Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Getting organized: Pulling together Project Life supplies

 
I decided to scrap 2013 primarily with Project Life, and this opened up a whole new collection of organizational challenges. Unfortunately, I am one of those people that needs to be organized in order to be productive. I have some divided bins that I keep things in when I am home, but they don't travel we'll and I am trying to be better about being ready to scrap away from home.

I started doing some Internet searches to find storage solutions and was coming up short until I came across a collection of storage containers from Close To My Heart. They are perfect!

For 3x4 cards, dollar stamps, small embellishments, and stamp pads, the Medium Organizer ($16.95, item #Z4139) is just the right size!





When I was packing for a retreat this past weekend I only needed to take one PL kit with me, so you'll see that those fit in about one-and-a-half of the divided sections. When I scrap at home I keep the cards divided by type in little mini file holders so I just grabbed the whole thing and put them in the case. (The mini vertical file holders are cut from chipboard using a cut file from the Silhouette store.)


Here's another view of the 3x4 PL cards in the storage case.


The ink pads shown here are from CTMH and Tsukineko (Momento), along with a several from Ranger.



Here's a little close up of some embellishments and small stamp sets. I tend to use stamps to alter my journaling cards.



While you could fit the 4x6 cards in the Medium organizer by removing one of the dividers, I didn't want to waste that much space, so I also purchased the Large Organizer ($22.95, item #Z1834).

I put the 4x6 card stock and journaling cards, pictures, four of the Studio Calico Project Life kits in their boxes, the 4x6 cards from my Midnight Project Life kit, and a few packs of Tim Holtz embellishments.
 
 
I was also working on some mixed media stuff, so I even managed to fit in a small paint palette in with the PL 4x6 cards. (It's also just right for 6x6 pads too.)

 
 
Plenty of room for 4x6 journaling cards. I put the blank ones in the front and then put the Midnight 4x6 cards in a Cropper Hopper photo storage case in one of the other divided areas.

 
 
Across from the PL 4x6 cards I put the pictures that I have printed out for my niece's albums. (I lost count, but I'm pretty sure there's nearly 400 photos in there.)
 
 
 
I also fit in four of my Studio Calico kits and had room to put a set of Me and My Big Ideas cards and a pair of scissors on top.
 
 
I also added a few packages of Tim Holtz embellishments and some journaling pens too. I'm telling you... these hold EVERYTHING!
 
Once you load these up they get pretty darn heavy and I wasn't sure how much to trust the little buckle to hold the lid shut, so I put both of them in an oversized reusable bag from Sam's Club. It's pretty darn heavy!
 
I also read somewhere that the Small Organizer ($12.95, item #Z4138) will hold around 100 rolls of washi tape, so I think I am going to order one of those to hold my washi tape, and then my set will be complete!

Friday, October 4, 2013

Mark your calendars, the first issue of Papercrafts and Scrapbooking magazine is coming soon!

Happy to share that I'll have a layout in the inaugural issue of the new Papercrafts and Scrapbooking Magazine using some of my favorite products from Crate Paper, Inc. and Studio Calico.

Learn more about the new edition here and then download the first issue on December 1!

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Keep it Simple: Toothless Wonder


I love super heavy, technique-laden projects but sometimes there just isn't a lot of time to create masterpieces when the pictures are stacking up. Know what I mean? When my picture pile needs to be tamed, I do my best to put my perfectionist tendencies aside, stop meticulously measuring my cuts, and look for easy to use, already assembled embellishments.
 
For this layout, I dressed up the background by adding droplets of two different colors of October Afternoon mists. You can speed up the dry time by placing a paper towel over the top and directly blotting (never swiping) the ink droplets. I also use a paper edge distresser to rough up the edges of the cardstock in order to add some texture.
 
Next I used my photo to guestimate a photo mat size. THe original cardstock was actually green, but I didn't want to take time to find some navy cardstock, so I colored the edges with a navy stamp marker to get a color that tied the photo to the glittery Thickers letter stickers.
 
