Linking Up !

Hey guys! Guess what?

As I was hopping from blog to blog, I came across a cute blog, Tiaras and Bowties. I read through a few posts, and found the site to very down to earth and heartwarming. Well, I saw that they also have a link up...Every Tuesday you can link one of your posts/projects, etc with two blogs that co-host the link party, Tiaras and Bowties and Crayon Freckles. They then pick from the links several items to feature the following week.

It is called "Tip Toe Thru Tuesday with Crayon Freckles and Tiaras and Bowties"

Please go by and check it out!

I followed Kimberly's easy instructions and figured out how to link up, and grab a button!

And...

My link was chosen to be a feature! It is my Dream banner project, Which was a super easy project to accomplish, and can be replicated easily, so I think it is the perfect project of mine to be chosen.

I placed Tip Toe Tuesdays button on my side bar...go by and check it out!

And a great big Thank You XOXO to Tiaras and Bowties, and Crayon Freckles!!!

Bittersweet

 I make art, because it makes me happy. Sometimes, the items I make coincide with an event, and are appropriate, so I will give them away; a card, or banner usually. However, I have been presented with an opportunity: potentially sell my crafts.
 I am excited, yet also dread this. The recipients of my crafts love me, therefore they support what I do. As I pondered what items to present to the shop that will be handling my art, I thought, "what if nobody likes my stuff?" "What if they don't like 1/2 of what I show?" ....
 And then I realized, I was being a half glass empty kind of girl...I don't want to be that kind of girl, I will think positive, a glass half full, if they like 1/2 of my items, then that's a good thing!

 Another thing that occurred to me...I am going to miss my art! I usually give my crafts to my family. And they keep them. I get to see them every time I visit their homes. My Mom has a big stash of cards I have made for her...my daughter-in-law has all their cards displayed on the chicken wire frame I made for her. If I sell my things, they will be gone forever...

 So, here are a few pix of the cards I will be selling, just in case someone likes them well enough to buy them, I can look back on this post and see them!

 Basic Grey paper, vintage book pages, Pink Persimmon stamp, vintage buttons, the pink button came off my grandmothers housecoat many years ago...I remember watching her cut them off and add them to her button jar!

 Pink Persimmon stamps, the banner and Happy lettering....the flowers and hearts at the bottom were a little stamp from the dollar bin at Michael's. I embellished with book page leaves, colored pencils and markers

 Basic Grey papers, and Pink Persimmon Stamps

This is one of my favorite cards, made with one of my favorite stamps, the little girl from Pink Persimmon. I saw this stamp in Lisa Paces' " It's in the Details" craft how to book, and searched online until I found it! I love Pink Persimmon stamps!


 So, I am thrilled to be asked to sell my items, it is also bittersweet...my pieces are like good friends, I will miss them.

Sweet Banner

Yay! The weekend is here...time for some relaxation! The weather is lovely in Texas, warm and sunny, although a bit windy! After my sons ballgame (he scored his first home run today), I decided to craft a little.

I have put away my fabric for a while and gone back to crafting with paper. I created two girly girl banners, perfect for a new baby or little girls room.

Sweet and Angel Banners

I made my banners with My Minds Eye products, chipboard letters from Basic Grey and Recollections from Michael's, prisms from Hobby Lobby, vintage buttons, hemp twine, and vintage ribbon.

I used My Minds Eye precut banner piece, from the Lost and Found collection.             

Using the Martha Stewart score guide, I scored my 1 1/2 " x 12" paper strip every 1/4th inch. You then fold accordion style on each score line, glue the edges together to create a circle. Actually like a little tube.

When this piece is pushed flat, a pinwheel is created. You have to glue it together quickly, or it will pop back up....

I use a hot glue dollop on the backside, and add a circle of scrap paper to hold it together. When I make these with thick paper, I will place a scrap circle over the front center also to make it stronger

Here is the pinwheel front. I also have a Big Shot Die by Tim Holtz that cuts these out already perforated...the are really cute too, but are rather small...I like make really large pinwheels with 2 paper strips - 2 1/2 in wide, and scoring every 1/2 in, gluing the strips together...and you end up with a pinwheel 5 in across.

The next steps are basically just layering, and embellishing. I kept these banners pretty simple. The paper products already had some glitter, and for the "Sweet" banner I used a glitter chipboard letter. The color is a brighter pink, and it really pops!

Here I just punched holes so the pieces could be strung together...I tried just about every ribbon I had in my stash...

Finally, I went for simple...a plain white hemp cord. I threaded vintage buttons through in between each banner piece. This was not only for the look, but also to keep the banners from sliding around on top of each other.

