greetingarts

a little birdie told me

I've been featured on a new-to-me blog, two times this week.

Check them out, there's a lot of great links to fun tutorials there.  Thanks, gals!

skip on over

I've created a special tutorial to help a friend highlight a fantastic charity.  So hop on over to Skip to my Lou and learn about Read to Feed, Heifer International, and how to make a customized bookmark.

Don't forget to check out the other projects in her Bloggy Book and Craft-a-thon, and, most importantly, consider joining team Skip to my Lou and make a difference in improving the lives of others.

crocheted flower tutorial

Okay, here goes nothing.  A very simple tutorial for my flower embellishments.

Step 1:  Make a magic circle, 5 sc into ring, pull circle closed.

Step 2:  Join with sl st into first sc.

Step 3:  In the same stitch, (sc, 3 dc, sc, sl st).  You've just completed one petal.

Step 4-7:  Sl st in the next sc, repeat Step 3.

You should end up with a total of five petals.  Leave a long tail at the end and/or at the beginning, and you can use it to sew your flower onto whatever you wanted to fancy up.

The center of your flower can be a different color than the petals if you switch your yarn after Step 2.  Just crochet over the ends, so you won't have as many tails to weave in (because that's almost as bad as having to sew up seams).

If you want a flower with more (or less) petals, just add or subtract the number of single crochets you make into the initial ring in Step 1.  Here, I made 7 sc, which resulted in 7 petals. 

Change hook sizes, experiment with different yarn, embroidery floss, perle cotton, whatever.  So many possibilities.

So there you go, hope that works out for you.  Let me know if you have any problems, or questions.  I know I'm a very careful and thorough pattern tester, but I'm not so sure about my ability to write them!

sticky notes books or sticky notebooks

Using pads of sticky notes, scrapbook paper and a few other supplies, I made one of these books for each of Rebecca's classmates to celebrate the last day of Kindergarten.  It didn't take that long, and I thought some of you might like the idea.  Who knew this was going to turn into a book making blog?

For the books I made this time, I used 3" x 3" Post-it Notes (in their Ultra colors), so all the measurements I'll give you will reflect that size.  But I've made these before with the 1" x 2" pads and shipping tags that I decorated with rubber stamps instead of scrapbook paper, so use your imagination and see what you come up with.

I got this marvelous stack of 12" x 12" scrapbooking cardstock at 50% off, and cut pieces that were 3¼" x 7¾".  If your paper is directional, you need to make sure your pattern runs horizontally.  I was able to make three book covers from one sheet of directional paper.

Find yourself a scoring tool (I used my handy dandy #2 double pointed knitting needle), turn your paper upside down but with the right side still facing up,  (trust me, I don't know why it works better when you turn the paper upside down, but the thickness of the scoring line affects the measurements ever so slightly, I think) and score at  3⅛", then ⅜" from that first line, then 3⅛" from the second line, then one final line another ⅜" away from the previous mark. You should have a little section left over that is ¾" wide.

Turn the paper over to the wrong side, with the large section on the left, the little flap on the right, as in the photo above.  Next you're going to make two small holes at the midpoint of the paper, about 1" from the edge on the left, and the other in the middle of the last flap on the right.  You can just barely make out the little holes in the picture, I think.  I just used my knitting needle, pressed down firmly on my self-healing mat and twisted it back and forth a few times.  Bend all lines inwards, towards the unprinted side of the paper.  Pull the backing sheet off of the pad of sticky notes, and press in place, fold sides up and around. 

I punched two circles from contrasting cardstock with a ½" circle punch, poked a hole in the center of each, and inserted a mini brad. 

Next comes the kind of fiddly part.  Take a length of perle cotton, embroidery floss, whatever, and tie it onto the underside of one of your circle/mini brad things, or you could use the teeniest dab of glue if you prefer.  If you use glue, make sure it's completely dry before you continue.  You don't want the circle to be stuck to the cover of your book, you only want the thread to be stuck to the circle/brad part.  So you'll end up with a pair of circles with brads attached, and one will also have a thread stuck or tied onto it.  Insert one circle/brad into each of the holes on your book cover.

Then just wrap the thread around and around, or in a figure 8, like an inter-office envelope, remember those?  You can use eyelets to attach the circles, too, I just find mini brads to be easier.

Let me know if you have any problems with the instructions here, I had a heck of a time writing this tutorial (since June 11th!).  "Circle/brad thingy," "left edge," "midpoint" and all of that seemed hard and confusing to write down.  It always is easier for me to just do or show, rather than try to explain it in words accompanied by my lame photos.  I'll be happy to answer any questions you might have.  

And there you have it.  Repeat instructions as desired, until you have a satisfyingly wobbly little stack of sticky notes books.  Then let your three year old have one, and it will become a sticky notebook in no time flat!

handmade books from scraps

I've been meaning to make a stack of little books for my kiddos to fill whenever they feel so inclined, like the ones here and here, so we finally got around to doing it a few weekends ago.

I got to use my Japanese Screw Punch for the first time, and the old stationery from the firm my husband worked for way back when we were engaged.  I felt guilty about recycling it all since it was a lot of nice quality paper, and was perfectly usable except for the letterhead.  So, it came with us when we moved.  But it's time to start getting rid of it!

The book covers are just scraps of cardstock left over from other projects, so some of the books are about 5" x 4", others are long and narrow, others are teeny tiny, about an inch.