After that I approximated the heart and feather patterned papers and cut those create a background.
 
To group and ground the collection, I used a border stripped trimmed from the background paper.

"Toothless Wonder" by Mollie Deem
Supplies: Bazzill; Crate Paper - The Pier, DIY collections; American Crafts; May Arts; Freckled Fawn; Jillibean Soup; October Afternoon; Kokuyo; Tim Holtz (Distress Marker); Studio Calico

Once the main elements were figured out, I added a pre-made pinwheel from Crate Paper along with a playing card and wood veneer.

A few little stickers and sequins, plus a tag with a camera complete the layout.
 
Then, to add some more movement to the page, I looped a piece of jute twine across the page and added glittered star stickers to cover up where I stapled the twine to the layout.




Thursday, September 5, 2013

Tools n' Techniques on Thursdays: Die-namic layout!

Okay, so when I started out on this layout, I hadn't really intended to go all out on the die cuts, but as I got into it...well, they kind of just started piling up. And I kinda decided to indulge and just keep adding more and more of them.

Previously I had die cut some words with my Cameo for another layout and had the negative left over. I've been on a kick to use up every little last scrap of paper lately and I wanted this layout to coordinate with some with other pictures from the day, so I figured that adding the leftover piece would be a good way to do that.

In the top corner of the "Sunday Funday" negative die cut, a chunk of the paper was missing where I had test but to make sure the blade depth was set correctly. There wasn't room to trim away the area, so I added a little banner and star embellishment to cover up the missing paper. You'd never know that I was solving a problem would you?!


Right now cork letters are popping up everywhere. I love them, but they're a wee bit pricey, so I pulled out my favorite QuicKutz font, Studio, and some adhesive-backed cork from Lifestyle Crafts to cut my own letters.
Tip: Handle the letters carefully as the cork is a little delicate.


The page felt like it need a little "oomph." You know, that thing that draws the eye in and gives it a little movement, a little excitement. So I pulled out my Lifestyle Crafts banner die to create that element, but a plain ol' chunk of cardstock seemed a little boring for a page with so much going on. In order to dress up the die cut and give it some personality of it's own, I stamped on it using a roller stamp that I colored with Tim Holtz Distress Markers. One of the great things about the Distress Markers is that you can get second and third generation impression simply by huffing on the stamp in between impressions. I also added some two-tone ink splatters just for good measure.

Tip: The banner itself wasn't fitting on the page quite right, 
so I cut it where I could hide the seam under the photo and made it work with the layout.


Pretty amazing what you can accomplish just by die cutting something as simple as a sheet of paper, huh?

"Love This" by Mollie Deem
Supplies: Cardstock - Bazzill; Patterned Paper - Crate Paper (the Pier), American Crafts (Dear Lizzy Lucky Charm), Studio Calico; Wood veneer banner - Basic Grey; Wood Veneer Letters - Studio Calico; Wood Veneer Arrow - Freckled Fawn; Stickers - Crate Paper (DIY Shop), October Afternoon; Cork, Cutting Dies - Lifestyle Crafts; Pens - Ranger, Uniball; Mist - October Afternoon; Adhesives: EK Success, 3L Adhesives; Kokuyo.

Monday, July 8, 2013

Project Life, My Way - Week 3

This week there wasn't a lot going on. I mean, there's not a lot to do in the middle of January in the midwest. Mostly just getting fully back into work mode after the holidays. We installed some lighting (scored both sconces for a total of $6.50 for the pair on an awesome clearance deal) and my supplies for guest designing for October Afternoon came. Okay, so it's a pretty good week when you get that kind of scrappy mail!
Week 3 - left
 
I decided that I wasn't going to follow the 2-page spread per week format. If a week takes one page or four, then I'm just gonna roll with it. ...And this week it only took one, so that's all there is. 


