Halloween edition of Tuesday Threads with Karen

Happy Halloween, Ai Sewing fans!!

I have the October edition of Tuesday Threads with Karen Day to share with you today.

Two of the fabrics in the Shop Hop collection designed by Ai owner/illustrator Bonnie Krebs, are a subtly patterned bright orange, and a wonderful limey green... and given that my posting day was the 31st, I decided to make a little Halloween decor:

I've created a little pumpkin placemat/hotmat/potholder.  I'm choosing for it to be part of my Halloween decor, and if I had a bowl of candy to put out, it would be the perfect thing to set it on.  I started out by sketching out my design to make a pattern:

I drew my pumpkin shape, and added a 1/4" border as a seam allowance, and drew on my stitching lines.  I cut out two of these in the orange fabric, then cut apart the stem and cut one of it from the green fabric.  I used Therm O Web's HeatnBond Lite fusible adhesive and ironed it onto the top orange piece.  I cut a piece of Therm O Web's High Loft Fusible Fleece about the same size as the pumpkin, and fused it onto one of them.  I stitched the pumpkin pieces together with a 1/4" seam, clipped the edges and turned it inside out.  After slip stitching the bottom edge shut, I ironed the pumpkin so that the edges were flat and nicely rounded.

 I cut apart my pattern along the stitching lines, and pinned it onto my pumpkin to use as a stitching guide using orange thread to indicate the grooves on the pumpkin.

   I switched to green thread and zigzagged around the stem - this finished off the raw bottom edges nicely.  And there you have it!  Do you remember the mug rug that I made last month?  Just imagine how cute a small version of my pumpkin would be as a mug rug!!  Lots of possibilities...

 Have a happy & safe Halloween - and happy sewing :o)

Freshly Made & Inspired By

I'm playing with a couple of challenges today, as I needed a card for my niece's birthday later this week.  I've used the Freshly Made Sketch for this week, along with the inspiration photo from Inspired By All The Little Things (love this!):

So excited to play along with Inspired By - I miss being on the team!  Patterned papers are Dreamin' by CTMH; Sentiment is Verve; Coffee cup die is Memory Box.

You are the Pumpkin Spice in my Latte

It is my baby's birthday today.  She's 20 (no more teenagers!) and is spending the semester in France... so here is the birthday card that I shipped overseas for her big day... I think she'll love it:

 And of course, with a card this cute, you can't just make one... so I'm going to bore you with all four versions :o)

Happy Birthday, Paige!

Ai Holiday Mansion

 Have you seen the fabulous Holiday Mansion Set (Sku #4926) that Art Impressions released this summer??  It is the most brilliant idea to have a sweet little house that comes with shutters and a full set of dies to cut out the window panes, and two doors on hinges:

 How cute is that??  The other brilliant part of this set... is that there is a companion set of stamps & dies called HM Accessory Set (Sku #4927).  If you notice the tree, wreath, bells, reindeer & Santa - these are part of the accessory set, each designed to peek out from between or behind the windows and doors.

 After stamping and colouring with Copic markers, I positioned all the dies on both the house and all the accessories.  One quick pass through my Cuttlebug, and everything was cut out and ready to assemble.  I added some Stickles to sparkle up the snow a little, and added some sparkle to the background as well.  The sign was created by cutting it out from a piece of patterned paper.  Here is one of the sentiments that comes with the set that I added to the inside:

 Now - what I haven't mentioned yet, is that these are only 1/2 of the accessories that come in the set - a whole set of Halloween images (ghosts, pumpkins, boarded up windows, monsters) mean that you can colour the mansion completely differently to make a spooky haunted house.  I love when you can get an entirely different look from the same stamp set.  Head on over to the Ai website to pick up your own Holiday Mansion!

Copics used - Pinks R85, R83, R81

Reds - R37, R35, R32

Blues - B02, B01, B00, B000, B0000

Greens - G63, G61

Yellows - Y26, Y23, Y21, E50

Greys - C5, C3, C1

Browns - E55, E53, E51

A new Card Kit!

