Tutorial Tuesday: Business Card Holder

So I just got back from the most amazing weekend I've had in a long while! I attended the Mom 2.0 Summit in Houston. I met some great new friends, and met a few people whose blogs I've been reading for a while. I had the pleasure of rooming with some amazing craft ladies: Christy and Deb. I also got to room with Surabhi who owns a math tutoring business. You guys rock! I can't even begin to explain the amount of energy there and the amazing women that I got to meet! I finally got to meet my mom's next door neighbor. Can you guess who it is? Here's a hint, her sister owns this site that's super awesome and she assists with it also! I met Maria, Alison (who had her entire wardrobe for the conference sponsered by Shade!), and April too! I had some great, hilarious conversations with Trisha of MomDot. I also got to talk to Gabrielle and Jordan. I wouldn't even know where to start in sharing with you everything I learned while there! There was definitely a reason that the conference sold out and I will definitely be going next year!

Last week I was all ready to go and decided that I needed a business card holder that held more than 5 cards at a time and that looked a little more like a Schlosser Designs product. So Thursday morning, hours before I had to leave, I came up with this simple pattern for a business card holder. (If you don't have business cards this would make a great holder for all those frequent shopper cards.)

So here's the tutorial for today:

Items you'll need:

2 scraps of fabric
1 piece of thin interfacing
coordinating thread

Piece A: Cut a piece of fabric to be 4 3/4" x 9 1/2"
Piece B: Cut a piece of fabric to be 4 3/4" x 6"
Piece C: Cut two pieces of fabric to be 2 1/4" x 4 3/4" for the inside pockets

Sew pieces C to either side of Piece B. Iron the seams open.
Layer all the pieces in the following order:

Piece A
Piece B/C (make sure the right sides face each other on piece A and B/C)
Interfacing

Pin and sew around the edges using 1/4" seams, leaving about 2" open along one of the shorter sides. See where my double red pins are on the top.


Trim the corners.
Turn right side out and top stitch only the top and the bottom. This will sew up the hole you left open for turning right side out. Sew a straight stitch along the seam where the two fabrics are sewn together. This will help secure the interfacing and make it fold a little easier. (You can barely see it at the seam between the green and blue fabric.)


Fold up the pockets and then top stitch up both sides.


How easy was that? You're done!




Happy Crafting!

Tutorial Tuesday-Floral Arranging

I realize I haven't done a home decor tutorial in a while, so how about learning a little about floral arranging? We'll learn a little about arranging silk florals today.

Here is a preview of the two projects we'll make.





Before we get started there's a quick lesson. (Which can actually be applied to ANY design, whether you're designing a room, floral arrangement, quilt, card, scrapbook page, or fabric.)

There are some simple principles and elements of design that any beginning design student learns to recognize. Then, using these principles and elements, can put together a cohesive, pleasing design. These are as follows:

Principles of Design:
Scale
Proportion
Balance
Rhythm
Emphasis
Harmony

Elements of Design:
Space
Shape
Form
Mass
Line
Texture
Pattern
Light
Color

Today for our floral arranging we'll focus on the Principles: Harmony, Emphasis, and Proportion.
Harmony: Compatibility of elements to create a pleasing whole, achieved mainly through unity and variety. Basically it doesn't all have to be the same to be harmonious.
Emphasis: Anything in the design element that serves as a focal point.
Proportion: The size relationship to the object and it's surroundings. For instance, a really small plant in a really large container means either the plant is proportionally too small, or the container is proportionally too big, and one needs to be changed to make the arrangement more pleasing to the eye.

Ok, so now we'll get started applying our principles.
When choosing your floral stems, choose one or two stems that will be your focal point. I've chosen red for that arrangement and the purple for the other one. This one will take the stage front and center! (You've already got your emphasis now! How easy was that!)
Next, choose a few more stems that will coordinate with your emphasis element. Notice I said coordinate, not match. If you've chosen a red floral stem, like mine, try a smaller red floral, or even some berries in another coordinating color. Like maybe cream or pink. Some copper colored berries would be great too. Don't worry, It's perfectly OK if they don't match! (Great! Now you're harmony is complete too!)
Finally, measure the height of the space that the floral arrangement is going in. (You'll have to do a little math here.) You want the height of your floral arrangement to be about 2/3 of the height. So if your alcove that you're putting this in is 36" high, the tip top of the arrangement should be no more than 24". The red arrangement was going into an alcove about 60" high, so the finished height was pretty close to 40".

