Easter Bunny Card

I made three of these cards - two are for our Compassion International girls and the other is for my niece.




I am also sending our Compassion girls some sticker books - one is Easter related and the other is a collection of farm animals.  I'm also enclosing a letter to them with an explanation of how Easter falls during the Spring here and that bunnies and eggs have come to symbolize the new birth of Spring.  Then I am going to tie that in with our new birth through Jesus' suffering at Easter.  I've really struggled with how to explain these concepts but hopefully this will dispel some of what I am sure will be some confusion on their parts.  I first thought about creating cards for them with crosses on them but I just couldn't resist this adorable bunny.  I have to justify my Cricut cartridge purchases somehow!


Supplies:
Cricut Create a Critter 2 - Bunny cut at 3.5" out of Core'dinations card stock and mounted on an Action Wobble
Pattern Paper - DCWV Year Round Stack
Solid Cardstock - Core'dinations
Punch - Fiskars Daisy Punch
Ribbon - American Crafts Amy Tangerine Collection
Ink - Momento Dew Drop Bamboo Leaves
Sentiment Stamp - Hobby Lobby Easter Collection
Adhesives - ATG, Zig 2 Way, and glue dots

This is a standard A2 sized card and I cut each layer 1/4" smaller than the one underneath.  For the piece that I punched and threaded ribbon through, I cut that one at 3.5" x 3".

China Girl Dress - Simplicity 2464

My niece is having a birthday in a couple weeks so I made her this cute outfit and matching purse.

I've had the fabric for years (got it from Joann) and my original use for it didn't materialize - long story there!  So...it has just languished in my pile.  I figured it would be great for a little girl so when I dug out this adorable Daisy Kingdom pattern from my dusty stash of patterns-I've-purchased-because-they-were-only-a-$1-and-I-might-be-able-to-someday-use-them (I probably have about a kajillion of those in my stash) I just knew it was a match made in heaven!  I love the Daisy Kingdom patterns because they are so unique and they usually have a little something extra to coordinate with the outfit - this time it's a purse.

If I use this pattern again I think I will create a facing instead of using bias tape to bind the neck edges.  It was a bear and I just think a facing would hold up better to washing and wearing.  The little purse is probably my favorite part.  My husband picked out the button and it looks like jade but is really plastic.

Lover's Knot Quilt

Wow!  Something actually sewing related has been completed!  This one has actually taken so very long that I should probably give it 10 posts all to itself!  I gave the unquilted quilt top to my (then) boyfriend (now husband) for Christmas in 2010.  I had pieced the quilt top with plenty of time to get to a quilter and have it done for Christmas but then he and I had been at a quilt show and he was gushing about how much better he liked the hand quilted items.  I knew right then and there that sending it off to be longarmed would not be the way to go.  It has taken me over 3 years of picking it up and putting it down to get it done.  One of my written down goals for this year - I've found that writing them down makes them much more apt to happen - was to finish this quilt.  I'm actually quite shocked I got it done so soon.

I used the Eleanor Burns Lover's Knot pattern and all my fabric is from the higher end line of quilting fabrics from Joann.  Unfortunately I don't have any of the selvage ends hanging around so I can't list the exact fabric names.  I used Warm & Natural batting which was wonderful to quilt through.  I used Americana Quilting Thread in natural for the hand quilting and the binding stitches.  I went through quite a few hand quilting needles and in the process found my favorite needles - Fons and Porter size 20.  I started out the hand quilting process using a huge wooden hoop but purchased a PVC frame when I started the medallions on the edges.  I can't recommend that PVC frame enough!  It made it so much easier to adjust the fabric as I went along.  I prefer to do my hand quilting on fabric that is a bit on the loose side.

This is the largest hand quilting project I've ever done and while I won't say never on doing another one, I do think it will be quite a while before I attempt another king size!  This quilt measures 91" x 102" finished.  Yikes!!

Things I would have done differently:  used a darker light so I didn't have that stark white staring at me in the design, used a print of some sort for the backing rather than white, and purchased the PVC frame much sooner than I did.

Anyhero and Thank You File Folder Cards

I've been following this awesome person on YouTube for quite a while now.  She recently did this really cool technique using the envelope punch board.  I adapted her design for some Anyhero and some Thank You cards I wanted to make to put in my shipment to Operation Write Home.  I will put the link to Schell's tutorial at the bottom of this post but will also note below what I did differently.

