Free November Calendar and Desktop

It's November again! Time to pull up some Jane Austen on my Nook! I even have a fire where I can curl up and read now! And here is your November calendar for your iWhatever, complete with the Jane Austen font! I'm sure you all know the drill by now, but just in case, THIS tells you how to save the calendar to your lockscreen or homescreen, and THIS tells how you can make your own calendar. 

If you choose to make your own, feel free to use these days and dates.

And last, but not least, here is one for your desktop with open space all around the edges for all those unused icons floating around there!

Thanks for stopping by! See you next time!

New Wedding Invitations (and a Baby Shower)

I believe it's time to post a few new wedding invitations! 

Bailey and Aaron's wedding was in a very rustic chapel, overlooking Tablerock Lake. Her dress was lace and pearls in antique white. Everything had a very vintage feel, right down to the old "gangster car" parked outside. A sparkly doily on black silk paper fit right in! The RSVP postcard and a map with the couple's registry information slips into the pocket, right behind the wording.

The fans list the members of the wedding party and are one of my favorite wedding items I've ever made. They're just so pretty! We didn't want everything too matchy-matchy, so I printed on three or four different patterned papers and used three different colors of seam binding ribbon for the bows. Displayed in a pretty basket by the guest book, they were as pretty as any flower arrangement!

When Carissa asked me to make her invitations using camouflage and orange, I almost cried. I could not imagine how I could make it pretty. (You know how I feel about orange!) But the Realtree camo (Who knew there were different brands of camouflage?!) just looks like fall! The glittery orange tulle they planned to use for decorating added just enough color and sparkle. 

Chelsea decided to go away to get married, so she didn't use these, but she wanted something red and silver with a western feel. She would have needed her invitations very quickly, so I kept everything as simple as possible. I haven't mixed fonts or colors before, other than on Bailey's fans, but I really like that effect. 

Bowen's "Gigi" is an old friend of mine. In the past year her family has given her four grandchildren. F-O-U-R! I'm so jealous! Bowen's room is decorated with a vintage baseball theme, so of course his shower invitations needed to have that theme as well. I made these the same way I made Michael's graduation announcements. Everything was laid out on the computer then printed on heavy cardstock. 

Now for the really big news.... Most of this post was done on my iPad! I told you I'd figure it out. The only thing I had to use the computer for was to adjust the size of the pictures and the spacing of the text. The font is different, but I'll figure that out eventually. So now if I get in a pinch, I have a back-up plan! 

Thanks for stopping by! I'll see you in a few days when you come back for your November calendar and desktop!

Stitch Trickery

For the past several months I have participated in one, yes, ONE website's Linky Party each month. I skipped the party in September, but I'm back for October's. If the computer will ever finish scanning and updating! I'm typing this on my iPad, but to be totally honest, (my voice drops to a whisper) I don't know how to get the pictures from my iPad onto my blog! Please don't tell anyone. I'm waaaay to cool to be technologically inept. So I'll just keep typing and hope that all the updates finish before the party closes. 

And I'll add "Posting from my iPad" to my list of "Things I Need to Learn About Blogging."

The stitching around the edge of this card really sets if off, doesn't it? I learned this very simple trick about a year ago. You have to know how to adjust the tension on the bobbin thread in your sewing machine. My machine has a metal bobbin case that pulls out of the bottom part, under the needle. 

On one side of it is a tiny little screw with a very shallow slot for a tiny little screwdriver. So...you might want to get your reading glasses.

To put more tension on the thread, I would turn the screw to the right. (Righty-tighty) For less tension, I turn the screw to the left. (Lefty-loosey) To get my thread loose enough, I turned to the left until the screw was about to fall out, then just tightened it up enough to be sure that it would stay in place. 

This is the backside of my stitched card front. See how loose those stitches are? Bad for sewing clothing, good for a cute card!

The front just looks like any old machine stitching.

Grab the ends of the thread that came from the TOP of your machine and pull gently. As you pull the top thread tighter, it will pull the loose bottom thread up through the holes, creating those neat stretched out stitches. Be sure to tie off the ends of both the top and bottom threads.

Pretty cool, huh?! I used a button thread for the top of my machine. It's quite a bit thicker than the thread I normally use, so it shows up a little better. However, I could not make the button thread work in the bobbin. It made nice stitches, but I couldn't loosen the tension enough to get the effect I wanted.

I made this card with a digital image from The Crafty Secrets store. It came in their digital Halloween printables. (I think right now they are offering that as a free gift with a purchase!) I inked the edges, stamped the "Happy Halloween" (from SU! Hand-Penned Holidays), and adhered the almost-orange rectangle to a purple card. Then I printed the image I wanted to use, cut it with a circle Nestie, and cut the purple mat from the next bigger Nestie. 

Stack everything up, stick it all together, and there you go! An adorable little Halloween card! 

This card was made the same way, but instead of using a digital image, I stamped the image of the little girl on the pumpkin and added a little color with some colored pencils. She is in the SU! Greeting Card Kids.

Ok, I guess it's time to go check on the computer. Don't go anywhere--I'll be right back. Really! You won't even know that I'm gone!
Wow. It's STILL updating. Ugh. I am going to go get some sleep and when I wake up in the morning, hopefully it will be done and I can finish up!

**** 9 A.M. ****
The computer is still giving me fits! Ugh! Learning to post from my iPad just jumped to the top of my list of "Things I Need to Learn About Blogging!"

**** 10 A.M. ****
I finally gave up and found a way around the computer that just refused to cooperate! I didn't even throw it out in the yard. (Mostly because the tower is really heavy.) I do believe, however, that my cat learned a few new words!
I apologize if the pictures aren't quite as clear as usual, but at least they are here!
If you have a few minutes, hop over to the Heartwarming Vintage blog and see the rest of the Linky Partiers!

Thanks for stopping by! See you next time!