Valentine Day Card Tutorial, My Bead Soup, and Handmade Fabric Mini Albums

Hello everybody!!!  How are you?  Doing well I hope!  I have been under the weather and it was NO fun.  No fun at all.  Woo, I must say, camping out in the bathroom for eons is no fun.  I was so tired too, it seems like it took forever to get my energy back.  Soooooooooooo glad I am feeling better.  It seems like everyone has been sick this year, and with a variety of things.  I had a flu shot too, my word.  OK, enough about that yuck stuff.  On to fun topics.  First, I want to show you several Valentine Day cards I made, and tell you how I did so with a little tutorial.  As you know, I love to upcycle things and repurpose things.

First, let's talk about the cards I made for my cutie grandbabies.  I ended up making one extra, I was on a roll.  :)  I have some old valentines that I picked up at an antique store a few years ago.  I made copies on white cardstock.  I love taking old images and using them in projects, or finding free clipart online.  

After I selected a few images I thought would make cute valentines, I pulled out some cardstock bases, and cut some felt to fit, using my pinking shears.  I then pinned the felt to the cardstock base.

 I did the remaining cards, and stitched the felt to the bases.  

Next I laid out my supplies to see if I still liked how things looked.  

So far so good.  I stitched my crepe and lace down, and then stitched my cardstock images on top.  I inked the cardstock with chalkboard ink before I stitched things down.

Last, I stickled a bit of accent on each card ~

Little bow for good measure ~

Done!

Now it is time to make some felted heart cards.  First, I felted some old sweaters so they were nice and thick.  

I decided to use the red sweater, and cut our some hearts from one of the sleeves, then added some trim ~

I took a large tag and added some scraps of purple cardstock (edge punched) and marblish pink cardstock and inked everything up ~

Next I stitched the heart to my tag ~

then I got out my little label maker and punched out love you valentine and added it to my tag, along with some stickles ~

I decided I wanted a wee bit more embellishment on the top of my tag, so I punched a little scalloped circle, inked it up, added it to the tag, then used a silver eyelet and added some various pink and red ribbon.  All done! 

I still had one heart left, with stitched pink crepe paper.  I cut and edge punched some purple cardstock scrap, added a wee bit of satin ribbon and lace to the base of my card, and stitched things together ~

Then I stitched my felted sweater heart and trim to the base ~

Time for the label maker punched sentiment, and a bit of stickles.  All done!

I am ready for Valentine's Day now!  

I have assembled my bead soup, and it is alllllll ready for mailing.  I can't wait to send it to my partner, I hope she likes it.  I peeked at her blog, and she does some super fun steampunk jewelry items.  For the bead soup challenge we were paired by Lori Anderson, who did TONS of work on this party.  She pairs people with a partner of different styles.  I hope my partner likes what I am sending to her!  :)  Here is a mystery picture of my bead soup ~ 

I can't share more until Grace receives it.  I can't wait to see what she does with it!!!  Check out some of her cool steampunk jewelry on her website.  We definitely have different styles, but I think her work is beautiful.  

Last thing from me today.  My next class, Handmade Fabric Mini Albums, will be available at The Art Studio beginning next Saturday (it won't be listed until next week, check about midweek and look under Mixed Media Classes).  I love love LOVE making these fabric books, and can't wait to show you how to do so ~  

Well, that is it for me this week.  I need to skeedaddle and get back to a few tasks before the work week is here.  I hope you all have a joyful and creative week ~ Pam

A Sneak Peek

Hellllllooooooooooooooo there!  How have you all been?  Super?  Super duper?  I hope so!  I have been running around like a wild person, woooooo! Between sewing a gazillion baby items for my daughter and my etsy shop (AlaPamala we have boatloads more to upload, it will be soon, PROMISE) , and tending to my seedlings, work, and my class, I finally had a little scrappy time ~ YAHOOO!!!  It was sooooooooooo enjoyable to play with scissors, paper, and glue and other scrappy goodness!  I can't show you my project yet, because I have a guest artist blog spot on a manufacturer's blog coming up.  But I can show you a sneak peek ~

I can also tell you that it is a sparklie item, in case you can't tell from the sneak peek. :)  I also have two more projects in the works, but no sneaks to show you yet.  Stay tuned though, they will be coming in the next few weeks.  The project above will have a free and full tutorial posted when it is ready.  I will hook you up with the link, so you can create away if you wish.  OK, I better scoot now, I have to get to work.  It is going to be a busy week!  I hope you have a great week, full of joy and time to create or just enjoy spring.  Take care! 
Happy crafting ~ Pam

Lots of stuff today, including a tutorial!!!!

