Stamp With Jen

Paradise Lost and Home Improvement

Wow, I have had a busy couple weeks but it's been great!  I've been stitching some but have turned my attention to a couple house projects lately that I've wanted to do.  So first, here's a quick progress pic on my Paradise Lost. 

 
I finished up the cloud and then moved on to the banner.  I'm now going to work my way down the right side saving the middle for last (I can't wait to do all those fun animals)! 

I have a friend who is a contractor and he does awesome finishing work!  I hired him to come put up some crown moulding in my dining room (remember that sampler wall?) and to re-do my fireplace wall. 

Here's a photo of the fireplace wall before: 

It had kind of always bugged me that my builder used bathroom tile around the fireplace and the paint on that mantel was so thick it was always sticky.  I think this looks OK but I had dreams of doing something much nicer!  So, I bought a new mantle and a bunch of stone.  My friend prepped the wall the weekend that he was doing the crown moulding so for a week my living room had just cement board on the wall and every time I looked at it I'd get so excited about what was to come.  So, after a full day of adding stone and the new mantel here is what my fireplace wall now looks like:

Doesn't it look so much better??  Now I just need to get some paint on those walls! 

By the way, that picture above the fireplace works in that spot but I have Anniversaries of the Heart all kitted up and ready to start and would really love to have it hanging there.  With the stone I'm not sure if it "goes" anymore but I'm going to stitch it regardless and if it doesn't work there I'm sure I'll find a good spot for it around here somewhere! 

My Sampler Wall

I've been showing you photos of some of my completed projects lately and wanted to show you what I've done with them.  This is my living room until recently it was just another lonely, empty wall.  So, we placed and hung all of these samplers up.  This is part of why I've been working so hard to try to get these pieces framed, even though that was more a case of me procrastinating than anything.  And now after seeing the Sampler wall at The Attic it's clear that I need to get off the computer and get busy stitching!  It's funny because standing in the room these samplers really have a presence and feel very large.  But, I had to stand so far back to get them all in the photo along with part of the room that I think this picture makes them look a lot smaller than they really are! 

If you look at the sofa you see two kitties, well this is where these two hang out a lot of the day.  They can alternate napping and looking out the window so it's a perfect spot for them, even if I'm forever cleaning hair off of that blue couch.  Oh well, small price to pay for the cats to be happy.  :) 

Gift Exchange and January TUSAL

I got together with some friends yesterday to stitch and if you remember from my post on Friday we did a gift exchange among friends.  We drew names and each picked a gift to open.  My friend Katrina received mine and here is what was in the box that you saw Friday night:

I really had fun making this fob!  It was stitched on some of the left over fabric from my Frances Eden sampler.  I stitched everything over one except the crown which is stitched over two.  I finished this by hand and was happy with the way it turned out.  So happy that I am tempted to make another one!  The scissors were part of the gift, and are the Elizabeth I scissors by Kelmscott Designs. 

I also received a gift of an adorable pincushion stitched and finished by my friend Theresa (no blog)

Isn't it cute?  She finished it with tiny chocolate ric rac and antique buttons.  I am already treasuring this beauty!  It's also about time for my January TUSAL post, so here is my new pincushion with my January TUSAL jar.  I haven't squished the threads down but with all the stitching that it looks like I've gotten done in January (so far) alone it looks like I will be doing that in future months. 

If you'd like to join in the TUSAL fun, visit this post on It's Daffycat's blog for all the details.  If you're a blogger you can join in the fun at any time! 

Happy Stitching!

The Attic Retreat

Last weekend I was privileged to be able to attend the Sampler Symposium put on by Attic Needlework in Mesa, AZ with a group of friends, some who I knew from my local sampler guild and others who I've only emailed with.  It was such fun!  And, when I got home my Mom and I had the most fun chatting about my wonderful weekend, the shop, the retreat and how much fun everything was on my trip!  Since I'm not sure where to start I'll just dive right in! 

We arrived on Thursday and our first stop after dropping luggage at the hotel was to go directly to the shop.  I have only heard about how wonderful the shop is but having experienced other nice shops with lots of stitched models I wasn't sure what to expect.  Let me just say that if you ever have a chance to go to Mesa (near Phoenix) you MUST go to the Attic.  It is a fabulous shop!  You walk in and immediately to your right there is the most fantastic wall of samplers that I've ever seen!  Isn't that amazing?!?  I happily spent some time at that little table stitching while I was there too!  This puts my sampler wall (that I'll show you soon) to shame so I really need to get stitching! 

Each of the Samplers is numbered so that you can easily find the chart and the Attic thread conversion (if they've done one and usually they have) for the chart.  I have been reading the Attic's newsletters for awhile now and have read about their conversions but seeing the pieces stitched with them in person was just fabulous! 

I picked up this sweet Margaret Brown chart and the linen and threads to stitch it with as just one of the projects that I came home with.  This picture shows it stitched with the Attic's conversion to a lighter pink silk palette and I thought it was just gorgeous (love that frame too by the way)!    

