Rag Quilt Tote for Barbara

This was my first ever sewing project! Without any prior experience, I decided to take the plunge and made this rag quilt tote bag for Barbara two days before gathering with our friends for her birthday dinner. It turned out being not so bad for a newbie sewer! I didn't get too frustrated with the construction of the tote.

I found these three pretty coordinating fabric patterns at a local fabric shop. I don't remember who manufactures it. They were sold in half yard pieces in a basket so it was easy to pick ones that looked nice together. 

This style of tote is modeled after the traditional rag quilts that people have made. Usually, the unsewn edges are snipped and you run it through the washing machine to get a raggedy-edge look.

It was all straight stitching for the main tote part using my Janome Sew Mini. This machine is so cute...it's not a full-sized one and it's just a tiny bit smaller that a sheet of paper! 

It won't sew through denim but works fine for lighter weight fabrics. When I got to the part where I had to attach the nylon webbing straps, I got some help from my Mom using her full size Singer sewing machine.

I went on YouTube and found different tutorials on how to construct this tote. Using the Stampin' Up! Square Scallop Die made by Sizzix made it so easy to cut the fabric pieces. You need at least a 5-inch square of fabric and you can run eight lightweight layers of fabric through the machine at a time. 

I sandwiched a 3 1/4 in square of batting between two pieces of fabric and sewed and "x" on each square. I used 27 squares (54 total) for the tote.

When I was done with all the sewing, I went and snipped in-between each of the scallops so they would fray in the wash. I didn't a get chance to put it through the washing machine so when I gave the tote to Barb, I told her she could either leave it the way it was or she could run it through her washer to get a more ragged look.

Of course I had to put a little something inside the tote so I put together a little goodie bag of various card candy for Barb to use since she is also a card maker. The purple mesh tote is something I bought through Creative Memories.

I shopped through my craft desk and found some fun supplies like blank shipping tags, twine from The Twinery, some mailing labels, assorted Papertrey Ink buttons, and some punched butterfly embellies. I also made some gift tags using some background stamps by Savvy Stamps.

This is a pic of Barb and our other crafty friend Maria with the green tote in the background at Scrapbook Expo in Sacramento the first week of November. It was Barb's first time ever attending the Expo and she had a blast. Both Maria and I warned her that she might get a overwhelmed with so many craft goods all concentrated in one spot. Some time during our shopping, she did go into a sensory overload but recovered. 

After the Expo, we meet up with Wanda G. for some lunch and of course had to rendezvous at the Paper Garden!

 Barbara, me, Wanda, Stephanie, and Maria

Maria at the yummy wall of paper goodness

Barb checking out the plethora of stamps

I like this phrase Stephanie has up on the wall

I hoped you enjoyed my post for today! I haven't made a rag quilt tote for myself yet so that'll be my next sewing project probably not until after Christmas!

Yummy Cupcake Birthday Card for Barbara

Hi everyone!

I can't believe it's December already! Where has this year gone to? I hope you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving! My family and I surely did...we got to stay home and and enjoy a very relaxing holiday. I made gravy from turkey drippings for the first time and I didn't have any lumps whatsoever! That was one of the great highlights for me!

Well, I thought I would stop in and post something since it's been a few weeks...yikes!

I took my crafty friend, Barbara, out to lunch for her birthday last month at a local restaurant called diVine. I brought along a little gift and this card for her:

Isn't this image just the most adorable one you've ever seen? It's a Pure Innocence digital stamp by Heather Ellis.  She illustrates the cutest images and they are sooo fun to color! Many of her images are also available as clear stamps from My Favorite Things as well.  This cupcake one just got released as a stamp.

I started with a 5 1/2" square card base and using Bermuda Bay cardstock by Stampin' Up! I wrapped some Lemon Drop twine (doesn't that name sound yummy) by The Twinery all around the front of the card. I used a piece of SU! Melon Mambo cardstock and die cut the Scalloped Square die also from SU! and then ran it through the Swiss Dot (my all-time fave) Cuttlebug folder for texture. Then, I decided the scallops needed to have a more finished look, so I sponged some Melon Mambo ink all around the edges.

The image is colored in with my Copic markers. For the dress, I used a combo of Blue Green colors and pressed the brush tip end of a colorless blender marker  to add the polka dots. I held the tip down for just a few seconds to push some of the color out to achieve the polka dot effect.

I mounted the image on a solid kraft scallop circle just so it would get lost in all the pink background. I used a bunch of foam tape for added dimension of each layer. I stamped the birthday sentiment in Melon Mambo ink on a piece of pink cherry blossom cardstock by The Paper Garden and punched it out using the small scalloped oval punch. I LOVE this pattern cardstock sold exclusively from Stephanie's store! There are five other colors and if you want some, e-mail or call the store to place an order.

The cute birdie on top of the cupcake is from Paper Tales down in San Diego. This stamp is an exclusive one to their store. You may be thinking that it looks like it could be an A Muse image because it sorta is in a way. Nina Seven is an illustrator for A Muse and many of her illustrations are turned into stamps for A Muse and I believe she designed some images for Paper Tales as well.  

I stamped the image with Melon Mambo onto a larger scallop square of the cherry blossom cardstock. This ink coordinates so well it!

Finally, take a look at this dessert our server brought out for us to share!  It was yummy mud pie dripping with chocolate and caramel sauce...we didn't even finish it!

I had a great time lunching with Barb for her birthday and chatting the lunch hour away!

Thanks for stopping by and stay tuned shortly for another post of what present I made for Barb! This time won't have to wait a few weeks for it!