Send a friend!

Okay folks... we hit the 100 we needed for the blog but we are stalled at about 920 for Facebook!  If each of us brings 1 friend over, we should do it!  My thought is that most of you LOVE the headers, soooooooooooo.... invite your friends to "like" our Facebook page and be sure they say that YOU sent them (IE: "Carrie sent me") and for each new friend you send YOUR name goes into a drawing for a flat rate full of headers!

The drawing will be on the day we hit 1,000!  (Unless I am out in Missouri and don't have a computer handy...)  That also means that day is the day I will draw for ALL the goodies on the blog, as well!  Directions for that will be posted as soon as we get closer!  It will be easy peasy, I promise! 


Quilty hugs,
Carrie

Day #134 - Whitty Crafters Uses for Scrapbooking Goodies!

Good morning, friends!
Phew... got a bit waylaid with things around here, but I think I am back on track!

This morning I would like to consider ideas for using the scrapbooking goodies I have up for offer to my fans and followers in the upcoming drawing.

First, here they are:

This is a selection of Jolee's by You with a garden theme - unless you want to call the white pieces at the bottom boats, which would change the whole concept! 

Here's some thoughts...

• First, of course, would be accents to a scrapbooking page - say, something to your garden?  Some gorgeous, enlarged flowers tucked in the white "beds"?  Accent them with the little floral treats that are included?  Ones like these?  Trimmed and tucked in?

• Another easy peasy would be turning them into a card, actually, several cards with the number of goodies included!  OH.... wait!  How about 4-6 of them, all with a garden theme and then wrapped up together and given as a gift!!  Ha!!  

If you like that idea, here are some quotes you could use that I found at Wishafriend.com.

The earth laughs in flowers. - E. E. Cummings

Bread feeds the body, indeed, but flowers feed also the soul. - The Koran

With a few flowers in my garden, half a dozen pictures and some books, I live without envy. - Lope de Vega

Nobody sees a flower - really - it is so small it takes time - we haven't time - and to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time. - Georgia O'Keeffe

Flowers always make people better, happier, and more helpful, they are sunshine, food and medicine for the soul. - Luther Burbank

• How about adding them as decoration to a decoupage project?  Most of the flowers would be flat enough - a dot of glue and a bit of ModPodge!
• I used some of the tiny ones as accents on my project back a few months ago - you can see them sewed on on the bottom left.  It's not something you could wash, but it does make a sweet decoration!

• Glue as trim to a bulletin board, either on the border or to the cork.  Same thing on a small white board!
• Decorate the outside of a flower pot.
• Trim a picture frame.

Lot's of options!  Anyone else?

Have a great day, all!
Quilty hugs,
Carrie

Day #133 - "How-To" Using chalk cloth to make bunting/banners

Good morning!

I promised yesterday that I would give a How-To for making the chalk cloth banners mentioned yesterday.  Here you go:

To make the bunting/banners you need the following (quantity = how many you want to make!)

4" square blocks of chalkcloth (you can acually make them any size you want!) 

*** special note: DO NOT GET THE CHALKCLOTH NEAR THE IRON!!! (unless you like melted plastic!)

5" squares of backing fabric (whatever size you make the chalkcloth blocks, make these 1" bigger)
5" squares of iron on interfacing (follow sizing of backing fabric)
scrapbooking grommets & grommet tools OR just a hole punch!
ribbon to string them on

1. Cut out the 5" squares of fabric and interfacing.

2. Iron them together, wrong side of fabric to correct side of the interfacing (shiny side, on the Pellon I am using...oh...and I would realize that because...I tried to do the opposite?????) **Also, try to make them as accurate as possible! My iron smells pretty nasty when it goes on the sticky side of the Pellon!

3. Cut out 4" squares of chalkcloth.

4. Lay the chalkcloth in the center of the backed fabric (right side up) and fold the top and bottom sides into create the border. Clip them with binder clips.

5. Fold the sides in and crease. Then open them and clip at right angle to the square (see picture). Fold the top and bottom sides in and trim it off at an angle to create mitered corner.

6. Sew with a zigzag stitch.

7. To be able to string them, you can either just punch holes with a hole punch (they would be a bit big...perhaps just poke with an awl?) or what I did was to use my "Making Memories" scrapbooking tools and pop some of those colored grommets I have so many of! 

8. Run a ribbon through (I taped the end of the ribbon, like a shoelace, to make lacing easier, then just trimmed it off.)

9. To "fix" your chalkcloth, rub with chalk and wipe off. It's then "ready to use."

Have a great day!
Carrie

Day #132- "Whitty Crafter" ideas for Chalk cloth

Good morning!
We are about to REALLY hit some summer here today and tomorrow - high 90's!  Stay cool friends!

I thought we could chat this morning about chalk cloth.  Have you ever seen it?  It's GREAT!

I buy it by the yard and use it in all sorts of ways!  You can buy it from Amazon.com and Fabric.com (advantage = other fabric available and on sale... free shipping on orders over $35 right now) or you can win some from me!  :o)

Chalk cloth is sometimes referred to as "oil cloth" but this literally works with chalk and wipes off!

Some uses are:

• My favorite: activity placemats for children!  
• I found several reusable tag ideas while surfing the net, some to buy and some to make yourself.
• as a part of a portfolio/journal/car activity packet
• use when creating a bulletin board/chalkboard type message center as you can cut it to whatever shape you'd like!
• a whole blog dedicated to working with oil cloth!  WOW!  That would cover it!  
• How about the reusable banner blocks I am making in the picture above?   Come by tomorrow for a "how to"!! 

So stay cool, friends!
Chat tomorrow,
Carrie

PS.  We are rather stuck at 920ish FB fans.... we'd LOVE for you to "suggest" us to your friends!