I added an outline with a yellow pen to tie this otherwise, just black and white card into the other page elements.

I used an EK Success paint pen to color in part of the woodgrain.
They have a chalky texture that's kind of fun.


Don't forget, you can see detailed images of all of my Project Life spreads over on my Facebook page in my Project Life album.

Monday, July 1, 2013

Project Life, My Way - Week 2

This week was a little bit of a whirlwind, with most of my pictures coming from a trip to visit my sister for a girls (scrapbooking weekend) at her place.

My sister and I live almost exactly 180 miles in opposite directions from my parents' home. So I drove from Des Moines were I live, to the Quad Cities (Iowa/Illinois border) to join up with my mom and my aunt, and then we drove on to Chicago to spend the weekend at my sister's place.

Iowa and Illinois die cuts using shapes from the Silhouette Online Store 
and hearts backed with yellow washi tape.


During the "layover" in the Quad Cities I got to see my newest little niece and bring the baby gift that I'd forgotten to give her when I was home over Christmas. For whatever reason, when I made the journaling card for this photo I was thinking that was the first time I met her... and that's what I wrote out on the journaling card... except I had actually met her over Christmas. Oopsie!

[Image blurred to protect personal information.]

So in an effort to salvage the journaling card and not have to replace it (No project life card shall be wasted, right?), I added a little label sticker over the first few words. The label had a "No." printed on it that didn't work with the rest of the journaling, so I added a little red chipboard star to cover that part up. Then to balance the additions and tie it into the color scheme of the color next to it, I also added a little gray star sticker to the upper corner. The best part? I worked in the Iowa State University school colors without even realizing it. I love when happy accidents come together like that!

Tip: I tried several different white pens before finally finding one that worked well on the black journaling card. I started with my white sharpie paint pen, but it soaked right into the card and virtually disappeared. After trying a couple of others, I found the one that worked best was the tried and true Uniball Signo white pen.

...And I just so happen to have an extra Uniball Signo Pen to giveaway to one lucky reader. Leave a comment below by July 7 for a chance to win one of your very own!



I love this kit, but I'm not quite sure there are so may "perfection" themed cards in it. I mean, seriously, how many times do you need to declare something as "perfection" in your scrapbooks? Anyway... when I was looking at which kit to buy, I didn't really think I would have much use for the yellow cards, but I'm totally digging the yellow/gray/teal color combo right now so I wanted to find a way to make one of the "perfection" yellow cards work. To conceal the letters, I covered them with a couple of strips of washi tape and then started adding a variety of stickers and a punched doily to give the card lots of visual interest, without a lot of bulk.

And here are the spreads for week 2:
[Image blurred to protect personal information.]
Week 2 - left
Later I found a gift card and spoon from Pacuigo that I forgot to include,
so I swapped out the blue heart for those items.

Week 2 - right

Don't forget to leave a comment below for a chance to win a Uniball Signo pen!

Monday, June 24, 2013

Project Life, My Way - Week 1

I have finally begun working on scrapbooking 2013 Project Life-style.

As I sat down to begin (5 months into 2013 and already feeling super far behind), I realized I was going to be a wee bit challenged. In order to scrapbook this way I was going to have to scrap in chronological order. Yes, the dreaded method that requires organization up front. (Which, coincidentally, is not one of my strong suits when it comes to photos and memorabelia.)

So today, we're going to talk about that dreaded word: O-R-G-A-N-I-Z-A-T-I-O-N.

Instead of diving into my collection of goodies, I found myself sitting down to organize photos. One of my biggest barriers to getting my scrapbooking done, is the prep work. I often get photos from my mom, and my sister, and my brother that go along with the photos from my camera, my cell phone camera, and my husband's cell phone. And of course, we all have Nikon cameras and Samsung cell phones which means that all of our collective photos are using the same file naming structure. And that's a problem, because IMG_001 from my camera is not the same as IMG_001 from my mom's camera, and I if I don't give the files unique names, and I'm not super duper careful, I could end up writing over a precious photo. No pressure, right?

