SEWING NEWS!

It's county fair time and that means it's time to sew up some projects to be entered. I spent Tuesday doing the sewing and made a coordinating set of placemats and potholders. I can't tell you what patterns I used as I just began with an idea and built on that as I went along. This is what I ended up with.

The ideas came from the base fabric which is the print on the off white background. I can't even tell you how long I have had this fabric.....I'm thinking it has been about 10 years. I don't know for sure, but I think I may have purchased it for a project for the celebration of the 50th fair and this year os the celebration of the 60th fair!!!!!! Oh well at least I eventually use what I purchase. At least most of the time I do.

I have more idea about thing I would like to sew. Only time will tell if the get done. I always have more ideas than I have time. At least I have reached the point where when I make items to enter in the fair I do so using materials that I already have in my craft or sewing rooms. At one time fair prep was a very expensive time because I went out and purchased all sorts of stuff. No more...if I don't have the materials on hand the project won't get done. Of course I can do that because I have way too much STUFF already lying around in closets and on shelves.

I have a few other sewing ideas and I have also been stamping and doing some paper crafts. Of course I always have more ideas than I have time. All entries must be complete and ready to turn in by one week from today!!!!!!!

POCKET BOOK OF FUN!

Another project using supplies from my Summer Craft Kit.

One of the items included was a template to make a box. I didn't really have any idea when I first swa it what the heck I would do with it. I'm not a big box person. I never seem to know what to do with them when I finish them and then they become "clutter"! But the template came in the kit and so I challenged myself to use it.

First I traced and cut out the box from the card stock. I used Wild Wasabi....a color I will so miss when it retires in another two weeks. Well not really as I just bought a whole new package of it so I wouldn't run out so quickly. I scored the fold lines and with those two things the easy part was complete. Now I had to figure out how to decorate it???????

I still didn't have a clue what the box would be used for, but I knew I had lots of flowers and brads I could use in decorating so it was going to be something girly.....I also had a scrap of ribbon that would look good with the Wild Wasabi so I settled on a purse. I didn't realize when I took the picture that you can't see that the ribbon handle is held on by a brad and flower at each end. I wheeled the design using one of my jumbo wheels and Wild Wasabi ink. I still didn't have a clue as to what this was going to be used for when I spied a box of crayons.....the wheels began to turn....would they fit???? AND what could I add that would give an idea of what was inside???

Yea! The box of crayons fit. (And I'm thinking a deck of playing cards might also if I ever want to make another box.) I don't have a stamp that says anything about color or crayons and so I used my computer and played around till I came up with a nice looking sentiment "color your world" that would fit inside the small oval punch. Then I layered it over a large oval punch of Tempting Turquoise which coordinated with the flower and the ribbon. By the way I positioned the flower so it would look like a closure piece, but it is not. It's purely decorative.

In the picture of the little purse with the crayons I set them so you could see the crayon box, but it actually fits by laying on its side. So after all that what do you think?????

By the way this is pretty much how I design a lot of my projects. I just begin with a minimal idea of what I am going to do and it grows. It tends to take longer this way, but I have fun beginning and not really having any idea what I am going to end up with. I often sew this way also. I made a set of potholders today using this method. I will try and take of pic of them to post tomorrow.

WOODEN BLOCKS???

I have mentioned here on this BLOG that I am no longer mounting my red rubber on wooden blocks. Don't get me wrong I love my wooden mounted stamps....the problem is I have run out of space to store them! However now I am ending up with a very large supply of unused wooden blocks. I can't just toss them out. That is not in my nature and since my dear husband has terrible allergies we no longer use our fire place so I can't burn them. The question is now what do I do with them all????? They are multiplying faster than rabbits.

I was reading some of the BLOGs I subscribe to and Sweet & Sassy had a wonderful idea. I have been thinking they could be used in some sort of a project and now I have an project to start with. If you would like to see it you can click here. As soon as I get some of my own made I will be sure to show you.

I know that I will not be able to use all that I have for projects like this as I have way too many, but at least it is a start. Anyone else have any ideas? If so please leave a comment here to let me know. Mt guest room is being over taken by wooden blocks!

ANOTHER BIRTHDAY CARD

So are you seeing a pattern here lately? There for a while everything I was doing was pinks, yellows, and other bright pastels. Now I've moved into the blues and browns with a bit of limeish green thrown in.

This is because I was working with the spring craft kit and now I've moved on to the summer craft kit. I will be finished with the summer craft kit much faster I think though. So far I've made 3 scrapbook layouts and they use up a lot of the supplies so no more of them I'm thinking, but already I can tell I will not have near as many cards to show either.

There is the third birthday card I've made with the kit. I also used some more of the white "eyelet paper" which I sponged to make it sky blue background. I love this stuff and will be very sad when I've used it all up. The butterflies are actually stickers that came in the kit. Normally I don't use stickers on my cards, but they are part of the kit and the worked with the design. I think they are flying through the sky above a field of flowers.

Sometime this weekend I will try and get a picture of my third layout page and a cute little box I made using a box template that was in the kit. For now it is bedtime. Sweet dreams to all!