Now you've got all your pieces, and you know about how big your arrangement should be, you're ready to put it all together.
For this one you'll need some styrofoam, a few containers, 1 floral stem per arrangement, and a filler. (I used some scrap paper and put it through the shredder.)

Hot glue your styrofoam into your container. Trim the stem to the appropriate height. (Be sure you include the height of the container in your measurement from above and don't forget to use a wire cutter for this! Most floral stems will have wire inside them!) Stick your floral into the center of the foam.

Add your filler to cover the foam and you're done. How easy was that?!?

Here are the two I made to go above my stove in the kitchen!


Now for this one, you'll need a large glass container, 5-6 coordinating stems, and 3 emphasis stems. Don't forget you're filler. I used river rocks for this one. It helps to weigh down the bottom, both visually and physically.

Place your coordinating stems in the back and along the sides to essentially make a backdrop for your focal stems. Then place your focal stems in front of those. Vary the height of them slightly. You'll see that I cut two of the red stems to be a few inches shorter than the one that's front and center. (This adds a little variety, part of the Harmony principle.) Place them in front of your "backdrop" and you're done!

Congratulations! You've completed Floral Design 101! I can't wait to see what you make!

Happy Crafting!

Winner is...

According to Random.org the winner is:

Here are your random numbers:6
Timestamp: 2009-02-17 13:55:12 UTC

Which means that the winner is:

So Stacey, email me your address (erinschlosser (at) schlosserdesigns (dot) com)and I'll get that Hey Cupcake set right out to you. Congratulations!

Want to make sure you get every post?

You can now sign up to get all posts by email through Feedburner. Just enter your email in the box towards the bottom of the left column and follow the instructions to make sure that you never miss an announcement or giveaway! Like this one:

Sign up for Feedburner, leave me a comment letting me know that you did, and be sure to tell me which one of my stamp sets is your favorite. You can find them in the Schlosser Designs Store. I'll randomly choose one person from among those who signed up and commented to win their favorite stamp set! (There are a few people that have already signed up. If so, leave me a comment to confirm that you did, and let me know which stamp set is your favorite.)

How easy is that?!? So, just sign up for emails, let me know which one is your favorite, and check back Monday February 16th for the winner! Good luck everyone!

Tutorial Tuesday-Super Quick Valentine's Day Cards

Thank you everyone for such wonderful, encouraging comments! I truly appreciate all of them!

Today's project is super quick. Just print the PDF on cardstock (download here), cut down the middle, embellish as needed, and you've got two Valentine's Day cards. I love how simple they are, and I love how the text plays with the positive and negative space. Try tying a ribbon around, or adding a few rhinestones. Next week I've got a quick home decor project and a mini floral arrangement lesson for you!


And if you're wondering why the project is so super quick today, it's because I'm working on some new items for the store, like more stamp sets and a new sewing pattern! I am SO excited! They're looking great! I can't wait to share them with you soon!

Happy Crafting!

Tutorial Tuesday-Valentine's Pillow Boxes

Here's another quick valentine's day project for you! This one is super easy and fast!
It's a cute little Valentine's Day pillow box.


Just download the PDF by clicking here. It includes one complete box and four sentiment hearts for the front. They say:
SWAK
Love, me
Happy Valentine's Day
XOXOX

The PDF will look like this:



All you'll need is:
1 sheet of cardstock per box
12"-15" of coordinating ribbon
foam tape


Just cut around the edge of the box, fold the bottom and top on the slightly curved line, fold the tab and use double sided tape to close the box. Tie a ribbon around the box, and use foam tape to adhere your sentiment onto the front! You're done! They'll fit a few candies, or a cookie! Yum!

Happy Crafting!

