes and gave him glasses.  The scarf was crocheted by my baby sister since her crochet skills are far better than mine.

 

And there you have it.  My new happy space!!

Birthday Monkey

I was so excited to be able to sit down with my embroidery machine after an almost three week break.  And what better to play with than a cute file from Stinkin Cute Applique.  This is a recent newcomer to the applique world but man what a great start she's got with these files.

 

The one I used today is the Birthday Monkey.  My granddaughter turns one in a month and since she's not only our princess but also our monkey I thought it'd be cute for a shirt.  And I decided to try a new 'technique' that I learned about in one of my embroidery groups.

 

Rather than fighting to applique directly on the shirt, I sewed the applique on a piece of craft felt.  I then cut around the design leaving an outline and then sewed that directly on the shirt.  This not only helps to make the applique pop, but it also allows us to remove the applique and transfer it to another garment as Ocean outgrows this one.

 

What do you think?

Owl Lamp

My new craft room is now complete, but before I share how I transformed my room I thought I'd share the lantern I made to hang outside the doorway.  My room sits at the end of a small hallway and since it's a Harry Potter themed room I thought why not faux brick the wall outside as well as the inside accent wall.  (More on how I did this later.)

 

After I was finished with the brick I wanted a sign.  Only problem with that is that the clearance above the door was only 5" - much too short for a good sign.  And since the doorway is the size of the hall, it too did not provide much space on either side of the door.

 

Finally, it hit me - why not add a lantern?  After all I had one in reserves.  Using this cute file I found in one of my FB groups my I created my lantern.  Even after hanging the lantern on the wall I still wanted a sign.  Then it hit me.  Why not make the sign from vinyl?

 

Again using a file I found in one of my FB groups I created my sign.  However, I had to flip the main part of the sign so that the hand would point towards the door to my craft room.  After that it was just layering the remaining pieces together.

 

And now the entrance to my craft room is complete.

You Melt My Heart

It's only June but the temps are screaming hot and muggy here in Florida.  So why not create a fun greeting to cool things down a bit?

 

I made this cutie of a card using the Ice Princess file from Marjorie Ann Designs.

 

The stamped sentiment is from the Cardz TV Stamps set titled Winter Cheer.

 

Now I'm off to enter my card into the following challenges:

 

Cardz TV - Mailbox Smiles Anything Goes - Ends June 15th

 

Jo's Scrap Shack - Anything Goes - Ends June 9th