Monday's Card of the Day

Happy Monday!

This week I'm card captain at the Enjoy Michael Strong Stamps Yahoo Group.

Today's card features Mike's Cloisonne Flower and Leaf.

Plus book paper for my background. I love the printed page!

I have a few discarded books from the library that I keep for my crafting.

Starting with creamy cardstock, I added a green layer, then the book paper layer.

Stamped Mike's Mini Flower in shabby shutters on that.

Then on a separate piece of cream cardstock,
I stamped the Mike's Cloisonne Flower in dried marigold

and stamped Mike's leaf using crushed olive marker.

Fussy cut these, then sponged the edges.

Added a gemstone brad to the center of the flower

and attached the pieces with dimensional foam adhesive.

Cut a small paper banner, stamping the background with the mini flower

and wrote my sentiment by hand.

 

On the inside I stamped Mike's Mini Flower in marigold and shabby shutters, 

leaving some room for writing a personal message 

for my friend whose birthday is Friday! 

Yay, I've completed a card ahead of time!

 Materials

Stamps: Michael Strong, Printworks

Distress Inks: shabby shutters, dried marigold

Distress marker: crushed olive, black

Thanks for visiting!

Happy Easter 2015

Happy Easter to all who celebrate!

 It's been a little tradition in my family to have a lamb cake for Easter.

I use my mom's recipe for pound cake and her aluminum lamb mold.

It takes awhile...preparing the cake, baking it and letting it cool,

making the frosting the right consistency and applying it.

I'm always kind of surprised how he looks when I'm done!

Newborn Baby Gown

Made this newborn baby gown
for Emily and John's baby boy who is due at the end of April.
We are soooo happy and and excited!!!

I found a great pattern and tutorial at Virginia Lindsay's Gingercake blog.

She has a free download and great photo instructions.

It was quick and easy to sew.

For a baby boy, I used a crew neck trim.
After the placket was sewn, I trimmed the neckline down about 1/2 inch.
 From cotton ribbing fabric I cut a piece 2-1/2" wide by about 9" long.
To finish the ends, I sewed a 1/4" seam on both ends,
turned to right side,  and pinned finished ends to the placket areas.
Then pinned the center back or the rib trim to the center back of the gown.

With the ribbing on top, I stretched the ribbing to fit and sewed with a 1/4" seam allowance.
Stitched a 2nd time in the seam allowance to reinforce. (or use serger)
This is the old Stretch & Sew technique I learned way back in the 1970s!

Just a note about the Dritz snap fastners that I bought. 

They now come with a blue plastic fastening tool. Wasn't sure I was going to like that. 

So, I dug out an old metal fastening tool in my sewing stash.

Used that with my small hammer and self healing mat while I watched 

Wendi Gratz's YouTube How to Use Hammer-On Snaps

Amazing how you can find patterns and tutorials online!

Thank you Virginia Lindsay & Wendi Gratz!

Diaper Burp Cloth

Here are the first three diaper burp cloths I made for Emily and John's soon to arrive baby boy!

I used Lauren's Burp Cloth Tutorial  from her blog, The Thinking Closet.
Really liked the way she overlapped the decorative fabric on the short ends of the diaper.
After preshrinking the Gerber prefolded diapers, I ironed them flat.
It is worth the trouble because you won't have puckers when you sew the decorative fabric on top.
Using some kids pattern fabric scraps from my stash, I cut strips 7 inches wide by 20 inches long.
Basically you want to measure your diaper and cut your fabric 1" wider and 2" longer
than the area you are covering.
Press a 1/2 inch hem around all edges.
Pin the fabric to the center of the diaper equally distributing the fabric.
The short ends will extend over the ends of the diaper.
Fold and pin one of those short ends. This is the first place you will sew.
Stitch close to the edge of decorative fabric.
Turn to the right side, where your strip of decorative fabric is centered on the diaper.
Sew one side, then the next, keeping the diaper and fabric taut and stitching close to edge of fabric.
Wrap the end of the decorative fabric around to the back.
Pin in place and stitch, and you are done!

Michael Strong Group Spring 2015 Blog Hop

To celebrate Spring 2015 the Michael Strong Group is having a BLOG HOP

I hope you take a break to stop by all the blogs!

If you are following the hop, you have come from

Heidi Wegman's blog

BTW, there is a list of all the blog stops at the end of this post.

Below are the pages inside my little booklet, plus a tutorial.

I used Mike's alphabet, mini cloisonne butterfly and dragonfly stamps on the front.

The background was made with Distress stains, dabbed onto my craft sheet and spritzed with water.

Used fibers from my stash to join the pages.

I added a little bit of stamping on the inside pages

leaving plenty of room to write some heartfelt wishes or  journal entries.

Used some bird/nesting stamps and sentiment from PrintWorks.

Michael Strong's mini cloisonne dragonfly and butterfly.

 Stamped Mike's mini flower, and drew the stem and leaves with a marker.

Mike's mini cloisonne shapes.

 Mike's mini heart.

For the "button and string closure...
cut a piece of 8.5 x 11 inch cardstock in half lengthwise.
This gives a 4.25 x 11 inch strip of  paper.
Fold that in half for a 4.25 x 5.5 inch tag booklet.
To get the tag shape, trim the ends as shown.
For the closure punch two 5/8 inch circles (for front and back)
from cardstock or sturdy printed paper.

In the center of the circles, punch a 1/8 inch hole in each circle.

Place the circle on the back part of the tag booklet.
Mark where the hole should be and punch it in the tag.
Layer the string as shown.

Turn booklet over.
The above picture shows inside view of the back part of tag booklet.

Set your eyelet, and voilà!...string is attached.

Here is the outside back view.
The front side does not have the string, just the circle attached with an eyelet.

For the inside pages cut 2 pieces of paper
4 x 8 inches each and score each page in half.

Punch two 1/8 inch holes along the center fold as shown.
Punch 1/8 inch holes in your mini booklet to match
using a pencil to mark the spot.
Thread fibers or twine to join the pages into a booklet.
Thanks for visiting!

Your next Blog Hop stop is

Joanna Mackintosh's Blog

Here are links to all the stops on the hop!

Michael Strong

Hetty Sanders

Heidi Wegman
You are here: Laura Holm

Joanna Mackintosh

Peg Klitch