Hero Arts Video For Those of Us Who Did Some Sewing

Today was an exciting day. I stayed up until 2 AM to see Libby from PSA Essentials on the Home Shopping Network. I didn't need to stay up, because TiVo was recording the show, but I wanted to see it live. Libby was also on again at 10 AM my time. It was a thrill to see some of my work on TV. More about that tomorrow.

Another reason it was an exciting day was this video I just saw on YouTube. Jennifer McGuire  and Sally Traidman from Hero Arts made a video to thank those of us who did sewing for them in the last 2 weeks. So sweet!

Plus, when I was up late last night, I was browsing pictures on Flickr from the trade show when I saw this picture. Jennifer seems to be wearing one of the flowers I made! I can't be positive, but that is the same fabric I sewed. I don't know how many other people were sewing that particular color of fabric.

Fun, fun, fun!

Made Some Stamped Flower Pins for Hero Arts

These fabric flowers started from a simple Tweet that Jennifer McGuire posted a few weeks ago:

"All you Hero Arts fans - can any of you sew? Reply if you do. Thanks!"

I replied to tell her I knew how to sew (thanks for teaching me at a young age, Mom!). A few days later, I got an email from Jennifer asking for my mailing address so she could FedEx a box with all the supplies to make these amazing flowers. Hero Arts needed hundreds of these to give away at their booth during CHA.

I had seen this video from Sally Traidman several months ago so I knew I had a great tutorial to follow. These flowers are also on the cover of the current Hero Arts catalog and their website.

Sure enough, I quickly received the box with a lot of stamps (Three Leaves, Large Flower, Striped Flower and many more), batting, red and green fabric, paper flowers, buttons, thread, embroidery thread, fabric glue, pin backs, and white felt. I offered to make 50 flowers. They needed a quick turn-around on this project. I landed up FedExing 49 of them to Jennifer's hotel at CHA in LA.  I lost track of the 50th one; I found it later. For 5 of the flowers, I stamped on the reverse side of the red fabric to get a different look. That's the flower in the center of my collage.

Here's how the back of the flower looks. I glued the pin back to the felt circle and I also stitched it to make sure it stays secure.

Here's a picture of one of the flowers on me. This was such a fun project. When I was sewing the third flower, my sewing machine started acting up. I wasted a whole afternoon and evening troubleshooting everything (needle size, tension, upper and lower threading, bobbin). I even added drops of machine oil into the bobbin area for maintenance. I almost put my hands up in the air to give up, but I was persistent. I finally beat the sewing machine into submission. :-)

Thanks, Jennifer and Hero Arts!