Beautiful Bees Stamp Set

 This card is made with the awesome stamp set designed by Melanie Muenchinger for Gina K Designs called Beautiful Bees.  My sister is a bee keeper so I just had to have it.  This is the first card I made with this set and while I am not happy enough with it to give it away (the honeycomb is lined up very messily) I am very happy with the design of it.  I would like to try this again.  It may work better to stamp the honeycomb hexagons individually then cut them out.  That would allow me to space them more evenly.

I had a few very sloppy areas in the honeycomb-one of which is hidden by a sequin, then I decided to add 2 more sequins.  I tried covering up the other messy spot of the honeycomb with a sequin but it was too close to the other one and didn't look right.

I used Hero Arts Ombre dye ink in the color "Butter Bar to Orange Soda" as well as my trusty Gina K Designs Black Onyx dye ink.  The layers were cut with Gina K Designs Master Layouts 1 dies.

I will try to remember to post a picture when I finally get around to making a better version of this card.

Just Add Color, the Current Free Gina K Incentive Stamp Set

 

I had fun playing with the Gina K Designs free incentive stamp set that came with the order my husband got me for Christmas.  The stamp sets change and you need to spend a minimal amount before you qualify for them but hey-free is free correct?  

I honestly didn't know if I would like this stamp set because I like clean and simple, one layer, elegant floral cards.  I thought about making the rainbow "brush strokes" like in the first card and then adding a black floral silhouette through the strokes but when I looked through my stamps I didn't have anything that I thought would work.  The third card pictured is actually the first of the three that I made.  I got a smudge in the white space where I wanted to put the sentiment so I decided to put the rainbow in the air and add the layered sentiment that you see.  It fit better in that arrangement. The last card I made is the middle one in the picture.  This type of card doesn't appeal to me but I know many people appreciate colorful cards and I like to use my stamps as much as possible so I did experiment with the "rings".  I figure I can still add a birthday sentiment to the inside or perhaps a different sentiment at a later date making it so that it can fit many occasions.

I send many cards per year to nursing homes and people that request card showers so the card that says you are beautiful like a rainbow is going to be perfect for that purpose.

I also used the Master Layouts 1 dies that was part of the gift my husband bought from Gina K Designs to cut the card layers and the ovals.  My paper cutting leaves a lot to be desired.  These dies are a game changer for me.

The Versatile Gina K Designs Holiday Tapestry Stamp Set

I recently posted some embossed Christmas Cards I made (and 2 Birthday Cards) using this awesome Gina K Designs Holiday Tapestry Stamp set.  I wanted to make some cards that were not embossed so I gave it another try.  I used Gina K Designs Card stock in Blue Raspberry and Christmas Pine.  The green and blue inks are memento and the multi colored one is the multi-colored Tsukineko Kaleidacolor in the Spectrum Colors variety.  I am not sure if this is available any more but there are videos of how to make your own multi-colored temporary ink pads using baby wipes on You Tube.

The cards seemed a little bit boring so I added pearl embellishments to the flowers and I used Wink Of Stella to the leaf designs in the center of the designs at the top and the bottom of the cards.  You cannot see the sparkle in the photos but it really make the design seem special in real life.  

The Stamping Village Happy Birthday Collaboration Stamp Set

I love this collaboration stamp set that has images provided from multiple stamp companies.  I purchased it several months ago but finally got the chance to play with it.  

I had an old 6 x 6 paper pack (birthday themed) that I paired with it.  I cut the larger layer 3.5 inches by 5 inches.  I then cut down the biggest left over piece of the same patterned paper to 1 1/2 inches by 5 inches.  That allowed me to utilize most of the paper on 2 separate cards.  I mixed and matched several of the papers throughout all of these cards.  I also took several more of the left over pieces and made my own background design on one of them. I really like to get as much use from my papers as possible.

I picked out 2 copic marker colors that coordinated with the multicolored papers and used them throughout all of the cards.  I stamped one image in each of the smaller rectangles then minimally colored them.  One of the stamps was a "And Many More" stamp which is stamped inside the 3 cards that say Happy (or Hoppy) birthday.  I used the "Sending Birthday Wishes" stamp inside the other cards.  The only stamp I did not use on these juvenile type cards was the "Happy Birthday with love" one by Gina K Designs.  It has hearts all over it and just reads more mature to me.  I will make an adult card with that one.

