Lovely Card for a Lovely Mother

I wanted to make special mothers day cards this year for my mother and mother-in-law. So I sat down to design it, having just bought a paper stack of Dear Lizzy paper that has been out for a little while just I just now got it and it is darling. As soon as I saw this print I knew it would be great for a mothers day card. The words stamps come from one of my favorite stamp sets from Stampin Up "Wonderful Favorites". The flowers I stamped from Stampin Up's "Array of Sunshine" hostess stamp set. I punched out a few hearts because I needed a touch of pink and of course I needed a little button sewn on. The little banner in the corner is  a few snippits of paper from my scrap stash and the doiley I bought from the baking section at hobby lobby. I think the whole card came together quite lovely. Once I had the first one designed the second one came together really quickly. Now go create a beautiful card with your stamps and some paper. ;)

Lace T-Shirt REDO

This is my Lace T-Shirt REDO. I have broke down how I made it with a few pictures to follow along my journey of how this came to be. 

So first off, I bought a really big shirt because I wanted it to be long. I laid a shirt that I wear on top of it and cut out so that I could get the right size. I wanted a little detail on the back so I cut it in half and added the lace and then sewed the back piece that I cut off  back together. (make sure you pin the lace to the t-shirt really good almost like basting a quilt so that your pieces stay where they are suppose to be. After I did the back I decided the front really needed some lace to. I played around with where to put it until I decided it just needed it all over. So I took out the shoulder seams until the ribbing and pinned the lace to the shirt front. I cut the lace around the neckline and zigzag stitch around the neckline  (very slowly so it doesn't bunch up) If you use a coordinating thread you hardly notice.

 The photo on the top left is simply to show a tip I use...I like to keep a scrap of fabric in my machine for when I am switching between sewing things. It saves my thread keeping it from getting unthreaded and using less thread because I can just push through the next thing I sew with a tiny bit of thread used. It is also great for when sewing something like knit. If you sew knit too close to the edge the sewing machine likes to eat it...if you know what I mean. So if you have a scrap already connected all you have to do when you start the next piece is give your scrap a little tough to help your feed dogs pull the beginning of your knit seam. once your feed dogs start pulling it through instead of down you don't need to tug anymore. That is my tip for this tutorial.

Now back to my shirt. I sewed my shoulder seams back and angled them a little to better fit me. Next step is to pin the shirt front and back together at the sides. I lined mine up at the armpit and pinned downward. The back of my shirt is a little shorter because I cut it in the back, but I like the way it looks it gives it a little slip detail on the sides.When you are pinning the sides together don't forget to pin the lace in you don't want to miss a layer.
After that I trimmed my lace around the armpit. I cut the sleeves out from the original shirt that I started with. Since I took up my shirt so much I knew my sleeves wouldn't fit so I thought it would be cute to gather them on the top. To do a gathering stitch you just increase your stitch length as much as possible.
Pull the bottom thread and it will gather. Then you need to pin right sides together the sleeve to the armhole. I start at the seam and work upward so that my gathering gets right on top. Once it's pinned you can sew it in place and when both are done so is your shirt.
The side slit detail can be finished simple by turning under the raw edge of the fabric and topstitching it. I finished all my seams with my serger. If you do not have on I highly recommend finishing your edges with a zigzag stitch so that your shirt doesn't unravel.

I hope this inspires you to do your own T-Shirt REDO!!

Spiderweb Selvage Quilt in progress

This is my selvage edge spiderweb quilt that I work on a little bit at a time. I guess when I decide I am done making blocks is when I will finish it. I was hoping if I put up my progress on here it would motivate me to finish it. I am thinking about hand quilting it myself since I have never done that and I think it might be fun to try it out.
The tutorial I used is Tallgrass Prairie Studio spiderweb-tutorial-for-selvages. It is a great tutorial if you are thinking about making a quilt of your own. Or maybe just a table runner or something small.
This is my little tid bit for today. Hope this inspires you to get creative and starting crafting.

Bleached Mustache Tee

 

 I bought this cheap Tee from Wally-World and wanted to do something cute with it that wasn't too CUTE. I mean lets face it. It is for a boy. He isn't going to want something too handmade looking. I wanted to make a mustache on it and I was trying to get away from applique when I came up with this idea. BLEACH!! Super easy and you probably have everything you need.

• 1. Plain T
• 2. Spray bottle for Bleach
• 3. Bleach
• 4. Sticky back mustache cut outs.
• 5. Large piece of cardboard

Step one. I drew half a mustache on an old envelope and then cut out two and ran them through the Xyron. There are a few other ways you could do this if you don't have Xyron. You just need a shape that will stick on like a sticker so that the bleach won't seep through. You could use contact paper probably, or spray adhesive.
Step two. Stick the mustache on. I used a ruler to make sure it was strait. Make sure it is stuck on all the way around.
Step three. Put a little bleach and water in a spray bottle. I used 3/4 bleach to 1/4 water. Stick a piece of cardboard in the shirt so that the bleach doesn't bleed through the back. I used an old cake board that I had left over. It fit perfect. Spray the shirt just around the design.
Step four. I used a blow dryer to dry it because I am impatient. Once it is dry it is done. Pull off the stickers and your done.
( I washed mine out in the sink before I laundered it just to get all the bleach out. )

Time for Sympathy

This is a little snippet of something I made the Saturday before last. There was an unexpected death of family of our family and so I wanted to share my support and I made them all cards and made them some homemade muffins. I really wanted to make an appearance because I know how it feels to loose someone close unexpectedly. I know that for me I remember the people that came to me more. I am not saying cards aren't important. I am just saying that nothing beats personal contact. They won't forget it if you go to them because chances are they need you.

I am a big fan of Stampin Up products and most of the paper crafting supplies that I use is Stampin up exspecially cards. I really like Stampin Up's paper because it is nice and sturdy so it feels like a real card and not a homemade one. The houndstooth paper came from an old Stampin up paper pack I had in Taken with Teal, I sponged the edged of the typed paper and ripped it. I used actual water color paper and StaysOn ink for the tree stamp. (Which surprise is Stampin Up "Lovely as a Tree.") I just bought a watercolor paper pad from the art section at Hobby Lobby and I cut it to the size I need. On two of the cards I used the top of the sheet that I had torn out of the spiral and I really like the way they turned out.  I also used some pop dots to pop them up as you can see by the shadowing around it.

A Little Reading

So this may not be the best way to start a crafting blog, but crafting souls need a little inspiration. Here is a little of mine. I had been thinking that I hadn't done much reading lately well now I am stocked up with more that I can handle. I have read the Hush Hush series by Fitzpatrick and set it aside and just realized there are more books to read so I ordered her third book of the series Silence. I also picked up the bottom two books half price at a thrift store last weekend and the top book I am most looking forward to is a series of books on mermaids. I can't wait to dive into that. Guess I need to get reading. But I also need to get crafting so my next post can be something pretty and crafty to look at.