Best of 2022

In 2022, I returned to scrapbooking.  I never had stopped but had slowed way down in 2020 and 2021.  I plan to do even more in 2023 and have already had some photos printed to get started.

Also this year, I found a few products I love.  Those and a couple of completed projects are shared in this video. At the end is a surprise treat I received during the year.

What new tools have you added to your crafty life this year?  

Thanks for watching and Happy New Year!

Completed Tablecloth

 

I wasn't sure how this was going to come out.  The tablecloth quilting and border looked good but it had shrunk up so much with the quilting, it did now lay well on the table.  

This video shares adding a band when you have already done all the quilting.

This will be may last video before Christmas.  Hope everyone has a happy holiday season and I will be back close to the New Year.  I have several videos already planned for 2023!

What's NEW in my Studio

I've begun a new video series.  Or maybe it is just a new way to capture the various types of videos I post.  Or maybe it is just a new intro.  I'm still sorting it out.  

In any case, I have two new videos up this week - a quilting project video and a shopping video.

The first is a video sharing the beginnings of a quilting project to practice free motion quilting. When completed, I will have a new tablecloth.  Spoiler for the follow-up to this video, I've run into a little challenge in finishing so that will be covered in part 2 currently in process.

The 2nd video I have posted is a shopping haul video sharing what I purchased recently from Stampin' Up! and a few art supplies from Blick art Materials.  Many of the SU! items are off the clearance rack.

Thanks for watching and stay tuned for more videos.

Happy Holidays!

Holiday Ornament Card

After I finished the last of 50 of these cards AND put them in the mail, I decided they would make a card making video!  

Over the last year, I have been using watercolors more and more to create my cards.  This is intentional.  My craft storage space is limited.  As I am doing more and more sewing and quilting, I need space for those supplies and equipment.  Stamps were taking up a lot of the storage space in my craft room and they weren't getting a lot of love in recent years.  I tried watercolors with the idea that I could draw in designs and then paint the images with watercolors. This would give me a wider range of images and use far less space.

My idea is working in that I'm using stamps even less and have given away quite a few sets.  I am doing things a bit differently in that I'm doing more traditional watercolor painting.  As long as it is simple, I can attempt it.  I'm not a talented artist. I really can't draw unless I have some serious guidelines.  But I have found this to be very fun and rewarding.  Watercolor supplies really don't take up much room at all.

I still have a lot of my stamping supplies though. I kept my Distress Inks and I have many mediums such as Ranger's Perfect Pearls.  So in this card, I've incorporated stamping supplies and watercolors.

The video shares 3 cards.  One is entirely watercolors, another is all stamps and inks and a third is a hybrid with some stamps and some watercolors.

Stay tuned for more videos on my other crafts coming soon.

Some paint needed

I haven't bought any scrapbooking materials in a long time.  Is it still hard to get a bright blue color?

If so, this solution can work for you as well or for any color that is difficult to come by.  You just need some paintable Thickers or chipboard.  For the Thickers, use watercolors.  For chipboard, use any kind of acrylic paint.

Here's the video of my layout with a painted title and some embellishments.

Thanks for watching!

Using some stickers

Birthday pages for us are usually about how we celebrate the birthday.  Typically that is with a day out but this year, we celebrated my husband's birthday at home with, what else?  Cake!  Cheesecake, actually Black Forest Cheesecake to be more specific.

This page remembers a tasty dessert and a tradition of licking the bowl.

Here is the process video for the page:

Thanks for watching and I appreciate all your feedback.

I have a new scrapbook process video!

In this video I share 2 layouts already completed and then go through a 3rd layout. These are one photo pages which is unusual for me.  I typically have 2 or more photos per page.  Sometimes though one photo tells the story or a one photo page can be the start of a section in your scrapbook.  Sometimes one photo is all you have.

I apologize for a quality issue in the video.  In trying to switch over to doing HD videos and using a phone instead of a camera, there is a focusing issue.  After filming this, I think I've figured out the secret and hopefully the next one won't focus in and out all the time.

Process Video

Thanks for watching!

Baby Quilt and Free Motion Quilting Videos

 

Hello!  I've been busy gardening and quilting.  And I'm back making videos - this time I'm making quilting videos!

Recently I completed this baby quilt for a family member welcoming her first baby girl. She has boys.  The nursery is decorated in navy and peach.  This is my take on the color scheme.

I think it is one of the prettiest quilts I have ever made.

