Saturday, May 10, 2008

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!

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

He did a splendid job :-) the yellow suits you very well.
The card is so funky pretty. Very nice. Since I don't know your two mothers I really can't help except to ask which one is better for bouncing ideas off of and making very useful suggestions? I bet they both are :-)
Anne
aka anniescraps

Joy Madison said...

LOVE LOVE LOVE the card....did I tell you I LOVE the card? Oh, and one more thing, I LOVE the card!

Carrie said...

OMG April! I have that vintage kids book - The Best Loved Doll. It's in my DD's bookcase now. I love what you did with the card. Fabulous!

justem said...

Great photo! And I love that card!

Denise said...

Love the new avatar (and the earrings)! You look stunning. :o)

Your card is amazing. Which mother to send it to? I say mine. Thank you very much!

Sharie said...

Lovely new avatar, April, your Greg did a very nice job! I'm thinking I would send that wonderful card to your own Mom, it sounds like a sentiment I would definitely apply to mine.

Sharie said...

P.S. I think the colors you're using for your quilt are lovely - have fun making it!

stephanie howell said...

a. you look like a hottie in that picture. when j. takes my picture i look "special". plus, he says totally inappropriate things like "try not to look so slutty". NICE
b. either mother would be lucky to have that. you are a ROCK star. seriously, that is so creative.

Suzyhomemaker said...

Gotta tell you, I love your blog. Your picture is so good! Greg did a fantastic job and I LOVE the card :)

Kimber-Leigh said...

you know, i think i can handle that quilting step too! a friend offered to teach me how to quilt while my husband was last deployed, but it never worked out. wish i had taken her up on it though! the fabrics are so bright and cheery...can't wait to see the finished result!

who'd you give the card to? it's fantastic!

kelly said...

you look gorgeous, april!!!

D's Paper Studio said...

Great great job on these gears. I loved how they turned out.

Lauren said...

AWESOME gears! Which mum did you give it too?

And I LOVE the new avator!

Angelia said...

The gear card was so unique!
And, believe it or not, I was surfing the net last week and found that same quilt pattern (I've had Denyse's book sitting here on my nightstand since I bought it LAST spring) and said "I WANT THAT QUILT!" lol And a twin size seems like a good place to start, as I've never quilted anything. I'm going to follow your progress, so let us know how it goes!

Anonymous said...

holy moly april, that fabric is gorgeous together! can't wait to see what you make with it.

love the card and the portrait, too. =)