Tutorial Tuesday - Valentines Treasures

I am super excited! I have sooooo many downloads for you today! I've got a project, card, AND a Valentine's Day font for you! All FREE! And a sale in my shop if you don't have any of the cute silver DVD tins for storing your treasures in!

All the papers and labels needed for this project can be downloaded. In addition to the label PDF here and the case cover PDF here you'll need 1 bag of Hershey's Treasures and 1 DVD tin, some double sided tape, and glitter if you want a little sparkle.

I used the Diamond Stickles. This color is awesome because it takes on the color of whatever you put it on, essentially getting many different colors from one bottle. You'll see in the close-ups below!


Yep, that's all the same Stickles color! I love how it's red, and light pink!

So here's what you do:
Print out the labels onto sheets of Avery label #18160 or #8160. (It's the standard size 1" x 2 5/8" white mailing labels. I like printing them out on regular paper first and then stacking a blank label sheet and the printout on top of each other; hold them to the light to make sure they'll print correctly and are lined up. If they are, go ahead and print onto the sticky labels.)
Cut out the background paper and adhere with double sided tape onto the storage tin. Cut out the sentiment you'd like to use. There are three included that say:
You're Sweet
Happy Valentine's Day
I Love You
(I used the two extra I didn't use on the tin to make a card. They fit great on the front of a standard sized card!)

Next, I used the Stickles to embellish a few of the labels and the hearts on the sentiment. After they've dried, just use some foam tape to adhere the sentiment to the front of the tin.

Wrap all the nuggets in the labels, place in your tin, and you're done.

If you'd like the tins I've got with the rounded corners, you can buy them from my store.
Don't forget to use the coupon code "VAL09" at checkout to get 20% off your entire purchase!


If you like the font that I used in the I Love You sentiment with the hearts cut out, you can download it here. I made it with a free font making website called Your Fonts.

Once again, leave me a comment if you make the project! I'd love to see how yours turn out! If you want a different color scheme let me know and I'll see what I can do!

Edited: Also, I've had a few emails about the printout not lining up with the labels. Make sure that when you print, it's not scaling to print, or fitting to page. Usually printers will default to this setting. If you uncheck the box that says that, it will print at the exact size, which will allow it to line up correctly.
That should be all it takes to get you going on your project!

Happy Valentine's Crafting!

Tuesday Tutorial: Valentines Day Wreath

Ready to get those Valentine's Day decorations up yet? I'm ready! So here's the first idea for you! It's a wrapped yarn heart-shaped wreath.
Supplies you'll need include:
That's:
Tacky Glue
1 package 2" diameter styrofoam balls
1 package 1 1/2" diameter styrofoam balls
Bendable wire
Wire cutters
Flat-head straight pins
2 skeins of coordinating yarn. I LOVED how the variegated red/pink yarn looked when wrapped around the balls! So I would definitely do one of these, and a different solid color to coordinate.
Coordinating ribbon for hanging (not pictured)

Ready to get started?

Wrap the yarn around the balls. I was worried that getting it started wrapping would be challenging, but the yarn kind of held onto the styrofoam texture and I didn't need any additional adhesive to keep it on. Now randomly wrap the yarn all around the ball until you can't see the styrafoam anymore. When you're done wrapping, trim the yarn and put a small dot of tacky glue on the end. I used the straight pin to hold it in place while it was drying. (I had intended to remove the pins when the glue was dry, but the heads were really tiny, so I just left them stuck inside. You can't see them.) You'll have a pile of these when you're done. I did half of each bag a different color.
If you let one get away, they apparently make great cat toys! I had to reclaim one of my pink ones!
Now, layout how you'd like them to look like when you're finished.

Then cut a 4 1/2' length of wire. String the yarn balls onto the wire and shape it into the heart shape.
When you get the ends back together, just wrap the wires around each other.
(Close up of wires.) Then trim.
Tie the coordinating ribbon onto the top of the heart, directly onto the wire. Hang you're finished wreath!
How easy was that? Wrapping the balls is what took the longest, but I did it while I was watching a movie. Once you get the hang of it you can pretty much do it without looking. Shaping the wreath took no time at all! Let me know if you made one, I'd love to see it!
Happy Crafting!

