Stitched Bowl

This is a little bowl I made using fabric scraps and a pattern from Stitch Magazine Dec 2011, a project by Helen Howes.  My sewing skills are limited so I'm quite pleased with the way this turned out.

Sari Ribbon sampler

This is a wall hanging I made using sari ribbon.  I used the embellisher to fix the ribbon strips to the background and then did some hand stitching and added some beads and a length of chain at the top. The circle is a washer covered with sari ribbon and wound with beads on silver wire. Love the bright colours of the ribbon.

Octopode and Stampotique stamps

This is my daughter's 21st birthday card - not an obvious choice for a 21st and certainly not girly or pretty but the stamps I used (Octopode on the cover and Stampotique inside) are actually her stamps and she loved the finished card!
It's a much bigger card than I usually make, I cut an A4 piece of kraft card in half and stitched the two pieces together to make a card, then added the Tim Holtz bingo card to the front to make an extra flap, I liked the extra space it gave me.

(And yes, how can I possibly have a daughter who's 21?)

Inspired by Sarah Lawrence

Last week I got a copy of Sarah Lawrence's new (and sadly last) book, 'Stitch, Cloth, Shimmer & Shine'.  As a librarian I like to start a book at the beginning and read through to the end but with this one as I flipped through the pages I was immediately inspired by so many of the pictures that I jumped right in in the middle and made this fabric postcard using the ideas in the book. I punched and embossed the metal, coloured it with promarkers and made the red beads with wire all as described in the book.  I used sprays and stencils to colour the black background and then added hand stitching. The book is wonderful and I highly recommend it.

Silhouette bouquet

Last weekend my sister in law and I went to the Craft4Crafters show at Exeter and had a nice day out and bought some bits and pieces.  When we got home we had a bit of a play and I used this Inkylicious flower stamp that my sister in law bought on a background I'd made ages ago and hadn't liked so I'd put it in my scraps drawer.  Pink and green is not a usual colour combination for me but put with this stamp I suddenly love it and am really pleased with the way this card came together.  The bee stamp was one I picked up for the bargain price of £1 at the show.
I also bought a couple of hanks of sari ribbon from Stef Francis and spent ages ironing it all to reveal the lovely colours. I have in mind to use it with my new embellisher....

Pave Sigaut

This piece started out with me printing an image onto calico.  The image is courtesy of The Graphics Fairy, a wonderful source of free images and I used Lesley Riley's TAP (transfer artist paper) to print the image and then iron on to the fabric.  I added bits of fabric, lace and trim, some flowers I'd crocheted, buttons, beads and stitching.  But then it sat half finished for a few months because it lacked a focal point and in spite of trialling several solutions nothing seemed to look right.  Then for Christmas I had a set of sewing themed stamps from Toodles and Binks which includes a button card image and after stamping that out and adding buttons I had my focal point. I mounted the fabric onto mounting board covered with scrapbook papers. I quite like it now!

Cute owls

I shall stop apologising for my poor neglected blog and just say that these are two owl birthday cards destined for young people of my acquaintance, a boy and a girl.  I had a set of chipboard owl shapes as part of a pot luck box and they look really cute covered in scrapbook papers and made into a card.
This card is more my usual style: