Some of my Christmas Sewing Projects

I'm posting a few photos of some of the items I made for Christmas gifts this year.

Fisherman's Ruler miniquilt wallhanging for Sam

close-up of the ruler

pond scene miniquilt wallhanging for Donna
Don't you just love the little turtle buttons?!!!
And this hangs from a dowel on a dragonfly holder.

Cardinals miniquilt wallhanging for Mom with appliqued felt birds
The fabric has silver threads in the birch trees.

pieced birds pillow created from 25 separate squares for Mom
You can see in a couple of places where I didn't get things lined up perfectly.
I do have another set of panels so will eventually make a second pillow.
I find I'm learning more and more with each project I take on. 

Santa miniquilt for the back of the sofa 

Forest critters lap quilt for Mom to use in her wheelchair
pieced and hand-tied

Forest critters pieced squares pillow for Dad

Toasty Mitten Garland

Be sure to check today's Memory Box blog post after 3 PM for directions/suggestions for making my Toasty Mitten Garland.   http://davebrethauer.typepad.com/outsidethebox/

Quick and Easy Fabric Tags

If you have ended up here looking for the Memory Box and Poppystamps Blog Hop, hop on down to the next post!!!  Thanks, Anne


Freezing rain and icy roads cancelled the workshop I had planned at Tacoma Lakes Quilters for Quick and Easy Fabric Tags.  The samples I'm going to show below are all made with holiday fabrics.  But they can easily be changed up to use up fabric scraps from any project, even coordinating tags with finished items you are giving away.

Because I use tags in so many stamping projects, I had a box of 500 shipping tags that I had purchased at Staples but you can purchase them in smaller quantities (packs of 20 at JoAnn's, Michaels, or ACMoore).  And I used fat quarters of holiday fabrics picked up on sale at JoAnn's.  I also used some papers from my Christmas box crafting stash for backgrounds on tags or on the back of the tag to cover my wonky stitching.  I did sew all of the fabrics to the tags using my sewing machine and white thread (because that's what I had on my machine).
I do think that a good glue stick would also hold the fabric in place if you don't want to sew it on.

 This is a selection of the tags I made.

I covered the front of this tag with paper before stitching on the fabric piece. 

 For this one, I stitched the paper tag which then holds the fabric in place on the tag.

 For this one, I stitched a line down the middle of the fabric piece and tied a scrap of the same fabric through the hole in the top of the tag.  I think I'll go back and add the fabric tie to all of the tags I made.

 For these two tags I used smaller pieces of fabric stitched around all four sides, leaving room to write To and From or a short message on the tag front.

I also have a whole bunch of cardboard templates for making larger fabric tags which could also be pockets to hold a gift card or another tiny gift and could then be hung on the tree as an ornament after removing it from the present...mittens, trees, snowmen, hearts, giant tags, houses, and lots more.  I cut out two of each shape with pinking shears, sewed around the edge (wrong sides together), then punched a hole to add a ribbon and tag.  Quick and easy!

I'm sure that you can come up with many more creative ways to use fabric for your holiday tags.

Happy Crafting!

Memory Box/Poppystamps Blog Hop: Tag/Ornament

Welcome to the Memory Box/Poppystamps Blog Hop!!!  And welcome to my blog!!!  Our theme is Holiday Gift Tags and Treat Wrappers.  Both the Memory Box blog (http://davebrethauer.typepad.com/outsidethebox/) and the Poppystamps blog (http://poppystamps.typepad.com/) have the complete Hop list as well as today's prize shown and directions for how to win.

You probably got to me from Sherry Hester at http://lecardonbleu.blogspot.com/
And I'm the last one on today's list!
To start at the beginning, visit Mary McMillan at http://glittergrammy.blogspot.com/

Be sure to leave a comment on each of today's posts by December 10th in order to be eligible for today's prize:  the Winner's Choice of a Birch Press Design Pack of Recipe Cards.  (http://www.birchpressdesign.com/)
Winners (one each from Memory Box and Poppystamps) will be selected at random from the Design Teams posts and will be announced on both the Memory Box and Poppystamps blogs on December 15th.

For a second chance to win, "like" Birch Press Design on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/BirchPressDesign)
and share the post about the hop.  One person who does both will win a prize from Birch Press Design.


I made a tag that also doubles as an ornament, shown here tied on the top of a package.

