For the Birds

I've been working on more sewing projects for some of the wee folk in my family.  My niece and her two daughters are visiting from New Zealand and I wanted to give the girls something from my sewing room. When I heard that Mattie loved OWLS, I knew the exact project: a cute little owl purse from Gingercake. Here's my version:

I used a variety of fabrics from my stash to create the main image and lining, but then added the eyes and beak with some Papertrey Ink felt and dies. The eyes were made with Vintage Cream felt (cut with PTI's Buttoned Up #2 die) and True Black (cut using PTI  Flower Fusion #5 die) and then hand stitched with cream and black embroidery floss. The beak is a hand cut triangle from PTI Harvest Gold felt and machine stitched to the purse.

I added two pink handles so that it really does look like a 'grownup' purse.
The original version had a single small wrist strap and it looked a little wonky. I'm much happier with this version.  A little square of Velcro will hold the purse closed and keep everything safe inside!!

When I gave it to Mattie, she was beaming and couldn't put it down!! 

Always a great feeling when you make something that is so appreciated.

Mattie's little sister is only 6 months old, so I decided to use this cute red and white 'bird' fabric to make a couple of bibs and a matching stuffed birdie toy for Polly.  This bib,  from Make Baby Stuff was just the right look for the birdie bibs. Machine embroidery around the bird and on the 'wing', makes for a fast design feature. The back of the bib uses a thick absorbent terry cloth and bias binding finishes the edges.

The design for the 'matching' birdie was altered from this pattern in 

order to create a similar look.  I kept it very simple, with few details. 

The main feature - these long striped legs and fun felt feet. 

The skinny legs are great for little hands to grab on to. 

Hope you enjoyed something a little different today. 

I sure had fun making them!!

I have linked this post to  
Sew Darn Crafty Party at Sew Many Ways

Thanks for Visiting
Karen C.

Papertrey Ink August 2011 Blog Hop

The theme for this month's Blog Hop is inspired by the photo below.  

Lots of direction to go with this inspiration. One could focus on the colors, 

the motifs, or the idea of incorporating books/book print or even jars. 

 

Here's how I used the inspiration photo:

Damask motif - a damask stamp was used as a background on the focal panel.

Red - card base and frame; red flowers; red gingham ribbon.

Concept of reading/books was included by using Text Style as a background.

I really like the various sentiments in the Daydreamer set. I chose this one as I think it could be used for so many occasions - birthday, graduation, retirement, promotion.

Here's a close up of the damask stamp (from Vintage Labels) and Text Style in the background. 
I used Colorbox Mild Hare - a grey pigment ink. I found that I didn't get very even coverage, even though I practiced with the ink before I made the card. I only have a few pigment inks and seem to have trouble with them!!

I have a damask style paper in my stash, but found that it was too distracting with the  stamped images, so I opted for a stamped background instead. I did end up using the paper in another way ... you can see what I did at the end of this post!! :)

Details:

Stamps:  Vintage Labels - damask motif;  Daydreamer - sentiment and grass image; 

Flower Fusion #2 - small flower;  Grunge Me - hummingbird;  Text Style - background

Inks:  Close to My Heart - Garden Green & Cranberry; Memento Tuxedo Black; Colorbox Mild Hare

Papers:  PTI Pure Poppy, Stamper's Select White

Dies:  PTI Button Boutique Card die was used to cut an opening in red card stock, so it could act as a frame.

Other Supplies:  Kaisercraft - white mini pearls;  Bobbin Ribbon - red gingham;

Gift Card Holders
After I finished the card, I decided to make a gift card holder using the Seed Packet die. I made two versions - one using a Damask paper I had in my stash and the other with the Background Basics: Gingham stamp. The gingham one has a more casual, playful look, whereas the Damask one is certainly a little more formal.... What do you think?

 Gingham Gift Card Holder:

Seed Packet die;  Background Basics: Gingham;  Friendship Jar Label die and stamp; 
Tag-its #1 -sentiment; Tag-its #3 - flowers; white ribbon; red flower; white brad

Damask Gift Card Holder: 
Seed Packet die;  Tag-its #1 -sentiment; Tag-its #3 - flowers & bumble bee; Tag-its #5 - lacy frame;  
Karen Foster Wedding Lace paper;   red flower; white brad green ribbon.

Thanks for visiting!!   Enjoy the Blog Hop Adventure today!! 

Karen C.