Crafts featured quilting stamping: crochet custom stamps paper crafts quilt guild robert's rules of order rubber stamping rubberstampchamp.com sewing Stampin' Up!
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stampin’ champ
I am a reformed stamper. I went from being a stampin’ up! demonstrator, stamping any flat or kind of flat surface I could, to stamping almost nothing. But I still love rubber stamps. I have four big bins of stamps, at least 50 different ink pads (that are sadly all getting drier by the day), and card stock in every color of the rainbow. I have officially not really used any of these supplies, except to make the occasional gift tag, in two years.
Then, at my guild board meeting the other day, someone mentioned needing the guild stamp to stamp the logo on quilt tags and my ears perked up. I had a bunch of ideas all at once for ways to use a stamp with the guild’s logo. Then I realized what the conversation was about - we need a stamp. So out went my ideas of craft ink and fabrico ink and staz-on ink and quilt blocks with stamped images, and in came my ideas about custom rubber stamps and where we could get one.
There’s a great site called rubberstampchamp.com where you can get any kind of custom rubber stamp - for a business, for your personal addressing needs, or just for fun. I like the idea of stamping “denied” on things…like when I get a crappy form letter back from my no-account congressman or something. That would make me smile.
I move (that’s right, Robert’s Rules of Order) we get a few stamps, start stamping the guild logo on all kinds of things.
I’ve gotten away from all my stamping because it’s time consuming and other crafts - namely, sewing and crochet - are taking up all my crafting time. I’ve been trying to decide what to do with all the paper crafting stuff, and I really don’t know. Should I sell the stamps? I’ve got so many supplies that I’m not using, and really don’t plan to use. But every time I get kind of serious about selling them, I get really sad.
I think this is how hoarders feel.
blabbery: rocco mediate tiger woods torrey pines u.s. open 2008 us open
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Come on, Rocco!
I’m not a huge golf fan, but I am a big underdog fan. One hole left…Rocco’s up by one, and in a bunker. My fingers are crossed! I should be working, but I’m watching the live stream on usopen.com.
blabbery movies: carrie bradshaw charlotte miranda hobbs movies samatha jones sex in the city sex in the city movie
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Sex in the City
I saw Sex in the City on Monday night. My sweet husband came home a little early so I could take myself out to a movie. I have been to exactly one movie in the past 2.5 years. So this was a real treat. First shock: ticket price. $10.50! What? That’s crazy. Second shock: food price. On king size kit kat and small coke zero: $8.50! Sheesh! First pleasant surprise: super nice reclining chairs. Until someone sat behind me in an almost empty theater and put her feet on my chair. As soon as she moved once, I leaned back and didn’t move again so she didn’t have a choice but to keep her feet down. Ha! Jokes on you, girl!
I think there were a bunch of teen girls that have only seen Sex In The City on TBS, not on HBO, because they seemed to be genuinely shocked at the gratuitous sex scenes. Well, it is Samantha, people! Who would let their teenage girl go see that movie, anyway? Probably mom’s that only watched it on TBS also. Well, the movie is the HBO version, not the TBS version. There’s as much action as an after 10 pm Cinemax movie - so beware.
That being said, I must not have any fashion sense at all. I just don’t get high fashion. I just don’t get a lot of the looks they’re modeling - and it was a serious modeling-clothes fest. I will say, I always appreciate Charlotte’s look. Carrie’s looks remind me of a lot of the diy clothes I’ve been seeing. It looked like she was wearing a lot of altered t-shirts! I’m sure I just don’t know anything about brands and she was wearing famous labels. I did like her crazy gold bangles at the rehearsal dinner.
Anyway, I liked the Cinderella storyline, and of course it was funny and sad and wonderful - like all the TV episodes. I give it 4 stars (out of five.) I should have waited for Netflix though. $10.50! Robbery!
blabbery: America's Got Talent burn notice Celebrity Circus In Plain Sight mad men Mary McCormick Nashville Star NBC's American Summer Saving Grace so you think you can dance Steven Tyler summer season The Closer Top Chef
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tv
I was so disappointed when I got home last night. All day, I thought it was Wednesday, and I was super excited for the Top Chef finale. Turns out it was only Tuesday and I had nothing to watch. But today IS Wednesday - so tonight I have both Top Chef and So You Think You Can Dance.
Did you hear that Steven Tyler is in drug rehab after like 20 years of sobriety? Sad. I hope he comes through it okay and with renewed determination.
We’ve been watching In Plain Sight on USA. Pretty good, so far. I like Mary McCormick. I’m looking forward the the summer season: Mad Men, Burn Notice, The Closer, Psych, Monk, Saving Grace…good stuff. I’m not looking forward to NBC’s “American Summer” programming: Celebrity Circus, Nashville Star, America’s Got Talent. Yuck.
