What's the Final Combination going to be?

One of my fabulous clients asked me to put together some Ocean themed coaster samples for a gift.

I love anything Ocean themed but had a really hard time coming up with ideas, I think it is because there is so much that can be done with this theme and I have a ton of stamps that lend themselves to the theme.

Anyway, here are the 4 different designs that I came up with. The only one I am not a big fan of is #3 and in truth it is not bad, just so much simpler than the others.

Samples 1 and 4 will have different Sea Shell images on the 4 different coasters. I have attached a photo of the 4 different images I'll use bellow, the stamp is from Stampington & Co.

Sample 2 can also have 4 different images. Those images are also below and by Oxford Impressions.

Sample #3 was the last one I worked on and I was running out of black ink. When/If that is the one selected the sea shells will be darker...I have already ordered a re-inker.

Any of these designs can be placed on any of the different color combinations. The client asked for blues and silvers. I however am not a huge fan of blue so I had to add a more earth toned sample. I used gold instead of silver on sample C but I could just as easily use silver.








I've never given a client so many options before. I hope that I am not overwhelming her. But I think it is fun to pick and choose and I hope she thinks so too and enjoys what I have put together.

Now I guess I better go clean up and get started on my next project. Put this one aside until I know what the final product will be.

So stay tuned to find out what she selects.

Orange, Orange and more Orange

When a girls favorite color is orange well then you should give them Orange! At least that is what my friend who asked me to make this pillow said and I must admit I agree completely with the sentiment. It is very hard to find completely orange objects and the recipient does not like pink and orange mixed which is very in right now.

Picking out the fabrics was not easy, as I previously stated orange seems to come mixed with pink now. We started with two different sized poka dots but I was worried that it would be to much so we settled for the stripe and the smaller dots. The smaller dot fabric also has some stripes in it.

The next hard part was deciding how to do the Monogram. I couldn't find a good orange ink so I decided to go with an applique which also proved tricky because I needed to make it stand out on the fabric. Ultimately I went with more orange which actually is a perfect match for the darker stripe in the striped fabric. I wish the close up of the applique had turned out better...guess it's time to pull out my camera's instruction manual again.

The next hard part was deciding how I wanted the stripes to go. I started with them looping around like a continuous line but the stripes didn't match up everywhere and that annoyed me so I ended up turning them all the same way.

As with all the pillows I make the backs Velcro shut (making it easy to remove the internal pillow form for washing) with a ribbon to hide the seem. I also always flip the "major" fabric so it becomes the minor fabric on the back. I think the back of this pillow is almost as stunning as the front.

All in all I am pleased with the outcome. Orange is not my favorite color so I had a bit of a hard time making decisions I just hope that the little girl receiving this loves it.

And I had to include a close up of the bow because I think it may be the best one I ever tied.

Dragonfly Pillow

Here is yet another pillow but look closely and you will see that I am getting a bit more creative and courageous.

The customer told me that her daughter's favorite colors are pink and purple and that she loves butterflies and dragonflies...

I did not care for any of the butterfly themed fabrics so I decided to make a few appliques to go on the pillow. After spending quite some time in the fabric store I settled on these two pink fabrics, I really like a purple paisley but couldn't find anything to go with it.

It took me forever to get this pillow put together...mainly because other projects kept creeping up on me. And I feel horrible about it...but it is finally done.

The applique that I made is a dragonfly stamp that I love. I stamped it onto the same pink fabric that is in the center of the pillow. The stamped image was not as dark as I wanted it so I outlined it with a dark brown fabric pen and then I colored her in. This was a difficult task for me since the colors did not blend the way I am use to my colored pencils and water colors doing so. But all in all I think the image turned out nicely.

I have not stamped the initial yet because I want to make sure the customer likes what I have created for her. But when I do it will be in a dark brown which is what the dark color on the fabric is.

I learned a lot about making appliques on this project and I plan on making many more.

"R" Cocktail Napkins

Here is my latest set of cocktail napkins. Once again they are for a wedding gift and it seems very popular right now to have black dishes mixed with pewter accents so in an effort to the napkins "match" the couples china here is what I came up with.

The customer requested that I try adding a swirl behind the monogram and that I offset (angle) the letter. So after playing with a few different swirls I settled on the one you see and I did offset the letter. But instead of just putting the swirl behind the letter it goes all the way around the napkins edge.

There are a few things that I would do differently if I had these to re-do but all in all I am pleased with the way they turned out. They are not my taste but they are well put together and amazingly (since I have had a ton of practice recently) almost all exactly the same size!

I am pretty sure if you click on the photo it will enlarge it.

Here is the gift box that the napkins will be sent in. Originally it was a bronzish brown box with a brown ribbon. I loved the floral texture that somewhat emulated the swirl I used on the napkins. The final effect I got was not what I was originally going for but some accidents are good.

The plan was that I would paint the entire box silver let it dry and then go over that with a wash of black and wipe off the "raised" area's leaving them silver and the remainder of the box black. Well, it didn't wipe off as well as I expected but I really love the pewter type finish it gave the box.

The ribbon I had to paint also so it is a little stiff but it still made a nice bow and it is much better than if I had tried to replace it.


Here is a close up of the napkins from the above picture. I tied them together with a black organza ribbon.

Below you can see a larger photo of the close up of the swirls and letter "r". You can also see more of the silver paints that I used on the napkins. This time I used two various shades giving the napkins even more depth.

I really hope the customer and the receiver likes this set.

Wedding Napkins

My little sister's good friend is getting married this weekend out here in CA and she asked me if I would make a set of cocktail napkins as part of the gift.

Of course I'll make a set of napkins...always looking for an excuse.

She wanted an elegant set that was very simple. After going back and forth on the colors we finally decided on a two toned grey napkin with silver highlights.

The main portion of the napkin is a light heather grey. I was very worried about this at first since I do not like purple at all but after putting the pewter trim on the purple kinda went away...phew...

Both the center of the napkin and the trim have the silver accents it is just easier to see in these pictures on the darker fabric.

From the very beginning they were always going to have the initial on them.

I wanted to add a tight zig zag of silver thread all along the trim and center part but for some reason my sewing machine would not cooperate at all. I wish that it had because I think it would have made this set of napkins a bit fancier. But then again it could have taken them over the edge since we wanted to keep them very simple and clean.

I hope they make a big hit in their new home...My husband said that no one gets excited over wedding gifts but if I had gotten hand made napkins I think I might have been excited...let's hope she is.

I made extras just in case something went wrong but amazingly nothing did and I am going to be selling the other set (not stamped yet) in my etsy store.

Now onto the next billion of cocktail napkin designs I have floating around in my head.

First Ever T-Shirt Design

In a few weeks the Spouses of the 9th ARS will go head to head or toe to toe with the Spouses of the 6th ARS. A friendly little competition with a number of different activities...think field day when you were in grade school.

So we, the ladies of the 9th needed a fun shirt to wear. After much deliberation and a lot of brain storming we came up with a design and I was asked to "make it happen" and this is what came out of my interpretation of what the ladies wanted. it is going to go on a bright red shirt.

I do hope all the ladies like it and I hope it is good enough to do to battle against the Ladies of the 6th in.