Crafter in The Spotlight 43 - Itsy Bitsy

Hello arty-crafty folks,

Thursday is here again! Today I will introduce you to another passionate crafter for our weekly ‘Crafter in the Spotlight’. This week the lime light is on Riddhi Jani, a talented crafter who is originally from Ahmedabad, residing in Pune but is soon moving to the ‘City of Dreams’… Mumbai!!

Riddhi has completed her B. Sc with Biotechnology and feels that art runs in her blood. She loved painting since childhood but never imagined she would take up crafting as a career.

Some of Riddhi’s favourite are scrapbooking, paper crafting and mix media. She feels, Itsy Bitsy offers the best price and is the perfect place for craft shopping.

How did Riddhi get into crafting, what inspires her, what are her tips for fellow crafters, her favourite quote, how would she contribute to the crafting world if she had magical powers? Read answers to all these questions, discover more about her interesting journey and catch a glimpse of a step by step project by Riddhi in this interview. Don’t forget to leave your comments for her.

Here are excerpts of my interview with Riddhi Jani:

Rashmi Closepet, MD, Itsy Bitsy: Tell us a bit about yourself & your background?

Riddhi Jani: Hello everyone! Thanks Rashmi ma'am and Anitha ma'am for this wonderful platform. I'm grateful that Itsy Bitsy gave me this chance.

Before I tell you something about myself, I would like to thank Itsy Bitsy for choosing me. It’s like a dream come true ❤.  I'm Riddhi Jani from Ahmedabad but right now I am in Pune. Most probably I will be shifting to Mumbai this week end. Though I have completed B. Sc with Biotechnology, art is in my blood. I can't stay without craft. I like o paint, sing and a dance a bit as well. Hey, forget to tell you that I'm a big big panipuri fan....lol 😜. I love to listen to music when I'm alone. Mostly, I like listening to slow songs with deep meaning.

RC: How did you get into crafting?

RJ: From my very childhood I loved to paint...But frankly telling you guys, I never imagined it as a career. It’s only possible because of my loving husband and mummy (mom-in-law). Without them, it would not have been possible. Really, words cannot explain the importance of craft in my life. I just can't stay without craft. I think every craft-y person feels like I do. Right guys?  

RC: What is your favourite type of craft?

RJ: Hmm...Mainly, I like to do scrapbooking and paper crafting. But I like to work with mix media projects also. 

RC: What are your favourite products at Itsy Bitsy?

RJ: Itsy Bitsy is like a perfect place for crafty shopping and with best price 😊. Though I love each and every product from the store, my favourites are Flowers, DCWV papers, Jute sheets and Butterflies.

RC: If you had magical powers, how would you contribute to the Crafting world?

RJ: If I had magical powers, I would like to change some thoughts about art in common people who do not value art and artists. Artists obviously work for money but more than that, artists want true appreciation. Am I right guys??

RC: Your prized possession in your craft stash from Itsy Bitsy?

RJ: All the flowers, pattern papers and stickers❤

RC: How would you describe your style of crafting?

RJ: I will call it unique ❤ as I believe all craft-y folks have their own style...and they are unique in their own way 😊

RC: How do you organize your time for crafting?

RJ: I really wish I can craft all day...I have a little boy who is 18 months old. So, I only craft while he is sleeping. Therefore I can hardly craft for 2-3 hours. At this stage my family supports me a lot, if my baby wakes up, mummy or my husband handles him so I can complete my projects 😊 It really means so much to me. ❤

RC: Tips for people who want to craft

RJ: Craft from the heart guys…It’s not about crafting…I think it's about crafting with feelings ❤

RC: Your all-time favourite quote?

RJ: "Difficult roads often lead to beautiful destinations ❤"

Here is a gorgeous project by Riddhi & step by step description:

For the project you need all this stuff which is in the image.

Step-1

Take 4 ice cream sticks and fix them with the help of any strong glue.

Step-2
Fix 2 more sticks on top of the 1st layer. Then take 4 more sticks and arrange 3 of them in same line and cut 1 ice cream stick in to 3 parts. Then fix it just as shown in the image.

Step-3

Arrange it as shown in image. So it will make a little stand for our frame.

Step-4

Pick a colour of your choice. As I'm using one of my favourite colours from the store only. Let it dry, then, stick pattern paper to give the background a nice look.

