My little reversible bag

I don't know about you but where I live they don't give out bags any more when you shop.  You either bring your own or buy their paper bags for 10 cents a pop (feeding a family of 5 takes a lot of grocery bags).  So I do bring my own most of the time but I like having a little one rolled up in my purse in case I forget so I have been playing with this idea of a little bag I can put in my purse and here was my attempt at it.  There are lots of instruction on line and I certainly do not prefess to be an expert so I will just show you some of my triumphs and failures.  This was my final piece.  I used one pack of the designer fabric to make one bag.  I took the button fabric and stitched the right sides together to make the outside and the  orangish fabric the same to make the inside lining.  I cut up the stitch design to make the handles, the top border, the pockets and the left over loops and tab for the button and the closure mechanism. 

 I did learn to put the mechanism on one side so when you try to close it it does not gape open. And I put a little pocket on the inside using the last bit of fabric left over.  Both the pockets are completely finished so no raw seams on the inside. 

I wanted to make the outside pocket big enough so that I could flip the bag inside it to fold it flat instead of rolling it and this one worked.

 This was one of my first tries at the bag- I liked it for the most part.   Makani, my girlfriend said that she wished that she had a pocket inside the one she had for her wallet or keys so it does not fall to the bottom when she's at the market. So I tried. 

I liked how the pocket continued the handle but what was funny is that it was too narrow and I could not get my fat hands into it to grab anything.  That's why the final bag has the pocket going side ways.


I  loved playing with the fabric and now I ordered some more- how could I resist?  Maybe I will make a little blanket using this sweet fabric just for moi!  So I can have sweet dreams under my Sweet Stitches!

My Sweet stitches gift exchange

I am in love with the Sweet Stitches button fabric.  I bought a bunch when they originally came out with it because I thought it was so sweet- love the color combo and when it hit the clearance, I bought some more.  Where else can you buy 3 fat quarter pieces for 99cents?  Even at Joanne's it usually goes for no less than $1 each!   Anyway I found some tutorials on scissor holders so I had to make one of course.  I used the petite cone but I am told you can also use the Dresden Designs bigz die to cut the fabrics-
I found the instructions here: http://goinovertheedge.blogspot.com/2012/08/fabulous-comfort-cafe-fabric-holders.html although I had to tweak it of course- I do like a well padded  scissor holder and I did not like seams showing so I stitched the top round  turned it right side out, put all four layers together (with the batting between each of the layers) and stitched a scant 1/4 inch and turned it inside out then used some ribbon and button to sew down the flap-  It was pretty easy but I would advised you to sew the button on, don't glue it- I do think it is worth the effort.  It fits the SU paper snips perfectly!  I gave this away with a bag I made all rolled up.  Isn't it sweet?  I will tell you of my trials making the bag on tomorrow's post. 

Fabulous Florets- CASE

Paula Dobson had this fabulous calendar easel cards using this set and I just loved what she did.  When one of my friends ordered this set recently I had to try to make it as a thank you card and although my camera took a picture bit shady, ti came out exactly how I envisioned it.  Stamped the leaves and sentiment on white using midnight muse.  Sponge the paper using Bashful Blue. I stamped the flowers separately, sponged it too and cut it out mounting as shown using dimensionals.  Mounted the whole thing on midnight muse, wrapped the ribbon around it and used Bashful to mount the whole thing onto it. Add a littel bling on the big flower and it was really a 10 minute card- if you don't count the cutting out with scissors part.....

Notecube gift updated.

Remember the notecube?
I posted the how to on it eons ago in 2008 and with the diagonal scoring tool, it is infinitely easier.  I just took a 8x8 inch square cardstock, put it flush against the left side top corner and score diagonally at 2 1/4. 4 1/2 and 6 3/4 inch and it makes a perfect holder for a 3x3 notecube.  Easily altered for different cube sizes ( no longer sold by SU though)   I had some cubes I hoarded before and I wanted to make some last minute Holiday gift and I thought it was darling.  Used some Sycamore Street DSP (coming out with Sale-a-bration on Jan 22, 2013.  The DSP wrapper tells you what colors coordinate with it making it super easy to match it up. Used the Midnight Muse CS punched with 2 3/8 scallop circle and Pool Party CS punched out with 1 3/4 inch circle then embossed with the top part of the Holiday frame to add some interest.  The butterflies are stamped with Rich Razzleberry and colored in with pool party and summer starfruit markes with a a little bling added on at the end.  The big butterfly is mounted with dimensional and the little one is mounted on the scallop from Mixed medley- hostess set from the holiday catalogue using a sticky strip to keep it flatter. The original instructions are here:  http://stampingdoc.blogspot.com/2008/12/notepad-and-pen-gift-set.html  that explains what you do after you score the cardstock in case you need a more step by step help.

L.

Merry Christmas RAK

This was a little gift I got from one of our new stampin friends, Hermelinda.  She found me on line and has been coming to my stamping parties and when I saw what she has been creating, she blew me away!
Every month she has been bringing a little treat and I thought this was so cute I had to share with you.- I hope she would not mind.  My kids have been poking out the candy so I'm glad I got a picture of it before it disappeared!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas

Season's Greetings and Peace on Earth!

Lynda

A Little Thank You

What a crazy few months this has been!  The trip to Washington DC, with everyone's birthday seem to be falling in the last 3 months of the year, getting ready for the holidays and marching through the routines of regular life, it's amazing that we get anything done at all.  I finally had a day off- really OFF.  And I spent most of it in my pajamas , catching up some programs I Tivo'ed (it's  a vowel now.) and perusing through email.  I realized it's been a while since I posted anything.  I have so many projects I've been working on so I will now take some time to post them.                                 This was a thank you project I case'd from Shelly Gardner here http://soshelli.com/so-shelli-blog/2012/11/13/ending-with-a-bang-1.html.  I used Early Expresso CS as base instead and die cut it using the fancy favor box die- my favorite and put the cardstock to just below the top fancy edge to make a straight edge.    I used Candlelight DSP to accent the mug and used Scentsational Bundle to stamp and diecut the mug in real red.  Stamped the steam in Expresso and then white  (people commented how clever this was but actually I did the steam in expresso first but it was hard to see so I did it again in white and I like the effect so I did the rest of them the same way- see? not a mistake.  Just an opportunity to be creative!  Hee hee)   Circle punched the handle by using scraps of Expresso CS - first with 1 3/4 inch circle then used the 2 1/2 inch circle punch to cut the outside handle, (you're only going to use just more than the 1/2 circle.  Fold it to make a semi-circle handle and cut it off about 1/2 inch beyond. I used glue dots to attach the handles as it seemed most sturdy.

I diecut another DSP in the same set with Window Frames framelets, folded it in half to make a bag topper.  Stamped the smallest snowflake from Snowflake Soiree with white EP on Expresso CS and put a little gem in the center.  Filled the bag with marshmallows, candy cane and a packet of cocoa from Starbucks.  It comes in a multipak that made it easy to make these.  I just added 1-2 per and it made such a cute little mug gift.

Enjoy!

Lynda