Crafts fabric featured music quilting sewing: applique applique patterns compai concert t-shirt Crafts craftster deconstruction diy Indigo Girls inspiration sewing susan prioleau tshirt surgery tutorial
by Blabby
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Applique and t-shirt surgery
BettyNinja left me a nice comment saying I should write a tutorial for my appliqué aprons. Betty, I’m afraid the only tutorial I’m qualified to write is to say that I think everyone should take an appliqué class at a local quilt shop. I took one class, and the teacher (Susan Prioleau) taught a great technique and answered all my questions. Now I feel like I can follow any pattern, and I’m even working on my own designs. I seem to see appliqué everywhere.
I was in a used book store the other day, and I saw this great book of stories with all these fun medieval illustrations. Here’s one - I think it would be a very cool appliqué design.
My other current love is t-shirt surgery. Indigo Girls are headed to Humphrey’s in San Diego next week, and I really wanted to wear one of my old concert t-shirts, but they’re all awful. They’re huge men’s shirts that look terrible. So, I took my favorite one (sorry for the inappropriate picture on the front), resized it, added better sleeves and a hood! It’s not perfect, but it fits great, and it’s much better than it was before. I read a lot of tutorials on craftster and on other blogs before I got started, but it was pretty straight forward.
(Pictures after the jump)
Step one: lay a shirt that fits you on top of one that doesn’t. Trace around it. Pin the shirt and cut away the excess.
Step two: cut out your pieces - sleeves, hood, extra pockets, whatever you’re adding.
Step three: sew your extra pieces (close up the sleeves, hem the hood).
Step four: attach new pieces to your old shirt.
Step five: sew up sides of your old shirt.
There was a lot of debate about the best stitch to use on stretchy fabric if you don’t have a serger. I just used a straight stitch to join things, and then topstitched the seams open with a straight stitch using a twin needle. It worked great, and allowed me to add in some contrasting thread. Let me know if you have questions.
for pictures, click here… more »
Crafts sewing: Crafts diy diy clothes elastic thread kukyideas.com sewing shirred dress shirring
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Shirring
My next project (thanks, Kukyideas, for the great tutorial):
http://www.kukyideas.com/journal/2007/04/shirred-dress-tutorial.html
Now - where do I get this elastic thread? I checked Joanns today and the girl didn’t know what the heck I was talking about. Anyone know?
I did my first tshirt surgery today - photos coming soon!
blabbery: eleanor burns freelance design graphic design quilt guild uso quilt show valley of the mist quilters guild victory quilts web design web support
by Blabby
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web skills
I somehow became the webmaster for my quilt guild and I learned a new skill! The day before our quilt show this year, we’re hosting Eleanor Burns and her USO Quilt Show. I set it up so we can sell tickets on our website! This may not sound like a big deal, but I didn’t know how to do it, and I learned as I went, and it works great. I also created all the artwork - including the tickets and the web graphics. Next, we’ll tackle the show poster. In the mean time, I’ve also made some business cards (I got a great deal on printing from printrunner.com) for the guild - so members can hand them out at events or to people they meet in shops or whatever - anyone that’s interested.
Here’s what I’ve learned. I have skills. The things that I’m doing for free other people charge a lot of money for. Each month, I create the guild’s newsletter and upload it to the website. I even make a cool little thumbnail of the front page for the link. I found out that before I took over the newsletter and the website, the guild was paying a company $10 to upload ONE pdf to the site. We just got a bill for $20 for the last two months before I took over the job. CRAZY! They were also charging $5 per web button. I’ve uploaded probably 20 files and added at least 10 new web buttons.
The local copy shop charges $50 an hour for graphic design. I’ve easily spent 40 hours creating different stuff for the guild.
I am not a super talented artist or highly skilled graphic designer, but I clearly have skills that other people will pay for. Who knew? Either I’m giving away the farm or people are really overcharging for these services.
blessings PRI This American Life: giant pool of money Ira Glass mortgage crisis new kings of nonfiction PRI public radio international This American Life
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This American Life
I know - I go on and on about This American Life. But they’re doing a little drive for donations because they’re trying to keep the free podcasts - that half a million people download every week - from costing Public Radio International any money. So I’m happy to pay a couple bucks to keep it free. But the reason I’m telling you about the fundraiser is that if you donate $20, you get a CD with the Giant Pool of Money show (the one about the mortgage crisis). I know a lot of people loved it as much as I did, and wanted to share it with people that don’t listen to podcasts (like my dad), so I thought I’d spread the word.
If you’re feeling extra generous, you can also get the New Kings of Nonfiction - which is excellent! I read it cover to cover.
blabbery Crafts embroidery fabric quilting sewing: applique aprons Crafts embroidery quilt patterns sewing sublime stitching
by Blabby
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applique complete!
My friendship group is making an applique apron quilt for the auction at our annual quilt show. We all made two blocks. I finally finished the embellishments on mine - I kept them pretty simple, but I’m happy with the results. The apron patterns are from Lori Holt’s Apron Club pattern. I don’t think she has a website, but I’ve seen her patterns in a few online shops. The cup and cupcake were embroidery patterns in Sublime Stitching. I decided to applique them first, then embroider over them. I had a few problems because I doubled the white fabric so my print fabric wouldn’t show through - made it hard to stitch, but I think it’s alright. Once the whole thing is assembled and it’s been washed, I know they’ll be great.