I cut my card bases out of the Sam's white card stock.  I cut them at 5.5" x 7.5 " rather than leaving them at 8.5" like Shell did and then trim them later - it works either way.  I used patterned papers from the Proud to Serve collection from The Paper Studio and my solid colors are all Core'dinations card stock.  The stamp set I used is the Fiskars Mini Thank You set for the sentiment and a little $1 set from Stampabilities for the air mail image.  I used several different inks to match my papers - Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Vintage Photo and Faded Jeans and then Momento Dew Drop in Rhubarb Stalk and London Fog.

It does take a little bit longer to make these cards than regular ones since you have a bit of cutting to do and then you need to make an insertable card for someone to write their message.  But I think the uniqueness of the cards makes it all worth it!

Thank you Schell for putting up some awesome tutorials!

Schell's original tutorial:  http://youtu.be/J-105JsjmDg

Boy's Mini Album

I made this mini album after seeing one on YouTube.  I really like how it turned out.  I haven't decorated the front yet but I wanted to grab some pictures and document it now.  I'm thinking I might use my Cricut Paper Dolls cartridge to whip up some really cute decorations for the cover.  I'll post again after I finish the cover.  This album has lots of fold out pages and tags that slip into various pockets.  I also made a couple extra ones that she didn't include in the video.  One is the pocket that has the MVP tag in it.  It was just a simple rectangle of paper that I set at an angle and then folded over and glued to the back.  If you need more info in how to do it, just leave me a comment below and I'll expand on how to do it.

I used the Boyhood paper stack from DCWV and my solid card stock is all from Core'dinations.  I followed this tutorial from Ginger at My Sister's Scrapper:  http://youtu.be/P3hRZkxb92A  This link will take you to the first of the 5 part video series.  She does an excellent job of explaining everything and gives you all the measurements you need.

I will definitely be making more of these but next time will use actual chipboard for the covers and spine.  This one is not very sturdy and will most likely just be a display piece on my bookcase.  I highly recommend making sure you have a lot of Scor-tape on hand because you will use it!

Koala Birthday

I made this card for my niece's upcoming birthday.  I picked up Create a Critter 2 at Joann's recently during a sale and this was the first time I've used it.  I really like it but, like normal, the phrase cuts just wouldn't work correctly cut small enough for a card.  I've heard the new Cricut machine that is coming out this spring can make those smaller cuts - bummer that I already invested so much money in this one!  So...I ended up using some really old stamps I have from Will 'n Way to create a sentiment.  I used Momento Dew Drop ink in Lilac Posies and I think it matches the paper pretty well.

The print papers are from a 6x6 paper pad from DCWV called Girl Fille.  The solid papers are all Core'dinations card stock.  The gemstone is from a huge container I purchased from Hobby Lobby years ago - it will probably take me the rest of my life to use them all!









The koala is cut at 2.5" and you really don't need the cut called "KoalaHrt" if you are also cutting out the shadow.  The only part on that cut that shows through are the facial features and I actually liked the way it looked with the black showing through.  I used a white Jelly Roll pen to highlight the eyes and give a little hint of a curve to the nose.

On the inside I used a piece of the printed paper and my Fiskars Interchangeable Border Punch Set with the Daisy Chain cartridge.  I really like this Fiskars punch.  The cartridges are interchangeable and take up way less space than having complete border punch contraptions for every design.  I picked mine up at Tuesday Morning but I've seen them everywhere.

Ten Fingers and Toes

A friend is having a baby and her shower is coming up.  I wanted to put together a cute card for her.  I had also attempted to loom knit her a baby blanket but it came out more like a superman cape (but really light on the "super" part!) - needless to say that project will not be getting posted to the blog!  I did tell her about the failed blanket though and she got a laugh out of it so it wasn't a complete loss.

Although baby stuff is so fun to shop for I thought I would get her a gift card instead so she can pick up anything from her registry that she didn't get.  So I just created a pocket with a piece of the pattern paper using some scor tape to stick it down.  Hopefully Toys-R-Us gift cards are the same size as an Albertson's Shoppers Card since that's what I used to make that fabulous faux gift card you see in the pic.

I used an old stamp set I have from Provo Craft.  I wasn't sure it was going to stamp well since it's so old it's turned yellow and the rubber is horribly sticky.  It worked though so I'm really happy I was able to use it.

As usual I stamped the images and sentiments on Neenah card stock using Memento Tuxedo Black ink and the card is a standard A2 size.

Additional Supplies:

Sam's basic card stock for the base
Pattern Paper - DCWV Boyhood Stack
Copic Colors - N0 and B91
I inked the edges with Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Faded Jeans (I also stamped the little safety pins on the inside with this same ink)

I still feel like the front needs a little something - maybe a ribbon bow.  I'll have to see what I can find in my stash to fix that problem.