The cards seemed a little "flat" in design to me so I added wink of stella to all the colored images and I also added a line of gemstones to the cake image card.  It seemed more teenage in design to me and definitely for a girl.  Now they all look good.  I have 11 nieces and nephews that are baby to high school age.  I also have 4 adult nieces and nephews but that's another story.  These cards can go to the family with 5 children and I don't have to worry that I sent the same card to more than one child in the family.  That is a relief.

 

Embossed Christmas and Birthday Cards

 

I am in love with the Gina K Designs Holiday Tapestry stamp set.  It works equally well for Christmas as for Birthdays or other occasions.  I made 2 Birthday cards using the set along with the Gina K Designs wreath builder template and one of the cards used some of the stamps from the original Wreath Builder stamp set.  I used the analagous colors of blue and green card stock (specifically Blue Denim and Fresh Asparagus Gina K Designs card stock) for the birthday cards.

For the Christmas cards I made 12.  3 are red and gold while 9 are blue and silver.  They are specifically made with the Gina K Designs Holiday Tapestry stamp set, Blue Denim Gina K card stock, Red Velvet Gina K card stock and Stampendous detail gold embossing powder plus Hero Arts silver embossing powder.  I had an unknown brand of silver and gold glitter papers for the background card stock and the black frame is also from an unknown brand.

As always, these are A2 sized cards (4 1/4 inches by 5 1/2 inches).

I do believe that the Holiday Tapestry stamp set with be my all time favorite set!

Cards for Healthcare Workers

 I wanted to thank some healthcare workers so I pulled out some die cuts, some extra bases that I hadn’t finished figuring how to decorate and various stamp sets and this is what I came up with. 

Variations on a Theme

 I recently was playing around with my patterned papers and found two coordinating papers that I have been hoarding. I needed some quick cards that I could use to send to people when they were down in the dumps and this is what I came up with. 

Birthday Cards

      I send out 30 birthday cards a year, and that is only to my family.  I had a large selection of birthday cards saved up for this year.  From time to time my children ask to look through my cards to give a card to a friend so I like to have an assortment.  I decided to pre-assign cards to each of the 30 people I need to send the cards to this year and after I was done, I had none left and still needed 1 more.  

     Here is the result of my first of my attempt to build up a better supply of birthday cards.  I seldom use patterned paper anymore but I decided to try it again because it is easy to put something together and comes together much quicker.  I had some die cuts and stickers ready to go.  The only thing I stamped was the inside sentiment.

Pet Sympathy Cards

 

My daughter works at a Veterinary Clinic and recently she has asked me to make a sympathy card whenever a co-worker loses a pet.  I am always in a hurry so I don't photograph them.  I just made 3 for her today but 1 of them wasn't up to my strict standards so I didn't photograph it.

Here are the two that I am happy with but the others were very good too.  I need to start making them ahead of time so I can photograph them and not be stressed out and staying up way too late at night in order to get the cards done for her.

My First Baby Quilts

 

I made 2 baby quilts last month and had a blast.  I had fabrics that I had no plans for using and I thought I could make a baby quilt out of it.  Most of my fabric stash is made up of fat quarters up to about 1/3-1 yard cuts.  This makes it ideal for baby quilts.

I used my Accuquilt die cutting machine to cut 5 inch charm squares of white and 8 different prints with pink in it.  I put a pretty pink floral on the back and used the same fabric for binding.  I used a simple crosshatch quilt pattern for quilting because as long as my corners all matched-which they were very close-I could quilt without even marking the quilt top.  I am hanging onto it until I have a need to make a baby quilt.

Prior to this quilt I made another baby quilt from various blue fabrics in a 9 patch pattern..  I tried stitching in the ditch but since it was my first attempt at making a quilt top, my corners didn't match at all and my straight lines ended up zig zagging all over the place.  I decided not to do stitch in the ditch in the future since a crosshatch design is easy and turns out very nice.  That quilt will eventually go to a charity.

This is my cow quilt.  The gray looking squares are actually the words 'moo' written over and over again.

The back is white and the binding is white and again I used the crosshatch no marking quilt design that is so easy to do.

 

John Wayne Quilt

 I finished the John Wayne quilt I made for my husband's birthday.  He is a huge John Wayne fan.   

