Imaginisce's Monthly Challenge

Well, I was on such a roll with this past weekend of craftiness, that I remembered Imaginisce does a monthly challenge as well as the past weekend's worth of challenges. The guidelines for this one were:

• Create a card (OR layout) based on the sketch
• Use 3 patterned papers 
• Use 3 embellishments of some sort

Since a lot of my other projects were girly, I tried to make this one more for the boys. I used Imaginisce's Little Cutie set. The papers are: Boy oh boy (argyle), Snips and Snails (bears with stars), and Little Man (the scalloped border). The embellishments are: Sticker Stackers (pop-up giraffe label), Chipboard stickers (green star), Canvas stickers (yellow star) and gems with my i-rock.

I-Challenge #5-Black and White photo

This was an interesting challenge as it called for a black and white photo with a striking or "eye-catching" design. I find it hard to scrapbook actual pictures as it is hard for me to choose which ones to use and to not make it cluttered or overly big on elements. This is my husband while serving on his mission in Knoxville, Tennessee. I used the Lemon Flower Stack, some May Arts ribbons, a stamp from Sunbeam Stamps and of course my i-rock with gems to decorate the flower.
I know these challenges call for imaginisce products if you have them, but honestly, I ran out of everything but the i-rock. I love their papers and products, but I only had a short supply of them to use. And I did use what I had. I did enjoy this weekends worth of challenges and it gave me some incentive to be creative and take some time for me.
Oh and many kudos to my amazing husband who went and found photo paper for me this morning to print 4 different pictures for me to choose from for this challenge and he figured out how to print them and everything.

I-Challenge #6-Recipe Challenge

Okay, now that I've finally gotten these pictures on here, I can tell you about this challenge. It was really hard for me.

 The project had to have:
1 reused/upcycled item
2 stickers
3 flowers
4 numbers
5 different pattern papers

That's a long list for one project for me. Plus I'm not a big fan of major embellishments on my layouts. So those stupid flowers had me stumped. I decided to just look around and see what was in my stash. I also decided to sleep on it and see what looked in the morning. So this morning, this project screamed at me to be made this way. I used an old mint tin (1) and a card thingy from Sassafras Lass as a template to make a mini album to go inside. I also found flowers (3) and stickers (2) from Sassafras Lass and patterned papers with numbers (4) on them for the cover and I used 7 papers to make a mini album using the template I made from the card and DCWV's "A type of Art" mat stack.

I plan on getting some wallet size pics of my kids and putting them inside, since the quote on the cover says "How do I love? Let me count the ways . . . "

I-challenge #4-Stitching

For this challenge we had to add stitching to our project. I've seen lots of different types of stitching borders and outlines and all sorts of fun stuff and had never been brave enough to do it myself. Until now, that is. I did it. I actually put paper in my sewing machine! So far they have been so special that paper was the only medium to cross that needle. But I did it! and it was easier than I thought it would be. I just free hand drew some holly leaves, sort of a signature for me, and then stitched over those pencil lines. Then I found a greeting and matted it with a holly background paper (both were from an older slab-the Christmas slab-from Provo Craft). Then I added red and green gems with my i-rock for the berries and the saying. I'm not sure if it's just mine, but those red ones do not like to stay put, the adhesive doesn't like to stay on the gem and it was kind of tricky to make them stay on. Oh and I borrowed some of my kids glitter glue to fill in the stitched leaves.

I-Challenge #3-Color Challenge

For this challenge, we were given the above palette of colors to create from. As I am limited in my Imaginisce papers, I turned to DCWV Stack 7 and used a Snag 'em stamp from the Happy camper set and my i-rock to add purple to pull it together. The i-rock gems at the bottom swirl are purple, but you can't quite tell in the light I was using to photograph it. I did dim the colors a little bit for what I had on hand, but I must admit, I love this card!

I-challenge #2-Stamp background

For this challenge for I-Challenge weekend, we were to create a background out of a snag 'em stamp. Sounds easy enough right? Well, the only reason why I have any Imaginisce stuff is because I won some during their release weekends last year. Wow, has it really been that long that I've been holding on to these things? Yep, it has. Since we are doing a lot with the camping theme this year in scouts and in our family (we finally have enough stuff we can go as a complete family), I thought I would design something that could be used for scouts or for my oldest son who is a Bear this year and loves to get to go on adventures outdoors. I used the  Happy Camper tree stamp and the die cuts and canvas stickers. Oh and you see that background behind the words I cut from one of the papers? That's the background from the embellishment pack. I gotta admit, these challenges are fun for me, just the right challenge to stretch me to have a little bit of fun just for me and to prep early for other things happening soon (like those other holidays looming up on the horizon).

