BOXED SET OF QUILTY NOTE CARDS

After making the pieced bird cards, I wanted to play around with other designs featuring designer paper and quilt block designs.  I started with 1-7/8" squares and cut them in half diagonally, but then I cut some of them in half again.  You can see how those small cuts were used to create the pinwheel designs on the first and last cards in the photo above.  In quilting, I 💗 pinwheel designs, and the two pinwheel cards are my favorite of the four.

This set of cards features the "Delightful Floral" designer paper collection, and the above photo shows the pretty Adhesive-Backed Shiny Sequins and silver trim.  On all of the cards, I used the retired Basket Weave embossing folder to add texture.  To create the pinwheel, you can (hopefully) see that each of the four squares were made up of one half of the 1-7/8" square plus two smaller halves that were created by cutting one of the diagonal cuts in half.  There must be a better way to explain that without seeming to use the same words repeatedly, but good sense escapes me at the moment.

The above photo shows the 1-7/8" squares cut in half diagonally so only two pieces were used for each square.  The sequins aren't easy to see, but they are there.

The cardstock colors that I used on these cards are Pool Party, Calypso Coral, Bubble Bath and Lost Lagoon.  I like that the cards are similar but not identical.

What does every cute little set of cards need?  That's right . . . a cute little box.  

I kept this one very simple, and it turned out to be a perfect fit for the four cards.  The 5.5" x 10.5" Pool Party cardstock was scored at .5, 5, 5.5, and 10 inches; rotated and scored at .5" on all four sides.  Each of the intersecting scored lines were cut to create flaps, and then a 1" Circle punch was used to create the semi-circle cut-out on the lid before the box was assembled.

Decorating the top of the box was a little too minimal, so I added some sequins after taking the photo.  I'm thinking a die-cut flower would look nice and add a little dimension, so I may end up adding one.  

So what do you think?  Are you ready to make your own set of quilty note cards? 

QUILTY STITCH NOTES

During most weekends, I head out of town for a nice visit with my parents.  My sister is usually visiting on the same day as me, and we enjoy going upstairs with our mother to work on sewing, quilting, applique, Paper Pumpkin kits . . . whatever our chosen projects are for the day.  The entire upstairs is like a huge bonus room, and we each have our own sewing station and a shared ironing station there.  My crafting/sewing nook is a little bit away from theirs because I like to be between the air vents--especially during the long summer months--but it's so nice and spacious and a great place to be together.  Recently, I wasn't feeling like working on a project, so I was just walking around the room and "taking inventory" of fabric, finished quilt tops that need to be quilted, etc.  I found this:

It was actually two sets of patterns tucked inside one bag, and a piece of paper with my name on it was inside the bag.  None of us could remember where it came from, but I was intrigued.  It appeared to have had note cards (with aperture cutouts for the designs) and envelopes at one time, but they were missing.  I have a plethora of cardstock and dies, so I knew I could do something with the patterns.  The only tricky part was getting used to foundation paper piecing, which is quite tricky because you're sewing where you can't see the fabric that you're sewing to the paper.  My first project was going to be the patriotic star (top left corner of the pattern in the above photo).  It was to be sewn in two parts (top and bottom) and then sewn together.  The top half came out quite nicely; however, I had a slight misalignment while sewing the bottom half.  That was such a disappointment, but I decided to just use the top half and create a card.

I really like it!  It may not be a complete mini quilt, but it's definitely pieced and gives a nod to a patriotic star.  I used two different embossing folders on the white and red cardstock layers to make the card look quilted.  The second card that I completed features a practice block that I made at my parent's house from scraps found in my mother's stash:

This small block was much easier to make--and it was a quick one, too, without all of those teensy star points.  Aren't the fabrics pretty?  