Riley Blake came out with this panel and the coordinated prints so I just had to get it for him.  It is 

very large throw that he can use on the couch when he lays down to watch T.V.

Lining up Layered Stamps and Split Card Tricks

 I had so much fun using the Gina K Designs YouTube video on how to line up layered stamps so that I could use those with the Split Card Tricks Video by Jennifer McGuire.  I then went crazy and made even more types of cards with the many flowers that I made, die cut, and fussy cut.

WPlus9 Pretty Peonies, Altenew Vintage Roses stamp sets. Gina K Designs sentiment from a freebie.  Altenew mini cubes colored inks, Gina K designs Black Onyx ink.  Gemstones added.

Card tops created using 2 different EK Success border/edge punches.  They may be retired because I had a hard time researching them.  I was not able to find them online in my brief search.  The sentiments were from the Altenew Vintage Roses stamp set.  I used gemstones on one card and pearls on the other.  I used Wink of Stella on fthe lowers of the card on the right.

These cards were created using the Fabulous Frame stamp set from Gina K Designs.  I used pearls on some of the cards and gemstones on another one.  I used Gina K Designs card stock.

Fabric Organization

     I got married 25 years ago and I brought my fabric stash to my new house in large plastic storage bins. I honestly don’t remember how I stored fabric previously but I’m pretty sure it was always in bins. Nineteen years ago I inherited even more fabric than I already had. It came in large plastic storage bins.  Needless to say I had no idea which fabrics were in the bins because I could only see the ones on top.
     I had a basement sewing room for about 5 years after I got married but then I rarely used it due to being Mom to 2 small children, a Girl Scout leader and working full time.  My vast amount of sewing items got stripped to the bare necessities and the duplicates, non-essentials and any fabric I didn’t like was sold at a garage sale.  My husband took over the room and the rest of my "sewing room" went into a part of the basement used for storage and got buried behind more and more storage over the years. It was accessible through little walkways but it was still inconvenient to access.
     In October 2019 I expanded my first floor craft room to make room for my sewing items and I was presented with the question of how to organize my fabric.  I searched the internet and found ideas for storage in bins like I had been storing them, or storing the fat quarters in a specific type of clear bin, and also using a large quilting ruler to wrap your fabric around making them nearly the same size for stacking in cabinets and etc.  I loved how pretty it looked to have fabric stacked neatly with a way to get a glimpse of the color and pattern.  I already was using Ikea Kallax cubical type bookcases in my craft room so when I remodeled the craft room I purchased all the storage from Ikea.  This left my original Ikea Kallax which I had purchased drawers and cabinet fronts for to now use as fabric storage.  I also adopted the method of using the clear bin for my fat quarters but the way I organized the rest of my fabric within the Ikea unit has evolved over the months.
     Originally I sorted my fabric by size.  I felt that I could easily look at a quilt pattern that called for a certain number of standard sized fabric cuts and pull what I need from my "fabric store".  I put all my fabric that was 1 yard or more into several cubicles, then all half yard cuts into several others.   My fat quarters were in one clear storage bin sorted by color family.  My fat eighths were in one Ikea drawer and my eighth yard cuts were in the other drawer.  My quarter yard cuts were in the lower right cupboard and my Christmas fabrics were in the lower left cupboard.  (I still have scrap booking items in the other drawers but I need to find a way to move them so all the drawers are available for fabric.  That will allow me to store my fat quarters in them and re-purpose the clear bin for completed patchwork quilt tops.)
     I started my recently renewed quilt making efforts by using scraps and fabric cuts that were eighth yards or less as well as some fat quarters and making 4 scrappy 9 patch quilt tops for everyone in one of my extended families.  The type of fabric storage I had set up worked perfectly for these completely scrappy quilts since I knew where all my scraps were as well as my eighth yard cuts, fat eighths and fat quarters.  I also over time noticed fabrics that paired perfectly with each other so I pulled those out and stacked all those sets together in one section.  After I found out what colors most of my other family members preferred in quilts I realized that I couldn't keep pulling all fabrics in the same color family from every section of my storage when I needed it.
     Phase 2 of my fabric organization was very similar to the first phase.  I continued stacking the fabrics that had been wrapped around my large quilting ruler only I stacked all the blues together, all the greens together and etc.  I still kept my quarter and eighth yard fabrics separately.  I noticed that I wasn't as inspired as I was before to pull out coordinating sets but that was okay since I was looking for specific colors for the other members of my family.  I did, however, decide that I wanted to take each color section out and organize them with the darkest colors at the bottom and the lightest color at the top.  This really helped me because my eyes enjoyed the organization of color and could more easily pull out specific values of each color (light, medium or dark) for any quilts I was pulling fabric for.
