Quick Quilted Pillow

Tonight I made this pillow! I had fun picking out whimsical fabrics from my collection of fat quarters. I love the yellow print especially, it looks like it was inspired by Mary Blair. I tried to pick out coordinating fabrics that also looked like they could belong in a Mary Blair painting.


To make this 8"x12" pillow, I cut out stripes of fabric 9" long and of different widths from the five fabrics. After sewing them together with half-inch seam allowances, I cut out a 9"x13" piece of fabric for the back and two duplicates of a plain yellow fabric (which I had leftover from a Gryffindor Quidditch robe), and then I sandwiched quilting batting between the nice fabric and the plain fabric. I quilted the layers together by hand-sewing with three strands of embroidery threads in vertical lines one inch apart, alternating between two lines of orange and two lines of lime green thread.


After quilting both the front and back, I put the two quilted pieces together back-to-back and sewed the edges (except for 4 inches on the bottom), clipped the corners, then turned it right-side out and pressed. I stuffed it with polyester fill and hand-sewed it closed. Ta-da!

Into the Woods of Teldrassil

The enchanting forest home of the Night Elves was the first area of Azeroth that I encountered when I began playing World of Warcraft.

This painting has been sitting on my easle for over a week now. Today I managed to finally add the last touches and get it to a finished state. I'm not completely happy with it but it was fun to paint on two different canvases and I think it at looks pretty good from a distance at least.

I painted this using acryllics on primed canvas with an in-game screenshot for reference.

On a /roll

Decorating the first group of pillowboxes was so much fun last night that I continued the project today and tried some different colors and styles. Mother's Day is coming up (my mom loves purple!) as well as several birthdays in our family. If I don't plan a gift ahead of time, there's always the last-minute gift card and if I already have these little boxes decorated, they would be a great way to quickly wrap up a gift card (with room to spare for a handful of candy!).

[Rosey Pillowboxes]

I think these pillow boxes would make great gifts for any occasion, such as wedding favors, baby or bridal shower favors, or gift wrapping for small gifts like candy or gift cards.

One piece of 12x12" scrapbooking paper was more than enough to decorate two boxes and I used some of the scraps to create coordinating gift tags. Ivory satin and organza ribbon leftover from my wedding added a finishing touch.

I look forward to making more of these! There is no end to the way these can be decorated to fit the occasion, whether with paper and ribbon or perhaps fabric and twine or even a felt wrap with a button closure.

Schnazzy [Push Pins]

I saw these on Etsy and decided I wanted to make my own! I found some old tacks in a bag of stuff from my elementary school days and I had glass stones leftover from my wedding centerpieces so I didn't need to buy anything at all. I cut out little circles from some scrapbooking carstock, glued them to the back of the stones with Mod Podge, then (because I couldn't find any better glue) used white glue to attach the stone to the tacks. With some other paper and a piece of cardboard I made a coordinating board to stick them on so they would be easy transport to work without poking myself.

Happy Easter!

Bunnies and eggs are for kids! I decided to stick with a spring floral theme for these Easter cards. Pastels and bright colors helped bring Spring to the cloudy gray rainy Sunday.

She calls it a [Money Bag]

My sister asked me to make this for her, I hope it is what she had in mind! It's a black and white damask cotton bag with a hot pink ribbon drawstring.

Not a Boomkin.

Rowr!

I found this blank plastic toy at the San Diego Comic-Con last summer and decided I would jump on the "draw on a blank toy" bandwagon. It took me a while to figure out what to do on this one. The shape is interesting and the top piece is actually seperate from the base. I originally thought I would paint on it with acryllics but I decided to try out the Sharpies.

I drew my inspiration from my level 28 druid in the World of Warcraft. After shifting into kitty form I left my character on the screen and started doodling away on this blank canvas.

Hug this [Tree]!

I painted this tree today based off of another Eyvind Earle piece. I love his whimsical style. This painting is on an 8x10 canvas, done in acryllic paints. I used water to help blend the colors in the background.

Cards for all Occasions

A friend of mine hosted a crafting party today and showed us how to make these adorable cards using Stampin' Up! paper products and scrapbooking tools.

Crafting parties are a great way to spend time with friends and by having a project pre-designed and ready to go, everyone was able to participate equally regardless of artistic ability and we all went home with two practical creations.

Playing with Colors

I painted a couple smaller 8x10 pictures to try out some different techniques and ideas. The smaller canvases are inexpensive and great for a beginner like myself. I could even paint over them and reuse the canvas later.