A true scrap project, I even used some of Jessie's birthday cards for the covers.  They always pile up and it seems such a shame to throw recycle away the sweet sentiments, and now I won't have to.  Rebecca really helped with this project, while Jessie occupied herself with sticking stickers on the covers.  I used a Chip Clip to hold the papers and cover together, did the  hole punching myself, and Rebecca used a dental floss threader to sew the book together.  I love that floss threader trick, it really mimics a needle and helps her learn how to hold everything together so that the thread doesn't keep coming out of the eye (though it still does a lot but at least she's getting the concept). 

So putting it all together was a fun morning-long activity, but the best part is peeking to see what she fills up her books with.

whirlygiggles aka scrappy cartwheels

Well, it nearly took me a year to keep my word, but here it is at last, a description of how I made my scrappy cartwheels quilt.  In my mind, I've dubbed it "Whirlygiggles," which is a totally fantastic name that my friend Peggy came up with.  If it hadn't been for Beth and Kristin of Sew, Mama, Sew! writing to me and asking me if they could feature my quilt as Quilt of the Day (um, yes, how thrilling is that?!), who knows how many more months or years it would have taken me to get my act together and do this little tutorial?

So here we go.  To make the template, you need thin cardboard, template plastic, a plastic lid, whatever you've got handy.  Cut a square out of it, one fourth the size you'd like your final block to be.  For example, if you want your block to be 4 inches finished, like in my original quilt, you'll cut your template to be 2" x 2".  In this picture, the square is 3" (only because that happened to be the size of origami paper I had on hand) which would give you a finished block of 6".

Take the square and make a mark a quarter of an inch above the halfway point on the left side of the square, and a quarter of an inch below the halfway point on the right side of the square.

Connect the two marks you just made, cut on that diagonal line, and there you have it! 

Identical templates, two for the price of one.  Can't believe it was that easy, can you?  One important tip: it is crucial to note which side of your template you want to be the "right" side. 

In my example, there's a white side and a pink side (can you see it?  If I'd thought it through, I would've used a different color, sorry).  It doesn't matter which side you pick, you just have to designate one side as "right," and one side as "wrong."  You only need one little template for your entire quilt, each completed block is made from 8 pieces.  4 are cut from light fabric and 4 are cut from dark fabric.  It doesn't make any difference if you rotate the template as you trace to save space on your scraps of fabric.  Top and bottom doesn't matter, but it does indeed make a difference if you accidentally flip the piece over while you're tracing.  Get it?  Kind of hard to explain in words, but trust me.  If you make the mistake once, you'll understand pretty quickly.

When I trace my template, I use a mechanical pencil with an ultra fine lead (.5 mm), and a clipboard with a piece of fine grit sandpaper attached, which keeps the fabric from dragging underneath your pencil.  Truly, this is a great quilt to make from your scraps.  The white strip above is only about 2" x 10".  The template you made does *not* include the seam allowance, so don't forget to leave a quarter of an inch extra all the way around.  Next, cut out all your pieces, and then it's just a matter of sewing a light to a dark, and four pairs together to make a pinwheel.

The block can look vastly different, depending on what fabrics you choose. 

My original quilt was done with 4 different light fabrics in each block. 

But you could also use the same background in every block.

Or mix batiks with solid black, reproductions with white muslin, even fussy cut some novelty fabrics or kids prints for each pinwheel.  Let your love of fabric determine what direction your quilt takes, but I hope you try this block, and maybe even give hand piecing and hand quilting a try.  A doll quilt is a great place to experiment.

If you have any questions, or if there is anything that needs clarification, please feel free to email me or leave a comment, I'll try to help in any way I can.  Although, Typepad is being a bit selective in which comments it wants to send me, so if you don't hear from me within a few days (I'm leaving town tomorrow but will be back Sunday night), please try again.  I'm so happy that you stopped by.

matchbook notebooks

These make great party favors, stocking stuffers, little things to tuck in with a birthday card, whatever.  Make them bigger and you can use them as journals.



Gather your supplies:

2" x 5" cardstock (dark red)
2" x 5" decorative paper (this is optional, I used a pink swirl)
several sheets of 2" x   1 ¾" paper for the inside pages of your book (my stapler could handle about 15)
ruler
scoring tool (I used a steel crochet hook because it was handy)
glue stick
stapler



From one end, score your cardstock at ½".  From the other end, score at 2" and 2 ¼". Fold up at the ½" mark, nestle your inside pages there, and staple.

Yeah, I gotta get a new stapler.  The stapler is the easiest, fastest way I can think of (if you have a stapler that works, that is), but there are many alternatives.  You could do two eyelets with a ribbon, you could do a Japanese bookbinding technique, whatever will hold all those pages in.  Just depends how fancy you want to get, and how much time you want to take.

Apply glue along the flap with the staple, then stick on your decorative paper.  You can skip this step if you don't mind the staple showing, I just felt compulsive that day, and the kiddies were glueing and sticking right beside me, so I didn't feel rushed.

Turn the whole thing over, apply glue all along the back, and finish making it look pretty. 

Don't really know if I'm explaining this well in words, it's not at all complicated, just look at the pictures and hopefully it makes sense.

Flip it back over, fold on the remaining two lines, and ta-dah, you're done.

Well, wait, not yet.  You've got to embellish!

They're really fun to make, what are you going to put on the front of yours?