     Over several months I realized that I wanted to have a "blended" method of organizing.  I really liked the color family method with the darkest on the bottom, but I had other specific categories of fabric that I wanted to pull out and keep together.  I wanted all of my solids that were more than a quarter yard to be stacked together to easily find a solid when I needed it.  I wanted all my plaids together because I have always wanted to make a plaid apple core design quilt and had previously purchased many different plaids in eight yard or more sections.  I was okay with stacking the smaller cuts of fabrics in my plaids because they all needed to be together.  I had inherited some gingham fabric and couldn't figure out what to do with it until the idea of sewing them together for a child's twin quilt backing came to me.  I needed to stack all the ginghams together to be sure I used them up.  I already pulled some out for one of the quilts I am working on.
    After working on 5 or 6 quilt tops I noticed that my fabric stash was getting smaller so I went into the basement and pulled up all of my novelty prints as well as my special reproduction depression era prints that I had only used to make baby quilts for my daughters and was hoarding for just the right project.  I stacked every novelty fabric together by theme (farm theme, animal themed, nautical, patriotic etc.)  This inspired me to pull some of those fabrics out for quilt tops including some of that special depression era reproduction fabric for a new baby girl in the family due in July.  I now have all of my quilting cotton fabrics organized and in my craft room.
     As you can see in the photo starting on the top left section and working down, my current organization is a stack of half of my color families on the left and all my plaids on the right in the first cubicle.  The cubicle to the right has all my solids and ginghams.  I can easily see that I need more solids.  The lower left cubicle has fabric sets I have pulled out that pair well with each other and can easily be grabbed for specific projects with little to no additional fabric needed to complete a quilt top.  To the right of that stack is the other stack of color families.  (As I write this and and analyze how I have stored things I am going nuts over the fact that I didn't stack my two color family stacks next to each other in the same cubicle.  This will be fixed immediately tonight so it makes more sense.)  The cubicle on the lower right has a stack of reproduction prints including a new stack of fat eights so I don't run out of my favorite type of fabric.  The stack to the right of it is my current novelty prints.  I really don't buy novelty prints anymore but since I inherited most of those and they are 75% farm themed, I think I can use them in a quilt top or quilt back for a child.  The left drawer is all I have left of my half yard fabrics and the drawer on the right is what I have left of my quarter yard cuts.  I used up my routine fat eighths in my scrap quilt.  The open cupboard on the lower left still houses all my Christmas fabric.  It looks empty but the majority of the shadow you see is actually two fabric stacks completely filled to the top.
     I haven't shown the clear plastic bin I use for my fat quarters because I pulled about 75 % of the fat quarters out to use in quilts I am going to make for family members.  This means the remaining fat quarters are loose and unable to be kept upright, orderly and color coordinated.  I will soon have room for the remaining ones in my Ikea so I won't continue to use the clear bin for fabric quarters.  Sorting by color family was very inspirational while I was using it plus I placed them in a way that I could see all the colors from the top.  I did not stack them on each other.  I stacked them upright which was about the height of the bin, and the other ones were placed in front or behind each other which was very effective in allowing me to see every fat quarter at the same time.
     The cupboard on the lower right only stores two sets of flannel fat quarter sets.  I bought them by accident.  I am tempted to just stack them on one of the stacks of fabric above so I can bring up my feed sacks and fabrics cut from certified feed sacks and store them there along with a plastic shoe box bin that has left over depression era fabric scraps and a few blocks made by my Great Grandmother.  I would love to have enough fabric available to make a twin sized quilt but I would settle for a wall hanging.  I don't want her work to live on without being appreciated.  It definitely came down to the correct relative.
     Having my fabric stacked, organized and out in the open like this inspires me daily to make new quilts.  I have more fabric than this but I have squirreled away enough fabrics for at least 5 or 6 of the quilts in the colors my family has requested.  I am okay with having them out of sight because I AM working on those and won't forget about them, plus I won't accidentally get inspired to use fabric that could have been used for one of my family members.   I had always intended on using up my fabric stash after I retired so I could save money by shopping from my stash.  I just needed to set it up where I could see it to get the quilting juices flowing again.!