So here's my workflow:

First, I collect photos from all sources. Then I put them in their own folder named after the image owner.

Next, I go through those photo files, and rename them to add a 3 character extension to the file name that indicates who the original the image owner is. (For example, if the photo owner is Jane A. Smith, then the photo would be renamed as IMG_001_JAS.)
 
Finally, once all of the photos are renamed, I put a copy of them into an annual file folder where I compile all of the photos for the year. Then I sort them into file folders by date. Here's what it looks like:
...and from there I am ready to start scrapbooking. Well, I am assuming that I know where I put the memorabelia.
 
Several hours later, I finally had the first month's worth of photos gathered, renamed, and all in the same folder where I could then sort by date order to start working with them. Whew. Glad that's over!
 
Finally. Time to start scrapbooking!
 
Week 1 - Left side

Week 1 - Right Side

 
We don't have children and live fairly mundane lives, so I don't have a lot of very interesting activities to scrapbook on a daily, or even weekly, basis. Taking that into consideration, I've decided that in addition to photos, I will include things like what I was thinking or feeling on a particular day, maybe a quote that resonated with me that day, or my Facebook status update. Fortunately I have a handy little iPad app called Momento that collects information from my Facebook, Instagram, and FourSquare feeds onto a calendar. This way, I can just grab my iPad to help jog my memory and provide content for my album.
 
I've added a photo gallery over on my Facebook page with close-ups of some of the page elements. Head on over there to see more images for these two pages. 
 
Want your own personal shopper to help you re-create these pages for yourself? I've collected the materials I used all in one place for you. Buy them here.
 
Other supplies used that are not available through Amazon:
  • Freckled Fawn Washi Tape
  • October Afternoon Midway Chip Shapes
  • Me and My Big Ideas Icons (Dollar Sign)
  • Martha Stewart Anywhere Punch (Doily)
  • Basic Grey Mono Stickers (Black)
Happy Scrapping!

Monday, June 17, 2013

Project Life, My Way

So... I've decided to jump on the Project Life bandwagon, but not in the way that it was originally intended. There will be no "picture a day + journaling card" approach. I may or may not follow the weekly organzational method. What I will do, is capture memories in a more timely fashion (lofty goal #1). You know, before you forget what was so funny at the time, or why you took the photo in the first place (lofty goal #2).

I've thought long and hard about making this switch. Going from a 12x12 full page canvas to the seemingly simple 6"x4" and 3"x4" little cards. Could I do it? Could I scrap more simply and still love the creative process? Could I create little vignettes instead of full page layouts? Could I scrapbook in *gasp* chronological order???

I didn't know.

I wouldn't know.

Until I tried.

I did some research. Browsing through pages of Pinterest Pins, Google Images, and Blogs. What design styles was I drawn too? Which ones might I like to emulate? What did I dislike and why? What should I avoid when I started out on my own journey into Project Life?

So coupon in hand, I headed to Hobby Lobby. Settled on a Midnight Edition. Why? Because being primarily black and white, it seemed to be most versatile, most flexible to allow me to get creative with it, to add artsy additions and any colors I wished to.

And so it begins. My journey. Project Life-syle.

Inside Front Cover
So far the cards inserted for placement only. Debating whether to add tidbits now along with some journaling about my hopes for the year, or to wait and complete it at the end of the year. I think I am leaning toward adding my hopes to the inside front cover, and then writing a "year in review" recap for the inside back cover.

I invite you to come along. Join me on my journey through a new style of scrapbooking. Post your comments, share your thoughts...your tips, your ideas in the comment section.


Thursday, March 28, 2013

Tools on Thursdays: Hippity Hoppity, Easter's on it's way!

Are you ready for Easter?

I'm not!

