My Quilt is Done!

All right, so I have been working on this quilt for many, many months now.  I finally finished piecing it all together around the New Year.  Then I had to make the back and get the batting.  I sent it off to the quilter a couple of weeks ago and got it back last weekend.  Then all I had to do was bind it, which I managed to finish today!

The quilt is about 90"x95" and was made specifically for our bed so that it would drape and cover the entire mattress.  The pattern I used was actually for a wall hanging.  I had to modify it slightly to make it into such a large quilt.  

  I went with a black and white theme, and added the pop of yellow, which I love.  I got most of the fabrics at work, JoAnn Fabrics.  The only one I got elsewhere is the fabric that is also used on the pillows.  It is in the pattern of the wallpaper in the BBC TV show "Sherlock."  I absolutely love the show and I just love the pattern and sprang for a couple of yards of fabric with that pattern printed on it.  I used it in the quilt and had enough left over to make a couple of pillows in the "Sherlock" theme.

Here are a couple of shots to better see the borders and binding.  The quilter did a lovely job as well.

The Union Jack pillow was one I purchased.  I made the other two though.  I bought two 16" pillow forms and then made custom pillowcases for them.  I used that "Sherlock" themed fabric on the front and just used plain black on the back.  I sewed the cases so that they are an envelope style, meaning they have a flap in the back so that I can remove the pillow for washing if necessary.  That way I didn't have to mess with a zipper.

I left one of the pillows plain, but if you have see the show you know that Sherlock and John have a smiley face spray painted on to their wall.  I just had to recreate that look on one of the pillows.  I made the smiley face myself by manipulating some images in Cricut Design Space.  The outer circle is called "ring" and is on the "Paper Pups" cartridge.  I sized it to 5.85."  The eyes and smile of the face were made using a cut from the "Toy Story" cartridge.  It is a face of Lotso Bear, using the icon feature, found on page 66.  I kept just the dots of the eyes and his smile, hiding all other contours.  I sized the face to fit in the circle, then cut it out of freezer paper.  I was then able to iron the freezer paper on to the fabric and use it as a stencil to paint my image on to the pillowcase.  I used some yellow screen print fabric paint.

I am currently working on the bed skirt to finish off our bed.  I also have plans to make some curtains.  Someday soon I will actually have a grown-up bedroom of which I will be proud.  Getting this quilt finished was the first major step in that direction.  :)

25 Days of Christmas - Santa Puppy

And yet another Christmas card for you today.  This one is the one we are giving our newspaper carrier.

The card is 5 1/2"x4 1/4."  I used white card stock for the card base, then cut a black mat at 5 3/8"x4 1/8" and a red argyle mat at 5 1/4"x4."

The Santa puppy is from the "Paper Pups" cartridge.  I cut it at 2 3/4."  This particular image can be found on page 101 of the handbook.

The sentiment on front is from the stamp set "Jingle All the Way" by My Craft Spot.  It is stamped on a banner cut from the Ribbon Banner Spellbinders die.

Here is the inside of the card.  I cut a black mat at 5 1/4"x4" and another red argyle mat at 5 1/8"x3 7/8."  I cut another black mat at 4 1/4"x2 3/4" and a white mat at 4 1/8"x2 5/8."  The sentiments on the inside are also from the "Jingle All the Way" stamp set.

Sleepy Puppy

This is a double layout (12"x12") that I created in memory of my German Shepherd, Gin. We just recently had to put him down and I thought this would be a nice way of remembering him. I have enough pictures of him to give him his own scrapbook, so I probably will eventually. The papers/cardstock I used are a mixture of DCWV's Pets Stack, TPC Studio's Paws and Claws Dog stack and ones I had in my stash. I matted all five of my pictures. The two on the left hand page are both 4"x6," as is the vertical picture on the right hand page. The other two on the right hand page are 3 1/2"x5." I matted all of the pictures with a brown paw print cardstock (which is hard to tell), cut 1/4" larger than the pictures. For all but the vertical one, I matted them with the blue cardstock, cut 1/8" larger than the brown mat. On the vertical picture the blue mat is 1/4" larger than the brown. I also gave that one a third mat out of orange, also 1/4" larger. I wrapped the right hand page with two ribbons, the orange bones and brown paws, then added three buttons that I found in my stash and thought were perfect. I cut the large circle from the dotted cardstock at 10" using the pre-loaded E2 cartridge, Cricut Essentials. I used Paper Pups to cut my title. The "puppy" cut was actually "puppy love" on the cartridge, I just didn't cut out the "love" part and paired it with the "sleepy" cut. I used both the shadow and the regular feature to create my title, which is cut at 2." I cut the little dog from Four Legged Friends, at 3 1/2." I used a light ivory color for the body, then chalked over it with some brown chalk to give it a little texture and make it a little darker. I also added some glossy accents to the nose. The tag was created from a mixture of cartridges. The actual tag and its shadow (brown and orange pieces) are from All Mixed Up, cut at 4." The blue paw print circle is from Paper Pups and the ivory circle inside is from George and Basic Shapes. I used my Gypsy to lay it out so that I could make sure the sizes were right and would fit together how I wanted them to. I put a brad through the hole in the tag so that the tag is interactive, it swings to reveal my journaling spot.

