YoYo Cupcake Birthday Card

YoYo Cupcake Birthday Card

Whenever possible I love to use yo-yo's in my card designs. This month for my mom's birthday I used the yo-yo as the topping on the cupcake and then added a paper cherry and candle.

Saturday Play Date

Yesterday, Connie and I got together for another of our play dates. The theme for this one was paper dolls but we sort of went on our own creative bent which totally worked out for the both of us. These play dates are so much fun as we get so immersed into our projects that we lose track of time. What a great way to spend a Saturday!

Here is a photo of my paper doll design using Connie's piece she did earlier in the month from Julie Nutting's project in the latest issue of Somerset Studio magazine, as my inspiration. 

For my canvas I covered a used binder with old newspaer clippings my mother had given me of various tips and hints for projects as well as crochet directions that I will never use, as I don't crochet, but with this project  I did get a chance to repurpose them. My paper doll is still a work in progress as I would like to add a few embellishments to her dress but I was quite pleased with my results during our "play date". Once finished I plan on using my binder to hold all of my craft magazine clippings.

Tree Challenge due February 2011

For the past several years my friend Connie and I have come up with our own quilt challenges for the simple reason that 1) we can choose the theme and 2) we can choose the deadline or choose to extend it.

Our inspiration comes from quilts we see in magazines or at the Mancuso Quilt show. We have always been drawn to the quilts that depict trees in them so for 2010 we decided that would be our theme, Trees.

My Tree Challenge Inspiration

Deadline: February 2011

Materials: paper, fabric, metal, wood, ribbons, buttons, stickers, threads, paint, crayons, markers, just about any material that you need to create your tree.

Size: 8 1/2 by 11 is suggested but you can make it smaller or larger this is your creation.

If you would like to join our Tree Challenge add a comment here or send me an email at dclarkcreations@aol.com. I'll be happy to post your progress if you would like to send me a photo to the email address above .

Inspiration is all around you, as for me, I'm starting in my own backyard!



My Self-Portrait Quilt

Previous challenges we have come up with include a self-portrait quilt (spq). 

This challenge I interpreted very loosely  and Connie is still working on the details to her self-portrait. 

The pattern is an Elinor Pearce Bailey doll pattern I saw in Soft Dolls Magazine. I was drawn to the yoyo hair as I love everything yoyo and knew I needed to make this doll as my spq. Most all of the fabrics and embellishments hold a personal memory for me. Even the shoes are made using a black yoyo adorned with a gold bead for the buckle. 

Friendship Quilt Front

We also both made a friendship quilt that had to reflect our personality and then it was to be given to the other person.  These challenges test our skills and let us explore and share our creativity with one another. How lucky are we!

My friendship quilt consists of a series of fabric postcards. The front of each postcard is done using several embellishment techniques including a yoyo butterfly in the lower left-hand corner.

In the lower-right hand corner is an old key that we both used in our friendship quilt depicting the "key to friendship.



Friendship Quilt Back

 For the back of my quilt I wrote a small description and title for the corresponding postcard on the front of the quilt. Then I addressed and added a stamp to each postcard.  Luckily I had on hand butterfly stamps and return address labels so that the design on the front of the quilt carried over to the back of the quilt.  I totally did not have a pattern to go by and as I am not a quilter I had to use my sewing skills to put it all together.

Connie's Friendship Quilt

Connie's friendship quilt is absolutely beautiful and it makes me feel very special.

The Belated Birthday Present

Georgia's birthday present "Then and Now"

Last year while visiting my sister, Georgia, she asked if I could make her a new cover up (she had nearly worn out the one I had purchased and given her years ago). I figured if I could have the old one to use as a pattern it should be fairly simple.  Of course she agreed I could take her old cover up but then she added "oh, but don't cut it up because I still want to wear it". So, now I was challenged.  Thank goodness my sister is patient as it took me a little over a year to purchase the material and make it for her. It was difficult to find the right color but then I found this really nice creamy yellow fabric. When I started to sew the pockets I realized I needed something decorative for the pocket so I decided to add a YoYo flower with the extra wide rick rack for the stem and then I found these wonderful flower buttons that pulled the whole piece together.  I put it in the mail for her on Monday and I received this wonderful email from her on Friday saying "I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!!!!"

Just for Fun

Stenciled Red T-shirt

A couple of years ago I purchased a men's red t-shirt because I liked the quality of the material and the little looser fit. Of course I altered it by hemming it and I also sewed a decorative machine stitch around the sleeves.  This little red shirt is my comfy working around the house shirt. But somehow it got a couple of white or faded spots near the hemline, I've stopped using bleach so I'm not sure what caused it.  The shirt was still wearable especially since it is for hanging around the house but I wanted to do something to fix it.  I still had some fabric paint and stencils from a project I did quite a while back so last Saturday I pulled them out and did a quick fix on my shirt. I love it and it was so easy to do.  One of my biggest fears is that I will mess it up worse or not like it when I'm finished.  Needless to say, I may have to try this quick fix on other wearable items. Of course while I was trying to photograph it I received a little help from my furry friend.

