Many, many years ago I ran across an idea for a card embellishment and tucked it away in the back of my brain 'for later'. Mostly because I didn't have the punches or dies to make it come to life.

Since coupons and papercrafting sales were in my schedule a few weeks ago I made it a point to buy a heart punch and a set of flower dies. I had wanted these for quite a while and when I got them home it suddenly occured to me that I now had the elements to make this sweet strawberry.

From red cardstock I punched the heart and then used a corner rounder on the bottom. From green cardstock I diecut a flower, cut it in half and layered it at the top of the heart. The addition of 'seeds' with Liquid Pearls brings the berry to life.

I first made a card with a single berry, using a cross-hatched brown background. I used green cardstock to diecut swirls and leaves and glued everything down. I stamped the sentiment in black. Then, to tie the elements together, I outlined one word in red and created a drop-shadow on the vines in black.

Then I made a second card with two berries on it - all of the processes and materials are the same.

The two cards do use different flourishes for the vines.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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We have a new visitor to the house that, I swear, thinks she is the family dog. She comes up to the patio door and, if nobody pays attention to her she will lay down on the mat and go right to sleep.

Now I know that having a passel of kids is probably wearing her out but, really!

I ignore her but hubby shoos her down the stairs and then tosses her all kinds of treats: marshmallows, slices of bread, crackers with butter, leftovers from dinner...

She shows up earlier and earlier, now arriving on the step long before he gets home from work. 

I know, I know, "Isn't she cute?" Well, yes she is cute, but she's also eating me out of house and home.

Pathetic how that begging thing works so well.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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Technically, this is not 'in the garden' but it IS plant-based!

Last Christmas a friend gave us a poinsettia. I would occasionally give it a bit of water but was forgetting so much that I finally moved it to the kitchen window. The green leaves all fell off but the blooms remained. 

Then, around the middle of MAY little green leaves began appearing. I encouraged it by watering more often and, yes, it got more leaves.

So, here at the first of July, I have a happy and healthy poinsettia that I am hoping I can keep alive until December.

Without a doubt this is the longest any plant has LIVED in my house.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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I was truly saddened to need another sympathy card so soon.

I had a single one of the watercolor stamping roses left and it was already trimmed. This got bordered by a matching paper and thus began the layout process.

I found a nice, subtle paper for the background and wanted to include a border around it also. Unfortunately, I did not have any more of the border used on the feature. So I used a Distress Marker to color the edges of the white base card and trimmed the background paper to let that color peek out.

I found a large silver Dazzles sticker for the sentiment and colored it with alcohol marker while it was still on the sheet.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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Someone made a gift of many fabric scraps to our quilt group. We took whatever we wanted to make quilts and I chose three coordinating fabrics: a bright yellow, a dark blue and a floral with yellow, white and two tones of blue. 

This went into my stash until I watched a video on 'tube quilting' as demonstrated by Jenny Doan of the Missouri Star Quilt Company (check it out here www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOWSp0mTTqE). It is a simple way to cut a lot of blocks all at once and they can be arranged in many ways for a great graphic look.

I made this lap quilt for a child mentored by my daughter.

I was ready for the quilting and binding just as I got my new sewing machine so, of course, I had to try it out. All of the quilting is done with bright yellow thread in the ditch. The ends are all outlined around the yellow pieces. Then both long strips are stitched between the colors. The center is quilted in a grid through all the diamonds in both horizontal and vertical directions.

I also got to machine stitch the binding - LIKE!

Then I learned how to use the fancy stitches for lettering and used that for the quilt label. I stitched with yellow on a piece of fabric to match the backing then pressed it and attached it with Steam-a-Seam².

Much more to learn on my sewing machine but this was a great start.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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I wanted to use more of the watercolor stamping roses but did not have a sketch upcoming that suited the shape or size that I had remaining. So I abandoned the sketch project for a bit and pulled out some paper scraps to make my own layout.

I started with a lavender card base to coordinate with the color of the illustration and added a green swirled paper to work with the leaves. The chevron paper in a neutral creates a nice setting for the bordered centerpiece which is bound by strips of silver peel-off sticker.

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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Occasionally Club Scrap puts together a 'cutting formula' for chopping multiple papers to create multiple cards for OWH sketches. They did this for sketch 90 and I used the scraps October 15, 2012.