Sugaridoo/Bernina Quilt-A-Long (Halfway finished).

     This is the first time I am participating in a Quilt-a-long.  I remodeled my craft room and made room for most of my hoarded fabric from 25-30 years ago (including the fabric I inherited from my Mom in 2001-which was a much larger collection than mine.)  My sewing machine is now a permanent fixture in my craft room.  I previously made one twin size bed quilt, 4-5 mini quilts, a dresser "scarf" and a wall hanging which I pieced, quilted and bound by hand.  Of course this was all 25-30 years ago.  I then got married and raised my children.       

     Around October I was watching a video from the "Just Get It Done Quilts" YouTube channel and she mentioned two quilt-a-longs she was considering.  I checked both of them out.  The Sugaridoo QAL is a series of 12 rows over a year and that seemed manageable.  It made a twin size quilt which was perfect for all the gifts I want to make which are mostly twin sized.  The host of Sugaridoo is a delightful young lady from the Netherlands who is the most cheerful person I have seen on YouTube ever!  I signed up for the mystery quilt immediately.  Come to find out it is a modern quilt which is not at all my style but I used browns with an accent of gold to make it more subtle and as close to a classic style quilt as possible.  

     I am actually learning things and improving my quilt making techniques as I go.  I have perfected my quarter inch seam because of the QAL.  Who knew that my quarter inch foot needed to have the needle moved over 2 spaces to the right in order to sew a perfect quarter inch?  I guess I was naive all this time that I thought the quarter inch foot would make a quarter inch seam with no adjustments.  

     The photo above is the first 6 rows that I have made including a little of the back side of each row.  The seventh row instructions were just posted yesterday but I have a new project I am finishing on my sewing table as we speak so it will likely be a few more days or a week before I finish the most current row.

     And how has all of this affected my card making?  It made the card making come to a halt with the exception of my February 28, 2020 post.  I was going to participate in the longer virtual stamp night but the COVID-19 pandemic hit in full swing with hospitals running out of personal protection devices and my friends and family needing masks so as I was sewing my first 48 or so masks the virtual stamp night came and went.  Oh well.  I desperately want to sit down and spend a weekend making cards.  I am desperately low on them and due to my continued mask making for donations and my quilting I have been unable to send cards to my relatives.  I think many of them will be disappointed but I still wish them a Happy Birthday and by next year I will be on track.  My heart is missing card making though.

I just made 49 "surgical" masks with a spot for a filter for my family and friends.

This is the last of the 49 masks I made due to the COVID-19 virus pandemic.  There is a place on the back for a filter. 

Everyone seems to be making them with 7 inch elastic for the ears but the masks fall off my face if I use 7 inches.  I need 6 inches and I have heard others say they need 8 inches.  I made my own ties so it is adjustable for everyone.  I made some smaller ones for my great niece and great nephew. 

My brother. niece and grand nephew all have asthma. Everyone in my house is still in a profession considered crucial during this pandemic (take out food, veterinary clinic) and I wanted all the co-workers protected so my family is less likely to bring something home from work.  Some of those people have asked for masks for their friends or family at home.  I keep getting more requests.

I have to stop making them for awhile though because I need to finish my daughter's quilt by her birthday in about 10 days.

Here is a link to the pattern I used.  I just cut 2 straps 1 1/2 inches wide from selvage to selvage for the ties.  Iron the straps in half lengthwise to find the center.  Iron each edge lengthwise to the center, then iron the ties in half again lengthwise where the initial fold was.  Insert the mask edges in the center of the ties and top-stitch the length of the tie while attaching it to the mask.  Put a knot in the ends of the ties.  I used a half pipe cleaner to make it adjustable to the nose.  Face mask video   

I found that the pipe cleaner opened up the seams and migrated out of the mask when washed and dried so I recommend hand washing and line dry or iron dry.                                                 

Splitcoaststampers Florapalooza

I just completed the three card challenge in the Splitcoaststampers mini virtual stamp night challenge.  I am so happy the theme is flowers since this is my preferred type of card. 

This challenge was to use a bold flower image

This challenge was to use a watercolored tissue paper background

This challenge was to use white flowers