Some more paper work  

Posted by: Maria in , , ,

I have been playing with some techniques that are new to me and I really like some of the results.  I finished my ATC's for the World of Crafters exchange last night.  this months theme is Time for Coffee or Tea so here is what I came up with:


This ATC is a tri-fold.  I took the restrictor off a corner punch to make the slots to hold the front closed.  The tea cup is printed on glossy paper and gold embossed.  I used a gold ink pad to brush along the outer edges of both the tab on the front and the front panels.  The inside is stamped with a swirly gold background pattern and a added a tag with a quote from Chaim Potok inside. I found a simple silhouette of a tea pot and fussy cut iit so the flower would end up in the center of the tea pot.  Then I enamelled the heck out of it with UTEE.  I cut a snall section out of a doily and brushed it with gold ink to set the tea pot on.  All in all I am pretty please but I would do a few things differently if I did it again.  That's ok though i is all about learning.

I also finished my fatbook page for February.

This month's theme was tricolor and I picked red/white/black.  The white background actually has a textured stripe in it and I stamped that swirly heart all over the backgroung after I glued down the heart so the edges of the stamp run into the background.  The stamp is embossed with kalidescope embossing powder so it changes color as it moves.  I used a clip art silhouette of two dancers and traced them onto black cardstock and again UTEE'd the heck out of them.  I coated a aluminum tag frame with black glitter and let it dry overnight before adding the Dance tag.  This picture really does not do it justice.

I love the look of UTEE (Ultra-thick embossing enamel)  but there is definately a learning curve with it.  Thankfully a large jar is only around $13 and a 40% off coupon lowers that considerably. 

Now I am off to trim and punch some more blankets for Project Linus as all the ones I had prepared are finished!  We may or may not be getting some sort or winter snow/sleet/ice/rain event in the next day or so so I will just be staying home and taking care of business (making soup, baking cookies and sipping hot chocolate).  Watching movies and crocheting are the perfect accompaniment to that! (so Martha-ish aren't I?)

Oh!  The quote on the ATC says:
Come, let us have some tea and continue to talk about happy things. - Chaim Potok

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GOOOOOOOD Morning!  

Posted by: Maria in , ,

Yes there is still an hour left of the morning so I can say that. In addition to my regular morning chores and blog hopping I have been lost in cyberspace exploring a site that is rocking my creativity! But first things first...


Two more blankets finished for Project Linus.  I finished the second one last night. 

 The Princess needed help finding her bone and is now content...

HRH Abigail Jennifer Marie (and no I don't know where that name all came from we just kept adding to Abby!
And now my favorite task of the morning was looking for Spirelli templates for my ATC exchange for this month which led me to Go Make Something wqhich consumed the rest of my morning as I browsed from page to page to page!  Lisa Vollrath is the creative mind behind this site and is so very generous with her ideas and instructions and wonderful photography that you just keep going! And I am going right to my basement once this is finished. 



these are just a few of them

When we moved to this house my boys laughed at me for picking up paint chips every where we went.  The house definately needed color!  They laughed even harder when I saved not only the paint chips for the colors we finally chose (we may have needed them again for another match at some point!) but also all the rest that I had collected.  And now...now this wonderful lady makes things like this:

And these:

I cannot wait to get started.  There is a link to her site on the right at the top of the column so check it out for yourself.  I will see you later!

Oh she has another site as well that pays the bills so I definately have to get with that! Ten Two Sudios

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Something a little different...ATC's  

Posted by: Maria in , ,

I spent my day today working on these darling little ATC's.  I was thinking that this month's exchange on WOC was for tri-color cards well it isn't.  This Month's theme is Coffee or Tea for the exchange and the lottery theme if 3-D. *sigh* Itis the fatbook exchange that is tri-color and well these don't qualify so...Now I have 3 darling little ATC's.  The dresses are made of a pink marbled paper and I chalked the tops just a little for some contrast.Then I took apart feathers and glued them on for the tutu's. I added a tiny rhinestone in her hair and on the front of the bodice.

The new challenges are up on CDAC today so I downloaded some images and pulled some papers for the color challenge to see what I can come up with.  I need to think a little bit on these as I need to step up my game considerably to compete with those ladies!  They are amazing!

Other than that, we were glad to escape the snow that hit the coast.  We are supposed to get some at least flurries tonight. My cousin let us know that he put down a deposit for a house in Myrtle Beach.  He didn't invite us though!  Guess I will have to cyber stalk him.

OK, off to get dinner out of the crock pot.  Corned beef, cabbage, carrots and potatoes.  It has been cooking all day and driving me mad! LOL

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Two more cards  

Posted by: Maria in , ,


It is taking me longer and longer to get a card put together and I am paying much more attention to the details and frankly sometimes I have absolutely no idea what I have in my stash to work with! LOL Here are the two newest ones.  The first is for the Freebie challenge at CDAC it is a swirled pyramid from Nicecrane Designs.  It really took some thought to get that pyramid together!



