May Your Dreams Bear Fruit

     Hey, it's almost the weekend!  Only one more week day and then we all get crafting time.  :-D  Last weekend, I did all my cards which were posted this week and will probably do the same thing this coming weekend.

     For today, I want to share with you a card with a lovely Fabrika Fantasy image.  I've used her before but that time I did all fall colors.  This time I tried to be more spring-like with the colors.

     As usual, I used ProMarkers to color her, adding Cadet Blue glitter to the four tiny butterflies in the image (can you find them?), then cut the image with a die from Spellbinders.  Once cut, I used chalks (as close to the Cadet Blue butterflies as possible) around the border and background of the die cut image.

     I printed the sentiment, and hand cut it.  I found a strip of sheer, golden-tan, ribbon (which looks gray-brown in the photo) and wrapped it around an embossed piece of CS which I used for the card front.

     The large, yellow, butterfly is an applique I made on my sewing machine, using a computer generated program, so it was little work for me other than selecting and changing out the threads.

     Challenges:
Butterfly Challenge  (Cadet Blue)
Crafty Creations
Lemon Shortbread
Papercraft
Paper Shelter
Scrappy Land
Simon Says Stamp & Show
TTCRD
Words 2 Craft By

Embroidered Flowers

     I shared my embroidered kitten with you last week and promised you more cards with appliques as I got them made.  This one today was done using the very first patterns I tried on the new data card for my sewing machine, but these are not the first samples I did.

     For these, I invested in some spools of variegated embroidery threads which I used for the stems and leaves.  The darker threads in the pink and yellow flowers were done by using the computerized program and changing the thread when the program stops and tells you to change thread.  Very simple and those two parts of the program were done last.

     No coloring, obviously, but I adhered two colors of CS together, then cut them as one piece with a stitched die from Die-namics.  I used fabric glue to adhere the embroidery to that.  The background dp came from the Whimsy stack by DCWV and I wrapped it one time with a narrow, green ribbon.  I added one of my hand sewn bows and it was complete.  I didn't want anything to take away from the shine of the embroidery.

     Challenges:
A Bit More Time to Craft
Crafts Galore Encore
Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends
Not Just Cards
Petal Lu
World Wide Open DT

      I have a couple of posts scheduled for this week but the big day will be Friday when I'll have a total of 4 posts!  All of my DT work seemed to fall on the same day this time although only one is a regular Friday post.  The others were either for the 1st of the month or the 1st Friday and this month, they all came together on that day.

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Embroidered Kitten

     For the last 7 years or so my once-beloved sewing machine has taken a backseat to my paper crafting.  In fact, when I moved nearly 4 years ago, I left the embroidery attachment and the quilting kit packed away although I did unpack my actual sewing machine.  I've done a few things with it, mostly Christmas projects, but for the most part it has been tucked away in a corner, sad and lonely.

     Last weekend, I dug out the embroidery attachment because I had been given a new-to-me data card for the machine, filled with cute animals and insects and flowery patterns normally used for dressing up kids clothes or even household linens.  What I hadn't thought about was the possibility of making embroidered appliques but after testing one or two of the small flower patterns on some scraps of muslin, here's what happened (see card below.)  I think I may have discovered a new addiction (plus a way to combine my two favorite things - sewing and card making) !!

     What do you think?  Once I had the machine set up and programmed with the data card, it took about 9 minutes for the machine to make the kitten; I had to change thread for the kitten's ears and again for the butterfly (twice).  But it took me longer than all of that to hand cut the applique with scissors (Note to self - get your tiny embroidery scissors sharpened!) keeping the kitten and butterfly all together as one piece.

     Obviously, the "coloring" was done with the various threads instead of my usual markers but I did have to choose the threads.  Once it was cut out, I used white fabric glue to attach the applique to some scrap CS, then trimmed that to fit.  The CS acted as a stiffener so that the kitten wouldn't curl.

     I die cut the scalloped circle with a die from Memory Box and the scalloped frame was cut with a Sue Wilson die, then run through my 'Linen" embossing folder.  I glued the applique to the circle, then layered it onto the Sue Wilson piece, and all of that went onto a piece of dp from the Linen Closet stack by DCWV.  I chose papers that had beautiful Wedgewood blues to compliment the blue-gray of the kitten, but in the photo the blues look more "sky" blue.

     The only other thing needed was the little satin bow and it was finished.  I see many more of these in the future.  However, I'm now going to have to start budgeting for more data cards for the embroidery attachment.  Why does everything crafty that I love end up costing so much?  :-D

     Challenges:
Butterfly
Craft-Dee BowZ
Crafting by Designs
Crafty Creations
Kraftin' Kimmie
Outlawz Twisted Thurs.
Paper Shelter
Scrapy Land
SUYP Cats
WordArt Weds.
World Wide Open DT

     Well, that's it for me today.  I'm going back to the sewing machine and make up more appliques from some of the flower designs.  I'm sure with more practice I'll get better and things will go faster.  I've already promised myself that I'll make at least two of each applique design on that data card, using different color combos and put them in my stash before I go and buy another one.  The cards run from $35 to $75 depending on how many designs are on it.  See, I told you it would be an expensive addiction!  :-D  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie