My latest quilt!

A friend sent me a blog link to this pattern and I immediately knew that I wanted to make it and that it would be great to use the Xyron fabric adhesive to hold those circles in place while I sewed them down. First, go check out this great blog with all the patterns and ideas! 




I have got to make a cover for my camera strap and I think her tutorial will be great for that.
Now, check out my quilt....

This was much easier to make than I thought it might be.  I was afraid that cutting everything out and matching up the pieces once I cut up the blocks would take forever, but I got the whole top done in a day.  I love that it frays a little after you wash it too.

Just two more Halloween projects...

I am so sorry for neglecting my blog this week!  I have been very busy working on other projects and time just got away from me.

This first project was on the Glue Arts blog yesterday.  I bought the kit for this frame at Tuesday Morning a long time ago.  It was supposed to be a baby theme, but I thought it would be cute with Halloween pictures on it.

You could certainly make your own frame pieces from layers of chipboard or cardboard.  I'd cut them into a headstone shape if I was making this from scratch :)

Halloween Stand up frame by Jessica Barnett




Supplies Needed:

Glue Arts Glue Glider Pro with Perma Tac refill

Glue Arts U-Cut-It foam adhesive

Glue Arts Extreme Adhesive squares

Glue Arts Ribbon Adhesive

Echo Park Happy Halloween collection

May Arts webbed weave ribbon

3 Photos

Frame kit (or mdf cut into tombstone shapes)

Black ink

Black pen

Paper trimmer

Edge distresser

Grey satin ribbon

Thin black ribbon

Staple gun

Hot glue gun

Ruffled ribbon

Spider themed embellishments

Black paint and brush

Sandpaper

Scissors



Instructions:

1. Paint the edges of the three shapes and allow to dry.

2. Cover the shapes in papers from the Echo Park Halloween collection using the Glue Glider Pro to attach them. Sand the edges for a clean fit after the papers are attached.

3. Attach ruffled ribbon around the edge of the Happy Halloween sticker with the glue gun, then attach the sticker to the center frame with Glue Arts U-Cut-It foam adhesive.

4. Distress the edges of the photos and mat with the Echo Park papers and the Glue Glider Pro. Add names to the photos with the Echo Park letter stickers. Ink the mats with black ink.

5. Run pieces of grey satin ribbon along the frame pieces, just below center. Attach the pieces with Glue Arts Ribbon adhesive. Use the small Glue Arts Extreme Adhesive squares to attach the May Arts web ribbon over the satin ribbon.

6. Attach the photos to the frame pieces using Glue Arts U-Cut-It foam adhesive.

7. Fill in around the photos and over the ribbon with strips of paper and stickers. Trace around the stickers with black pen to help them stick out against the paper.

8. Attach the frame pieces to each other by stapling short pieces of black ribbon the backs of each piece.

 
These were the treats that I made for my kids to give out to their friends in class.  I made a total of about 75 of them so they needed to be cheap and easy.  These definitely fit the bill.  Especially with felt on sale for Halloween.
 

 
They're just little DumDum suckers.  Square of felt, pipe cleaner at the neck, hot glue on some googly eyes and sharpie for the mouth.  I printed the tags onto patterned paper, then cut, inked and added the name.  That way each kids' suckers just said their names instead of all three of my boy's names. (Also, a big thanks to Kim because she actually did all the inking for me).  The tags are also hot glued to the back of the ghost heads. 
Tucker and my nephew were playing with them and making them fly around and talk to each other at school today, so I guess I did okay.

Hero Arts and Glue Arts projects!

I am such a fan of acrylic stamps, and the ones that I got from Hero Arts were awesome.  The images were perfect every time and they're so versatile.

First I made this layout.  I am a project and layout kind of girl, they're my favorites!  The picture is of a friend's daughter.  I needed a girly subject for these stamps :)  It's so easy to take a gorgeous, big stamp like this and make your own background paper with a little kraft cardstock.  It's my first time machine sewing on a layout so I hope you like that too!

