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!

Lovely Layers mini cards

It's been awhile since I've been able to place a PTI order, and on a whim last month,  I added Lovely Layers and the square dies at the last second. And I'm so glad I did! It's been so much fun playing with them, and I've seen the coolest things made with them too. When I was experimenting with them, it seemed like they would make a nice mini card set. So I made several in many colors. The cards are 3-1/4" square.

For the first one, I used the negative diecut of the leaves to frame the flower.

I also made a softer, more feminine version.

The small sentiment is from the Mixed Messages set. So many of those mini sentiments fit perfectly in the flower's center and it's very simple to switch out the sentiment, if you need it for a different occasion. I embossed the entire  base of the card (front and back) using the Simple Stripes IP (love!), which adds a nice texture. Then I matted the inside with a piece of white cardstock, to keep from writing on the texture.

This one is similar to the first, but matted with a different square.

And the last one has a diecut similar to the first one, but I embossed the background with the woodgrain IP.

I added dimension to the leaves using the rock 'n roll technique, graduating to a darker color as I got to the end of the leaves. It helps to make the leaves pop and glow a bit more!

If you know any tips to line up the stamps with the diecut, I'd love to hear it! I had such a hard time lining these up. Here's a couple of tips I learned when using Lovely Layers: if you stamp on the diecuts, mat them from behind with the same color paper. If your stamping isn't exactly centered on the diecut, it somewhat helps to disguise it (for example: white on white). Also, I learned this tip and it makes a huge difference: stamp in versamark ink first, then ink up your stamp. The stickiness helps to hold the ink better so you don't get gaps in your coverage.

I'm entering this set of 4 cards into A Passion for Papertrey's Anything Goes challenge! It's been awhile since I played their challenge, and it's fun to be participating again!

Also, here are some updated photos of Alexander taken today. He's almost 10 months old now. He's got two teeth on the bottom and is getting four new teeth on top. He loves to jump in his jumper and has started to stand on his own too!

Then a few minutes after I took the pictures, I looked over at him and he had passed out in his jumper.

The first time he's done that, haha! Guess he jumped so much he wore himself out. :)

Thanks for taking a look and have a very sunny summer day! :)

In Honor and Memory of Janelle

Many of you know Janelle Hayes from her crafting blog, Show and Tell. For those that don't know, for the past 9 months, she has been fighting an inoperable brain tumor and yesterday I found out the sad news that she has passed away. Janelle was a very sincere and kind friend who touched me and so many others with her kindness. She was also a very talented crafter, whom I admired greatly. I made this set of notecards for her a while ago after she was diagnosed, but never posted them. It seemed fitting to post them now.

I used PTI's Four of a Kind stamp set heat embossed in gold on PTI CS (Hawaiian Shores, Lavender Moon, Aqua Mist and Lemon Tart). I also used the set "Everyday Blessings", which seemed especially appropriate, since Janelle was such a spiritual and caring person.

Here are closeups of the cards.

"Cast all your cares upon him, for he cares for you." 1 Peter 5:7

"May the Lord bless you and keep you. May he smile upon you." Numbers 6:24-25

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Phillipians 4:13

"Faith is the substance of all things hoped for." Hebrews 11:1

Janelle, you will always be remembered and thanks for blessing so many of our lives with your kind and gentle spirit. You will be greatly missed.

Double the Love Card

I have a simple baby card to share with you today! This card is for a friend of mine who's having twin girls. I just went to her baby shower yesterday. We've known each other since we were babies (our parents are friends) and now we both have babies! :)

I made this card using a sketch from the Clean and Simple card classes. This is from the 1st day, but I signed up for the class later so am playing some catch up! So glad I signed up, it has been wonderful and I love all the lessons!!

I diecut out the onesies and heart from MFT's notches dies and then inserted different colored diecut shapes. The sentiment is from PTI's Bitty Baby Blessings. I used the Cuttlebug folder Swiss Dots to add some dimension, but used the reserve side of the embossing, because I liked that it was more subtle. To finish it off I added a pink shell sheer polka dot ribbon from A Muse Studio. The sentiment inside says, "Sometimes it's the smallish things that take up the most room in our hearts."

I love these classes and it is not too late to sign up! The lessons will always be available to read and the gallery and store discounts are still available for another week. Thanks for stopping by. Remember, there is still time to enter my giveaway HERE. Have a sunny day!

Baby Shower Favors and Highlights

Yesterday I shared with you the baby shower invites I made HERE. Today I thought I'd show you the favors and some highlights. The baby shower was a lot of fun and it was nice spending time with everyone! :)

I made several favor boxes to hand out to the guests.

I used the PTI Favor it 4 box and diecut more of the Martha Stewart Baby boy patterned paper (seen in yesterday's invites post) for the base and then added some PTI cardstock for the handles. 

I love PTI's favor boxes and own them all and love them all!! They work so well and add such a great touch. Patterned paper works great with these boxes, and it helps to dress them up quickly if you need to make several! :)

To go inside the favor boxes, I stamped some address labels with baby theme images from the PTI Limitless Labels set and PTI Bitty Baby Blessings set and attached them to some chocolate candies. I was able to fit up to 6 chocolate nuggets in each box. The labels were stamped with A Muse inks: Sky, Papaya and Ocean.

We had a lot of fun at the shower and played a few baby games too, including guessing how big my baby belly is. Everyone kept guessing larger than it was for some reason. Only my grandma guessed smaller (thanks Grandma!).

My mom (in the purple) checked to make sure people measured their guesses correctly.