The second one is for the Priscilla Styles Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge.  I am definately not happy with the balance on this but I love the colors.  Funny, those are the sheets of paper I picked up at Michaels this week for a penny a sheet!  The card is going to my cousin who had surgery earlier this week.  I hope it is at least bright and sunny in the midst of this dreary weather!  The sunflower digi came from Tiffany doodles. n The smaller flowers and the bee are from K&Companies collection.


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Another Pocket Heart Card  

Posted by: Maria in ,

I thought I might enter the weekly challenge at Sugar Creek Hollow which is mostly black and white with a splash of another color but as you can see...



It really ended up black and red with a slash of white!  The embossing powder that I though was iridescent white actually is prismatic for the color it is on hence...the beautiful iridescent black textured background.  It's ok, I like it but it wasn't what I was envisioning!  All those little hearts on the stems in the pocket are free so it has some dimension.  All those hearts and squiggles are from the border  stamping I did that didn't work out!  OK, time to try something new I guess.

I hit the jackpot at Ollie's today with their book blowout and got 3 new paper crafting books.  One on stamping, one on scrapbook design and a card making one.  Guess I should go read that huh?  LOL  Oh well, tomorrow is another day!

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Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge  

Posted by: Maria in , , ,

I recently joined the Crafters Digital Art Center.  I was looking for something specific and somehow never left!  LOL  This group is great for teaching new (at least to me) techniques and stretching my crafting abilities AND they have classes and challenges.  The current class is an adorable heart pocket.  One of the challenges was a card sketch from Priscillastyles.  This is the card I came up with.

I just got several of the K&Company Cottage Garden goodie packs and could not wait to use them.   The dragonflies, the cute flowers in the lawer corner and the flaps on the heart pocket are all out of one of those packs.  The butterfly is a digital stamp from Enchant Art that I colored with colored pencils, blended with odorless mineral spirits and embossed the outline of. A little twist of wire and he (or she) was complete and attached with foam tape.

OK, I know it isn't perfect but there are a lot of firsts here in this card so I am glad I did it! 


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Two more for PL and one for a friend  

Posted by: Maria in , ,

I finished my sunflower blanket it and took it to my friend Irene who is still in the hospital.  She loved it and as she is always cold, I know she will make good use of it.

Then last night while watching Death at a Funeral (awful.. I really didn't think it was funny at all!) and the pilot of Psych, I finished the second of two baby blankets so now I am up to 31 PL blankets.


I think that I am going to put the blankets aside a bit and stitch and do papercrafts for a couple of days.  I have my list of exchange topics for WOC for the year and can maybe get a head start and then today someone sent me some neat picture puzzles that I think I will make a series of ATC's or fatbook pages from.  I also decided that when I do my fatbook pages this year that I will make 2 of each so I can make a fatbook for myself of all the exchange ones I have made.

I also found some really lovely fabric to make curtains for my front room and some pillows to match so I  need to get that figured out as well.  I guess there are a lot of things around here to keep my busy!  LOL

First though come the obligations.  Shower for my MIL and then to feed here and the family.  No rest for the wicked they say!

Today's quote:
Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort.



Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882 - 1945)

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My Project Linus Project hits 30!!  

Posted by: Maria in ,

I finished my 30th Project Linus blanket last night.  This is another large one. 


I am working on a large sunflower one this morning that I am planning on taking to my friend Miss Irene.  Irene is a lady "of a certain age" that I used to work with and I tried to look out for her and make sure things went well for her.  Yesterday she apparently had a stroke while at work.  When I say she is of a certain age I mean she is already retired from one job and should be retired from this one.  She is well on the other side of retirement age... I worried about her when I was working with her and now this. 

Here is the update on my Quilter's Garden.  I haven't worked on that in over a week.  It is too complicated to do when there were so many people around but as you can see it is progressing nicely!


Today I am heading to the hospital to see Miss Irene.  It is still snowy and bitter cold.  The wind is howling too. It is a good day to curl up with a movie some popcorn and hot chocolate and that is my plan when I get back from the hospital.  


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Drama has reigned  

Posted by: Maria in ,

and is hopefully now passed on by!


It had some good points though because I got to wake up to this little face

We have done a lot of snuggling in the last week while her parents were staying here with us.  I will miss having her around!

I also dug out an old Crossed Wing Collection piece from the North American Collection. I love this little Goldfinch on a thistle. It reminds me so much of my grandparent's farm.  Thistle and finches were all over.  I had a finch feeder at our house and I really miss it.  There are no trees or bushes around here in this development where we are now so you don't see many pretty birds!   I have had this stitched and in a box for years.  I found a cute little wooden box at the craft store the other day and this is how I finished it up!  I don't know what I will do with it. 







