Good morning, everyone! Welcome to the new Stitching Focus feature! When Nichole asked me about taking on this new position, I was thrilled at the possibilities. I’ve always loved stitching projects. For me, building a unique accessory or piece of decor is like solving a puzzle. How can I make the item I want from what I happen to have available? It’s a challenge and one that I truly enjoy. My goal with these guest blogger posts is to introduce you to the hidden possibilities in our line of high-quality stitching dies. There is a whole world of promise at your fingertips and I want to help you find it.
Not only that, but I want to reintroduce you to older favorites that you may have forgotten or even missed entirely. We have so many wonderful products coming out each month that it’s easy to overlook all of the clever, thoughtful, and extraordinary details incorporated into every item. It’s also sometimes difficult to fit all of those special details in with everything else that we want to share. So I hope to be able to remind you of the brilliant tips and tricks the Design Team and many of you have shared using the fabulous stitching dies.
So to kick things off I thought I'd revisit the Stitched Coasters Die:
Don't let the name deceive you - there is so much more to these dies than coasters! Just look at this die as a basic canvas. What could you do with a large square shape? I can think of about a dozen different ideas! I've created one such project, but first let's take a peek at some of the projects this die has been part of in the past.
1. Erin paired the Stitched Coasters Die with the Stitched Coaster Square Flair Die and Stitched Medallion 1 Die to add felt polka dots to her stitched frame. It's a great way to add color without much bulk!
2. On this coaster, Erin used the Stitched Coaster Square Flair Die to add an embroidered frame around her inlaid monogram. The Sew Stylish Alphabet 1 is a great size for personalizing all sorts of projects.
3. Laurie used the Stitched Coaster Square Flair Die to add a frame around her coaster, selectively choosing which holes to embroider. The result is clean and masculine.
4. Maile used the Stitched Coaster Die all by itself to create this nested square design. She kept things minimal and sleek for a coaster that's highly functional, but still full of style.
5. Erin created this set of rainbow coasters by pairing the Stitched Coaster Die with the Square Flair Die. The bright colors really pop against her choice of a Smokey Shadow backdrop.
6. The Cross Stitch Alphabet is another fantastic choice for personalization! Here Erin created a simple frame using the Stitched Coaster die and one of the inlaid squares. The tiny floral embellishments she added using the Sewing Staples: Floral Cluster Die are such a delicate, feminine touch!
Now that you've seen what the Stitched Coaster Die has done in the past, how about a brand new project?
I used the Stitched Coaster Die to create a travel Tic Tac Toe set. This will be wonderful for my niece and nephew on long trips in the car!
I created the grid by first drawing the lines onto Vintage Cream felt with a disappearing ink pen. Then I just finished each line with three long stitches. I simply used the intersections of the lines as a guide for where to stitch.
I backed my game board with an Aqua Mist layer for a bit of contrast. And I sewed a piece of white chipboard between the layers of felt to give the board a little extra stability.
The Xs and Os are two layers of felt stitched together. I used the Sew Stylish Alphabet 1 to make assembling these a snap. The Xs are True Black and the Os are nice and bright in Pure Poppy.
The game pieces can be safely tucked away in their Coin Purse Die pouch between rounds. I decorated the outside of the pouch with extra Sew Stylish Alphabet letters and Small Stitched Alphabet characters.
I can see the kiddos getting a lot of joy out of this cute little set! And like I said before, the Stitched Coasters dies are such a wonderful basic shape that you are limited only by your imagination! What other ingenious ideas come to mind?
I hope you've enjoyed today's post and are looking forward to more Stitching Focus features coming your way! Thank you so much for joining me! Have a great week!
Supplies:
Dies: Stitched Coasters Die, Sew Stylish Alphabet 1 Die, Coin Purse Die, Small Stitched Alphabet Die - Papertrey Ink
Felt: Vintage Cream, Aqua Mist, Pure Poppy, True Black - Papertrey Ink
Other: Embroidery Floss - DMC; Zipper; White Chipboard
Erin Lincoln will be joining us again this year as a product designer! While she is scaling back to focus on her family, she will have a few new stitching die designs coming later this year. We are looking forward to seeing her product line continue to flourish, and we know all of you will be thrilled to see what other amazing ideas she comes up with.
Lizzie Jones has shared some amazing stitching projects, both old and new. Now's your chance to use that inspiration to create your very own project. You can create a felt project, or a paper creation, no stitching required, however you can add stitching if you wish. Take a look at the colors, the way things are laid out, the repeating patterns and dig into your crafty stash to make something beautiful happen! There are so many possibilities once you take a closer look at all of the projects from above!
1. Create a new project using one of the stitching projects from above as your inspiration.
2. Your project must use at least one Papertrey product.
3. Upload a photo of your project to your blog, Instagram, online gallery or any other photo-hosting site (such as photobucket or flickr).
4. Add the direct link to your project on our InLinkz list below.
5. ONLY ONE PROJECT ENTRY PER PERSON PLEASE!
6. And/or you can leave a comment here to be eligible to win. What do you think of Lizzie's new stitching feature? Is this something you will be looking forward to each month? Are there any particular stitching dies you would like to see featured in this post this year? (Just click the small "comments" link beside the date in the footer of this post. If you are reading this as an email subscription, be sure to click through to the actual blog to leave an eligible comment)
7. You have until 7am ET, Wednesday, March 15th to add your project link or comment and qualify for the contest.
8. TEN randomly selected winners (five comments and five projects) will be announced on our March Release Winners page no later than 9pm ET, March 15th.
TEN randomly selected winners will each receive an $25 Papertrey gift certificate to spend however they choose! Thank you for joining us today and best of luck with the contest!