I don't know about you, but it's been a busy one for me.
I have been able to make a little time for taking pictures, so
today I'm sharing some random shots I like.
♥
Rexy's getting big! I have been saying I'm going to measure him for four months now! {Maybe this weekend...}
This is one of the trees in our backyard that we weren't sure we could save {it went without water for a year}. Slowly but surely she's coming back. And you've just gotta' love that blue Arizona sky!!!
Some night photography...
Same evening, a black widow spider on our patio {yikes}... I know this will creep a few of you out, but don't you think this would be a great Halloween card? :o}
A bride for Rinda's Summer Photography Scavenger Hunt {item #16}. {Seriously? For a wedding cake?} I'm using this photo because I'm pretty sure I won't be seeing another bride between now and the end of the photography challenge.
I'm so excited that tomorrow is Friday!
And it's a 3-day weekend for us here in the US. {Kind of like a British Bank Holiday, I suppose.}
My plan is to do some sewing this weekend, unless I'm distracted by something else.
I took a lot of photos this past weekend, both with my big camera and
with my phone. Today I give you the usual Monday fare: Instagrams.
♥
Big news this weekend is that our medium sized sunflowers are blooming. There's even a red colored one getting ready to open! :o)
My nephew Stone is turning four in a few weeks, and my sister is having a cowboy themed party for him. I spent some time on Saturday making a bunting for the party.
I had lunch with my girl C on Saturday, and afterwards we did a little shopping. This little sparkly Buddha in a snow globe caught her eye and I thought she had to have it. {The blue earrings are mine!}
Hahahahahaha... Oh my gosh, this cracked me up...
Last fall I when planted some tomato plants, I also planted a jalapeno pepper plant. It was so close to not surviving that I almost pulled it out of the ground several times. At one point a bug or something had eaten it down to just a little green stick. I put this little turtle rock by it and what do you know? A few months later and we have a thriving little plant. I love stuff like this!
Doug was out on Saturday and I hadn't expected him back by dinner time. He ended up home early, so I pulled together a quick plate of grilled cheese sandwiches. He had no complaints. ;o)
We woke up yesterday morning to a broken air conditioning unit - ooh it got hot in our house by the time the repairman arrived at 2:00 p.m. Here's how Whiskers passed the time:
And that was our weekend - a mix of fun, creativity, laundry, and heat.
The good news is that September is JUST around the corner and summer is almost over!
We have a busy week ahead, and a 3-day weekend to look forward to.
It's time for the third and final round of sunflowers for this season. These stand about 3' tall and are just starting to open. Hooray!
We've had so much rain the past couple of weeks! Everything is really green right now {and the mosquitoes are plentiful!}.
The big boys. I'm not sure, but I think these guys just couldn't handle the 115° temps we had for a while. Either that or the tops of this type of flower are just too heavy? Anyway, you can see that the stalks and leaves are thriving, but the flowers are going to seed - which is another cool thing about them.
My basil plant is at its all time high and oh-so-yummy. I need to figure out a pesto recipe and try it out on Doug.
And last but not least, these are in my garden {makes me so happy}.
It feels kind of strange to take photos, create a blog post, and actually publish it all within an hour's time {lol}. I'm off to take care of a few things around the house, then it's a hair appointment, and then lunch and shopping with my girl C.
I spent last weekend working on the most fun project for my mom!
♥
I picked up these strawberry shaped coasters at Target a couple of months ago - got 'em
out of the dollar bin knowing that I'd be turning them into something for my mom.
She likes strawberry stuff. :o)
I loved working on this project for so many reasons! I loved the bright happy colors, the sentiments that came to me for journaling, the collection of photos I used, and knowing that I was creating something that my mom would enjoy looking at many times over.
The back side of the strawberry coasters were plain, so I backed them with cardstock and/or patterned paper. Strips of journaling were printed from a Word document then cut, glued, and traced around with a black marker. Looking at these photos, I'm really glad I took the time for some basic doodling, as I think it makes the embellishments pop.
Here's a look at all the pages laid out ~
And for those of you that are interested, here's a look at all the tools I used to create this mini-book ~
What a fun way to spend last weekend, making something for my sweet mom!
...an amazing husband to see me through.
...money in the bank, food in my kitchen, a bed to sleep in, and a car that runs.
...ridiculous pets that love, entertain, and sometimes annoy me.
...the good fortune to work with some brilliant, kind, down-to-earth people.
...finally seen an eye doctor and got prescription strength glasses and contact lenses. {Carrie has been after me for the longest time on this one!}
...a daughter who cares about me and likes me enough to call me Mom-friend.
...a bunch of craft projects bouncing around in my head.
...a strong belief that good things are in store.
...some of the sweetest friends on the planet {and you know who you are. Yes, you!}
Last week I showed you a bag that I made for a friend of mine ~ made it by printing a portion of a photo onto fabric and turned it into a zippered bag. Well, this week I'm showing another bag, made for another friend.
I had a couple of requests for a tutorial or link on my flower-bag-post. I won't be doing a tutorial because there are already SOOOOO many of them online! If you search the web for "zipper cosmetic bag" you'll get all kinds of info. They are fairly simple to make, but this is definitely a sewing project that gets better with practice.
For this bag I used scraps I had on hand, and I really love how the off-white and black look together. My friend liked it too. :o)
I was in a hurry to wrap this one up, and didn't take as many photos as I should have. So I'll share this shot and you can see all the junk treasures on my craft table. Pretty awesome, eh?
I put this little book together using left over scraps from the mini-book I made for my sister's birthday - punched and bound with a Bind-it-All. And the little bag is a collection of punched shapes that didn't make it into my project. It's a little something for the daughter of a work friend of mine. {Hi Jade!}
When I was eight I would have been totally ga-ga over a prize like this!
{Actually, it's a bag for my friend, Patti, but the title felt right.}
♥
Right, so first I planted the seed, and you all know how much I enjoyed watching these sunflowers grow and bloom and be photographed! :o)
It took me some time, but I finally managed to edit a photo in PhotoShop and remove all the background from the picture, leaving only the sunflower left on the screen. Practice makes perfect, and I am happy to report that I now have a clear understanding of how that process works.
I printed the photo on some printer fabric I found at Joann's, then I stitched around the image with some embroidery floss. I'm glad I took the time to do that, as it really made the image pop, and I love the texture it added to the piece.
Not bad for my first try, I think. Next time I would be more careful about planning where the quote ended up - I thought it landed a little low on the finished piece. And, dang it, those stupid wrinkles. Turning the bag through the opening in the lining makes it all scrunched up, and then I went and ironed a couple more creases in that I couldn't iron back out. Ugh. And oh well.
The photo shown above was actually my first attempt and I scrapped it because I wasn't happy with the image. And, yes, I did print this on fabric and wasted the whole sheet because of a typo. ~sigh~
This project was inspired by a book called Photocrafts ~ a birthday present from my sweet friend, Stephanie. SO much inspiration in this book and the possibilities are endless. {Thanks, Steph!}
So, how about you? Have you ever tried printing on fabric? I have plans to do it again real soon, and I'm also going to try my hand at making my own printer fabric sheets. I'll be sure and let you know how that goes when the time comes.