Paper Piecing

Oh paper piecing. I used to do a lot of paper piecing from hand drawing to using patterns. I decided it looks so very cute, but takes SO much time to have a very detailed page. The crazy thing is I used to make these strictly to sell and realized that I didn't have any for myself. What was I thinking!?! Anyway, to get to the point of my post, I know some ladies have asked me how to do it and I figured I would share a couple of really easy techniques.

I may as well post my most elaborate and most favorite 2 page paper piecing layout. This is the layout I called Country Boy. It is a full 2 page farm scene, complete with a boy, animals, tractors, a stream, plants, rocks, barn, fence, you name it!! I stitched just about everything humanly possible on this layout. The pictures don't even do it justice, because this thing is so 3D it's ridiculous. Anyway... the question I get the most is how do I make the stream, plants, and rocks? Well that's the easy part. All you need is different colors of heavy mulberry paper and green felt. To start I cut and laid the stream down and it is one piece of blue mulberry paper. I then used two shades of gray for the rocks. I drew the shapes on the back and cut them out. I layered them on the paper for more dimension. The plants are a mix of mulberry paper and felt. Both of these items can be roughed up and given some fluff. The felt is nice because it has a bit of stretch to it. All of the above things I would then go over and chalk for more details. The grass is cardstock cut and frayed out then stuck behind the edges of the rocks. I even made cattails that I drew and stuck on there. As far as all the flowers go, I bought them. You don't have to make everything. In fact if you can find little things to add detail then USE them!! It makes the pages so much cuter!! I did Grandma and Grandpa pages once and used various items like mini baking items and mini tools.

Ok here is the barn side with all my little farm animals. On this page the question I get the most is how did I make the pig and cow? So easy!! Ok I found a really basic (talking preschool here) coloring book about farm animals. I found a pig and cow in it that I like. I scanned it on to my computer and sized it down to fit my page. I made about 4 copies of each one on to cardstock. Now I cut out my shapes like the torso, head, legs, ears, and nose. Since it's a preschool coloring book there isn't a lot of detail which makes it EASY for paper piecing. Now I used my pieces as a template to use on the cardstock that I want for the animals. Pink for a pig and shades of brown for the cow. I then cut out my parts and pieced them all together. I chalked around the edges and drew my own eyes on separate paper. Anyway there is a lot more details that I could mention, but those are the biggest questions I get. At SB.com I have a bunch in my gallery but you have to go way back to the beginning. Feel free to ask questions. I figured I will do a little tear animal tutorial next.