On the "Angel" banner, I used a vintage silky cord to string the banner pieces together, and a piece of embroidery floss to string the crystal pieces (the crystal holes were too small for the cord). Also, I used cream chipboard letters, for a softer look.

Below are a few other projects I made...

A Christmas "Peace" banner for my Mom

Joy Banner

Party Decorations

These are the large pinwheels I mentioned earlier in this post. These pinwheels were strung together to make a birthday decoration for my granddaughter, along with the "Happy Birthday" banner made out of coasters below...

I hope you all are having a relaxing weekend also!

xoxo

PK

This project shared here:

Creating my way to success

Sugar Bee Crafts

Odds and Ends

Our Easter weekend celebration went so well! We had a lovely time, lunching with all my children and my Mom, where I ate soooo much! I thought I would post a few pix of Easter, and then add a few pictures of past cards I created...

Here are our Easter eggs are cooling after boiling, so my boys can dye them...and below are the eggs made into deviled eggs after the hunt!

Bunny Garland

I made a sweet simple bunny garland for our celebration... 

I drew a simple bunny outline on a scrap of thick paper, traced it onto a multitude of pastel colors, cut them out, and attached them to yellow gingham ribbon with tiny clips

A Sampling of my Cards

Below are a few of my past cards I handmade for my Mom...

 This sweet card was made with my fave, Pink Persimmon stamps, the little girl, wagon, and Happy Birthday banner.

 A Christmas card, I honestly do not remember the products

(this was a card from two Christmas's past)

 My pink and orange phase!

The crown was made with Spellbinders die, inked with Stampin Up inks, and then I used Stickles and baby pearls to glitz it up! The orange and pink tag in the background, along with the pink zebra print ribbon id Theresa Collins.

Sew Sweet

Ahh, this is one of favorite cards, I actually saw a very similar card in a stamp magazine, and searched online to find the stamp, and then dug through my scrap box to find papers close to the picture...

I like the card because I have many "sew sweet" memories of my mother and grandmother sewing for me! When I would complain of boredom, my grandmother would actually stop what she was doing, search through her quilt scraps and sew me up a new Barbie outfit lickitysplit!

I was one lucky little girl!

Dream a Little Dream

Today is Saturday, the day before Easter, and I have had the whole day to piddle in my craft room. It is beautiful outside, and my children are playing with their neighborhood friends...the sun was streaming in my craft room windows...so I decided to make a little sumpin sumpin!

My Dream banner is made from burlap scraps, with hand painted cream and black design.

I cut the triangle shapes from the burlap. Then used off white craft paint, with a dry brush technique, as a base. I have a few new stamps from the dollar bin at Michael's Craft store, cute little banners...and a scroll design, so I stamped those on, but they were blurry, so I accented them with a fine paint brush with black craft paint.

I freehand painted the letters in black, and added shadowing with my gray Copic. I hand stitched black hemp to the top of each banner piece to string them together. I didn't want to take a chance on the burlap unraveling too much if I tried to string through holes, so I opted for no holes. I really like the effect of the back stitching across the top.

 Also, note my new chicken wire frame!

I made these for Christmas for some of my family members, and finally got around to finishing mine! I love it, the Dream banner looks just perfect hanging from it! 

Well, everyone have a Hoppy Easter!

 

Happy 4th Banner

I finally completed my July 4th banner! Yay!

 It is just as cute as I thought it would be...all the fabric in the project is up-cycled, meeting my goal to recycle and re-use.

Below are a few close-ups of the trim...

I love fabric, but in my area there are only two places to buy fabric, and fabric is just part of the store, not their focus. So it is hard to get the quality and style you want, plus it is expensive.

 Most of the fabric and trim I use comes from a local thrift store, or Goodwill. Although they do sometimes have actual yardage, usually what I purchase are stained linens, and clothing.

 I have a system for piecing out the item for re-use. For instance, a ladies shirt:

•  First I harvest the buttons placing them in my button jar collection, to re-use on future projects
• Second, I carefully cut off the cuffs, button placket, and hem (a skirt hem was used in the project above to string each pennant shape on to create the banner)
• If the piece has any lace or trim, I will cut so I get the most out of the piece, and the longest length
• Pockets can be cut away, to be used in journals, and scrapbooks, etc
• I usually leave the remainder to cut up as needed, trying to preserve the largest pieces

I am anxious for summer to get here so I can hang my Happy 4th banner, and start planning our family July 4th holiday!

<center><a href="http://thetrendytreehouse.blogspot.com/search/label/Share%20Wednesdays%22%3E%3Cimg border="0" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2758/5830175039_f44f58cc45_m.jpg%22/%3E%3C/a%3E%3C/center>

Check out my Happy 4th Banner {here} along with other Fabulous Fourth Projects at I Gotta Create! blog