Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Fun stuff

Here's how I'm spending my summer vacation week. :o) I have wanted to figure out how to do a mosaic with some of our pictures and I finally did just that. LOVE theater shots above (Vegas, baby!), faces of Stone below...
I did these using Flickr.com -- fun website with lots of cool pix to look at. I think I'm going to have to create my own Flickr group -- this is a little technology step I've been avoiding -- but the mosaics are pretty darn fun. PLUS you can save them to your computer AND you can also order prints of them. ~sigh~ I'm gonna' do some more...
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Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Garland!

It's not just for Christmas anymore!
These were super quick and easy and fun to do and I have a bunch more ideas in my head for other types of garland to string. But where would I hang all these strands?!?! Hahahaha...I picture my entire house having dainty strands of garland all over the place. I just KNOW Doug would be impressed. ;o)
Picture above is the first one I made -- hanging in the doorway of my studio. I LOVE the Martha Stewart paper punches from Michaels! I used white sewing thread (actually it's quilting thread so it's a bit more substantial). And you can see our A-Z pages in the background. :o)

Here are a few more. Balloons and princess crowns are Martha punches, the heart is another punch I have. The balloons have a little string hanging from the bottom of each...can't see those in this picture. My mind is spinning...the themes and possibilities are endless!!!In other news around my craft studio...here are some kitty-cat shots of Whiskers Jay Althoff [aka Whisky Jay, aka J-cat, aka Rotten]. Here he's using the edge of my project-in-progress for a claw-less scratching post:Looking SO innocent:
I love my studio. Wish I could be in there 24-7!!!
...
Update: 6/26/09 -- I just saw this garland on Etsy. Oh. My. Gosh. It's gorgeous!!! Check it out @ Pamela Angus Designs

Sunday, June 14, 2009

A book for Carrie.

A couple of years ago Carrie asked me to make her a book about myself. I'll admit that the idea was daunting to me. What would I write about? What parts of my life would be significant enough for me to put in a book and how would I convey all the yucky parts without having the book be a complete downer? There was pressure (from me to me) to complete this project for her 21st birthday. I'm happy to say that I did it. And she loved it. And I actually enjoyed the process much more than I ever thought I would.

Here's how it turned out... I used thick book board and some book cloth for the cover. The pink flowers are made of book cloth too -- glued on with PVA glue and then hand stitched once dry. I did this before I wrapped the book board. The pages are sewn using a Coptic book binding stitch (my first experience with the method that I learned by watching a YouTube video over and over). I loved this method and will definitely be using it again!

Here's the cover page: ♥
Once upon a time page: ♥
A page about how young my parents were when I was born...and about my siblings...
The final page is about Carrie and me: ♥
I didn't photograph every page for this post -- some of the pages are kind of personal. Eh...maybe not really personal but nothing I wanted to post on the World Wide Web. [wink] Other pages include:

  • - A page about my Grandma Bessie;
  • - Life/Lessons/Lots of Love page with my baby hospital picture and a current picture of me;
  • - I ♥ cats;
  • - Music;
  • - "School Days" with some of my school pictures;
  • - "Being Carrie's mom";
  • - "Back Then" with a page about Carrie's dad (Craig) and me;
  • - Yoga;
  • - "Go outside and play" with pix of Doug and me having fun on a quad trip;
  • - "I Create" with a [partial] list of the different craft hobbies I've had during my life so far;
  • - "Some things about ME" with a list of things that make me happy and/or annoyed;
  • - "I ♥ Chocolate" page that includes the recipe for chocolate pancake syrup; and
  • - "This is me NOW" with a picture of Doug, Carrie, and me.

It's funny that I fretted over the design and contents of this book for so long. Once I decided on the paper the whole thing just kind of fell into place. I like that I kept the embellishments minimal, and that I allowed myself to use my own doodling and handwriting (Carrie's request). The result is a personal gift, truly from my heart, as requested by my daughter. It's an honest account of who I am, and something that my grand-children can read someday without me being too embarrassed. :o)

Crop day with the Norman girls!



Hooray! Our long-awaited crop day finally arrived and we turned out some cute stuff. It's always a fun day when Liz, Savannah, Carrie and I get to craft together. I have had this project in my head since we attended the Scrapbook Convention in April. Now that it's out I can move on to my next idea. :o) Here are some pix of what I completed yesterday:
And here's a picture of Savannah and me. I love this kid! ♥

Fun day! Can't wait till next time...

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

my little girl is 21 now!

It doesn't seem possible, but it's true. Carrie turned 21 on June 6, 2009 and we spent her birthday in Las Vegas. She's a major Beatles fan and couldn't wait to see the Cirque du Soliel show "LOVE" that featured Beatles music. It was an amazing show!!! This picture was taken outside the LOVE theater. I love this picture!!! We are friends and we are groovy. Can't you just tell? :o)

Happy birthday, Carrie! I love you so much!

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

♥ a gift for baby Kingston ♥

My friend Jenn is expecting a baby boy -- only four weeks to go!!! -- and his name is Kingston. Carrie and I went to her baby shower this past weekend and here's what our gift looked like. I love using craft paper and embellishing it with acrylic paint and foam stamps. The yarn is some that I picked up at a yard sale -- thrifty crafter that I am. :o)Hooray for babies!!!
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