However, I thought the sketch itself was boring and it did nothing to inspire me. So I just used the scraps I had cut up to make random cards.

Here is one of those.

And here is another:

Yeah, so NOT the sketch.

Maybe I should go back and do that again?

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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Oh, I think you're going to like this one. I know I do. Here is OWH sketch 89.

So, are you thrilled yet?

I made a few 'adjustments' like widening the three strips, cutting another layer on the square, and using some gold sticker trim. I wanted to use more of the watercolor stamping images and there were none that could be cut into that diamond shape and maintain a good orientation on the bloom. But adding it as another layer just made me happy.

The key to the beauty of this card is coordinating the papers. The only pink is in the image which makes it the star of the show.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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I used the heck out of OWH sketch 88 back on January 3, 2012.

At least I started out that way, cutting a zillion scraps of the right sizes. But along the way I got bored and started rearranging the parts into other configurations.

Since technically that is not 'following the sketch' I'll refrain from showing those again and just stick with the ones that do.

These cards are all about the paper and I added some pre-made paper floral embellishments. I also used some text stamps for a sentiment.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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This was a harder sketch to use than I expected when I used it January 1, 2012. Have a look at OWH 87.

There aren't that many stamped images in my collection that look good in multiples and overlapped. I did come up with a few, though, and am re-sharing a couple of them today.

On this one I used more layers than the sketch called for, stamped the image three times and colored it.

For this version I stamped three parts of a set of border stamps. It also got some extra pieces added and I used another stamp set to create the swoosh of hearts on the right.

Both of these use some scraps of 'Color-Me' papers that I had inked up.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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A perfect sketch for showcasing a beautiful image... this is OWH sketch 86:

Using a watercolor stamp image I cut it large to preserve as much of the beauty as possible. The background of pink chevron was a perfect match but needed to be separated from the image with a band of green.

Instead of using a band across so much of the image I mounted a black Dazzles sticker on matching green and trimmed it out  to the banner shape.

For the embellishment I used more black Dazzles stickers and added one on the lower left for a little balance.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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I'm glad I decided to only 'reference' all of these sketches I had used before instead of creating new works from them. Especially since some of them I had used multiple times the first time around.

Such is the case with OWH sketch 85 which I used December 28, 2012.

I made 8 cards with this sketch but will only show one of them here.

The sketch did not have any filler brads in the lower right corner but I put them on every one of the cards I made.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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You may want to stand on your head while viewing the sketch today. That's how I turned it when I used OWH sketch 84

I wanted to use more of the watercolor stamp images so I trimmed one down to work with this sketch. The background was chosen to recede and not compete with the floral.To make it blend in more I ran it out to the edges of the card instead of leaving that thin border.

A piece of tatted trim serves as the center vertical piece and I used foam tape to mount the floral panel to raise it up over the trim.

A bow of ribbon ited onto the trim brings up back to the sketch as designed - but on its head.

I used a black pens in ultra-fine and medium to do a little detailing in the image and to outline the panel with doodle lines.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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Today we will reprise another sketch that I used for a slew of Christmas cards back on November 11, 2011. This is OWH sketch 83:

Many of these used pairs of opposing papers and repurposed old Christmas cards, sticker sheets or images from a stamp catalog:

The text is also from a sticker sheet.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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Oh here's another one of those slanty sketches that I don't care for so much. OWH 82 is here - what can I say. I did commit to using them all.

This started out to be all about the papers but when I needed something for the embellishment I chose to cut down one of the watercolor stamp images (this time without the scribbly background).

The paper under it came with scroll work on the top which I loved.

I cut up a clear text sticker for the sentiment and mounted it in a casual arrangement. The scrolls upper right and lower left are from the same clear sticker sheet.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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Wide open spaces is how I would describe OWH sketch 81 - at least the way I played it:

I wanted to use more of the watercolor stamping I had done and chose one with a Stampin' Up two layer rose stamp. All the stamping was done first and then the water spraying.

I chose a yellow and white chevron for the background but it was pretty bright so I muted it by overlaying with tissue tape. I added Dazzles butterflies for the embellishment.