My niece Alexa kept jumping into my lap throughout the baby shower to hug her future cousin. :)

I also made some cupcake toppers to go onto the cupcakes.

I stamped the circle with Papertrey Ink's Tag-Its #2 stamp set (my favorite Tag It's set) using A Muse Papaya ink. The elephant is from PTI Tiny Treats: Birthday and the sentiment is from PTI Bitty Baby Blessings. I punched it out with an EK Success circle punch and scalloped circle punch and then scor-taped it to a lollipop stick from Michaels.

The cupcakes were a big hit...especially with Alexa who ran straight to them! She has a sweet tooth just like her mom and her aunt!

Thanks for stopping by my blog today. Hope you're having a wonderful and sunshine-filled day!

Make Your Own Journaling Tabs

Thanks so much for all the nice comments regarding the seed packet die! :) Hope you got a few ideas from that post, and if you have it or are ordering it, I'd love to see what you make with it. :)

If you've been following Papertrey Ink's latest release, you might have seen the new journaling tabs die that was released! If you bought PTI's Half and Half dies or Fillable Frames dies, you can make your own! Here is what I found that worked, if you'd like to try it!

Cut a 2-1/4" x 2" strip of paper, score 1" into the 2" side, so you will end up with a folded piece of CS that is 2-1/4" x 1". Because it is such a small amount of CS, it might not want to stay down very well, so just add a bit of removable adhesive to the inside to keep it folded.

Position it on the die, with just a tiny bit of overlap, like this:

And this is what they look like! Ready to be stamped and added to a mini book.

The little swirls that come with the Half and Half stamp set look great with the tab too.

This would also work with some of the fillable frames, either the width if you want a shorter journaling tab or the length if you want a wider journaling tab.

Here's how some of those turned out!

And here's all of the journaling tabs.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Today is my birthday and it's a big one--30!! We celebrated last night and are celebrating with friends this weekend and hopefully Hurricane Irene will have moved on by then. Hope everyone in its path stays safe this weekend!

Ways to Use the Seed Packet die

There has been some interest on the PTI forum to share some ways we've used the Seed Packet die, which is a great pocket die that fits gift cards and much more! So today, I thought I'd share some ideas with you!

My favorite use of the die is to make your own homemade glassine wax bags. They are the perfect little bag to store little items. Here's what it looks like when you first cut it out.

And then here it is assembled.

I used 1/4" scor-tape to adhere it together. The adhesive is barely visible and it sticks down on the wax paper very well (other types of adhesive don't stick at all). Here's a closeup of the tape.

You can cut the bags from regular wax paper that you'd buy on a roll, however I've found it easiest to use some precut 6 inch dry wax sheets. I bought them from Miles Kimball HERE, a pack of 350 is $8.99. They are completely flat so it's much easier to cut with.

A few tips about cutting with the seed packet die: you might need to adjust your sandwich, to make it less tight. After cutting the seed packet, if you are getting some cracking, you might try hand scoring along the pre-scored lines. Sometimes they aren't scored enough so you get some cracking.

Here is what it looks like with something in it. It's a bit see through, and has a neat frosted appearance.

The mini envelope die also looks great cut from waxed paper.

The doily dies also work well cut from wax paper and are the perfect accessory to dress up baked goods. I also use the wax paper sheets sometimes to help the paper come out of the dies more easily: just use a sandwich of die, waxed paper, then cardstock. It's also fun to emboss the seed packets with a Cuttlebug folder or PTI impression plate. I don't have an example with the seed packet, but you can see what I mean in my post HERE.

The seed packets are also neat as chalkboard accents. It's a lot of fun to make these!

You could write out a To/From on the front with chalk or personalize it how you like. Michaels sells a big roll of chalkboard sticker paper in the kid's department for only a few dollars. Then I stuck the sticker paper to some PTI kraft paper and then diecut it out! It looks cute with other dies too, but the seed packet provides more room to write on.

By the way, this is how I apply the scor-tape adhesive when I assemble a seed packet.

Another tip, the spiral notebook page die fits perfectly inside the seed packet die. It makes such a cute little note to include in a package you send out! Here it is laid on top of the seed packet so you can get a sense of how it fits.

I noticed this when I was at the Central Florida get together, when Terry let me try out her die and cut a few diecuts (thanks, Terry!). I was so excited to discover this, and so I ordered this spiral die in my recent order.

And here's a completed project I made using the seed packet die. I sent it to my sweet friend Joyce!

I cut the seed packet from A Muse gingham patterned paper card stock. Love that paper! The A Muse gingham paper is 8.5 x 11 and comes in 10 different colors. Really pretty paper. The seed packets look so cute cut from patterned paper. I attached a PTI Tiny Tag to the front with orange twine.

Next I diecut a mini card from the PTI Mat Stack 3 die. It fits perfectly inside the seed packet!

The image is from PTI Flower Fusion #1 and then heat embossed with white EP. The paper is cut from A Muse Sage cardstock. A nice feature of A Muse cardstock, is that it's coated with color on one side and white on the other side, which is great for cardmaking. Love the cardstock and have been using it a lot lately!

Here's the inside.

The sentiment fits great in the top nook of the mat stack, with plenty of room to write a message. The ink is A Muse Orange pigment ink.

Hope you've discovered a fun way or two to use the seed packet. Would love to see what you make with it too.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I have lots more ideas on how to use the seed packet die and hope to share that with you soon! I'll be back soon with ways you can make your own journaling tabs using existing PTI dies. Have a wonderful and sunny day! :)