I made this for the following challenges:

My Sheri Crafts: faithful companions

Picture Perfect Creations: two ribbons, three buttons

Whimsical Wednesday: scrapbook page with interactive element

Birthday Set

This is a cute little birthday card set I made today. I thought it would be perfect for someone who needs a quick summery birthday card for someone. The cards are all 3 1/2"x5" and I made four. I used white cardstock for the base of the card, then cut some tree patterned paper 1/8" smaller. I wrapped the card base with some orange and white plaid ribbon. I cut the clouds from Paper Pups at 1 3/4." There are actually two clouds, but I used my Gypsy to hide the other since I only wanted one on each card. I then flocked the clouds and embossed them with the D'vine Swirls folder and my Cuttlebug. The suns are from Smiley Cards, and I used my Gypsy to hide the face on them. I then used some orange sorbet glitter by Martha Stewart on the outer ring of the sun. I adhered them to the card with pop-dots. I added some orange bling around the sun on each card. My sentiment is stamped in verdigris ink by ColorBox on white cardstock. I then matted it with some orange cardstock, which is cut 1/8" larger than the white. For the inside I just matted some white cardstock with dark green and orange cardstock. Each layer 1/8" larger than the previous one.

I made this card for the following challenges:

• Birthday Sundaes: orange, green, white color combo


• Die Cuttin' Divas: summer fun


• Fantabulous Cricut: outdoor themed project


• Paper Cutz: "the sky's the limit" -feature something found in the sky


• Paper Playtime: summer


• Papercraft Star: sketch

For Me?!

Day 99 at 365 Cards is to make a birthday card that you would want to recieve if one was designed just for you. I was having a hard time narrowing down just exactly what I wanted to do, until I saw the challenge at Cooking with Cricut. Their challenge is "Pick Your Poison," to use your favorite cartridge and favorite color to create your project. I decided to combine these two challenges and came up with this birthday card that I would love to get!
Simply Charmed is one of my favorite cartridges, there are just so many cute images on it. My favorite one is the penguin! I used the penguin to create a shaped card. Using my Gypsy I welded two shadow images of the penguin and cut it out of glittery black cardstock. The penguin is cut at 5." I created the rest of the penguin with regular cardstock. One of my favorite colors is blue, so I used that for the party hat, candle and stamping on the banner. I used Paper Pups for the party hat, the regular and solid feature, it is cut at 2 3/4." The banner is cut at 3 1/2" from Jubilee. I stamped the sentiment on there and added some dots of midnight blue Stickles. The cupcake is from Doodlecharms and cut at 2 1/2." I embossed the icing layer with D'vine Swirls, then drew over the swirls with liquid pearls. I used glossy accents on his beak and the candle, crackle accents on his feet and some yellow Stickles on the candle flame. How much fun is this card?! I love it!!

Flaunt It Fridays Challenge #9

The challenge this week at Flaunt It Fridays is to use Paper Pups. The specific cut is to use the cat & dog and use the border feature. This cut can be found on page 104 of the handbook.
I made a card, again, for this challenge. The card is 5 1/2"x4 1/4." I used some pink polka dotted paper for my card base. I then used a black and white houndstooth pattern as the next layer, I cut it at 5"x3 3/4." The dog and cat are cut at 5" using the fit to length feature out of a bright pink cardstock. It means it is just a little smaller than 1 3/4." I then used my Gypsy to hide all the cuts and cut it again out of black cardstock. I then embossed the black cardstock using the Tiny Bubbles embossing folder. I used some pink bling for their eyes. I cut the heart from Paper Pups as well, at 1 1/2," and the same bright pink cardstock. I then cut the heart again, using the shadow feature, from a shimmery white cardstock. I pop-dotted the heart to the card. I finished it all off with some pink bling in the top two corners. Enjoy!!

I can't wait to see what everyone else comes up with! Come flaunt your Cricut cuts along with us at Flaunt It Fridays.