In an effort to build up a little stash of cards to sell and give when the need arises, I made close to an exact copy of Kirsti and René's wedding card. Oh come on, you've all done it. ;) The very next day, a wedding card was requested! So that was a stroke of luck - but now I have to start over on this stash-building thing. I wonder if my production will ever exceed the demand?
I'm already on my second batch of vanilla extract, believe it or not. I've kind of made it this year's birthday gift theme! The recipe booklet is an important part of the gift, so I've made a few of those too. ;) The look of baker's twine against kraft paper is so classic. This bottle's style also suits it so well. It all feels really old-fashioned and homemade, like something from many years ago.
You're probably sick and tired of hearing about my vanilla extract by now. ;) I just figured I could show you how I strain it! After a few months of vanilla pods steeping in vodka, there are the inevitable inpurities such as vanilla seeds and vanilla pod fibres floating around in there. While this is neither dangerous nor imparing the taste (rather the opposite in fact), it doesn't exactly look very delicate. This is what I came up with - a really simple DIY solution using stuff already in my cupboard. The coffee filter is the perfect strainer! Just force the dripstop valve open with tape or elastic (see my brown hair band in the picture?) and let the extract drip into a clean bottle.
The gift accompanying this card is a pair of concert tickets, so I've tried to incorporate that into the design. Click on the picture to see it bigger and you'll see the details. It's a bit bigger than usual - it fits in those envelopes you use for an A4 paper folded in half.
A fresh, spring green card for Kirsti and René's wedding day. What is it about me and green wedding cards these days?? Am I green of envy or something? ;) Weird stuff. I had a look through my DCVW Old World stack, it's been a while. The green ones in there were light enough to work for this occation, and I teamed them with white as usual.
"Friends have a wonderful way of reminding us what really matters." The flowers (Penny Black Brushstroke) and the swirls (Stempelglede) are stamped in Distress Tattered Rose, and the Penny Black sentiment in StazOn Forest Green.
Every aspiring seamstress needs a decent pincushion. Right? So in my desire to start sewing more, I decided that a pincushion was not only a necessity, but also a nice and small starting project. -
I first saw this kind of pincushion on the blog Bridges on the Body and was absolutely fascinated by this fairly complex shape that was created by just two square pieces of fabric. How could that be? On a side note: Yes, there are women out there who make corsets, in this day and age. And yes, there are other women who read their blogs with great interest. Yours truly included. ;) Take a look at Bridges on the Body and prepare to be amazed!
This particular shape is called a biscornu, meaning "irregular, quirky, complicated, bizarre". And quirky it is... Originally, they were made with linen or other embroidered fabrics, but I decided to go a bit more modern and used two pieces of fabric from the Sunset range by Paintbrush Studio. The trick to this pincushion is that the two squares are sewn together, not directly on top of each other as usual, but with a relative 45 degrees rotation. That's it! Sounds easy enough, right?
Materials needed:
First, mark the middle point of each side, on the wrong side of both squares of fabric. You can just about make out my lines on the light fabric in my picture. Layer them, right sides together, in the following manner: The middle point of the light fabric should line up, not with the edge of the of the dark fabric, but a little bit to the side of it (refer to picture). This little distance is your seam allowance! You'll see that the middle point of your dark fabric matches up with the seam allowance distance on your light fabric in the same way (refer to picture).
This is what it should look like before you start your first seam!
For the very first seam, start just right of the middle point of the light fabric, and sew to the middle point (right arrow). This means that you are stopping the correct distance from the edge of the dark fabric (left arrow). The reason for making just this little seam to start with is to secure the first corner of the biscornu while leaving a gap in the side for turning inside out and stuffing.
Then comes the tricky part. To keep sewing along the light fabric without going past the edge of the dark fabric means that you'll have to turn the fabric 90 degrees and align the last half of the light edge to the first half of the next dark edge. Not making any sense, am I? ;) It makes a lot more sense when you're sitting there, trust me. There's really only one way to turn in order to continue. I've added two white arrows in the picture to try to clarify it: each corner meets the side of the opposite fabric. Corner meets middle, middle meets corner and so it goes.
So, continue to sew along the side until you reach the middle point of the dark fabric (arrow), that means you should stop just short of reaching the edge of the light fabric (refer to picture). Again, this is your seam allowance at work.
Turn 90 degrees again, and line up the middle point of the light fabric to the seam allowance point of the dark fabric. Is it starting to make more sense?
Sew until you meet the middle point of the light fabric. Do you see? On the last seam you stopped at the middle point of the dark fabric and near the edge of the light one - now it's the opposite.
OK, now it's getting funky. All this turning is making the fabrics fold and curl in surprising ways and it's not always easy to align the fabrics. Go on, you can do it!
Just keep sewing and turning, and the shape of the finished pincushion will start to reveal itself.
Look at that! Turned the right way out and stuffed, we're nearly done! See how both corners next to the opening are sewn and secured, so all that remains is to close the opening in a straight line using a ladder stitch. I learned a little trick a while back - don't use big wads of stuffing, it distributes unevenly and creates lumps. Instead, tear little tufts of stuffing and put in a little at a time. I've stuffed mine quite full, but make sure not to overstuff it, because you want your buttons to be able to make that signature "dent" in the middle.
