Another fabric craft I found on the internet was woven star ornaments. With these there WERE written directions... in German.

So I gave it a run anyway, working from the photos.

I chose some Christmas colors.

I think these are called Morovian stars but they come out looking like a little quilt block.

The width of the fabric strips is 3/4 inch (starts with a 3 inch wide strip folded in half and then the sides to the middle - like a double-fold bias tape).

These require no stitching, other than when I attach the hanging strings (not done yet).

Ddd

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

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Last Christmas when I made a couple of microwave bowl buddies (shaped potholders) I cut a bunch of extra parts and set them aside. While I was rooting through the studio I unearthed them and decided to construct a couple of them for myself.

These look familiar because they are the same fabrics I used on the previous set.

Here is a view with a bowl in place.

And a view without the bowl.

This is the other color scheme.

And of course, they are reversible.

I put them in the cupboard with the bowls so we will remember to use them. If I put the in with the other potholders I'd forget them until the food was already hot.

Ddd

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

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I went trolling on the internet for some 'fabric gift ideas' and found an origami bin to make. Unfortunately, there were NO written instructions, just pictures. Some of the steps looked a lot like teabag folding which I have done a lot of so I decided to give it a try.

I chose some fabric I got at a recent yard sale and one from the stash that went well with it. I used these together in a quilt top not too long ago (but haven't shown it because it is not done.)

There is an iron-on stabilizer on the back of the patterned fabric and both pieces start at 17 1/2 inches. They are sewn fronts together and then turned right-side-out.

After that it is all origami folding followed by stitching the upper rim flaps down.

It finishes at about 7 inches square.

This would be good for catching scraps at the sewing machine or while hand-sewing.

When done, the whole thing folds flat.

Pretty cool, huh?

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 4:56 PM PDT

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I don't know if I mentioned that I recently bought myself a set of 72 Prismacolor colored pencils. I've only worked with student grade pencils and watercolor pencils but I wanted to try the wax based pencils of a professional grade.

I did a landscape sketch out of my head and transfered it to colored pencil paper.

When selecting colors for a landscape you need to have choices in greens and blues. I did a lot of layering to get variety in the trees and grasses and it was then that I realized that the 72 colors I had were not that many more than a box of 64 crayons!

Here is my picture:

My favorite part of this is the trees in the distance. This is actually where I started:

I am actually very pleased with the reflection as well. I struggle with representing water but this time it turned out really well.

The whole drawing had a lot of tooth to it so I used aPrismacolor colorless blender on the whole thing. It improved it a lot.

I may still do some refinement on this to bring in more contrast since it is a little flat.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 10:19 AM PDT

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I had a sudden desire to change the decor in our guest room. The old theme was lighthouses and I knew someone who would make good use of the items.

Within an hour I had brainstormed with Mom about a new theme and gathered items from storage, other rooms in the house and from various collections.

Here's what I came up with:

A new headboard treatment made with a sarong from Tahiti:

An over-the-bed display - a mounted butterfly and a painted feather, both from Costa Rica:

A nightstand display for the left side of the bed. A ceramic box I painted on a cruise, Dutch shoes from a friend in Holland, a tile from a cruise (for a coaster), and a little jar 'cruise fund':

For the right hand nightstand there is a map-covered frame, a ceramic box, a little jar of sand from Hawaii, another cruise tile, and some Dutch birds from my friend in Holland:

The main display is on the bureau. On the wall is a frame of multiple butterflies from St. Martin, a stone globe picked up in Alaska, a box made on a cruise, a silver woven box from Mexico, a conch shell from Grenada, in the back is a leather box from Venezuela and in front is a large plate I painted on a cruise, perched on its edge is a frog box from Puerto Rica, and then there is  box from the Beleek factory in Ireland. The globe bookends hold handmade and altered books with travel themes and on the right is a puzzle box from Costa Rica.

This eclectic mix of elements is only the tip of the volume of travel items that I could have selected from as I buy boxes wherever I travel and make crafts on almost every cruise. But these things went well together and cover a wide scope of places we have traveled.