The sentiment is a cardstock sticker.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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OWH sketch 80 is a previously unused (by me) one:

I saw on a blog where rubber stamps were used with Distress Ink pads to stamp on watercolor paper. These images were then spritzed with water to mute and blend. Neat-o!

For this sketch I used Distress markers to scribble colors and stamped over them with a solid stamp. When the image was dry I used black marker to thinly outline it for more definition.

Coordinating papers were used to construct the sketch and the floral head served as the embellishment. I used black as a bordering color to set off the layers from one another.

I used a gold Dazzle sticker for the text on a coordinating red solid.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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We suddenly come to a stretch of sketches where I used about half of them and skipped half. So for the next twelve days you'll get to see repeats on six of them. Today we are reprising OWH sketch 79

I was in the midst of making Christmas cards back at the end of October 2011 when I pulled this sketch to use. I used a lot of pieces from a Christmas pad of papers and many of the feature pieces were from old Christmas cards and a catalog of stamps that I colored.

Here are my three favorites:

This one got rotated:

Today was easy...

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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This was a hard entry to label with a 'topic'. Perhaps I should have created a new 'tools' category. Why? Because my dear hubby bought me a new sewing machine! Squeeeal!!!

I bought the last one a little over three years ago when my really old one totally crumbled (see entry at http://www.mystudio3d.com/blog/index.blog/2094566/breaking-up-is-hard-to-do/)

At that time I was midway through my second quilt and didn't expect that creative phase to last long. So I got a very inexpensive mechanical machine - the Janome MyStyle 100.

I liked it because it was simple to operate but, in the long run, it had a lot of limitations. There are only 12 stitches and half of those are the 'stretch' versions of 6 basics. Other than the zigzag there is no control over the stitch width of any of the stitches. Needle positions are either straight down the middle or at the far left with nothing in between. Switching out presser feet is not easy. Poor speed control. And the most problematic thing is the very small throat that seriously limits the size of quilt you can work on. Yes, I know I have done a king size and several queen size but these were assembled and quilted in sections to accomodate the limitations of the machine.

Well, I sat down with the salesman at Montavilla Sewing Center and told him what I wanted my machine to do. He answered every concern, one by one, with the Pfaff Quilt Expression 4.2 and even demonstrated other features that were a bonus.

This is the machine - look at that awesome throat opening!

I Love, Love, Love the built-in walking foot:

The chart of stitches and features is on a flip-up panel on the top of the machine (saves having to always have the reference book at hand)

The controls on the face are well marked and intuitive:

Here are the features listed by the retailers:

PFAFF Quilt Expression 4.2 Sewing Machine

Features and Benefits:

The Original IDT™ System

Integrated Dual Feed only from PFAFF® for over 40 years!.
Absolutely even fabric feed from both the top and the bottom.

Electronic Knee Lift

Raises the presser foot with an easy movement, allowing you to kee your hands on your project.

Sewing Features:

Quilt Stitches
Enjoy quilting with 47 different quilt stitches, with a beautiful hand-stitched character.

Automatic Presser Foot Lift
Raises the presser foot instantly when the needle is set to stop down and/or at the end of a seam after a thread snip.

Thread Snips
Automatically cut top and bobbin threads, pulling thread ends to the back side of fabric.

Start/Stop
Sew without the foot control - Makes sewing long seams, free-motion and buttonholes easy.

A Wide Variety of Beautiful Stitches
Select from over 250 stitches. Includes utility stitches, buttonholes, 9mm wide decorative stitches, quilt stitches, cross stitches and hemstitches.

2 Built-In Stitch Fonts
Choose from 2 fonts to personalize your project.

Tapering on all 9mm Decorative Stitches
Taper at the beginning and/or at the end of any stitch. Change the angle of taper for unlimited opportunities

Mirror Image of Stitches
Flip the stitch side to side and/or end to end for even more possibilities.

Stitch Positioning
Moves complete stitch right or left to easily align decorative stitches.

Three Free-motion Modes
Different modes for free-motion quilting, thread painting or darning. Select the best mode for your specific technique.

Needle Up/Down
Set needle to stop up or down in the fabric for pivoting, appliqué and more.

Sensormatic Buttonhole
Buttonhole columns are sewn in the same direction for precise stitch quality.

