Brrrrrrr.....

Baby it's cold outside! If I haven't mentioned it before (yeah right!) I love this cold weather! I have absolutely loved the chill in the air these past few days, too bad it is warming up again. I've been reading on the CK site that some people have had snow, I am soooooo jealous! I am hoping for a little snow this year, maybe around Christmas???? I think we had a dusting last year and that was it, maybe the weather man will make up for it this year and finally give us a good snowfall!

Let's get ready for Thanksgiving and Christmas! It doesn't seem right to post a Christmas card before Thanksgiving but I have been wanting to make a card with this adorable little penguin from Cricut's "Joys of the Season" cartridge. Why not make it out of felt? I added some white seed beads around the white part but of course, it doesn't show up in the photo. Maybe if you click on the photo and make it bigger, they will show up. I used Making Memories Fa La La papers. The stars are a sizzix die cut with chipboard, then glittered. I made some french knots all down the left side with some sparkly red yarn I had. Oh and his little nose is made from felt, edged with some french knots also. Now off to work on some submissions and another card!

Thanks for looking!
Annette

Trick or Treat

I made the Owl card with the Stamps I got from Gayle's TAC party, I absolutely love them! Cosmo Cricket Fleuriste papers were used on the background, glossy accents on the owls and a couple black Kaiser pearls on the bottom ends. I distressed the background with a light sandpaper and also on the tree branches. I hand stitched with black embroidery floss the zig zag and the X's and it was so much fun! I am addicted to sewing on cards!



Just finished my last halloween card. Image is from FAll ATC Collection by Memories in the Making, Halloween stamp is The Angel Company, papers are Spellbound - Making Memories - I just love their halloween collection! Misc. ribbon, twine and pompom from craft supply. Now I'm going to work on a Fall ATC swamp I'm in and after I finish those, it's Thanksgiving and Christmas cards!!

Have a wonderful Fall day!
Annette

It finally feels like fall!

What a wonderful day today, the wind is blowing and there is a chill in the air. My favorite time of year has arrived! It is going to get down into the low 40's at night for the next week. I can't wait until that is the temperature during the day! I love the cold weather!





Here is a card I've been working on this past week. I cut the felt petals with a sizzix die, then I hand embroidered around the edges then adhered them into the flower shape, then added some gold beads in the middle for the finishing touch. I experimented with some different stitches on my new machine and liked this one I used along the edge the best.I forgot to set the stitch length from the last stitch I tried so it isn't as big as I wanted it but once I got started, there was no turning back. Good reason why to test on paper first BEFORE you try a new stitch on your finished piece. I tested the last stitch on paper but changed my mind at the last minute and didn't change the stitch length so at least I attempted to test on paper first!

I made a big pot of homemade vegetable soup and I rented a couple movies so I think I'll eat a big bowl of soup watch movies tonight! I'll be back in my craft room tomorrow to work on more projects.

Have a wonderful rest of the weekend.


Annette

New Machine

Click on photo to enlarge


I brought my new sewing machine out of the box yesterday and it works like a dream! It is so quiet and really easy to use. My favorite feature so far is the scallop stitch. I thought I would try it out on some felt and the finished scalloped edge looks so nice! I am so excited about using this stitch in the future. Ater you do the scallop stitch the length you want, you cut away the excess fabric right at the seam. I added a straight line to finish it off and look how it turned out on the bottom of my cardinal card. I am sooooooo in love with my machine!! I made the cardinal out of felt and hand stitched and beaded it. I used some Daisy d's papers for the background, added some Kaiser pearls and some ribbon to complete my card.
Thanks for looking.

Have a wonderful week!
Annette

Warm Weather

So much for our few crisp cool days and nights, the weather man is forcasting upper 70's and low 80's for a few days next week! I am so ready for the weather to cool off.

I finally was able to make a new blog header. I designed it in a scrapbook program, saved it as a jpeg file and downloaded it onto my blog. Took me a few tries but I finally got it!

On this card, I stamped a pumpkin image with dye ink on fabric, then hand stitched it. I cut around the pumpkin and zig zagged it onto some woven fabric and frayed the edges some. The zig zag border is traced from a polka dot paper with a zig zag edge. I cut the leaf paper to fit my card and used the edges of the zig zig paper as a pattern on all four sides, then hand cut. I then sewed around each zig zig with my machine (I have not brought the new one out of the box yet but I think I will this weekend!). Chipboard is Scenic Route and buttons are from craft supply. Polka dot paper in the background is 7 Gypsies Savannah Collection.





Have a wonderful weekend!
Annette

I finally came to the conclusion....

that I needed a new sewing machine. I have a Phaff which I purchased almost 19 years ago and it has been acting up lately, not wanting to do a straight line so some of the sewing on my last projects was a little crooked. One thing I know is that I can sew a straight line and it didn't matter how tight or firm I guided the paper, it just kind of wanted to do it's own thing! So, my boyfriend and I went to Sears today and I got a new sewing machine! It is a computerized Kenmore and has 110 different stitches! It is still in the box on the floor of my craft room, learing at me, wondering when it will get taken out of it's little hiding spot and put to the challenge! I read all the reviews on it before I purchased it and it looks like it should be pretty easy to use (I'll post again in a few weeks and see if the reviews held up to their promises!). I think I will keep my old machine and take it in for a tune up, then when I have friends over, I'll have two machines for us to use! I stocked up on new bobbins as I like to keep a bobbin on hand of all the different colors of threads that I use.



I made this card yesterday afternoon on WCMD but couldn't get a good photo of it because of the lighting so I took it outside today when the morning sun was hitting the porch and got a great photo! Top half of the card is Flair Designs paper and the bottom half is My Mind's Eye paper. Die cut is Cavallini Holiday Cheer glittered gift tag (I can't wait to make more projects using these, I also have the Halloween postcards!) Glitter stars are My Mind's Eye, adhesive pearls are Kaiser.

I also got a wonderful book today from Books-a-million while we were waiting for Sears to open, it is "SEW Somerset, the art of creative sewing with mixed media". I have only glanced through it but it looks spectacular and has some wonderful ideas in it! I love to use different textures (felt, fabric) on my cards so I am really looking forward to spending a nice quiet morning with this new book!

Thanks for looking and have a wonderful week!
Annette

Fun with Felt

Wonderful designer Melissa has a challenge on her blog to create a card using felt. Her friend Wendy is also having the same challenge on her blog so if I post on both blogs, I have two chances to win in the random drawing! Prize is a little package filled with felt and other goodies!! I absolutely love felt and was so excited for this challenge! My first card is a tac tac toe card I made using felt for the game board. You can click on the photos for a closer view!

I used a sizzix die for the bee body and head and cut out my own wings as the wings with the die were a little too big. I also used another sizzix die to make the felt flowers and added some beads, buttons and french knots. The glitter X's are Melissa Frances as well as the paper and ticket. I had made three bees and put the last one on a tag as 3 on the card were a little too much.


I had some extra time today so I did another card using felt and a few more sizzix dies. I cut two of the snowman from felt and hand stitched around him and also hand stitched the hat, arms and scarf on. Chipboard is Deja View Flurries and Frost and cute little polka dot brad is from The Paper Studio. I cut out a scallop strip from Dream Street Wonderland Collection. Adhesive pearls are Kaiser Kraft and glitter is stickles (which doesn't show up in the photo unless you click on it and get a closeup view). I actually beaded around his hat with black beads but you can't see them in the photo.

I hope everyone has a wonderful day tomorrow on World Card Making Day! I will be furniture shopping the first half of the day but will be home in the afternoon and will spend the rest of the day creating!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Annette