I may do something more by adding artwork created with maps. I do have additional wall space to play with in this room, so there will probably be more to come.

Ddd

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

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Wow! It's REALLY close to the end of the alphabet on this series of paper embroidery swaps.

We are up to 'V' and the assignment was to make something vintage. I chose a pattern for an antique carriage and actually stitched it using the proscribed threads! That's a rarity.

Because there was so much gold in it I made the first border of gold and then matched the base card to the seat cushion and hood.

The greeting is a gold peel-off sticker.

Ddd

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

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Sometimes, no topic suits and you just have to add a new category. Thus the topic 'Random'.

As I was out on the deck today I spied this beetle that I had never seen before. Hmmm. I 'googled' beetle identification oregon and then scrolled through pictures till I found one that looked like him.

Identification: Western Conifer Seed Bug

If its purpose is to eat the seeds of conifers, what it it doing on my deck that is not even made of wood? Unknown.

In any case, I thought it was interesting - if a little creepy.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 11:24 PM PDT

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This is the last quilt that I had sandwiched back in June. All the rest will have to wait for layering until September.

I used a pattern shared by one of the ladies in our quilting group. Several of them had made one or more of their tops for the baby quilts using this and I had some fabril left from a previously cut project that I knew would look great.

The black floral started out life as a wide striped fabric. I just cut out full blocks as big as the stripe would allow and adjusted all the other parts to fit that. 

The black border is a rosebud print that I bought a few years back and put it away waiting for inspiration. It perfectly coordinated with the floral.

I used up the very last of the floral in making the corner blocks for the outer border.

I kept the quilting very simple on this. I did echo quilting 1/2 inch from all the black fabrics and then stitched in the ditch down the yellow/green thirds.

I also did free-motion quilting as an outline to all the peach colored roses - one in each block.

The backing is a tone-on-tone peach leafy print. I used yellow in making the 1/4" binding.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 9:38 PM PDT

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I haven't been sitting idly between blog posts. It's just that I've been working on many projects but not bringing them to completion. I don't often post 'in progress' items, so it leaves idle time here.

In fact, I have been working on SIXTEEN quilts which are a various stages from pieces cut to waiting for quilting. Many of them are ready for backing but, without the space to spread them out, I will have to wait until I go back to group at church to sandwich them.

I did finish one today that I had sandwiched back in June.

I used the block construction called Stack, Shuffle and Slide (I used this on two of the baby quilt tops last winter) and selected only black and white fabrics. These came mostly from the 'fabric-by-the-pound' bin at the Sew and Stitchery Expo, though a few were in my stash. The fabrics were sorted dark to light and, at the insistence of my hubby, I threw in a few fucshia.

I arranged it so the darks trace a zig-zag on the diagonal.

The backing is also black and white:

In keeping with the modern feel of this project, I quilted with meandering squares in white thread.

Back to the machine.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 7:49 PM PDT

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Since this was a color challenge I used 'fuchsia' as the color but used a different flower in my design - the rose - which is, by coincidence, also a color.

I started with white core cardstock and ran it through the Cuttlebug with a thin metal die to cut the rose elements. I added the rubber mat and used the same die to emboss the flowers. Then I sanded the surface to expose the white core, lending dimension.

I had some printed cardstock and cut four strips to create a frame around the attached elements. The aperture is cut by the die.

I added the separated elements to the front and the back of the attached element using foam tape.

I added a piece of white-printed vellum behind the aperture and used a marker to color in some of the dots. I lined the area behind the vellum with a dark cardstock.

I used the same marker to color some white corner stickers and added them.

So, 'rose' or 'fuchsia' or what-have-you, there is my card for the color challenge.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 8:21 PM PDT

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Snapping pictures, cropping and editing from a trip to the coast.

I wanted to record the late afternoon shadows on this rustic door. It looked like a subject I might want to tackle with my new colored pencils. 

I got the set of 72 PrismaColors and have not had a chance to play with them yet.

