Valentine's Applique Project

Hey Everyone!!

It's almost Valentine's Day and with that, I'm sure that the web is going to be flooded, literally with cute, adorable, give-everyone-you-know-something Tutorials...

That said; here's another one! :-)

Today, I'm going to show y’all how to make an Appliqued Shirt. A pretty simple tutorial really... but also can be a little overwhelming if you've never done appliqueing before. It shouldn't be overwhelming... it's so simple and makes something store bought look handmade with love quickly. Let's get started!

For this, you will need:

1 t-shirt/shirt/item to add the applique to

fabric for the applique

Template of the shape you'd like

Pen of some sort

Heat n Bond Lite

Scissors

Iron

Sewing Machine

Thread

Isn't this just the most adorable, versatile fabric? I LOVE it!

So, we need to iron the loose fabric to one side of the Heat n Bond. Using the iron setting that matches your fabric type (make sure it's hot enough for the Heat n Bond), place it paper side UP to the wrong-side of the fabric you are using. Iron it on, using the directions on the Heat n Bond.

Once you've attached it to the fabric, you'll use whatever template you have to draw your lines to the paper. From there, cut it out. Peel the paper off the fabric, there should be a clear sheen to the back of the fabric, this is the adhesive.

Place it wherever you'd like it to lay on the shirt and using the same iron setting, adhere it to the shirt. Once its completely adhered onto your item, we're going to sew around it, to add a zigzag to hold down the edges and permanently adhere it to the item.

I use my Sewing Machine with a quilting thread at a medium tension, the highest width setting, a towards the lower end length with the zig-zag stitch.

Being careful not to sew in the back of the shirt/arms as they wiggle or any other part of the shirt carefully go around it sewing the edges about half on half off the applique.

Adorable, Quick... and Easy Peasy, right?

I whipped up two today, in under 1/2 hour; one for my little girl and one for her best friend!

Enjoy!!

Dawn

Patterned Button Photo Tutorial

Hey Everyone!

I know a lot of you are followers currently, and some of you (hopefully!) are just popping through from Papercraft Star for some inspiration. I don't do many tutorials anymore, as my video camera is a little touchy, and it seems to take me way longer than (I think) it should to make a video.

I made this photo tutorial, in hopes of helping some of you to make some customized buttons for your cards or other projects!

Here we go.....

Button Tutorial

Ingredients:
Clear Buttons
Beacon's 3 in 1 Craft Glue (or other clear, quick dry glue- like Glossy Accents, Zip Clear, etc. Glues that start out white, and dry to clear won't work so well with the clear buttons)
Patterned Paper (or scraps)
Craft Knife (X-acto Style)
Sanding Block (I use a fingernail sanding block from Sally's Beauty Supply-- much less expensive than a craft supply sanding block and the same thing)
Embroidery Needle & Embroidery Floss

Step 1: Put a small drop of glue onto the patterned paper you are using. Make the dot just big enough to fill the center of the button. Press the button onto the glue firmly. Try to use just enough glue that it will only squish from the holes, but not the sides.


Step 2: Once they are set, use a craft knife to cut around them, trying to stay as close to the buttons as possible, but being careful not to shift them too much on the paper since the glue isn't fully dry.

Step 3: Let them dry just a few minutes (I used this chance to switch laundry and start a new load which took maybe 3 minutes) to make sure you won't move them when you trim them up around the edges. Use your craft knife again, and trim the paper away from the edges just a little (but not enough to see from the front). Use your sanding block to lightly sand the edges of the paper to smooth them (try not to scrape up your button fronts, or they will show the scratches).

Step 4: With the craft knife, punch little holes from the front of the button holes, into the back. Then, using your floss and needle, run from the back to the front, stopping and sort of 'twirling' the button firmly on the floss to clean some of the glue residue from the holes. Do this until the holes are cleaned out.

Step 5: If you'd like floss tied through the buttons, going in the front, and back out the front, make your double knot, and trim the ends of the floss. In this photo, I mounted buttons after adding string, onto kraft cardstock so they were more smooth on my card.

Step 6: With either a little glue, or a pop dot add them to your project. (note: If I choose not to back them after tying the string on, I generally use pop dots on the back, because they generally come in every size a button could need and add dimension.)

I hope this has helped and you are confident enough to know that you can make these for any project that needs that extra touch of personalization!

Enjoy!!

Dawn

Fireflies in a Jar Card Tutorial Video using the Stretch Your Imagination Cartridge and I need your vote!

**Before I start---I also need your help to win over at the Papercraft Stars New Challenge Blog- I've got my application in to be a potential designer, and also entered a bunch of projects into their system for voting. The winner will get some goodies, but I think it's more for testing. Vote for any of my projects, show some love, I only have until tomorrow! :-) thank you!**

ONTO THE SHOW!

That's right ladies and gents (ha, like there are ANY men watching?! I'm laughing because I even bothered to type that!) -- it's another video. I'm still not 100% on the video thing, and since I forgot to charge it, and being as naive as I am, I wanted to try to shoot it on the low battery because I *thought* it would be quick!

It is a short video, at only about 6 minutes for both little clippies, but I guess thats just too much work for my little old camera.

Being that I was born and raised in Washington State, we don't have fireflies. Even in most of my travels, I'd never been anywhere to see them. I hadn't ever seen them in real life, heard about them much (other than my mom's stories about growing up in the midwest) or really cared about them until I was a teenager and had the chance to go to Lincoln, NE. For those of you who don't know- that is where the Huskers (the football team) are at, and basically I was shocked at the amount of open, flat space, cornfields and the deliciousness of the steaks. I also was amazed one evening during a bar-b-que that fireflies are REAL. The little kids, probably 6-8 year olds (true nebraskins (sp?!) that they were, caught them and were smearing them on their skin to make their skin glow. Gross, I know but pretty cool when the only way I knew how to do that would be with a highlighter and a blacklight. We can say, that from then on I've always thought they were some of the coolest bugs, and hope I get to travel around and see more of them. Adam is pretty familiar with them, apparently the also reside in Swartz Creek, MI where he grew up. My story is so silly to him, and the fact that I am mesmerized by even the thought of something living and glowing floating around.



I'm not sure if I mentioned it in the video, but everything was made at a 6" cut. I will also post the recipe at the bottom, under the stills of the card. I really enjoyed making the video, and I feel like I need to be a little more upbeat, or happy because I'm just thinking so hard to try and not mess up since I can't edit yet!

I mentioned the fireflies as flies, bugs and buggies (thats what Zoe calls anything smaller than a thumbnail, alive or not). So, there is no confusion- they are all the same thing!

Recipe:

Gray, Blue, Black & Yellow Cardstock

Metallic Pen (if you want a shiny lid)

1 brad of your choice

Cricut Machine

Stretch Your Imagination Cartridge

Computer & Printer (or you can just handwrite!)

I got the font I printed from Fonts for Peas- and they are totally free, you download them, unzip the file, install the new font and you go! I love being able to type up notes that look like they are handwritten, especially setiments that I don't have a stamp for!

I also need your help to win over at the Papercraft Stars New Challenge Blog- I've got my application in to be a potential designer, and also entered a bunch of projects into their system for voting.

http://papercraftstar.blogspot.com/2010/05/help-us-test-our-voting-system-for.html

vote for any of my projects, show some love, I only have until tomorrow! :-) thank you!