Nightmare Book Pillow

I thought I'd do something a bit different today.  Instead of starting the week by sharing a greeting card I thought I'd share a new embroidery project.  

So today I'm sharing a new book pillow that I made.  Last year I found this great Nightmare Before Christmas fabric at one of my local craft stores.  And, as I so often do I purchased a yard just because I liked it.  I had no project in mind.  Nothing special at all.  I just wanted it.  

The fabric must have sat in a pile for months before I finally used it.  It wasn't until Halloween last year that I was inspired to create a Halloween tree for my husband.  Halloween is his favorite holiday, and so I made a Nightmare Before Christmas themed tree.  And what tree is complete without a tree skirt?  That's right I used a piece of this fabric to make a tree skirt for his Halloween tree.

Once complete I still had plenty of fabric leftover.  So when I saw this sketch of Sally over at Thanks for the Adventure I knew another book pillow was in order.

The verbiage I added using the Comic Strip font from Applique Corner.

Gingerbread Minnie

Remember last week when I shared the Gingerbread Mickey towel I appliqued? (You can find that post here.)  Well, this week I decided to make his companion, Minnie.

She turned out every bit as cute as the Gingerbread Mickey and I was thrilled to have a complete set.  Until I remembered that I had reduced the size of Mickey because I initially thought about adding some verbiage on the towel with him.  So now I need to go back and recreate another towel with each of the appliques in the appropriate sizes so I can have actual sets that 'match'.

Appliques with Character has both Mickey and Minnie as a set here.  BUT, you can also purchase them separately and save money.  Don't ask me why, and it may just be a special she's running, I don't know.  Either way she has Gingerbread Mickey and Gingerbread Minnie currently in her dollar section.

So if you like embroider these are a great find for making some special Christmas gifts.

Christmas Advent Towel

Hey everyone!  I'm back with another Christmas in July project.  This time it's another kitchen towel.  I found this fun design over at Thanks4The Adventure - where I find so many of my fun designs.  This particular design is called Advent Christmas Tsum Tree.

Right away I am going to admit that I was remiss when I stitched this project.  While my towel turned out looking good it could have looked better.  How you ask?  Well, I forgot to use my WSS (water soluble stabilizer) on top of the towel so that my stitches would not sink.  Personally I like to use Floriani's Wet N Gone but any brand will do really.  (I've used the brand from Joann's with success as well.)

Now I know what you're thinking.....well, if you've followed some of my other posts where I've embroidered towels.  Why would I use WSS on this towel when I've talked about using Heat 'n Gone?  The answer is because this particular towel has an applique for the "base" of the project that would help hold the stitches in place (in my opinion).  And with the Tsum Tsums being a filled stitch I didn't want to have to iron over that much embroidery to remove the topping.

At the end of the day though I suppose it doesn't really matter which stabilizer is used for the topping.  It's really a matter of preference.  Either way though I'm still learning as I go, and trust me when I say there is A LOT to learn.  

Elves Make Christmas Happen

Happy Wednesday everyone.  Today I have an adorable Christmas elf to share with you.  This little cutie is part of the North Pole Buddies files from Treasure Box Designs.

The background on my card is really just a cheat as it's a card blank that I had in my stash.  Sometimes when you need to whip up a card real quick those pre-printed blanks come in real handy.

The sentiment is from the Jaded Blossom stamp set titled Elf Workshop.  This stamp set and the Elf Report Card are two sets that you just cannot go wrong with when it comes to anything Elf and Christmas related.

For the finishing touch I opted to use a yellow skittle on the end of my elf's hat instead of the paper jingle bell.  Skittles is one of my favorite card embellishments, and you can find them at DoubleClick Connections.

 And now I'm off to enter my card in the following challenges:

Christmas in July - Cut it Up Challenges - Ends July 26th

Any Holiday - Hiding in My Craft Room - Ends July 28th

Thing One Burp Cloth

While searching through some of my favorite Etsy shops this past weekend I found this great new design that was released by Stinkin Cute Applique.  I've always been a huge Dr. Seuss fan so when I saw this Thing One inspired applique I had to have it.

For my first use I had to create a burp cloth.  I pulled out one of the pre-cuts I made using this great  nursery print baby flannel I found at Joann's.  I thought this grey and white print would be the perfect background and help the colors from the applique pop.