[Green Striped Handbag]

This handbag is green in more ways than one. I made it out of one upcycled green striped placemat (4 for $2.50 on clearance at Target), a bamboo purse handle I had sitting around, and some vintage(?) matching lace trim that my grandma gave me years ago when cleaning out her closet. The lining is a special order fabric sample from JoAnn's that I scored when the store in Redmond was closing down.

This is actually my first purse, and I had to hand-sew it due to my current lack of a working sewing machine. A couple things I would have done differently in hindsight would be to add a little pocket inside on the lining, and perhaps try to extend the lining up and add a zipper so it can be completely closed.

A [Tree on Canvas]

Michaels had some canvases on sale today so I decided to bust out the acryllics and try my first painting on canvas. Normally I just use my acryllics to paint little wood boxes, plastic blasters and Jedi comlinks, stuff like that. So for my first painting on canvas I decided to draw inspiration from one of my favorite artists, Eyvind Earle.

I started painting the background and just layered on the green then mixed in some black and came in from the edges with strokes to look like grass or vines.


After getting the background the way I wanted it and letting it dry, I found a picture of an Eyvind Earle painting online and basically tried to copy it without getting as detailed. His lines are too painstakingly perfect for my patience so I took a more impressionistic approach and focused more on getting the idea of the shadows and highlights conveyed. I like how it starts with a silhouette but adds the contrasting white highlights to give the tree some depth. A lot of amateur artists are doing the black tree silhouette-on-a-colored background thing right now. It's easy and can look great in a modern room. I will probably hang this painting in my bedroom.

Green is the new purple

I made a few little things this weekend while reorganizing my craft area. In the interest of "going Green", I tried to use up some things I already had.

This was a white kitchen towel I had found at Target for $1. It's very simple and basic, but looks much better with some appliqué and embroidery. It is completely hand-sewn because my sewing machines are both misbehaving.

I started by drawing the design on some scratch paper, then I traced over the leaves on velum and created a template for five or six different leaf shapes that I then used to trace onto some green linen that I already had. Prior to cutting the linen I ironed on lightweight interfacing to the back of the fabric. Lastly I penciled the design onto the towel, stitched the main vine then contined one leaf at a time until finished.

Our kitchen bar tends to collect an assortment of pens and pencils. I tried to make a place for them in the craft drawers, but a handful still ended up on the bar counter space in an ugly flourescent yellow plastic cup. I decided I needed to make something that matched the rest of the kitchen better.

I found this wooden cup at Michael's and brushed on a thin layer of "eucalyptus" acryllic paint. I like seeing the wood grain beneath the paint. Adding the leaf design from the kitchen towel in white was an easy choice.

Looking back I think I would prefer green-on-white rather than white-on-green, and I may just paint over this some day. For now, it looks cute and serves its purpose well. I think something like this could make a nice gift for a coworker or a male family member that is difficult to shop for - perhaps in a different design though.

Lastly, I used some of the same green linen as well as some old felt scraps and fiber fill that I had sitting around, and a button leftover from a quilting project to create this little emery. I actually did need a place to stick all of my "in use" needles. I have a drawer for assorted needles from sewing machine needles to embroidery needles but I usually have two or three that are currently in use for hand-sewing projects and they typically end up getting mixed in with my pins or stuck in the fabric of my ironing board.

I love how this turned out and I think I might make more, I certainly have a lot of these materials left over. Next time I want to try using a large hole punch to cut out the flower(s) though, I think that would look even better. For this one I hand-sketched a design on paper, then traced it on velum to create a template.

[Silk Floral Pew Bows] by the dozen

I created 24 pew bows for my wedding ceremony, 12 in green and 12 in blue.

Materials (for one):
1 Silk Hydrangea stem
1 Pew clip (from orientaltrading.com)
5-6 yards 6" ivory organza ribbon
2 yards 1.75" ivory satin ribbon
1 floral wire, about 1' long
3/4" masking tape

The first step was to secure the hydrangea stem to the pew clip. I cut the stem to about 6 inches so that the head of the flower sat on top of the clip with the stem pressed against the outer face of the clip. Then I wrapped masking tape over the entire stem and clip.

Next I created a bow out of the 6" organza ribbon, creating three loops on each side with a tail hanging to the floor. I used floral wire to secure the bow to the clip just underneath the flower so the clip and masking tape would be covered. Lastly I tied a length of satin ribbon in a double-knot over the center of the organza to hide the green floral wire.

