PhotoShop crafty

Crafts CAN come in different forms. I went through a PhotoShop phase for a while and wanted to share a couple of my favorites, because, in a way, creating these slides IS a sort of a craft. And I'm doing a CNET blog course and need to follow up my post with evidence in case someone from the class decides to stop by.

The following are my favorite before and after photos. I did these for our churches overhead announcement thing. I took a picture of some of our youth then used a site called iStockphoto, which I highly suggest to anyone looking for high quality photos. It does cost, but the cost is nominal. You can even upload your own photos for sale.

The first picture was taken in the parking lot at church and turned into a beach photo. I love how this turned out and it has to be my number one favorite.

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Tote bag

This is a tote bag that I've just finished for my good friend Beth, for her birthday. The "front" picture I had to scan from the front of the pattern since I obviously can't hold the camera still enough to get a decent picture! Sheesh. The back and card pictures aren't that great either, but the front one I took was REALLY bad!

I was able to get this project finished in about 2 1/2 days, and although I know it wasn't as perfect as the teachers, I thought I did well for my first one. The inside lining was a bit wonky in that it was a bit too big and floppy, so I had to put some stitches in the corners and the bottom front and back.

Beth said she liked it and had some ideas on how to use it... something about a "baby bag"?! When pressed, she said not yet, but she's hopeful. She's a wonderful mother to her 2, or maybe he's 3 now, year old son, Jacob.

I've also attached the card I made for her.

Front

On the front is a pocket that's been embroidered. I really don't like to embroider, but the pattern called for it.

The two pictures of the tote look like they are different colors, but the actual color is closer to the "front" image. I love the fabrics Jenelle has in her shop at Pieces to Treasure, they're so rich and they yell at you to make something beautiful with them... well, maybe they don't "yell" at you... but they suggest strongly! ;-)

Back

The flower has Dimensional Magic on it to give it, uhm,
"dimension" and shine. I kinda like this card, but I know I'd do a couple things different next time.

My 2nd Quilting Project

This quilt was made for our niece Jessica for her wedding present. Again, I gave myself about a month to finish it, again a mistake... I always say that if there's not a deadline attached, I'm not interested! It's a queen size quilt that doesn't go over the pillows.

This quilt has been done by a few of the women in my quilting class and they told me it should only take about 2 weeks. Of course that was THEM! I had trouble with my machine and didn't actually know there was a problem, I just thought sewing was supposed to be hard. My quilt teacher pushed me aside one day and attempted to find out why my points weren't matching up. After a few frustrating minutes, and a few unmentionable words, she highly suggested I take it in for service, there was definately something wrong. She also said she was surprised that ANY of my points actually matched up on Michelles quilt, they were basically "flukes".

So I took it back to where I got it and when it was finished with its going over, I was told that the feed dogs were out of adjustment and it wasn't a wonder that I was having so many problems. The two pieces of material were not being pulled through the needle at the same time because the feed dog wasn't up high enough to help pull it through properly, especially when it came to the seams. I can't tell you how relieved I was to hear that it wasn't just me!

(THIS LINE IS SUPPOSED TO HAVE A LINE BREAK BUT ITS NOT COOPERATING!) This was also my first time trying a walking foot on my machine. At first it was horrible because I couldn't see where the stitches were going, and I decided to just use my regular foot, even after the teacher strongly suggested I not. The star part worked out ok, but when it came to quilting the borders I discovered exactly why the teacher wanted me to use the walking foot. It was kinda funny how the penny dropped at that point and everything seemed to work from there.

I was pretty pleased with how it turned out.

Front

You can't really see them in the pictures, but in the four corners there are quilted stars. I also stitched around all of the individual pieces within the star with blue thread.

Back

You can kinda see the blue thread here and you can almost make out the stars in the corners.

I hope they are enjoying it!

Getting started with my new blog...

I am a crafty person. It hardly matters what the craft is, I'll give it a go. I've done, Victorian Christmas ornaments, cross stitch, teddy bears, quilting, card making, scrapbooking, crocheting, cook book covers, paper tolling, etc.

Seems usual when there's a gift to give, that I try something new. Most people wouldn't even think about doing something they've never done before for a gift in fear of failure. Not me! I dive head first with blind abandon into something, then worry about it later. I've spent many late nights trying to finish a project that when I started it, I had NO idea how to do it, but need to have it done the next day. Nothing like a deadline to keep the blood racing! Normally things turn out ok though and I've learned a new craft, if not something new about myself. I've always thought of myself as highly impatient, but doing all these different crafts shows me that I'm not nearly as bad as I think.

In this new blog, I will be posting pictures of my newest creations and how they came about.

My thing dujoir is quilting. I've been at it since July 2007 and I started with a lap quilt for my best friend. I didn't have a pattern, had NO idea where to even start or how it would turn out, but I went into with my usual full force. I gave myself about 6 weeks to finish it, which I learned later was crazy. I had a couple of blaring mistakes, but my new quilt teacher (whom I searched for only after I had sewn together the front and back panels and had no idea where to go from there) told me to claim that its an Amish quilt. Amish because they always purposefully include mistakes because no one is perfect but God. I liked that so that's what I claimed! Good enough excuse for me and I happen to agree with it! This quilt started out as a pillow, turned into a full sized quilt, then into a wall hanging, and finally ended up as a lap quilt. I called it "Chocolate Box" because Michelle loves chocolate and I used a lot of brown fabric. The back is unique because there is a design on it as well. Most quilts are one sided, but I saw someone on Simply Quilts (or here Alex Anderson Quilts) talking about doing a two sided quilt and being someone that doesn't shrink back from new techniques, I loved the idea. My new quilt teacher was impressed!

When I asked Michelle what her favorite color is, she said "you mean this week?" so I took that as I have free run to experiment with different colors all together. This is what I came up with:

Front

Back

In the center square on the front I incorporated something that meant something to both of us. On the cream color fabric I used a rubber stamp with archival purple ink that says "Celebrate Friendship" and I used a stamp that Michelle created herself of flowers in the corners. I happen to think it was very clever of me! In the corner of the back photo, you can see my little signature panel. I had a stamp created that says "Handmade with love by Shelly" in a circle and it has a little dove in the center of it. I had it made for my card making endeavors and have incorporated a way to use it in quilting as well. Of course you have to use permanent ink!