August Cards

August is a busy birthday month in my family.  I try to make birthday cards for everyone but a lot of times I just run out of time and I either make a quick handmade card or they get a "store bought" card.  The good news is I try not to always send the same person a "store bought" card each time. My favorite card this month is the one I made for my sister, Mary.  I used the heart shaped yo-yo to make a mini tulip display.

As I mentioned in last week's blog I send my mom a "card-a-month".  For August her card is one I made back in June.  I saw the idea of the ribbon loops surrounding a button to create a flower and I thought "I could use one of my yo-yo's in place of the button.  This is a real simple card to make and I think I will make a few more to have in my stash of pre-made cards "just in case". The photo didn't turn out as well as I would have liked but hopefully you can see what a fun, simple design it is.

July Craft Play Day

Painted fabric ready to be set in the sun

I am very lucky to have a friend who enjoys experimenting with new techniques as much as I do. We have so much fun when we get together on our craft play days. Part of what makes it fun is that we both have different styles so we are always learning from one another. Connie is more of a free spirit with her art and crafts and I tend to be more purposeful.  By that I mean my art or craft project needs to have a purpose.

Our July Saturday play date involved painting fabric with Setacolor Soleil (a sun printing fabric paint). We had a blast experimenting with blending the colors on the fabric, laying the objects on top of the fabric to create a design and then placing the fabric in the sun.  We also learned some objects worked better than others. 

My sun printed fabric

My favorite fabric is the one I created using buttons placed on top of my painted fabric. I plan on making a book cover with the button sun printed fabric. Other items I used on my fabric were paper doilies, fabric lace with metal hardware and rock salt. I'm still amazed that with so little effort and so much fun I created my own unique fabric.

It would be easy for me to get the fabric painting bug, my only drawback is what would I do with it when it was done?

Salad spinner art fabric

The second half of our play day involved this technique from the Creative Arts Home magazine of using a salad spinner to paint on fabric.  As a child I loved the paint spinners so I couldn't wait to play with this new technique. 

To my amazement it turned out really good and yes, I have a project in mind for these fabric circles.  I think they will look great appliqued onto a pillow cover as holiday ornaments.

Salad spinner fabric art circles

Crafting with Paper Napkins

Flowers in Bloom

Here we are heading towards  the end of August and I'm just getting around to my July creative activities. When I started this blog I had really good intentions of posting every couple of days and like all of you, my day-to-day life kept interrupting. As my parents always said, "anything worth doing is worth doing right", so I have made a commitment to post every Sunday, the other thing they taught me was to honor my commitments. One commitment I made years ago was to send my mom a card a month. For July I tried a little something different as I added a magnet butterfly to the card. The flowers on the card are made with paper napkins using the technique from "Paper Crafting with Carol Duvall". It is a simple technique using Saran Wrap and an iron and it is a lot of fun to do.

Watermelon Sailboat Fruit Display for Nick's Graduation Party

The making of the watermelon sailboat.

First, we had to shop for the fruit which was a wonderful adventure. My brother-in-law John took us to one of their favorite grocery stores, HyVee, and we found all the fresh fruit we needed plus the melon-ballers. Next, we gathered up a few supplies from my sister Karen. We needed large platters, saran wrap and a couple of bowls. Then we took the stuff back to our hotel room which had a small kitchen in it. Don cut the melons and gave directions to me, my mom and sister Mary so we could help with the melon balling while he took a short and much deserved nap. Much deserved because earlier he had cooked his wonderful French toast breakfast for 14 family members. As Don napped Mary washed the strawberries and grapes and mom and me got busy making watermelon and cantaloupe melon balls. Once Don was recharged from his nap he assembled the sail boat and put together the other fruit display. Needless to say the fruit displays were a huge hit and a great topic of conversation.

Graduation Card for Nephew Nick

Earlier this month we traveled to Nebraska for Nick's high school graduation.  Since Nick is a very talented wood worker and designer I wanted to make a unique graduation card for him.

As I was thinking about ways to add a money holder to the card the thought came to me that the year is 2010 and how cool it would be to show a 20 dollar bill and a 10 dollar bill. I figured out the correct dimensions to hold the money but now I needed to have an easy way to remove it so I decided on making a tab that would slide in and out.  I was so pleased when that worked but I saw another problem.  When the money tab was removed you could no longer tell what year the card was made. So I started hunting, found some number stickers and solved the problem.