Monthly Archives: December 2010

Wednesday Night Live!

December 30th, 2010 in News & Events, Wednesday Night Live Replay Links
By Lisa Fulmer

New in 2011 – it’s Wednesday Night Live in C&T Publishing’s Digital Lounge!

Starting January 5th, join us online every Wednesday night at 6:00pm PT (9:00pm ET) for a LIVE interactive hour of creative project and technique demos with inspiring chat, broadcast via webcam.

You’ll be face-to-face with our staff, authors, Creative Troupe and Surface Design Ambassadors to learn new tips and tricks using our books and products. January’s themes will be papercrafts and surface design. Future monthly themes will feature quiltmaking, craft sewing, and fiber art projects.

It’s free—all you need is your computer and a comfy chair! To log in to C&T Publishing’s Digital Lounge, click here at showtime and type in your name “at the door.” You can also log in through Facebook and keep your friends up to date on the action with status updates as you watch.

Sessions will be recorded for viewing anytime—but attending LIVE is so much more fun! Meet and chat with new people who share your creative spark, get your questions answered in real-time from the demonstrators, and you can even fire up your own web cam and show us what you’re working on.

Then there are the weekly PRIZES – everyone who is in the Lounge during the live broadcasts has a chance to win terrific books and products from C&T Publishing.

Wednesday Night Live in C&T Publishing’s Digital Lounge – we can’t wait to see you!

December Creative Troupe Round-Up

December 29th, 2010 in Inspiration, Staff Pick
By Alyice Edrich

Did Santa give you lots of goodies for making arts and crafts this year? Perhaps these projects from our Creative Troupe members can help you turn those supplies into fun projects to give as gifts or decorate your home or office.

A. Carole Grant has been creating amazing journals this month. I really love the way bird lays on top of the subtle background colors of this handcrafted paperbag book. I wonder if she used one of her favorite things, TAP® Transfer Artist Paper in this project? This is just one of the beautiful, artistic treasures you can find on her site.

Kim Sherrod shares a tutorial for creating a last-minute gift while watching your favorite movie with the person you’re giving it to! This sweet table-topper was pieced and quilted in just one evening. What a lovely way to spend the evening together.

Succulent Christmas Centerpiece

December 27th, 2010 in Behind the Scenes, Inspiration
By Amy Marson, Publisher

I am a collector of many things. Bottles, craft supplies, fabric, books both old and new, and for the last few years, succulent plants. It all started with the succulents when my sister, Antoinette, gave me one, and my mom gave me another. Then my mom and I toured the Ruth Bancroft Gardens in Walnut Creek and I was hooked.

Now I have about 20 potted succulents and many more in the ground. I love the different colors and all the flowers. I had no idea they flowered before, and the flowers are stunning. So I was delighted to see a feature in the Contra Costa Times that showed a succulent wreath.

Since I am both a crafter and collector I thought that this would be a fun holiday project. I purchased a twig wreath and some adorable pinecone and Christmas tree candles from JoAnns and invited my sister Antoinette to come early on Christmas Day for our last minute craft project. Since we both have a collection of plants we snipped a bunch of pieces and combined them to make the wreath you see here.

succulent holiday wreath

succulent center piece

It took us about 30 minutes and we were really happy with the results. In my family the table setting is VERY important. We even took a family vacation once and had to all bring a different table setting, one for each meal. Each table was more extraordinary than the last. So setting the table for Christmas dinner needed to be done just right.

The table cloth was red and we wrapped a ribbon around the table so it looked like a package and the wreath was the bow. Surrounding the wreath were some stars on a string and gold ribbon. We got lots of compliments on the centerpiece and the table. I will leave it out for a week, then take it apart and re-pot the pieces and give them to my good friend Carolyn, who can only have plants that are hard to kill. These babies will be perfect and the memory of my wreath will stay fresh.

Everyday Inspiration

December 26th, 2010 in Inspiration
By Diane Pedersen

A creative life is filled with challenges and rewards, puzzles and curiosities. This ongoing series of poems attempts to express the “Aha”s and “What if”s, the deep ponderings and casual observations of an inquiring mind trying to make sense of reality. May it serve, for you, as a bit of “Everyday Inspiration” along your own creative path.

Within two days

I felt the need

To turn on the

Heat—

And

I heard the

Winter bird

Outside my window—

Must be

That time

Again…

Happy Holidays from C&T Publishing!

December 24th, 2010 in Behind the Scenes
By Tristan Gallagher

click on image to enlarge

House of Inspired! Creativity Cards

December 22nd, 2010 in Inspiration
By Sue Astroth

During my latest lunchtime dash through a local thrift store, I found a complete Card-Works card building set. It had never been opened – all the little parts were still neatly contained in plastic bags. It had 5 different types of connectors, lots of playing cards with building instructions. All good!

