Showered With Love Challenge

The current challenge on the Ai blog is "Showered With Love" - we want to see your Shower cards, either Baby or Wedding.  I went with wedding, as I've had this bouquet idea using the Art Impressions Watercolor stamps for a while:

 Typically, the Ai florals are used with a pot or container of some kind, but I thought they would make a great wedding bouquet (although this would make a great birthday or thank you card, too!)  I stamped my flowers in shades of pink and purpley-blue, tucked in some greenery, then hand drew in the ribbon that ties them together.  Finally, I added the stems.  I used a damp paintbrush to soften all the lines.

 I used a stitched oval die to trim my watercolour paper, matted it with some Sorbet cardstock and mounted it with pop dots onto my base.  I stitched my patterned paper with my sewing machine before adhering it to the card base, then tied a white organdy ribbon around it and finished up with some epoxy bubbles in blue & green.

 Check out what the rest of the design team has to share today over on the Ai blog, and you can link up your shower creation while you're there.

Watercolour sets used are: WC Flowers

Celeste

 I haven't coloured up Celeste from Art Impressions in a little while, and I came across this image already stamped and waiting for me, so I got down to business and coloured her up.  Here is Celeste Set (Sku #4326):

 She's priceless.  I adore everything about her - the clothes, the jewelry, and the diva vibe.  I coloured her with Copic markers, and added a little zigzag stitching with my sewing machine.

Happy stamping!

Copics used - E37, E34, E31, YR18, YR16, YR15, YR12, B97, B95, B93, B91, W3, W1, W00, BG13, BG11, YG03, YG01, E13, E11, R37, R35, R32, R30

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Plaid Girlfriends

I made a trio of Art Impressions cards up for my girlfriend this weekend, using some of my favourite Ai sets, and those pretty Lawn Fawn plaids that I can't get enough of:

 Such gorgeous, summery colours!  Here is Out To Lunch:

 Here is Celeste:

 And here is Picture Perfect:

Patterned papers are Perfectly Plaid, Polka in the Meadow and Watercolor Wishes by Lawn Fawn; Cardstock is White Daisy, Pear & Chocolate, Close to my Heart; Copic Markers; Enamel dots are Your Next Stamp; Inks are Memento, Tuxedo Black & Onyx Black by Versafine;  Stamp sets are Celeste, Picture Perfect & Out to Lunch by Art Impressions

Old Goat Birthday cards

 I can't believe that it's August 1st already... it means we're officially half way through summer!  And I have a ton of family birthdays in the fall, so I'm working on getting my stash of cards ready to go.  I am using another Funny Farm set today (I adore all the punny sayings in them!).  Here are a couple of cards using Old Goat Set (Sku #AiCS37):

 If I'm not mistaken... I believe this is the first time that I've ever coloured goats!!  I actually did a Google image search to make sure that I was doing it correctly (smile!).  They definitely come in an assortment of colours.  I coloured up the herd, fussy cut them out and adhered them to a matted circle with pop dots:

 It's a well known fact that goats like to chew... so here is one of them gnawing away on the decorations.  I coloured him with my Copics, matted him on black, and added a circle that I zigzag stitched down with gold thread:

 You can find all of the Funny Farm sets here - great images, and fun sentiments to go with them.

 Happy stamping!

Copics used - Browns: E57, E55, E53, E51, E50, E75, E72, E70

Greys - W5, W3, W1, W00

Pinks - R89, R85, R83, R81, RV17, RV15, RV13, RV11, R32, R30

Greens - BG18, BG15, BG13, BG11

Oranges - YR04, YR02

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I'll Text You

The current challenge on the Art Impressions blog is "I'll Text You" - we want to see your cards using sentiments only!  With that in mind, I decided to use one of my favourite Ai sentiments : "Never underestimate the power of being properly caffeinated" the stamp is called Caffeinated (Sku #G4144):

 I knew that I had this cute little coffee cup die set, that would work perfectly.

Check out what the rest of the Design Team has to share over on the Ai blog - and you can link up your project there as well.

Sewing Machine Cover

Hello Ai Sewing fans!

 It's the July edition of Tuesday Threads... and if you remember last month, I made a quilted mat for my sewing machine to sit on.  This month I have the matching sewing machine cover to share with you!

 I'm using the wonderful Shop Hop fabrics designed by Art Impressions owner/illustrator, Bonnie Krebs - available through Henry Glass Company.

 I designed my cover partially based on a few ideas that I found on Pinterest, but I also wanted it to coordinate with the sewing machine mat, and the needle case I'd made a few months ago.  I really love the sewing notion print that I used for the front and back - so I wanted it to be the main focus.  To make it easy to assemble, I designed it with two identical side panels that I sewed up the sides, pivoted and sewed them along the top.  Two small rectangular pieces formed the top opening for the handle.  I fused the backside of all the pieces with a lightweight, fusible tricot interfacing from Therm O Web.

I used my Cricut to cut a heart template that I traced onto the pink floral print, and then I traced it onto Therm O Web's Heat n Bond Lite - a fusible adhesive that I fused onto the back of the heart, peeled off the backing, and then fused it onto the side panel.

 I  made a double pocket on the side panel in a contrasting fabric that can hold a few extra notions to keep my sewing table tidy.  I centered the heart just above the pocket.

 I used some pink embroidery floss to hand sew a blanket stitch around the outside of the heart to finish off the raw edges.

 Here you can see the top of the cover.  Each of the side panels ended with about a 5" gap at the very top.  I added the two side pieces underneath them, leaving a one inch opening for a sewing machine handle to pop through making it easy to carry the machine with the cover on.  I finished up by sewing some blue 1/4" bias binding around the bottom edge.

 Since I created the pattern myself, there was a bit of trial & error with this project!  After assembling it, it quickly became apparent that the interfacing that I'd fused onto all the pieces was not providing enough body to have the cover stand on it's own, or to retain it's shape.  So I took the whole project apart, and Therm O Web came to my rescue!  I used their High Loft Fusible Fleece on the front and back panels, and diagonally quilted them with 2" squares like I did for my sewing mat.  I fused pieces of medium weight non-woven interfacing onto the two side panels, right over top of the tricot I used initially.  The difference was night and day, and I am SO much happier with the end result.  Happy sewing, everyone!

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