It was easy to store and transport these by hanging them by the clips on three plastic hangers, eight pew bows to a hanger. This kept the ribbons from wrinkling and I think it kept things simple for my friends who were setting them up.

images by Siang of Lightphoria - www.lightphoria.com

Got [Escort Cards]?

photo by Siang of Lightphoria - www.lightphoria.com

Escort cards are a popular means to guide guests to which table they are supposed to sit at for your wedding reception dinner. It is possible to buy cards by the pack that you can print on, but this can be really expensive, like 50 cents to more than a dollar per card.

Making your own escort cards is a little time-consuming but it is a rather simple process and can save you a lot of money. Handmade cards are also a nice personal touch.

To make 200 escort cards I bought a stack of card stock from the PaperZone for around $20 and I ended up using up less than half of the paper supply. My other tools and supplies were items that I already had on hand: art markers, a caligraphy pen a shaped punch, ruler, and paper cutter.

Customizing a [Flower Girl Basket] x2

I found a couple of basic baskets at the store, but they were kind of plain. I added some satin flowers, a pearl spray and ivory ribbon, and viola! One-of-a-kind flower girl baskets.

This was a very quick and easy craft project. I already had the flowers and pearl spray on hand because I found them at Michael's on clearance a few weeks ago. The satin flowers just happened to match the baskets perfectly! The ribbon actually came with the baskets as a tie on the outer packaging; I just untied it, ironed it, and made it part of the actual basket design.

This [Card Box] takes the cake!

This weekend I finished another one of my wedding craft projects. I made a box for cards that looks like a wedding cake!

Materials:
1 set of 3 hat boxes
1 roll of 1.5" blue organza ribbon
1 roll of 1" blue satin ribbon
2 feet of wired blue ribbon (optional)
1 tube of ivory acryllic paint

Tools:
- hot glue gun
- Craft knife
- Scissors
- Sponge paint brush

Basically I got three round nesting hat boxes from Michael's, cut holes in the tops of the bottom two boxes and a slot in the top box, painted them with acryllic paint, hot glued them together, then added decorative ribbon using double-stick tape. It was a fun, fast, and easy project.


3/24/09 Post-Wedding Update - The wedding cake-shaped card box served as functional decor at the gift table in the foyer as guest entered the church for our wedding. We received a lot of cards!


Picture by Siang of Lightphoria - www.lightphoria.com

Crafting [Silk Wedding Bouquet] x5

My bridal party includes my Maid of Honor and three Bridesmaids, for a total of five bouquets. I love blue and green hydrangeas, but they seem to be more of a Spring-Summer flower so it may be difficult to get them in the Fall. They also like to change color if they aren't stored at the right temperature with the correct amount of water. I've never done flower arrangements before, but it doesn't seem too difficult to make what I want out of silk flowers, especially since I will have all summer to make them rather than just two or three days prior to the wedding.

I found some gorgeous flowers in the perfect colors at Michael's, and they were on sale because they were from the Spring selection (it's almost Summer now!). I got some lilies, peonies and blue roses to go with the hydrangeas as well. So far I have started preparing the stems, gathering them in bunches and wrapping them with green floral tape. The next step is to trim the excess length off the stem since the stems are almost a yard long.

The last step will be to add a handle to cover the ugly plastic green stems. I bought some white dupioni silk which was on sale at JoAnn's (didn't even have to use the 40% off coupon!) that I will use to wrap the stem, and then I plan to add pearl buttons for accents to finish it off!




FLOWER SYMBOLISM:

Hydrangea - Heart-felt.
White Lily - hope of everlasting life, virginity, purity, majesty, abundance.
Blue Roses - someone is mysterious.
Peony - Happy life, happy marriage.
Rosebud - Beauty, youth.


3/24/09 Post-Wedding Update - The finished bouquets turned out to be fabulous!

photo by Siang of Lightphoria - www.lightphoria.com

Enchanted [Handmade Garter]

I decided to make my own garter for my wedding because it looked simple enough... so I did! I finished it today. I sewed it by hand and used two different types of lace, some satin ribbon, and added bows, with a bead and sequin in the middle of the bow.

It was about a 2-3 hour project, I think, but spread out over 3 weeks since I just worked on it a little bit here and there while playing my favorite MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) on my computer. Ah, what one can accomplish while sitting around waiting for raid leaders to finish distributing loot and then drone on about the strategy for slaying the giant monster in the next room.

3/24/09 - An After-the-wedding Anecdote: My sister caught my bouquet and her boyfriend caught the garter. Three months later he proposed and they are getting married in July!


pictures by Siang of Lightphoria - www.lightphoria.com