Step-5
Give a little bit of shading on the first layer of the colour. I am using this pretty sentiment sticker from the store.

Step-6
Pick choice of flowers. I feel incomplete without flowers for my projects. Thanks Itsy Bitsy for the wide range of flowers within budget. I love them 😄

And yes it's ready!!! 😄

Here are a couple of Riddhi's other awesome creations:

Many congrats Riddhi for being the CRAFTER IN THE SPOTLIGHT – ITSY BITSY!!

You will receive Rs.500/- Itsy Bitsy gift voucher 😊😊 & a Crafter in the Spotlight badge, which can be proudly displayed on the side bar of your blog and other platforms. Looking forward to many more creations, Happy Crafting!

Crafter in The Spotlight 42 - Itsy Bitsy

Weeks roll over so quickly, it’s Thursday once again and time to take a peek into another crafter’s story and her creations. Today I will introduce you to our weekly ‘Crafter in the Spotlight’. This week our talented crafter in the limelight is Rutuja Paranjape.

Now a full time mom, Rutuja is an MBA in Finance and has also worked as a graphic designer for a while. Even as a school girl, Rutuja always had a passion for art and craft.

She simply loves shopping from Itsy Bitsy and still remembers her first shopping experience from the store. Itsy Bitsy handmade flowers are among her favourites but she admires all kind of merchandise available at Itsy Bitsy.

How did Rutuja get into crafting, what inspires her, what are her tips for fellow crafters, her favourite quote, how would she contribute to the crafting world if she had magical powers? Read answers to all these questions, discover more about her interesting journey and catch a glimpse of a step by step project by Rutuja in this interview. Don't forget to leave your comments for her.

Rashmi Closepet, MD, Itsy Bitsy: Tell us a bit about yourself & your background?

RP: I would really like to thank Rashmi Ma’am, Anitha Ma’am and team Itsy-Bitsy for selecting me as ‘Crafter in the Spotlight’ for this week. I am Rutuja Paranjape. I have completed my graduation in Commerce and pursued MBA in Finance. Speaking about my career, I was into the finance sector for a few years and I also got an opportunity to work as a graphic designer for a brief period. I left my job when my daughter was born and have been a full time mom and a crafter since then.

 RC: How did you get into crafting?

RP: Art and craft was something I have always liked. Back in the school days it was drawing, sketching, painting, knitting that I always enjoyed. I used to make cards for family and friends. But I will have to be thankful to my daughter, because of whom I had to take a break from my career and was introduced to this wonderful world of paper crafting. I am also thankful to my husband, who has played a very important role in motivating me to get into crafting.

My first ever craft shopping was from Itsy Bitsy, and I still remember how excited I was to get the stuff which was so quickly delivered to me!

 RC:   What is your favourite type of craft?

 RP: Scrapbooking and card making top my list of favourites in paper crafting. However, I am very keen to try my hands at mix media.

 RC:   What are your favourite products at Itsy Bitsy?

 RP: I love all the products at Itsy Bitsy......Stamps, Embellishments, Laces, Ribbons, Sprays, Stencils, Dies, variety of Pattern Papers and the list goes on. But my top favourite has to be the beautiful and gorgeous collection of handmade flowers. I just can't resist buying them whenever I visit the online store. I love all the products, they are so reasonably priced!

RC:   If you had magic powers, how would you contribute to the crafting world?

 RP:  If I had magical powers, I would definitely want to open more Itsy-Bitsy outlets and make the awesome crafty stuff easily available to all.

 RC:   Your prized possession in your craft stash from Itsy Bitsy?

RP:    It definitely has to be my huge collection of handmade flowers! I always make sure to keep refilling and never run out of stock.

 RC:   How would you describe your style of crafting?

 RP:    I would say creative and simple would be my style. I try to make every project different from the other and I like to keep it simple.

RC:   How do you organize your time for crafting?

 RP:   I get time to craft when my little one is off to playschool. Sometimes, I also love crafting late at night. 

 RC:   Tips for people who want to craft.

 RP:   To all the people who want to craft, never doubt yourself, always be open to learning and trying out new stuff. Remember, unless you make it, you wouldn't get better at it, so keep crafting!

RC:   Your all -time favourite quote?