Helllllllllllllllllooooooooooooooooooo everybody!!! How the heck are you all doing? Fab? Super fab? I hope so!!! I have several things to share with you today. First, some of my Zutter projects for June. I have been trying to use up some of my older favorite products to make room for new favorite products (can't wait til CHA!!!). :)

Here is an 8 x 8 Canvas Cover Mini using some colorful Sassafrass Lass stuff as well as other things from my stash ~



a peek inside ~



Next a summer wall hanging for a little girl ~



besides my fav beaded danglies, there is even room to put a few pics on the yellow spray misted areas ~




and last but not least is an itsy bitsy mini for wallet size pics ~




an inside peek ~



There will be directions on creating this super quick and easy little mini on the Zutter Bind-It-All blog in the next few weeks, so stay tuned.

Speaking of tutorials or directions, I have directions for the Altered Art Challenge I am posting to the Challenge Masters site today!!! Here is our project ~



It is an altered vase! Don't you love it? Just in time for all those lovely summer flowers! Well, let's get busy creating.

First, gather a few supplies. I chose to do a bud vase, but you can do any size vase. I also selected some of my fav Fancy Pants PP scraps, ribbon, a bit of burlap, fabric, and a bit of misted CS ~



Next I cut some PP and attached it to my vase. Before I attached it, I curved it on the edge of my work table so it would stick better. Just hold the paper on both ends, and run it ove rthe edge of your table. It will curve nicely. A little tip -make sure you use a strong adhesive for this project. I used this easy to apply super high tack double stick tape~






Next I added a little strip of fabric in the center of the PP (I used the same fabric that I used to create the ribbon rose) ~



next I added a skinny strip (a little wider than one inch) of burlap ~



then I cut a small rectangle of misted CS and attached it by tieing a coordinating ribbon around the center of the vase ~



Now I am ready for the ribbon rose. I posted about making these in a previous post a few months ago, but the easy way to make them is cut or tear a strip of fabric about 1 1/2" wide by about 20" long. Just twist the fabric tightly, and begin rolling it around itself and glue it. I use a low temp glue gun so I can quickly make these. You can alter the size of the rose by twisting more tightly, or by using either a skinnier or fatter piece of fabric. Experiment until you have one you like. After the rose is complete, you will need some leaves. Just glue on end of your ribbon to a spot on your ribbon, forming a leaf shape (back of ribbon pictured). Cut your leaf off and make a second leaf.



ready to glue leaves to the back of my ribbon rose ~





next glue your ribbon rose to the front of your vase. I used my low temp glue gun to do this ~



Since I am a bead lover, I decided my vase needed some bead danglies. I chose three (I have a huge stash of these made up at all times, so I can quickly put them on my projects)~



I tied them together with floss, then tied the floss around the back of the flower, between the flower and the ribbon where you can't see it, and put a drop of glue to hold it. Here is a side view~



a view from the back ~



and another side view ~



Here are a few pics of my vase in use ~



I used a flash in this pic so you can see the mixed yellow and orange colors of the flower a bit better, it has been dark and rainy here so it was hard to get a clear natural pic ~



I hope you will join us at Challenge Masters for this Altered Art Challenge, as well as BOATLOADS of other challenges. Grab your mojo, and come create with us! If your mojo is missing, come find it at Challenge Masters!

Lastly, I wanted to share the ATCs I made for a swap I am in over at Scrapbook News and Review ~



The theme was an inchie on top. We needed to include an inchie on the ATC, so I made the little Bliss inchie. Lots and lots of embossing powder used. :) Here is a close up view of the front and the back (of course I had to incorporate some fabric in mine) ~



OK, I will have more projects to share with you next weekend. In the meantime, I hope to see you over at Zutter Zisters, Challenge Masters, Citrus Tree Studio (new challenges go up on the 10th, and the fab June Sketch contest has already started, zip over and take a peek!), or Scrapbook News and Reveiw. They are all fab places to hang out!