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creative playground
december 2006
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in this issue
-- inside the studio
-- inspired by
-- trash to treasure
-- donna downey CAMERA BAGS on sale now! -- BPS our last month together
Greetings! The holiday season is here, I love the chaos of this
time of year; always too much to do and never enough
time to do it. I swear the days are shorter in
December. This month?s creative playground just
might bring you some creative solutions for the
holiday hustle with a fun way to scrapbook on
fabric, some great reads to be inspired by, a bit of
holiday recycling, and one GREAT BIG announcement!
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inside the studio ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This month inside the studio there has been a lot of
work and a lot of play. I have been putting together
the last of the layouts for my ?Make The Most Of It?
column in Simple and I?ve been creating something
fun just for myself. I have been collecting fabrics
and notions for a short while now with the grand
idea of doing something creative on my scrapbook
pages or perhaps a fun fabric album cover; then I
thought why not an ALL fabric album? You may have
seen this
album on my blog, but here is a VERY general
overview of how I made the album.
Supplies: Singer 30-Stitch Function Sewing Machine - 8280  Fiskars 95217097 45mm Rotary Cutter  Self Healing Mat,Gray 12" x 18"  Fiskars Straight Shears 8'' - Ambidextrous  Panasonic 3-way Auto Shut-off Steam/Dry Iron  Colorfast Sew-In Inkjet Fabric Shts-8-1/5''X11''  (need approx. 8 sheets)Fiskars 87687097 6.5IN Square acrylic ruler w/ 2 color grid  Iron-On Dbl Stick Fusible Web-9'' X 12'' 5/Pkg  Six 21? x 10? pieces of fabric Two packages of wide hem tape Assorted Thread 12 Spools 35 Yards -Dark Shades  Dritz Pearlized Straight Pins-Size 24 120/Pkg  Quilt-Light Batting - Crib/Craft: 45 X 60  Buttons I chose fabrics with simple patterns to keep the focus on my photos. I did a small amount of research on photo transfer techniques and printing photos onto fabrics before I got started. I decided that for my first try it would be a whole lot easier if I just purchased the photo fabric specifically designed for ink jet printers. How I created the album: 1. Decide on fabric selection, cut to 21?x10? to make the pages. 2. Place fabrics as they will open in a completed book with wrong and right sides together, then iron a crease into the fold. This helps you spatially visualize how each page will lay as you work on them. 3. Print photos and text onto photo fabric. Try and cram as much as you can onto each sheet, it is cheaper and easier that way. 4. Cut an 8.5 x 11? section of wonder-under fusible web that is the same size as your fabric sheet, remove baking from the photo fabric and iron fabric to fusible webbing. The fusible webbing will allow you to iron your fabric in place making it easier to appliqu� and sew. 5. Cut out each item with the fusible web backing still attached to the fabric. 6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 to create fabric designs and appliqu�?s for pages: for example the flower, sun, and spiral were all free hand cut designs from fabric that was adhered to fusible webbing first. 7. Design your pages and iron pieces in place as you work. Use a sewing machine to stitch in place and embellish. 8. After designing your pages, cut quilt batting to fit between each page, you will have three 21? x 10? quilted pages. Each page will be made up of a fabric page right side down, a layer of batting and a second fabric page right side up like a sandwich. 9. Add decorative buttons by hand-stitching buttons in place through batting. 10. Tack your pages together using straight pins so it does not shift. 11. Cut length of hem tape to the length of each side, fold over the edges of the page and pin in place. 12. Sew each section of hem tape in place one at a time to finish the page edges. 13. Repeat steps 8-12 for each page. 14. To bind, layer the three completed pages on top of each other and straight stitch down the center of the book through all three layers at once.
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inspired by ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The inspiration this month has come from cloth,
paper, scissors, and a magazine. More specifically a
back issue that my friend Shani gave me;
issue 3 Summer 2005. Artist Frances Pickering
has created some of the most beautiful fabric
covered albums I have ever seen. With a unique blend
of fabric, felt, ephemera, hand-stitching, and
illustrations her journals are more than inspiring
they are ART!
The article inspired me to run out and buy some
natural covered canvas and felt. I also order this
book Color
on Color: Elegant Designs to Stitch (Simply Stitched
series)
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trash to treasure ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This month?s trash to treasure is a timely one. If
you are like me, you?ve done A LOT of your holiday
shopping online. Other than the happy sound of the
UPS truck rounding your corner every other day, you
will also find yourself in the midst of very
valuable, yet often unappreciated pieces of
trash-cardboard boxes. These magnificent pieces of
happiness have unlimited creative potential. Here?s
ho ho hoping you can tap into it!!If you have been inspired to turn your cardboard box trash into treasure this month, I would love for you to share it with me. Email me a scan or a digital image (72dpi/500 pixels) at donna@donnadowney.com with ?TTT:cardboard box? in the subject line. oh, and if you are wondering where the wax paper project ideas are...LOL, I received no submissions! That must have been a hard one, lets see what you can do with this month's trash to treasure challenge.
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donna downey CAMERA BAGS on sale now! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The camera bags are officially on sale TODAY
at donnadowney.com!I am excited, scared, nervous, and ecstatic! We have no idea how many orders to expect, but Heather and I are ready! For those of you that want to put the camera bags on your holiday wish list but are concerned about the delivery date, I have had cards printed that I will personally mail out with each holiday order received. This way you will have something to give or receive that let?s the recipient know that a camera bag has been purchased for them. Keep in mind each bag is made as ordered and individually pieced by Heather in her ?sweatshop?. |
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BPS our last month together ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wow! 52 weeks worth of projects and now it is all
coming to an end this month. My classes at Big
Picture Scrapbooking have been the MOST favorite
thing i have ever done, ok perhaps the craziest, but
absolutely the MOST rewarding.
If you haven't already make sure you join in for the last month of fun and projects. The last project is my all time favorite album I have ever made! Hope to see you there!
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Contact Information ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
email:
donna@donnadowney.com
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. Who knows
what I will make, but I am excited about the
possibilities!