 RP:   My all time favourite quote is, “You are never too old to set a new goal or dream a new dream.” So always dream and work hard to pursue your dream. This is what I firmly believe in. 

 Here is a gorgeous project by Rutuja  & step by step description:

Here is a step by step tutorial for a Tag using supplies from Itsybitsy

First I coloured the tag with distress ink. Used a stencil to create a pattern over it, with another colour.

 

Then I stamped the sentiment and embellished the tag with a chipboard frame, flowers, lace and rhinestones

Finally, I punched a hole and fixed an eyelet for tying the ribbons and laces to the tag.

Here are a couple of  Rutuja's other awesome creations:

Many congrats Rutuja  for being the CRAFTER IN THE SPOTLIGHT – ITSY BITSY!!

You will receive Rs.500/- Itsy Bitsy gift voucher 😊 😊 & a Crafter in the Spotlight badge, which can be proudly displayed on the side bar of your blog and other platforms. Looking forward to many more creations, Happy Crafting!

And we are back with CHALLENGES!

Hello Crafters!

Good morning & welcome again!

We have some awesome news to share today........on popular demand we are re introducing our challenges! Yes we are back with ITSY BITSY CHALLENGES! 

Here are some guidelines to participate. Simple & easy to follow - 

ITSY BITSY CHALLENGE#1-2016

Theme - Anything Goes using the Itsy Bitsy LITTLE BIRDIE CHIPBOARD SHAPES

1. Submission can be a card, box, tag, scrapbook layout, decoupage, altered art, home decor - anything as long as it is handmade and complies with the theme.
2. Please follow our blog to be eligible.
3. Turn off word verification to enable us to leave comments.
4. Entries can be submitted until 25th of each month. 
5. In order to submit your entry, click on the inlinkz button provided at the end of this post, add your image and link to your blog post containing the submission.
6. Each participant can submit a maximum of 3 entries. Please add numbers 1,2, 3 while submitting multiple entries.
7. Please link to your post and not just your blog.
8. In your blog post, create a link back to this page. 
9. Only projects posted during the Challenge period are eligible (no backlinking).
10. Entries are welcome from all over the world however if you are the winner, we can only ship your prize to an Indian address.
11. If you don't have a blog and want to add your card on FaceBook, please upload it on our FB group page Itsy Bitsy Crafter's Cafe with the hashtag - #itsybitsychallenge#1-2016
12. TWO winners will be picked through random.org who will each receive a voucher of Rs.500 , redeemable online at www.itsybitsy.in. Top 3 will be selected by the DT.
13. You may link up with upto 10 challenges including ours.

Should you have any queries please feel free to leave it in the comments, we will be glad to help!

Moving onto my project, I cannot get enough of the pearlized paints.......my last project here too was using these awesome paints. Sharing a home decor project using a MDF plaque as the base. 

Colored another smaller MDF plaque with the "blush" shade & white acrylic paint to give it a distressed look. 

To add some texture I mixed impasto with paint & stencilled it randomly over the MDF.

Using the gold dimensional paint from Mont Marte I added a few highlights to the bricks.

Brought out some embellishments - chipboard shapes, flowers, rhinestones, handmade flowers, fence  from my stash & completed the plaque.

Here's the final look - 

All the embellishments & this small little altered bottle were glued using silicon glue.  

Used rub ons to add "Relax you are HOME"

to complete the plaque.

Coordinated the bottle using hemp cord & some gold - 

Supplies used - 

Metallic paints 

Mont Marte Impasto 

Mont Marte dimensional paints 

Flexible knife

embellishments

Chipboard shapes

Handmade flowers

silicon glue

Stencil

MDF plaque 

white acrylic paint 

chipboard shapes, 

flowers, 

rhinestones, 

handmade flowers,

fence

Hemp cord
Rub ons

Hope you like this simple shabby project!
Love,
TANVI

An InLinkz Link-up

Ribbon Flower Hair Accessories...

Hello Friends

Ribbon flowers have always been a crafter's favourite. They enhance the look of your projects. One of the best ways of using these ribbon flowers is in hair accessories.... Today I'm sharing how to make some of my personal favourite ribbon flowers and will use them in making some hair accessories.

