Making Memories

Sewing Challenge - Week Five

I wanted to create a layout to celebrate this picture I took on our 12^th wedding anniversary.  My husband and I captured our anniversary kiss in this orange plastic toy, and I took a picture of it.

To create this page, do the following:

Cut a 4" x 8" piece of Making Memories' Animal Crackers dot paper and a 1 3/4" x 6 1/2" piece of Noteworthy dot paper. Edge these pieces with chalk and/or ink. Tear out a piece of circle paper from the Noteworthy Spiral Journaling Book. Layer pieces on Noteworthy artisan die-cut paper.

Create a bow by looping ribbon and tie like you would tie shoelaces.

 

Puff the loops with your fingers.

Trim the ends with scissors into a V shape. I trimmed the loop with pinking shears to add some textural interest.

Lay the ribbon over the picture and adhere it in place.  I pierced four holes in the ribbon using my Making Memories ruler, paper piercer, and self-healing mat. Then I stitched the ends down.

I added a zig zag stitch to the edge where the patterned papers overlapped for interest. To create the zig zag holes, first line up acrylic ruler over the patterned paper and pierced every other hole, starting with the second hole.  Then slide the ruler over and pierce every other hole starting with the first.

Use orange floss to create the zig-zag. Stitch up through the first hole and down through the second hole. The top stitches will look like zig zags and the bottom stitches will look like parallel lines.

I added three flourishes as the final touch.

   

Use a paper piercer to create holes for the flourish.

Stitch up through the first hole and down through the second hole.  Up through the third hole and back down through the second hole.

Stitch to the end of the line, then come back and stitch up through the hole where the flourish connects. Stitch to the end.

You can also stitch a sentiment with Making Memories' tiny alpha stickers. To do this simply pierce a hole in the bottom part of each sticker and add stitch with orange floss.

Give it a try and tell me what you think.

Joscelyne

Making Memories Scrapbook Room

The Making Memories scrapbook room received a great response at CHA. Many of you wanted to know what color of paint we used and where we got the furniture.

First, for the paint. We had a custom paint color mixed for the room. We used Benjamin Moore paint and had them mix it to Pantone 7492. Next for the furniture, we purchased most of the furniture from Ikea. What makes this room complete? All the products and that came from Making Memories of course! :)

If you want more information about Making Memories' organization products check out our website.

Guest Designer Stephanie Dagan

Today we are excited to feature Stephanie Dagan as a Making Memories guest designer. Stephanie's clean style is easy to fall in love with. She used a combination of Making Memories collections including Fresh Anthology, 5th Avenue, and Funky Vintage.

Collections are great because it's easy to find patterns and colors that coordinate. However, it's also fun to "break the rules" a bit to create a new look, just for you.

We hope this page gives you inspiration to mix and match the product you already have to create something beautiful.

Thank you Stephanie Dagan for being today's guest designer.

A BIG Accomplishment!

Our Distribution Center hit a major safety milestone on July 7, 2008. It was the 1,000th day they had operated without a loss time accident or injury. When you think about everything they do everyday and what they are exposed to, you can better understand what makes this such a great accomplishment.

For example here are some interesting facts about our DC:

1. They average 10 hour work days Monday through Friday and even work numerous weekends.
2. They receive on average 276,000 cartons which is 13.1 million pounds of product every year and they touch each carton because most of our product comes in via ocean containers.
3. They average 533,000 kits being assembled every year meaning they touch on average 5.1 million pieces of product.
4. They average 91,227 orders per year consisting of 2,046,400 lines and 14.7 million pounds of product.

So as you can see, operating 1,000 days without a loss time accident or injury while handling so much volume is a great accomplishment. Our DC is now up to 1,011 days and their new goal is 2,000 days safe.

Congratulations to our DC team for a job well done and best of luck in reaching your new goal!!!

     

CHA Videos

Here is the last set of CHA videos for you to enjoy.

As you can see, the energy at the show was amazing. It's so much fun to see everyones excitement and enthusiasm for our new products.

What did you like best about the CHA blog party?

Sewing Challenge - Week Four

I like the look of threaded, tied-on-top buttons. It does not take long to get the hang of tying the thread. I will show you how you can do this and save thread at the same time.

1. Get your supplies ready. You will need embroidery floss, a craft needle, and lot of buttons. Thread all stands of embroidery floss through the needle.

2. Hold the button in one hand and sew down through the hold of the button.

3. Pull the embroidery floss through until you have a tail approximately 1.5" long. Hold it snuggly between your thumb and the button.

4. Sew up through the hole on the right, pull the thread tight (but not too tight).

5. Sew down through the hole on the left, pulling the thread again.

6. Sew up through the hole on the top pulling the thread.

7. Hole the tail firmly between your thumb and your middle finger, placing the button top against your finger. Wrap the long thread around your finger.

8. Pass the needle under the thread that is wrapped around your finger to tie a knot.

9. Pull it tight. Again, hold the tail firmly between your thumb and your middle finger, placing the button top against your finger. Wrap the long thread around your finger. Pass the needle under the thread that's wrapped around your finger to tie a double knot.

10. Thread the next button and leave an inch between buttons and repeat the process. You can thread all your buttons in a row and then trim the threads at the end.

 

11. Use a glue dot to adhere the buttons to the flowers and another glue dot to adhere the flower to the page.

Give it a try. Happy sewing!

Joscelyne

CHA Slice Girls

Marianne and Amy were the Making Memories Slice Girls at CHA. They became very popular among the crowd. They went around the show spotting people wearing Making Memories aprons. The winners received a Runway Roller FULL of product AND a SLICE!!!!

Check them out in action.

The Winner of Making Memories Scrapbook Room

Remember this room? Making Memories gave this room away at CHA to one lucky winner.

Who was the lucky winner (the very lucky winner I might add)?

KAYLA AIMEE TERRELL

Was she excited? YES!!!

Kayla won EVERYTHING in the scrapbook room - furniture, product, SLICE, etc., etc., etc.

She called her husband to share in her excitement.

Congratulations Kayla!

Thanks

Thank you everyone for your nice emails about the CHA Summer previews and prizes. I hope everyone had a fun time. We have also been receiving emails from people that attended the show. I got this cute sketch from Stephanie and wanted to share.

Carousel Winner

Congrats to Nancy Mackey. She is the winner of Making Memories Desktop Carousel. Nancy please email me your address so we can send a prize (jweston@makingmemorie.com)

I hope everyone had a great time with the CHA Sneak Peaks and prizes. Stay tuned for more videos from the show.