Once it was all stitched out and together I was not disappointed.  I really love the way that this one turned out and I can't wait to try putting this design on a shirt or some other fun project.  Who knows, maybe I'll find some Dr. Seuss print fabric and make a book pillow.   That could be fun.

Oooooh, the ideas that are swirling in my head......

Too Sassy For You

I'm excited to share today's card with you.  Not because it's more special than any other I've created but because this one was really fun to piece together.  As soon as I saw this Cruella inspired character I knew I wanted to create something with her.

This fun little villain is from the Queen of Mean file from Marjorie Ann Designs.  You won't find this file anywhere else as it is exclusive to Marjorie.  When you purchase this file and start to piece Cruella together I will warn you that her hair was a brief challenge.  It took me a minute to realize that the hair is adhered with the top actually to the side of the head this time.  Once I got past that the rest of the piecing was a breeze.

The sentiment for my card is from the Jaded Blossom stamp set titled Sassy Pants.

To finish off my card I added a couple of Stream colored skittles from DoubleClick Connections.

Seek Him

Today I have a quick and easy Christmas ornament to share with you.  I really love the look that you can get using alcohol inks instead of glitter in the glass ornaments.

All you need to get started is a glass ornament, alcohol ink and a can of compressed air.  If you've never done this before you can check out the video by Tim Holtz and Ranger Ink here.

After I inked my ornament I started looking through various Christmas files in the Silhouette Design store until I came across some that I liked.  Great thing about that is that right now until the end of the month they're having a Christmas in July sale.  And for the first time ever it even discounted files that I wanted to use commercially.  😁

The file I used for this ornament is by Kolette Hall and is titled Seek Him with Wise Men Phrase.

Gingerbread Mickey

It's another Christmas in July project and today it's another Christmas towel I've embroidered.  Well, okay this time the towel is appliqued.

I first saw this cute Gingerbread Mickey when I was going through Pintrest.  Of course I had to save the pin so that I wouldn't forget to go back later and find the file.  However, when I did the file was available with someone who wanted more than what I ended up purchasing it for.

Appliques with Character has the Gingerbread Mickey along with Minnie and a lot of other great designs.  I purchased it from her for next to nothing.  He's a great design and stitched out wonderfully.  

I was tempted to add some verbiage to the towel but opted not to for the first stitching.  I thought something like Christmas calories never count would be cute.  Maybe I'll try that the next go round.

Santa, I Know Him

It's time for a Christmas in July project.  Today I'm sharing a Christmas towel and matching ornament that I created.  I found these great waffle weave towels on Amazon for a great price so I decided to purchase a pack to play around with.

For this towel I used the North Pole Santa's Elf sketch from Thanks4theAdventure.  Out of the various companies I've seen offering sketches, Aimee's is by far the best.  I love that her designs look finished and stand out no matter what you're embroidering them on.

When I stitched out my towel I did something different than what I hear others do.  In the different groups I'm in I hear the ladies talk about using a water soluble stabilizer on top of their towels.  But, in a stabilizer class I took the instructor talked about how WSS washes away and after a while the stitches start to drop.   She then went on to say that using a heat removable topping like Floriani's Heat 'n Gone eliminates that issue.  So I've started using Heat 'n Gone on top of my towels.

For my ornament, I did a google search for the ninny muggings quote, found one I liked and traced the image.  While that was cutting, I added a couple drops of green, red and yellow alcohol inks in the ornament and sprayed a couple puffs of compressed air to swirl them around.  I've only made a couple of ornaments like this but they're pretty fun.  Especially since no two are alike.

Belle and Beast Reading Pillow

I thought I would try something new and create a reading (or book) pillow.  I've seen a few of these floating around in one of my Facebook groups and they're pretty awesome.  Especially if you love to read.

There are a couple different blogs I visited that have directions on how to make these.  The Polkadot Chair shared directions for an 18" square pillow. And She's Kinda Crafty shared directions for a 16" square pillow.  Since I'd never made these before I opted to start with the 16" pillow.

This was a good week to try this project too because Joann's has fabric and pillow forms on sale.  I really had no idea what fabrics I would use for my pillows.  I mean, I knew I wanted to make at least one with Harry Potter fabric and I did find some.  But I also found the very last yard available of this gorgeous Beauty and the Beast stained glass fabric.  

