In her new book, Next Steps in Altered Photo Artistry, Beth Wheeler proves that anyone can create stunning quilt art with photos and Photoshop Elements software.
To celebrate the release, Beth has created a free project for the C&T Blog readers. It’s called the “Funky Photo Padfolio.” Click here to automatically download the project attachment.
The project teaches you to turn this:
Into this:
Here’s a charming new way to way to celebrate springtime!
Making an egg basket is a great project to do with children—have them decorate the “eggs” while you make the basket. After Easter, the basket becomes a handy holder for decorative soaps, candies, or other small items.
What? You didn’t know quilters had their very own day? Yep, it is March 21st. Conveniently, it always falls on a Saturday, so don’t worry about hounding your boss for another paid holiday. Here are your answers to some FAQs regarding this fabulous holiday:
1. What is the origin of National Quilting Day?
Who cares? It is a day to give you a perfect excuse to put all other chores and commitments aside and QUILT! Just kidding, The National Quilting Association started National Quilting Day in 1991.
2. How should you celebrate National Quilting Day?
Start a quilt, work on a quilt, finish a quilt, host a special Quilt Day event, go on a “shop hop”, sign up for a class or learn a new technique. When you are done quilting, grab a deck of Ricky Tims’ Playing Cards and start a game, while eating Quilter’s Chocolates.
This year the National Quilting Association is dedicating National Quilt Day to “The Home”. They are also offering a free downloadable project.
3. What is C&T Publishing doing to celebrate National Quilting Day?
Great Question! I’m so glad you asked. We are doing a giveaway to celebrate you and your love of quilting! All you have to do is leave a comment telling us how quilting has changed or impacted your life. We will randomly pick a comment to win one ebook of your choice. Comments have to be made by Sunday March 22nd. Winner will be announced Monday March 23rd. Have fun and Happy National Quilting Day!
If you missed Rebekah Meier’s Canvas Art Book at CHA, here it is! By applying her talents as a mixed-media artist and designer to our Ready-to-Go!® Blank Canvas Book 7” x 8” she has created this beautiful Canvas Book that would warm anyones heart. The golden layers are so yummy and blend beautifully.
Continue Reading…
One of our amazing designers Daniela Costa has applied her passion to this Ready-To-Go Mini Shadow Box. Find her instructions below. Thanks, Daniela!
“Love” by Daniela Costa
*If you’d like a free copy of the Collage Sheet used in this project, email Daniela at theartlife@yahoo.com and she’ll email it to you to print out.
So am I, which is why I was thrilled to come across Barbara Eastwick’s tutorial on rakscraps.com. Barbara used our 6″ x 6″ Accordion Blank Board Bookand listed step by step instructions on how to go from this:
To this finished project:
Can’t wait to see more, Barbara!
Give your gifts a festive touch with these charming, personalized gift tags. They’re so easy to make using the Ready-to-Go!® 5″ x 3″ Tag-shape Blank Board Book, you can create one for everyone on your list!
Materials
All the kindergarten students were asked to bring a flower and a card for their teacher’s birthday.
I remembered that Sue Astroth did these really fun big cards with our display boards. I asked her to refresh my memory on how she would make it and of course she had a lot of great ideas that she is so willing to share. How lucky are we to have people that we can talk to about craft ideas, sewing, quilting, knitting and crocheting? I feel so fortunate to be a part of the C&T family.
I took Sue’s ideas home and along with Livi came up with our own version of a giant birthday card.
As you can see Alivia was so proud of this card.
I told Livi that for the flower I thought she could pick some fresh mint from our herb garden.
Her reply: “Can’t we just buy a fresh flower at the farmer’s market? You know, they have really nice flowers there…”
I explained to her that it will smell nice and be special since it’s from our garden and I’ll even wrap a pretty pink ribbon around it then add a tag: “Fresh Mint from our Herb Garden”. I just needed to explain the idea a little more, because then that sounded like a good idea to her.
That night we were in the kitchen, making our card. I cut the pieces while Alivia stamped the edges. After she placed the pieces on the cover I told her that I’ll write “Happy Birthday” very nicely on the cover. My daughter puts me in place, “I can write Happy Birthday on the cover, mom. The card is supposed to be from me, you know.”
Sometimes I tend to get a little carried away with the craft projects, and she was so right, the card was from ALIVIA not ME. I said, “Of course you should write it.” She did a beautiful job and she made all the embellishment decisions.
Here’s our Teacher’s Birthday Card instructions:
Materials
Preparation
While parent cuts the child can apply the purple and pink stamp to all edges of front and back cover.
Cut 2 pieces of BatiKit 5 1/2″ x 11 1/2″
Cut a piece of white cardstock 3 1/2″ x 9 1/2″
Instructions
I have a confession to make. I am a serial crafter.
Show me something new with great colors and textures, and I have to make it. Now. Today. I am a sewer, quilter, knitter, scrapbooker, and papercrafter. I love creating handmade gifts, and I rarely keep what I make.
The other night my sister Antoinette and I spent the whole evening crafting. This time we were papercrafting. In 3 hours, we made about 20 cards each.
The cards we made were inspired by a gift from Sue Astroth, one of our authors. They are super simple to make.
Be sure to start with double-sided 12″ sheets of paper.
Take a 12″ x 12″ sheet and cut (2) 5″ x 12″ strips. Take the remaining piece and cut it into (2) 1″ x 12″ strips.
Fold the 5″ x 12″ strip lengthwise so that you have a card that is 5″ wide and 7″ tall. Take the reversible 1″ strip and wrap it around the card like a belly-band. Tie or glue a piece of ribbon or yarn around the band.
Take a matching 4″ x 6″ piece of cardstock and to create additional texture and depth ink around the edges.
Slide the cardstock into the 5″ x 7″ card and voilà! You have an adorable slide-out card. Make 10 of these, put them inside a box you’ve decorated, and you have a wonderful gift to give.
Happy crafting!
From the book, Color From the Heart
by Gai Perry
Once upon a time in America, way before how-to books and design classes were available, women somehow managed to make quilts of remarkable beauty and color. Because it was necessary to use tiny leftover scraps and secondhand fabrics, they unknowingly employed two important rules for successfully combining unrelated fabric prints:
Rule #1: Most fabrics will blend in a pleasing manner if the size of the individual pattern pieces are small (2″ or less).
Rule #2: It is easier to combine 50 different fabrics in a quilt than it is to choose 5 fabrics that look perfect together.
