Bella Carta

Stocking stuffer ornaments - complete with pattern and how to

Have an old wooly sweater that you just can't part with? Or just pick one up at the thrift store for an easy to make Christmas gift that doubles as an ornament for a gift card holder.

This is super easy, just take your stocking template - pin it onto your sweater (right sides together) I used the band on the bottom for the top of the stocking. Cut two. Unpin your pattern and stitch up, down one side around the heel and toe, up the next side. You can stitch in a piece of yarn for the loop holder. The band - top of the stocking is not seen shut. I used the edge of the pressed foot as my guide. Turn inside out and place a gift card (or not). For extra fun, you could add buttons or other decoration.

You can see from my pics,I played around with the exact shape of the stocking - till I found what I wanted.  For easiness :-) just click right here ------->   Download 2537_001 and you'll get a PDF of the stocking that you just click and print.

Heart "felt" {SFC80}

 
Welcome to Monday!   Hope your week is off to a grrrrrreeeeeat start!  {and yes, I'm caffeinated this morning!)

Our challenge this week is to "Put your heart into it"!  So that's exactly what I did - I needle felted this little heart (and added a bit of beaded decoration to it) from red wool.   Oh, and that heart -  it detaches to be worn as a pin!  Yes, it features a pinback finding and can be taken off the card and worn on your coat, jacket, blouse, etc. 

The digi stamp I used is called "There are souls" and its a script-y style sentiment that can also be used as your focal image.  The background paper is from Graphics 45 - their Christmas Past collection, but I think the red is suitable for use anytime of year!   I smeared and smudged all the papers a bit to give it a vintage look.  All the details are listed below:

Want to see more from Squigglefly ?  <---- click to go check it out.  And take a peak a what the entire design team has created for you this week:

Vicki Parson   http://stampedsmiles.blogspot.com/  - DT Leader   
Sue Seidlinger   http://www.dancinginthepuddles.com   
Dani  Chapman   http://paulettespapers.com/
Dawn Lusk     http://dawnanewday.blogspot.com/   
Marlene Shaw   - disguisedasagrownup.blogspot.com   
Janice  Richardson  huhsothisisablog.blogspot.com      
Rebecca  Grohall    http://bellacarta.typepad.com/  
Stephanie  Mino   http://stephaniemino.blogspot.com/   
Melody Schwartz   http://lacyquilter.blogspot.com/   
Jennifer  Greco  http://glitterinmyhair.blogspot.com/  

If you would like to play along with the challenge - click here for the Squigglefly blog <-----

The deets:
Digital image: There are Souls (Squigglefly)
Paper:  Very Vanilla CS (SU), with PTI's "Pure Poppy" and two patterns from Graphic 45 Christmas Past paper.
Accessories:  handmade, hand beaded red wool felted heart

Ugglies .... handmade wool cat toys

From time to time I like to share projects where I've "re-purposed" old items, in today's projects its old wool sweaters that are turned into cat toys.  I've been playing with upcycled wool sweaters from the local thrift shop (I think the snowbirds bring these when they come here and then discover that they don't need wool sweaters in Florida!) and donate them to Goodwill.

I cut them up, stuff 'em with cat nip and then use yarn to hand stitch them closed.  They're approximately 3 inches by 4 inches big, plenty for your cat to toss and kick around, and they're for sale in my Etsy store:  Handmade by Rebecca <---- click to go check it out. 

TTIC60 celebrating the color RED!

This week's challenge was chosen by Erica and this is what she write!  

I love red. It is one of those colors that envokes so much emotion. Whether it be love or hate, red is passionate. When watching New Moon I just love the visual of all the people in red capes at the Saint Marcus Day Festival. Red was all around during Christmas time, and now with Valentine's day, there is so much inspiration around.
Creative portion: Create a project either using the color red or expressing what red means to you.
Comment portion: Tell your best "red" story. Is it that great red dress that caught everyone's attention, have you "seen" red before, anyone like Red Velvet cake? Anything goes!

I love the color RED, its really one of my favorite colors with pink (which is a derivative of red) coming closely behind.

Since red is my favorite color ......  I am donating all proceeds (purchase price) on felted items and any item with the color red in it in my Etsy store for Haitian earthquake relief.