 

On Friday we went out to lunch as a group.  Although I don't think this is a great picture of me, it's fun to have a picture of our group out to lunch together!  From left to right, this is me, Karin, Sylvia, Tanya, Sandy, Natalia and Katrina.  What fun we had and we went out for Mexican food which is one of my favorites!  One of the things we did after lunch but before the retreat started was... you guessed it... we went back to the shop for more enabling.  In case you couldn't tell, being an Attic newbie I was completely unprepared for the awesomeness in store for me there so was glad to be a frequent shopper over the weekend.  And, all of the ladies in the group helped enable me in one way or another during the weekend.  I was like a kid in a candy store and just got passed from person to person while they showed me what I needed next.  It was really fun!  :) 

Friday night the retreat started and it was great!  To start the evening, Vickie Jennett of Needlework Press shared a reproduction of a sampler that has roots back to who I think she said was the first Mayor of Phoenix!  Here is a photo of Vickie  with both the original sampler and the stitched reproduction.  This chart will be released at market in February so keep an eye out for it!  In addition, we received a chart for a small piece based on the original sampler.  Here is a picture of one version of the chart finished as a great needlework pocket:

Next Darlene Anderson presented a slide show of her sampler ornaments and wow, she brought a bunch of them to share!  Saturday morning she also presented a slide show of the Adam and Eve samplers that she has stitched.  That motivated me to get busy and start stitching!  I know just where I'd hang a collection of A&E samplers too! 

Also on Friday night, Paulette from Plum Street Samplers presented an adorable project called A Lady's Trimkeep.  She also showed us one of her new Market releases called "My Brother's Keeper".  All of us at the retreat got a copy of the chart but since it's a new market release I'm going to hold off on showing a photo.  However, here is the trimkeep project along with two smalls that Paulette made from the Brother's Keeper chart:
Here is Jean, the owner of Attic Needlework bringing the Trimkeep around for show and tell.  I love this project and I really liked Jean, such a sweet woman and her husband is a hoot!

 
Paulette wrapped up our Trimkeep projects in these sweet little boxes, here is mine before I opened the tissue.  You can also see my progress as of last Friday on Paradise Lost also designed by Paulette.
At the retreat, Katrina was the first to dive in and get some 45 count linen from the shop.  We all wanted to try stitching on it so then we had the idea to all put some stitches in each others pieces.  That will make me treasure my Paradise Lost piece even more.  I won't show you the photo of SOMEBODY pretending to blow their nose in it unless I need it for bribery later... :) 

Here is a quick pic of the contents of this box.  I don't know what to stitch on next, whether I should keep going on Paradise Lost or set it aside to stitch this sweet project!
As if that weren't enough, Paulette also designed this cute project for us!  I love how the cherub happens to be holding it up in this pic:

Wow, what a night! On Saturday, after staying up too late stitching and chatting the night before and after copious amounts of Starbucks we started the day with Darlene Anderson's A&E lecture.  I didn't take any photos but was truly inspired!  Then, we spent the rest of the day with Tracy Riffle of Hands to work making some distressed finishes to wooden boxes, a frame and making a cute little paper mache teacup to hold our ORT's.  Mine aren't quite finished yet but here's a photo of Tracy's box.  Cute, huh?  Then, guess what?  We went back to the shop for more stash enhancement! 

Sunday morning we had Catherine Theron as our teacher.  She presented a great project called "A Stitcher's Envelope" stitched with silks and a lot of Florentine stitch.  It is gorgeous!  I started it in class but have a loooong way to go to finish it.  Here's a photograph of the finished piece.
After class ended on Sunday and we were all thoroughly depressed to be leaving the kind folks at the attic, our group of friends and the warmth of Arizona we decided to skip lunch for one final visit to the shop.  This last trip I was finally good to my budget and didn't buy much but instead took the time to walk through the shop and ooh and aah over the models one more time.  It was great!  Here are a few last photos I snapped. 

If you've stuck with me this far, thanks for reading!  I had a wonderful time with a great group of women at the Attic, a shop that you simply must visit!  Now, I really need to get off the computer and get to my stitching, I have a lot of new projects now!

Christmas Keepsake Project

Wow, you won't want to miss this!! During the month of July, you can not only join my Stampin' Up! team for $99 and get a kit worth twice that but you will also get a kit to make this adorable Christmas keepsake box as well!! This offer is only available during July so if you have any questions about the kit or what it is like to be a demonstrator just send me an email, drop me a text, give me a call or even just post a comment. Phew, that's a lot of options!! :-)

Sweet Stitches Journals

This is the journal that I ended up making for my downline after I wasn't sure that they would love what I had put together for myself.  This journal is actually the 5x5 Art Journal (108495) so it's a bit smaller than the original plan but I figured it would be good to use for photos and to take to events with them.  

