Unbelievable!

A friend just brought this to my attention. She came across this on Facebook. A scrapbook kit company is selling page kits for an almost exact copy of the two baby layouts I recently designed for The Little Blue House. I've heard of many instances of this before, especially now with the global availability of anything on the Internet, but I never thought it would happen to little ole me!

Here are my two original "Oh Baby" layouts, using Bella Blvd papers.

And these are the layout kits being sold by Kit-a-licious Kits.

Page Kits p.10

Page Kits p.13

What do you think?

I can't believe it! I've sent a note to the company (as well as commenting on the post on Facebook) and hope they will remove this kit from their listings. It is such a blatant copy - the twine around the photo mats, the placement of all the papers and mats, the title font, the ribbon (though different) is the same color and even the buttons on every other little pennant on the border!

I would not mind a bit if someone had seen these layouts and copied them for their personal use. In fact I probably would think it a compliment! But this is for commercial use...

EDITED: To be fair, Melanie from Kit-a-licious just responded to me (very quick response!) and was unaware of the similarity as this was designed by a guest designer. She is pulling the kits ASAP. So nice that a company does right!! I am happy.

New "Card Keepers" Class

These are the cards and tag I will be teaching at the Card Keepers Class at The Little Blue House next week.  This month we are focusing on unique techniques for adding ribbon to cards.  I've added a few other fun arty techniques too.

Class will be on Tuesday, June 26, at 10 am - 1pm or 6 pm - 9 pm. Stop by the LBH or call 817-431-7930 to reserve your seat!

Remember to bring sharp scissors that will cut ribbon!

LBH Tacky Tie Challenge

In honor of Father's Day tomorrow, everyone on the Front Porch Kit design team was given a tacky tie and challenged to create something - anything - with it. Today is the big reveal of all the projects - you can hop from blog to blog to see what the team has created (see blog roll to the right).

My tie was not too tacky - just a run-of-the-mill traditional gray and maroon polyester tie.  I  deconstructed the tie, leaving me with a reasonable amount of fabric to make the following two projects, with leftovers should I wish to make more (uh-no).

Happy Birthday Card

The first project is an origami dress on a birthday card.  I found directions for the origami folding here: www.homemade-gifts-made-easy.com/origami-card.html.  Let me say that origami folds are much easier on paper than fabric!  I used the reverse side of the fabric and pressed and folded the dress into shape (modifying it slightly from the original). I glued it to a tiny wire hanger from Maya Road and then to the card front.

The embossed background of the card was made by applying Versamark ink to the top of the embossing folder before inserting the maroon cardstock and embossing. Then I applied Perfect Pearls (pewter) with a brush and wiped off any excess. This gives a subtle sheen to the card.  The ruffle at the bottom of the card is also a strip of the tie fabric.

The original stamp I used says "put on your party hat" so I just stamped the first four words on silver cardstock and handwrote "dress" for the sentiment. Inside it says Happy Birthday.

Artful Illusion Art Quilt

My second project is a small art quilt. The base is canvas fabric, layered with a piece of dictionary paper, a colorful (used) paper towel and cardstock stamped and sprayed with Radiant Rain Luminarte Mists. I sewed the layers together with both machine and hand stitching.

The heart was cut from the tie, layered over a piece of batting and sewn to the quilt.  The crown is an embossed and painted piece of chipboard and the wings are diecut art metal with silver paint on top to dull the finish.  The "Artful Illusion" ribbon is a leftover scrap from a store.  The hanger is a strip of tie twisted into a cord and stapled at the top of the quilt.

So now that you have seen some of the DT creations, we hope you will take the challenge and make something from a tacky tie. If you don't have one, we have some available for you for FREE at The Little Blue House!  You have until June 21st to make a project and then e-mail it to: thelittlebluehouse.misstracy@gmail.com.  We will choose three favorites to win a PRIZE!

"One Wild Ride" Layout

This is one of the new classes I designed for our Summer Feature at The Little Blue House.  It's a double layout using some fun papers from the "On the Go" collection from Bo Bunny.  I did some sewing on all those little circles for the banner and used the new Dylusions Spray Inks from Ranger and a chevron stencil from The Crafters Workshop for the background on the left page.   It was a fun one to do! Sign up at the LBH if you'd like to make one.


Announcing the "LBH Tacky Tie Challenge"- come play along!

 The LBH Front Porch Kit designers have all been given a tacky tie and we are supposed to create something with it.  On this Saturday we will all be posting our creations on our blogs.  If you want to play along, you can pick up your own tacky tie at the LBH and make a project too.  E-mail a photo of your project to: littlebluehouse.misstracy@gmail.com by June 21st.  The designers will be voting on the 3 most creative and there will be prizes too!

