More Fun with Fabric

Ever since I heard about people using their Cricuts to cut fabric I've been meaning to give it a try - but just never got around to it.

What a shame!

I confess that part of what was holding me back was a niggling concern that it would be one of those things that other people make look easy - but it isn't. But it is!!!

Just iron on the adhesive reinforcement stuff (I used Heat n Bond Ultra - it came highly recommended during my research, apparently Heat n Bond Lite works as well - but needs some sewing to be permanent), peel off the back paper, place it on  your sticky mat and cut!

My experimenting resulted in this banner. Very pretty I think --  even if I did put the fabric pattern on upside down for a a couple of pieces.

The fabrics are from a bundle I bought last summer - full of lovely red and green patterns.

I see many banners in my Christmas decorating this year!

Loving Craft Artist

When I bought Craft Artist Professional (CAP to us addicts) last year I wasn't entirely sure how I'd use it - but it just seemed to do so much that I knew I needed it.

And how right was I!  CAP has become such a useful bit of software that when Craft Artist Professional 2 was launched I bought it immediately.  It has a few new features and some nice enhancements to the old favourites.

The software (either version) is easy to use - but it does have a learning curve and if you are new to it I really recommend checking out some of the video tutorials on DaisyTrail and just playing around.  The beauty of playing with an online tool of course is that you can 'undo' to your hearts content and you don't waste your favourite papers and embellishments on learning.

One of my favourite tools in CAP (and CAP2) is the cut out studio - which allows you to cut part of an image away from its background.  The three projects here all started with a photo that I thought needed to be 'transplanted' and the cut out studio made that possible!

Freddy the Wonder Dog

First I tackled a card for my niece Sarah - starring her amazing dog Freddy.  The source picture was taken last Christmas, you can just see Dylann hiding behind Freddy the wonder dog while we were playing cards (Rummoli in this case - a Christmas family favourite).

I cut away the background in CAP, added a paw in front of the cards (basically just cut and paste of his other paw), added in some beer cans, and moved the 'Mortgage Money' jar in a little closer.









I print out the new version, added a few Spellbinder circles, an embossed bit of craft card and a 'Beware of Dog' sentiment and voila - a card!

Inside the card it says 'He's gambling away your savings.'








Lean on Me

This second project started with an old photo of my parents from the 1970's that has always made me smile.    

I cut them out of the photo, and placed them in the middle of a field of flowers (created using the brush feature).  I added a title and a bit of journalling to finish the page.

One of the things I love about CAP is that you can create the layout in the software, and save it to print or email as a flat picture, OR print and cut the individual elements to make a more dimensional physical page.

In this case I've done both!

The digital page will be part of a digital scrapbook I'm making, but I also print out the elements to make this layered page.

The background page was print from CAP and then I added the cut out of my parents.  I print a few pages of the flower field which I cut across randomly to create 4 layers of flowers to provide a bit of depth.  I love this shadow box.   It is a really nice way to display pages with the added benefit that they can be switched out really easily.

Bon Voyage

This final card was made for my friends Shirl and Gav who this morning have flown off for a fabulous well deserved mid-life 'gap year'.

The photo was taken a few days ago as a 'before' image (thus the exaggerated glum faces), and we expect a sunny smiley tanned duo in the 'after' picture!

I used CAP to cut them out of the original photo and then placed them on to a cartoon London setting.

I cut out a zillion Union Jack bunting triangles and hung them across the top of the page and added a 'Bon Voyage' sentiment.

Inside the card I added a faded blue Union Jack, and the happy couple again - this time with fake moustache and crown.

Wire - I love it!

This summer a lovely new shop opened here in Greenwich called Papillon and it takes all my restraint not to visit every day and buy pretty much everything.
It's a gorgeous collection of quilting fabrics, felt, yarns, roving, buttons (oh the buttons!), ribbon (even more amazing than the buttons), lace (see ribbons comment), wire, wood, threads, books and more I'm sure that I'm forgetting....

On my first visit (about 10 minutes after it opened on the first day) I bought a lovely fabric stack and some wire.  I didn't really know what I was going to do with the wire - but the book (which I also bought) had some lovely ideas.

I started with a simple project -  making these cute fabric and wire flowers.  The most difficult bit was figuring out how I was going to make them stand up on their own.  I made and painted the little boxes out of card - but they were too light and the flowers kept toppling over.  How could I weight the boxes?  I pondered and pondered and finally the penny dropped.  Pennies!!  I glued 3 pennies together, stuck them in the bottom of the boxes and heh presto - standing flowers!


My second wire project was a bit more elaborate - but I really loved the result.

I made the wire heart shape and then added the beads, buttons and ribbons to decorate.  The wings were made using white linen (an old shirt in fact) that I randomly stamped on to with a large Tim Holtz stamp from a set called (coincidentally) Papillon.

Because I think everything is better with words I stamped a sentiment onto torn plain card, inked it up a bit and then covered  it with clear embossing powder.   I attached the tag to the heart with an antique coloured screw brad.  

'She only flew when no one could see' is my favourite sentiment stamp at the moment.As I said to Gen and her sisters - I have no idea what it is supposed to mean but somehow it speaks to me.

Flowers two ways

Hels Sheridan runs weekly challenges on her blog and this week I decided to get involved.  The theme is Stamped Flowers and it immediately made me think of the very first stamp set I bought - a beautiful set of floral stamps from Anna Griffin.

I don't generally think of myself as a flowery person - but I think I might be wrong!  I LOVE Anna's designs (which are mostly florals) and since buying the stamps I've become a bit of an Anna Griffin addict buying pretty much any of her stamps or paper packs.

I've used a few of the stamps over the past year but decided that for this challenge I would use all of them.  On one card.

Then when I started stamping I changed my mind every 2 minutes about whether to colour the flowers, or leave them as black outlines.  Decisive to the end - I did both!



The black and white flowers were stamped, cut out and then layered onto a plain 6x6 card that I stamped 'In a Garden of Friends, Happiness Grows.'  I matted that onto black card, and then framed it with the silver mica flakes (I LOVE mica flakes), matted it onto more black card and then attached it to the front of an 8x8 card.

The coloured flowers were stamped, coloured with Pro-markers (my colouring skills are non-existent, luckily these stamps are so detailed they don't need much., and then cut out and layered onto a plain 6x6 card outlined with purple and stamped with the same sentiment.

Because it seemed to need more flowers(!) I did some more stamping, colouring and cutting to make the frame.

I really like both, and change my mind about every 2 minutes about which one is my favourite!