Insta Inspiration

Good morning,

There’s so much inspiration on Instagram, I decided to try something in the style of Karolina.bcraft. I love her makes, which are mostly postcard size pieces of fabric which are sewn and quilted, and then embroidered on. Do check her out if you’re on Instagram. 

This picture turned out a bit wonky because I put it on a card with carpenters tape. I hoped I had a better photo, but I’m afraid this is it. 

This make was inspired by raspberry.stitches. Same kind of idea except she does little scenes with beads in them. 

I like to try everything at least once and then see where I can go from there. 

These were fun little projects to do. Check these girls out if you get a chance. 

PS: I go by Carmengamble3066 on Instagram

Thanks for stopping by!

Blessings,

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

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

Sunshine, Foliage and Little Beasties

Hello!

As promised, I’m back with some fabric cards. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about what I can make to put in a card to encourage….a mini care package. In my last post I mentioned watercolor bookmarks with a pack of tea. I think I may elaborate on that and make some fabric bookmarks too. I’ve been looking for ideas and trying to come up with my own patterns. Hopefully soon I’ll be able to show you what I’ve come up with. Meanwhile, here’s todays fabric cards. 

The first one is a bit different from my usual. I hope to improve on it. I’ve embellished it with metallic thread and a saying. Then I’ve attached it to a bought aperture card. It’s a bit more plain than what I usually do, but I still like it. The sentiment reads “You Were Born to Shine”

The next three are my square aperture cards. I made a few different patterns up to try. I’m always conflicted about putting quotes on any of my cards because it limits what they can be used for. 

A sheep in the valley amidst a flower field in the sunshine.  “Shine Brightly”

An owl on a branch “Wise at Heart”

Hearts hanging from a cloud “With love”

I’m going to see what I can come up with for a fabric bookmark. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend! 

Blessings,

Carmen

Matted Watercolor Art and Textile Art

Making cards is something I love to do, but I felt as if a new approach was in order. I made up a watercolor and ink painting and mounted it inside this 8x10” Matt. This is a closed Matt ready for framing. It is a bright white, but photos are hard to get right sometimes.

It’s already sealed in a crystal clear bag, I had forgotten to take a photo before doing so, but that’s ok. This one is watercolor with doodling. 

There were also black matts available, and I had made up some textile art to fit. This is also in an 8x10” matt, also sealed in a bag. 

This one was a bit of work. I use heat n bond ultra for the cat, then embroider the background. The saying is made the same way I make my labels (post prior to this one). The pussy willows are made of quilt batting and glued in place. The stars and whiskers are made with metallic thread. 

Well, that’s this weeks post for me. What have you been working on? 

I’ve been working on baby boy cards and some small pouches recently, including wet bags. I’ll take pictures and show you those soon. 

Have a good weekend!

Blessings,

Carmen

Cat and Mouse Fabric Cards

As you are probably aware by now, I love to try all kinds of crafts, especially when it comes to anything paper or sewing related to mention a couple of things. One of my biggest flaws is that though I have a blog, Instagram and Pinterest —- I often forget to make a post. 

I’m not so bad with Instagram, not too great with the blog, but Pinterest? Now that’s a sad story. So I went and posted a few more cards on Pinterest tonight. As I was doing that I came across a bunch of fabric cards I hadn’t posted on the blog yet. So I’ll share those tonight. 

I’m truly enjoying the sewing process. These cards are more expensive to make because they take a bit longer to make, but the square window cards and envelopes are purchased and are a bit pricey. I like the final product enough to keep making them anyway. 

These are the little mice I made. 

These are similar to the dragonflies in that they’re quilted, appliqued, embroidered and embellished. 

I also did some cats. 

After these were done I made some larger ones to put in an enclosed matt. These are sneak peeks as they’re not quite done yet.

I think I’ll stop there. 

Hope you have a fantastic weekend!

Blessings,

Carmen

Dragonfly Fabric Cards

Hi there,

Sewing is a long time love of mine that I am introducing into my cards. The card window is about 3x3”, so this is small work, but I so enjoy it. I am incorporating appliqué, machine sewing, hand sewing, quilting and pressing the sentiments with permanent heat n bond. I’ve used lace and satin over the cotton background. So it’s a lot of little things. Maybe it’s the variety I love so much. 

I’m learning a new phone and as you can see, my close ups are kind of dark. They’re clear enough that the detail is observable. This is with brightness and brilliance added…but, back to the drawing board I guess. 

I really loved playing with these and plan to make more. 

I just got back from Fort McMurray, Alberta where the weather is cooling down but still perfectly nice. The northern lights are just spectacular right now. I looked for them every night because they’d been active before I got there, but it wasn’t until I left that they showed up again. I’m leaving you with a few photos my son took after I left. Enjoy!

Have a great weekend!

Carmen