Strawberry bag

Hi! I decided to take a breather from paper crafting which has kept me busy for last few weeks and indulged my first love, sewing. 

My daughter's exams started recently and she needed a small backpack to carry her stuff to school. I had seen a cute strawberry bag on Pinterest a while ago.

Bronwyn Hayes of Red Brolly has been kind enough to give a detailed tutorial for the bag. I took inspiration from her and made my own version of Strawberry Backpack.

Body of the bag is red casement which I lined with paper canvas for stiffness.

I used a cotton dishcloth with a pretty print as lining inside. Originally I was planning to use a red and white polka dot fabric for the body. But I didn't have enough material. So I used plain red and compensated by quilting it with simple diagonal stitching lines.

For the leaves, I used two fabrics in green. I liked  Bronwyn's idea of leaving the edges raw so that they fray over time and give the bag a nice look. I also used the green print to make the drawstring and the top thru' which it will go.

My daughter was thrilled with the bag which holds all her stuff beautifully.

The best part is, this bag is completely washable in a washing machine (which is a prerequisite when you make anything for a child!).

The whole thing came together in about 3 hours. Maximum time was taken up by the quilting.

Now my brain has started thinking about other fruits that can be converted into bags!

I am now entering this bag in the Lets Create Crafts' April Craft Contest.

Love,
Nan

Easel cards

Hi! This is the second set of cards that I made for the Multi-fold Note Card Swap at Swap Central India. 

I made 4 easel cards. There is an excellent tutorial at Splitcoaststampers for easel cards. Just to add some more interest, I made two square and two circular cards.

For the first card I wanted to use a kimono folding technique that I had seen on the Crafts Beautiful website. Here is the link to the video tutorial.

Supplies used were handmade paper in pale and dark pink, pink pattern paper, half pearls and pale pink satin ribbon, all locally procured. I ran the dark pink paper thru' my Itsy Bitsy embossing folder for added texture.

Folding the kimono took couple of tries, mainly to get the size right. But I really liked the look of it. I added the pearls for a more finished look and also to keep the card propped up.

I used teabag folding for the second card.

Supplies used were green card stock and white pattern paper. I also used small squares of blue and yellow batik paper to create the fan. I ran the green paper thru' my Itsy Bitsy embossing folder and used the debossed side.

For the fan, I used the basic arrow fold and distressed the sides with red ink. A pearl and tassels from an old rakhi finished the card.

I used circles for my third card.

I just cut scalloped circles from cream and orange paper. Actually I had plans of doing some quilling at the center. But the layered circles were looking so pretty, I decided against adding any thing elaborate.



I finished the cards by adding some butterflies punched from blue batik paper and pearls.

The fourth card is probably my favorite in this lot. And judging by the comments, most people loved it.

I had the concept of a watermelon-on-a-dish card. However, it wasn't quite clear in my mind. I actually cut and layered the circles and then almost threw them away as I wasn't very happy. Finally I decided to just make it as I was running behind schedule.

I am so glad I made the card as it turned out very well. The supplies were just various papers in suitable colors.

So these are the square easel cards

and the circular easel cards

A learning experience overall and had a lot of fun too.

I will be back soon with the next set of cards.

Love,
Nan

Multi-fold note cards swap - Spring fold cards

Hi! Finally getting down to posting the cards that I made for the Multi-fold Note Card Swap at Swap Central India. Must say those gals come up with interesting challenges. Looking forward to their next now.

I had so much fun making these cards and I learned lots too! When I started working on this swap, I was determined to make each card different. I also had a strong resolve to use up stuff I already had and not buy new supplies. Though I did cheat a bit on that as I ended up buying some handmade paper for the card bases. But most of it I made from existing supplies. So I am proud of myself on that count.

Now for the challenge - make total 20 note cards each measuring 4 x 4 inches and using 5 different folds. So 4 note cards per fold.

The first fold I used was the Spring Fold. I used the tutorial at Splitcoaststampers for Spring Card.

I used teabag folding for the first card

Supplies used are handmade paper in pale and dark pink, pattern paper in pale pink and half pearls, all sourced locally.

The dark pink paper was embossed using an embossing folder from Itsy Bitsy.

I used quilling for the next card...

Supplies used, handmade paper in green, beige and cream, quilling strips in green and yellow and green gems.

I embossed the beige paper using the embossing folder from Itsy Bitsy. I used the Bigshot to cut the circles and mounted it on double sided tape for some dimension. Used the quilling strips to make a four leaf clover. Some small green gems completed the card.

For the third card, I went with a baby theme. The inspiration came from Hazeldesign, a pic I found thru' Pinterest

My take on this, using paper piecing

Supplies used, handmade paper in light and dark blue, white and pale pink, scraps of green and orange paper which I punched using an oval punch and a bit of blue ribbon.

The circles and the swirls were cut using the Bigshot. I made the eyes and hair using a black Fabrica Coneliner.

The fourth and final Spring card is my favorite. I love drinking coffee. So I decided to make a card with that theme.

The brown card stock and the cream speckled paper are from Chimanlals. I really love the speckled paper, it has such a nice look. I ran that thru' the embossing folder from Itsy Bitsy. The brown swirls on the side were my daughter's idea. And I must say they do give a nice finish to the card!

I cut a scalloped circle and made a circular window in it. To get the lacy edge, used a single hole punch on each scallop. The coffee mug is rolled piece of paper shaped by hand and distressed with red ink on both ends. 

I had to put in a bit of thought to get the smoke curls right. Finally, I die cut swirls from a piece of OHP sheet. Then I covered it with Hobby Ideas No-stitch Fabric Glue to get a translucent effect. When it was dry, I simply ran my black any surface marker over the edges and glued it in place.

So these were the four Spring Cards I made

And a close up of all four cards.

That's all for now. I'll be back later with more cards from the swap.

Love,
Nan

Double yeah!

Hey! My card made it to the top 3 at Beyond Grey's BGC#27- Fetch that Sketch!

It is also in the top 3 at Catchy Challenges, March Season IV.

First time I had the same card feature in the top 3 of two different challenges. So I guess I am double thrilled!

For more details of the card please do visit the blog post.

Love,

Nan

Top 3 at Catchy Challenges!

Yeah! I made it to the top 3 at Catchy Challenges!

Here is my card

For more details, please do visit the blog post.

Love,
Nan

A digital layout...

Hi! Back again with a digital scrapbook layout. This is my entry for the Indian Scrappers 2013 Scrapbook Challenge #1 by the Indian Craft Room. Here is the challenge pad:

There are going to be 12 challenges thru' the year and I have a strong resolve to complete all. It will be a good way to try my hand at scrapbooking. As digital layouts are welcome, I decided to make one first. Hopefully, I will be able to make a physical one too.

For the first challenge, Banu of ICR has given a fab sketch.

I really liked the possibilities of this sketch. So my take on this is:

The tough part was selecting the images to use.

I used the Sit Back and Relax kit that I had downloaded as a freebie from the site Digital Crea a long time back. The layout is 12 x 12 inches. 

I converted the photos to grayscale as I wanted a softer feel. The doily is a Photoshop brush downloaded from the Brush Directory.

I had a lot of fun making this layout as it gave me chance to brush up my Photoshop skills. Also, I learnt a lot about changing the colors of digital elements.

I am also entering this in Beyond Grey's BGC #28 - All boy/ Masculine Challenge. I hope digital layouts are acceptable.

Love,
Nan