Have I mentioned that growing up my mom was a seamstress? She sewed for other people out of our home, and made a lot of our clothes growing up. So, as a little girl, I spent countless hours in fabric stores. One of the favourite activities for my brother and I would be to tuck in and hide amoung the bolts of fabric, or to go to the thread display and push all the spools of thread in and watch them bounce back. I have a long history with fabric! This month’s Power & Spark Challenge from Ally is all about being Inspired by Fabric! What a fun challenge!
I still think it’s a delightful past-time to wander a fabric store and marvel at the patterns and colours. Recently, I went to a quilting store to pick up some fabric for a project I was making for my office. I’m often drawn to batiks because of their beautiful vivid patterns. So, I picked up a pretty one that mixed shades of green, blue-green, coral and yellow-orange in a funky pattern. And that was my inspiration today!
Starting with the very lovely set Simply Camelias, I coloured the image in shades that match the batik. It feels like a sunny taste of spring!
Next, to mimic the circle design on the batik, I used a circle die cut to cut out the image, and placed it on some pretty paper to match. I often feel like patterned paper is like choosing fabric, it’s all about colour, pattern, texture that bring something to life.
I added a scalloped awning over the image and then finished it with some baker’s twine.
The sentiment is also from this set, I love the pretty script. I thought about adding other embellishments and then decided against it, so it’s very clean and simple, but all the pretty colours sing.
So here’s the deets on Ally’s Challenge: We find inspiration all around us! I always am gawking at the amazing fabrics we wear, fabrics we use to upholster our furniture and the fabrics we lay over us at night. So this month, take a look at some fabric swatches that inspire you and use them as a stepping stone to create a fun card. Play along and you could win a $50 shopping spree at Power Poppy!
Here’s my Bloom Brigade sisters playing along today.
Allison Cope
Christine Okken
Cindy Lawrence
Julie Koerber
Stacy Morgan
and Marcy at the Power Poppy Blog
7 comments:
this is so very beautiful and cheerful Christine
Gr Karin
I grew up with a mom who was as good with fabric as she was with paints and flowers. Sewing, painting, gardening... you can see how she influenced me. I've mostly put the sewing aside for card making these days, though. Gosh, your coloring is always so outstanding. Love how you've turned the camellias on their side. Pretty card design with the circle echoing the pattern in the fabric. Nicely done, Christine!
Your coloring is so pretty on this card! Thanks for the inspiration!
Beautiful card and fabulous coloring. TFS
I love fabric too, I like to make quilts, not much on sewing clothes though.
Such fun fabric you have there and I love the coloring you have done on those flowers, and such a cute design of your card also, love how you used the scallop border!
Oh, Christine, your card is gorgeous, and I love the batik you chose! I started sewing as a teen-ager and made all my clothes well into adulthood...and then I started to quilt. But then card-making grabbed me. But I still LOVE fabric and love the feel and hand of it. And the colors and texture still make me swoon. Some of my favorites for quilting include Moda. Oh my, is that gorgeous fabric, and I still have some in my smaller stash. Hehe! Now to your card (easy to get sidetracked by fabric)...it's gorgeous, and I love how you've used the batik as inspiration for colors and for the pattern with the circle. It's beautifully colored, and I love the layout with the sweet awning! Stunning, my friend, both for the card and sweet thoughts of how fabric was been and still is for you and your mom!! Hugs! xoxo
My Mom was a seamstress too...and made my clothes and my doll clothes. I still have her sewing machine and can’t part with it, though I don’t use it!! I do wish she’d passed some of that talent on to me! Your card is really beautiful, Christine! I love the sweet awning you added and your coloring is always so gorgeous!
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