I made this red felted heart ..... its a pin and available for purchase in my Etsy store.  Its roughly 2.5 in x 2.5 inches and hand needle felted.  

 

My favorite red story?   I love cardinals ... one of my favorite mornings of all I walked outside and there were THREE red cardinals in my driveway!  

 

 

And as always, our Design Team has fantastic projects to display for this week’s challenge - please go and check them out!

Alison ~ Dani ~ Donna ~ Erica ~Jen ~ Jodi

Julie ~ Margie ~ Rebecca~ Tonya

 

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Please join in and play along with us! If you do, here are a few guidelines to follow:

For posting to a blog: Please indicate that you are playing along with the Twilight Tuesday Inspiration Challenge on Twilighttuesday.com and please provide a link back to our site.

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Comments/Posting your link: Please leave a comment and add your link to Mr. Linky (be sure to check the box indicated that you played along and link directly to your post). We are big fans of comments around here!

Etsy update!

I've sold almost all of my Twilight inspired cards in my Etsy store <--- click to go visit, but I am going to be adding more.   I'll definitely make a few more of Bella's truck and I've got a few more card ideas percolating in my head.

In the meantime I've added the Alice earrings from the Twilight Tuesday Inspiration Challenge.   {I thought I had put these into the store earlier, and had not!}.  These are sterling silver, with vintage jet (black beads) and red jade.

Fab Friday Favorite Five

I didn't want to let the day finish before I posted my Friday Favorite Five list ... these are things I think are just fabulous:

1. My Keurig!  Reallly, if there is ONE product that has revolutionized my life in the past year - this is it!!!   I can count on one hand the number of times I've gone to a coffee shop to buy coffee since I've bought this!   I have the B60, the Special Edition featured below - it the mid range model.  And they've just come out with a mini edition.  If you've seen*any* of my posts on Splitcoast, you know how much I love mine!

 2.  Felting - this is an addictive art where WOOL is my color palette and medium!   In Florida I find not alot of people are familiar with wool, but I love to needle felt.   Really, scrunching wool fibers with a needle is VERY therapeutic, think voodoo dll therapeutic!

Here's a great reference guide to get you started!

3.  Ryan Shupe and his Rubber Band (RS & RB) - I saw these guys in Salt Lake City and was amazed!  Such energy and great music!  Its always in my car CD and iPod. 

4.  I love to read ....  HBO has made several of my favorites into a series.  I'm usually such a book geek that I not only read the book, I then will often purchase the audiobook and listen to it be read.  I particularly love to hear the author narrate, I find it wonderful insight into the book.  The first season of True Blood recently wrapped, bringing the "Sookie Stackhouse" {southern vampire} series to life.  I guess that gives me time (before season 2 starts) to read the whole series!

5.  The *perfect* gift for almost everyone on your list (with a handmade card, of course!).  Amazon gives you three different options (in all prices ranges), you can email the gift certificate electronically to your recipient (for immediate gift giving), you can purchase it and print it out at home to personally deliver, or you can have an actual personalized gift card sent to the recipients (or your address).  I keep a few of these on hand at the holidays (in small dominations) for quick giving for those "surprise" situations.

First day of fall!

Tuesday was officially the first day of Fall!  You'd probably never guess it from the weather, its still quite warm and {oddly} humid for this time of year! 

One of my fun side interests is needle felting, and sometimes wet felting {different technique} wool.  Yes, in tropical florida - I love to play with wool!  I buy mine from places "north" or "west" of here where they have sheep!  The wool is cleaned and combed, then dyed (not be me, that's the point I buy it at).  Its at this point it may be made into yarns with spinning wheels or it can be used for felting.   I use specially made needles that lock the fibers together. 

These start out as a piece of wool, rolled into a ball - then punched/stabbed about a thousand time to lock the fibers together.  I use several shades of oranges for these, and they blend together while I felt.  The "leaves" are created with shades of green wool.  I attach the pumpkin "ribs" onto the woolen balls by holding a drawing a piece of the wool roving in my fingers till its thin and yarn-ish, like I am going to spin it.

Okay ... so these might not be everyone's cup of tea, but they're really lightweight!  And a lot of fun to make!  Needle felting is a great stress reliever - much like stamping.    These are for sale in my Etsy store:  Handmade by Rebecca!  <---- click to go see them!