Wasn’t sure at the time what I was going to do with it, but a little voice kept telling me it needed to be mine!

I set the box in my office so over the next few days I could ponder what was to become of my new treasure…a christmas gift? A rainy day activity for when the kids come over?

Then my eyes fell to my boxes of Inspired! Creativity Cards…and It all started to fall into place…..I would build my own Quilt Towers! I decided to feature some of the quotes I liked best along with my favorite images. They were easy to make and I love having ALL the cards on display in my office.

Spin The Wheel Winner!

December 20th, 2010 in Contests
By Tristan Gallagher

Congratulations to Dana Gaffney, winner of the Spin The Wheel Giveaway! She will receive a colorful selection of our new releases, along with the Studio Color Wheel and the Ultimate 3-in-1 Color Tool.

Thank you so much to everyone who participated by leaving comments here and on Facebook.

My Oldest Sister’s Quilt

December 20th, 2010 in Behind the Scenes, Inspiration
By Amy Marson, Publisher

One of my resolutions for the new year is to finish some very important quilts. So far, I have made quilts for my boys (two each), my husband, my best friend, and another good friend. But I have not yet gotten around to making a quilt for each of my 4 siblings.

With my new sense of purpose, I started with my oldest sister Antoinette (if you ask her, she will say she is also my favorite sister, but anyone who has sib’s knows you NEVER say you have a favorite). Antoinette is big on the jewel tones, so I chose the colors I wanted to use and then got to work. Wanting to design my own quilt, I went through my photographs and found a picture of a dry fountain that has strong graphic lines and used it as a stepping-off point for my design.

I drew the top 1/2 of the pattern, copied it (so that I had a mirror image) and then made a few copies to fill in with color. I colored in the pattern and then determined how big I wanted the rows to be and ultimately the size of the quilt. If you look closely you can see my chicken scratch math on the top and sides. It was a new kind of challenge for me, to design my own quilt, but am happy with the results. I did try to do my own machine quilting too, but found it too difficult. So I commissioned our resident long-arm quilter, Ruthmary (from our Sales Department), and she did an amazing job. She did a wave pattern with jewel-tone thread that looks fantastic. All I have left to do by Christmas Eve is the binding. Now I only have three more to go…yikes!

Everyday Inspiration

December 19th, 2010 in Inspiration
By Diane Pedersen

When I was

Younger

I did some

Ridiculously crazy

Things—

Now that I’m

Older,

I’m a little more careful.

I want to live

A long time—

But

You know what?

I don’t seem

To have

As many memories—

(The mind doesn’t remember

The day-to-day

Ordinary like it does

The spectacular)

Junk to Jewel: Gift Basket

December 17th, 2010 in Inspiration
By Sue Astroth

I needed a hostess gift this weekend and I needed it fast. So I headed to my studio to see what was in my stash. I found this purse and thought I could quickly turn it into a great treat and still make it to the party on time!

The Junk

I used the liner as the pattern for the new fabric I selected and then swapped out the ribbon for a larger plain black one. I added a few simple fabric flowers that I made using fabric strip I twisted and glued into a random circle flower shape. I added a vintage buttons, then hot-glued them in place on the basket.

The most time consuming part was sewing the new liner to the basket with fishing line. I put some foil in the bottom of the basket so after our stop at a local nursery, I could add some fresh flowers or herbs. Quite a respectable and reusable hostess treat for very little time and money!

The Jewel

Actually the purse and basket area of thrift stores often have lots treasures like mine just waiting for a little love and imagination. And with holiday/gift giving time approaching, I put together a list of alternative ways you can use such a basket…

• a door knob organizer—so you don’t forget all those lists and treasures (and important stuff too, like your keys) as you run out the front door for the day!

• a craft project basket—add some pockets to the liner, throw in a pincushion, change the handle straps to tape measure ribbon and make a couple zippered or drawstring pouches to keep your scissors and tools.

• a holiday card container—line with holiday fabric or spray paint the basket with gold then hang it on the doorknob or the back of a chair so your friends’ well-wishes are always near.

• a party favor container—keep all the treats right on the doorknob so all your guests can take one as they enter or leave your fabulous party!

Junk to Jewel is a series where, once a month, C&T author and editorial team member Sue Astroth chronicles her upcycling adventures with thrift store finds.

C&T Publishing is a group of quilters and crafters dedicated to publishing products tailored to our audience. This blog is where we break away from book schedules and marketing campaigns to focus on what drives us to be creative and how this creativity manifests itself in our every day lives.