Love layout




Supplies Needed:

Glue Arts Glue Glider Pro

Glue Arts U-cut It foam adhesive

Glue Arts Raisen's

Glue Arts Adhesive Squares

Glue Arts Micro adhesive squares

Glue Arts Extreme adhesive squares

Hero Arts Delicate Blossoms stamps

5x7 photo

Kraft cardstock

Assorted embellishments and stickers

Sewing machine with white thread

Edge distresser

Purple and green watercolor pencils

2 patterned papers

Edge punch

Fine tip scissors

Black ink pad

File



1. Stamp the larger flower image along the bottom of the card stock in black ink. Vary the height of each stamp. Color the images with the colored pencils.

2. On a scrap piece of cardstock, stamp the smaller flower stamp five times in black ink. Color the images and cut out with the fine tip scissors.

3. Attach the cut out images to the background paper with U-Cut It adhesive. Vary the heights of the attached images and trim any excess off the bottom of the page.

4. Sew along the top and sides of the layout with the sewing machine and use different stitches.

5. Attach an inked piece of paper that is 7 3/4" by 4" to the right side of the layout with the Glue Glider Pro.

6. Trim another piece of accent paper to 5.5"x7.5" and use the edge punch along two sides. Ink and attach over the first piece of paper with the glue Glider Pro.

7. Distress the edges of the picture and attach of the other two pieces of paper with Raisen's.

8. Cluster the embellishments on the left side of the page. Lay the word stickers down first and fill in around them with the other embellishments. Layer flowers and attach with the Adhesive Squares. Attach heavier items with the Extreme Adhesive Squares. File the edges of items with a shiny finish before inking. Choose some items to attach with the U-Cut It foam to add dimension.

9. Ink around the edge of the background paper with black ink.
 
You know how I said that I'm a layout and project kind of girl?  Cards are just not my forte.  I don't know what it is about them but I'm very rarely happy with a card when I finish it.  I was okay with this one.  I really loved this pad of paper from Cosmo Cricket when I got it and I knew it was going to be perfect for cards.
 

Simple Hi card



Supplies needed:

Glue Arts Glue Glider Pro

Glue Arts Ribbon Adhesive

Glue Arts U-Cut It foam adhesive

Glue Arts Adhesive Squares

Hero Arts Bold Blossoms stamp set

Hero Arts Big Hugs stamp set

Card blank

paper scraps

Brown distress ink and sponge

Black ink

Cream ribbon

Paper trimmer

Scissors

Edge punch



1. Cut a piece of paper to fit the front of the card blank and ink and sponge the edges. Attach to card front with Glue Glider Pro.

2. Cut a strip of paper to 1.5" wide and ink and sponge. attach to front of card with Glue Glider Pro.

3. Cut a strip of paper to 1.5" wide and use the edge punch along both sides. Ink and sponge and attach to card with Glue Arts Ribbon adhesive.

4. Cut two pieces of cream ribbon and tie in a knot. Attach to card with Glue Arts ribbon adhesive and trim all ends.

5. Stamp the sentiment onto a piece of paper in black ink. Ink and sponge in brown ink.

6. Stamp two sizes of flowers onto paper with distress ink and cut out. Attach in a cluster using Glue Arts Adhesive Squares.

7. Attach sentiment over flower cluster using Glue Arts U-Cut It foam adhesive.

Using the distress ink to stamp the flowers on the patterned paper made it easier to actually see the paper through such a solid stamp.
 
Thanks for stopping by!

Felt for Halloween

I had seen this idea shared from a couple of different blogs (neither of which is coming to mind right now).  They used felt to make these fake blood drip table covers and I knew the kids would love them.  Felt is such a great material to work with!  It doesn't need to be finished because it doesn't fray, so it's prefect for people that are afraid of breaking out their sewing machine.  It comes in a 72" width (wider than decorator fabrics) so it's great for table cloths.  I'm actually hoping to get enough to make a table cloth for the whole length of our dining room table for next year.  They put felt on sale a lot in the fall because it's great for making costumes.  I paid about $2.50 a yard for this stuff and I love the way the covers turned out.

