Warm and Cozy

It's March Madness which (for many knitters) also means Sock Madness on Ravelry, so I have been knitting nearly non-stop for weeks...breathing, eating, sleeping and dreaming about sock knitting!  So when it was time to make this week's Stamp Simply project, is it any surprise that it's also about knitting?!  Although it uses some of dies and sentiments from Stamp Simply, it is definitely something a little different and I'm grateful to Sharon that she allowed me to stray quite a bit far from "stamping center" for this one!  My hope is that it will inspire you to think a little more broadly about ways to use your stamps and that you'll enjoy the way your crafts/hobbies might intersect in the process.  

One of my dear card-making friends recently sent me a wonderful box full of gorgeous yarn.  She's having wrist pain and therefore has decided to take a rest from knitting.  After I'd posted a photo of my Sock Madness socks on FaceBook, she blessed me with a gift of some of the skeins from her stash (a huge box!) and I immediately put one set of sock yarn to good use.  I want her to know how grateful I am for her generous gift!  I'll share a photo of my socks so far after telling you more about this week's card.

To me, this designer paper print (Craft Consortium Watercolours designer paper pad) looks a lot like knitted or woven stitches.  I decided to go a step further and knit a tiny scarf using some baker's twine.  It was a little bit of a challenge to knit with because of its cotton content and high twist but I was pleased with the way it turned out.  I used a pair of US 1 double-pointed needles (cast on 6 stitches, knitted in stockinette stitch, slipping the first stitch of every row) and once it seemed long enough I transferred it to a pair of toothpick "needles."  

 

I had planned to glue a pretty bead onto the end of each toothpick to make them look a little more like actual knitting needles but the centers of the beads that I have were too small for the size of these large cocktail toothpicks.  

But doesn't this sentiment from our Boho Pumpkins set work just perfectly for this card/occasion?!  

Here's the inside, stamped with a thank you in a lovely combination of fonts from another of our sets, Delightful Dahlias.  

Supplies:

• Stamp Simply Clear Stamps - Boho Pumpkins
• Stamp Simply Clear Stamps - Delightful Dahlias
• Craft Consortium Watercolors 6x6
• Spellbinders Nestabilities - Standard Circles SM
• Spellbinders Nestabilities - Standard Circles LG
• Stamp Simply Steel Dies - Fishtail Sentiment Banners
• Divine Twine Baker's Twine - 240 Yard Spool - Aqua
• distress oxide inks
• cocktail toothpick "knitting needles" 
• a button from stash

Hopefully Winter is on its last huzzah for this year, but that doesn't mean that I'm ready to put my wool away!  I spin and knit pretty much year round.  

Sock Madness is a game for knitters (hosted online on Ravelry) that works more or less like musical chairs...there are fewer spots on the team than there are players and the available slots decrease in number as the players advance to the next round.  The patterns are usually unusual and quite challenging, with intriguing construction and unfamiliar techniques that really stretch a knitter's skills.    

Here are a few progress shots of my sock for Round 2.  This pattern is named Chattahoochee by Shuyi Wu.  

It's knitted flat in a chevron stitch from self-striping yarn, then folded so that the chevrons align and can be stitched into a tube.  The process of changing from flat to round is really quite magical and mesmerizing to see.     

In this photo the cuff is toward the bottom left.  The heel/sole stitches will be picked up and knitted along the remaining edges (both sides of the "L" at the top right) and then knitting the toe (at the top) will be the final step.  

You can tell I still have a good way to go to finish this one, and then of course, I'll have to knit its mate, but it is a lot of fun and always an incredible learning experience.  I am a relatively slow knitter and require frequent rests to avoid repetitive motion stess/strain, so we shall see if I can manage to make it into Round 3. 

Thanks Melissa, for this fun Neapolitan self-striping yarn and its coordinating hot pink mini-skein, and for all of the other beautiful yarn that you sent!  I really hope I can do it justice although I'm sure it will take me years to knit through it all!  xo

Thank you everyone for your indulgence for today's project!          

An Easter "Valentine"

Hello again everyone!

When I sat down to make this week's project I did not set out to make a Valentine, but I would indeed call this an Easter Valentine.  It all started with this interesting "corner fold" and the desire to use some of our thinner bronze metallic card stock to implement it.  One thing led to another and here we are!  

This is another one of those folds that is impressive in appearance but quite simple to achieve.  Gotta love that!  Here is a link to the tutorial that I found for this fun fold.

Of course, these beautiful rosy colors would lend themselves equally well to a wedding/anniversary card or a card to welcome a new baby girl, but I love these passages of scripture and decided to use them in this instance.

The card in the tutorial had another panel adhered to the card front, but I chose instead to adhere the cross die cut (top and center only), and to stamp a sentiment directly onto the card stock square panel at the top left.  

The LOVE sentiment is actually stamped onto the inside of the card that peeks out of the bottom right of the fold.  

