Day 5 - More Flowers

Here I am on day 5!  For those of you  who have followed my blog  know that five days in a row is an amazing feat!  There really isn't anything like accountability! 

A few months ago a group of us got together and made "melted" flowers!  These are made with a polyester fabric, that will melt with a heat gun.  We had a blast and tried all different arrangements and dies and I hope everyone is still making flowers.  We found we liked the flower folds die the best. This week I found a multicolor polyester fabric and had to give it a try. I used a small amount of the solid pink polyester from Ikea, but most of the layers were the multicolor.  Isn't this gorgeous?

This second shot is all of the layers cut out.  I used all four sizes from the die.  I just layered them on top of each other with a slight offset.

Here they are all in place with a brad in the center to hold them together.  The colors are so pretty even like this,l but the melting still has to be completed to achieve the ruffles. 

Here's the finished product!  I still need to add some embellishments, but I love the way the colors turned out.  These are fun flowers to make and so easy! They're a breeze to cut out with the Big Shot and then putting them together and melting the fabric is quick and easy.    Enjoy and see you tomorrow.

Flowers for Day 4

What a week!  Oh, that's right it's only Wednesday - well it seems like a week I've worked on so many things. .  I am excited to say that taking the challenge to intentionally move for 30 minutes for 100 consecutive days has been an amazing decision.  Of course, stealing that idea and using it for my "creating" and my "blogging" has helped me do way more than usual.  Thanks John Bingham for the inspiration!

First the 30 minutes of intentional moving has most days turned into more than 30 minutes and I already feel more energetic.  Now for the creating - I have done more, and have experimented more than ever before.  It seems like intentionally doing something each day has awakened  a desire to do even more.  Not just one project but many.

As I promised here is the flower pin I made from the felt I posted  on Monday.  I cut it out using the Big Shot and the Flower Folds die and assembled it by sewing the layers together and then adding a center with the purple roving.  

Just a few weeks ago I would have been OK with just the fabric and the flower, but today I added beading sewn on and with silver wire and am pleaseed with the results. Now I'm pulling out the other flowers I've made and seeing how I can embellish them to be even more exciting!

I tell you this challenge to make something every day and then blog it has really lit a fire in me and makes me want to make even more.  Just this week alone I've taken two classes at Archivers and experimented with some other fabric flowers.  So tomorrow watch for still another flower or two!

Tonight I need to make some thank you cards, so I'll stop for now, but I'll be back tomorrow!  What can you create by then - don't let the time pass you by - make something!  You will be glad you did and someone will love receiving that hand made "something"!

 

Silk Paper

Day 3 - 100 day challenge

I know you were expecting to see the flower cut from the felt I made yesterday, but you will just have to wait another day.  I got excited this morning about silk paper, so I just had to make some!  This is a fascinating process using up so many scraps of stuff and the silk hankie as a base.  I've added silk roving, ribbon, Angelina and even a feather I found on the floor. (from a chair, not a chicken)  Anyway, I will at a later time give directions for making these sheets of silk paper, but that too is for another day.

This post is very short as I have Bible Study this morning and a trip in to Houston later in the day.  I promise to be back tomorrow with the cutting and assembly of the felt flower.

Happy Creating,

Felting Fun

Day 2!  Well, ladies and gents you thought I might drop out all ready, but this challenge is going to last!  Haha!  Remember the words resolve and intentional!

Today I decided to go in a different direction.  I love making decorative felt pieces to make pins or "whatevers" and so I pulled out a piece of white felted wool and began to free form felt roving, ribbons and yarn on to it.  Well this is what I have so far.  I'm sure I'll add a little more before I put it on my Flower Folds die tomorrow and make a flower, but this is my current days creative piece.  I love doing this and sometimes take it way too far!  But if you're cutting up the piece to make further decorative pieces, can you even go too far.  In fact this piece is lacking some glitter, so I will snap the finished piece and the cut pieces tomorrow along with the flower.

I love needle felting so much that I got a Babylock embellisher at the quilt show this year.  I'm far from understanding all of the nuances, but love playing.  I haave always used the single needle or the handheld  multi needle felter, but this has 12 needles going up and down at one time!  Much faster and I cqn integrate much moe into the mix.  You will be seeing much more of this in the coming weeks! Tomorrow you will see how I use it!

Happy Creating!

Welcome to 2011!

Happy New Year!  I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season.  We had a quiet Christmas and now look forward to the new year.

I have recently had two words that have caught my attention.  One is resolve and the other is intentional.  Both are strong words and I find both to be challenging and so I'm using them both in my New Years resolution!   I want 2011 to be an exceptionally creative year.  I want to paint, sew, felt, scrapbook and stamp!  Oops, I forgot my photography and gardening - oh my, this could be a very busy year.

To help get a good start, I resolve to intentionally make something creative every day and blog every day for 100 consecutive days.  I've chosen  100 days because it coincides with a challenge John Bingham made to intentionally move for 30 minutes each day for 100 consecutive days!  I accepted the challenge (so have 7000+ other people) and that's when I began to think about the word intentional!   The word resolve came into my life with the study of Daniel in Chapter 8, verse 1  "But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine . . . . ".   I have really thought about this word a lot during the past two years.  To resolve just seems so much stronger than to make up one's mind.  And now here comes intentional!  To be intentional requires a decision to be made every day!

So with both of these words running around in my head and accepting the challenge to intentionally move for 30 minutes every day, I've added creating and blogging. I love that I've now made a public declaration and know that you will hold me accountable.  I don't know about you but that works wonders for my resolve! 

If any of you would like to join the 100 day challenge with John Bingham, check it out on Facebook/jbingham. 

Now for the creative side of today!

I wanted to try inking a texturz plate and run it through the Big Shot.  This inking could be done with a brayer, but you will need a Big Shot and embosslit for the hearts.  Once I completed the inking on the whisper white paper, I came up with my first Valentine for 2011.  I love Valentine's Day and yes, it's mostly because of  the chocolate but  it's, also, because it's a day of saying I love you, not just to our husbands or boyfriends, but our parents, our children and our friends! 

Supplies:
Paper - Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White
Stampin Pad - Cherry Cobbler
Scalloped Heart of Hearts Embosslit
Pinking Hearts Corner Punch
Modern Label Punch
Teeny Tiny Wish Stamp Set
Fiskars Texturz Plate - Lace (not Stampin' Up)
Big Shot
Dimensionals

All of these items are available in the current 2010-2011 Stampin' Up Idea Book & Catalog, except the lace texturz plate, but there are many wonderful plates available from SU.  Call to place an order or order directly from my SU website.

This card size is actually 5.5 x 8 - finished size 4 x 5.5
This is a quick and easy card.

Keep your eyes open for notice of a preview of the new mini catalog and Valentine Workshop coming soon.

See you tomorrow, ready to create.