Cookie Tray Mats

Thanks to Carla for all her hard work for this In the Kitchen blog hop!

Cookie jars are not my thing.  Out of sight, out of everyone’s mind and the cookies go stale and look unappetizing in other ways too.  I have this glass domed tray for treats.  The tray is not food safe so the treats always sit on a plate. My salad plates fit perfectly.

I’ve searched for fun plates to use in it, but they are either too small or too large or I just don’t like them.  But the tray is always on the bistro table in my kitchen and it looks blah when there are no treats inside.

It finally dawned on me that I could sew round mats to set inside.  I thought this was an excellent time to try a paper pieced New York Beauty block.  I shrunk the block pattern to a size I hoped would fit.  At the time, St. Patrick’s Day was approaching so I chose some green fabrics to use.

I’m still trying to use up this near white glow-in-the-dark piece I’ve had.

I stitched up the first quarter block.  The whole circle needs to be about 9”.  That makes those center circles pretty small.  After sewing these first small quarter circles, I knew I did NOT want to sew those 3 more times!  So I took the circles off.

And cheated by cutting full circles with my circle rulers.

Loads less stressing!

I kept the papers on to keep the edges from stretching out of shape.

I did the same with the center circle.  

I pinned the binding on from the paper side and stitched it from the paper side also.  That way I would know exactly where the points were and not chop them off with the binding.  It worked out nicely.

I never do a bias binding.  Even on circles.  I always do a straight grain binding.

After stitching the binding on, I pulled the papers off and did the quilting.

Then trimmed around the mat and hand stitched the binding to the back.

It all worked out really well.  AND, it fit in the tray perfectly!  Color me happy!



I had such fun with this one, I wanted to do it again.

This time for the patriotic holidays.

The only thing I changed was that I stitched the centers as raw edge appliqué rather then turning the edges under.  I really like the look of raw edge applique’.

Then Easter was coming too...

These circles were all cut with my circle rulers.

Then when there isn’t a holiday, I wanted an everyday mat to see.

Striped bindings is specifically why I don’t do bias bindings.  I don’t care for the stripes being at an angel on a round mat.

There might be Fall and Christmas mats to come.

It all depends on what shiny project draws my attention most at the time.  

My tray doesn’t seem so empty and lacking even without something edible inside.



You know I had to try the NYB as a postcard!

And, yes, I will mail it to one of my followers.  Just add mention in your comment that you’d like to find it in your mailbox.  I will contact the winner for mailing info.

Check out the other blog hop participant’s projects on this final day of the hop.

Thursday, April 22nd

Creatin' in the Sticks

Vicki's Crafts and Quilting

Quilting Gail

Sew Many Yarns

thatfabricfeeling

Annie's musings

Quilt Schmilt

Becky’s adventures in quilting and travel 

Homespun Hannah's Blog

Food For Thought

ABC-123 Journal Page

This art journal page is “Inspired By” Spring and the neighborhood kids once again walking to and from school.

The page started out like this.  It was way too bold to work with.

I already decided to pull the page out and toss it.  So what the heck, let’s try some white acrylic paint to tone it down.  It’s always a good time to try something when the page is headed to the trash.

I decided I was back in business with this page!  Now I’ll see how some stamping will look.

Then I’ll see about some white heavy body acrylic paint tinted with a purple acrylic paint scraped over a stencil.

I didn’t get the next photo, but the textured stencil design was too light.  Since the page was again headed to the trash, I tried using a graphite pencil around the stenciled design then smeared with a water brush so that it would stand out better.

It kind of went into a muddy mess. I thought while it was still basically wet I would see if I could wipe off some of the graphite over the letters and numbers toning down the pencil effect.  It again seemed saved.

Another punched butterfly from a reject page got a body with a keyhole brad.  It’s so fun giving my butterfly’s odd bodies.

The die cut bird is also cut from the reject page.  The math strips are from a paper purchased through Etsy outlined with the graphite pencil then wet and slightly smeared with a water brush.  The paper looked to clean and new so I put a little paint on them.  That was worse so I tried sanding the paint down which happily grunged everything.  The numbers began to disappear so I just traced over them with a marker and sanded them a bit more.

It’s almost easier to make an art journal page when I’ve already decided to trash it!



I definitely learned a lot while making this page.

