I've Been TAGGED!

So Susan has tagged me and now I need to tell a little about my self. Seven facts about me and then tag seven other people. The seven facts will be easy, I think. The seven people may take more time. I'm not sure I know seven bloggers and I can't count Susan since she tagged me.
So here are the seven facts:

1. I absolutely love crafts of all types, but especially quilting, stamping, scrapping and knitting. If I could figure out a way to make a living doing crafts and not have to have a "day" job I would be a VERY happy person. (Heck I'd like to figure out simply how to support my craft addiction, forget about the living part!)
2. I love my Lord and the wonder of sharing my faith journey with a group of 10 other wonderful women on Monday morning's at our church.
3. I love to cook and especially to bake. This certainly doesn't help in the weight department around our house as there are no longer any growing kids around to eat the goodies. So I seek out opportunities to cook for other groups. Currently two groups at church. (I'm make them fat rather than myself. LOL)
4. My DH and I have lived in the metropolitan Washington DC area for over 30 years now and I am ready to move on to a calmer quieter area of the country.
   
5. I love my little robotic vacuum cleaner "Robbie". He gives me more time to craft and spend on the computer since I don't have to vacuum the floors anymore. (a side benefit is I do have to keep the floors free of clutter so he can do his magic!)
6. I very much enjoy teaching those who want to learn. Not so good at teaching kids or adults who don't want to learn, but are told by others they must learn something they don't want to.
   
7. I love to travel and would love to see the whole world. I've done pretty good seeing the US. I think there are only 7 states (including Alaska and Hawaii) I have not been to at least once and many of them I have been to multiple times.

So there are my seven facts. I hope if anyone reads them they find them of interest. I will come back at a latter time with my seven people as I really must get about my daily activities which include a haircut and final preparations for the weekend boutique. Ta-ta!

Not just tiles!

Besides the tiles I have stamped and colored I also have done these wooden blocks. These are really fun to work with and very inexpensive to make. I purchased the blocks from Oriental Trading Co. They come in a package of three. I really like the distressed look.

The blocks work well with stamping and coloring or with decorating with papers and embellishments. As with the tiles when I stamp an image on these I use Stazon and color in eith my markers. When using papers I run the size paper I need through my Xyron and then adhere it to the front of the block. The stamped and colored blocks I do spray with a sealer. Because of the rustic look I use a matte spray. I think and added shine of a glossy sealer would take away from the rustic flavor.

I really like the way these turned out. I hope visitors to our craft boutique do as well.

Stamping on Tiles

Well, I continue to work on items that will be for sale in our Quilt Show boutique next weekend. I have been working on various designs for decorative tiles. This is one I have done. The tiles I use are not ceramic tiles as they have a coating that makes them very slippery to stamp on. These are a rougher unfinished tile which has a lot of texture to it. I have made about 14 of these with various stamped designs. I stamp the basic image using Stazon ink because of the shine on this tile, which is caused by coating the like with Utee Ultra Thick Embossing powder, you can't see that I have attached a small button on the heart. The stamped image had a button here and so for a three dimensional effect I glued on a small button after everything was sealed. I not only seal the inks with the Utee powder but then spray the tile with and acrylic sealer.

A number of people make these tiles to use as coasters. I don't like them for that purpose as I don't think they would absorb the water because of the sealant used. If you didn't use the sealent I would be afraid the markers would run when they got wet. So I place these in an easel mount for a decorative accent in your home.

I purchased the tiles I use for the pardware store. I think they are Italian tiles.

Jr Leagal Pad Project

This is a sample of a line of gift items I am making for the quilt show boutique. I is a covered junior size legal pad. They are really fun to design and easy to make. This particular one uses handmade paper that has stitching on is. I thought that appropriate for a quilt show. I also used prima type flowers as embellishments. In order to make the cover stiff enough it is actually two layers of card stock. This way I can make my stamped and embellished cover and then essentially line it with a inner layer of cardstock that covers all the ribbon ends or brad and eyelet pieces. I use my Xyron machine to apply adhesive to the entire sheet of liner cardstock so everything is well attached and secure.

I'm back!

Okay it's time to kick my butt and get it in gear. I can't believe its been well over a month since I posted hear. I have been working on some projects both stamping and quilting. It is the time of year once again where I am preparing for our annual quilt guild show. I didn't get anything done on time to enter in the show itself this year, but I will have plenty of items for sale once again in the guild boutique. My goal this year to to make enough to go a good way to paying for my trip to Denver in July for the Stampin'Up convention. That is quite an ambitious goal but, well we'll see how it turns out. For anyone who should happen to stumble across this Blog of mine and live anywhere near the Washington DC area come and see me at the show. Here is a link to information on the show. Friendship Star Quilt Show . In my next post I will show one of the projects I have been working on for the boutique.