4th of July Topper!!!

Hey everyone! Occasionally I like to challenge myself.  Ever do that? I used to sew all the time in high school and made almost every shirt I owned back then, and several for friends, but after that I stopped sewing. Since Tim Holtz came out with Eclectic Elements Fabric, I've wanted to take it back up again, but time is always a factor. Recently, I had a day to do nothing but play, so I decided to challenge myself to not only sew, but to stitch something very difficult, A HAT!!! A challenge it certainly was, and it's far from perfect...so far...but I LOVE it, and am proud of myself for trying! I urge you as well, to try something new and challenging...it's very rewarding intrinsically.

This was so much fun to make in an afternoon! I will proudly were it every year on Patriotic occasions!

All I used was the fabric, scissors (Tim's new longer sheers.), crinoline to add stiffness between layers, a die, an iron, and the sewing machine. No glue, pattern, or measuring tape were involved. I just used my head to measure fabric.

I die cut the stars with Tim's Sizzix Stacked Stars Bigz Die, and sewed them on to the blue striped fabric.

I stitched the white newsprint and red striped fabric strips together, with crinoline on the back, before adding the blue letter block fabric to the back.

The top was a little hard to sew on the machine, and it's uneven, but it works. The crinoline really helps everything stand up well.

Here is where the trouble started...the brim. I wanted it to be really shaped and stiff, so I used a piece of chipboard between the layers of fabric.

After sewing around the outer edge of the circle, I cut the center out, added the chipboard, and cut slits to help the fabric fold back in on itself. I sewed this to the main part of the hat, but it came out a little wonky...okay, very wonky. It's only for fun though, so I don't mind that it is not perfect. It's perfectly okay to me!

I planned to not have any seams showing on the inside, but it didn't turn out that way. Oh well, I love it anyway!

 

And guess who stole it from me? The little one! He loved it, in fact, all the kids did! It turned out to be a big hit!

Supplies:

Tim Holtz Coats Eclectic Elements Documentation 12x12"	Tim Holtz Coats Eclectic Elements Melange 12x12"	Tim Holtz Eclectic Elements - 12x12 Labels 8 pc Crafting Pack	Cotton Crinoline	Tim Holtz Tonic Studios 9.5" Titanium Scissors
Sizzix Alterations Tim Holtz Stacked Stars Bigz Die

I hope your hands get creatively dirty soon! 

12 Tags of 2014 - June

Hey hey hey everyone crafty! Didn't you just love the June tag Tim made for the 12 Tags of 2014??? I loved it! The colors and the techniques were so inspiring to me, and I instantly thought of the Stars and Stripes Stencils for a patriotic background. Here is my take, and I was so into making it that I forgot to take step out photos...sorry.

Supplies:

Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor Cardstock	Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Layering Stencils - Stripes	Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Layering Stencils - Stars	Ranger Inkssentials Mister	Tim Holtz Distress Ink Minis - Kit 2
Tim Holtz Distress Ink Minis - Kit 3	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Faded Jeans	Ranger Tim Holtz Seasonal Distress Ink Pad - Festive Berries	Ranger Inkssentials Mini Ink Blending Tool - With 4 Blending Foams	Ranger Inkssentials #10 Jumbo Manila Tags
Inkssentials Specialty Stamping Paper	Americana Silhouettes Stamp Set	Ranger Jet Black Archival Ink	Distress Markers Set	Ranger Water Brush - Detailer Tip
Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Mini Blueprints 2	Idea-ology Industrious Stickers in Borders	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Mirrored Sheets	Idea-ology Mirrored Stars	Idea-ology Adornments Arrows
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Number Brads	Ranger Stickles in Cranberry	Idea-ology Crinkle Ribbon

I hope your hands get creatively dirty soon!

Ooh La La!!! A Parisian Leather Tag!

I'm back again today, to quickly show you an awesome shaped piece of chipboard from Leaky Shed Studio. The company was generous to give each of the Design Team Members at The Crafty Scrapper, our choice of pieces, and I chose the Eiffel Tower. I was stumped for a base for this though, and after rummaging through a new bag of stash from The Crafty Scrapper, I found a package of Ten Seconds Studio new Emboss-able Leather! Words cannot express how much I LOVE THIS STUFF!!! Leather might be my new go to base!
Here are a few snippets of the tag, but to see the whole thing, as well as what I used and did,  click on over to The Crafty Scrapper.

 

 

 

I hope your hands get creatively dirty soon!