I-Challenge #1-sketch

I am pretty sure I've mentioned before, that I have a friend expecting a little girl any week now, and I wanted to continue along those lines with this challenge. I used the Imaginisce Lil' Cutie collection and some ribbons I had on hand from May Arts. I also used my own handwriting for the message (it just says "congratulations") and my i-rock to put gems in the flowers and the button (which also has a slightly floral design in the middle).

Oh and this is for Imaginisce's I-Challenge weekend, where there are 2 challenges a day with prizes for each and then a grand prize for participating in them all.

VPLL 1912 Dress #4016

I've been lacking in the sewing world since school started because my SP has been starting the teething process and wants lots of mommy attention and time. I picked out a gingham from my stash that had different sized checks and altered down half size for my PIT. That gusset gave me some grief, but I did persevere and even remembered to take a picture of the process too.
Oh, and this dress had no instructions, so I really was winging it here and learning a lot about the order things need to be done, especially as this bodice was all one piece-no shoulder seams or back seam, just the side seams, gusset and insert seams.



This is her first fitting. I knew I would not hand sew the collar for her and just did the smaller gingham collar. I was also very fortunate to be able to go to me storage stuff and found the two laces there, all I had to do was buy the green ribbon for the smaller lace. Instead of cuffs, I found this lace that was the same width as the cuff was supposed to be, but the lace didn't look quite right going up over the gingham, so I let it hang loose and open.












She has started loving to pose for mommy and it's fun to see where we end up when we take pictures. And yes in this one if you look closely, you can see a pin where I still had to sew her snaps in to close the front. I did 8 snaps down that front and snaps on the ribbon belt to close it as well.











You can see here how the cuff on the sleeve turned out.
I did it a little bit longer than the sleeve opening and did a barely
gathered on the top edge of the lace so that it had a slight flare
away from her arm.

 I think she liked it, but sometimes you can't tell from her expression.

Pattern Review Checklist:

1. Pattern Description-ladies Dress #4016
2. Pattern Sizing-pattern says 36" bust
3. Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing it? yes, I made it half size
4. Were the instructions easy to follow? There were no instructions
5. What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? I loved the simplicity that could be dressed up about it
6. Fabric Used: Green ginghams, don't know how much, they were left over from other projects
7. Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: I made the under collar as a collar and did not do the welt work as it didn't seem to fit right on this dress.
8. Would you recommend this pattern to others? Yes, if they are more of an intermediate seamstress rather than a beginner
9. Conclusion: This pattern was a lot of fun to make and challenge myself. I do intend to make it full size when I have some more time.

VPLL Checklist

1. Pattern Name: Ladies Dress – #4016
2. Sewer’s Skill Level: Advance, Intermediate, Beginner: My sewing level is an intermediate
3. Pattern Rating: 1-Not a Fan, 2 – So-So, 3 – Good/Average, 4-Better than Average, 5-I LOVED IT! and why? 5: I loved sewing this dress. I had to push my comfort zone in sewing without instructions as well as inserting a gussets
4. What skill level would someone need to sew this pattern and why? At least intermediate to understand the basics of how to put it together.
5. Were the instructions easy to follow? If not, what needs to be changed?
6. How was the fit/sizing? Did it correspond to what you thought? Yes, I knew that half size would fit me PIT
7. Did you make any pattern alterations? If so, what alterations did you make? Where they fit or design alterations? I made fit alterations to make it smaller and design alterations to include the collar and not the welt strips or the hand sewn collar.

May you live

 Once again, I show my love affair for notebooks/journals. I love to take those black and white composition books, add some fun papers and stamps, with a little bit of coloring, and turn them into something fun. This is a Unity stamp from the KOM 03/09. This stamp is the whole reason for why I bought the one kit. I love the sentiment of it, the simplicity of the message, and the whimsy of the font. The papers are from DCWV "Stack 7". I love the Stacks because there are so many versatile pages in them and they cover a wide range of "themes", plus it doesn't hurt when there are 180 pages in them versus the 48 of the smaller stacks and they are the same price.


Also, I love to put them together and then they tend to speak to me of a person for whom they would be perfect. Wow, trying to make that last sentence felt really awkward to make sound reasonably grammatically correct. But you get my drift, right? Well, this set spoke to me very loudly for a very dear friend of mine, it's just waiting for the right moment to drop it into the mail. And no I'm not putting it here, because then they might peak and ruin the surprise. Oh and I apologize for the flash in the pictures, my camera would not cooperate with me this morning and the clear contact paper was already on it when I tried to take pictures.

Gifting Fun

 I found this great toolbox kit at the scout store while picking up Raingutter Regatta boats for the boys race last year. I used pages from the DCWV "Stack 7" torn up into pieces about 1" big and then used Mod Podge to glue them on and then sealed it with glitter Mod Podge. Before it was gifted I did add some ribbons and flowers and fun sparkles, but alas I do not have a picture of it. Sometimes I get sidetracked very easily, and unfortunately this was one of those times.