Baby Love Bunny

I brought out this fuzzy felt bunny to make an Easter card, but ended up making a card perfect for a baby girl. The ribbon even has "baby girl" printed on it in chocolate brown and soft pink.



TIP: I also wanted to share a tip for altering the size of your die cuts. I love my scalloped rectangle Nestabilities, but sometimes they don't fit the embellishment I want to use. Here's how I took my rectangle die and adjusted the shape to fit my felt bunny.


First, I used the die to cut my paper into a scalloped rectangle. Then I lined up my paper so that the scallops fit the grooves on the die AND the edge of the die was where I wanted to make a new edge for my paper. The photo above shows a view of the top...


...here's a view of the bottom.


Then I ran the die and paper through my die cut machine a second time. Here's what my die cut looked like coming out of the machine. (Hopefully you can make out the shape through my much-used cutting mat.) I simply tossed the paper remnant into my recycling bin, leaving a scalloped shape custom made for my little bunny. Easy peasy!

We're dying Easter eggs tonight. Hope you're doing something fun, too!

Supplies
Stamps: Stampin' Up! (Noteworthy).
Ink: Stampin' Up! (Chocolate Chip).
Paper: Stampin' Up! (Kraft, Whisper White), My Mind's Eye (Tiny Dancer "Chasse" Graceful Circles Paper, Tiny Dancer "Ballet" Dancing Circles Paper).
Felt Rabbit: Martha Stewart.
Ribbon: American Crafts.
Punch / Dies: Rectangle Nestabilities, Stampin' Up! (scallop border punch, corner rounder).
Other: white sewing thread.

Scripture Tote 2.0 and a Question

I finished Brighton's second scripture tote. Don't look too closely. You can see where my old machine - we'll call it Chewie - chewed up the fabric and struggled around the handles.

Aside from the more reverent fabric, the biggest improvement with Tote 2.0 is the definition of the sides and bottom. See how square they are? I thought that made it perfect for books and helped it look more masculine. But alas, I didn't realize how much defining those corners would take away from the interior space. It's too tight for Brighton to get his books in and out without crumpling the pages. Looks like I'll be making Tote 3.0. Which brings me to my big question...

Would you be interested in a tutorial for the scripture tote? I added a poll on my right sidebar. Look over there -------->

IF there's interest in a tutorial, I'd also be happy to include instructions on making a cute girly version with pieced fabric and maybe some sweet ribbon or ruffle or floral embellishment. (If you have a daughter and you're interested, let's talk.)

You'll also see a question about a tooth fairy tutorial. As I should have guessed, my neighbor's sister would like a tooth fairy, too. She's an older sister - I'm not sure she even has any baby teeth left - but how can I deny a sweet second grader? I'll be making another tooth fairy softie - this one custom ordered with a purple and green skirt, not pink! :) The brilliant Larissa Holland of mmmcrafts has her own detailed tutorial for making the tooth pillow, so my tutorial may be superfluous. But I've tweaked here and there, I sew instead of glue, and I'd be happy to give more detailed instructions on decorating the tooth as a fairy.

Thanks in advance for your feedback! And thanks for stopping by. :)

Lucky Me - Again!

See these beauties? I won these sweet little brads in a Moxie Fab giveaway sponsored by BasicGrey. I can't take any credit for the win - my comment number was chosen at random. But I can't wait to make some spring projects using this darling pastel palette!

Here's a peak at some of the other crafty goodness headed my way.

Ribbon Doilies


Cozy Posies (That's a fancy name for chenille flowers.)


Rub-Ons


Writer's Block (Sticky note pads, memo pads, and die cuts. Hooray for cute Post-It notes!)


Acrylic Stamps. *swoon* I already see four card layouts begging for these. Must...Make...Time.


Stickers

And a sampling of the papers:










You can click here to see the full Kioshi line. Thanks, BasicGrey!

Lucky Me

I love waking up to an inbox full of happy news. :) Hop on over to Moxie Fab World and check out the latest contest winners. Recognize the wedding dress? Teehee.

I'm flattered and excited - Moxie Fab has terrific prizes! Can't wait to see what crafty goodness lands in my mailbox.

Hope you have something to smile about this morning too!

Celebrate Your Inner Princess

A dear friend recently gave me a gift card to a local craft store. Thank you, dear friend, you know my heart! Well that little gift card was burning a hole in my pocket, so I simply had to go shopping.


I've been eyeing this Martha Stewart crown punch for a while. I thought it might look great with some bling, then when I saw this beautiful card by the talented Krystie Hersch, I was sold.

I used silver cardstock for my card base. Apparently it reflected a lot of light in the photo; it looks much closer to dark grey in real life. The ribbon is also more raspberry. Hmmm...guess I'd better work on my photography skills. ;-)


I cranked out a whole stack of these gems last night. It seems like birthday cards are what I need most often - and I NEVER have any! Now it feels good to be prepared. :)

Hope you're enjoying your day!

Supplies
Paper: Bazzill Basics (Tiara), Stampin' Up! (Whisper White), Recollections (Black Damask).
Computer Font: French Script MT.
Punch: Martha Stewart.
Rhinestones: Jolee's Jewels.
Ribbon: Celebrate It.

Tooth Fairy

She's a tooth. She's a fairy. She's a tooth fairy.

The sweet neighbor girl next door lost her second tooth last night. But alas, the Tooth Fairy passed her by. Apparently our neighbor didn't put her tooth under her pillow.

Since Bernie and I have been busy getting acquainted with one another (Bernie's my new sewing machine) AND since I've been sewing felt food for Lincoln to use in his play kitchen (I'll post the food when I'm done), I had both my sewing machine and piles of felt at the ready. So I whipped out the pattern for Brighton's Tooth Officer and made my sweet neighbor her very own Tooth Fairy pillow.