Hello everyone!  Hope you're enjoying a crafty Saturday :o)  I have the latest OCS Card Kit ( #21 ) to share, but first an ad - if you're in the Bolton area, stop by the One Crazy Stamper store today, there is a Garage Sale going on!  Gently used or (a ton of) never before used products are up for grabs at some amazing prices.  First come first served - bring some cash with you!

And now for the newest card kit... Here is Polar Sleigh RR006 from High Hopes Rubber Stamps:

He is a little different from our other card kits - as you'll be creating a little scene.  Everything you need to create four cards is included in the kit - card bases & envelopes, cut pieces and stamps.  You need some ink, adhesive, pop dots and the colouring medium of your choice to complete them.  The stamps are unmounted rubber, so you'll want to pick up some EZ Mount stamp cushion if you don't have any at home.  The sentiment is Think Snow 2 - also included.  You'll get a full colour instruction sheet including Copic colouring suggestions.  These are available right now in the OCS store here!  And if you're heading to the Creative Festival in Toronto next weekend - you can grab a few card kits there at the booth.  Happy stamping!

New Mini Try-folds!

The Art Impressions Design Team are helping to launch three new MTF sets today on the Ai blog.  I am using Halloween Treats (Sku #4928):

These stamp sets are so wonderfully designed, with three images that layer over top of each other, and each layer has a cutout that allows you to see down to the next layer.  It starts with the creaky old door - you can see how the door has been die cut, and there is a perforated fold line where the door hinges are.

 The next layer shows this table of spooky treats, and the area under the table has been die cut so that you can see the kitty underneath.

 I held everything together with some strands of colourful baker's twine.  The MTF sets come complete with instructions, stamps and dies to put your project together.  Check out with the rest of the DT has to share today over on the Ai blog, and you can link up your creation to our current challenge while you're there!

Spooktacular

 I am using another one of the Art Impressions 2017 Halloween sets today - Spooktacular Set (Sku #4941).  This is about as scary as I get for Halloween!  Not very!

 I stamped and coloured three of the mummies with my Copic markers, then pulled out my Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolours to make some festive backgrounds.  I mounted my image with pop dots, added one of the sentiments that comes in the set, and stitched 1/4" in from the edge with some black thread (always a little nerve wracking, one slip and it's toast!).  Here's a slightly different version:

I can't escape the fact that I'm a patterned paper fan... so with my last image I did the busier version:

 I hope you're enjoying some Halloween crafting time!  Be sure to join our current challenge on the blog "Create a Scene".  Happy stamping!
Copics used: C3, C1, YR18, YR16, YR15, YR12, Y35, Y11, G43, G40

  

Publications!

 I was lucky enough to have two Art Impressions cards published in the current edition of Creative Scrapbooker magazine!  The sitting teacher and the coffee-drinking-chicken are both on page 138... I also made two other coordinating cards, so I'm going to share them all today.  Here are the two from Teachers Rule (Sku #4901):

I've had these wonderful school themed papers for a while, and I made a bunch of geometric shapes to place behind her, as well as the cute little ruler that comes with the set.  The ruler & sentiment are adhered with pop dots:

On this card I did a little zig zag stitching with my sewing machine, made the sentiment into a speech bubble, and adhered it with pop dots:

And here are AiCS40 Spring Chicken Set, and AiCS39 Udderly Fantastic Set:

Here's my magazine gal!  I added some coffee mug die cuts to go with her sentiment:

And everyone loves dancing cows :o)

Happy stamping!

Copics on teacher cards - E11, E00, E000, R37, R35, R32, R30, YG03, YG01, YG00, BG75, BG72, BG70, C5, C3, C1, Y26, Y23, E50, E57, E55, E53, E51.

Copics on Funny Farm cards - YR18, YR16, YR15, YR12, BG15, BG13, BG11, E45, E44, E43, E41, E55, E53, E51, E50, R32, R30, Y38, Y32, Y11.

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