Love the shadows of the leaves, the wood grain and the various greens.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 11:52 AM PDT

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Right on schedule, Tim posted his technique remix tag for August. And with only a little delay I created my own version.

Here are the techniques Tim combined:

And here is the tag he created using them:

This is another of those cases where I did not have the product to do a major part of this project, so I used a work-around. More about that later.

Here are the steps I used:

- Cut piece of manila cardstock to work on (I cut mine from an old file folder)

- Put out some Distress Stain on a non-stick craft sheet (I used a blue and a green)

- Very lightly, roll a brayer through the stain to cover it with droplets of color

- Quickly and lightly roll across the 'tag' in one direction

- Spritz with water to allow stain to blend a little. Dry with heat tool

- Apply some brown Distress Ink with a blending tool

- Flick on water to create droplets. Dry with heat tool

- Use distress tool to rough up all four edges

- Apply Distress Ink to roughed edges

- Select a piece of printed cardstock for the overlay

- Diecut a 'grid' (I did not have any grid dies so I used two sizes of round punches and created my own pattern of holes)

- Paint grid with light layer of Distress Paint

- Dry, sand and ink then divide into three pieces

- Adhere to three corners of the prepared 'tag'

- Use the diecut (punches in my case) to cut some other materials to inset into the holes in the grid

- Lay out and then adhere punches to some of the holes

- Diecut scrolls from black cardstock

- Adhere to tag

- Embellish design with words, stickers, labels, charms, etc. (In my case I used three chipboard bird stickers and some 'chit-chat' word stickers)

- I skipped the step of stitching along selected edges

- Spatter surface with black flecks

- Use Sharpie pen to add details (I outlined some of the chit-chat words and drew eyes on the birds)

- Cut base card and mount the decorated piece on it

Here is the card I created:

When I do these 'tags' I follow along with Tim and make step by step notes (like those above) with no sketches or photos. Then I take that cryptic list to the studio and start looking for products and supplies that I can use to get a similar effect.

After creating, I photo it and bring it back up to make these notes. That is the first time I have a side-by-side comparison of the end products.

So, there you go, another month complete.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 10:13 AM PDT

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I'm sure everybody has them... things that every one else thinks are so trendy and you can't stand them.

I run into this a lot in quilting and sewing. Here is a partial list of things I can do without:

HEXIGONS - Affectionately refered to as 'hexies'. These just do not appeal to me at all.

YO-YOs - Grandma used to make these and decorate liberally with them. YUK!

POM-POMs - Doesn't matter what you put them on, they look tacky.

RICK-RACK - Comes in giant, regular and itty-bitty. Same as Pom-Poms... tacky.

HOUNDSTOOTH -  As a subtle, tone-on-tone for a wool skirt it might be nice. But much of it is just too much.

PAISLEY - Subtle, mixed with other motifs, in very small doses. THAT I can live with. Sort of.

And when you get out of the sewing world, there are some other irritants...

'POP' OF COLOR or MAKES IT 'POP' - I am SO over hearing these phrases. Especially on decorating shows.

HOT MESS - I don't know who came up with this phrase, but it wasn't then, nor is it now, cute.

AMAZING - If everyone who uses this is truly that amazed, they need to get out more. Let's save it for things that we truly are genuinely amazed by.

AWESOME - Same as 'amazing'

There are probably many more, and I undoubtedly use many myself that others would put on their list, but for now, that is all I will burden you with.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 9:25 AM PDT

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It's been a while since I did a paper embroidery project - in fact, the last one was for this same alphabet challenge! It won't be long until the alphabet will be used up and I don't know what the host has in mind to do after that happens.

In the meantime, today we are up to 'U' and the theme 'United States'.

Since I was choosing my pattern at about the same time as Independence Day the natural tendency was to lean toward using a flag, fireworks or some other 'holiday' imagery.

But I got over that thought as soon as I ran across my pattern of the flying bald eagle with its patriotic banner.

I pricked it out on a flecked white cardstock and stitched with realistic coloring.

Other than trimming, I did not do anything else (stamping etc) that might compete with the image.

