Kanzashi Cluster and Homework Assignments

Here is my final Kanzashi flower project. Today, I made something special for one very important gal in my life, someone who spends a great deal of time with me in my studio and I’ve become quite fond of: My dressform. {LINK}Using the pages from the same old book that I Mod Podge’d her with I scanned them as well as some other book graphics and added square (cheater) cut lines.I printed them out onto Colorfast Ink Jet Fabric sheets and trimmed out each square.Using the instructions in the Kanzashi in Bloom book, I folded, pinned, trimmed and threaded the petals into 3 flowers.I added some funky vintage black buttons to the center of each.For the Kanzashi with the 12 petals, I pulled and pushed alternating petals to create a more dimensional flower.And here’s my final cluster of book page Kanzashi flowers on my special gal.Now, for those readers that turned in their assignment, THANK YOU! You each receive a big fat A! Here they are:No. 1 : by Cheryl of Artsy~Fartsy is made from dotted Swiss fabric. Kee-yoot! No. 2: Put on your sunglasses gang, these juicy Kanzashi are all made by Suzie of Suzie Button Creations. Awesome holiday themed flowers!No. 3 : again by Cheryl of Artsy~Fartsy. The first one is made of paper and the flowers in the second photo are made from black netting! Clevaahh!
No. 4: Sweet plaid flannel flowers, by JSIM reader Molly, are made from baby quilt project leftovers with felted ball centers. I love that!
No. 5: Purse embellishments by Suzie of GeorgiaPeachez. Who does she think is, the teacher’s pet? She gets a shiny-sticker-star attached to her forehead for this fantastic job!

Thanks again to Diane Gilleland of CraftyPod for writing the book that started the frenzie!

Here’s a little “Behind the Scenes” shot for you. You know, the stuff you’re not supposed to see… Those fabric ink-jet sheets once printed were so tough to stick a pin through when folded that, after bending up several pins and killing my fingers, I resorted to using a hammer & nail to create a starter-hole in the petals before placing my pins in to hold them.

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Carveit.ca Part 2: The Giveaway!

I painted the Carveit.ca Holden Family sign today. Click HERE to see the previous post about the making of the sign.I used a satin black spray paint to cover the entire piece, sanding with a very fine sandpaper between coats and let dry well.With basic craft acrylic paint I painted a cream color into the grooves and wiped with a moist rag as I went to remove the overpainting.I painted the crest with a few coats of apple green acrylic paint to match my kitchen wall and used metalic craft paint in silver for the letter H and the crown to coordinate with the stainless steel appliances. I didn’t think the cream color around the crown looked great so I went back and painted black into the areas around it and the initial.I finished the sign with a light spray coat of satin varnish and hung above our wood stove.The cool thing is that if my decor colors change, I can easily repaint my sign to match! This is now an official Holden family heirloom.

And now it’s time for a fantastic giveaway!

Jack Qiao of Carveit.ca will make and send a custom wood sign to two JSIM blog readers! The winners will have the choice of either designing one sign each (up to 10″ x 18″) themselves on his easy to navigate website, or I will create for them a custom sign design similar to mine, but with their family name or choice of wording to send to Jack for carving. The winner will have the option of receiving their sign bare to custom paint themselves or have it finished in one of the many finishes that Carveit.ca offers.

In order to enter, please be willing to share a photo of yourself with your sign once it’s finished for Jack to put on his website. If that sounds OK to you, please leave a comment on THIS post. I’d love to hear your fantastic ideas for using Carveit.ca’s services, but a simple “enter me” will do just fine! Be sure your comment leads me to a way to contact you if you win or simply leave your email address. Good luck!

ENTRY DEADLINE IS SUNDAY, OCTOBER 11 AT NOON. (California time.)
The winners will be announced on Monday, October 12.
Remember Carveit.ca for wedding gifts, holiday gifts, fundraisers, custom home decor and more!

Bonus: Jack is offering 10% rebate on all JSIM readers’ orders if you send a photo of yourself and your sign for use on his website. To claim the rebate, just reply to the order confirmation email with your photo once you receive your sign.

THIS GIVEWAY IS NOW CLOSED TO ENTRIES AT ENTRY NO. 254

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Cake Wrecks: Part 2



Er, winner that is. Congratulations Katie B. of Katie’s Corner!

Thanks for all the super fun entries, I had a blast reading everyone’s cake related comments!

As you may or may not know, Jen’s Cake Wreck tour has been canceled as her husband John became critically ill. Today they report he is doing much better. I hope you’ll take a minute or two to wish them both the best on their next venture of which could be deemed the “Cake Wreck Recovery Tour”, to do so, click HERE!

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