Tips And Techniques | Catered Crop

Methinks it is a token of healthy and gentle characteristics,
when women of high thoughts and accomplishments love to sew;
especially as they are never more at home with their own hearts
than while so occupied.
~Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Marble Faun, 1859

No doubt to keep me "so occupied" (as Nathaniel Hawthorne put it), my Grandma Black used to let me sew on her kitchen towels. I think I stitched something like "I love you Mommy." I never had the skill my Mom or Grandma had with the needle, but I love the look of embroidery. Just about any embroidery stitch you can do on fabric you can do on paper – how fun is that?!

I made these little goodies for our Catered Crop Recipe Swap with lots of stitching. I did my usual machine stitching around the edges of the card panels, and then I added some embroidery stitches: french knots across the top half of the egg, a closed blanket stitch on the edge of the card's banner, and a blanket stitch along the edge of the lollipop holder.

We're not going to talk about how many stitches I had to rip out to make this (my humble needlework skills are definitely rusty). So, yep, I learned a few things along the way that might spare you a needle prick or two. Just scroll down for my mini tutorial on hand sewing on paper.

These 4.75" by 6.75" Glassine bags from Whisker Graphics make perfect envelopes for the kinds of cards I like to make – big, thick, multi-layer, cards with lots of embellishments.

Tomorrow I'm going to show you some more wonderful things you can do with Glassine bags and Whisker Graphics' Bitty Bags. Meanwhile, I hope you'll grab a needle and some thread and join this week's Recipe Swap challenge – all about stitching. It's not too late to play along (but it will be after Saturday).

I wonder what Grandma would think if she knew I sewed on paper. She'd probably be glad I wasn't using her kitchen towels any more.

As she sew . . . so shall ye rip . . . here are a few of the lessons I've learned and tips for you.

Supplies for Hand Sewing on Paper

Embroidery floss. We R Memory Keepers sells embroidery floss for their Sew Easy tool, but honestly, DMC's embroidery floss is luxurious but inexpensive, comes in over 450 colors, and is easy to find in the big craft stores. Depending on how small and close together your stitches are, use just two to three strands of the six-strand thread. (I used two). You can take your paper with you to the store to match your colors. You can also get creative with Divine Twine (baker's twine), glitter floss and variegated floss.
A long embroidery needle with a narrow eye. A size 8 needle is a good for embroidery floss.
Paper piercer (see below), push pin or T-pin.
A mouse pad or foam mat to protect the work surfaces.
Sewing guide. There are several options to use as a guide and help you evenly space your holes: the Stampin' Up! Mat Pack, plastic canvas shapes, a clear quilting ruler, or the We R Memory Keepers Sew Easy. Or, create your own pattern on a piece of paper.
Cardstock.
Tape.

Hand Sewing on Paper

Unlike fabric, paper can't be basted without leaving permanent holes, so, if you're sewing through more than one layer, adhere your layers together before you sew. Don't sew through more than three layers at a time.
Paper is much less forgiving than fabric – any hole becomes permanent. It's best to pre-plan where your sewing needle will go by using one of the sewing guides listed above.
Place your sewing guide on top of the cardstock and place your cardstock on top of your mat, foam or mouse pad to protect your work surface.
Punch holes in the paper with your paper piercer or pin using your sewing guide.
Thread your needle and start stitching.
Pull the threads to the back of the paper at the beginning and end points of your stitching. Adhere the threads to the back of the paper with tape to avoid a bump from a knot.

Darling and masterful paper crafter Kim Teasdale started a fun, new sketch challenge, iSpy Sketches. She's put together an amazing, amazing team of designers. I finally had a chance to play along with Sketch ISSC08. I hope you'll check them out.

I found my vintage clothespins at a flea market, but if you like them, I found you a seller on Etsy. just click on the picture below. Here are the Copic markers, sketch and the rest of the ingredients.

Pin It

March 26, 2012 | Filed Under: Card Gallery, Easter, Purple Onion Designs, Tips and Techniques | 5 Comments

The creative mind plays with the object it loves.
~ Carl Gustav Jung

Welcome to another edition of Friday Five: random thoughts in my rambling head for giggles and grins. This week's Friday Five is the part two sequel to last week's Friday Five, which was all about finding creative and vintage ways of storing crafty supplies.

Yes, there's more!

Grin #6 - Ribbon and Bows

I have a lot of ribbon – it's kind of my fetish. Oh, and I love Corinna's Ribbon Carousel. Have you seen her newest design? It's classy and elegant and totally Up Town!

After I filled up my Carousel, I raided the kitchen.

Loaf pans for scraps of lace wrapped around clothes pins . . .

crock jars for string . . .

and an antique aluminum foil, wax paper, and paper towel holder my daughter gave me for Christmas.

And, from the tool shed . . . this antique tool box.

Grin #7 – Paper Packs.

Do they still give you these baskets to store your personal things in at the city swimming pools? This one's the perfect size for my paper packs (another fetish of mine).

