Stitch Lab Classes and General Craftiness

Lately, my favorite crafty treat is taking sewing classes at Stitch Lab. It is a super-cool fabric store and crafty school. The instructors are all cool ladies - very patient and knowledgeable. And I'm learning to make time to do crafty stuff just for fun and for ME. Another perk - getting to work through my ridiculous collection of fabric.

Here are some of the goodies that I have made this fall:

My "Monster" from a Plushy Doll class with Haley...


Baby Gift Sets with Haley...


Pouches and Mini-Wallets with Anne-Marie...


This is from my favorite class so far because it was on a subject I've been wanting to learn more about: Applique with Becky...






All this felt craftiness is getting to be an addictive habit! I was inspired to make a felt hair clip after I lost my favorite one a few weeks ago.



And here is a little peek at a tutorial I'm working on inspired by the Plushy Doll class. Hopefully I'll be all done and have the tutorial ready this weekend:

Vintage Airmail Stickers

There must be lots of people out there who love mail, postage and airmail ephemera. This is the most popular item in my shop. I just spent the morning making a new bundle of these guys and thought it would be nice to share them with the world.


This set of vintage airmail stickers comes in a package of 6 sheets of unique labels. The images are scans of my personal collection of airmail labels. I have them professionally printed on full sheet label paper. That means you cut them apart as you need them and peel the back off when you are ready to stick 'em.

The entire set can be found here in my shop. Long live mail!

Giveaway Fun!

Digital Scrapbook Designer Michelle Underwood is hosting a number of giveaways on her blog, including one for a $20 gift certificate to Crab Apple Design's Etsy shop.

In a recent post on her blog "This Crazy Life," Michelle made it super easy for readers to submit multiple entries for her giveaway. She put lots of effort into composing a review of one of my products, the Hootie Hoot Owl Organizer.


I am impressed and grateful to her for dedicating the time and energy to make such a thoughtful post about my company. She is really helping to get the word out about Crab Apple Designs.

About Michelle: she designs digital scrapbook kits for my favorite online paper supply store, Two Peas in a Bucket. If you are not familiar with this store, I love it because it always has the best and most current releases of my favorite designs.

Michelle's kits are easy to download and really user-friendly. I hope to use some of her elements in new line of collages I am currently working on.

When Michelle contacted me, I immediately went shopping AND PURCHASED one of her affordable kits. It was hard to choose just one! Here it is and I love it.


She also has many freebies on her website, which you can find here. The amount of giveaways she hosts is substantial. I recommend adding her blog to the list of ones you visit daily. She has great taste and the giveaway items are handmade and just the kinds of things I would buy if I knew about them.

Crab Apple Designs loves Michelle Underwood! Go check out her blog to find out how easy it is to win good stuff!

To Scan or Not to Scan?

My favorite source for vintage images is the Golden Book Encyclopedia 0f Natural Science series from the 1960s.

I use the images for buttons, mirrors, cards, and for my *thrilling* new line of journals and organizers with cutout images sandwiched between thick plastic covers.


These volumes are so full of fun graphics that cutting out one picture usually means sacrificing an equally cool image on the back page.


In an effort to comfort myself, I have started to create my own catalog of some of my favorite images. I thought I would share one of recent scans....

Enjoy! xo, melissa

Shrink Plastic Adventures, Part 2

I am playing around with different ways to seal the ink on printable shrink plastic. My last attempt resulted in very "bleedy" ink and an undesirable effect overall, as seen in this blog post.

My next adventure in shrink plastic sealing begins with doing what I should have done in the first place: read and follow directions.


I took a handful of inkjet Shrinky Dinks and sprayed them with Krylon Crystal Clear Acrylic coating. This is how I did it:

1. I followed the directions on the can: shake for 2 minutes, hold about 12 inches away, spray with a quick sweep. It was probably hotter outside than the maximum recommended temperature, but I did store the Krylon inside.

2. Let it dry for 15 minutes.

Here are the results:



After one coat, it was very difficult to see any kind of sheen, much less a "gloss." So after 15 minutes, I resprayed...


After the second coat dried, a sheen was visible, although I would still not call it a "glossy" effect. In the photo below, there is a strange yellowness to the ink, and I think it may be an artifact of my camera or the fading light.


Inside under a fluorescent light, the sheen is more visible but you have to look closely to find it. There is also evidence of a "grit" that some folks at Craftster referred to that happens when you use glossy coat spray.



I sprayed a few of the pieces with a third coat of Krylon with no noticeable difference.

Next:
These pieces have 2 coats of Krylon and group 1 has an additional coat of a brush on gloss coating called "Triple Thick." Group 2 has a clear dimensional goo called "Glossy Accents" which I have used on paper with great success.


The results were close, but I have a slight preference for the charms with the Glossy Accents because it is REALLY glossy and there is a dimension to them that is not as noticeable with the brush on Triple Gloss.

More of the Glossy Accents charms:



The more "matte" look of the Triple Gloss charms:

Next I will try using UTEE, but for now, my conclusion: DEFINITELY seal the shrinky dinks with Krylon spray before applying a brush on or squeeze on gloss coat to avoid ink bleeding.