The fabric for the nursery has large peach flowers.  Using the Sister's Choice quilt block, I arranged the fabrics to replicate an open flower.  The quilting further accentuates the design.  Part one of a two part series of videos shows how I created the quilting.  This can be done on a home sewing machine or a long arm.

Here's the first video:

For the border, I used a slightly darker thread so it would show up a little more but not so much contrast as to highlight my mistakes.  I've created a double arch border with lots of loopy quilting.  Also some curved crosshatching fills in the gaps and adds to the arched effect.  

Here is the video for the border quilting.

And a couple more close up photos:

Thanks for stopping by.  This is my first set of videos on quilting techniques. Also I used my phone rather than a camera so I'm open to feedback on content or the quality of the videos.  

Instagram Quilt Fest

This month over on Instagram, quilters from all over the world are sharing their work and their stories in the #IGQuiltFest2022 sponsored by Amy's Creative Side blog.  This used to be a blogging event but moved to Instagram at some point.  I didn't jump in until day 3. I'm really enjoying the quilts and more importantly the stories behind them.  

Each day has a prompt and the participants, which can be anyone, post a photo that relates. Today's prompt is "Origin Stories."   An example is 'how did you get started quilting?'  My answer was my first recollection of asking a family member how to quilt.  My grandmother didn't have a quilt in front of her, she had given up quilting when her family was grown and she moved to small home.  She answered by using the corner of her apron to emulate how you would stitch in arcs to put together a quilt. I now know that this is the Baptist fan pattern.

Yesterday's question was about Why we each like to quilt.  My answer is that quilting can be so many things and I used the quilt pictured here as my example.

To make the design above, I sketched the hearts and a little of the swirl and then quilted in black thread just adding the rest of the stuff as I went.  It is a style of graffiti quilting.  Then I painted in the hearts and all the rest - one red heart for my husband one one more pink one for me.  I haven't put a binding on it.  I love the design but there are some flaws. I'd like to redo it sometime and make it a little more perfect. I'm not a perfectionist so I don't aim to not make any mistakes, just less noticeable ones.

Tomorrow's prompt is Lesson Learned.  I'm not sure what I'm going to choose for that one.  There are so many lessons I've learned about sewing and quilting over the years.

What I'm most enjoying is reading everyone's posts.  It is giving me some much needed inspiration.

Check out the posts with the hashtag #IGQuiltFest2022 on Instagram and see what a world of quilters are up to.  Thanks for stopping by!

 

 

My latest quilt in my Etsy shop!

This modern quilt is made with gelli printed fabric, long arm hand guided quilting and hand painting.  

Here is the listing for more information and many more photos.  Etsy Listing

This one took quite awhile to evolve.  I printed the fabric several weeks ago and then I stared at it often hanging on my design wall before I cut it and started sewing and painting.  Sometimes you have to live with a design for awhile before it can progress.  

I love the energy of this piece.

Thanks for visiting today!

Watercolor Series Video - Backgrounds

 

The final video in the watercolor series is up. In this video, I create two cards with watercolors used on embossed resist backgrounds. These impactful backgrounds are easy to do.  With watercolors, you can create an endless number of colors.  I stick to the palette in this video but you can always combine colors to get what you want.  It would have been easy for me to get the purple I was missing by just mixing some red and blue in a dish.  It's much harder to color mix with stamp inks.

I've enjoyed this series and I hope you have as well. Thanks for watching!

Coloring stamped images with Watercolors

In my quest to pare down my craft supplies, I assessed all the things I have to color with.  Markers, colored pencils, watercolor crayons, inks and blender pens.  So many things and honestly, coloring isn't really my favorite thing to do.  So why do I have all this stuff?!

I've also discovered that I can color with the same medium that takes up little space and is great for so many other things - watercolors. In the video, I share some comparisons I did between watercolors and other ways to color.  I make the 'for you' card above.

Thanks for stopping by today.  There is one more video in this series so look for that next week.

Gelli printing fabric

Do you gelli?  Gelli printing is adding paint or other media to gelli plates and then pressing the plate to a surface, usually paper.  I've gelli printed papers of all kind including book paper.  I've used tissue paper and deli paper for some fun effects.  Once I had even tried fabric using a fabric medium but I didn't like the results.

Last year, I came across some fabric paint from Jacquard.  Initially I only bought two colors of their textile paint.  Now I have about 20!   As I said in a recent video, I'm a sucker for products that come in a rainbow of colors.  Although it can be used on other surfaces, it is perfect for fabric as it keeps the fabric supple rather than creating a stiff, unworkable surface.

