Playing in the Kitchen

Good Morning,

I took a little break today from stitching and am playing in my kitchen. You may remember my soap making adventures in the past. In the last 6 months or so I started making salves and lotions. I came across one that I really like. In fact, both my husband and my 89 year old dad love it and use it daily. So I thought I’d show you a few photos. 

A few of the supplies I needed  to make this salve. 

Here we have my mix of natural oils with some beeswax melting on the stove.

Birds Eye view. Lol

The beeswax has melted and the essential oils have been prepared to go into the oils as soon as they’ve cooled down a bit. Some essential oils will cause the natural oils to harden quickly. 

Here they’ve just been poured into tins…..

And this is how they look almost hardened.

Just a little disclaimer, I am not a doctor or pharmacist. In no way am I giving you any kind of medical advice. I’m just a gal playing with the natural things God has provided. I have to say though…my joints and muscles thank me for it! So does my family and it’s 100% natural. 

Soon I’ll have to infuse some more oils. I make them from dandelions, cayenne, chamomile and other herbs and flowers.  It has honestly been kind of fun and I’m always looking for new recipes.

So what have you been up to? Anything interesting?

Blessings,

C~ 

A Little Stitching

Good morning,

What a wonderful day it’s been here in Kamloops, BC. Sunny skies, warm temperatures and a backyard full of concrete blocks. There’s music playing as ‘Bear’ is working hard putting up our new retaining walls. My husband finished off faceting his gemstone before heading out to help in the back. There’s a large box full of upholstery samples staring at me from my craft studio and my sewing machine is humming as I run through some fabric. It’s a busy day. 

The samples were a trade from my friend Tina, who needed a larger piece of upholstery fabric to do a couple of her chairs. We both paid very little for what we had and so it was more than a fair trade for me. I decided to make expandable utility bags. These are used as travel shoe bags, or can be used for knitting needles, to gift wine, or whatever really. I made them in a few different sizes. 

Now that I’m using more fabric in my artwork, I’m thinking of making more pouches as well. I really do go in cycles with my arts & crafts. Anyway, before I get too behind, I thought I’d post a few pictures of what I’ve done so far. 

Here are a couple of pouches.

This is a canvas bag with fabric backgrounds stitched on. Free motion quilting was used for the dandelions and the wording. I added some decorative machine stitching, a piece of lace and a little bit of hand stitching for interest. This bag was inspired by Stitches by Julia, but I made up my own pattern. 

This is another canvas pouch. I used applique and free motion stitching on this one. I made my own pattern. 

This is the back of the pouch. Some free motion stitching. I have someone in mind for this one. 

Now onto a more serious bag. These are made with upholstery samples. The first picture is of 15” medium size bags. I used #5 zippers on most so they’re very sturdy, and the fabric is sturdy as well.

The photo below is of 18” bags. They will fit pretty large shoes, and probably more, if need be. 

This next photo is to show you the 15” bag expanded. They’re about 3” on each side. It is not full by any means, but you get the idea. There’s a big box of upright thread in there.

So yes, I’ve been busy. I’m not sure what to charge for these, but they’d come in handy for several things. Plus they each have a sturdy handle made of webbing.

Well, that’s it for today. Hope you’re enjoying life a little more these days. There is always something to be thankful for, even when life seems difficult. Focus on the good things.

Thanks for stopping by,

Carmen

Fabric Postcards 2.0 (freebie)

Good morning,

Some new postcards sprung up out of my sewing machine recently. This first one is a combination of applique with ribbon embellishment and homemade fabric word phrases. I made up the postcard backs myself and printed them off. The fabric word phrases and how they’re made are discussed in THIS post. 

The backs are finished off by turning the fabric to the back (used some light heat n bond as a temporary fixture), ironing it in place and then a simple stitch all the way round. The postcard backing was attached with an iron, but I added some glossy accents to the perimeter of the card so it’ll hold well on the edges. 

These next ones were fun to make. As you can see they’re finished off with binding, but I again turned the fabric to the back, ironed it in place then ironed the postcard back on top glueing the edges with a thin strip of glossy accents. 

When I made up my own postcard backs I didn’t want anything fancy but fairly simple and so made up the ones in the photo directly above. 

Here is a copy of them if you'd like to print them off to use on your project. Just click on the image below and it'll take you to another page, you can print them off from there. These are made for 4"X 6" postcards.

I also made two cards with some fabric art on them. I used Karolina b craft as inspiration for these two. I like to make them as she’s done them, then I’ll branch out from there with my own designs. I did add some word inspiration. 

These were each fastened to an off white card backing. (One was taken in darker surroundings but it’s the same card set). I used a tip from my friend Diane at The Beaded Lime (check out her gorgeous art work). She used carpet tape to fasten these on to her cards. Cheap, and believe me when I tell you it will NOT come off. Lol.

Well thank you for dropping by, tell your friends about the freebie.

Blessings,

Carmen

Framed Fabric Art

Hello,

Playing around with these seascapes has been really enjoyable. They remind me of Vancouver Island, one of my favorite places. I was lucky to find some fabric locally with clouds on it . It works perfectly for this seascape. I added some mountains, some embroidered grasses and then I glued seashells onto the fabric with glossy accents. 

