Once again Christmas is almost upon us and it seems like I was just at the beach for our vacation. Oh, it goes by so fast….guess, that means I’m having fun!

So with only 5 days until the big day, this week will find me rushing around trying to get everythign ready. Gifts wrapped, homemade presents completed, house decorated, food shopping done, cookies baked, Christmas music played.  I’m going to be enjoying it all though, at least that’s the plan.

I still have a few projects to complete in the way of holiday decor, but I did make this holiday garland the other night while watching some Charles Dickens. I used a small star punch and some Smock wrapping papers to create this multi-colored mini star garland. I punched out the stars, used a tiny little hole punch to make a hole in each star and strung them on some red & white baker’s twine. Thanks to Smock for sending me some samples.

I only wish my embroidery skillz were better…I can’t make a French Knot to save my life!

P.S. Wednesday Indie Artist Fixx will return next week.

Amenity Home recently sent me some of their fabrics to try out. I have a few things in the works for them…thinking about some placemats or a pillow…but in the meantime I decided to cover a notebook with a scrap of their Trail in Cream & Moss pattern. I bought one of those Composition Notebooks with graph paper in it (I’ve been using the graph paper to make my own embroidery patterns) and it was just to drab for me.

First, I made a little embroidered label for the cover. Then, I cut out a piece of fabric using the dimensions of the notebook,  plus 1 1/2 inches all the way around. Measured where I wanted the label to be and sewed it on the fabric. Finished up by hot gluing the fabric to the inside of the cover. I also trimmed up the corners, so there was no overlapping fabric bits. Now, I have a sweet notebook for all my embroidery pattern inspirations!

I will be sure to keep you posted with any future projects that I complete with the Amenity fabrics….or soon I decide what I want to do.

Chronicle Books recently sent me the Reprodepot Pattern Book Pattern Books Folk & Flora to play around with for She’s Crafty. By Djerba Goldfinger of Reprodepot, both books feature over 225 vintage-inspired textile designs that you print out and use for your own projects or for the projects included in the books. The pages of the books are swatches of the designs from which users can choose to reproduce from the included disk. There’s also a thumbnail directory to make finding your favorite pattern easy peasy.

I made these pretty flowers from some of my favorite floral designs using one the projects from the books. Aren’t they pretty? And they will never wilt! (vases are from Davis Studio)

Over the summer I decided to figure out how to make fabric scrap bunting and I thought I’d share my project with you for She’s Crafty.

I’m pretty new to the whole sewing thing, so I’m trying to come up with projects that will help me dip my toe into the sewing pond. I had some gorgeous Skinny Laminx fabric that I’ve been dying to make something with and I’ve been wanting to make my own fabric bunting ever since I made my foxy paper garland and did a feature on some other folks’ buntings. Mine didn’t turn out as well as I had hoped, but I’m still proud of it and now I’ve got the skillz to make my own for special occasions and holidays!

The fabric I used was Colt Circles in Seafoam from Skinny Laminx. It’s  100% cotton and screenprinted in waterbased ink an it’s available for sale in several different lengths.

Materials:

1. Fabric Scraps (mine are from Skinny Laminx)
2. Cardstock
3. Bias Tape
4. Thread
5. Pinking Sheers
6. Sewing Machine
7. Potato
8. Acrylic Paint
9. Foam Brush, optional
10. Ruler
11. Scissors
12. Straight Pins

How-to:

• Make a triangular pattern from the cardstock. Mine is 7  inches wide by 9 1/2 inches.  For those who are a little drawing challenged like me. I made it by drawing a line 7 inches long. Then drew another line perpendicular to the original one and equidistant from each end…I just made a big ‘T’. Then I used a straight edge to draw a line from the bottom of the T to each side of the original line. Cut out your triangle pattern with scissors.
• Pin the pattern to your fabric and use the pinking sheers to cut our your triangular flags. I cut out 5, you can do more if you want.
• Use the straight pins to affix the top of your flags in between the folded bias tape. Determine how for apart you want them to be. Mine are about 1 1/2 inches apart.  Make sure to leave a ‘tail’ of bias tape on each end that you can use to pin your bunting up.  I left about 6 inches on each end.
• Prepare your sewing machine with the thread you want to use and sew the length of the bias tape, making sure that you are sewing through all 3 layers—the 1st layer of bias tape, the flag & the 2nd layer of bias tape. I kept my stitches sort of small & I made sure to reverse a little on the end so they won’t come out.
• Now, you can add a design with a potato stencil or decide to skip this step. I had this really awesome fabric from Skinny Laminx that I wanted to add some windmill shapes to. Why windmills? I don’t know, but there’s something about those colts that make me think of windmills.
• Cut a potato in half and cut out your design.  Remember, the raised up parts will be the bits that have paint on them.
• Once you have created your design, dip the potato stencil in paint (or use a foam brush like me) and place it paint side down on your flag…keeping in mind how the pendants are going  to hang and how the design will appear. You maybe don’t want to add your design upside down. Press down for 30 seconds or so and voila. Repeat as often as you’d like.
• Let your paint dry and then hang your bunting.