"Sew Artsy" Wreath

I love to sew and I love artsy stuff, "sew" this current Front Porch Kit entitled "Sew Artsy" was right up my alley. I loved designing with all the new, vintage and unusual items in the kit.  The sewing wreath above was one of the projects I made with the embroidery hoop (named "Hattie Hoop").

I had the foresight to take a few photos as I was creating, so here are some of the steps for making the wreath. 

First I wrapped the wooden hoop with strips torn from the instructions of the sewing pattern in the kit.  This added some bulk to the hoop.

Then I added another few layers of strips of the sewing pattern tissue.  It was now much thicker, giving me more surface for the next step.

I cut many pieces of the pattern tissue approximately 4" square and stacked 3 or 4 of them together, turning each piece as I layered to achieve more bulk.  I used pinking shears because they were the first scissors I came across, but straight cuts are fine too.  Then I scrunched the middle of each stack, forming a stem-like piece under the "flower."

I hot-glued MANY of these all over the wrapped wreath form - the more the better to make a really fluffy wreath. I also scrunched each flower in my hand before glueing down to add more bulk.  (Don't forget to add a ribbon loop around the hoop screw before covering up with the flowers.  This will be used to hang the wreath.)

I wrapped the pink measuring tape around the wreath like a ribbon and then started decorating with many of the bits and pieces of sewing ephemera in the kit - button cards, tiny wooden spools and floss cards wrapped with thread, a vintage card of snaps (this was mine), reduced copies of the sewing pattern and needle card, and a large wooden spool.  I also cut pieces of the polyester and cotton fabrics, folded them like a bolt of fabric and added a safety pin.  

The chipboard dress form from the kit was covered with more sewing pattern tissue at the top and for the body I used canvas fabric that I had stamped. I used the short strip of black vintage lace for the collar with one of the resin buttons in the center. Two rows of the ruffled cotton trim form the bottom of the skirt and rubons define the waist along with a pink lace tie.

The dark blue flower in the upper left of the wreath was made with part of the zipper that was in the kit. I pulled apart the zipper and only used one half. I started at one end and just rolled and glued it into a spiral.  The pink flower is a yoyo sewn from the pink polyester from the kit. I cut a circle, did a running stitch around the perimeter and gathered it together. The yellow center is yellow pearl cotton glued in a circle and the leaf was hand-cut from the green polyester fabric.  (I've hated this stuff since the 70's but it's great for flowers since it doesn't fray!)

For the turquoise flower in the lower right (sorry no good photo), I cut a wide, long strip of the turquoise polyester fabric and folded it in half lengthwise with wrong sides together.  I glued the cut ends opposite the fold together and then cut slits along the folded edge, stopping each cut about 1/4 away from the glue line.  Then I started at one end, rolling and glueing this strip into the flower, and added a button for the center.

For the bow at the top of the wreath, I first made a bow from the pattern tissue (I used the belt portion of the used dress pattern which had already been cut out) and added another bow from a torn strip of the black and white polka dot fabric, tied with black cording.  I also added two old sewing machine bobbins at the ends of the cords and tucked in a small, old pair of scissors.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. If you haven't already, go visit all the blogs of the Front Porch Kit Design Team (list and easy links on the right side of my blog). We all are posting today about some of our projects.

This kit is almost sold out, but it can be ordered online at our website: www.thelittlebluehouseonline.com or by phone at the LBH (817-431-7930).

Now I'm wondering what surprises the next kit will bring!

Adornit Wood Type Tray

This tray/shadowbox is one of the class projects I designed for our newest class feature at The Little Blue House. The shadowbox is made by ADORNit Carolee's Creations and has ten compartments for embellishing. I added photos of my daughter and her husband and my brand-new grandson.

Imagine my surprise when I found out that Adornit featured my project on their Facebook page today! Wow, I'm thrilled that they liked it.  You can check it out here: www.facebook.com/adornit and leave a comment!

If you'd like to make one, call the LBH at 817-431-7930 to schedule a class time. If you'd like a "naked" tray, we have those, too. We can even ship...

I'm Back

I've been gone for almost a week, visiting my daughter and loving on this precious little guy who is now, unbelievably, ten weeks old!

He loves his crib mobile

Over the weekend, he celebrated some firsts.

First trip to a restaurant

First plane ride - one of four total in three days - and he was an angel on each one.

And he crossed state lines to New Mexico to meet his Aunt Dana and soon-to-be cousin for the first time.

Dana with 30 days to go

Once I catch up with life at home, I promise to post more artsy projects here, at least until grandson #2 arrives sometime this month!