It might be hard to see in the photo, but the mouth serves as a pocket for holding the tooth. The real Tooth Fairy removes the tooth from this pocket and leaves a coin.

You know what the best part of this little softie is, though? That pink ribbon she's hanging from. No longer does the Tooth Fairy need to rummage under pillows for a teeny, tiny, sharp-ended tooth while threatening to wake a slumbering child. This plush fairy hangs from a dresser or a doorknob - the real Tooth Fairy doesn't even have to enter the child's room. Genius, I tell ya'!

Here's to hoping the Tooth Fairy is more on the ball tonight than she was yesterday. I want to see a happy five-year-old tomorrow wearing a great big, toothless grin!

A big, huge thank you to Larissa of mmmcrafts for the inspiration and pattern.

Meet Bernie

Meet Bernie. Though we're still getting to know one another, I can already tell I love her. (That's all of her packaging and accessories in the background.) Here's the story of how Bernie came into my family.

First, using my OLD machine, I made this...

without a pattern. Did you hear me? I said WITHOUT a pattern! I got a little antsy, my palms got sweaty, but TA-DA, I made it!


Inside view of lining and pocket.


It's a scripture tote for Brighton. He loves it. He loves it so much that he stuffed the interior pocket so full of crayons the pocket broke. Oops. I knew I should have reinforced those corners properly.

Even before the pocket broke, I knew this tote was a prototype. Clue #1 - I wasn't using a pattern. I knew I'd want to tweak things after I saw it put together. Clue #2 - the juvenile fabric. It would look great on a burp cloth, don't you think? Which is precisely the reason it's a little too babyish for a growing boy to take to church.

Now, as I said earlier, I sewed that tote on my old sewing machine. The whole time I was working on it, ye olde machine griped and groaned and snagged my thread and ate my fabric. Still, I plodded on.


I made this set of napkins and placemats for Lincoln to pack in his lunch basket for preschool. Now, if ye olde machine griped and groaned about the tote, it wheezed and sneezed about these napkins (and still snagged my thread). Thing is - there is absolutely NOTHING easier to sew than a napkin. Two layers of medium weight fabric, straight seam, easy peasy. My machine was on its way out.


I shouldn't have been surprised that when I tried to make another tote - in a notably non-juvenile print - my machine died. Completely died. It wasn't strong enough to topstitch over the handles.

So, that's how I came to need Bernie. She's a machine that can handle anything I throw at her. :) I have my first class on how to use her later this week. Classes! How great is that! Can you tell I'm excited? Be on the lookout for more sewing-related posts in the future.

Wedding Dress

I don't remember playing with paper dolls when I was a little girl, but maybe I should have - this was fun. I drew a dress shape onto white cardstock, cut it out, and covered it with lace. I added a sweet little snip of satin ribbon to accentuate my curvy bride's tiny waist (we all wish, right?) and adhered the dress to coordinating textured cardstock.


I fought - I mean, really fought - the urge to add a sentiment, a pearl embellishment, something. But everything looked too busy and took away from the dress. The more I look at the card, though, the more I'm glad I left it alone. My husband calls this the polka dot effect. I went through a craft phase where I loved embellishing with polka dots. I'd keep adding just one more polka dot until I had way too many and the card looked like a mess. Sometimes you just gotta know when to stop adding things and let it be, you know? :)


This card is for Moxie Fab World's latest challenge, Diggin' On Doilies and Lace. A girl I started babysitting when she was seven years old is getting married next weekend (whoa! time flies), so I've got "bride" on the brain. Hope you've got something happy to think about, too. :) Take care and thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Paper: I think the aqua paper is from The Paper Company. I bought it at JoAnn's but don't have the sticker. White is from Bazzill Basics.
Ribbon: American Crafts (Funhouse Blue).
Punch: Stampin' Up! (3/16" corner rounder).
Lace: Simplicity.

Striped Bird

I haven't had time to make cards lately, so here's an oldie but goodie. I pieced together some chipboard to make this fun bird. After I mounted him on the cardfront, I decided that his body needed to be outlined. At that point I had to use marker instead of an ink pad. You can see where I slipped a little bit under his belly. Oh well, I still think he's pretty darn cute. :)

Supplies
Paper: Stampin' Up! (Kiwi Kiss, Very Vanilla), patterned paper by October Afternoon.
Stamp: Stampin' Up! (Sweet Little Sentiments).
Ink: Stampin' Up! (Chocolate Chip, Tempting Turquoise, Old Olive).
Other: Stampin' Up! (On Board So Tweet Chipboard), American Crafts (brown brad), brown thread.

Proud Daughter

See that beauty? My dad made it. Yep, he's pretty awesome like that. :)


Even better, it's a puzzle! My stepmom (Meme to the boys) painted those beautiful animals.


The animals all come out of their cubby/layers and the ark can still be assembled, so the kids can enjoy playing with the animals separately too.

I think my dad did Noah proud, though I'm pretty sure my boys won't be trying out this ark in the bathtub.


In other crafty news, my stepmom has taken up cardmaking too! First she began machine embroidery (with a truly drool-worthy set-up) and is now branching out from working with fabric to working with paper.

I absolutely LOVE stitching on cardstock. Can you imagine how long it would take someone like me to replicate this by hand? It would never turn out as nicely, either. *sigh*


Meme's card fits the current Moxie Fab challenge: Fun with Floss, so my stepmom said I could enter her card for her. (Meaning that she get the credit, but since she doesn't have a blog, I'm posting for her. It gives me an excuse to brag a little too, and I kindof like that.)


Meme used a machine embroidery pattern that she purchased for the card. She told me which one, but of course I forgot. I'm trying to make sure I post her card before the challenge deadline, but I'll be back with an update on the pattern as soon as possible.