Art from the Heart tags

I saw the cool embossing technique Danielle was sharing for Make It Monday and decided I had to play along this week! I thought the gold gilded edges had a painterly look to it, so I randomly added it to the edges of this tag to look like an artist in the process of painting.

This could be a tag you add to a handmade item or art project or even a kid's project given as a gift.

I made the tags in a couple of different sizes. The tags are from the Tremendous Tags die set by PTI. The sentiment is from Friendship Jar Fillers stamp set.

Heat embossing is one of my favorites and doing this technique, reminds me a little of the sprinkle embossing I did on this card here. I really like the look and can't wait to try it again.

I also made some using PTI kraft paper and Chai inked edges.

I've been making a bunch of crafts lately for craft shows and also just started displaying and selling my work at a new handmade store in the mall called Unique Designs, which I'm really excited about! It was fun incorporating this technique into the designs.

Thanks for stopping by today! Today was actually cooler and in the 70s here in Florida. It's an autumn miracle! ;) Hope you've had a pleasant day wherever you are! :)

Papertrey Ink Felt and DMC Floss Matches

As I promised in the last post, these are the all of the individual floss matches I found for the Papertrey Ink felt colors that I currently have. I backstitched the thread into the felt to get a better idea of what it would look like on the project. If you click on the image you can see it enlarged.

Autumn Rose - 3687

Aqua Mist - 964 

Blueberry Sky - 799

Classic Kraft - 3864

Dark Chocolate - 801

Harvest Gold - 3855

Hawaiian Shores - 3846

Hibiscus Burst - 602

Melon Berry - 3824

Ocean Tides - 503

Pure Poppy - 321

Orange Zest - 721

Pinefeather - 500

Raspberry Fizz - 3804

Royal Velvet - 333

Scarlet Jewel - 3802

Simply Chartreuse - 734

Smokey Shadow - 535

Terracotta Tile - 351

True Black - 310

Vintage Cream - 3865

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***Edited to add a few more matches! :) I still need to take pics of these 6 below.*****

Canyon Clay - 3776
Lavender Moon - 3609
Limeade Ice - 165
Spring Moss - 3047
Summer Sunrise - 977
Tropical Teal - 3812
And I'm still looking for a good match for Winter Wisteria if anyone knows of one!
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And here are all the felt colors and DMC thread in one pic.

I poked a little hole out of the top of each felt sample and put it on a ring. I've been referring to it often. I also didn't trim the thread off after I sewed the stitch on so that I would have a loose string hanging off the back to also use for reference.

The Apple app store has an app called, Thread Tracker, that can keep track of all your DMC floss colors so you know which colors you have when you're at the store or out and about. I've found it to be pretty useful and definitely recommend it if you have a lot of floss.

I hope this is helpful and makes it easier to find floss colors that match. I'll update this post as I get new PTI colors of felt or new DMC matches. Thanks for stopping by!

Springtime Bunny Coin Purse + a few tips!

Spring is finally here and I got inspired to make a springtime bunny purse! Papertrey Ink has released the best stitching dies and it has been so fun to do some hand stitching and make coin purses.

I used PTI's felt colors in: Aqua Mist, Harvest Gold and Vintage Cream. The ribbon is Berry Sorbet saddle stitch. I backstitched around the edges, used a running stitch for the hops, and whipstitched the bunny's tail (and thanks to PTI, a couple of weeks ago I wouldn't have even known the terms for any of those stitches!)

To create the hopping stitches, I taped a cut out stencil of the PTI Birthday Style confetti dies to the coin purse and used the negative as a stitching guide. (And then I'm using the positive cut outs of the confetti lines for another purse.) This technique could probably work with a lot of other dies too.

The zipper is a 4 inch Mango Smoothie zipper from the Etsy shop that Erin Lincoln (who designed the dies) recommended here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/zipit. It is so fun to stitch in zippers of all different colors!

I also used Erin's tip to add fabric tape to the inside of the purse to hide the zipper stitches. It's a cute addition, and you just have to be careful to apply the tape so it doesn't buckle.

Here are some zipper matches I've found so far with the Zipit zippers and PTI felt:
Mango Smoothie (lighter but coordinates) = PTI Harvest Gold
Copen Blue = PTI Blueberry Sky
Beige = PTI Classic Kraft
Mauve = PTI Autumn Rose
Ocean Blue (lighter but coordinates) = PTI Hawaiian Shores
Red = PTI Pure Poppy
Peach = Melon Berry

At least for me, there has been a learning curve for these purses and I thought I'd share a few tips for stitching the coin purses that seemed to work. Fortunately, it does seem to get easier as you do more purses.

