Southern Breezes

Playing With Paper

This is a project I have wanted to tackle for ages, and finally got around to doing it a few days ago...

 

Here's another really quick and simple craft project to help use up all those left over strips of paper we all have hoarded away somewhere - unless you're like me and most of those scraps are covering my workspace.  It was either throw them out *gasp* or use them. I chose to use them. 

Each strip is 1" x 6" - it takes about 80 strips to cover a 24 inch styrofoam cone like the one I used.  Begin at the base of the cone and simply fold the strips in half and use a straight pin to attach these to the styrofoam base.  Each layer overlaps the previous one. For a little sparkle I periodically tucked in a strip of gold or silver ribbon.  The finishing touch was added by combining the  gold and silver ribbons to make a bow for the top of the tree and streamers flowing down the sides. 

Now that my tree is finished I can't help but wonder what on earth took me so long to do this project???  It's really very easy to do and doesn't take very long to construct.  Cutting all the strips is by far the most time consuming part of the project.

A Quilt in Progress

Earlier this year I was asked by a dear friend to present a program for the Birds of A Feather Quilt Guild in Hamilton.  Sounded simple and easy at the time - of course, that was months ago <shaking head in disbelief>  Now the time is here and I've spent the past few days frantically putting the program together!!! 

The first challenge was to come up with something that combines stamping/papercrafting products and quilting...hmmm. What to do? What to do?  Then my trusty Slice caught my eye - I can make a quilt AND a card to match!! Yay!! Double duty and problem solved. You think?

The BOAF members are one super talented group of quilters - it's my Guild but my quilting abilities are no match to those ladies! But, as my little project evolves I'm liking it more and more...

The top section of the wall hanging...

 

Lower left square...

Santa needs lots of work  - boots & belt still need to be painted and gotta do something about that red face of his <lol>!

 Lower right square...

 

I absolutely love, love, love those mittens!!I've used them on cards, on tags and a number of other projects. They're so stinkin' cute!

All the designs were cut using the Slice Personal Die Cut machine and three Design Cards - Mistletoe, FA LA LA and Noel.  Now that the elements of the quilt have been cut and attached to the fabric it's time to do the embellishing!! Lots of shiny, puffy, fluffy stuff to be added!! Then I will post a picture of the finished project -  er, projects!  Since I want to show how to incorporate stamping into quilting, we're also going to stamp on fabric - wish me luck!  I SO need it!

 

Scrapping Goodness with Memory Box

I've not posted very much lately, mainly because life in the Thorpe house has been very hectic. But I have managed to do a few scrappy projects using the newest papers and stamps from Memory Box's Mistletoe and Tinsel Collections!  SO fun!! Take a look...

First up is this single layout - I think the holiday papers work great in this autumn beach themed layout...

Double Fudge is the 12" x 12" base paper (don't you LOVE that name?!!).  Accent strips were cut from Crystalline and Peace Doves papers.  The strip in the middle is Kraft paper that was stamped with Memento Cocoa Brown and Bamboo Leaves inks and Memory Box's Dotty Ring and the solid circle on the side of the  Mod Tree Border stamps. The pictures are backed by Vanilla Bean brown paper. The yellow semi-circles were cut from a sheet of paper from the 6" x 6" Tinsel paper pack.  After punching out the circles I cut them in half and tucked the straight edges under the strip of Peace Doves paper.  Buttons tied with red Scrapper's Floss were added. I love these colors for a this early autumn layout!

Next is a double layout using the Crystalline 12" x 12" paper...

 

One of the things I like best about these papers is the fact that they are so pretty on their own that they don't need a lot of embellishments. 

I used strips of yellow from the Tinsel paper pack to make a 3 inch wide strip that goes across the lower third of each page. The edges are torn and distressed with Ranger's Barn Door distress ink.  Down the center of this yellow strip is a smaller strip cut from a 12" x 12" sheet of First Snowfall.  Using Color Box's Frost White pigment ink and Memory Box's new Renaissance stamp I created a lacey look down the center of this strip.  While the ink was still wet I sprinkled lots of sparkly glitter all over the stamped image!  It's SO sparkly and frosty looking.

 

The snowflakes and the lettering were all cut from basic white cardstock using a Slice Personal Design cutter and the Mistletoe Design Card. In the center of the large snowflakes you'll find a snowflake bling, also from Memory Box.

Last of all are the little "candies" that are scattered along the pages. These were quickly created by stamping the Twinkle Ball onto pieces of First Snowfall using the Frost White pigment ink and lots of sparkly glitter was quickly added. They were then punched out with a 1 inch circle punch and attached to the layout with dimensional dots. 

Check out another scrappy project  here !

Next project??? Applique quilting with the Slice Design Cutter!!

Fall Wreath

 

 
 
It's been ages since I've posted, but things have been super, super busy around here the past few weeks.  But I was finally able to indulge in a little personal craftiness today!! :) Here's how it started...

Yesterday I decided to make a paper wreath.  Today I decided to use my Slice Design Cutter to make the paper wreath - tonight I made this adorable Fall/Thanksgiving wreath.  It didn't take very long to cut all the different leaves with the Slice and it was super fun to do!!