I’ve needed coasters for my Ikea desk for ages. I’ve just been using junk mail and paper towels, to protect my desk from my sweating glasses, but that was just getting old. So, I decided to do something about it and come up with a post for She’s Crafty at the same time. I’ve seen those fabric coasters made from scraps around the interwebs and decided to make my own with no tutorial or even much sewing experience at all.

Looking through my fabric, I discovered that I had some fabric scraps that Michelle Engel Bencsko of Cicada Studio sent me to review. Michelle is a printed textile designer and she sells her collections in her Etsy shop. Michelle has also licensed work to Henry Glass & Co, including Dogwood and Shade Garden, 100% cotton quilting collections. In addition to Cicada Studio, she also also teamed up with Gina Pantastico to create a jointly run fabric manufacturing company, Cloud9 Fabrics, which uses environmentally responsible organic cotton base cloths and print methods. Their premier collection is called My Happy Garden.

So, I had this really great great fabric from Cicada Studio and an even bigger need for some coasters, and this is what I came up with.

Materials:

• Light or mid weight cotton or canvas fabric. This is what I used.
• Quilting batting
• Coordinating thread
• Straight pins
• Scissors
• Pinking sheers
• Piece of cardstock to create template
• Ruler

How-to:

1. Cut a template out of cardstock. I made mine 4″ x 4″, which is a nice big size for even those great big mugs.  I used the template as a guide to cut out each piece of fabric as well as matching pieces of quilt batting. I used straight pins to keep the template from shifting while I cut. You do not need to cut the pieces exactly to size, you are going to cut them again with the pinking sheers. Just make sure that they are not smaller than the template.

2. Then I made a sandwich out of 2 pieces of the fabric and a piece of batting. Use the fabric as the ‘bread’ (with the design facing out) and the batting as the ’stuffing’.  Pin all 3 layers together with straight pins. Don’t put the pins right on the edge.

3.  Use pinking sheers to trim the coasters. Cut through all 3 layers at the same time.

4. Using a sewing machine, sew the 3 layers together all the way around.  Create your seam about 1/8″ away from the edge and leave the edges rough. Try to sew a little straighter than me, but don’t sweat it if you can’t…they don’t need to be perfect.

My thoughts:

I am not much of a sewer…not really one at all. I’m really only getting acquainted with my sewing machine and I found this project to be really easy and newbie friendly, so go for it!

I’m actually thinking about making a whole bunch more coasters for the rest of the house and as homemade gifts this Xmas. I’m thinking that some Cicada Studio or some Cloud9 Fabrics fabrics would make this gifts even more special.

I have been needing some containers for my craft table to store my rulers, scissors, paint brushes and other tall stuff in. I decided to make my own for She’s Crafty using stuff I already had—some Trader Joe’s coffee cans and some wrapping paper from Jessica Pilar.

They were super easy to make. I just measured the height and circumference of the can and used a rotary cutter and self healing mat to cut the paper to size. I then used spray adhesive to attach the paper to the can and decorated them with some ribbon and little pompoms I had lying around. They look pretty awesome on my craft table!

I just love the bold designs of the wrapping paper from Jessica Pilar. Jessica is a graphic designer turned pattern designer and she creates the loveliest patterns on tote bags, cards, pillows, tees as well as on wrapping paper. You can see more on her website and in her Etsy Shop.

Oh, I’ve been having so much fun creating for the She’s Crafty feature. My latest project involved making a necklace and earrings with some ceramic beads and buttons from Panopoly Creations.

Panopoly Creations is the work of ceramist Lynae Straw and I’ve long admired her creations, especially her beads and  buttons.  I love the textures and the colorful glazes of her work and I had this idea to string some of her buttons on some sterling chain with bead accents. I’m so happy with how it turned out…see my creation below.

All the buttons and beads are from Panopoly Creations and I used some sterling silver wire, chain and findings I already had on hand (probably sourced from Fire Mountain). I also used some carnelian accents on the earrings.

Lynae’s beads and buttons can be used for all types of projects, not just jewelry. I’d love to use some as an accent on a fabric bag & on this scarflette I am making.  Custom requests are also available, so if you have something specific in mind for one of your projects, just contact Lynae.