The funny thing is that none of us knew where the daisy fabric came from and couldn't recall ever having used it, so who knows the origin of that little scrap.  I used a square die to cut the window in the cardstock, and I also used a larger square die to create the Lemon Lolly frame around the window.  After embossing the white cardstock, that cute little quilt block was adhered to the back of the cardstock.  I used a piece of Lemon Lolly twine to make a bow and added some Adhesive-Backed Shiny Sequins.  The sentiment is from Stampin' Up!'s "Flower Cart" stamp set, which is featured in the current mini catalog.

Besides getting some practice with foundation paper piecing, I learned that it's sometimes a good thing to do nothing but walk a room and see what's laying around.  And now I look forward to making more stitch notes!

I hope you have a stampin' good day!

QUILTY PIECED BIRD CARDS

How adorable is this bird?!?!

If you haven't already been seeing pieced bird cards, you're in for a real treat today.  I saw this design for the first time last night, and I knew that it would be the first thing that I worked on today.  On the Frenchie Stamps blog, France Martin has a video tutorial of how to make the pieced bird and also shares a photo of a quilt that prompted her to make a paper version.  

This first card that I'm sharing features Stampin' Up!'s "Perennial Lavender" designer paper and a sentiment from the fantastic "Timeless Arrangements" stamp set.  The rhinestone jewel that I used for the bird's eye is from the retired Noble Peacock Rhinestones, but any rhinestone, small sequin, or brad would certainly suffice.

As I followed along with France's video tutorial, there were only two things that I did differently.  Instead of using scissors to round the top right corner of the bird's head, I used a Corner Rounder punch.  She may have demonstrated with scissors because Stampin' Up! doesn't currently offer a punch for rounding corners--and that's perfectly understandable.  If you have a punch, use it.  The second thing that I decided to do--which I find to be extremely helpful when it comes to selecting which papers to use for which part of piecing the bird--was to create a cheat sheet of sorts where each piece is labeled as A, B, or C.  Below is the cheat sheet that I made for myself:

For my cheat sheet and for the second card, I used the oh-so-gorgeous "Flowering Zinnias" designer paper, which is one of Stampin' Up!'s newest Online Exclusives products.  Don't miss out on this paper because it is sooooooo pretty!

For the second card, I chose to make one with a Book Binding fold.  It's so simple to make, but that one extra score line gives the card just enough interest to keep it from looking like any other card.  It also provides a perfect place for a pretty strip of coordinating designer paper.  And the pieced bird . . . I think he is so beautiful.  Hopefully, you can tell that there is a fluffy cloud above and below him because . . . well . . . he's flying high.  Below is a closer look:

And how about one more photo that does a better job of showing the Book Binding card design:

So . . . be honest . . . are you ready to cut some 3/4" squares and start piecing some pretty birds?  This is a fantastic project for some of your smallest scraps of designer paper.  I've already got a container to hold cut squares for the sole purpose of making more, more, more pieced birds.  

Have a stampin' good day!

SUCH A NICE MASCULINE CARD

 

Don't faint, but the card I'm sharing today is not another Square Column creation.  I know, I know . . . it's shocking and hard to believe.  

I needed a masculine card.  One of the members at the club where I work makes beautiful pottery pieces, and he recently gave this creation to me:

I don't often use the word "lovely" in my everyday speak, but isn't it just that . . . l-o-v-e-l-y?  I cropped the photo to spare your eyes the condition of the plant that's in the pot because I'm not doing a great job with it.  But the pot and dish are such a treasure, and I love the texture on the pot.  

When trying to decide what kind of card to make, I thought that it should be somewhat earthy.  In some ways, that just added to the stress of making a masculine card . . . until . . . it just kinda fell into place.

It has wood, grass, metal, a rope-like frame, and texture.

Obviously, you can't see how the card looked in the beginning, so I'll just tell you the things that made it pop.  Adding the embossed white layer to a piece of Boho Blue cardstock proved to be a great separator between it and the wooden designer paper.  It still needed something, and the die-cut grass added so much to the appearance and made that layer feel grounded.  Lastly, the little tab at the top with the leafy metal trinket really took the design up a notch and was a perfect finishing touch.  

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a stampin' good day!