Hi friends! It's time I came clean, and told you that I'm not really a curvy blonde Fisher-Price little person. I'm a short redhead who just loves paper and fabric too much to say goodbye. It's been a great week hanging around here, sharing some of my favorite things.
So before I leave, let me share just a few more projects with you:
I love a quick project. I've seen those cute embroidery hoop decorations a lot of places lately, so I thought I would whip up one of my own. Here's where I began:
I took a marker and started thinking of a simple word I could embroider. Then it hit me: my word of the year! So I wrote "believe" and then used embroidery floss and a simple backstitch over the word. Then I added some fabric, a few buttons, some ribbon, and ended up with this:
Super quick and "pretty" fun. (And yes, that is a chipboard squirrel. I love those little nature elements - and I couldn't find a bird in my stash!) I also spent some time this week experimenting with some wooden spools that I found on one of my "research" trips to the craft store. This is my first effort:
I printed my photos as contact sheet size, and attached the patterned paper to the spool with hot glue. The photo paper isn't as flexible as I would like, so next time I will print on thinner paper or even directly on fabric (did you know you can do this? Just iron your fabric on to the waxy side of a sheet of freezer paper and then run through your printer). But wouldn't this look cute rolled up and tied with twine?
I've also been thinking about making books, either out of fabric or with sewing techniques. Check out this little book of odds-and-ends Monika Wright sewed together:
Love these! How fun would it be to just sew a bunch of memorabilia together (I'm thinking ticket stubs, concert programs, newspaper clippings, etc.) that make up a year in your life?
Here's another way to use that fabric you love: make a book cover. I found a really cheap photo album at my local craft store ($2.50 for a 200 photo album!!!), but it had a really garish houndstooth print on the cover. So I grabbed some more of the black floral that I used on my "believe" project, and made a jacket for the album.
I opened up the album and laid it flat on the fabric, and cut around it, adding about an inch on the top and bottom, and about six inches on each end to fold over and around (like the dust jacket on a hardcover book). I hemmed all the edges, and then folded the fabric around the album and stitched a bit on the top of the two flaps to close them so I could slip the ends of the album in. Tie with a bit of ribbon, add a button, and ta-dah! Album facelift.
I also love to use spray adhesive to put fabric on chipboard for an album cover. Check out how Melissa Kaiserman covered an album in fabric:
Buttons, trim, little pennants!
Sew on my friends! Remember to keep those fabric scissors sharp and at the ready.