37 Needle Positions
For exact placement of your straight stitch.

Stitch Width Safety
Limits stitch width to center needle straight stitch while using straight stitch foot to prevent needle breakage.

Twin Needle Program
Enter twin needle size to automatically adjust the stitch width. See the twin needle stitch on the screen.

Easy-access Stitch Selection
Quick and easy stitch selection by means of the Direct Selection Buttons.

Immediate Tie-off
When pressed the machine will tie-off and stop automatically for a quick and easy finish.

Extra Presser Foot Lift
Raises the presser foot to its highest position so that thick fabrics can be placed easily under the presser foot.

Electronic Thread Tension
Needle thread tension is set electronically for every stitch – makes sewing simple.

Integrated Needle Threader
Makes threading the needle fast and easy.

Stitch Restart
Return to the beginning of a stitch or sequence without having to reset any special adjustments you’ve made.

Large Stitch Plate
Features seam markings to the left and right of the needle to help you guide your fabric.

Stitch Density
The stitch density control adjusts the density, the distance between stitch points that make up the entire stitch. Density can be increased or decreased without affecting stitch length.

Accessory Feet Included
Standard presser foot 0A, Fancy stitch foot 1A with IDT™, Fancy stitch foot 2A, Blindhem foot 3 with IDT™, Zipper foot 4 with IDT™, Sensormatic buttonhole foot 5A, Manual buttonhole foot 5M, Sensormatic free-motion/embroidery foot 6A, 1/4" Quilting Foot.

Other Machine Features:

Illuminated Graphic Display
The graphic display shows the stitch in actual size and all important information.

LED Lights
Optimized bright lights illuminate the entire work area with no shadows.

Large Sewing Space
Your PFAFF® quilt expression™ 4.2 sewing machine is the perfect choice for quilters, home decor sewers, fashion enthusiasts – anyone who creates. The sewing area to the right of the needle is supersized for sewing large amounts of fabric or batting.

Bobbin Thread Sensor
Alerts you when your bobbin thread is running low.

External Feed Dog Drop
Convenient location; lower the feed dogs from the front of the machine. Ideal for stippling, freemotion embroidery or darning.

Languages
Choose from different languages in the Settings menu. Make sure your PFAFF® quilt expression 4.2 speaks the same language you do.

Info Button
Simply touch to see important sewing recommendations on the illuminated graphic display.

Speed Ranges
Adjust your sewing speed for specialty threads, techniques and personal taste.

Stitch Sequencing and Memories
Combine and save up to 40 stitches and/or letters in one of 20 sequence memories - sew in one step repeatedly.

Personal Stitch Settings
Change the settings on built-in stitches to your personal liking. Save in one of the 20 personal stitch memories.

Program Sequencing Commands
Program a stop, thread snips or tie-off into a stitch sequence. Your sequence does exactly what you want every time.

Optimized Feeding
Enhanced to provide more control when sewing through thick layers or seaming small pieces.

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Now if I can do this ^ on my computer keyboard, imagine how impressive it will be when I learn how to do all that (and more) on my new sewing machine!

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

Updated: Friday, 6 June 2014 7:37 AM PDT

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Disclaimer: I did not make art for today.

Grandson's nearly first question when coming to our house is 'do you think we can do some art while we're here?'. After doing the panda carving shown yesterday I only made off-limits the stamp carving tools and the paper cutter. 

With the understanding that all the supplies are available TO BE USED I gave him full reign to use whatever he came across. Several times a day he would disappear down the stairs to work on one thing or another. Occasionally I would get a request (got any google eyes? What's the best glue for this? Can I really use these wooden birdhouses?) but mostly he was self-guided (he is almost 9).

He was fascinated with the bins of papers - especially one labeled WOW papers and my handcarved stamps.

Here is a 12 x 12 page on which he used various background papers and carved stamps to create a nature scene. He did this while I carved the panda.

He and a cousin made art from the 'test stamps' on the tabletop scratch paper.

And they used Distress Markers to 'paint' birdhouses.

The other grandson's talents lie in the technology and humor areas so he would use his ipad to film the artists and create little movie and movie trailers that are hysterical.

Good to know that my studio can be creative, even when I'm nowhere near it!

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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