Saturday, March 24, 2007

Four Patch Frenzy

Sigh, I am so behind on the mystery. I haven't even finished Step #2 and they are already on #13! There are a few that are behind like me, but it seems as though most are up to speed. The last clues will be posted tomorrow. No way will I be caught up. It's time for bed. Oh well.

Sunday, March 18, 2007

Quilting again!

Yesterday was National Quilting Day, however I never made it into the sewing room. Oh well, today I spent about three hours in there working on my Cinnamon O's quilt. I've got both the brown and the red sets of 3.5 inch squares done, which means the 2 inch background squares have been added to opposing corners of each colored square. I still have the aqua, golden tan and light green ones to finish, then I will create each O. Each O takes 4 of the 3.5 inch squares. I thought about making the O's as I finished each colorway, but I get in a zone and chain piecing is so fast, I think I'd rather get all the individual pieces done, then make the O's. But I could change my mind. We'll see.

I bought fabric for a new mystery called Four Patch Frenzy, and two clues have been posted for it, but I haven't cut into the fabric yet! I hope I have a chance to do that this week, because this weekend all the clues will be posted, and I don't want to fall way behind and not finish with the other quilters. Here's hoping.

Saturday, March 17, 2007

Fluffles Makes Me Smile


Another adorable Fluffles card. Sigh, I love this little kitty.

This card is inspired by both the Color Challenge #104 and Sketch Challenge #113 on Splitcoast's website. I'm always late for these challenges, but better late than never.

This card uses Regal Rose, So Saffron, Certainly Celery, and Chocolate Chip SU! cardstock. The Flying Fluffles stamp was stamped three times on Whisper White cardstock in Basic Black and punched out using the 1 3/8" square punch. I colored in Fluffles using my So Saffron and Pretty in Pink SU markers. I used the Marvy Mega scallop square punch to punch three Regal Rose squares to mat the kitty squares.

The center strip behind the diamonds was made by Cuttlebugging a 1-1/2" strip of So Saffron using my Fiskars Texture Plates (the grass plate from Texture Asst. #2), and matted with a 1-3/4" strip of Chocolate Chip. The base card is made out of Certainly Celery, and I stamped the verse (from the Small Sayings set) in Chocolate Chip. I love doing dual challenges!

Saturday, March 03, 2007

Old Sketch Challenge

When I saw Splitcoasts's Sketch Challenge #105, I really thought it was cool and wanted to do it. But at the time it came out (first week of January!) I had no easy way to cut a large circle. No Coluzzle, no die cut. So I had to wait. I bought a Cuttlebug die cut machine and a huge Sizzix circle die, but still wasn't ready because I wanted to mat the scrapbook paper circle, and I can't cut a circle with scissors to save my life. So I had to order a Coluzzle companion circle template to mat the circle. No one ever said card making was a cheap hobby!


So I finally got all the tools I needed, and here is my card. I decided to make a get well card for my mom's friend Reno, who has thrown his back out working around his house.

I have totally fallen in love with my Cuttlebug machine, especially after I bought the tan polymer pad used with the Spellbinder Wizard machine for use with my Fiskars Texture plates. I got the idea from the Cuttlebug sandwich thread on Splitcoast. I used the lines plate to lightly emboss the background piece of Certainly Celery cardstock, which I trimmed down to 4x5.25", and notched the corners using the Concave Corner Adorner.

For the circle portion, I used my Cuttlebug and the large Sizzix Circle die (approx. 4") to cut a piece of scrapbook paper. It is this paper that was my inspiration for the color combo I used. I then used my new Coluzzle Companion circle template to cut the mat in Rose Red. Then I trimmed the left side of the circle off approximately one inch and mounted it to the embossed piece of celery cardstock.

The white tag is made from a Cuttlebug oval slider die, and it's small size makes it a bit difficult to put a sentiment on it. I got out my Stamp-a-ma-jig and rearranged the Get Well Soon from the Sincere Salutations stamp set from Stampin' Up! so that it would fit in the tag, using my Rose Red marker. The Marvy Mega Scallop Oval punch mats the slider tag perfectly in Rose Red, and I ran Stampin' Up's celery organdy ribbon through the slots in the white tag. I mounted the tag using pop-dots and wrapped the ribbon around the cardstock and attached with adhesive. Then I mounted the entire thing on to a piece of Rose Red cardstock. Whew!

I really like this sketch a lot, and plan on doing more like it in the future, now that I have all the necessary equipment!