Hairband

For this beautiful Hairband I have used different size satin ribbons, rhinestone, felt sheet, an old hairband (from my stash of hair accessories) & Itsy Bitsy's Silicon Glue (This glue saved me from using the hot glue gun for these accessories. I absolutely fell in love with it).

Lets start with the flower first. For the flower I have used:

Using a T-light candle I had sealed both the ends of all the ribbon pieces. Next I started shaping each petal.

1.     Keeping the wrong side of the ribbon facing up, I folded the ribbon into 90° downwards from the centre.

2.     Next I folded the A end and placed it on the B end as shown above.

3.     Then folded the corners inside partially overlapping each other.

4.    Lastly I held these folds securely with a straight tweezer and sealed the bottom edge using a T-light candle. ( just move the edge near the flame and not into the flame. Repeat till all the folds melt and stick to each other. While doing so make sure the edge is not burnt or the ribbon does not turn black).

5.     Front look of the petal once the edge was sealed.

6.     Backside of the petal.

7.     I repeated the same process for all the ribbon pieces cut.

Next comes the assembling of the petals to form the flower. Every petal is stuck to the base using Itsy Bitsy’s Silicon glue.

1.     I used a 4cms cardstock circle for the base. Then start arranging the dark pink petal. The 1^st layer had 11 dark pink petals which I stuck to edge of the circle.

2.     The 2^nd layer was again of dark pink petal. This time I stuck 9 petals slightly inner than the 1^st layer.

3.     3^rd layer had 7 - 1” light pink petals and 4^th layer had 5 – 1” light pink petals.

4.     5^th layer had 5 – ½” light pink petals. Lastly I added a big rhinestone in the center.

Taada!!! And the flower was ready...

Now lets see how I did the ribbon weaving on the Hairband. For the ribbon weaving I used ½” white ribbon – approx 5mtrs (the length on the ribbon may vary depending on the hairband size).

1.     I started the weaving from both the ends of the ribbon and named them as left ribbon & right ribbon. Made a ½” loop on the right ribbon. (The loop size will depend on your ribbon size.)

2.     Then made a loop on the left ribbon and passed it through the right loop.

3.     Next made a loop on the right ribbon and then passed it through the left loop.

4.     Then pulled the left ribbon to tighten the loop.

5.     To secure the entire weaving I turned it around and using silicon glue stuck the ribbon at the point the needle is inserted in the picture above. Once the silicon glue was dry, I snapped off the extra ribbon end seen below the needle.

6.     After the weaving was secure it looked like this.

7.    Then turned the entire weaving to the front and made a loop on the left ribbon and passed it through the right ribbon loop. Then pulled the right ribbon to tighten the loop. Step 3, 4 & 7 were repeated till I got the desired length of the weave. The length depends on the hairband size.

8.     The ribbon weaving looked like this.

9.     Once the desired length of the weaving was achieved, I secured the right ribbon end by sticking the ribbon at the point the needle is shown in the picture above.

10. Then the left ribbon end was secured at the back of the weaving at the point the needle is showing in the picture above. Once the glue was dry I snapped off the extra loop.

11. Finally the weaving was secured and the end looked like this.

12. Lastly I adhered the ribbon weaving to the hairband using Itsy Bitsy’s Silicon Glue and then adhered the flower to the hairband at the desired place.

Brooch Pin & Hair Clip

For this set of brooch pin & Hair clip I have used the beautiful Teal & light green colour 1” satin ribbon, pearls, felt sheet, barrette clip 85mm x 10mm, saree brooch pin and the amazing Silicon glue.

Lets check out how these flowers were formed.

1.     I started by covering the Saree brooch clip with felt sheet.

2.     Same I did with the barrette clip. Wrapped it with felt sheet in & out

3.     Next I took 1” light green satin ribbon and sealed its edge using a T-light candle. Then folded the ribbon edge diagonally as shown in the picture above and cut it at the inside edge. This gave me a square. I needed 5 such squares as the flower has 5 petals.

4.      Here I took each square & folded it diagonally.

5.     Then holding the ribbon as in picture 4, I made the right corner to meet the top centre point and sealed this edge using T-light candle.

6.     Repeated the same with the other corner.

7.     Lastly folded the petal backward and holding it with the tweezer as shown in the picture above, sealed the bottom corner from behind. It looked like pinched from the front.