But I'm getting closer :)



I picked up a few little surprises for my nieces for Easter this year, but didn't want to go the expense of doing full-fledged Easter baskets (that's their parents' problem). But I did want to do something fun with the gift packaging.

My oldest niece is totally and completely obsessed with all things princesses right now. (And for the sake of her future husband, lets hope that she outgrows the phase eventually.) When I sent a text message to her mom to ask which princess was her favorite, her only response was, "I'm a princess!" And when I asked her dad which was her favorite he said she liked them all. And that answer + a Jolee's Boutique sticker were the jumping off point for creating her Easter bag.

I pulled out my trusty Silhouette Cameo and embarked on creating the best darn fairy tale Easter egg she'd ever seen. (Well best-darn fairy tale egg that can be created quickly anyway.) Using a few simple shapes from the Silhouette online store and a free font off of the internet, I created the Easter egg background to add the ensemble of Disney princesses to. Seriously, could that font be any more perfect?


Supplies:

  • Silhouette Cameo
  • Cutting Files: Easter Egg Stitched Candy Pouch; Moroccan Background (I don't see that exact one in the online store, but you could pick something similar)
  • Cardstock - Bazzill in True Teal, Lily White, Purple
  • Adhesives: Xyron Cheetah and Tape Runner; EK Success.
  • Font: "Christmas Card" (free internet download)

Dimensions:
  • Larger egg
    • Egg = 8.665" high x 6.995" wide
    • Happy Easter = 1.915" high x 6.005" wide
  • Smaller egg
    • Egg = 5.565" high x 6.885" wide
    • Happy Easter = 1.520" high x 4.780" wide
  • Tips:
    • Use heavy weight cardstock (80# or more) since the lattice is delicate and prone to tear if using lighter weight paper.
    • I wouldn't recommend cutting it much smaller than the smallest egg.
    • Make sure to use a new/fresh blade so that your lattice work cuts nice and crisp.
    • If you have a 9" Xyron Creative Station, that would make life much easier!


 To create the egg:

  1. Open the "Easter Egg Stitched Candy Pouch and ungroup the objects.
  2. Using the pointer tool and the "delete point" option to edit the egg to remove the stitching holes.
  3. Use the offset option to create a shadow for the remaining egg and move aside.
  4. Open the "Moroccan Background" and lay it on top of the smaller egg piece (make sure the background is the top layer). 
  5. Select both the egg and the background. Then under Modify > select the Subtract option. 
  6. Type the words "Happy Easter" in a font of your choice. Use the offset option to create a background shadow around the words. (I think I used a 0.125" offset.) 
  7. Arrange the words offset over the egg so the beginning and end of the phrase overlaps with the lattice and the egg edge. Select both the word background and the lattice background and then use the weld option to add it to the lattice overlay that we're creating.
  8. Separate your "parts" onto separate files. 
    1. Happy Easter words (cut in purple)
    2. Egg background (cut in teal)
    3. Egg overlay (cut in white)
  9. Cut and assemble your egg.
  10. Add to bag. (I used a combination of the Xyron Cheetah and Tape Runner to glue the egg to the bag. I used a glue pen to adhere the lattice to the background egg, but this would have been soooo much easier if I would have had a 9" Xyron Creative Station so I could have just run it through and stuck it down.)
  11. Done! :)

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

March/April Issue of Creating Keepsakes available now

 

Hello bloggy friends. Just poppin' by on the blog today to let you know that the March/April issue of Creating Keepsakes is on newsstands now! (And if you're already a subscriber, you probably got your issue last week.)

I have a layout in this issue featuring my one of my favorite lines (Midway from October Afternoon) with one of my favorite artists, Toby Mac. Truth be told... 99% of the time I'm rockin' out to Toby Mac when I scrapbook.