 This table is in my entryway and it was the first one I tried making.  I laid a piece of felt over the table and put in pins along the top edge so I wouldn't cut the drips up too far.  I turned it onto the backside once the pins were in and drew the drips with a sharpie.  Just cut along the lines and you're done!

This is the hutch in my dining room.  Same basic steps as the other cover, but I didn't have to do any corners on this one because  the sides fit along the inside of the opening.

Argyle Pumpkins!

I had originally seen pumpkins like this at a local decor store.  I really wanted to buy some, but the smallest ones were $12 each and I just couldn't swing that.  I ended up buying some of the craft pumpkins (I chose the white ones because they're different and i liked them a lot).  If the pumpkins are out of your budget, wait until after Halloween and keep and eye out for a good clearance sale.  I am totally getting more for next year if I can find them at 75% off!

I used latex artist paints on them (they put the tubes on sale at Michael's all the time), but the black lines on the smaller ones I just drew on with a sharpie.
Now, these aren't prefect straight lines, but that's not what I was going for.  I did a lot freehand.  I started by measuring around the widest part of the pumpkin, then dividing that measurement up evenly.  On the small pumpkins I made a mark every 1.5 inches, but on the large one I made the mark every 4 inches.  Just do whatever you want whether you like the smaller diamonds or larger ones.
I didn't draw lines to fill in, I just made little dots and did everything else freehand with the brush and the marker.
These are very easy to make, and they fit into that category of decorations that I can leave out after Halloween because they're great for fall and aren't covered in bats and skeletons :)

Decorating on the Cheap: Halloween Candy!

I really enjoy decorating for the seasons and holidays, but it can get expensive.  For some parts of my decor every year and for every season, I use candy.  It's cheap, easy to find, and pretty.  There are hearts for Valentine's, hard and ribbon candies for Christmas and for Halloween..TONS of goodies!

(All of the containers I use in this post are things that I've had for years. Some of them you can still buy, but some you can't. I'll try to share where I got things when I can.)



This is the first thing I put together this year.  I've had these out for a little while (so forgive the fact that they're looking a little low.  Some of us can't resist the decorations :)

These are vases I bought years ago from Southern Living at Home. You could easily buy inexpensive bud vases at any craft or big box store, and candy corn (or Indian Corn, which is what they call this stuff with the brown on the bottom) is one of the cheapest and easiest things to buy this time of year.
I also bought these goodies...

The two bigger bags were 88 cents each.  The caramel filled chocolate eyeballs were more expensive, but they were just too awesome to resist.
Here are some things I did with those eyeballs :)

 This is a vase that I've had for a while, but I bought it for about $3 at Michael's and I'm pretty sure that you still can.  I added some super cheap paper from the dollar spot at Target to it and a couple of Halloween embellishments.  the skulls, mice and snakes?  A buck a package at either the dollar store or the grocery store.

 This is a mini ice bucket (again, I've had it for a while.  Bought it at an antiques store).  I just layered the stuff in there.  They layering would be really cute in a great bog apothecary jar, but I don't have any of those.  The crow is from Michael's.

This is just a cup that I bought years ago to drink my mudslides out of  :)  They're not cheap (about $6 each at Cost Plus) but I love the fact that it looks like a cauldron.

I dipped in to my stemware stash for these too:

I don't drink champagne that often, but these would be so cute at a place setting for a fall dinner.  The little pumpkins are cute and cheap for a little scatter/confetti for a pretty table.

I also layered the pumpkins and candy corn in the ice bucket for a different look.

Just take away the Halloween accessories and this can stay out to decorate through Thanksgiving.

I also keep these candle holders out on my dining room table all year.  Just switch out the candy and the ribbon for a different look for every season.

Those little acorns came in a bag at the dollar store.

