Doodle Away - Valentine Crafting from Paper to Sewing!

Are you also someone  who doodles?

Sitting in the "classrooms" of my childhood, I would always find myself doodling along the edges of my books and notebooks while the teachers disseminated valuable information.  In my world, it was either write a note to a girlfriend and pass it along the rows of seats, or doodle.  I experienced 'many a detention' after school for passing those notes or doodling.  (Don't tell my kids, as I always proclaimed to be a perfect student.) BTW, all of us who doodle in classes do not get poor grades, it's just an outlet for excess energy. 

And yes, I doodled in sewing classes, too.  In fact, I still doodle at seminars.   I sat in a class with a very well know peer instructor who was giving a class on designing lace.  She came to me at break and said, "Cookie, I would love to see what you are sketching?" Oh my, she kept insisting and so...I had to flip my paper and show her my spider webs. I think I see a spider web incorporated in the above initial sketch. But to this instructor's credit on the subject of lace - I did design some spider webs with Brother/Babylock software to create my first set of Halloween designs without jump threads.  Which just goes to prove that, if your child is caught doodling in class do not assume they were not paying attention 

Another mom shared truth:  doodling is not a sign of boredom but perhaps sometimes it is a sign of inspiration!

Many things we experience in life are often expressed in our crafting potential.  My husband worked for Turner Broadcasting for MANY years and with that I experienced the colorization of black and white movies.   Another experience was my investment in becoming a Martha Pullen Certified Instructor.  Can you see the impact of both these experiences in the final steps of my doodling?

I see the heirloom stitches, can you?

So where do we go from here?  What about a quilt?  Or creating an embroidery design? Or maybe photo stitch with the Flip Pal?  I can visualize them all in my future.  

So often I share a sewing project and discuss how scrap book or card making can influence it.  Clearly this "art therapy" time I spent this morning leans itself the other way around!  

If you doodle, embrace those sketches and scan them in or keep them in a book like I do! You never know how else you can incorporate them.

I love Valentine's Day and that is clear with the source of inspiration for my doodle above!  Enjoy and scribble away ~ Cookie

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It's all in the wrap!

In the Hoop Gift in this month's newsletter!

For those that kept up with this blog over the December holidays, you know by now that I love to personalize gift wrap for presents that I create.  Of course, that also means, the wrapper becomes a project, too!

Loving scrap book tools, fabric, and ribbons the way I do, makes Valentine's Day a creative opportunity for fun in my project studio.  The CookiesCreations.com  newsletter was sent out earlier today. (You still have time to subscribe on our home page or directly in Facebook.) In reading the many responses to it, it is clear I am not alone with heart mania!  Thank you for the cheerful emails regarding our featured gift this month. As a reminder, there are more Valentine designs on our Facebook page.

Towel design is featured this month on our FACEBOOK

Our Tags are great "accents" to dress up jars filled with hot chocolate, or to adorn other gifts like baskets, handbags, or perhaps to use half the design and put it on a mini quilt for your special Valentine's and more.

This week, I am in the midst of Valentine festivities, decorating towels and adding tag to gifts.  I also purchased cute earring files from terradonembroidery.com for friends, and placed them in clear bags with confetti, and paper "from" tags, and filled a jar with confetti for a class at Ashby's Sewing for next month!  Busy, Busy!

~ Cookie!

Paper Craft TIP: I had to make a run to Archiver's today, because  I found all my markers in the colors I wanted were dry.  Store your markers FLAT!  I forgot that rule over the holidays.

A SHOPPING OPPORTUNITY: If you own no other punch tools, I would suggest purchasing two favorites that I use all the time for cards, pages, and sewing projects: one is a ribbon punch used to cut two slits for ribbons and the other is a tag punch for quick gift labeling.  You can see them used in the above gift wrapped photo.  Of course, you can always use this month's free embroidery newsletter design, but having one for paper comes in handy!

"Valentine's in Appliqué" is a Crafting Dream!

January FB Design! 

February 14, 2012! 

Valentine's always turns my own creativity towards Appliqué sewing, and layered paper crafting projects with touches of photos.