The whole process was one happy accident after another.  This page appeals to my love of grunge.

The “Inspired By” theme at Art Journal Journey runs throughout the month of April.

All mediums are welcome.  Come join in!

Daisy Art Journal page

An art journal page created for the theme “Inspired By” at Art Journal Journey

This page is inspired by the painted flower die cuts that I see on Pinterest.

To begin I sprayed my page with Distress Oxide Spray, Hickory Smoke.  I cut the circles die twice and glued them to the page.  I then splattered white acrylic paint onto it.  

It was too...something, so I rubbed Distress Ink, Walnut Stain over the page and on the edges.

I stamped and painted the bottles with watercolors.  Then cut the bottles out.

The flowers are die cut.  I cut again the stems to trim leaves and make them long enough to sit inside the bottles.

I added Washi Tape to ground the bottles.  Glued the bottles and flowers to the page.  With a graphite pencil I added some shading for depth.  

The top left of the page was a previously cut die that I added for more interest.

I need lots of practice in this art journaling business but I’m having a lot of fun learning all kinds of stuff.  That I love doing these pages is as much a surprise to me as anyone!  It took my friend a long time to get me to even try this.  Now I’m hooked!

This gives me the opportunity to use a lot of the supplies that I have.  Cardmaking alone is just not enough.  The journal gives me the freedom to create that I don’t have making cards.

INSPIRE Art Journal Page

The theme this month at Art Journal Journey is - Inspired By

I am inspired to make art by practically everything I see on many social media platforms.  Recently on Pinterest, I was inspired by a dragonfly that had a clock hand for the body.

I won’t even bother describing the troubles I had.  BUT, I have to say I’ve had the most frustrating best time getting an art journal page finished.  

I see loads of painted backgrounds that I love but I find it difficult to get an acceptable result.  There is so much acrylic paint, and watercolor paint on this page!  By the time I get an acceptable result, I cannot seem to remember to stamp my images BEFORE using modeling paste!  

I trashed one page, I wasn’t going to trash ANOTHER!  I stamped the words on a separate piece of paper, tore it around the edges and glued it on.  Not exactly the desired look, but that leaves room for improvement, right?

I’ve had some silver metal words in my stash forever.  I darkened the metal with Timber Brown StazOn ink.    

The butterfly is a die cut from the first ruined page.  Until I ruined the first page attempt, I really liked it and managed to salvage most of the page to use in other ways.

I love the clock hand and a brad idea for the butterfly body.  I’m pleased enough with the page not to rip it from the journal.  Always an accomplishment for me still.

Easter Postcard

HAPPY EASTER!

The theme this week at Sunday Postcard Art is Easter.

Which reminded me that I needed an Easter card to mail out.

I started with spraying a piece of heavy sketch paper with Shabby Shutters Distress Oxide Spray.  I layered it with a piece of design paper purchased on Etsy.  I cut a scrapbook paper shape with a die.

I mixed some of the Shabby Shutters Distress Oxide Spray into white modeling paste to tint the paste and pressed it through some stencil designs.

(I changed my mind for the die cut paper)... I glued everything down, stamped and embossed the bunny and greeting, inked the edges of the postcard with Peeled Paint Distress Ink with a final darker edge using Walnut Stain Distress Ink.

When my postcard was finished, I glued it to a heavier 98lb mix media paper.

A mysterious dark blotch appeared that I tried to fix but did not work well.  The 93 year old eyes of my recipient are not even going to see that.  That’s what I’m telling myself.



Normally our Easter weather is snow or rain or howling wind.  But this year here in Wisconsin in the USA, we are being promised gloriously nice weather for the Easter weekend.  What a wonderful Easter gift.

March 2021 Calendar Journal

That was a whole month of fun!

Lavender Postcards

Lavender is the theme this week at Sunday Postcard Art

I’ve made two postcards for this theme.

The first is for the color and shades of Lavender.

I used Distress Oxide Spray on 70lb heavy sketch paper.  Then a rubber stamped image, a die cut alphabet, modeling paste through a stencil, the “hello” die cut, distress inks to darken the edges and Washi tape to trim.

My second postcard is my attempt at Lavender, the plant.