My husband and I went to a Toby Mac + Jamie Grace + Tenth Avenue North concert at the Iowa State Fair this past summer for our 11th Anniversary. One of the songs, literally called "Favorite Song" (click the link to hear a sample of the song), is so happy and bouncy that I new that I just had to make a layout with vibrant color and washi tape to capture the energy of this song and the concert. Plus, the concert was at the state fair last summer so of course using Midway was a no-brainer!

 
As seen in the March/April 2013 of Creating Keepsakes magazine.
Copyright Creative Crafts Group. Posted with prior permission from the publisher.

The washi tape background was my creative representation of the movement of an equalizer for the music on the offbeat (the "oompah" rhythm).

Part way through the concert, Toby & the other performers moved up into the grandstand to perform and were about 9 rows in front of us. We filmed part of the concert using HD video on our cell phones, so I used Adobe Premiere to clip a few frames from that part of the performance and put those in the filmstrip on the page. I love how the October Afternoon washi tape provides the perfect place to put a few little journaling details.
 
 
I originally had the names of the bands on some label stickers from October Afternoon, but decided the right side of the page needed a little more, so I covered up the type with a word stickers and added a little arrow stamp to the image cluster. Using a first and second generation stamp image gives you a little extra variety without needing 2 different ink colors.
 
The little stars were created by placing a strip of washi tape on cardstock, and then punching out the star shapes with a small hand punch. Super cute!
Before

After
 
On newsstands Tuesday, February 26
 

I hope you've enjoyed this little "behind the scenes" look at how the page came together. Check out the Creating Keepsakes feature article, Accentuate the Negative, on page 71 to learn more about the other elements on this page. If you're getting snowed in today (like me) and can't get out to purchase a copy, here's a little sneak peek of the issue. Happy creating!

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Home Decor: "Know you are loved" Tutorial

Note: This project first appeared on the October Afternoon blog on February 15. 
These are the instructions to make that project.



So I don't know if you've seen it, but on Facebook there has been a crafty "pay it forward" going around. The idea is that someone posts on their wall that they will make 5 crafty things for 5 people sometime during 2013. In turn those 5 people promise to re-post the same offer on their wall and do the same for 5 other people.  I did it last year and found it really fun, so I thought I'd do it again this year.

I've been trying to think up fun, crafty surprises that are perfect for those who signed up on my wall and then it dawned on me:  I have a friend who loves hearts... and it's February which is all about love and hearts... she's recently become obsessed with quilting... and of course everyone could use a little October Afternoon in their life, so I came up with the idea to make a quilted heart home decor piece for her using one of the Farm Girl Papers. She happens to be a "clean and simple" kind of girl too so I just used a single pattern, but I think this could be fabulous if you used a mix of different patterned papers too.

Here's a list of the supplies that I used: Floral patterned paper from the 8x8 Farm Girl Paper Pad; Thread - Coats n Clark; Embroidery floss - DMB; Heart digital die-cutting file - my own design; Digital cutter - Silhouette; Font - KG Makes You Stronger; Linen fabric & 10 x 10 shadow box frame- Joanns; Glue - EK Success

Steps:
1.       Creating the linen background
a.       Cut a piece of heavyweight cardstock to 10" x 10."
b.      Put a strong runner adhesive around the edges of the cardstock. (From personal experience, I would recommend the Xyron Tape Runner, the Kokuyo Dot n' Roller, or the Thermoweb Memory Tape Runner XL.)
c.       Place the cardstock adhesive side down onto a piece of linen fabric that has been ironed so that it's smooth. Press so the adhesive bonds to the fabric. (Take care to keep the adhesive away from the areas where there will be stitching.)
d.      Trim the linen fabric about 1/2 - 3/4 inches around the perimeter of the cardstock.
e.      Apply another strip of strong runner adhesive along the edge of the cardstock and fold the linen to wrap it around the back. Once you have it laid down and held with the runner adhesive, put a strip of tape (clear tape, document tape, strong washi tape, whatever) to cover the edge. Repeat this for the remaining 3 sides.