Materials Used:

• paper mache disk with string attached (Michaels) or trace around a glass on cardboard/cereal box etc. to make sturdy circles, gluing a piece of ribbon or twine between two circles
• Memory Box "Poinsettia Birds" from the Tinsel paper collection leftover from a few years ago
• Memory Box Dill Cardstock
• Red Linen Cardstock from The Paper Cut
• Memory Box Frosted Christmas Tree die no. 98668
• Memory Box Plush Poinsettia Corner die no. 98967
• PoppyStamps Small Blooming Poinsettia die no. 902
• Memory Box To and From stamp B1826
• black marker (Mr. Sketch), Glue Dots, Dimensional Dots, Glue Pen, tape runner, and red/white ribbon (ACMoore)

Step One:  Die cut everything.

 Step Two:  Trace the disk onto some pretty paper and cut out the circles.

Step Three:  Use the marker to edge the circle so that none of the kraft color will show.  Adhere the paper circles to the front and back of the disk.

Step Four.  Start assembling the pieces, gluing on the first layer images.

Step Five:  Assemble the poinsettias, adding two small ones over the small poinsettias on the Plush Poinsettia Corner and pop-dotting the larger third one over the larger poinsettia in the cut-out.

 Step Six:  Add the To and From stamped label on the back of the disk.

And here is the finished ornament on the tree!

And, of course, I can never just make one!

Additional Materials Used for these five:

• PoppyStamps Nestled Bird die no. 817
• Memory Box Toasty Mitten die no. 98664
• Memory Box Precious Snowflakes  die no. 98729 (the smaller one)
• Memory Box Beloved Snowflakes die no. 99044
• white cardstock
• papers from the "Jack Frost" collection, American Crafts
• Memory Box Bluebird Distressed Dots Paper
• PoppyStamps Chocolate Bunny die no. 995
• PoppyStamps Fluffy Bunny die no. 980
• PoppyStamps Bunny Buddies die no. 998

Don't you just LOVE the Snow Bunnies?!  Perfect for my skiing friends!  All I need to do now is get those presents wrapped so I can tie on these tags!!!

Here's today's Blog Hop list.
(My links don't seem to be working.  Copy and paste the address into your browser to visit the other pages.  Or go to the Outside the Box blog or the Poppystamps blog to link directly from their lists.)

Memory Box  http://davebrethauer.typepad.com/outsidethebox/

Poppystamps  http://poppystamps.typepad.com/

Mary McMillan  http://glittergrammy.blogspot.com/

Sherry Eckblad  http://www.buttonjunkie.blogspot.com/

Sue McRae  http://suesinkyfingers.blogspot.com/

Bibiana Martinez-Zieglerhttp://stampingwithbibiana.blogspot.com/

Pam Simpson  http://pam-simcrafts.blogspot.com/

Evgenia Petzer http://evgeniapetzer.blogspot.com/

Sherry Hester http://lecardonbleu.blogspot.com/

Anne Thompson http://notesfromthewoodshed.blogspot.com/

Don't forget to leave a comment for me!

Happy Crafting!

Clean and Simple Wildberry Branch notecard

This morning I quickly made a card and posted it for the Outside the Box blog for Memory Box.  Here it is:

Just a quick post for a very quick and easy card using two stamps, ink, and white embossing powder on a dill notecard.   I added a tiny white bow, but it could also be dressed up with tiny white pearls on the berries.

• Wildberry Branch G2015
• Merry Christmas B2019

Be sure to check back tomorrow for the Memory Box/Poppystamps Blog Hop!!!

Thanksgiving 2014

These are a few of the photos I took this afternoon.  We are very fortunate to have power--it only blinked twice last evening but never went out.  There are thousands of people without electricity, though, not too far from here.  The sun is shining on that eleven-inch snowfall and it's a beautiful day.

late afternoon:

ThanksGiving: Gratitude Jar

This is my post on Outside the Box's Blog today!

Thanks Giving: Gratitude Jar

I saw the idea for a gratitude jar in a magazine and adapted it for use at my Thanksgiving table.  I used an old blue Quick Seal glass canning jar that had belonged to my grandmother and made a large tag for it using Memory Box dies.

Memory Box Materials Used:

• Pavilia Bloom Background die no. 98899; Mango Dots Paper
• Pavilia Bloom Outline die no. 98888; Squash Moroccan Paper
• Holly Branch die no. 98912; Dill Cardstock
• Pinecone Corner die no. 98685; Dill Cardstock

Other Materials:

• Brown Cardstock, The Paper Cut
• Hero Arts Forever Green Ink
• Jumbo Dauber, Imagine Crafts
• Glue Dots; Glue Pen; Dimensional Dots; Ribbons from my ribbon bin

Steps to assemble tag:

I stamped a stack of small tags using the Simple Wreath stamp D1949 and Hero Arts Forever Green ink.  I will place a few at each place setting with a pen so that everyone can write down the things they are thankful/grateful for before placing each completed tag in the jar.

Maybe this will be the beginning of a new tradition in my home.  Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!!!

Happy Crafting!