getting started

If you've been to Studio Calico lately, you might have noticed I changed my avatar to this photo. I'm so super-proud of Greg for taking it. We were getting ready to leave to go to a reception the first night we were in Cabo and I had donned my favorite Banana Republic earrings (I wear them all the time) and noticed a nice yellow wall on our balcony. Photo Op!!!! He put up with about 15 minutes of taking my picture and I was happy with the way this one turned out, so it'll be my avatar for a while.


You'll be happy to know, I finally braved the quilt that I've vowed to work on. I did step 1:

1. Launder and Press the fabric



That was the one step I'm very familiar with and confident I could complete. I am planning a trip to the fabric store today to buy the supplies I need for the rest of the steps. Who knew you actually needed a thimble for something? Well, I think I need it, and since I have NONE lying around the house, I think it's a necessary purchase for this project. Also, another necessary purchase (probably more so than the thimble) is a seam ripper. I have a feeling I might need 2!

For Davinie's challenge on the Studio Calico Blog, I made a Mother's Day card. I'm not sure if this one will go to my mom or Greg's. I made 2 cards, but one is with the June kit, so I can't even show you a sneak of it (ooooooooooooh, I really want to, though). I like both of them equally in different ways, so I have to think of which one each mom would like best. But, please tell me which mom you think this one should go to:


To begin, I used Cosmo Cricket's blackboard gears. I've loved these ever since I saw them at CHA, so they immediately went into one of the add-on kits, but I didn't have a chance to use them until now. Using Mod Podge, I glued them to the pages of a vintage children's storybook. The images here show some pink on the pages, but on the reverse side, the pages are black and white onlly.

Next, I used Basic Grey's filers to make pretty edges. (I filed the whole set with Jett sitting in my lap....such a crazy lap dog he is.)

Then, I used some chalk inks to give the gears some color. They can go on thick at first, so use less pressing and more rubbing to give a nice thin coat.

No chipboard is complete without some glossy accents, so I added that, then went downstairs to iron my fabric while it dried.


After the glossy accents dried, I adhered it to my cardstock base (cut to fit a regular invitation size envelope, approximately 5.5x8.5" then folded in half) using tacky glue. That's probably not the best adhesive for this portion of the project, but who cares? It was handy and it worked! Be sure to adhere the gears with parts of them hanging over the edge of the card.
After that glue dried, I trimmed the edges off the gears, added the "mom" with Making Memories new alphabet stickers, plus a rhinestone from KaiserCraft. (The MM alphabet is included in May's kit at Studio Calico and is still available, if you wish to purchase it)
Then, I added this inside....do you think it's too corny?

Anyway, don't forget to tell me which mom I should give this one to!