The Pixie Cottage Challenge #18 - Vintage/Distressing - Guest Sketch

It's Wish Upon Wednesday time and it's time for another Special Guest Sketch Artist!
This time we have one of the Queen's of the Copic Markers, it's with great pleasure that today our sketch is designed by the very lovely Suzanne Dean from Scrapbitz!
Suzanne is a whizz with Copic's and has done many tutorials showing us mere mortals how she creates her masterpieces. She also has online classes at her Color Me Creative Classroom for those wishing to learn hands on.
As well as designing the sketch



Suzanne has also created this fabulous card showcasing the wonderful Hannah by The Pond by Sandra Hammer



Along with the super sketch for this challenge we'd love to see you get your hands a little inky and add some Vintage or Distressed touches to your creation.
Remember you can use the sketch, the technique or both!
One randomly picked winner will get their choice of 2 Pixie Cottage Stamps and the Design Teams Top Three entries will get to display the winners badge on their blog.
Winners will be announced on the Friday following the end of the challenge.

We also have another fabulous card by our Special Guest for the month;
Rowena
Using South End Girl by Andrea Seiler



And here are the creations by the rest of our talented team!

Katie
Using Maisy and Matts Wedding by Di Carubia



Pam
Using Whispering Maisy and Matt by Di Carubia



Risa
Using Dancing Maisy by Di Carubia



Anne
Using Maisy and Matts Wedding by Di Carubia



Peggy
Using Simply The Best by ArTish



ArTish
Using Bunny with Roses by Do Carubia



Denise
Using Whispering Maisy and Matt by Di Carubia



Sharon
Using Hannah With Butterflies by Sandra Hammer



Tanya
Using Barnie in Spring by ArTish


Katarina
Using Give Me a Hug by Alisa Ramirez



Denise C
Using Dancing Maisy by Di Carubia



Davi
Using Simply The Best by ArTish



Erin
Using Maisy and Matts Wedding by Di Carubia



Tracey
Using Whispering Maisy and Matt by Di Carubia



Cheryl
Using Hannah With Butterflies by Sandra Hammer



We hope you will join in and play along with the Pixie Pals this week, remember you use the sketch, go a little vintage (or get distressed! LOL) or both!
When you have created your project come back and add it to the gadget below.

Have fun, Katie and the Team.

Tutorial Time Again! Sewing on your Cards with Peggy

It's time for another tutorial and this time Senior Design Team member Peggy from Beautiful Greetings and she's going to show us how enhance our cards by grabbing our trusty sewing machine.

Sewing on cards is a great way to create a beautiful finished edge. I love using the zig zag stitch because it looks nice and is SUPER EASY to keep straight.

NEEDLE:
Your needle size doesn't matter, just remember that the larger the needle, the larger the hole it leaves. I use a size 11 which is a nice mid size needle. You can still see the holes but they don't overwhelm your stitching.
THREAD:
Another tip is to use your nice colored thread on the top and use a basic cheap thread for your bobbin. This will save you the expense of winding beautiful threads onto the bobbin when nobody will ever see them. When you do this, just make sure that the tension on the bottom is a little tighter than the top. This will pull the top thread down a little farther and you won't see the bottom thread at all. If you have tried to sew on paper and were frustrated with the little loops on the top, it is because your bottom tension is too loose. I use a Brother sewing machine and my tensions are: Top tension is 4 and the bottom is the default. If you keep getting loops, just adjust your top until they disappear.
PAPER:
You will need two pieces of paper but make sure that one piece, if not both are a heavy weight cardstock. Two thin pieces of paper do not stitch well. Cut the two pieces so that the smaller piece is 1/4" smaller than the other on all sides. For my demo, I used one 5" piece and one 4 3/4" piece.
GLUE:
You want to avoid your needle coming into contact with your adhesive. If you sew through your glue, it will not only gum up your needle but will eventually cause your thread to break where you don't need it to break (don't ask me how long it took to realize that!) I usually just make an "X" with my adhesive in the middle, avoiding all edges. This will keep your paper in place while you sew.Okay...on to the zig zag stitch.

For my demo today I have my stitch length set at 1.5 and my width at 3.5. You can experiment and see what you like best.