2.       Cutting the heart pieces
a.       Open the heart cutting file and place in the upper corner of the cutting mat. Size to 7.095" wide x 6.510  tall. I choose to cut from the 8x8 paper pad piece instead of a full size sheet because I liked the smaller scale of the pattern for this project, but that means that you'll have to be careful about where you place the cutting image on the cutting mat because you only have a 1/2 inch margin on the left and right sides.
b.      Once you've got the heart shaped cutting image in the right spot, cut it out. Once you're done cutting, be careful to remove ONLY the 8"x 8" piece and make sure not to rip or tear it as you remove it from the cutting mat. This is going to be your template for laying out the heart pieces onto the linen background.
c.       Do not remove the square pieces from the cutting mat yet!

3.       Putting the heart on the linen background
a.       Put a few little spots of runner adhesive on the back of the 8"x8" piece, center it from left to right and place it about 2" from the top, then  lightly tack it to the linen background.
b.      Bring your cutting mat (with the heart shape pieces still on it) to your work area. Beginning lightly affixing each square to the canvas background by adding a little bit of adhesive just to the center of each piece. (Try to avoid the edges where we'll be stitching later.) I used an EK Success glue pen, but you could probably use runner adhesive here too. As you place the pieces, try to keep the pieces from overlapping the template. This will make it easier to remove the template in the next step.

c.       Once you've affixed all of the pieces, carefully lift up and remove the template that you used to place the pieces. Be careful no to flick off the little pieces. I found that it worked best to start along the straight edge where you began gluing and then work across to the pieces glued last.

4.       Adding texture with a little stitching
a.       To give the heart a little texture, without disrupting the visual lines of grid pattern, top stitch in yellow over the individual squares. In mine I tried to stitch about 1/8" from the edge, but I'm not the best seamstress so I wasn't completely perfect about that... plus I wanted to have a little imperfect stitching to give it a homespun feel.
b.      Once you've stitched it going both directions, stitch an outline around the heart in yellow as well.
5.       Creating a place to "ground" the eye
a.       The open edges of the heart allow the eye to wander away from the focal point. To draw the eye in and visually tie the heart and the words together, stitch around the outside of the heart twice. The more that you allow the lines to intersect, the more visual interest you will add.
6.       Stitching the text
a.       To stitch the words "know you are loved," I first printed it out on paper, then cut it out with scissors and used the glue pen to temporarily adhere it to the linen background.
b.      First I went along the words and poked holes for where the stitches would go. Then, for the actual stitching, I used 3 strands of embroidery floss and what I think would be called a backstitch (?) to embroider the letters.
c.       After I finished stitching the words, I put document tape over the back to keep it from snagging and to hold the stitching.
d.      To finish off the words, gently tear away the paper that you used as a stitching guide. I found it helpful to use tweezers to work the paper out of the centers of letters.

7.       Completing the project
a.       Once you've finished the steps above, pop it into the shadow box frame and you are done!

Saturday, February 16, 2013

Berry Basket Update

Wow! I had no idea the berry basket project for October Afternoon would be so popular!


For those of you wanting to make your own...
I am working on getting some kits put together that will include the basket, dividers and recipe cards (they are printed front and back).

The recipe card file is set up for my printer and I am not sure that it will duplex correctly for others who would like to print at home. It also took a couple of hours to print, trim, and corner round about 24 of them when I made them at home. I am working with a printer to get some professionally made so they are already printed, trimmed and corner rounded for us.

Berry Basket Dimensions:
-Bottom is 4.25" square
-Top is 5-3/8" square
-Height is 3" tall

The recipe cards are 3.5" x 4.25"

I am hoping to have the kits together and posted in my Etsy store by Monday. (fingers crossed.)

If you don't want to wait for a kit, you can go to Etsy to purchase just a berry basket right now.



If you're look for the heart decor instructions, check back during the coming week for the instructions (will post mid-week).