Zipper tips:
1. To backstitch around the 4" zipper uses about 4 feet of floss.
2. It's easier to use a thin strip of sewing tape to attach the zipper then pins. It keeps the zipper in place and aligned and is much more pleasant to stitch. Just avoid putting tape under the actual stitching holes.
3. Align the zipper cut out and begin your stitching at the very start of the zipper (where the zipper head is located when the zipper is zipped), to ensure that it lines up properly. Otherwise you will have an open hole in your purse (learned this the hard way!)
4. Stitch vertically, not horizontally. You have more control if the stitch is facing towards you.
5. Stitch and pull slowly and gently, not only to avoid tearing but so that you have more control over how the stitch looks.
6. Sew the zipper zipped open for a 4" coin purse or closed for a 6" coin purse, to ensure the zipper lies flat properly (this worked for me anyway, is there a correct method for whether a zipper is open or closed?)

And if you are a sewer or have other tips please list them in the comments! :)

To make things a little easier, I also made a swatch ring by cutting a 1 inch swatch of each PTI felt color and diecutting a stitch line to use as reference when making new felt/floss projects.

I took the felts swatches to the craft store and found some good DMC floss matches for the PTI felt colors. Some of the felt colors vary from their cardstock matches, so it was helpful to find new matches with the felt. I will list the felt color matches and show pics of the floss and felt matches in my next post!

Thanks for stopping by today and hope your day is sunny! :)

Post-it Note Holder

I made these note holders awhile ago, but realized that I never posted them. They are super simple but fun to make, and they work great slipped inside your purse or bag. 

I cut these note holders out using Papertrey Ink's lunchbox note die (if you have been to my blog before then you might know that it's my favorite PTI die!), and then I stamped a simple design using PTI's Take Note stamp set. 

For the inside, I cut strips of post-it notes to fit inside, and there are 12 notes of each of the 5 colors (12 is the most that my trimmer can cut at one time, and the ideal amount before the lunchbox note gets too thick). The measurement of each strip is 1/2" wide x 2-1/2" long. You could also make them a bit wider and include just a couple of colors instead. These can be used as bookmarks, reminder notes or tags.

I bought a pack of 18 full size post-it note pads at Staples for $5 so it's very economical to make these and include as flat little gifts to put inside a card that you mail out. Just a little something extra to make someone smile when they open their card! :)

That's all for today. Have a great and sunny (and soon to be Spring) day!

Alexander's First Valentines

It's been quite awhile since I've posted, and I'm so sorry for that. Life has had its up and downs in a big way over the past year. I'll tell a little bit more about things at the end of the post, but I'll begin with a craft I made. And this craft is a milestone of sorts too: the first valentines I have made for Alexander to give to his classmates. :)

 

Last September Alexander began going to a preschool for a few hours each week, and I imagine there will be dozens if not hundreds more valentines to make over the next few years! ;)

You might notice that there isn't any stamping on the tags. I love to stamp, but I got a Silhouette machine and it has been getting a lot of use. When you have a two year old running around everywhere, then minimizing materials, time and clean up is so important. Using the Silhouette helped me to start crafting again, when I went through a time that I worried I might never craft again. I will still post projects using stamps and dies too, and many will also now use the Silhouette.

I cut out a variety of tags. Here's another.

The Silhouette shapes were all bought from the Silhouette store: onlinesilhouettestore.com. I have a subscription there and LOVE their images. If you are interested, I could list which of the 6-7 cut files I used.

And here's another tag.

I taped a Smartees to the front using patterned washi tape. Who doesn't love Smartees? I discovered that my son definitely does. I had to hide them from him. ;)

And another with a different color scheme.

They were so much fun to make and assemble! A tip for making these is to use ribbon not glue to hold them together. Despite the layers, I didn't have to use adhesive because I tied the ribbon tightly at the top. It's really a time saver!

All of them lined up and ready to hand out!

I realize it's also been awhile since I've posted a pic of Alexander and me. He's doing very well. He is so genuinely sweet, loving (he constantly comes up to me, hugs my leg and softly says, "I vuve you, Mama."), friendly and smart too. At 2 years old, he knew his alphabet, phonics, numbers, colors, shapes, etc. His memory is amazing, and he definitely did not get that from me. :)

To tell a little bit more about what's been going on, last year both of my grandparents passed away. While growing up, they lived only a couple streets away from us, so they have really been like a second set of parents to my siblings and me. They were both truly amazing and caring people, and I'm so grateful they were in our lives. I'm also in the process of moving back to Florida. I haven't told many people about what's been going on, but it's a long, unfortunate story and without going into too many personal details, just Alexander and I will be moving down here for now. But after a long and hard year, I will say that things are starting to look much happier, so I have hope that things will get better.

Hope you are doing well and keeping warm in this cold weather wherever you are. May you have a truly wonderful, sunny and a great Valentine's Day!