Graduation and Birthday Month

In addition to sewing a lot for my little great niece,  I have another great niece graduating from high school!  Courtney is a young woman who is a triple threat - smart, beautiful and talented!  I made this card to celebrate her graduation.  The easel card is my all time favorite format.  And yes, I made those roses using Heartfelt Creations Vintage Floret stamps and dies.  They are very labor intensive!  But Courtney is worth the effort.

Then there are several birthdays to celebrate this month.  My sister, Charlotte, is another year older!  I made her a pop-up card using the new die from Stampin' Up!  Since we both sew, it is perfect.

And since I am an interior designer, I couldn't resist the temptation to add wallpaper, a chair rail and a window!

Making masculine cards is always a challenge.  These two are for a couple of my "adopted" sons.  This little pinwheel die is so cute, but sooooo hard to put together because it is very small.  However, it is worth the effort.  And I adore this stamp set.

And one more!

Baby Diva's Need Great Wardrobes!

This is the first of several outfits I have made for my great niece, Isabella aka Bella.  She is an adorable little girl who always seems to have a big smile on her face and doesn't mind having headbands and hats on her head!  Her mother, my niece, has been putting them on her since the day she was born so Bella doesn't know any better!

With the protracted winter and a very wet spring, it has been difficult to get to my sewing and crafting.  Everything is located in the bowels of the house which has taken on water several times in the past month!  The basement gets an inch of water in it every time we have a long stretch of heavy rain.  As much as I love the water, that is not my idea of a good time!

At any rate, the weather has finally settled down.  We are enjoying comfortably cool weather and my work area is finally fit for service.

The dress shown above is called a "pillowcase dress."  Although it is not made from a pillowcase, the concept was used to create it.  My niece sent a picture of one she saw online and asked if I could make one.  My reply,  "I can make anything!"  So that is my interpretation of a pillowcase dress.  The shoes jumped out at me when I was shopping.  I love shoes and Bella needs cool shoes to go with her hats!

The next project was a cute romper.  I embroidered flowers and put a pocket that looks like a little flowers pot or vase.  The matching hat completes the ensemble.  (Either pair of shoes will go with this outfit!)

I really love this one.  The little flower is attached to a headband.

The embroidery on the bib of the romper was done on my Babylock Ellisimo sewing/embroidery machine.  I love my Babylock! 

 I made this little bib using a Diva Baby pattern.  Can't wait to make more.  The possibilities are endless!

Pretty Pretty Paper!

My mother's birthday is next Tuesday, the 19th.  I made this pop-up card for her using some absolutely wonderful paper called Ladies Diary from Graphic45.  I just love it!  I also used the new Pop 'n Cuts dies from Stampin' Up! for the inside.  Love that, too!  Hope my mom likes the card.

 

 

In addition to the cute card, I made a little "dresser" for small trinkets and goodies.  I used the same papers and the Matchbox die from Stampin' Up! (retired).  It is approximately 6" wide and 3" deep.

 

I like it!  Ribbons, pearls, buttons, and bows - what's not to like!

 

 

Birthday Purple

I recently made this card for my precious daughter-in-law's birthday.  She is a lover of all things purple.  I used the new Card Base Pop n' Cuts and Dress Form Pop n' Cuts from Stampin' Up!  The accompanying stamp set and Framelits Dies are appropriately called "All Dressed Up."  This was so much fun to make.  It was a bit like playing with paper dolls which I absolutely loved as a kid.  I created the "mirror" behind the dress form with the Stampin' Up! Labels Framelits Collection (as well as the shapes for the larger DSP.)  I put two graduated size together and cut the "frame" then added aluminum foil as the "mirror."  The greeting is from the SU stamp set "Perfectly Penned."  Pretty cute even I do say so myself!

New Year - New Creations

After being sick with the flu for over a week, I finally felt well enough to go into my craft room and try some new techniques and equipment.  I think the results were pretty good!


I created this cute little "dresser" for my friend, Phyllis.  This was her Christmas present.  I used the "Matchbox Dresser" tutorial from Lydia Fiedler on SplitCoastStampers.  It took an inordinate amount of time, but the results were pretty awesome.  It is made of 24 little matchboxes (Stampin' Up! Matchbox die - discontinued of course).  Phyllis loves black and red so that was my color inspiration.

 

 

 

The little blue dresser below is a modified version using only six "drawers" cut with the matchbox die.  I think it is particularly sweet.  This one was for Rita whose favorite color is blue.

 

The roses on this card were made using the Heartfelt Creations Vintage Floret stamps and dies.  I used the Stampin' Up! doily die and a Spellbinders die called Fantastic Flourish One.  I also used a WOW! embossing powder called Angel Wings.  With bits of lace and ribbon, it turned out very pretty.