Post a Comment On: Larissa Another Day

I am so excited that Mique is the FIRST guest blogger for Christmas in July!She has the funnest, bestest blog. I love that she is sharing such a great gift idea.
Hi everyone, I'm Mique from 30days. Thanks Larissa for inviting me to join in on the Christmas in July fun. ;) At 30days I share my favorite tutorials from all over different blogs and some of my own projects as well. I also host lots of giveaways and do product reviews.

 In real life, I'm a stay at home mommy to 3 and have been married to my crazy other half for almost 12 yrs. Now that I've got that out of the way-

My mom's birthday happens to fall the week of Father's Day every year. And both my parents are notorious for being impossible to buy presents for. This year I was stumped on what to get them. But I decided to make them something that combined both their loves. An embroidered seashell family tree- Mom loves the beach, Dad loves family history. I want to share how you can make one (or something similar) with you today.

Sure it takes some time but is relatively inexpensive. Like super inexpensive. And since it's July, you have plenty of time to make one or two or ten of these for those you love for Christmas.

Ok, here goes-
First, what you will need:
fabric
scissors
Warm & Natural batting
embroidery thread
needle- read about needles here
embroidery hoop
freezer paper
sewing machine
velcro- I prefer the sew on kind
a frame

I rarely ever use that red pencil and tracing paper method to make patterns anymore. I like easy, short cuts. So I use the freezer paper/printer method. I LOVE it. I design whatever the heck I want, run it through the printer and voila- really cool design and no tracing involved.

Here's what I did-

Googled "starfish coloring page" (then later sand dollar and shells)
this is a great way to make embroidery patterns, you can find hundreds of clear, clean coloring pages online.


So I found my starfish and right clicked and saved it:[Image]

Then using Photoshop
(use whatever program you have to do the same)
I placed my images where I wanted them:
[Image]

I added some text on the starfish.
And repeated for the other shells as so:[Image][Image]

This is what it looked like straight out of the printer:
[Image]

Next I embroidered it.
You could use any number of techniques.
I used a back stitch and stem stitch.
(here's a whole bunch of other stitches)
Note that I used the Warm & Natural underneath the piece of fabric
that I printed on. It's a little thick at first to embroider with but
I like the look of it so much better.

One little tip my sister shared with me that has saved me oodles of time-
instead of licking the thread and then trying to thread the needle, lick the eye of the needle.
Try it- you'll thank me (and my sis)!

This is what the pieces looked like after embroidered them:
perfect activity to do late at night while watching brainless tv
[Image]

Next I cut them all out around the shape:
[Image]

Then I gathered some fabric of similar
colors but different patterns.
These are for the back. I cut out a piece of fabric
for each item and sewed on velcro on the back:
**I used velcro because my siblings are still having babies
so I wanted to be able to add more onto this later.
I can just create more shells and swap them out as needed.

If your family is complete, you could just sew the shapes
directly onto the background fabric.***
[Image]
Then I flipped it over like this:
[Image]
And sewed around the shape
right inside where I embroidered,
using my sewing machine.
When finished, this is how the backs looked:
[Image]
[Image]

I then laid out how I wanted the tree to look:
[Image]
And pinned velcro down onto my main sheet of fabric
that will serve as the backdrop of the tree.
I then sewed them down (sewing machine):[Image]

After that, I just attached the shells and
wrapped the background fabric around the mat
of the frame.[Image]My mom and dad loved it!
You could take the same idea and do any number of things.
I've done regular family trees:
[Image]I also have a whole needle arts label on my blog. Stop by and say hi.
Thanks for letting me share my little gift idea Larissa![Image]

A big THANK YOU to Mique. I love family tree gift ideas and this is a brand new
version of one.

Make sure to come back tomorrow for another gift idea.
Don't forget about the Tattered Flower giveaway still going on here.