Mothers Day Crafting - The Gifts

There were two things that I made my Mum this year - a case for her tablet computer and an apron.

Tablet Case

I found a pattern to make tablet cases which I had to try. I experimented first making one for my Kindle Fire HD which worked quite well and was fairly easy to do so I decided I could make Mum one.

This is the finished product. It was made with some Cath Kidston style material and lined with pink. It's slightly padded as well, which was created by sandwiching some wadding in between the two layers of material.

It was only my second time making button holes (the first being for the case I made) and I think I got the hang of it quite quickly. It was a perfect fit as well and she really liked it.

Apron

I fell in love with this black and pink flowered material when I saw it on the market stall and knew I had to make an apron for Mum with it. She has a lot of aprons that my nan used to make, but they are all wearing out so I adapted a few patterns and made her a new one.

I lined it with black material to make it more sturdy and give it a more professional finish:

There is a large pocket on the front as well which I divided into two by sewing a zig zag stitch down the middle of it.

The apron is then edged with some pink bias binding tape and finished with the straps. The straps were made by cutting out the material, folding it in half and sewing it with right sides together. I turned them inside out with the help of a large safety pin and ironed them flat. I then sewed the straps on and carried on with the sewing to decorate the edges.

I was very pleased with the results, even though the apron was a little bit too long and the pockets too deep, but it fitted around the waist and was the perfect gift!

Claire

Mothers Day Crafting - The Card

So, it was Mother's Day in the UK last Sunday - 10th March, and as usual I had to think up some new ideas of things to make my mother.

First came the card. I wanted to experiment with double embossing, based on an article that I'd seen in the latest issue of Craft Stamper magazine.

This was the first attempt. I inked the raised edge of the embossing folder with versamark ink before running it through the machine. I then sprinkled clear embossing powder on and melted it to create a resist surface.

I then took 3 co-ordinating Tim Holtz distress stains in peacock feathers, squeezed lemonade and shaded lilac, and dabbed some of the ink to a resist mat surface, being careful not to mix the inks together. I then swiped the card through the ink so it stuck to the parts that weren't covered with the clear powder.

I wasn't overly pleased with the result, so I decided I would cut out the good butterflies and use them as individual embellishments on the card.

I then had another idea to try the double embossing the other way round! This time, I swiped the distress stain straight from the bottle onto the card, in rainbow stripes.

Then I put it in the embossing folder and ran it through the machine. Then I took the versamark ink and gently swiped it over the raised parts and covered these with white embossing powder. After shaking off the excess, I touched up and parts that had been missed with a versamark pen. This left a piece of card which looked like this:

I trimmed off the edges and used this piece as a backing to the card. I embellished the rest of the card with matching flowers, buttons and the butterfly I had cut out and here is the perfect spring time mothers day card:

Read my other post to find out what I made my mum as her present....

Claire

Mothers Day Crafting

Mothers day posed me with several problems, the main one being that I had lost my craftiness and wasn't sure what to make. I had decided on a design for a card:

I heat embossed the flowers at the bottom with white powder on brown kraft card and painted with vintage mica powders. The strip on the left is a swirly embossing folder brushed with distress ink and mounted onto a scallop border. The butterflies were heat embossed with white powder onto vellum and used as an overlay to purple butterflies to make them 3D.

Once I had the card I thought I would keep the butterfly/flowers theme. I had been meaning to try stamping on candles for a while so, after a few attempts, I managed two different candles in co-ordinating designs:

Once I had got the hang of it, it's quite an easy technique, but if you are doing it for the first time then make sure you have a spare candle to practise on first.

Then I thought of making a plaque. I wanted to include a quote but couldn't find anything appropriate and along with my craft inspiration, my writing inspiration had disappeared too. I also wanted to try the letters with some ultra thick embossing powder but that idea fell through so they stayed matt with just the patterned papers for decoration.

However, with my love for embossing powders I couldn't create something for Mum without embossing it, so I used my new purple pearlescent powder for the tag and that turned out brilliantly. Sometimes the powders aren't thick enough to cover the colour underneath so I did colour the tag in purple with my pro markers first. But I needn't have bothered because the powder covered it perfectly.

Mum loved all her presents, especially the candles. I think I am going to make more of these now I know how it's done and plan on selling them at a craft fair I've got planned for the end of the year. Some Christmas themed ones I think!