PLAY BALL!

I'm finally making some progress on my nephews album which highlights his Junior year of collegiate baseball. I don't know why I don't scrap more????? Its so much fun!

I've been collecting stamps, papers and stickers for over a year now to use in putting this album together and it is time to get serious about using them....like I haven't said that before!!!!! Hopefully this has given me a kick start and I can really get moving on it. He graduated from college this past May. I will set a goal of Christmas to be complete. Now all you who visit here have hear me say this so please help keep me on track friends and if you don't see anymore pages for a while gently ask????? No make that give me a swift kick in the hinnie and demand to
know where the next pages are!!!!!!

On totally different topic and one that makes me smile.....today I get to go with some quilting friends to attend Quilt Odessy a wonderful quilt show held in Hershey, PA. I know I will see lots of fantastic quilts and hope as well to at least get to say hi to Carol Doak who is teaching there. She is such a wonderful lady and an amazing quilter, designer and teacher!

Plus being in Hershey, PA an additional benefit is CHOCOLATE!!!!!!

So have a nice day all please find time to enjoy a little bit of creativity during it. After all creativity is what keeps us sane and young! (That's my new mantra!)

So what kind of a fruit might you be???? I found a link to this fun quiz on Lee's BLOG and I'm a banana. Now given my height I think this is very appropriate in for no other reason than bananas are "tall" fruit. This is just a fun interlude. Hmmmm my new Sock Monkey set has a banana stamp in it....maybe I need to make a Banana Calling card.

You Are a Banana

You are mellow, easy going, and a total softie on the inside. People find it really easy to get along with you. You suit most tastes. And while you're very sweet, you're not boring or ordinary. You have an attraction to the exotic, and you could show up anywhere... doing almost anything! You are spirited, energetic, and a total kick to be around. You're also quite funny. Your sense of humor is on the goofy side, and it fits you well.

What Type of Fruit Are You?

EXCITMENT & A CARD MADE

I found this comment a few days ago in my inbox!

"Congratulations!! You were caught wearing the SheetLoad of Cards badge. Please send your mailing address to me at sheetload@comcast.net (with "I've been caught" in the subject line)and I will get your stamp set in the mail.
Thanks,
Alicia
ps: here is the link to the original post: http://sheetload.blogspot.com/2008/06/get-caught-wearing-our-badge-and-win.html "

What excitement it caused. I love winning things. It doesn't happen too often, but my karma seems to be improving......I you have never checked out SheetLoad of Cards you really should do so. If you ever need to make a large number of cards quickly it really is a great resource. You can click on the link here or click on my Sheet Load badge to the right. I can't wait to see what I get and to use it!

Now here is my card for today. It's a Birthday card and I used items from my SCS FLYBaby

craft kit as well as some of my new SU stuff. The green is one of the new In Colors , Kiwi Kiss. Its such a nice fresh color. It's a lighter shade of Old Olive. You can see one of the sentiments from the coming new stamp set called Heard From the Heart. There are three other stamps in this set.

They read "kindness comes in many forms", "may all your wishes come true", and "welcome Christmas into your heart".

I also used my new scalloped border punch here. It sure is nice to make a scalloped border without having to use the rounded corner punch without the guide. This is a very easy and quick punch to use. I highly recommend it.

I hope you have a fun day or evening stamping and check back later. Next I have two scrapbook layouts to share with you.

A HAPPY DAY!

I love days like today. Its been almost 4 months since I have put in a personal order from Stampin' Up. But judging by the fun I had today it's been well worth the wait.

I had met my sales quotas for April - June sales period with outside orders so I decided to save up my SU spending dollars and do one big order that combined any desired retiring stamp sets, and the preorders of new catalog stuff. I think I did very good with this order. Between the discounts on preorder stamp sets, the In Colors and retiring Hodgepodge sets and then the hostess benifits that come with an order this size I received a lot of fun things to play with today!

This is a picture just of the new catalog items that you can be looking forward to in less than a months time. August 11 is the first day to place orders for items from the 2008-09 Fall/Winter Catalog.

I wasn't too sure at first about the new In Colors for 2008-09, but I am sold on them. They are gorgeous. So far Kiwi Kiss is my favorite....but then it's the only one I've had time to actually use so far. The Pink Pirouette is so pretty and soft. I know it will be a favorite as well. I also had purchases some 2007-08 In Color Card Stock as replacements before they are gone and I noticed that Kiwi Kiss and River Rock are yummy together and also Soft Sky goes very well with Baja Breeze and Pacific Point, so I can kep using my old favorites along with the new.

The new Scallop Border punch is very easy to use and is so much easier than using the round corner punch without the guard. I am falling in love with scalloped edges. Now if I could only manage to save enough to get some nesties I could have all the scalloped edged and shapes I wanted.

I also got 5 new stamp sets (also one oldie but goodie: Lovely As a Tree). I can hardly wait to break out and use my Sock Monkey. He's just the cutest! If you look real carefully he's in the middle at the very back. I love that all the new stamp sets are coming die cut. My thumb is really appreciating that. I still have a raw spot where my craft scissors rubbed while I was cutting some alphabet stamps on Sunday.