To begin, place your needle on the RIGHT side of the paper at the top corner. This will make the zig zag go inside your paper, also allowing you to use the edge of your smaller piece to keep the stitch straight. Start slow and make sure your needle always ends up on the right side of the edge.
As you approach your corner slow your needle down and end with your needle on the RIGHT at the very bottom edge. If your needle doesn't naturally end up on the bottom right, just hand turn the dial and guide your needle while keeping your hand firmly on the paper. This will not allow the paper to advance while you place the needle where you want it.With your needle in the down position, lift the presser foot and rotate the paper to begin the new side. Your first one or two stitches will slightly overlap but this creates a clean finished corner. Finish the other two sides using the same method.

When finished with your last corner, leave the needle in the up position and gently pull your cardstock out and cut your threads. Leave a couple of inches of thread.To finish, gently pull the bobbin threads on the back until you can see your top thread come through, using a needle or the tip of your scissors, pull them all the way through to the back of the card.
I knot my thread by tying them all together but if you like, you can just tape them to the back of the card.

To finish your card, just use your adhesive and glue all of the edges, over the thread and stick to your card base.
Voila! You have a beautifully stitched card!
Don't be afraid to play and try out new stitches on scrap paper. Sewing on cards can be a lot of fun!

I think Peggy did a fabulous job and I'd love you to show her some love :)
Katie

Winners of Challenge #16

Hello and welcome to Winners Circle Friday!
Today's the day to check to see if you are the winner from Challenge #16 which was "Lots of Flowers".
The randomly picked winner of their choice of two fabulous Pixie Cottage stamps is Maria!
Please contact Michelle with your details so you choose your stamps.

Our Top Three picks are (in no particular order)
Fern
Tracy Payne
Mandy

Congratulations and feel free to grab our banner for your blog



Remember that Challenge #17, "Make Your Own Charm", is still running and you have until Tuesday the 4th at Midnight to enter.
Good luck!

The Pixie Cottage Challenge #17 - Make Your Own Charms

It's Once Upon Wednesday time and for this challenge we'd love to see you use your skill to "Make Your Own Charm"! This could be out of Polymer clay, Shrink Plastic, Beads and Jewelry findings, anything you can think of!
And along with the technique part we have another fabulous sketch from our very own team member Pam.
Remember our challenges are "take your pick" so you can chose the technique, the sketch or both if you like!



Also for the month of May we have a very special guest designer.
Rowena from Crafty Pagan Designs
If you haven't seen Rowena's work before you are in for a treat. She has a mix of vintage, whimsy and just plain arty wonderfulness! LOL Please visit her and leave her some love.

One randomly picked winner will get their choice of 2 Pixie Cottage Stamps and the Design Teams Top Three entries will get to display the winners badge on their blog.
Winners will be announced on the Friday following the end of the challenge.


Rowena
Using Hannah With Butterflies by Sandra Hammer



Katie
Using Little Chick and Little Lamb by Alisa Ramirez



Pam
Using Baby Blake by Lisa Schmidt



Risa
Using Waking Up To Spring by ArTish



Anne
Using Baby Blake by Lisa Schmidt



Peggy
Using Hannah on Bench by Sandra Hammer



ArTish
Using Simply the Best by ArTish



Sharon
Using Baby Blake by Lisa Schmidt



Tanya
Using Savannah and Smiles by Alisa Ramirez



Davi
Using Valentines Hannah by Sandra Hammer altered with flowers



Tracey
Using Cassidy from the Girls of the World collection by Lisa Schmidt



Cheryl
Using Stump and Bench by Sandra Hammer



Adrina
Using Hannah With Butterflies by Sandra Hammer



We'd love to see how "Charmingly Creative" you can be and maybe use the sketch too!
Add your link to the gadget below and good luck!



Katie and The Team!

Welcome Di Carubia to The Pixie Cottage ... New Stamps...BLOG CANDY

I am thrilled to welcome Di Carubia to The Pixie Cottage.

Di joins us this month with 5 designs!  I just love her sweet children and animals and I am sure you will also.  Her stamps will be added to the store this weekend. In celebration of Di's joining us, I would like to offer 10% off you total purchase.  Just use the coupon code CARUBIA when checking out. (good through the weekend)

So without further ado, here are Di's new stamps. (All red rubber cling foam backed)

So would you like to win all 5 stamps?  Well then just leave a comment here (tell me which of Di's five stamps you like the best) and post the candy on your own blog with a link back to this post. If you care to follow our blog I would be thrilled.  I will choose a winner at random on May 15th, so please check back.

Don't forget to check out this weeks challenge (link is at the top of the blog) We would love to have you join us.

Michelle