Papercrafting Projects using my Stash and Upcycling

I remember the days when I kept a well stocked drawer of wrapping paper and ribbons. I really didn't like gift bags, I preferred a wrapped gift.  I still enjoy wrapping gifts but admit that I'm more likely to do a gift bag particularly when it is an odd shape or didn't come in a box.  Since I don't do a lot of gifting, I don't think to pick up gift wrapping supplies, which leaves me scrambling to make my gifts presentable.


In this video I share a couple of gift bags I've made from store bags.  The main part of the video shows some cards I did for my husband for one of his trips.  I tuck them into the pockets of the clothes in his suitcase as a bit of a surprise.  It isn't that much of a surprise anymore as he has come to expect them but I still think he enjoys reaching into a pocket and pulling out a handmade card with a little note. They take hardly any time and are a great way to use up supplies particularly stamps and stickers.

Finally, I have a canvas I made a year ago for a baby shower.  It was prettier in person than the video.  I hope the still shots will help.

Here's the video:



Thanks for watching.  I hope you have a safe and fun holiday week.

An update on my knitting projects

My latest vlog shares an update on this shawl:

And the start of this project:

Here's the video:

At the end is a quick look at where I am in quilting.  It's been a busy week as I did some cushions for my mother as well.  I haven't done in papercrafting this week but I need a couple of birthday cards so I know I'll be making those soon.

Thanks for visiting!

Inspiration from Paper

Almost always, I choose my photo first.  This time I was just puttering around my craft room looking for inspiration and decided to pick a paper collection that I liked and wanted to work with.  Then I would choose the photo.

The collection is a kit from Kaisercraft.  It has been partially used but I found plenty there to work with.  The process video is here:


Stay tuned for another vlog video coming along. I've been busy quilting. I've finished a small knitting project and am forced - forced, I tell you - to shop for yarn for another project.  :-)

Thanks for visiting!

Quilting Progress Video

For my Vlog video this week, I am concentrating on quilting.  I had much to share and thought it made sense to do just one craft per video.  I'll probably do another quilting one soon.  Also I'll do separate videos on papercrafting and from time to time, knitting.  I don't knit that much per day so I typically only complete one project every couple of months.

In the video, I share a quilt top I pieced a few weeks ago after doing a portion of an Improvisational Piecing class on Craftsy. I'd never heard of Improvisational quilting until I was watching one of their series featuring several quilters telling their stories. I love the freedom of this type of piecing.  It is sort of an anything goes approach and you don't have to be super picky about measuring and cutting. When I started I just wanted to use up some of my older fabrics.  For the background the only thing I had enough of was a black and gray fabric.  I added another one and it has created some drama. It is also going to create a little bit of a headache and eyestrain, too.  Quilting on black fabric is akin to knitting black or navy yarn.  It's just harder to see.  I hope it means it is harder to see the imprecision of my free motion quilting, too.  ;-)

A class I bought on Craftsy last fall but only recently watched is Marti Michell's Machine Quilting in Sections.  Marti shares many methods for joining your quilt pieces after they are quilted. I give some of my impressions of these with some sample quilt blocks.  I used Angela Walters Dot to Dot techniques for much of the quilting.

I am planning to use a swirl design on the background of Improv quilt.  My swirls are looking a little better thanks to some YouTube videos by Melanie Ham and Leah Day and the practice I'm doing.  I share in my video how I'm replicating my quilt top on a practice piece so I can get the feel, literally, of how much fabric I can manage on my machine at a time.  This will also help me determine which of Marti's methods I want to use to finish this quilt top which is about 65" square.  That's not so terribly big but for someone new to free motion working in now a much smaller space, it seems huge.

Lastly, (surprise!) I went shopping.  So I have a sneak peek of some fabrics new to my stash. I do have a plan for these and will share that in another video.

Here's the Vlog video on YouTube:


Thanks for watching!

Hidden Photo and Journaling

When I first started making this page, we were several days into a very rainy late May.  The photographs though were taken on a very sunny day in late April at Hunting Island State Park near Beaufort, South Carolina.

To put all five photos on the page is a bit crowded, so I have two photos back to back and am using a Washi tape trick I spotted on Pinterest long ago to create a little door so you can see the other photo and also some journaling.

The embellishments are a hodge podge from all sorts of places.  I don't think any two things came from the same collection or even manufacturer.

Here's the process video for the page:


Thanks for watching today!

Cardigan finished! Stamp catalog here! and fabric find

For my Vlog video this week, I'm sharing a completed cardigan, a cap I knitted, my thoughts on selecting stamps, some stamps sets I want to move out eventually and some fabric I found in my stash.  The video runs a bit longer and I've marked the location for the knitting part if you aren't interested in all the stamp stuff.  The fabric bit is short and at the end.






Here's the video with the links below:



Here are links to things I mentioned in the video:

Stampin' Up! online catalog:  https://www.stampinup.com/en-us/product/catalogs
My demonstrator is Mary Fish at:  https://stampinpretty.com/
When I get them photographed and published, the stamp sets in the video will be on LovelyLayersArt Etsy shop for a few weeks or until they sell.

The hat I knitted is a pattern that came from this book:  Weekend Hats on Amazon
(I checked out a copy from the library)
The cardigan is from a tunic pattern in the spring Creative Knitting magazine.  You can find it here: Spring 18 Creative Knitting
I still think it would be beautiful as a tunic; a cardigan just fit my needs better.  I do not have my version typed up; I tend to work out bits as I go and no nothing about sizing or other people.  I'm still working on sizing for myself - ha!  Oh, and that would be easier if I'd lay off the Tostitos (one of my weaknesses.)
The Craftsy knitting class mentioned is from Anne Hanson and is here:  Button Bands and Buttonholes

I hope you enjoyed the video.  I'm combined a lot of stuff in one.  I haven't decided yet if it is better to do that or just save up projects and perhaps do a knitting video every few weeks and then a quilting video now and then.  Still figuring out the best way. I appreciate all the positive feedback I received on last week's effort.

Adding these photos of the cardigan so I can link other places:

Thanks for watching!