Once home it was time to decide what sketch I wanted to embroider on the pocket fabric.  After looking at my options I settled on a sketch of Belle and Beast Reading from Thanks4theAdventure.  The quote is one that I liked so I stitched it out using the Elias font from Applique Corner.  Sadly I did something wrong with my hooping/stabilizer because when the quoted stitched out my fabric puckered.

Overall though I love how this reading pillow turned out.  So much so that I'm thinking after I make my other 16" pillow I'll give the 18" one a try and since it's a larger pillow I'll make the study pillow covers for that one.

BFFs for Life

I have a fun 'teen' card I'd like to share with you today.  Well, I guess it's not really a 'teen' card if you think about the fact that so many adults are right there too. Where you say?  With phone in hand, texting, tweeting, Facebooking, etc.

When I saw this recently released Social Media Kids file from Marjorie Ann Designs I knew it was going to be a fun one.  As always, she did not disappoint.  The file includes several emojis, phrases,  word balloons, and characters.  

For my card, I chose one of the girls and word balloons, which I changed into different sizes for stamping.  Inside the word balloons I stamped words or phrases using the following stamp sets:

• Picture That, Simply Said, and Say it Big from Craftin Desert Divas
• Best Friends from Jaded Blossom

And there you have it, a fun card perfect for giving to any friend.

Happy Birthday Elmo

My granddaughter had her first birthday this past weekend.  She's a huge Elmo fan and so I, of course, had to make an Elmo birthday card for her.  Now I will be honest and admit that I almost forgot about her birthday card.  I was so busy helping with altering buckets and bins and signs that it wasn't until I got her present wrapped and I realized I had no card.

I quickly turned to one of my FB groups where so many of us share files, searching for anything Elmo.  However, I could not find what I needed.  So then I turned to Google.  Surely there had to be a coloring page that I could use.  One that would be easy enough to trace, cut and piece back together.

Time of course was also a precious commodity since all of this happened within a hour of our having to leave home.  You see, our daughter needed our help in decorating the pavilion before everyone arrived.  Something that I was more than happy to oblige.  After all it's our granddaughter's first birthday!!

As I searched through the images on Google there were several birthday pages, but I was afraid they would require more time than I had.  Instead I opted for a simple Elmo without all the birthday fan fare.  He traced, cut and pieced back together beautifully.

Fortunately I had a large enough scrap of this birthday paper to use for my background.  That helped to create the needed birthday theme.  Add in a couple of blinging hearts and my card is complete.

And the party was a success.  🎉

That's Just Skippy

I always loved the Disney classic Robin Hood.  That cute little bunny Skippy was just adorable so when I saw an embroidery sketch of him I just had to add him to my stash.  At first I wasn't really sure what I'd stitch him on, but as my love for making baby burp cloths has grown I decided I'd stitch him on one of them.

Skippy Bunny is from Thanks 4 the Adventure, and as with all her designs it stitches out quick and beautifully.  I've seen several others that offer sketch designs but none that are as gorgeous as these.

The fabric is a print that I found at Joann Fabrics called Snuggle Flannel Fabric - Chevron Gray Small.  I've used it for several of my burp cloths now and I just love how each of them have turned out when I use this particular print.  Sadly though this was the last I had of this print so now I'll have to go back this weekend to see if they have more.  

Gingerbread Smiles

Happy Wednesday everyone.  Today I have a Christmas in July card to share with you.  

I created this card using the Polaroid Card Gingerbread from Treasure Box Design.  Unfortunately though this file no longer appears to be available.  I searched all over her website but could not find it listed.  In good news though she has quite a few other gingerbread files and right now she's running a sale for 70% off all collections.

This was a rather easy card to piece together since I used a premade card blank that already had a great print to it.  It's the last one I had like this in my stash though and that made me just a little bit sad.  It was from the DCWV Christmas & Winter box of cards.  

The blue snowflake print paper is from my stash as well but I can't remember what mat stack it came from.

This time I thought I'd do something a bit different for my stamped sentiment on the card cover.  Since this is a polaroid card I thought I'd use this cute polaroid stamp from the Craftin Desert Divas stamp set titled Capture the Good Times.  And guess what.  This stamp set is on sale too.  🙂

Belle Bust Burp Cloth

Of the different Belle style burp cloths I've made I have to say that the one I'm sharing today is my favorite.  I love the way that she stitched out and the overall look is (in my opinion) just gorgeous.

If you're new to my blog I began my burp cloth making adventure about three or four months ago.  At first I thought about using cloth diapers like I see so many others do, but then I realized my cloths wouldn't be any different.  So I went off in search of a pattern for making my own cloths.  That's when I found this pattern from Simplicity.