Day #131 - "Whitty Crafters" Luggage Tag Ideas

Good morning, summer-lovin' friends!

The temps are supposed to be climbing here in NH over the next couple of days, so you'll hear us whining...it's what we do!  :o)

I thought today I would take a closer look at the luggage tags up for grabs in my Celebration Bash.  Here is a glimpse of what yours COULD look like: 

If you have been following the blog for awhile, you might remember that I made these when my youngest DD came home and asked "how much I loved her?"  That night I made up about a dozen of these for her softball team because their bat bags were all identical, and lucky for me: black.  You know, "Black goes with everything!" which meant I could make the tags any color needed!

So, here are a few ideas for you for how to use yours, if you win one!

• Mark your bat bag to show it's different!  (Lol!)
• Obviously, to tag your suitcase at the airport - colorful, eye catching.... works for me!
• Attach to a backpack or lunch bag for a school event: you know how those class trips can be!  You can be sure that sandwich and snack go to the right kiddo!
• Use as a part of a birthday or other special time's gift.  Stick a little card in the slot "Happy birthday, sweetie", tie it to the gift and it's the card that keeps on giving!
• Speaking of giving, do what I did which was the above with $$ tucked inside as the vehicle to be sure the $$ didn't get lost (ie: I forget it???)
• How about continuing on that vein and using it as a handcrafted way to give a gift card?  MUCH better than one of those paper envelopes!!
• Just thought of a fun one!  Make it the end of a treasure hunt game with a "prize" tucked inside!  Leave clues throughout the house and then when they find it, inside is a pair of tickets to a movie, a note to go mini-golfing, some other fun activity!
• Make it part of a game!  "Hide the tag" - and play like "Hot and Cold" or finding Easter eggs!  
• Use as a way to share notes with a child.  You hang it with a note in a special place: off a lamp in their room, on a bulletin board, somewhere they'd be sure to see it!  (This brainstorming is fun!!)

Would you like to make these for yourself?  I bought the pattern off of Etsy from StudioCherie.  She has a GREAT PDF, very reasonably priced and easy to follow.  Check it out here.  Tell her Carrie/Whitt's Kits sent you!!

Okay, well, gotta head to work!
Have fun thinking of other ideas and feel free to post them!
Quilty hugs all,
Carrie

Day #130 - "Whitty Crafters" Ideas for Machine Embroidered Designs!

Good morning, all!

Going to be another hot one, I hear - actually all week!  Yay!

Today I would like to play around with ideas for using the machine embroidered designs I have up for you.  Here they are:

Both of these come from Embroidery Library. They are one of my favs, as many of you know.

There are zillions of uses/projects you can use these for!

• The "Go Green" is perfect for either incorporating into the design of a shopping bag or stitching to the outside of a bag or two that you already have (what I did!).  I've whipped them up and just added them to bags I use for grocery shopping - shows I'm a proud Memere!  :o)
• The butterfly is a wonderful addition to any quilting project you have in mind.  I put one into a photo quilt that I made for a wonderful friend battling cancer.  If you do machine embroidery, yuu can download it from Embroidery Library for free!  I've made them in various colors - it's a very straightforward design and a powerful message.
• I think it would look great framed, on the wall, as well.  We can all use to keep those thoughts in our mind!
• You could also incorporate them into a wall hanging - print some photos on the special ink jet cloth/paper and surround the embroidery with them!  Add some coordinating fabric and viola!
• Either design could become the central design in a mug rug or table runner.
• What other ideas do YOU have?

Well, off to package up some eBay orders!  Woot woot!
Have a wonderful day everyone and stay cool!

Carrie

Day #129 - "Whitty Crafters" Ideas for Scanned Birthday Card

Good morning, friends!

I thought I would do a series of posts this week sharing what you could do with each of the items I am offering up as we get closer and closer to 1,000 fans on Facebook!  You know, build the excitement?  Have a bit of fun?

That being said, let's get started!  The first item I'd like to talk about is a scan of a vintage birthday postcard.

This came from a collection of my grandmother's.   It says:
"A happy birthday.
Fortune from her stores joys upon you pour
and may each new Birthday
Bring you more and more."

Personally, I love the calligraphy used for the "B's" and other first letters.  The flowers and picture are rather sweet.  What to do with it?  Hmmmmm..... let's see!

• For starters, how about using it as it was meant, a birthday card?  Print it out on cardstock and use it for someone special!
• I can also see it printing out and being used on a scrapbook page.  Combine it with some photographs, perhaps in sepia tones, some floral decorations and viola!
• On the same vein, how about either printing it on velum or putting a piece of velum over the printed card?  Give it that frosted look?
• How about printing it on white or off-white paper and using ModPodge on a box cover, either of wood or cardboard?  Add in some scraps of purple and green?  How about a bit of ribbon?
• Just recently I picked up one of those mugs at Micheal's that pops open and you can put a piece of paper inside with children's art work?  How about putting one of these, make it a birthday mug?
• You could print it on fabric paper (for use with ink jets) and incorporate it into a number of different projects: pillow cover, quilt block, tote bag and combine with a bit of quilting!!
• What other ideas do you have?  Do tell so we can all give it a whirl!

Don't forget, let your friends on Facebook know about what we are doing and suggest us to them!  The sooner we hit 1,000, the sooner I will do the drawings for ALL these goodies! 

Do YOU have any ideas?  Add them as comments to this post!!

I hope everyone had a GREAT day!  I am late today due to storms and a college visit!  Gotta love going into the senior year!

Quilty hugs everyone and looking forward to coming up with new ideas for tomorrows posting!

Carrie