Missed the deadline!

For the last several years I have entered my crafts in the Home Arts exhibits at the Sonoma County Fair. I have enjoyed seeing my entries on display and have even won a few ribbons! I am still hoping to win Best of Show some year, like my friend Lisa did a few years ago.
My son Henry also enters the Junior Exhibits with a Lego creation. He has won a blue ribbon every year!

But this year, we MISSED the deadline! I felt so bad for my son, that he did not get to show his Lego creation! He always makes a Lego creation based on the fair theme and this years theme is the 75th anniversary of the Sonoma County Fair. Here is Henry's entry, a ribbon winner for sure!

I was planning on entering scrapbook layouts, cards, jewelry and a paper mache figure, but since I missed the deadline, I will show a few here.


This was to be my travel layout entry. Babe the Big Blue Ox. Photos of me and Babe, 49 years apart. I think we have both aged well!

My second entry was a layout about a funny story between my sister and I. How like each other we often are, even with 17 years between us. While out shopping together one day, we both secretly bought this greeting card, which says "How do people make it through life with out a sister" and gave them to each other that night.

 My third layout is about our new little chicks we bought to get our own fresh eggs. While making this layout I was going to use some pre-made chip board letters to spell "peeps". But I had no "s" left. And I had no other pre-made letters I liked. I could have used my Cricut and cut them out of card stock, but I wanted something with more dimension. I decided to try some yellow felt, as it would be "soft and fuzzy" like the little chicks.

I cut some with my Cuttlebug die cutter but they seemed thin and see-through. I tried backing them with yellow card stock letters cut from the same die, but it was hard to line them up. So I decided to add the cardstock to the back of the felt before I cut them. It worked great!

I first chose the die font I wanted to use and got all my materials together. I used a quick dry paper glue you apply with a dauber. It goes on quickly and evenly. Then I pressed the felt into the paper and let it dry for a few minutes. Next I assembled my die cutting sandwich. A Cuttlebug die, Quickutz or Sizzix die will work, you just need to use the correct "sandwich" of paper, plates and material, felt, fabric or paper.

I tried several different dies and found that some cut better with a paper "shim". It depended on the die I chose. A thicker "font" works best as felt can be fragile if cut too thin. The paper backing helped support the thin edges of my "sun shape".

Below you can see how the felt looks with a cardstock backing (top) and one with out (bottom). It is a subtle difference, but on a layout looks so much better and is easier and to apply to the page with a paper backing.

The lower letters are almost see through.

I hope to post a few of my cards I was going to enter in a few days. When I go to the fair I will still check out all the entries as there are some talented crafters out there and it is nice to get inspiration from fellow crafters who live near you!