I found these white enamel drawers for one dollar at one of the Canton Trade Days, the perfect size for my October Afternoon paper packs.

Grin #8 - Sticky Stuff.

I use so much adhesive, I keep a whole drawer full of it within close reach. And, of course, right with the adhesive is the Un-Du adhesive remover.

Grin #9 - My Go To Box

I'm very organized when I work (or rather play) because, seriously, I have a terrible memory. If I don't put things back as I use them, I lose them. This little drawer sits on my desk as my go-to box. It's where I put things as I'm working on my projects to keep my desk clear and so I can find my things after I turn my back on them.

Grin #10 - Buttons and Buttons

I love my buttons, so I like to keep them under glass when I can gaze at them.

Or in a muffin tin.

Or, maybe in Mom's school-girl lunch box.

I hope you enjoyed my nickle tour of the Crop Crib. Ah man, I love all this old stuff. Combining old treasures with new treasures is such a treat.

January 28, 2012 | Filed Under: Crop Crib, Organization, Tips and Techniques | 7 Comments

$Crafty Math$

A man has one hundred dollars
and you leave him with two dollars.
That's subtraction.
~Mae West

Are you good with numbers?

I'm trying to remember what I learned from my math classes in school, and, seriously, the only thing I can recall is that my geometry teacher had really good penmanship.

Then there was my infamous carpet project. Dad wanted to give me a chance to apply math to real-life so he asked me to measure the room he was building for me in the back half of the basement and calculate how much carpet he should buy.

I know, "basement" bedroom conjures up images of Harry Potter's closet room in the Muggle world, but, really, it was nice. I spent the better part of a Saturday afternoon trying to figure out how much carpet Dad should buy. Thankfully, Dad was better with numbers than I was and over ruled my numbers. My calculations would have covered the floor AND the walls and ceiling of the entire basement, and probably would have required a second mortgage to pay for it all.

Dad also had a good sense of humor and of course never let me forget the carpet project.

If you've followed me for even a little while (God Bless You), you know I love lots and lots of layered mats on my cards. See? This little dinosaur birthday card from the other day has at least eight layers.

Yes, it's kind of scary how long it took me to figure out the math to make these matted layers.

But, thanks to my perfect-penmanship geometry teacher and good humored Dad, I figured it out and now I have it down to a science.

Here goes.

If you want your pretty stamped, colored and now gorgeously embellished, glittered and embossed square to have a delicate little 1/16 inch border around it, you double the size of the border (1/16 inches times two equals 1/8 inches) and add that to the width and length of the square.

Scared yet?

I usually start my projects with a sketch. I print out the sketch and then start scribbling my calculations. I start with the size of the card and deduct the size of each border until I get to the center panel.

For dinosaur-spot-of-tea card up there, I started with standard 5-1/2 inch by 4-1/4 inch card.

I wanted a 1/8 inch space between the edge of the card and the first, blue, layer. So, I deducted 1/4 inches from the 5-1/2 inches and from 4-1/4 inches to make a mat that was 5-1/4 inches by 4 inches.
I wanted a little 1/16 inch border between the blue mat and the red mat.
And then, I wanted another 1/16 inch border between the red mat the the thunder-cloud-stars blue patterned paper.

So here it is . . . My Craft Math!

Are you still with me?

Good, because now the fun really begins. After I cut the 5 inch by 3-6/8 inch thunder-cloud-stars blue patterned paper, there was no more calculating or measuring, just cutting. I did all the rest with the Perfect Layers tool. This tool is so smooth – like buttah!

Photo credit

The Perfect Layers tools have options from 1/16 inch (my personal favorite) to 1 inch borders.

Photo credit

Here's how the magic works. The Perfect Layers tools have these "catch lips" that hook onto the side of your picture or project edge.

Photo credit.

Once you decide how big you want your border to be, you adhere your top layer to the next layer, line up the lip with the edge of your top layer and cut down the side with a hobby blade. Turn the piece and repeat until you've cut out all four sides.

If you want another layer, just repeat the process with the next border material.

I had not yet adhered the layers to the card base when I took this picture (that's the very, very last thing I do with a card). But, you can see already see . . . perfect layers every time, even for a geometry dunce like me.

Here's my really big news!

I bought my Perfect Layers tool about a gazillion years ago when it was carried by Stampin' Up! I was so sad when Stampin' Up! quit carrying it because I really loved sharing this crazy fun tool. The Perfect Layers tool just seemed to disappear off the planet. Let me tell you, I'd be pretty freaked out if I lost mine. But, They're Back!

Once I found them again, I contacted the Perfect Layers geniuses to tell them how much I love their tool. Guess what! Those nice people want to make it easier for me to make it easier for you to get your hands on this tool. Such really nice people they are.

You can use this LINK to view an instructional video and purchase your set of Perfect Layer Rulers with a Catered Crop discount. Use the promo code catered5% when you check out and you'll save five percent on the rulers and get flat rate priority shipping.