Birthday Fleece Blanket

Last week, we went to a birthday party for a girl who turned four years old. I wanted to make her a gift that would be fun yet practical. I decided to make a no-sew fleece blanket for her since the weather is beginning to get a little chillier in the evenings.

Isn't this such a fun and colorful pattern for a little girl? I really like it too!

Here's a pic of the front side and the flip side. I love how well both patterns go well with each other. I bought the fleece at JoAnn's and got a total of 3 yards (1 1/2 yards of each pattern) to make the blanket. I trimmed the ends off that showed the manufacturer name to get a clean edge. Then, I laid the fleece one on top of each other evenly. I cut a scrap piece of heavy cardstock into a 5 inch square and laid it down on each square end of the fabric on four corners and cut the square off. Be sure to use a sharp pair of scissors. With a long ruler, I cut one inch strips in width all the way around the outside of the fleece. Then, I took the strips and tied knots all the way around the perimeter to secure both pieces of fabric.

The whole process from start to finish took me about 2 1/2 hours to complete.  That size is perfect for a four year old...big enough as a blanket and when they get older, it will be great as a throw blanket. One of my friends, Maria, made me a no-sew fleece blanket and she used 2 yards of fabric and it's the perfect size for me!

Here's the gift bag I made for the blanket.  I took a kraft shopping bag and used 5 inch circle stickers from Paper Source to make polka dots on it.  I cut some of them in half for the top and bottom of the bag.   It's a quick and easy way to decorate when you are short on time!

This is a close up of the oversized gift tag I made for the bag. I used a piece of A Muse Kitchen Purple cardstock for the tag part and a large Cupcake background stamp from Stampin' Up!. I paper-pieced the paper cup using A Muse Gingham Grass cardstock. The alphabet letters are from a set by Kim Hughes.

Finally, this is the birthday card my son made for his friend. He used Prismacolor pencils as his coloring medium.  I believe he was practicing his circles and color blending!

Thanks for stopping by!

One-Layer Wednesday 14: Square Outlines

It's another weekly card challenge by Susan Raihala on her blog, Simplicity. We were to make a one-layer square card using any outline image stamp and keeping embellishments to a minimum. Here's the card I submitted:

Oy, as you can see, my card is rectangular. I got so wrapped up in making sure I was using outline stamps that I forgot to make a square card...big oops!  Oh well!

First, I stamped the tree branch from the Landing Pad by Kim Hughes directly on the white shimmery cardstock and colored in the leaves with Copic markers. Then, I stamped the branch again on a piece of Birch Wood pattern cardstock from A Muse and just cut the branch part of the image out. The woodgrain was a contrasting white but I used a couple of brown colored Copics to darken it.

Isn't the Tweet Bird from Memory Box so adorable?  I stamped the bird onto a piece of Gossamer pattern paper also by Memory Box and cut it out sans the legs.

I finished off the card by stamping the "Hello" sentiment by A Muse with Adirondack Espresso ink. I love how elegant that font makes the card!

Have a great day and be sure to check out all the other creations for this challenge on the Simplicity blog!

Lovebirds Anniversary Card

I'm experiencing a very busy schedule at home base this week...not much time to be crafty!  Here's a card I made for my sister and her husband.  They recently celebrated their wedding anniversary.

I kept my card clean and simple to make the two cute lovebirds the main focal point.  Aren't they just an adorable pair?  The image is from Kim Hughes's stamp set called "The Birds and the Bees" by Cornish Heritage Farms.  The woodgrain cardstock is from A Muse and I used a Chocolate Spica glitter pen to add sparkle in between the lines. The polka dot Bermuda Bay grosgrain ribbon is retired from Stampin' Up.

I stamped and colored the birds twice with my Copics, cut out the second ones and used foam dots to pop up the image for added dimension.

I made the inside of the card a pop up one for the punched out heart and scalloped heart.  I used a strip of red cardstock and stamped the sentiment on it for a banner look.

Here's a full pic of the inside.  I love the two fish on the bottom left with the sentiment!  Both are by A Muse.

On a side note, I recently found out that Cornish Heritage Farms is going out of business so if you like any of Kim Hughes' stamp sets, now is the time to stock up!  Check out the CHF website and read the story on their blog.  CHF will eventually mark their remaining inventory down before shutting their doors but if you can't wait, Ellen Hutson is liquidating the rest of her CHF stock right now at 40% off in her online store.  I so love all of Kim Hughes' illustrations, I'm sad to see her stamps discontinued so I'm stocking up myself on sets that I've been wanting forever.  Check out her blog for great inspiration!

Well, gotta get back to my chores!  I'll add my supply list later on when I get a chance.  Thanks for looking!

Fancy Wedding Cake Card

Last month, I went to Southern California to a wedding of two good friends with my family.  We had such a great time and the weather was perfect for the event.

This is the card I made for the bride and groom.  I love how it turned out! Since the cake centerpiece was so elaborate, I didn't want to make the background too busy.  I kept the accents simple and elegant. I used white Liquid Applique for the frosting and let it dry overnight.  The next day, I used my heat gun on just the frosting parts and it poofed up like magic!  I found that if I didn't let the Liquid Applique dry completely and used the heat right after, I got more of a popcorn texture that didn't puff up as much.

Here's a side view of the cake.  It's actually three layers of the same image. I used the complete cake image on the bottom, two cake layers on top of that, and then one cake on the third layer.  Long ago, I had seen this technique demonstrated by the owner of the stamp company on a local crafting show. 

 

The inside of the card was kept simple.  Love the silhouette of the bride and groom from Kim Hughes's wedding stamp set!  I cut an easy tab out of the white cardstock layer to give it some dimension when you open the card.  I also used a very black pigment ink to stamp the image so it would be crisp and solid.

Supplies

Stamps: Wedding Cake (Stamps by Judith), Mr. & Mrs., Tiny Heart (A Muse), congratulations sentiment, bride and groom from "I Thee Wed" by Kim Hughes (Cornish Heritage Farms)

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Brilliance Graphite Black (Tsukineko), Poppy Red (Papertrey Ink), Copic markers

Paper: Apple Red & Espresso Shimmer Couture (A Muse), Swimming Pool (Bazzill), Cryogen White cardstock  

Accessories: Robin's Egg & White Pretty Pearls (A Muse), Martha Stewart Heart Confetti punch (EK Success), Circle & Scallop Circle Punches (Marvy), Big Note Top Die (Stampin' Up!), Something Old, Something New corner punch (Fiskars), White Polka Dot Sheer ribbon (A Muse), White Liquid Applique (Marvy), Heated Craft Tool (Ranger), Piercing tool