Tutorial Tuesday-Simple Birthday Cards

One of my news years resolutions was to make sure I didn't miss ANY family birthdays. I did really good the first part of last year, but petered off towards the end. (I always called them, it's just that getting a card made and sent out sometimes was a little much.) So, I spent a Friday night and made birthday cards for everyone in one night. Now I just need to put them into envelopes and I'll be ready for an entire year of birthdays! Below are two of the ones I did. To keep it simple I used the same layout and just switched the papers depending on who it was for.


I used a layout from my Project Recipe Book. You can read more about the project book by clicking here. It's a great tool to have and makes it super easy to create cards and scrapbook pages! The Happy Birthday sentiment is from the Hey Cupcake set.

Get ready for some Valentine's Day crafting next week!
Happy Crafting!

Fabric Bowl Pattern Winner

So I made a little mistake when I posted the reminder about the giveaway. I made the entire sentence the same color as the link. So some giveaway entrants left posts at the bottom of this post, and others left their comment at the bottom of this post. Sorry! Because of my error, I will giveaway a pattern free to one from each post.
According to the:

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

2 

Timestamp: 2009-01-11 03:32:16 UTC

Which means that the winners are the #2 commenter from both posts:

Congrats to The Duchess and Melissa! Please email me at erinschlosser (at) schlosserdesigns (dot) com and I'll send you a coupon for a free download from my store. For those that didn't win, you can go to the link here to purchase the pattern!

See you soon!

Modern Fabric Bowls

It's in stock now! With the pattern you can make either of these wonderfully modern fabric bowls! It's a PDF available for download in the
Schlosser Designs store. For only $3 you can download the pattern immediately! (No shipping and handling either!) The download includes 11 pages of instructions and the patterns with over 15 full color pictures to help you along the process.

The pattern is for personal use only, however, if you sew and make items for craft fairs and bazaars you're more than welcome to use the pattern for making limited runs of the bowls. (Just nothing mass produced please!) Have an awesome day!

Don't forget to leave me a comment at the bottom of the post here to enter to win the pattern for FREE!

Happy Crafting!

Edited: This giveaway is over but you're more than welcome to leave a comment!

Sorry for the delay, but it's worth the wait!

Here's some sneak peaks of the tutorial for this week! I think you're going to like it!

Fabric Bowls

For my birthday one of my super crafty friends Emily gave me some coveted fabric fortune cookies, straight out of her new Etsy shop, Momma's Apron Strings. I knew that not just any container could hold these great little cookies so I looked around trying to find a great fabric bowl to make. I found a few patterns, but none were what I was looking for, so I created my own!

Don't you just love the slightly curved top? I can't wait to make more! I'm thinking they can hold cotton balls in the bathroom, knick knacks in the laundry room, spare bits of craft parts, keys by the front door, it's endless! And, they don't take much time at all to make. Once I got the pattern worked out it took me about an hour to make 3 of them!

I'm still typing up and editing the photos for the tutorial. I'm somewhat of a detail oriented person so I wanted to make sure everything was just right and won't have it ready tonight, but tomorrow night for sure!

I'm also going to try something a little different. Due to the time (20+ hours) and materials (Lots of fabric and interfacing) I went through, trying to get this pattern just right I will be offering this one for sale at a small cost. The cost will only be $3 for the pattern. It will include detailed instructions with pictures (because pictures ALWAYS help!), full size pattern, and a few different variations. I hope it won't keep you from making them. It will be available tomorrow night in my shop as a PDF download. I'll post here when it's up in the store!

And how about this:

Leave me a comment at the bottom of this post and let me know what you think about the bowls and I'll randomly pick a comment Saturday and the winner gets a FREE pattern sent to them! (If the winner has already purchased the pattern by Saturday because they just couldn't wait to make some I'll refund you the purchase price.)

Happy Crafting!

Edited: The giveaway is over but you're more than welcome to leave me a comment still. Don't forget to subscribe to the Blog feed so you don't miss out on the next giveaway.