have a cuppa

Have you seen these travel mugs? You're able to put pictures or kids' artwork inside them. I picked one up last winter wanting to put some of my favorite fabric in it.

Prints like these:

Problem is - fabric is thicker than paper and not very stiff. It definitely doesn't want to go into the very narrow space of that travel mug. Starch didn't work. Interfacing would make it thicker. The solution finally hit me a few weeks ago - color copies of the fabric:

Three of my favorite feedsacks are on the left. The fabric on the right is a Japanese print given to me by Jan. I think some of my liberty fat quarters would be great for this too. You can't see it in the picture, but the copier (just our HP home printer) even picks up some of the fabric's texture. The colors aren't exact though and the very nice texture of the Japanese print showed up the least. However, I think they're a great representation of the originals.

How could I not smile drinking my coffee out of that? I wonder how I can get the string quilt on the copier...

thrifty thursday

Look what my neighbor put out on the curb:



After a lot of sanding, priming, painting and decoupaging:

Trixie has a new dresser.

The paper was left over from her walls. (Disty in cowslip by Laura Ashley - pattern is about 8 or 9 years old at this point.) I'm extremely happy with how the pattern lined up on the drawers. I did it by using one piece for both drawers and lining up the edges that meet with the outside edges of the paper which are designed to match the repeats when they butt up against one another. That sounds totally confusing - if you need more information, email me. I used regular modge podge to affix the paper to the drawers and the side panels of the dresser. (Those are really hard to see in the second picture, but they're papered as well.) A few more coats of modge podge over the top of the paper will protect it as well. The paper also lines the drawers, but isn't glued down.

The knobs are the only thing I'm not sure about. I'd planned to use milk glass and repurpose some I had in the house, but Restoration Hardware has stopped carrying them and I didn't have enough on hand. These are glass and came from The Great Indoors. I ran to several stores this past weekend and these were the best of what I could find, unless I just go with painted white wooden knobs. I had originally thought I'd put tiny knobs on the top two drawers and then use a larger size on the bottom. Any thoughts?

These may be permanent though - when Trixie saw the dresser she was thrilled that it had "jewels" on it.

guest halloween crafter

The kids are counting down the days until Auntie Trish arrives for her annual Halloween visit. According to Ellie, we have two sleeps to go. I don't have the heart to tell her that Trish's flight doesn't arrive until after she's begun the third sleep.

Trish may not be as nuts about Halloween as we are, but she's certainly in the spirit. She sent me some crafty photos just in time to post and buy me another day of costume sewing.

Her mantel tableau:

My realm is fabric - Trish's is paper as evidenced by her cute banner.

I love these mini pumpkins with their sashes.

This pretty much says it all...

I'll post costumes at some point on Friday. More garage sale goodness tomorrow.

ellie's invitations

Ellie decided that she wanted a "Spooky Halloween Birthday Party" this year even if it meant waiting a month after her actual birthday to have it.

Invitations were sent out.

The paper is brown kraft stuff that I bought at Paper Source in Chicago years ago. The stamps I used were sent to me by Carol and are from the Martha Stewart line at Michael's. The paper is held together by a spider ring and the candy was from Target.

Both were popped into a small (size 1) bag that had been stamped and was sewn shut with a zig zag stitch at it's widest and longest setting. (Yes, this meant hand delivery.) The bags are from a restaurant supply store. You'll want to pick something you'll use a lot because they're sold in packs of 250 or 500. I've had them so long now I can't remember how many I started with.

I sewed favor bags that'll do double duty as trick-or-treat bags on the big day. Ellie wrote out her friends' names after I stamped the tags. (The cat stamp is an old one from Stampin' Up.)

Inside we put a pencil, notepad and pencil topper stamp. The kids each got a mini pumpkin when they were out after playing hot pumpkin (same as hot potato, but with mini gourds). The skeleton was a chenille stem craft we all did at the beginning of the party while waiting for everyone to arrive. Flashlights were the prize at the end of a scavenger hunt. She's eaten the candy she got as prizes for other games.

Tomorrow, pictures of some of the games.

stitching paper (not foreheads)

It figures that for all the stitching I've posted about on this blog, the stitching that had nothing to do with crafts has garnered the most interest. Time to get back on track.

This book came home with me a few months ago. I've taken some classes at Paper Source in the city, but that was ages ago and I've forgotten many of the techniques we worked on. This looked like a great way to get back to work with a low degree of difficulty.

Today I gave a simple stab stitch binding a try. The kids did some watercolor paintings over spring break and I wanted to put them in a simple book for their uncle(sorry Mike, I just spoiled a surprise - it'll be in the mail soon). For some reason my stitches overlap, but the ones in the book don't. I think I figured out where I went wrong, but doubt I'll redo it. That happened after I punched the holes in the wrong spot and had to trim the paintings a second time. I'm calling it done and considering it part of the learning curve.

One of Glenn's pictures is used as cover art. He titled this one "Tool". Which made me laugh and I couldn't tell him why.

Ellie has an obsession with volcanoes which migh have something to do with her desire to live in Hawaii. She calls this "The Volcano Erupts".

And Trixie - after making two other paintings which she called "Baby Hippo" and "Horsey" - worked on this one. When I asked what this one was called, she looked at me very seriously and said, "I can't speak". After going back and forth a few times in some weird Laurel and Hardy routine, I realized that she wasn't telling me she couldn't talk - she was giving me the name of the painting.

I couldn't speak either. I was laughing too hard.