Digital Scrap-booking

I am in love .... :)

AFTER - digital scrapbooking 

......with this new software for digital crafting, I am trying. Can you imagine? A software for digital crafting! Really? Do you think there is anything more perfect than that? :) . Photoshop is nice too, but not so specific for crafters like me.  And please, do not think I am a professional! I am hardly a professional in any crafts I do. It's all a hobby and a matter of spending wonderful time doing something I like that will make me smile. 

I am not going to brag all around the positive and negative features of the software, although at this point I am not finding any negative, except my slow advancing :) 

For the beginning, I am just sharing with you, two images of our autumn front door decoration with before and after the make over. And please, remember I am still learning. 

BEFORE -  digital scrapbooking 

Ahhhh.... wonderful, wonderful! 

Valentine's day card in purple

Purple rain card for St. Valentines

This year I decided to join the monthly competition by Sinelli's blog "Valentine's card without red or pink" (the blog is in Finnish and for those who are wondering what is Sinelli - it is one of the biggest crafts stores in Finland or wonderland for me).

So, Valentine card without red or pink? Nice and.... yes, challenging. So I though, and thought... and after reorganizing my crafts stash several times (it is good that my husband is not aware the amount of staff for crafting I have, :))))) , I came up with purple. 

So here comes the list for the needed materials: 

yarn - for knitting the purple heart

thread - first time sewing a card

card base

paper  "Victoria and Albert V&A" by Papermania

a patch for fabric

gems

ribbons in purple and white

lace ribbon

glue 

printed text 

This rather simple card requires a bit of preparation - the heart I knitted myself, for which I need to modestly share I am quite proud of, as I am now learning to knit (just two months ago I started).

knitted purple heart 

Although, I big amateur in knitting, I manged to came up myself with the stitches I had to knit to achieve the heart pattern. Knitting with this thin yarn and needles size 2 was new for me and I had made some mistakes, but nevertheless I think it suits the vintage look of the card. However, to be honest, I realize that I miss the smooth and professional look of an experienced knitter's work, but I just have to practice more. Once the heart was ready I decorated it with the lace ribbon and two flower shaped purple gems. 

Additionally, I sew the card just to add some more decoration. I've seen other sewed cards and I find that this technique adds quite nice and adds different touch to the card. The birds decoration is a glue patch for clothing and I had a big dilemma, if I want to use it (not that I don't like it, the opposite - I like it a lot, to place it on a card, but there it is now...). 

And the rest it some ribbons and text...and this is it! 

Valentine's day card in purple

The card was not chosen as a winner, but if you look at Sinelli's blog page it was very tough competition. 

And last but not least.... I couldn't help but hear Prince's song "Purple rain", while I was writing this post, so if you have reached the end of the post, please click here and enjoy the song ( I respect Prince quite a lot as an Artists :) ).  

That's all from me today. I hope you have had a wonderful Valentine's day in a purple rain ;).

Vienna Loves us too

And we love Vienna.....

Before you get confused by the title of this post, I will explain why, you see such a title in the blog. But how to put a long story short, as I generally like long post :). But here it is. 

Last year our family visited Vienna in the beginning of May to celebrate out lovely daughter's first birthday. But why Vienna - you might ask? And the answer is "Where else but Vienna?". Vienna in the spring was just the right place to spend a romantic family weekend. And I will always remember, when we bought our daughter a piece of Schwarzwaldkirsche cake with a single candle and sang to her in Schonbrunn castle's cafe the "Happy Birthday" song. I don't know how much she understood the meaning of it until she was offered a piece  from her first birthday cake to taste, but we will always remember our excitement when people from the near by tables sang the song with my husband and I. 

Now I am sure, you understand why we love Vienna, but most certainly I can assure you that Vienna loves you too - the ordinary tourist, the every day romance seeker, the skeptic experienced  traveler, every one... Vienna does love you too, offering you to dance with her a slow flirtatious waltz where she would bend her spine of entertainment to fit your vibe. And you will not be able to get enough of it..... It is a promise. 

That is why, when I saw the ad for the competition "Valentine's Day Facebook Competition" by Vienna's Travel Board", I had to submit out picture too. 

And here it is: 

We love Vienna, and Vienna loves us too

It is a compilation of some of the most wonderful moments we spent there. And there is others, of course. I hope you will like that picture, as much as we do. 

More information about the competition and Vienna can be found here:  http://www.facebook.com/ViennaTouristBoard and here: http://www.wien.info/en/special/valentines

Click here to see and "Like" our picture. 

That will be all from me in this post, and I hope I have managed to convince you to visit Vienna. Soon. Very soon. 

DIY baby pocket bib

What else can make you smile more than a child's excitement when you make something for him/her? Well, it is a rhetorical question for me. Nothing. Of course :). 

Do it yourself pocket bib

This is the purpose of this post; to share with you the excitement of my 1,8 years old daughter when I made 

this bib for her (and one her bunny). 

I like easy and cute craft ideas that everyone can do with as little hassle as possible. 

So, if you own a sewing machine and a little bit of patience, this can be a fun Saturday afternoon project, which will bring you also lots of gratitude (or at least that was the case with me and my baby-girl). 

This summer, I saw the bib pattern from a friend, who saw it from a friend. And I was intrigued by the idea to make one for for my daughter. I like sewing in general,  but unfortunately my Singer 8082 machine was a cheap and not very good purchase choice and I had to wait till have it fixed in order to make the bib. 

But finally, here it is ready and already in use. And I dare to say, my baby never said "No" to wearing this bib, as she saw me sewing it and when it was ready I explained it was made for her. Ah, the smilies! 

Needed Materials: 

waterproof fabric (the one I used is for raincoats- water-repellent from the outside and cotton from the inside) 

color suitable threads

double fold bias tapes

sewing machine

Chose materials for the bib

I chose colorful floral fabric suitable for a girl and few different one-color double fold bias tapes. Oil-cloths are very popular fabrics for making baby bibs, but I found out that oil-cloths are hard to fold (and you do need to fold the bib to carry it with you when your child eats outside), and once folded then it wrinkles permanently. Also food that collects in the pocket of oil-cloth bib if not washed thoroughly right away it may go mouldy. The fabric I used, as it states above is for raincoats. It folds easily and food can be wiped away with a wet paper cloth if you eat outside and once home you can simply hand-wash it (it also endures machine wash). 

Measurements of the bib

The pattern of the bib can be found in JPG at the bottom of this post. I used my friend's bib as a model, but I  made a little improvement to the original. I made the pocket (the crumb guard) wider than the bib base, so it stays open all the time and easily collects food.  

Moms will definitely appreciate this, I am very very sure... :)))) 

Measurement of the pocket (crumb guard) of the bib

And with the left overs from the fabric, I made a bib for my daughter's favorite stuff toy. :))))) 

Bib for the bunny

Good luck! I am sure your child, niece, nephew, cousin, friend's child etc... will love the result :) 

P.S. Please find here the pattern of the bib, and excuse my handwriting and drawing. ;) 

The bib pattern