I did mount it on the card with a red border which gives it a more patriotic punch with the red, white and blue combination.

You can see in the photo that I decorated the envelope, too. Those dots and dashes continue all around the face of it. A simplified flag was drawn on the flap (one blue star and four red stripes). I hand wrote "God Bless America" in the white spaces between the red stripes.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 9:48 AM PDT

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When at the BIG fabric store I fell in love with a particular print and actually bought it in three colors. Then I selected some other prints that echoed the colors that they had in common. It wash't until I got them home that I realized that the script printed in the background was scripture! Cool.

I wanted the butterfly fabric to be a true feature on a quilt and knew I had the right pattern when the Missouri Star Quilt Company tutorial for the Friendship Star Sashing came out. It was perfect - using huge blocks with all of the design work taking place in the sashing.

I arranged the blocks to create an off-center concentric diamond shape and used a medium blue for the stars and a dull red for the outer border.

Here you can see how the snowballed ends of the sashing combine with a matching cornerstone block to create the friendship stars.

The scriptures (Revelation 4: 8, 11, 5:13) are repeated over and over in different colors and sizes across the fabric.

Here you can see a little bit of the quilting. I quilted the scriptures in script across the surface. "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come. You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being. To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever."

This will go as a gift for a departing pastor from our church staff.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 5:14 PM PDT

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It being the beginning of the 3rd quarter of the year, the papercrafts group was issued a new challenge with a tic-tac-toe board. We were to make a card using the three items from any single line in any direction.

This is the board:

Wood       Punch      3D

Dots        Autumn     Cork

Sequins    Animal      Brown

I chose the top row: Wood, Punch, 3D and set to work.

For the wood I used a cardstock printed with boards. I used corner punches and a foil finish 3D image of a door knocker.

I mounted the door knocker on the wood printed piece and bordered this in brown. In the background (with subtle dots) I used individual letter dies to spell out 'new home' which I backed with more brown which also borders the entire piece.

I used corner punches all around and topped them with silver peel-off corner stickers that I had tinted with alcohol markers.

I used a double layer of peel-off text sticker in the space between the diecut words. This word was also tinted with alcohol markers.

Perfect timing for sending to someone whose new home purchase closes this week.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 5:31 PM PDT

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Whoosh! Shutterfly is fast on delivery of the books I have designed. I ordered this one late on June 29 and received it in the mail on July 2.

The subject I chose for my book this time was the use of my hand-carved stamps. I have been carving for years - sometimes with a craft knife and sometimes with Speedball carving tools, sometimes using erasers (both pink and white) and sometimes using pink or white carving medium. Personally my preference is for the carving tools on pink carving medium. I think it yields a much better result.

In any case, I have quite a collection of hand-carved stamps and use them a fair bit. Some are more popular than others: Hummingbird, Roses and Butterfly.

For the book, I collected photos of projects and grouped them by the stamps I used along with simple labeling.

The cover piece is made with watercolors, overstamped with the butterfly:

I had two photos of projects using the Two Feathers stamp:

The next spread features the Window on the left page and the Phoenix on the right:

Until I gathered the photos, I didn't realize that I had put a red bow-tie on the Penguin every time I used it! On the right page the Raccoon goes fishing every time:

On this left page I featured the Hat and the Llama. The right page has three stamps - Aladdin's Lamp, a Hibiscus, the Dragonfly:

This whole spread is single uses of different stamps. On the left are Crayons, a Dip Pen, a Lightbulb and a Fingerprint. On the right page are a Moon, a Postage Stamp and Fish Skeleton:

You can tell what my favorite stamps are by how many times I have used them. This whole spread is on the Hummingbird. Although mostly cards, I do have a set of coasters I made using white tiles:

This next spread features single stamps around the edges and one card that combines them all in the center. On the left is the Lighthouse. At the top-right are two different Fish and the lower-right shows the Tulip Cluster. The center card uses all except the Tropical Fish.