January FB Design!

Valentine's is a personal favorite because of CHOCOLATE, sewing projects and the pretty cards one can make with various scrap book tools on the market.  A few worth mentioning: the  Cricut Machine, Sizzix Machines, stamps, punches all can be used with fabric projects as well as paper crafting.  With an iron simply press fabric on to freezer paper, apply it to the cutting mat and cut out appliqués with the Cricut Machine using a fresh new blade or skip the Cricut  and use some of your punches and die cuts. Are your punches getting dull?  Punch through several layers of aluminum foil to sharpen them up! Ask me how I know!  

Each month, new free designs are added to the  CookiesCreationsWebsite Facebook page while taking the ones from the month before down.  If you love sewing and crafting, consider sharing what you are working on, right there on our page. Uploading photos is easy and all of us can enjoy your creative work for INSPIRATION!  Janet Bowman shared this on our Facebook page and she is quite Right!  All of us, need inspiring project ideas!

To our subscribers  receiving the newsletter, the next one is scheduled for tomorrow night!  A free project and design of course is included.  If you don't currently receive our newsletter, you can sign up on the home page of Cookiescreations or Join directly from our Facebook page as well.

Have a great day!   Cookie

What was I thinking? Cake art?

Excellent Book for the Beginner and Advanced baker!

People who love to create items, often find themselves attracted to creative projects outside of their main interests.  This one caught my eye, while walking through a Target store.

Sewing and Embroidery Opportunity?

In my mind, I immediately saw the potential of creating fun table settings and coordinating napkins to compliment the wonderful Cake Pops found inside the pages of this book. It had all the elements that I love, cake, chocolate, owls  and cupcakes!

The part I didn't factor in was how much time, planning and work these adorable cuties would take.  I will share that the people who arrived at our home raved about how pretty the cake pops were and how great they tasted. Never did make those embroidered matching napkins for the party but somehow I think the desserts would have overshadowed any other craft project that night!

First, you have to bake the cake the night before and cool it over night.  This was the easy part.

In the morning, it was time to crumble the cake up and add frosting to the crumbs. Great how to's throughout the pages of this book with wonderful clear photos.

The quick overview but definitely not the full details you need for success as only the author can tell you best: Take the cake mixture and roll it into balls, freeze and dip into candy melts, sprinkles and place the sticks into position, quickly!  You better be organized. For me, this is a two person job!  The book has many good tips to prevent failure and definitely worth the purchase. Read the HOW TO steps PRIOR to baking!

If you really plan ahead, you could stitch up some great party linens to showcase any of the cake pops in the book.  The photos, colors and layouts throughout the book are inspirational for just about anyone who enjoys making their own items.  

Mini Madness for Christmas!

Sometimes we forget that mini designs have many applications.  At Cookiescreations.com, we are known for making adorable socks using the Sock Easy Deluxe.  But at Christmas, and throughout the year, there is a wide variety of uses for both our mini designs uploaded to the website and for the Sock Easy tool.

Designs from Mini 2 and Mini 3

Sure we make it look easy, and yes, I make many sewing mistakes at midnight.  But with sleep and a clear mindset, none of these ideas are difficult.


Enjoy our photo of samples and you will see some other ideas, besides socks like adorable cocktail napkins, mittens and mittens into ornaments for hanging on the tree or tying on to gifts!  Consider the design.  With just a few changes of thread colors, you can go from Merry Christmas, to Happy Birthday.  Subscribe from the website home page or on Cookie's Creations Facebook Fan Page.

If you don't know how to do a baby shirt or leggings see my previous post for tips.  Need to embroider ribbon onto gloves and mittens?  Check out the Sock Easy free videos for help.

Enjoy and use your products from Cookiescreations.com.  Need ready made cocktail napkins?  Remember to check out products at allaboutblanks.com/

As a reminder: Our newsletter contains designs and projects each month, but remember the design links, if not downloaded, do expire when the next one comes out. We do not resend newsletters due to the Best Practices for Compliance Agreement, with regard to spam.