Given Away

Back in March, I offered a giveaway on my 250th post. I selected a name, and started working on what I wanted to do. There were little delays here and there, and I'm embarrassed that it took me so long to complete this.

Last Friday, I finally managed to give Christine the prize. I stamped some cards for her. Stamps are Flower Factory and one of the greeting sets. All products are Stampin' Up.

I also turned a piece from the Bride's Tree stitchalong into an ornament. This is the "house" and the image is Liberty's of London. Christine and I both lived in London, so I thought this would be perfect for her. The fabric in the background is what I used to back the ornament. While it's not a Liberty's of London fabric, it reminds me of something they would have. The brown ribbon is from Stampin' Up.

Tri-fold Cards

This month, the swap theme for my stamping group is "designer series paper". I have a lot of DSP and thought this was a perfect challenge to use some of it. I was also inspired by Anna's post on tri-fold cards. Anna was also kind enough to send me some tips on making the cards.

The tutorial for making this card at here, including dimensions. Note that the vertical end panels should be 1-3/4" x 5-1/4" (not 5-1/2" as listed on the site).

Also, you score the base card at 2", 4", 8", and 10" (or if you are using your cutter as your scorer and not one of those fancy scoring bases, 2" and 4", flip the card, and score again at 2" and 4"). The cuts are made between the 2" score and the 10" score at a depth of 1.5" on either side. One thing I discovered is that it is much easier to tape on the smaller pieces before you start folding the card.

Here's a wonky scan of an unfolded card.
I used Chocolate Chip base and the Love Me DSP from a few years ago. 

 

Here's a card folded up.

This one uses Purely Pomegranate as the base. 

To make 12 cards, I used 4 sheets of Purely Pomegranate, 2 sheets of Chocolate Chip, and 5 sheets of the DSP. All sheets were 12"x12", and all I have left are scraps. Oh, I also used a bit of textured Close to Cocoa paper for the larger punched circle on the pomegranate cards. This is a really great project for using up scraps or DSP paper sets that you haven't figured out how to use on other projects.

On the cards going to the swap, on the white panel on the inside, I stamped "Mon Amie" from the Carte Postale set in Close to Cocoa ink. All products are Stampin' Up.

More finishing!

Just in time to go to the needlework store tomorrow, I finished the last of the samplers for my nephews. I'm so excited. In all its beaded glory, I give you the Bluebell Sampler.

Furlough Finishing Flury

It rained last week. A lot. Here are a few of the projects that I finished. I'm having others do the final finishing on all of them and will show you pictures when I have them back. I am >< this close to having a happy dance on my other nephew's sampler. I also have a few other projects almost ready to show you. 

Bent Creek, The Pumpkin Flower Sampler

WDW Chrysanthemum, Mulberry, and Bullfrog

Buttons from Just Another Button Company in Plum 

(instead of the Tarnished Gold)

North Star sampler from the Sweetheart Tree

 Stitched on 28 ct Platinum Cashel with the recommended threads.  

The charm is from ArtBeads.

 

Acorn Garden Sampler from Patricia Ann designs. 

Stitched on 28 ct Platinum Cashel with the recommended threads. 

I may add a couple of crystal paillettes to this, to help it coordinate 

with the other two samplers for my nephews.

Day 4

Life in DC is always crazy and rarely easy. Sigh.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, I stitched and overdosed on TV. Since then, we've been dealing with a pest problem in the house that has required an uncounted number of loads of laundry and moving almost everything out of our bedroom. Not bed bugs, thankfully, but something as tenacious and as difficult to remove. Hopefully, tonight, we'll start moving back into our room, but it will probably take most of the weekend to complete.

DH and I are being productive with our furlough time, but it will be nice when we are past the uncertainty.

Of Pumpkins and Furloughs

This fall, I've made a concentrated effort to start stitching again. I'm mostly trying to finish up some works in progress, although I have also started a freebie stitched in two colors of DMC. I'm finding with my schedule, it's hard to stitch on projects on linen or with specialty threads, so I like having a project with DMC on Aida that I know I can wash when someone spills something all over it.

Last week, I finished this project that I had started last fall. I love, love, love this design. I need to order the beads to finish it, but I'm very happy with it. I altered the colors of the threads to match some fabric that I want to use when I turn it into something.

Bent Creek, The Pumpkin Flower Sampler

WDW Chrysanthemum, Mulberry, and Bullfrog

The next is the never-ending birth sampler that I've had to restart. This is the last project I need to complete (minus beading) to have all my niephlets' birth samplers done. I stitched most of the last section yesterday and this morning. I'm one of the 800,000+ on furlough thanks to the government shutdown. DH is also furloughed, so we're praying that the shutdown doesn't last too long. We're making the best of it for now, but if this goes on long term, the consequences for us, while not as completely dire as they are for some folks, will not be pleasant. Remember, DC (the City) is a federal entity, too.

 

Sweetheart Tree, Bluebells

 

Muriel's Next Stop

Erin of Fairy Tales and French Knots won the coin toss (sorry, Lee), so Muriel is off to central New York for a fall visit.