Fabric Easter cards

It is hard to believe that Easter is almost here and there is SNOW ON THE GROUND!!!! I mean, what is up with that????? I was hoping not to see more snow until next winter, but I guess God has other plans for us! In order to keep my spirits up and start getting into the Spring mode, I've been busy sewing this week!

I'm making some reversible tote bags that will be fun for summer outings, and with some of the scraps for one of the bags, I made these adorable little Easter cards using a template I found on Pinterest (my favorite place to escape to!). The template I used is from the NanaCompany blog so pop over to her blog to check out all the other cute stuff she makes! I used Heat-n-Bond adhesive and traced the images from the template onto the paper side after ironing it to the fabric. Then I ironed the fabric to cardstock and stitched around using the sewing machine. Of course, I had to add some little tags and rough up the edges of the cardstock to make them a bit cuter! I love how they turned out!

I'll be back soon with some pictures of the totes and other bags that I am making. In the meantime, have a HAPPY EASTER filled with all of God's wonderful blessings!

J xx

Stationary Box Class Photos

Ten crafty ladies and I had a great time last week creating stationary boxes and a variety of cards and tags to go in the boxes! It was quite a project to tackle in a few hours (note...lesson to self for future classes!), but everyone did well and completed most of the items in the time we had. A big thanks to Dennise for letting us use her studio. You can find more photos on her blog Chick Kiss. Here are some of my pictures of the event!

Have a great weekend! Spring weather is here in Zurich (at least for the weekend...)!!!!
J xx

Stationary Box Class ... a sneak peak!

Spring is starting to show its face in Zurich after a long winter and many mornings of shoveling the driveway - Hooray!!! But...as is normally the case when the weather is beautiful, I've been cooped up in my office, working hard to prepare for our Stationary Box class that will take place on Tuesday and Friday next week (see this post). Below is a sneak peak of what we will be making.

This is my example box set. There are several tutorials for this box on the internet. I used the pdf from this tutorial that I found on Pinterest, so special thanks to Dannie's Designs for the pdf version!!

Our combined classes will have 10 lovely, crafty ladies, and as such, I've made packs for them to choose from, each containing a different set of colors and patterned paper. I did this for two reasons: 1) it allows each person to create their own unique box set, and 2) it helps clear out a small portion of my 12x12 designer paper so I can purchase more on my next trip to the USA in April! The basic box will be in kraft paper because it goes with everything (and is one of my favorite stock to have on hand). 

Hope you are having a great week!

J xx

30 Days of Lists

How many of you have to write lists to keep track of all the things floating around in your head that needs to be done? I have lists going all over the house: for groceries, my wish list of what I want to get done for the week, list of projects I want to complete, etc, etc, etc...  Given my infatuation interest in Pinterest, I couldn't help but pin something that caught my eye called "30 days of Lists". It is fun little project where you compile a list based on a daily prompt, such as "I am a lister because..." or "This ______, I am going to:_____". It allows me to get a bit creative in addition to writing lists of interesting stuff. I can finally use all the fun little notebooks, stickers, scraps of favorite papers, and washi tape (of course!) that I have sitting around my office!

30 Days of Lists by J Blume

I had hoped to be ahead of the game and have my little notebook all ready to go and start listing on Day 1, but....I turned 40 (YIKES!) on Thursday and had too many other things to do over the past couple of days (understandably)! I started the cover of the notebook as you can see above and will be posting more pictures of my lists as I manage to get through them!

If you are interested joining this little project, you can register HERE. There is a small fee involved but this gives you access to their private blog, lots of free downloads, examples of what others are doing on the project via a Flickr group and other fun information and give-a-ways.

Happy listing!
J xx

Fun in Klosters

Enjoying our week in Klosters, skiing, ice skating and hanging out with the family and friends! It's too bad we have to go back to reality on Monday....

Hope you are enjoying your week too!

J xx

Stationary Box Stamp Class Invitation

Stamp Camp in January

I held a Stamp Camp at my house a couple weeks ago for one of my friends and wanted to share what we made with you. I enjoy spreading the love of stamping and what you can do with paper to others and find it such a shame that Switzerland does not have more products like Stampin' Up...! There is a HUGE market for this type of crafty goodness in Switzerland and I think SU! would do very well if they would make the decision to come into the country (they already have operations in Germany, France and the UK... so why not Switzerland????).

One thing that I introduced to the class was the use of a Sizzix embossing machine that one of my friends loaned me. OH MY GOODNESS...I LOVE THAT MACHINE!!! It takes a plain old piece of paper and turns it into something beautiful with only the turn of a crank! The Smile card below, as well as the birdy note pad use the embossing plates for the background and I just love the look it gives to them. Guess what I am getting for my birthday in a few weeks....!

We made 4 cards and a little notebook

Birdy notebook with embossed cover

This is my favorite card that we made. Can you see the birds that are embossed on the brown background? 

They all had fun creating their own balloon card using a variety of papers from my scrap box. 

The old maps are actually a set of paper placemats I found one time. They are perfect for more "manly" cards. 

 Below are a few photos of the class participants.

Let the creativity flow!

The crafty participants, including a brave, young man (and the first male particpant to attend one of my classes!)

Happy stamping!
J xx