Finally, a re-do of the first picture with the vases.  This time with a different fall candy in each one.  They were getting low anyway :)

I hope this helps if you are looking for some ideas for decorating for Halloween on the cheap!
My husband is going to be soooo glad that I finally got this post up.  He's been trying to eat this candy for a week!

A few quick quilt pics!

I said that I'd post the quilt once I finished the binding and took pictures, so here it is!

This is it, all finished.  I think I like it, and I would really like to take an intermediate class and learn more about quilting.  I need practice for sure, but I still think I'm missing something when it comes to getting my seams perfect.  I want to be able to make blocks with triangles!



 For the binding, I picked my favorite fabric of the bunch.  It's a pretty funky, modern one and I love it.  If I get to make other things for this room and need to buy something, this will probably be what I choose.

When I originally bought this fabric for the quilt, it was still full price.  When it was time to buy the backing it was half off.  Woohoo for that!  I usually just use muslin, so this is a treat.  My quilt is pretty on both sides :)

Tomorrow I'll be posting about a way to decorate for Halloween on the cheap!  See you then!

Echo Park and Glue Arts Halloween Decor

Echo Park sent the Glue Arts DT their Halloween line and I had a lot of fun working with it!  I love Halloween papers and scrappy projects.
This broom took me a little while to make, but it involves paint drying and that's a big part of the time.  Other than that it's fairly simple.  I bought the broom at JoAnne's in case you're wondering.  It's pretty cute and sparkly in person :)

 Boo Broom by Jessica Barnett
Supplies Needed:
Glue Arts Extreme Adhesive Squares

Glue Arts Glue Glider Pro and Perma Tac refill

Glue Arts U-Cut It foam adhesive

Echo Park Happy Halloween collection

4-5 yards of 2” wide black ribbon

Broom

Wooden letters for BOO

Staple gun and staples

Buttons

Embroidery thread and needle

Black paint and brush

Black pen

Scissors

Craft knife

Sandpaper

Pencil
Instructions:

1. Use the black paint to paint the edges of the letters and allow to dry.

2. Trace the letters onto the wrong side of the papers with the pencil and cut out using the scissors and craft knife.

3. Attach papers to the letters using the Glue Glider Pro and Perma Tac refill. Sand the edges to get a smooth finish.

4. Add the sticker to the letter B and trace with a black pen. For the other letters, attach the stickers to scraps of paper, then cut out and attach to the letters using Glue Arts U-Cut It foam adhesive.

5. Tie the embroidery floss through the centers of all the buttons. Attach buttons to the letters using Glue Arts Extreme Adhesive Squares.

6. Fold one-yard pieces of the ribbon in half, and staple the center of the fold to the backs of the letters. Tie the ribbon into knots , then staple through the knots to the broom. Tie a second knot and trim the ribbon ends. Attach a button to each knot with Glue Arts Extreme Adhesive Squares.

7. Tie a bow around the broom bristles and trim the ends of the ribbon.


This treat basket is the easiest thing to make!  I found the basket in the $2.50 section at Target.  I like making things like this with my scraps and leftovers after I'm done with a bigger project.

 
Treat Basket by Jessica Barnett

Supplies Needed:

Glue Arts Extreme Adhesive Squares

Glue Arts Glue Glider Pro with Perma Tac refill

Echo Park Happy Halloween collection

Paper trimmer

Scissors

Spellbinders Nestabilities scalloped circle die

Black chalk ink

Ringed Basket

Ruler

Bone folder and scoring board

Hot Glue gun

Instructions:

1. Use the ruler to measure the height of the two rings on the basket. Cut two strips from two different patterned papers that are 12 inches long and are a little less tall than the measurement.

2. Ink the edges of the papers with the chalk ink, then attach them to the basket using the Glue Arts Glue Glider Pro and Perma Tac refill. Use small Glue Arts Extreme Adhesive squares on the ends for an extra secure hold.

