Capture the Details

halloween treat bags - something wicked but delicious

Something wicked.... but delicious. What could it be? Your recipient will have to bravely reach into the bag to find out. (Insert scary laugh here) You can fill these cute treat bags with all kinds of creepy treats! Candy, cookies, even gift cards for coffee would be a great idea.

The bags are decorated with a halloween themed ribbon and a label that I designed. The label is from lettering I did with chalk on a chalkboard. I created a digital file from it on my computer and printed it out on cardstock.

These halloween treat bags are available in my store. :-)

ice cream cone and cupcake party invitations

I designed some cute party invitations for the Blumenthal Lansing Co. inspiration boards at Jo-Ann Fabric stores.

Jo-Ann's carries Blumenthal Lansing buttons, and you can shop online for them if there isn't a Jo-Ann's store near you. The fun part is just layering different sizes of buttons to make your ice cream or cupcake top!

You can visit the Blumenthal Lansing website for instructions on how to make the ice cream cone and cupcake. I have instructions to make tags, but you could just alter them to make cards instead. The cupcake and ice cream cone are still made the same way.

So, if you have a party coming up - why not hand-make these fun invitations! Your guests will love them!:-)

capture the details mini album

This little 'capture the details' mini album is quite popular! I'm guessing it's because of all the fun pages inside that can be decorated, altered, or added to. I made a bunch of them again and have them in stock.

I love to find items that can be creatively recycled, and this album has its share of repurposed goodies! There are some old jeans, sewing instructions from the early 1970's, light bulb boxes, vintage greeting cards, and some heavy duty kraft paper that was used as protective packaging on new windows for a home.

Also, paint chips, vintage satin ribbon, catalog pages made into envelopes and an egg carton!

I threw in a few pretty pieces of patterned paper and a shipping tag, too. Hmmmm, which page to start on?!

Remember - creative recycling can be lots of fun! :-)

button wreath with frayed fabric flowers

I'd like to share a project I designed for Blumenthal Lansing Company (my favorite button source!!!). I wrapped a foam wreath with burlap strips and decorated it with frayed fabric flowers and buttons.

For supplies you will need: 

               12” Extruded Wreath Ring, FloraCraft

               1/3 yard Natural Color Burlap

               Fabric Quarters, 18” x 21”, 3 patterns

               1 ½” Pearlized Pins, assorted colors

               Beading Pins

               Scissors

               Sewing Needle and Heavy Thread

               Buttons, assorted colors

I seem to always say this, but this is one of my favorite design projects. The colors are amazing and it's such a fun wreath.

To cover the wreath with burlap:

1. Cut burlap into 2” wide by 1/3 yard (13 ½”) strips.
2. Secure a burlap strip to the back of the wreath with beading pins. Wrap the strip around the foam shape, keeping overlaps even. Secure the end of the strip on the back of the wreath with beading pins. Repeat until the whole wreath is covered with burlap strips.

To make the flowers and finish the wreath:

1. To make the fabric flowers: Rip a 1” wide by 21” long strip from a piece of fabric. Secure a knotted piece of heavy thread in a short end of the fabric strip and hand sew a loose, long stitch along one side of the fabric strip. Pull the thread tight and push the fabric strip to bunch it up on the thread. Layer the bunched fabric around and around to make the flower shape. Secure it in place with a few more stitches and snip excess thread. Make 7 flowers.

Note: You can find video tutorials online on how to make frayed fabric flowers.

2. Attach the flowers to the wreath by adding stacked button centers held in place with a pearlized pin. Push the pin through the buttons holes and the fabric flower and into the foam.
3. After the flowers are attached add assorted sizes and colors of buttons using pearlized pins. Add the buttons in among the flowers and off the ends of the flower cluster. Fade them out into smaller buttons, mixing in a few solo pearlized pins.

One of the neatest things was going into Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Store, heading to the button aisle and seeing my wreath on the inspiration board! I have a few other Blumenthal Lansing designs on display in the button aisle there and I'll be posting those, too.

Go dig through your stash of buttons and give this wreath a try! Share pictures when you make one! :-)

 

glittered mini pennant garlands

I am in love with these cute, glittery mini garlands! I designed a mini garland in Halloween colors and one in colors I'm calling 'girls night out' - pretty purple, hot pink and pink.

First up - the Happy Halloween Glittered Pennant Mini Garland. Orange, black and silver iridescent hexagonal glitter is sprinkled onto a thick base of glitter glue. When dry, I machine stitch the garland using orange thread.

You know, I just realized that these are our school colors. I could hang one in my daughter's room year-round for some school spirit!

Next is the Girls Night Out Mini Glittered Pennant Garland. Girly shades of pinks and purple would look great in a girl's bedroom or for a birthday party. Or, maybe you just really like these colors and want to hang them on a bulletin board in your office for a touch of whimsy. This garland is machine stitched with hot pink thread.

They both come in really cute storage boxes that I designed to match...

If you would have any custom color requests for these mini pennant glittered garlands just let me know and I'll see what I can do for you! :-)

 

 

doodles and drawings

I thought I'd share some of my recent doodles and drawings. First is a journal page I did back in July. I challenged myself to do one little watercolor illustration each day for a week. I sketched out the layout first and then each day I would fill in the space.

One night over summer I sat on my front porch with my sketch book and a hot air balloon floated by. That inspired this doodle...

Todd and I took the kids on a day trip to my parent's cabin in the Poconos about a month ago. We went for a walk through the woods and I collected some acorns, which is where this colorful doodle came from.....

And, last night I took a sketch book and some pens along to Ben's baseball game. I worked on this while watching the game. The pages are a toned tan color and the pen is white pigment ink - reminded me of gingerbread....

Hope you enjoyed a peek into my sketch books! :-)

button pennant garland

Several years ago I made a button pennant garland as a project while my kids were in the pool. I hung it from a shelf in my old studio.

I've moved my studio to another room since then and this garland now hangs on the wall above my computer.

I look at it every day and I love how pretty it is - it makes me happy! I decided to make a button pennant garland for my Etsy shop as well.

The button colors are in shades of pink, purple, green, orange and yellow. Each pennant is hand cut by me and I add the whimsical white dots, too. 

The most fun part is choosing the buttons... I have an extensive button collection (that's putting it mildly!) - I think buttons are my favorite fun detail to add to projects!

Please visit my Etsy shop to find out the details on this pretty button pennant garland. (I'd be happy to take requests for specific color combos - I think my button collection could accommodate you!)

glittered paper pumpkins

I added some pretty glittered paper pumpkins to my shop. They started out as little doodles that I made while watching my son's baseball game. I worked some computer magic on them, printed them out, then added a touch of fine crystal glitter. A cute patch of pumpkins that would make great accents on tags, cards, scrapbook layouts - you name it. Be creative!

Hope you'll stop by and check them out! Happy pumpkin picking! :-)