Here’s another seascape using slightly darker colors but with the same cloud background. Each strip of fabric on both of these seascapes is sewn into place with some stitch lines added for texture. I’ve added seashells and starfish here as well, and stitched on some merino wool by hand. 

This one is more of a simple landscape. I embroidered on some flowers and added appliqued tree branches and leaves. The butterfly is 3D (with glitter glue for a bit of shine). Then I appliqued on a sweater, which was stitched in place before I added the embroidered hair. 

Last but not least are two flower appliqués. For these I took bits of fabric and ironed ultra hold heat n bond on the back. Then I cut the flower petals and ironed them in place. Stitching came next, not only on the petals but also in between for this random look. 

I got these Matt’s with backboard off of Amazon.ca. They come with crystal clear bags to seal them into.

Hope you enjoyed these. Thanks for stopping by my blog!

Blessings,

Carmen

Fabric Postcards

Good morning!

Does anyone else love Pinterest a little too much? I just love looking for ideas and tutorials. Lately I’ve been looking at fabric crafts and decided to make some postcards. These were really a lot of fun to make. I did mess up a bit, but not enough to ruin anything. Lol - - - live and learn. Here’s what I made. Some are in a plastic sleeve already.

(These jellyfish were inspired by Krebsbachhuber Crafts) 

(These beach houses were inspired by Stitches by Julia)

On the beach scenes I attached seashells. Wish I had some starfish ⭐️ . So many stores in town have closed and it’s hard to find some things, so they have to be ordered. I’m sure you run into the same if you’re not living in a major city. 

Anyway, these are lots of fun to make and the backs on three of them have cardstock postcards so they can be mailed. By the way, did you know you can address them and leave them in the crystal sleeve? Just make sure the stamp is on the outside. (If you like your messages to be private, a slip of paper will hide it, just make sure it isn’t on the side with the mailing address). The  other two I backed with fabric.  They can be framed or mailed in an envelope. 

You can sew these on or glue them on. There are several free postcard printables available on Pinterest, but I used these ones by Ihanna, Ihanna. I don’t  know if I like the zigzag stitching so I may be making the next few with proper binding. 

While I was playing anyways I threw these two together. They’re slightly larger and fit in 8x10 frames. They’d be good for a kids room. I plan on making some larger landscape themed fabric pictures to frame soon. These are also in a plastic sleeve to keep them clean. 

Well, that’s all for today. I hope you enjoyed these. 

Have a great week,

Carmen

Mini Booklets

Good morning!

Today I’m bringing you some more mini booklets I made up. These ones are all already sold to a lady who likes to use them as little “just because” gifts for her friends and family. I make these using the Zutter Bind-it All, but there are multiple ways you can bind these if you’d like to try to make some. I’m hoping to make more soon. 

The photo above was sent to the lady who purchased them. As you can see, each had a different amount of pages. This was due to the paper packs I used - - some had more choices than others for this size of booklet. 

Here is a photo of my Zutter machine. It cuts the holes in the paper and binds the rings into the holes.

Each booklet has a number of sayings and encouraging scriptures in it. For a sample of what I’ve included, check out my Booklets of Hope post, in which I’ve outlined a few of them. 

In addition, I found this free booklet online. I love this little booklet. It’s a free printable put together with glue. I make little covers for them using scrapbook paper. Since it’s personal use only, I don’t sell them, but they do make great little gifts. The booklet is called “I Am” by Stephanie on the “What’s On My Porch” blog. 

That’s what I have for you today, but I’m behind on posts so check back! 

I hope you’ve enjoyed my little booklets. Thank you for stopping by,

Blessings,

Carmen

New Salves

I’m popping in to say that my Miracle Salve is working like a charm. I’ve been using it on my feet once a day, and they are getting nice and soft. My girlfriend used this recipe on her face and has affirmed its softening properties. I’ve been collecting different recipes for a while now and decided to try two others. 

This next one is a salve for pain. It’s kind of like a liniment and is great for sciatic, arthritic or muscle pain. I just want to add a disclaimer here that I’m not a doctor or nurse, just someone who prefers natural to chemical solutions. All remedies come from the earth and are changed or added to so they can be patented. I choose to know what’s in my products, and I’m feeling more strongly in that direction about food products as well — but I digress. 

The red color is due to cayenne and St. John’s wort oil. There is also my own arnica oil from dried flowers, and essential oils. It smells great. 

Lastly, I just made up some Cold sore therapy. This one has some very special ingredients in it. I have a friend who seems to get cold sores and I made it specifically for her. I’m hoping it will work as well as the natural one she got from a Penticton market quite a few years ago. 

This one has lavender, peppermint, tea tree oil, Vit. E and Rosemary extract. There are some lovely and unique base oils as well. It smells wonderful. 

I’m looking forward to trying these last two (I have extra of the cold sore therapy). I know they’ve come with rave reviews, so I’m excited. 

Thanks for popping by!

Blessings,

Carmen