So for the buttons: I just tied four strands of thread to the black button, pushed the needle through to the other side, went through the white button and back down to the other side again. Tighten the thread and bring the thread between the two buttons a few more times. To secure the thread I simply tied the two ends together under the button using a few tailor's knots, and squirted a drop of glue on the knot for good measure.
If you made it all the way to the end of this looong post, thanks for reading! :)
I just love brown and blue... Honestly, if I could choose only one colour combo to bring to a desert island, this would be it. Very likely scenario, I know. ;) The layout is clean and simple (and used lots of times before), and I've used two of my precious Bazzill flowers, some lace and a baby bear charm. Easy peasy. The letter "n" in the middle of the flowers is a Prima chipboard letter. I stripped off its top layer to get down to the paper pulp, and dyed it with blue and silver ink pads. The papers are by Maja Design and Ladybug and Friends.
"If I create from the heart, nearly everything works; if from the head, almost nothing."
Wow, look at those leaves! The detail of that fine web-like cover of veins makes them so realistic. The feel really nice as well, and add lots of structure. Definitely my absolute favourite leaves! Thank you Prima!
And as with nearly every other card I made that day, I've left a space inside for a suitable sentiment I can add when I know who's getting each particular card.
Recognize the layout? Not the most inventive one, I know, but it does the trick. I struggled with the card for a while and played it safe in the end, using a simple and familiar layout. Sometimes you just have to get a card done so you can move on to bigger and better things. ;)
Who said vintage had to be brown and dingy? I'm not saying this is a classic vintage card, but it's close enough, right? The colours were taken from the image - light blue as the flower in her hair, and light pink as her lovely dress. The papers are, of course, by the ever lovely Maja Design! Few embellishments other than the flowers from Papirloftet, some Prima bling swirls and the QK Phoebe letters, but it really doesn't need more.
You can find the original recipe on Smitten Kitchen, but I've rewritten it for you using metric measurements. I always find it a little tricky to measure butter by the cup... Be aware that my recipe is also about double the size. I find it more convenient to not have half a carton of double cream left over, but it also makes for a whooole lot of butterscotch... :P
Melt the butter on medium heat. Add sugar, cream and salt. Stir while it all melts and blends together. Resist the urge to pour it in a cup and drink it right away.
I recommend letting the butterscotch cool to room temperature before serving. It's not really a must, but when hot it is very runny! If it is allowed too cool it becomes more viscous - in fact, if you leave it in the fridge for storage (and it must definitely be kept in the fridge for the week or two you can store it) it can become semi-solid. Just leave it on the counter for a while before serving, or heat it very slightly if you're the impatient type.
I kind of feel like this card lacks a focal point or something... There's just something missing. But oh well, it's done now and I'm not ripping it apart. ;) The papers are BG Green at Heart and Porcelain, the flowers and leaves are mostly Prima, rub-ons from Creative Inspirations. The horizontal panel is Core'dinations Whitewash embossed in the CB and slightly sanded to reveal the yellow core.
A while back I attended a scrap gathering in the basement of my local paper craft store, HobbyHimmelen. I've only had the chance to do it once before, and I love it! In fact, I was the first to arrive and the last to leave. Oh yes, I'm a dedicated card maker. ;) The cards haven't appeared before now because of the sheer number of cards and other projects I've made lately...
I've used leftovers and scraps for the inside, and will probably add a sentiment or the baby's name on the left side before sending this card. I didn't bring any stamps at all to the gathering. A tough choice, but it saves me a lot of room, and I get to use some of my neglected rub-ons and other text options instead.
After struggling for ages to find apricot coloured papers in my stash I finally gave up and pleaded my friend for a different colour suggestion... White, silver and pale pink was her second choice, and what a relief. Those are colours I have more than enough of. ;) What kind of colour is apricot anyway? Everything I had was eiter too pink or too orange...
Lots and lots of flowers - large and small, buds and in full bloom. I love making these clusters, and keeping it in white and pale pink colours made this one so light and airy. If you think attatching vellum is a chore, here's a tip for you: if your vellum has a printed pattern that is completely opaque (like this one), it's possible to put a tiny dab of glue directly under the pattern without it showing on the front!
Sometimes the best crafting supplies don't come from the place you most expect. The papers used in this card actually come from Panduro. I associate them more with simple crafting kits with all sorts of other matierials, and although they've expanded into paper crafting, I haven't found anything particularly interesting there. But these papers, oh these papers!! The embossed silver one is shiny, thick and looks awesome when cut and embossed with Spellbinders. And the flowery paper, I can't possibly convey in words and pictures how wonderful it is! It's so thin you can see through it, and seems more like fabric than paper. The base is perfectly matte and impossibly black. It has then been letterpressed with an incredibly shiny deep red colour - and the result is simply stunning!
Some dimention was achieved in the card by inserting the black Bazzill flower under the sentiment, and using 3D cusions to raise the other corners a little. The Kort og Godt roses always make a statement. The colours and general layout are actually inspired by the December 4th 12"x12" layout I made for my advent calender last year. How it's taken me so long to make a card in the same style is a mystery. ;) I think we often shy away from the dark colours fearing a depressing, funeral-like card - but done right, dark colours can be really striking and luxurious, almost budoir-style.
"Friends have a wonderful way of reminding us what really matters." Text stamp by my favourite, Penny Black. The inside and last page of the card was kept in the same style - and I love it to bits... :)