So there is a preview of my fun....there also were a few other toys such as retiring Hodge Podge kits and supply replacements such as ink refills and new stamping scrub pads. All in all it was great fun unpacking this big box. But it will be even more fun as I get serious about creating and crafting with it all!

BACK ON TRACK!

At least for the moment I seem to be back on track with my crafting MOJO! It feels so good.

I am currently continuing to work with the items from the Summer Craft Kit. Part of it was a nice wooden box to alter. I have worked with these before and love turning them into decorated containers to hold a pen and scrap paper for notes. They come in handy on a desk or by the phone.

This is what I did in altering this plain holder. Before I painted the box with acrylic paint I did need to do a bit of repair work on it. A portion of the handle was splitting apart. I find this often happens with these holders. (After all you can often find them for only a dollar a piece.) I used some crystal effects squeezed down into the crack that was pulling apart and then held the glued part together with a large binder clip while the CE dried. It worked like a charm. I used the CE because of the narrow tip of the applicator. It was easy to squeeze just what I needed in.

I used a foam applicator brush to paint the box and to give it a nicely finished look I painted the inside as well. It took two coats to get it nice. Then the holder was decorated with the paper and the letter stickers. I used a decoupage coating to give everything a nice shiny finish to it. After that was dry I tied some ribbon from the kit around the handle and placed the three flowers with brad in there centers on using the pop up glue dots from SU. (The big ones that I never seem to know what to do with. They worked really well here.)

Inside the holder is a stack of paper I cut down to size and an RSVP pen with a roll of the patterned paper in the barrel so the set is coordinating.

I really enjoy making these and think I may just need to check out Michael's and AC Moore to see if I can find some more to alter and decorated for Christmas gifts.......Christmas is coming sooner than you think!

AN AWARD AND THANKS!

I was blessed with receiving this special award from my blogging buddy in Australia, Susan. She is a doll and her BLOG is wonderful. Visit it and you will be treated not only to great cards and scrapbook layouts, but also marvelous photos. Stop by and check it out.

And who will I pass this on to.......there are several sites I regularly visit that so deserve this.

One is Sarah Stamper. She has been making wonderful album books lately using her Bind It All. These are NOT to be missed. If I ever get extra dollars to play with this amazing tool is going to be at the top of my list. (Right up there with a Score Pal, Nesties, and other assorted goodies!)

Second is Christi and her BLOG Story About a Girl. Her work is also amazing. A very talented young lady. She used a wild variety of stamps and is very adapt with card style ranging from contemporary to classic.

Finally, though I know she has already recieved this award from Susan, I need to add and echo by also giving this to Lee for the amazing sharing of her creations on her BLOG My Reality...It's All Good. Her reality may be good, but her cards are even better! This is one talented lady! But don't take my word check her out your self.

There are so many more that are deserving of this award, but I will stop here. Thank you to all who stop by here and leave a comment or two. I really do appreciate all the encouragement that you give.

MASCULINE HAPPY BIRTHDAY

A bit of my stamping mojo has returned.

Summer is well underway and so I decided it was time to dig into my SCS FLYbabies Summer Craft Kit. I got so excited with the bright springy colors of the spring craft kit that it has been another challenge to switch back to the more muted colors that I normally work with. I'll get there though, just be patient with me.

I decided to work on a masculine flavored birthday card and this is what I came up with. The stamps that I used are all from Stampin' Up. Ones from For Father and Terrific Tags. The punches I used are also from Stampin' Up. The two Tag Punches and the Ticket Corner one. The final items I can easily identify are Pewter Hodgepodge Hardware. I used two brads and one of the shaped clips. Stampin' Up is retiring this hardware set and it's companion sets in Antique Brass and Aged Copper. I will miss them all and may just have to stock up while they are still available and also on sale.

So this is what I accomplished today. Not much but at least something............

IT'S BEEN A LONG TIME!

I can't believe how long it has been since I have posted here! Life has just three days and taken off at a record speed it seems. After my trip to Kansas City I was home for three days and then we left for an unplanned trip to Michigan for over a week. So........nothing has happened on the stamping or sewing front in quite sometime. However, when I returned home late Monday night I found I had a telephone message that was very exciting. The quilt that I made for our quilt guilds "paint Bucket" challenge was part of the group accepted into the American Quilters Society (AQS) show in Nashville. It will hang there as part of the Ultimate Guild Challenge competition at the end of August.

The quilt is based on a block designed by Carol Doak in celebration of the 3000th member of her group on Yahoo that shares in the love of paper piecing. I had two yellow and two gray paint chips that I had to match to fabric and also had to use the black and white fabric that is in my border. I actually have shown this quilt on this blog when I first made it, but seeing as I haven't created anything new for a while thought I would bring it out again with the good news.

I wish I could go to Nashville and see it hanging there as well as the other wonderful quilts that will be on display, but I don't think that will happen this time around. But it is an honor that it was chosen to be on display in any case!