Cards and snow?

I thought I'd post some of the cards I have made recently.
These were made using aluminum cans (beer and soda) as my metal for embossing. I showed how I do this hereFor this one I punched holes through the metal so that the red from underneath could show through
This card, is a photo from last years poinsettia which had been tweaked in Photoshop, printed onto fabric and stitched.
And since many people are looking for snow this time of the year (I am not one of them) I thought it was time for another "snowflake"
Last weeks CPP word was Cloud. What I immediately thought of, was Cloud 9 ......... I kept this one real simple and just drew various sizes of the number 9. Here is what the cut paper looked like before it was unfolded.

..........and after

New bag

This month, at our guild meeting, we welcomed Shirley from The Marsh Store as our vendor. Shirley brought with her, wonderful fabrics, patterns, threads and all sorts of terrific notions to tempt us. One of the things that caught my attention was a bag she had on display and, well...the pattern and supplies for it just had to go home with me.
First of all, I have to tell you about this new batting alternative called inn-control

It is a great product. It is easy to cut, easy to sew and gives amazing body to the bag. It is soft and pliable and yet the bag stands on its own even when completely empty. You can find out more about this product here
There are lots of things I liked about this bag pattern (and a couple of things I didn't) but that is why we sew right? we can make it the way we want! I rarely ever follow a pattern exactly anyway. So I changed the outer pockets from that rounded shape to plain rectangular ones. Then I made a couple of fabric strips that I studded and placed on either side of those pockets just to give a different look. The inside of the bag, I made as called for, with the exception of a loop that I added which gives me a spot to hang my keys so I can always find them quickly.This bag has a nice zippered closure, lots of padded pockets on the inside that are big enough to hold one of those cool Tablets, you can even carry a small Netbook in here along with all your regular purse stuff.
The bag is designed by Brenda Miller, and is called The Everything Goes Bag

Clever idea!!!!

First of all, let me make it perfectly clear that this was NOT my idea, but I thought it was something I just had to share. I have been lucky enough to be part of a wonderful, fun group of ladies who have formed a small sewing group that meets once a month, we all pretty much work on whatever projects we have on the go, share ideas and socialize. Best of all, there are no phones ringing, no chores and NO interruptions.
Yesterday, Cindy shared this clever idea.......have you seen these packages of ponytail holders at the dollar store.......they are tiny, soft, stretchy fabric rings and you get a LOT in a package. Don't have a ponytail? ........oh but you do have bobbins don't you? Lots of bobbins? and when you go to classes and workshops or just even as those bobbins sit in the drawer, do you find the threads unwinding and making a tangled mess? .......well Cindy showed us how those ponytail holders solve that problem. Those little fabric rings fit perfectly on your bobbins whether they are full or not, keeping everything neat and in place
I think this is brilliant! I found packages of black and white but they also come in a great array of colours so you could even colour code your bobbins, you know, one colour for your cottons, one for your rayons and one for.........well you get the idea. They even work great on those little spools that also seem to want to unravel.

Winners, Progress and Prompts

Winners:
The great folks at LAPEL stick told me I could pick 2 winners who will each receive one to keep for themselves or give as a gift, the randomly chosen winners are Just Pam and Royce.....emails from me are on the way ladies. Hope you love this product as much as I do.
Progress:
All of the flowers, leaves, buds and vines for the borders are prepared, in place, and ready for the hand stitching to begin. ( a couple of pieces can't be put on until after all the seams are stitched) but I love that with this method, I can see exactly what the finished border will look like
Prompts:
I thought it was time for a couple more papercut snowflakes in response to The Creative Prompt Project. #133 is Green..........since I am in applique mode and doing it in a "scrappy"fashion, I did notice that choosing colours for the flowers can take a while, but leaves and vines are easy......greens, of course! So this snowflake is made up of leaves and vines
CPP # 132 was Ocean......in this snowflake, you will find ocean waves, sea horses, turtles and of course plenty of fish.