Again I used Oxide Spray on heavy sketch paper and again through a stencil.  Die cuts are the plants cut from the heavy sketch paper and painted with watercolors.  The bee is a rubber stamp and a strip of Washi tape at the bottom for ground.  

Both cards were then glued to a 90lb mixed media paper for mailing stability.

These are the address side of these postcards.



If you would like a chance at finding one of these postcards in your mailbox, let me know which would be your choice in your comment.  I will contact the winners for mailing info.

Happy Mail Day!

On Day 25

On day 25 of March, another single flower appeared for my art journal.  Sheila of  

Orange Esmeralda is hosting the theme of a single flower at Art Journal Journey for the entire month of March.  

I had one more single flower idea so I got my page ready to receive the flower.  I do like how the page prep came out.  I hoped I wouldn’t ruin it.  I kinda just wanted to stop here.  

My original flower idea just looked blah.  So I moved on.

I have been inspired by the white flowers in the other entries that were cut from music paper or had text and other markings added to them.

No more drawing for me....

I traced the outside of the flower die onto fabric that I backed with paper so that I’d be able to glue it to my page.  I stitched around it twice then cut outside the stitching.  I also die cut the flower from black paper to add interest and somewhat disguise my poor choice of fabric.  I added a paper punched center and a large brad.

I glued the flower to the page only around the center so that the petals are loose.

I haven’t played with stamps like this for awhile and had a fun day with this page.

Salt and Sand Postcards

Welcome to day 3 of the Salt and Sand blog hop.

Many thanks to Carol of Just Let Me Quilt for her hard work organizing this fun blog hop.

When I decided to join in the fun of this blog hop, I wasn’t ready to make another quilt of any size, nor any other sizable project, so what to sew???

Yes, POSTCARDS!

And I will mail them out to 5 of my followers.

When I think of salt and sand, I think of the ocean/sea and the beach.

And the ever present seagulls.

I always complain that I cannot draw.  I did draw the seagull, but practically used up an entire eraser trying to make him look somewhat like a seagull.

Next came to mind a lighthouse.  I couldn’t make the light light up but the lighthouse building glows-in-the-dark.

From there my mind traveled out to sea for a fish or a boat.  What came to mind were those thieving salty sailors of the high seas...Pirates.

The skull and cross bones on the pirate hat glow-in-the-dark.

Can’t have pirates on the high seas without a ship.

This ship has already been in a battle...with me. The eyelets and I did not see eye to eye.  It’s a battle ship...it should show some battle scars...right?   

What’s a pirate or a pirate ship without a pirate parrot.  He keeps his share of the booty close.  Dare not to take his treasure!

What a fun time I had with this challenge theme!

If you’d like to receive one of these postcards in your mail, mention it in your comment.  Tell me which postcard you’d like to receive and your name will go in the drawing for that card.  If you want to get in more than one postcard drawing just mention which ones.  I will contact winners for mailing info.

Check out my fellow bloggers that are sharing their Salt and Sand projects today.

March 24
Ms P Designs USA
DayBrook Designs
Vroomans Quilts
Kathleen McMusing
Quilt Schmilt
The Darling Dogwood
Daughters of Dorinda
Annie’s Musings

Me vs. Paints and a Flower

Me vs. Paints is typically a battle and the trash bin wins the prize of a quite unfortunate painting.  This time is different.  I think this painted watercolor flower is not completely unfortunate.

I think me and my inexpensive paints did a fairly decent job of it.  

I struggle with several painting issues.  The most debilitating of which is not being able to visualize the finish during the process.  So I don’t know when to quit fixing it.  Or even whether or not it needs fixing.  Another is not waiting for layers to dry.  For once I did use a heat tool at times to get it dry faster.  But I kept painting on it and making it worse.  It was destined for the trash bin.

Once I finally drew the scribbles, I could see it so much better.  But that just started a whole new fix-it process.  I thought one of us has to give in and I didn’t want it to be me.  I think I ended up with a fairly decently painted single flower for Sheila’s (Orange Esmeralda) A Single Flower theme at Art Journal Journey .

I haven’t actually pasted it into my journal yet as I’m undecided as to what I might want to do, if anything, with the page it will get pasted to.  

Update:  I have finished the page.

This theme runs for the entire month of March.  All mediums of art are welcome to join in.  It’s such a great theme to welcome the arrival of Spring.