Another thing I decided to do to set my cloths apart from others was to use flannel fabrics.  They're soft fabrics and when I add the cotton batting in between the flannel the burp cloth is nice and absorbent.

As for the particulars for this burp cloth, the Belle bust applique is another fabulous design from Thanks For the Adventure.  The fabric is a flannel that I found at Joann's.  It's called Beauty & The Beast Friends.

Surfer Girl

Living in an area where the beaches are dubbed the World's Most Beautiful Beaches, it's no surprise that we see a lot of different water activities at those beaches. Everything from fishing to jet skis to paddle boards and surfing.  So when I saw this recently released file from Marjorie Ann Designs I knew it was one I needed to added to my stash.  This file is called Gone Surfing and will make not only some great cards but great layouts too.  (Now I just need pics of the kids out on their surf boards.)

For this card I decided to use the girl on her surfboard.  I added a few denim colored skittles from DoubleClick Connections to add a bit of texture to the card.

The stamped sentiment is from the Jaded Blossom stamp set titled Encouragement.

Too Cute To Throw Back

I found this ever so cute Whale & Hook flannel fabric at Joann's the other day and thought it would make a great addition to my burp cloth collection.  I knew I wouldn't have a problem finding a design to put on it since I have several sea life designs.  But Applique Corner released some new premier designs which included this adorable Too Cute to Throw Back applique.

Of all the different sea life designs I have, yes, including my whales and crabs, I thought this one was perfect for this fabric.  Next time I make one I might even be more bold with the fabric choice for the fish applique.  😀

Until then I think this one will be perfect for any cute baby around.  

Elf Candy Box

Today I have a plastic canvas project to share with you.  I've always loved stitching plastic canvas.  It is the craft that I first learned (well other than sewing in Home Ec) and sold at craft shows.  And like my other crafts it's one that I do in spurts.  Here lately those spurts are because of a precious granddaughter who likes to play in my yarn.  😍  But she was on vacation with mom and dad this past week so I was able to play a bit and created this Elf Candy Box.

This elf is one of many wonderful designs created by Dick Martin.  He was/is very well known for his plastic canvas patterns.  The man was sheer genius and over the years I have worked to build my stash of some of his patterns.

This one is from 1982 and is part of the Canvas Capers line put out by Leisure Arts.  It was an unopened kit that I lucked out and found on either Ebay or Etsy.  He's a cute little guy and I managed to get him finished the night before the kids came back from vacation.  Talk about timing....

Sesame Street Party Prep

When your granddaughter turns one year old, and your daughter asks you to help get things made for party décor you do it.  And sometimes the good ol' Dollar Tree comes in rather handy for such an occasion.  My daughter stopped in the Dollar Tree by her house and had little success in finding the colored "bins" we needed for different characters.  However, when we stopped in the one by where she works we had better success.

Using files that were shared in one of my FB groups I turned these bins into different characters.  I'm not sure what all my daughter will put in these but I know at least some of them will be food holders.

While scouring Pintrest for other ideas I came across one using the Dr. Seuss book Happy Birthday to You! as a guest sign in book.  I loved this idea so much that I went in search of a similar book for Sesame Street.  You can imagine my excitement when I found the Happy Birthday!: A Birthday Party Book by Sesame Workshop.  

When I arrived back home from picking up the book I started searching for pictures I could use for the sign telling everyone to sign her book.  That's when I came across The Printable Party Shop.  This blog has free printables available for download and so I downloaded a couple of the items including this sign.  Well, actually it's an invitation but I altered it a bit and added the verbiage I needed to create the sign.

Now I just need to get the other items printed so we can finish putting it all together and then next week I'll share pictures with you showing how we set it all up.

Ginger Christmas Tea

Christmas in July has begun but this week I'll be sharing more than just Christmas projects with you.  My granddaughter turns one in a couple of days and I have been asked to assist with making some things for the party.  So be on the look out for those.

But today I have a Christmas card to share with you.  I love making shaped cards when I can so when I saw this one over at Marjorie Ann Designs I just had to create it.  This is the Christmas Tea Ginger card and  you can find it here.

The stamped sentiment and the hearts along the edge of my card are from the Jaded Blossom stamp set titled Gingerbread Wishes.  This is a great stamp set that even includes a gingerbread die cut.