The most used stamp is a set of 3 Roses. There is a full bloom, a half bloom and a bud. This spread uses single blossoms:

This page spread features the full set of 3 Roses. Through the use of judicious masking I am able to create small to large bouquets:

Another favorite stamp to use time and time again is the Butterfly. The parchent box with the butterfly on the lid was created by my sister-in-law for a wedding. The card on the front cover of the book is not repeated here:

The last page features the Iris:

On the back cover I included the actual Panda stamp I carved for my grandson but never used on a project. My other grandson has a Train Engine I carved but never stamped.

The back cover also includes Author and Studio information.

Another fun project is 'in the books'.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:20 PM PDT

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Remember how I said that if I ever got a coupon to make another free book with Shutterfly I would sure do it? Well, I got one of those coupons and finally decided what to make a book about.

I chose to document the 25 baby quilts I made for a donation project at church, where our quilt group meets.

For the cover  I used an image of a quilt with an over-all random arrangement of scrappy squares. A title in white print showed up best.

This is an 8x8 hardbound book with black pages to show contrast with the colorful quilts. The first page groups together 4 strip-pieced quilts with the same scraps and layouts.

Since the book only has 20 pages and I had 25 quilts I made layouts that combined similar projects. Since I've showed these all before on multiple platforms I'll just show the layouts instead of commenting on each one.

I kept changing the layout of the pages to keep the look fresh.

By combining like quilts throughout, I ended up with an extra page at the end. I used it to summarize the project.

The back cover has room for a small photo and text. I included the photo of the small grid quilt and added author and imprint notations.

I love that it has the barcode on the back cover though I've never scanned it to see what it links to.

I had one more coupon for a free book which I have submitted but not yet received back in the mail. Soon, I promise.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 9:14 AM PDT

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I set a new record (for me) in the speed with which I completed one of the tags in Tim Holtz's series. I mean, he only posted it THIS MORNING!

Here is the tag he made:

and it is based on a remix of these two tags:

Here are the steps I used to create MY project:

- Stamp image on heavy watercolor paper using black archival ink

- Watercolor the image using the ink from Distress Markers

- Dry with heat tool

- Apply Microglaze to select areas that you want to resist color

- Apply a wash of Distress Ink over the surface

- Use heat gun to dry completely. This will melt the Microglaze away

- Spritz image with walnut ink

- Trim to size

- Use walnut Distress to ink the edges

- Cut a mounting piece at lease 1/4 inch larger all around

- Mark and cut a top and bottom slit for the stamped piece to slide behind.

- Ink edges of background piece with walnut Distress

- Ink edges of the sliced area with walnut Distress

- Place word die on the sliced area

- Cut word from background

- Cut a script word from dark cardstock

- Slide stamped piece into place behind cut strip of background

- Adhere stamped piece and background together securely

- Glue script word in place

- Prick holes for 5 brads across bottom. Install brads

- Add stickers to decorate (chit chat words, arrow, passport, photos)

- Adhere to front cover of a handmade book

Here is my finished piece:

Here's to finishing more projects in record time!

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 8:10 PM PDT

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It has been a LONG break here on the blog - something that takes getting used to. From posting daily for 9 years to taking an 18 day break between posts...

I was able to use a gift card I'd had for 4 1/2 years (!) at a craft store yesterday and was delighted to find they had the last set of mini-distress pads in stock. I picked those up, along with a large set of Prismacolor colored pencils, a bit of fabric and some other random bits of fun supplies.

Today, I set out to use the Distress inks. I started with a cardstock with big white dots on black background. I used Q-tips to apply the four colors in the set randomly on the dots. The colors are Lucky Clover (teal green), Wilted Violet, Candied Apple and Carved Pumpkin.

There were a few dots left so I filled those with a Distress Marker in Old Paper.

I used black ink to stamp unreadable script over the whole surface and diecut text and a butterfly from the background. I trimmed the piece down to size and backed it with a bright yellow cardstock then traced around the butterfly cutout with black pen.

I used two gold butterfly stickers to decorate the front and added three sizes of pearl to the bodies of the butterflies.

The same sheet as the butterflies had some round flowers so I used three of those for continuity.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 4:44 PM PDT

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