Anita Goodesign Tropical Quilt - Embroidered Block Update

I'm still having the best time machine embroidering the quilt blocks for my tropical quilt wall hanging. Here are three more of the twelve designs I will make for this quilt.

I love the fact that these are applique designs.  I can pick out any coordinating fabric I want to give them color and texture. 

It actually feels a little like creating a stamped card.  I get to choose my fabric and thread to make the design look exactly how I want it.  Maybe that's why I love it so much!

I used ombre fabric for these flowers. I reach for this type of fabric when I want a soft, shaded look.  I love how these turned out.

Stayed tune for more of my blocks as I finish them.

Thanks for visiting,

Go forth and be fabulous. 

Nancy

Happy Birthday - You Look Marvelous

It was a delight creating this card for my sweet friend's birthday. I colored this cute  Stamping Bella image with my copics  and I knew I had to add something girly to the inside.

I had this adorable Lori Whitlock vanity pop up in my svg files, just waiting for me to audition it.  It was fairly simple to put together and I love how it turned out.  I just love making cards that do tricks!

Thanks for visiting.

Go forth and be fabulous.

Nancy

Adding my card to Creative With Stamps Challenge

And:

     Addicted to Stamps

     Seize the Birthday

     Crafty Gals Corner

     Glitter and Sparkle Challenge

     Fussy and Fancy
     Double D Challenge
     Cupcake Inspirations

Parchment Craft Card - Floral Wreath and Butterfly

I was very privileged to take several parchment craft classes at the Stamp Art Shoppe before it closed recently.  My very skilled and talented instructor was Linda Baney.  To perfect this art, it takes tons of special piercing and embossing tools, mad skills, perseverance  and a lot of patience but the results are worth the effort. Sadly, I have found that I have many more tools than any of the other attributes. However, I do love stepping out of my comfort zone every once in a while and creating a parchment craft card.  I traced this pretty floral wreath design on white parchment paper with a Pergamano pen made especially for parchment paper. Purists use an actual fountain-type pen and white ink to get the finest lines, but I like to keep things as easy as possible. Three different embossing tools were used to emboss the design.  That's the tricky part...but it's actually very enjoyable and relaxing if I can keep from punching holes in the delicate paper.  I love creating these butterflies because they look beautiful on all types of cards and they don't take long to create.  I need to get out my tools and do a whole day of parchment butterflies.  Yes, that would make me so happy!

Thanks for visiting.

Go forth and be fabulous.

Nancy    

Adding my card to these challenges:

       Always Fun Challenges

       Crafting From the Heart

       Dream Valley Challenges

       Stamps + Fun = Creativity

       The Crazy Challenge

       Unstampabelles

Brushless Watercolor Class - Tim Holtz Distress Markers

A while ago I took an amazing class from Susan Porter, one of my favorite artists, and I'm just getting around to posting the four lovely cards we created.  The brushless watercolor technique has been around for a while and is relatively easy with beautiful results.  The background in each of these cards uses a little different technique. For this card, I used Milled Lavender and Dusty Concord distress markers to color the flowers directly onto the stamp and Peeled Paint and Forest Moss to color the leaves and stems.  After coloring the stamp, I spritzed it with water using a fine mist spray bottle and used gentle pressure to stamp the image onto watercolor paper.  I added Distress Stickles in Dusty Concord to the centers of the flowers and Peeled Paint Distress Stickles to the leaves.

The second card was stamped on Mattekote stamping paper. I colored the flowers with Picked Raspberry and Seedless Preserves distress markers, the flower centers with Scattered Straw and Wild Honey, and the leaves and stems with Peeled Paint and Forest Moss. I spritzed with a fine mist before stamping. The result was a little less textured than the watercolor paper, but just as pretty, I think. 

The third flower has a pallet painted background. I scribbled Scattered Straw onto an acrylic block and spritzed with a fine mist.  On watercolor paper, I used a large flat wet paint brush to paint the rectangular area I wanted for my flower background.  Using the same brush, I picked up the diluted Scattered Straw distress ink from my acrylic block palette and painted in my defined rectangle.  I dried this area with a heat gun and then stamped my image using the brushless watercolor technique.

My final (and favorite) card has a  resist block stamped background.  I embossed the image of the tall foliage on watercolor paper with white embossing powder.   I colored the surface of a 3" x 5" acrylic block with Shabby Shutters and Peeled Paint distress markers.  With the block facing up on my table, I spritzed with water and let the colors run together.  I carefully flipped the block over  and pressed it onto my watercolor paper. I dried it with a heat gun and then stamped my image using the brushless watercolor technique.  

I always forget how fun and easy this technique is.  Have you tried it? You absolutely should!

Thanks for visiting.

Go forth and be fabulous.

Nancy

Anita Goodesign "Life's a Beach" Wall Hanging - More Blocks

I've been absolutely mesmerized machine embroidering these tropical applique designs for my beach wall hanging. They're so bright and sunny...they make me want to step into those flip flops and build that sand castle!  

I'm using two types of embroidery thread - the Brother thread I received as a Christmas gift when I bought my machine and Isacord, a more expensive but highly recommended thread.  The Brother is shiny and beautiful and I have it in every color, but I have to watch it very closely for breakage and "nests" (which are bunched up clumps of thread which appear on the bottom of my fabric when the top thread isn't feeding properly). The Isacord is heaven to work with! The finish is more mat, but it's strong and sews very evenly with no problems

I use Floriani No Show Mesh cutaway stabilizer because it's soft and sheer and doesn't show through my fabric.  I also fuse Heat and Bond Lite to my appliques and iron them to my fabric during the embroidery process with a small mini iron. This keeps the appliques smooth when the quilt is washed. This time I did it out of habit because this wall hanging probably won't get washed but I like to know that my appliques will stay smooth and secure.

There are a lot of steps to these applique embroidery designs and I know if I mess up, I pretty much have to start over. There's no unpicking those tight stitches!  It takes time, patience and perseverance but I think the results are worth it. I absolutely love this project.  I can't wait to pick out fabric and get started on my next blocks.  Eight more to go. I'm headed to the "beach" but I'll be back.

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Thanks for visiting.

Go forth and be fabulous.

Nancy

Happy Birthday Cupcake - Lori Whitlock 3D

I'm over-the-top excited to join a group of amazingly talented paper crafting friends who get together a couple of times a month for card making, shared ideas and techniques, lunch and delightful comradery. We have been taking classes together at our LSS for over ten years but, sadly, it closed a few months ago. Even the buckets of money we all spent there could not save it from its internet competition.   Happily, nothing can squash the inimitable spirit of true crafters and our friendships live on. 

I made this card for the May birthday of one of our group members.  I changed the size of this Lori Whitlock Pop Dot SVG from A2 to A7 in Cricut Design Space. Then I cut the layers and popped up the middle layer only.  All it took to complete my card was a few sparkly embellishments.  I can't wait to see what birthday wishes the other ladies come up with.  It's so fun to learn and share with other obsessed...uh, I mean like- minded artists! 

Thanks for visiting.

Go forth and be fabulous.

Nancy

Adding my card to these challenges:
     CAS on Sunday
     Pile it On
     Seize the Birthday
     Unstampabelles