Saturday, January 2, 2010

It's a Snowy New Year in NH!

It has been snowing all year in New Hampshire, LOL.  Looks like it is not supposed to let up until tomorrow night. New snow is so pretty I just love the look of snow on the pines and covering the yards. It sparkles in the sun and makes everything look so clean.

Well, considering that I was planning on making a card for the SSCC (Stampin' Sisters in Christ Challenge) today, I decided to also do the Delightful Inspiration challenge using their cute "Stitched Snowman".

Wanting to make this cute digi stamp out of felt was a dilemma to me. The felt, of course, would not run through the printer, nor did I have any type of transfer sheets. I came up with a new to me, but certainly not new to the crafting world, way to do it.

First I printed the image and cut out just the snowman. Using the Aleen's No Sew Fabric glue, I adhered the image onto the felt and cut it out.

Quilt snowman cutting outAfter cutting it out, I began to sew the edges using the stamp as a guide to pierce the paper first. This was to make it easier to sew, LOL. 

Quilt snowman snowmans front






 This worked out pretty well, until....I became wounded in action!

Quilt snowman snowmans back 1

As you can see, I was lucky enough to notice the "huge" hole in my finger before it discolored the felt, LOL

I did not need to worry about the back of the image since this is the side that will be adhered to the card front panel. This was a good thing since the back ended up looking like this!

Quilt snowman snowmans back What a mess, huh! Instead of tying the thread, I used the fabric glue to hold the thread into place. It worked far better than I thought, drying very quickly. 

When I was through with the edges, I cut and colored the nose/carrot, hat and heart out of a 2nd stamp I printed.

Lastly, I sewed the buttons onto the snowman and hat.

Quilt snowman cut piecesHere I attached the carrot using the Aleen's fabric glue. I then realized I had the nose on wrong and tried to remove it.  WOW, I can tell you that this glue does indeed dry fast and holds really well, LOL.

To adhere the snowman to the top panel of the card, I used the Aleen's tacky glue and for the hat, I used 2 demensionals on top of one another. I made sure to bend the edges down slightly to give it more of a natural look.

To make the arms, I took the remains of the 2nd snowman and placed it on top of the adhered one.

Quilt snowman arm template

Quilt snowman arm close up










Using a paper piercer, I added holes to guide where I was to sew the arms. After attaching the heart, I sewed the arms going through each hole 3 times to make them thick as a branch would be.

I sewed some lace for the snow in a zig-zag stitch to match the stamp.

Quilt snowmanfront panel

To finish off the card, I used faux stitching for the snow flakes, Happy New Year and underline.

I adhered the front panel, onto white linen card stock finally completing the card.

Quilt snowman complete

  I did add some glitter snowflakes using my Sakura gel pens, as well as using them for the underline.

I am surprised how long it took me to make this snowman. I am not a sewer, I really don't like it, though I know how...on fabric anyway, LOL. 

Looks like I need to learn how to use my mini Janome sewing machine that I purchased a while ago.

Perhaps that will be my new tool for 2010!

Sandy O



 

  

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