Monday, September 30, 2013

Finishing Some Projects

We'll be heading South soon, so I'm trying to finish some projects...


These are some of the quilts that I started this year and now have the bindings sewn on so they can be donated. This summer I cut yards and yards of fabric into 6 inch squares. I will be taking all of them with me and our quilt charity group will sew them together into small quilts that will be donated to a children's free clinic. They will  be given to the kids who come to the clinic for treatment.



I want you to notice that  my official quilt tester "ChiChi" is still on duty and is never far away when there is a quilt or an afghan around for her to nest in. ChiChi  is now nine years old and is in great health so will be traveling south with us again this year!!!!!

Thanks for visiting my blog today. Please leave a comment, I love reading them.

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Christmas Cards In September


Once again I used the diagram for the "One Sheet Wonders" that Seongsook Duncan offered on her blog. Click HERE to see her blog post/template.


 It just amazes me that two sheets of designer paper and a few embellishments can make this great assortment of cards and best of all there is  very little paper going to waste.

My" Operation Write Home"  box of cards is  now full and ready to ship to Sandy so they can be sorted and shipped out to our heroes serving in the military.  They will use these cards to send to their loved ones back home in the USA.

Thanks for visiting my blog today and I love getting comments!

 

Monday, September 23, 2013

My New Aran Afghan


I am still trying to use all of the yarn in my yarn stash. I have four skeins of Lion Brand Fisherman Wool to use and they are all different dye lots. I decided that I didn't want to knit felted wool purses and slippers for everyone but will ignore the differences in the yarn color and make an afghan.

A search of Pinterest and I think I've found the perfect pattern.


This is a free pattern on the Red Heart Yarn website and it is Aran Isle Throw Crochet Pattern click on the link and it should take you to the pattern on their website.  It's an easy pattern and the best part is  it's an  easy pattern  to memorize so I just sit in the recliner, watch TV,  and crochet away.

I'll share a picture I finish my new afghan. Thanks for visiting my blog today and remember comments are always welcome.

Saturday, September 21, 2013

Grandma's Dishes

 

 This set of dishes  belonged to my grandmother. We also have a  set with a very similar floral pattern  that belonged to my husband's grandmother. Back in the day, when I was a child,  we only used these dishes for our family  Christmas dinner and other  very special occasions. Now they only get used as props on  my blog  when I want to post a recipe .



I was pretty excited when I  found a (retired) Stampin Up floral stamp that reminds me so much of the  floral design on my dishes. 
This card is my favorite:


 Thanks for stopping by and comments are always welcome.


Monday, September 16, 2013

More Cards For Kids

This digital image is Silly Birds from Hambo Hoedown.
These guys just make me smile. Especially the little one!
OOPS! I took the picture before I colored the hair and the tassel on the hat.
  Trust me, they are now orange.












Tuesday, September 10, 2013

I Need To Make Kid's Cards

I'm packing a box of cards to send to Operation Write Home and I realized that I haven't included many cards for kids. I guess it's time to focus on making cards that a mom or dad  who are serving in the military could send home to their little ones.

I'll start with this cute little "RoBoT". I wish I had written down where I found the digital image. I used colored pencils and  blended the colors with Gamsol.
 The "Gears" embossing folder was perfect  for the background on this card. 
This is the first time I've used the Tim Holtz ATC size "Gear"embossing folder. They were embossed on the dark gray paper and then I cut around them . Silver Liquid Pearl was used to make  the centers of each gear. I also used it to make the rivets on the sentiment.


Thanks for visiting my blog today. Comments are always welcome.

Monday, September 2, 2013

I Finished The Challenges For The VCMP

Today I finished the last three cards for the  Operation Write Home VCMP.

Challenge #7
Our hostess for #7 challenged  us to make a card with a Fall Theme. I used Operation Write Home Sketch #99 for my card. A few weeks ago my friend stamped this image for me and this is the perfect time to use it'

The background polka dot paper is from a Halloween paper pack and the rust colored metallic paper is from a DCW paper stack.


Challenge #8
This challenge is the Un-BEE-Lieveable Challenge
Our challenge is to make a card with a BEE on it and to use a BEE sentiment. I had so much fun using my owl punch for the kids card challenge that I decided to use an Owl with Bee stripes for my card.


I used a distressed stripe embossing folder for the background. I experimented with cutting out wings by using a flower paper punch using vellum for the transparent look. The  bee's stripes were hand cut.

Challenge #9

The challenge is to make a card using the negative of a die or punch.
My card is made with a feather die. I stamped a script or handwriting stamp on the open space created by the negative of the die. I cut two more feathers, one of glitter paper and one I embossed with a swirl pattern. I used distressed inks to color the edges of everything and highlight the distressed stripe used on the base of the card.


Sunday, September 1, 2013

Operation Write Home VCMP Day Two Challenges

This is my card for the  Operation Write Home Sketch Challenge  #188.
Click on the link and it will take you to the challenge page.


This is the sketch we are to follow
 
188 sketch (Sept 1)



This is my card for The Operation Write Home VCMP Challenge #6.
 If you click on the link above it will take you to the Challenge #6 blog post so you can see the rules and all the cards entered in the challenge.

This challenge requires that we make cards 4 kids. We were to choose three squares in a  Tic-Tac-Toe  board and use the elements listed  in those squares on our card. I chose Things With Wings, Paper Piecing and Embossing.

This is the first time I've used my Owl Punch and it was so much fun to play with that I hope to make some more cards for OWH using this punch. Great way to use up scraps of paper.