3. Cut two strips from a third color of paper that are 12 by 1.5 inches. Score every half inch, and accordion fold. Ink the edges and creases with chalk ink. Trim the ends of the folds at an angle to get the points. Attach the ends to each other with the Glue Glider Pro and Perma Tac refill. Shape into a circle and attach to a scrap circle of paper using the hot glue gun.

4. Cut out a scalloped circle with the Nestabilities dies that is just larger than the Oct. 31 sticker and ink the edges. Attach the sticker to the center and use Glue Arts Extreme Adhesive Squares to attach to the piece made in step 3, then attach the piece to the front of the basket with the hot glue gun.


Skull and Crossbones

My kids love the skulls!  Love them on their clothes, we have a blanket that they fight over with skulls on it, they even have skulls on their shoes!
My older two got little aprons as gifts that have a skeleton all over them, but my youngest doesn't have anything to wear when he helps me bake.  (And by "helps" you know I just mean that he eats whatever I'll let him touch). 
I made this one with my Glue Glider Pro with the fabric refill, some felt and a little kids apron from Hobby Lobby.  Total cost was under $4.  I cut everything out free hand, but it shouldn't be hard to find something online that you like and trace that onto the felt.  Or you could use a cookie cutter.  Those are my go-to patterns for Christmas stuff especially. 

Someone was being a ham for the camera :)

Pumpkins!

Every year I get that Martha Stewart Halloween magazine and drool over all the projects.  I have been loving the pumpkins that they carve using a bunch of different drill bits for as long as I can remember.  I had some craft pumpkins, and when I got my vinyl for this month's Glue Arts Halloween project I thought that I'd use them together! 
This is a great project that anyone can make because even if you don't have a die cutting system, you can still cut out circles for the pumpkins.

Glue Arts Car Accents pumpkins by Jessica Barnett

Supplies Needed:

Glue Arts Car Accents in Apple Cider and Blackout (Or choose other colors that you like. Purple, green, orange and black would be really cute too!)

Assorted craft pumpkins

Manual or electric die cutter or circle templates

Circle dies for manual cutter



Instructions:

1. Cut the vinyl into assorted circle sizes. I used my manual die cutter and a die that had four sizes of circles on it.

2. Stick the circles to the pumpkins and smooth out with your fingertips. If there are creases you can pull the vinyl back up a little and smooth it back out. TIPS: Use the larger circles near the center of the larger pumpkins and the smaller ones to fill in. The curve in the pumpkins at the ends will make it more difficult to get a smooth look on the larger circles.

Xyron+Fabric+Store Bought Purse=CUTE!

To show off the Xyron Fabric Adhesive for the Creatopia, I decided to alter a simple purse that I found at Target a while back.  You could buy and fabric purse (this one cost under $10) and choose from your own fabric scraps or use fat quarters to embellish it!
Pre-wash all fabrics before using.
Cut circles in different sizes out of the fabric(s) you choose using pinking shears.
Run the circles through the Creatopia with the Fabric refill.
Bunch the circles up as you place them on the purse to get a flower shape.  You can readjust until they're just how you want them because this isn't a permanent adhesive.
Sew circles or lines through the center of your flowers to permanently attach them to the purse.
And sew button centers onto the flowers.

Thanks for looking!

Quick and easy treat project!

I made this a year or two ago, but it didn't get used by the company I made it for.  I still think it's cute :)  If your child is having a Halloween party this would be a great treat to give to the kids!

I took a long, skinny strip of white paper and folded it in half.  I pretty much freehand cut out the skull shape, leaving in long on the bottom so I could fold it under for a stand.  Also drew the bones freehand on another piece of white cardstock.  The eyes were punched out with a 1" circle punch and I backed them with black, glittered cardstock.  I inked all the edges and inked on the nose shape and the lines for the teeth with a black chalk ink pad.  The bottom for the stand can be stapled or glued together and so can the little bag of treats.  Write a message on the back if you like!

See?  Quick and easy!  Have fun!