When the card is opened, the LOVE sentiment forms a pleasing diagonal with the familiar scripture that is stamped at the top left.  

These three sentiments/scriptures are from three different stamp sets but I really love the way they work together to convey God's love and His original plan for our redemption.  No greater love.  ❤️

Were it not for the pearls that I used to embellish the cross, this would also make a great flat-for-mailing card.  

Supplies:

• Stamp Simply Clear Stamps - Love
• Stamp Simply Clear Stamps - Salvation
• Stamp Simply Clear Stamps - He Has Risen
• Stamp Simply Steel Dies - Crosses
• Luxury Pearlescent Metallic 105# Cardstock - Copper 15 ct (for the thinner fancy fold layer)
• Luxury Pearlescent Metallic 80# TEXT Weight Cardstock - Copper 10 ct (to provide a stable underlayer for the cross)
• Craft Consortium Ink Drops Rose 6x6
• Craft Consortium Over the Rainbow 6x6

Easter Egg Hunt

Hi y'all!  Today's Stamp Simply project was inspired by a little trip down Memory Lane!  

When I was young my cousins and I would Easter egg hunt in the semi-circle drive of my maternal grandparents' "old house place" where there was a low slate wall and a profusion of blooms...daffodils if I remember correctly.  (This was up until the time that I was around 10 years old when my grandmother passed away and my grandfather sold the property to a logging/tree farm company.)

This does indeed look like lots of plants clustered together with a bounty of eggs laid in relatively plain view, and that is exactly what I was going for!  This card just makes me smile!  We always had SO much fun!  

I have been told that many years later when some of those old pine trees came down, there was still an old plastic Easter egg up there in one of the crooks of a low limb!  Can you imagine?!      

I decided to experiment with reversing a few of the flowers by stamping some onto a gelliplate and then rubbing a piece of card stock over it. It worked but meant fussy-cutting those reversed blooms so it ended up probably being more work than it was worth. Nice to know it is do-able if needs must, though.  

I really wish I would've left a small border around those that I fussy cut so that they would have been more contsistent with the ones that were die cut.  At least this way you can see what they look like both ways.  :)  

Supplies:

• Stamp Simply Clear Stamps - He Lives Bundle
• Stamp Simply Clear Stamps - Easter is for Jesus Bundle
• Sizzix Thinlits Dies by Tim Holtz - Tag Collection
• Craft Consortium Brick Textures 6x6
• Craft Consortium Grunge Light 6x6
• Seam Binding Sampler - Rich Pastels - 40 yards
• Copic markers
• Clear Wink of Stella glitter marker
• distress oxide ink splashes/splatters

Fold and Tuck Sympathy Card

Hello friends!

I sadly needed another sympathy card and decided to try one of the "fold and tuck" cards that I have seen recently on Pinterest.  This is a really easy construction where a strip the bottom of a standard sized card front is trimmed away (I removed a little more than an inch) and a triangular flap is adhered to the inside for the shortened front to tuck underneath.  I really like getting to see that peek of pretty paper from the inside and echoing those lovely colors on the outside of the card too.  

Here you can see the layers of several triangles (die cut squares cut in half).  This wood and patina paper inspired me to use metallic card stock and a Tim Holtz mixed media die for some decorative "metal" to embellish the closure.  It's just a small detail but I love it.  

You'll want to use some strong sticky tape to adhere just the long edge of that triangle along the bottom edge of the card so that it is fastened securely.  I added a thin decorative strip of the wood designer paper just to give it a little more oomph and to add to its visual weight as well.

I stamped the Eucalyptus Silhouettes directly onto a scrap of the designer paper using distress oxide inks, then die cut a third silhouette from metallic card stock to decorate the card front and frame the outside sentiment.

The sentiment on the inside is from another one of our sympathy sentiment sets.  It's so nice to have a variety of options for sentiments so you can choose a combination that feels just right.  

Here's a full view those pretty papers/colors on the inside.  

Supplies:

• Stamp Simply Clear Stamps - Eucalyptus Silhouettes Bundle
• Stamp Simply Clear Stamps - Sympathy Sentiments Set 2
• Craft Consortium Scorched Wood 6x6
• Craft Consortium Patina 6x6
• Luxury Pearlescent Metallic 80# TEXT Weight Cardstock - Copper 10 ct
• Luxury Pearlescent Metallic 105# Cardstock - Copper 15 ct
• Spellbinders Nestabilities - Standard Squares SM (cut in half for closure triangle)
• Spellbinders Nestabilities - Standard Squares LG (cut in half for closure triangle)
• Sizzix Thinlits Dies by Tim Holtz - Mixed Media #1
• Memento Full Size Dye Ink Pad - Espresso Truffle
• Delicata Non-Tarnishing Ink Pad - Celestial Copper
• Kaisercraft Self-Adhesive Round Rhinestones - Aqua
• May Arts 1" Grosgrain w/Satin Edge - 30 Yard Spool - Turquoise
• various distress oxide inks
• scrap of gold cord