4.18.2013

I could Totally make that!

Do you ever see something and say, "I could TOTALLY make that!"  I do, nearly everyday now with the dawn of pintrest.  I find myself pinning nearly everything crafty.  Yet, rarely do I go back and to look it up.  Rarer still do I actually decide to make something from a pintrest board.  Well not today! (or er, this week.)  This week I jumped right up there on that Crafty bandwagon and made something.

As I told you in my last post I have been stockpiling teacher gifts, either for teacher appreciation week (may 6-10 for those of you who may not know) or for end of the year gifts.  I got tired of making the pouches and set out in search of something using an entirely different medium.  Paint!

I found this link to Personal Pizazz by Lindsey on pintrest.  Lindsey's designs are so adorable you cannot help but want to make them.  She obviously puts her heart and soul into each design.  So Stinkin' Cute!  Take a look and if you don't feel the need to whip one up yourself you are fortunate because Lindsey sells these from her blog.

Fortunately, I happened to have 2 --11X14in canvases just lying around in my sewing room.  I stumbled upon them at Walmart 2 for $7 (I think) and picked them up.  God only knows what I intended on doing with them.   So, there they were, collecting dust, getting moved from pile to pile, sad and lonely, well NO MORE.


I took both canvases and painted them with a coat of White Latex paint.  When that was dry I used a snack sized cup to draw circles at random.  I painted the circles a variety of colors blue, green, pink, yellow and purple.  After that coat dried I printed out some sheets with the names (properly spelled) in a font similar to what I intended to use.


For this size canvas I used a font Curlz with size of 140.  After measuring and re-measuring I drew a light pencil line where I wanted the text.  I used Black, fine point and medium point paint pen to draw the letters on each canvas.


Once the Black was dry I used a silver medium paint pen to put a few extra polka-dots around each large dot.  Now we're talkin'.


The final step in this process was Ribbon.  I purchased a few 'teacher-ish' ribbons from Hobby Lobby and used them.  I also added an assortment of other colors to brighten and fill the hanging ribbon.


TA-DA!  Teacher's Gifts a la Kristin.


4.12.2013

Pretty Little Teacher Gifts

9 weeks left!  How can it be that the school year is winding down in only 9 weeks!  Before we know it Summer Vacation will be here and then we will be off to the park, the lake and destinations unknown.  But before we get there we still have tests, quizzes, homework, field-trips and end of the year parties.  In preparation for these end of the year festivities I have begun working on teacher gifts.


In the past I have given totes, fabric nesting baskets, baskets, and journals, this year it is pouches.  I purchased 2 great patterns from Michellepatterns.com (the zip pocket pouch and the little and long pouch). The patterns pieces are the perfect size for using up your larger scraps.  You could even do a little fussy cutting to surprise the receiver.




 The pouches are cute, easy to assemble (seriously it took me about an hour)  and I think they could be used for a myriad of things.  Stuffed them with a gift card and we have a cute, reusable gift that any teacher would love.  I may have to make up a couple of extra for Mother's Day gifts.

4.08.2013

All a Blur

The past few weeks have literally been a blur.  After having surgery (something I'd rather not discuss)  I was on some serious pain meds.  The days seemed as if they flew by.  I did some hand quilting on my Modern Medallion Quilt.  A good quilting friend of mine warned me of the dangers of quilting while on pain medicine.  Did I listen?  Noooo.




My quilting varies greatly from section to section, and not just my stitch length.  The design is mostly stitch in the ditch with a little echo quilting thrown in just for fun.



I  left some rather large areas unquilted.  I moved around the quilt from the center out, mostly.


I added some stripes through the patchwork border, not that they all go the same direction. :)




Since all my stitches were different lengths, I continued the trend.  Should be an interesting finish.