The same process was used to make 15 Teal colour petals. Once all the petals were ready I assembled each flower with 5 petal on a small cardstock circle with silicon glue and then stuck 1 teal flower on the saree brooch pin and 3 flowers on the barrette clip.

Hair Ponytail Band

This is my personal favourite out of all the hair accessories. The ribbon rose is just so beautiful and very easy to make. I have used 1” Sky Blue colour satin ribbon, white lace (from my Stash), green gross grain ribbon, pearl, black ponytail band (from my hair accessories stash), needle, thread and the best Silicon glue.

Lets see how this beauty is created.

1.     I started by folding the right bottom corner to the upper edge and then using a straight tweezer coiled the corner upto ½”.

2.     Holding the coiled edge I started stitching (running stitch) the upper edge upto the folded corner.

3.     Once the upper edge was secure with the running stitch, I folded the ribbon backward along the vertical edge.

4.     And then the new formed edge was again folded diagonally as in step 1 to meet the upper edge.

5.     Again I secured this open edge by running stitch.

6.     I continued doing step 3 & 4 few more times and then slowly pulled the thread from the starting point against the ribbon to form gathered petals as in the picture above.

7.     Again I repeated steps 3 – 6 till I achieved desired no of petals for the Rose. The last petal was then secured by a knot and the extra ribbon was cut. Lastly I started coiling the rose with my hand from the beginning point making sure that the base is flat and not conical. The last petal was secured using silicon glue.

Now let’s assemble the entire band.

8.     To give a base to the ribbon rose I had used a white cotton lace from my stash. I started with running stitch on the upper edge.

9.     Once the desired length was achieved, I pulled the thread from the beginning point and formed a gathered flower. The end edge was stitched to secure it.

10. I had used the green gross grain ribbon to give a contrast colour and look of leaves. Just made simple loops as shown in the picture above and stuck all the layers in the centre using silicon glue.

11. The white lace flower & the green loops where then stitched to the black band. A pearl was used inside the black band behind the white lace flower to secure the stitch. This helped in avoiding the stitch to come off by fraying the band off.

Mini Hair Clip

For this cute little hair clip I have used satin ribbons - 1” dark pink, 1” dark green, ½” light pink, pollens, pearls, mini barrette clip 50mm x 5mm, feltsheet and Silicon glue.

So lets see how the clip was made.

For the Light pink flower I have used ½” ribbon and the same technique of Ribbon Rose as discussed above. The ribbon size being small it looks a little different from the rose. Had also covered the mini barrette clip with brown felt sheet.

For the buds I have used 1” Dark pink ribbon.

1.     I cut a square out of the 1” dark pink ribbon. Sealed the edges using a T-light candle.

2.     Then folded it diagonally.

3.     Again folded it diagonally to get a smaller triangle.

4.     Now holding the ribbon as shown in the above picture, I started coiling from right corner to the left corner. I maintained the bottom edge to be flat. Finally secured the end point with silicon glue.

5.     Next i added yellow pollens to the bud using silicon glue again.

6.     For fillers I made pearl stems using wire.

For the leaves I have used 1” dark green satin ribbon.

7.     I cut 2 pcs of 6 cms long 1” dark green satin ribbon.

8.     Then keeping the wrong side of the ribbon facing up, folded the top corners to the bottom edge and then secured them by running stitch. Then pulled the thread against the ribbon to gather the bottom edge and secured it by a knot.

9.     Lastly from the front using a straight tweezer I pinched the top and stuck it using a T-light candle.

10. Finished Leaf.

Finally for assembling the clip I used silicon glue to stick the flowers, then leaves, buds and lastly pearl fillers. Refer the picture above.

All these ribbon flowers can be varied in size using different size ribbons. 

Supplies Used
1. Satin Ribbon Packs - 6mm White
                                 - 1" Girly
                                 - 1/2" Girly
                                 - 1" Earth Tones
                                 - 1.5" Ocean
                                 - Green Gross grain ribbon
2. Assorted Rhinestones
3. Barrette clip 85mm x 10mm
4. Barrette clip 50mm x 5mm
5. Saree brooch pin
6. Pollens
7. Pearls
8. Felt sheet
9. Needle
10. Thread
11. Silicon glue

I hope you all liked the super long tutorial. Do leave some love below.

Love Gopi