This journal is covered with Sweet Stitches Designer Paper (121781).  I just love how this paper has the look and feel of fabric that you might find at a quilt or fabric store!  

I stamped the letters using the Lovely Letters Alphabet (115030) and then the images around the letters are from the Sale-A-Bration Bliss stamp set (121851) stamped in Regal Rose.  

These journals also gave me a good opportunity to try out the new Beveled Windowpanes (121881) and they are so cute!  They have a slot to thread ribbon through and I used the Victoria Crochet trim (118481) and 1/8" taffeta ribbon in Early Espresso (119959) to attach the frame to the journal.  But, I did notice that the frame slipped around a bit so I added a couple mini glue dots between the frame and the layer of cardstock as a little added insurance.  The best part is that you can hardly tell that the glue dots are there!

Thanks for stopping by!! 

Sew Sweet Journal

This is the Journal that I made for Leadership this year.  I had intended to make these for myself and my downline who went but it's a little busy so while I love it I wasn't positive that they would.  Come back tomorrow to see what I ended up making for them to use during the event.  

I usually  make these journals for Stampin' Up! events and this time I wanted a journal that could also serve as a craft journal so I wanted a very tactile 3-D look.  I ended up using the Scallop Square die (115950) to cut squares of the Sweet Stitches fabric (121818) with the Big Shot and adhered them with our Mulitpurpose glue, aka "Green Glue" (110755).  

Then I used the Buttons stamp from the Sew Sweet stamp set (121933) to create a centerpiece for the journal.  You'll also see the Sweet Stitches Designer Buttons (122302), Melon Mambo pompom trim (123322) and the Sweet Stitches Fabric Designer Brads (121880) used here.  I don't know about you but I love the way it turned out!  Thanks for stopping by!  

Stampin' Up! Rag Quilt Fabric Bag

Whoa, stop the presses, this is super cute!  This is a Rag Quilt bag given to me by one of my uplines at the recent Stampin' Up! Leadership conference.  Isn't it stinkin' cute??  Do you remember seeing this bag in the picture of my kitchen island turned sewing area?  I was so inspired that I decided to make one myself!

This bag is made with the super cute Sweet Stitches Fabric (121818), the Scallop Square Die (115950) and the Big Shot (113439).   My upline made a bunch of these bags so she used a different fabric for the lining, you could do that or you could make the inside of the bag match the outside.  It's your preference.

Oh, and one thing I was super excited about was that it matched the journal that I had created for the event.  Come back tomorrow to see that!  Thanks for stopping by!  

Flower Folds Fabric Pin Giveaway

Thanks for visiting today!  Here's the final look at the fabric pin made with the Flower Folds Big Shot die.  Isn't it cute?  

And, I'm giving this flower folds pin away to one lucky winner!  Place an online order in February and you will be entered into a drawing for this very fabric flower pin!  You'll receive one entry for any order and another for every $50 increment in orders and of course at that level you'll get Sale-A-Bration benefits too!  Good luck!  

I finished it off with a big button tied with a piece of 1/8" Taffeta ribbon (p. 191).  I then stitched the button on with a needle and thread and attached a pin back.  

Flower Folds Fabric Pin Tutorial

I finally learned how to make these adorable fabric flower pins using the Big Shot Flower Folds Fabric Pin.  They are so easy so here's a step by step tutorial of how to make them.  Before you begin you'll need a few supplies.  

Supplies:  Big Shot (113439), Extended Cutting Pads (113478), Flower Folds Die (115970), a Scrap of cardstock approximately 6x10, pins and something to finish the front (I love the big buttons in the Occasions mini 122301 or 122302 tied with a piece of 1/8" Taffeta from page 191 of the Idea Book and Catalog).  

To make the pin, cut your fabric into strips that are 6" wide.  This die has fold lines so I recommend only cutting 2 or 3 layers of fabric.  Stack an extended cutting pad, the scrap piece of cardstock, the flower folds die, fabric and then the other extended cutting pad to make your big shot sandwich.  Run the sandwich through the big shot and the result should look something like this:  

Remove the flowers and choose which flowers you would like your pin to be made of.  I typically use the three smaller sizes but love layering all four layers for headbands, bags, etc.  

Fold the flowers in half so you see four petals (don't fold so that you see any half petals).  The result will look like this:

You need four of these half flowers for each size of flower:

Start layering the flowers on top of each other:

Then add a third flower:

To add the forth flower, you will need to fold up the exposed part of the first flower, lay down the fabric for the fourth flower and then fold the fabric back down from the first flower:

Once you have this done, repeat the above steps for the other layers you want to use in your pin.  

Stack all the layers on top of each other and stitch through them with a Chenille needle and thread.  I stitched two "X's" through the layers and made sure I caught each piece of fabric so the pin will hold together.  

Then, just add the button embellishment and a pin back (or attach to whatever you want it to attach to).  Come back tomorrow to see the finished product!! 

Thanks for reading, please email me or comment if you have any questions!