Studio Mess

My messy studio. How do I get any work done? I often clean between Christmas and New Years.

More 12 days of Christmas tags

Here is a tag for Tim Holts 12 days of Christmas. He has finished all 12 now. I am a little behind on them. I did the deer this past weekend. I think this was number 7 or so.


I did the one on the left at a local store this past week. I then made the other two at home after wards. My deer are made with two layers of hand dyed fabric that are fused with heat and bond. I then cut it out with the die cut and then added the embossed snowflakes.


Sorry for the side ways look. It just happens now and then.
This is a tag from earlier. I am not sure but maybe tag 5. I like the red of Christmas. I still have plans of making many more tags this next week or next. After Christmas I may try a make some tags that have the Valentines theme or make them in the form of a card. I love the vintage look with the many many layers of techniques.

Baking started - Thumb prints

I started to make cookies today. Here is Raspberry Thumb Prints. I had to use the good homemade Raspberry Jam. They are very good. This recipe has a almond icing on the top. I have to leave them out for the icing to dry enough to place in the cookie tin. A very dangerous time for these cookies, some have already been eaten.


My recipes out of the box. I plan to make all these things. Chocolate fudge, toffee, Shortbread cookies and special cut out cookies. I got my Christmas cakes done last night.

Leduc Guild Friendship Blocks

The Leduc and Camrose Quilt guilds are having a challenge. We are making blocks for charity quilts, we call them Friendship Quilts. There was a method to picking your colours. I have Citrus Fruit (lime green), Lilac, and Magenta. We then could use a background fabric, Black White or cream. We each needed to make one block. I know many ladies will be making many more. I have not made charity blocks for a long time so this fall I started with one block and handed it in. Then I thought that `was easy` and I have a stack now. I still have to hand in the other 7 or 8 blocks. I am thinking I should make a different but matching block to go with these. Not sure and will think on this some more. Any ideas out them quilt friends (question mark key not working).

My very first quilted project

I am posted this because many of the projects I am working on are presents for Christmas. I do not want to spoil the surprise for some of the people lucky enough to get a homemade gift. My dear Mom is to get one of the handmade gifts. Please do not tell her (you know who you are).


I made this pillow in Grade 9 so many many years ago. My mom was quilting back then and I had done lots of cross stitch at the time. I had hand sewn some stuffed animals and fluffy pillows from kits. I still have one of them in my sewing room. For grade nine Home Ec we had to do some project the teacher led us in and then we got to work on our choice. I wanted to do hand work. I made mini patch work by hand. I stitched the baby horse with batting and the very tiniest of stitches. I look at those stitches now and can't believe it was me. The back side of the pillow did not show well in a photo but it is a hand quilted in a feather heart pattern. The fabric on the back is pink with polka dots.


I got a good mark on the project. The only trouble I had was that I sewed the two sides and the lace by machine, then turned it right side out and stitched by machine the hole closed. It was stitched kind of sloppy and the lace was pulled funny in the corners. I would fix it but then it would not be my first project. My dear mom was a great helping hand on this. I remember her showing me how to transfer my quilting pattern to my fabric and to start to hand quilt. She did not do any of the stitching but was a great help.

Tim's Christmas Tags

I started to make some of Tim Holtz tags last year. This one here is the tag he posted on his blog Saturday the 4th, Tag #4 for this year. I did not use a commercial paper but instead still spent time making the tag background. I did not have glossy paper last year but I do this year. So for this tag I used the alcohol inks and glossy paper. I then stamped the Santa face and an embossed scroll. In Red I stamped Believe. I also used this nice thick trim and sewed it on with my sewing machine. Tim's 12 days of Christmas


This tag needed some bobbles and I have not purchased Tim's package. I have many beads and jump rings for making jewelery so I just did not want to buy his. I have made my own bobbles of beads. I am sure most of this years tags will get one or two bobbles. I also used a small mini ornament that I make from last years tags. It has a Graphic 45 paper in it. The white ribbon I have used is a good silk ribbon, I think it is 20mm wide. Finally I also added the bling to the tag.


This is tag #2 for this year. I made this one on Thur the 2nd at one of the local stores. Treasured Memories in Edmonton is doing up kits and mini classes for Tim's tags. I was in the store Thur and did this one and the Tag #1 below. I did not like the ribbion in the kits so I coloured my own silk with Tim's Ink pads.


Here is tag #2 with a snowy white house. I do not have the die to cut the house or the fence. So I took the mini class on this one too. I changed my ribbon again.


Here is one of the tags I did last year. I really love this one. I drew my own tree on grunge paper using the clear embossing pen and then using the green distress embossing powered. I did not have a tree stamp. I did however have the little truck. Love it. I tied the tree to the truck using a linen thread I had. I also loved gluing the paper on the tag and taring the edges, then inking and blending the edges. I used this one on many of the men presents I wrapped last year for Christmas.


This tag is not one of Tim's but it does use some of the techniques that he should in last years tags. I made this one myself. I stamped on vellum. I stamped and used the distress powder on grunge paper to make the Eiffel tower. Then I finished with a flower.


This is the snowman tag from last year. I did not have the snowman stamp that Tim used but instead I painted three balls on the grunge paper then cut it out. This was the first time I did so much to the background. Ink and dry ink and dry a few times. stamp. Added the snow on the top edge. The scarf is two ribbons and a wire all taped together. This way you can bend the ribbon to show the blowing wind, oh so cute.


Here is the inking of the ribbons. So far I am doing really good on this years tags 3 of 4. Did you notice I do not have a number 3 done yet. It has a sweet bird on it and I do not own the die cut. I think I might draw out my own bird on to grunge paper. I have a red ribbon for it ready to go. I must go and get started on #3 and take a look at #5 today. I also have to get some quilting done too.

Christmas Felt Balls

I made needle felted eggs this spring and then was asked to teach the same technique but in Christmas Balls. Here is the little tree and the samples I did for my class. The class was for the Rug hooker's guild. We had a great time. All the felt is needle felted onto Styrofoam balls. We first needle felted the background colour and then added the details.


The Bear was kind of cute. Sorry the photo is side ways. I had it correct but three out of five photos still up load sideways. I have tried to fix this but can not get it correct.


Here is my angle, she looks so much better in person as some of her wings wrap around more.


The Snowman also looks better in person. He did not photograph well and his scarf wraps around and looks wind blown.


Santa what can I say, he is the cuties of them all. I just love how he turned out. His beard is silk and soy fleece, and only the ends are needle punched in place. His eyes and nose are just a stick pin with a coloured end stuck in.