I also counted up my Project Linus blankets and have 3 large and 11 infant sized blankets completed and another large size one almost finished.  Here are the newest ones:






I currently have 4 infant and one large blanket cut out and "punched" so I will be keeping busy.

I also finished 3 ATC's for the World of Crafters monthly exchange (the theme was numbers) and another ATC for the WOC Monthly Lottery (vehicles), and my very first Fatbook page (favorite book or movie) which I can't show you yet since the people they are going to should see them first! 

I don't know how I ever worked but I wish I could find another job.  This is fun but believe it or not, it gets old. 

It is below freezing here in the Bluegrass but the sun is shining.  There is snow of some sort or another forecast everyday for the foreseeable future and there is still snow on the ground.  We had two full snow days and a 1 hour delay this week to add to the other confusion!

Right now I am hip deep into Allison Brennan's  Love me to Death.  I really enjoy her books and can't wait for Kiss me, Kill me to come out in February! 

OK, back to my book and whatever else comes my way!


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Still moving along  

Posted by: Maria in ,

I finished off the second of two more infant blankets this afternoon.  I had run out of the rose colored yarn so I had to get to Michaels and get some more and I didn't get to do that until yesterday.  Then of course when I got home I was anxious to get back to the Quilter's Garden.


This is where I left off last night.  I am in the confetti stitching now (that is what my friend Cecile used to call a stitch here and a stitch there of a bunch of different colors in one spot.  This of course takes longer because you are constantly looking at the pattern and changing colors.  Thankfully there are only 4 areas like that on this.  I am anxious to get to the hardanger cutting and weaving.  That is my favorite part.  


I need to get into the basement too and get some cards done as it is time for the monthly exchanges or Fatbook pages and ATC's.  

While I have been sewing, I have been watching back episodes of Dexter.  This show fascinates me and I just can't explain it.

OK, back to my sewing and Dexter!

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Quilter's Garden Part Two!  

Posted by: Maria in , ,

I finished the outline! Also got the MIL a shower, fed her twice now, cleaned the kitchen and did a load of towels.  Now I have a few minutes to try and pick out some blue threads before I have to go and pick up Little Bit.  (love that baby!)  Yay for me! :-)

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Emie Bishop's Quilter's Garden  

Posted by: Maria in , ,

This is where I ended on QG last night about 10 PM.  I did that bottom center section.  The rest was done about 2 years ago at least I think that is when I started working on it.  The Kloister blocks work off quickly so I shoud be able to get the outline finished today and then I will do the cross stitching before I start the cutting and wrapping.  I am thinking about switching out the pinks in this piece for blues... We will see what I can find.

I cannot tell you how wonderful it feels to be doing this again. When I finish this, I want to order Glendon Place's Outrageous Owls to stitch for my son's girlfriend. I think that will be a fun, quick piece and she will love it. After that, I will pick another UFO if I have one here or a pattern that is in my stash that I have been putting off. I have a lot of Silver Lining pieces in my stash like these two in particular...





Then there is Zippy's Favorite Flower and Spike by Dimples Designs and the Big Mama of them all, Flower Power by Crossed Wing Collection, all of which have been patiently waiting in my collection for me.  SO!  I am off to stitch, I will post my progress in the morning so maybe Becky will get back to RMC!  My guess will be she looks for some hardanger!

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I am STITCHING!!  

Posted by: Maria in , , ,

Finally at long last...I started and finished a stitching project.  It has been a nasty, long dry spell but hopefully it is now broken.  I joined the Nordic Needle Bookmark Club and got my first kit yesterday.  I started it yesterday afternoon and finished it today.  This is one of Roz's designs and certainly worked off quickly.  I had forgotten a lot but eventually got back in the swing.  The picots kicked my butt.  I think I will do the pattern again at some point  just to get them right. 

Three pix...Stitched:


 
 
Cut: Yipes...I had forgotten how scary this was to do but I got it right!
 
And finished!  I remembered to sign and date it too!


This is done on a 25 count prefinished bookmark with ThreadworX #8 Perle cotton. The color is 81156 Botanic Garden.  It is lovely creams, plums and greens. 

I am now inspired. Tomorrow I think I will dig out Emie Bishop's Quilter's Garden. I started it a long time ago but I might be able to finish it now!


I have also finished 8 more blankets for Project Linus.  The first 3 pictures are infant blankets, the next two are youth/teen ones.  I have two more infant blankets cut and punched ready to go too.







It feels so good to be creative again.  I think part of this is because my "girls" (the boys girlfriends) have been coming over to craft with me.  Part of it is I think I am finally over the awful stress that my job was causing me.  I don't really care what it is, I am just glad to get this part of me back again!

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