This is the process I used to create the border fabrics for the leaf series on my Etsy shop LisaEcherdArt.  

To create the fabric above, I set out all my supplies on a well covered work area.  I've learned to have a lot of stencils handy to get some variety. 

I like pressing the gelli plate to the fabric rather than pressing the fabric to the plate.

The coloring on one end of the fabric was more pure.  On other other end I would often use a plate that had residual paint from another press.  It created more muted colors.

I'm now working with one of these pieces in a new quilt design.

Check out my YouTube channel for several videos on gelli printing.  I love to use common objects such as bubble wrap, the bottoms of cookie containers and the spool from a pack of glue dots to make designs.

Thanks for visiting today. The next video in the watercolor card series will be up later in the week.

Quick Watercolor Heart card

Valentine's day is Monday.  Need a quick last minute card?  Or maybe just a pretty card to cheer someone?

Get out your watercolors and a heart punch to make this quick card.  You'll have a lot of fun making this card and learn a simple technique you can use for all kinds of projects.

This is the 2nd in a series of videos using watercolors with regular papercrafting supplies.  If you missed the first video, you can find it here.  In the beginning, I talk about inexpensive watercolors and papers used in this series. You need nothing fancy to complete these projects.

Here's the latest video:

Thanks for watching!  Stay tuned for more videos in this series. 

Happy Valentine's Day!

Cardmaking with Watercolors Video Series

Hello, everyone!  I have a new video series starting today.  I am creating cards using watercolors along with stamps and regular papercrafting supplies.  

As I am doing more and more sewing, I need more and more crafting space for supplies. I've consolidated some of my storage and given some unused things away.  Now when I need space, I'm having to make some difficult decisions.  I knew this day would come so I started playing with watercolors more last year so that I could hopefully eliminate some stamps and inks.  The latest casualty of my cleanup has been my Stampin' Up! inks.  I prefer Distress Oxides and the SU inks just weren't being used very much.  A friend was delighted to get my old stamp pad stand.  

Cards with Watercolors

In the videos I share some ideas for using watercolors in place of inks and other media. In the first video, I use watercolors in ways that show off their messy beauty.   These are technique videos but I must say no matter the technique the final results will be a little unpredictable.  This is all part of the beauty of watercolors.

I will be posting other videos over the next 2 or 3 weeks so stay tuned.  If you aren't already, please subscribed to my YouTube channel at LisaEDesign or sign up for my newsletter.

Thanks for stopping by!  

Practice and the UFO

I don't know how you get to Carnegie Hall but I know how you improve at free motion quilting. Practice, practice, practice.

I keep a wholecloth quilt sandwich put together all the time to practice designs, test tension on new threads and generally unwind. But I had one practice sandwich that was a little more planned out.

Over two years ago I was taking an online class from Craftsy* in quilting feathers. I quickly fell in love with the process. However, some of, well, many of, my plumes were more squared off than rounded. I needed a lot of practice. At some point I created a practice quilt with a stash of solid fabrics. It was a chance to fill a variety of shapes with features and experiment with different threads. At the time I had only my home sewing machine so I divided the quilt into 3 sections to quilt and then put together later.

Later never came. Until last Saturday morning when I walked into my studio and my eyes landed on one of the sections I had been using as a throw over my feet on cold days. Before I could get distracted, I flipped on my long arm and began finishing the quilting on a couple of sections and was soon sewing the large pieces together.

You can see from the photos that I used all kinds of threads and every feather design in the class. I arranged the fabrics so I would have a variety of shapes to fill. These are far, far from perfect. I still love to do feather work whenever it fits the theme of a quilt.

If you aren't a quilter, you might think a UFO is still a little green man from Mars. In the quilting and sewing worlds it is a Unfinished Fabric Object. I've heard the term used in papercrafting too for those unfinished scrapbook albums. I guess we should call those USA but that would really be confusing.

Fortunately the snow missed us but not the cold so I enjoyed a warm weekend putting together the sections of my practice quilt and finishing the quilting. Completing a project is it's own reward but this one gave me more practice and a larger quilt to keep my feet warm.

This weekend, I've been baking a cake and am working on some cards for a new video. Stay tuned...

Thanks for visiting today.

*The specific class I took was Ultimate Free Motion Feathers from Patsy Thompson. It is excellent.