We have a "Mom's suite" in our house. When we moved to the Houston area from Chicago, we had the builder include a "Mom's suite", a bedroom with attached full bath on the main floor with glass paneled french doors for our Moms when they come to visit. We put in a queen sized murphy bed that looks like an armoire, in white. We wanted the room to be a relaxing reading room for when we don't have visitors. The rest of the room is done in whites/wicker for the furniture with teal and peach on cushions, lamps, and walls. Very tropical. Reminds us of Hawaii. The murphy bed has a nice peach bedspread, but nothing special. Now that I am starting to quilt, I plan to make a pretty quilt for the bed. There is a nice fabric store not far from where we stay in Maui, so when Saturday became too windy to sit on the beach, my DH agreed to go shopping. Woo Hoo! We first stopped at the scrapbook store (need to get the pretty Hawaiian paper from here to scrap our memories!). Then off to the fabric store. I explained to my DH that I was going to need 4 prints and 2 solids to make the quilt top and some fabric for the back......He is a photographer so he is very good at colors and a great help at remembering the correct tones of the colors back home. He did an awesome job helping me pick out the fabric. He chose 4 prints and 3 solids. Can't wait to get started once we get back home.
(photo to follow, once I'm able to upload)
After shopping at my 2 places, he wanted to look at cars.....how could I say no? It's much more fun to "shop" for cars when you know that there is No Way you will be talked into buying one! Then off to buy him a book to read on the beach at the little resale shop in town.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Black Friday
We were soooo excited about Black Friday. Could hardly wait for it to come. We were making BIG plans. We had everything ready.......to go letterboxing! We were planting our first letterboxes. DH had beautifully carved 2 Hawaiian stamps to put in the letterboxes. The logbooks were ready. The clear plastic boxes were carefully covered with camoflage duck tape. Lunches and cameras were packed. It was finally time to go!
(photo to be added later: for some reason uploading photos worked a few days ago, but I've been unable to upload since then. I've had this post in drafts since Black Friday waiting to be successful in uploading)
We were going to Hosmer Grove which is the first stop just inside Haleakala National Park. Most visitors to Maui go to Haleakala to see the volcano's crater and many to bike down the mountain (we've know....we have done both), however not as many stop at Hosmer Grove. It is a pretty place, lots of birds and a hiking trail with lots of trees and a lookout area. We enjoy stopping each time we go to Haleakala, either on the way up or on the way down depending on time of day. There is a small camping area, a picnic area, the hiking trail, restrooms and there is a ranger on duty to talk about the area. The rangers we have spoken to have been very knowledgeable and passionate about the nature and history of the area.
Once we arrived at Hosmer Grove, we headed for the trail. It's important to hide your letterbox well so that casual passerbys don't see it, but not so well that letterboxers can't find it. It's also important to not go off the trails if it violates park rules. We found our first hiding spot and after carefully hiding, DH wrote the clues so others can find it. Woo Hoo! We successfully planted our first letterbox! Now on to the second hiding place. We wanted to hide at least 2 boxes on this trail, so letterboxers would get a chance to enjoy the trail while scoring 2 letterboxes. We also wanted them to be fairly easy to access with good clues to make them easy to find as there are many other things to be doing on Maui other than letterboxing. (like enjoying the beach, snorkeling, surfing, whale watching, shopping......)
(photo to be added later: for some reason uploading photos worked a few days ago, but I've been unable to upload since then. I've had this post in drafts since Black Friday waiting to be successful in uploading)
We were going to Hosmer Grove which is the first stop just inside Haleakala National Park. Most visitors to Maui go to Haleakala to see the volcano's crater and many to bike down the mountain (we've know....we have done both), however not as many stop at Hosmer Grove. It is a pretty place, lots of birds and a hiking trail with lots of trees and a lookout area. We enjoy stopping each time we go to Haleakala, either on the way up or on the way down depending on time of day. There is a small camping area, a picnic area, the hiking trail, restrooms and there is a ranger on duty to talk about the area. The rangers we have spoken to have been very knowledgeable and passionate about the nature and history of the area.
Once we arrived at Hosmer Grove, we headed for the trail. It's important to hide your letterbox well so that casual passerbys don't see it, but not so well that letterboxers can't find it. It's also important to not go off the trails if it violates park rules. We found our first hiding spot and after carefully hiding, DH wrote the clues so others can find it. Woo Hoo! We successfully planted our first letterbox! Now on to the second hiding place. We wanted to hide at least 2 boxes on this trail, so letterboxers would get a chance to enjoy the trail while scoring 2 letterboxes. We also wanted them to be fairly easy to access with good clues to make them easy to find as there are many other things to be doing on Maui other than letterboxing. (like enjoying the beach, snorkeling, surfing, whale watching, shopping......)
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Happy Thanksgiving from Maui
Hope everyone is enjoying their Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving is very relaxing in Maui. There, of course, is the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV and turkey dinner. I'm kind of bummed that I forgot to take a photo of the turkey before my DH carved it, but I did take some other "Thanksgiving in Maui" photos.
Looking up to our lanai (balcony).
Relaxing on the beach. Flowers growing everywhere. Looking out from the condo staircase toward the Kama'ole II beach, the ocean, the lifeguard shack. Like I said, Thanksgiving is very relaxing in Maui.
Maui is lovely and slower paced. We plan to go letterboxing tomorrow or over the weekend. We plan to plant 2 new letterboxes in Hosmer Grove near Haleakela. I will try to upload photos from the stamps DH carved and more flowers and photos from Hosmer Grove. Time to go back to the beach.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Operation Christmas Cards
I've been involved in collecting Christmas cards for Operation Christmas Cards. They collect cards to be sent to the military. For more than 50% of the military, this will be the only mail they get this holiday season. I am happy to have collected 77 handmade cards. I thought I would share a few with you.
This is 4 of the 14 cute snowman cards made by the Life Skills class at the local elementary. These special needs kids are between 6 and 9 years old. They did an amazing job.
These 2 cute cards are simple in design. The penguins are hard plastic 3D stickers by Jolees
and the ornaments are stamped, then heat embossed. They are attached to pattern card stock
by 3D dots for dimension. The white ribbon gives it a cohesive feel.
The top card has a simple stamped Christmas tree, a border punched bottom edge and a ribbon. The gingerbread man and candy cane are stamped, colored and fussy cut. The card is stamped with seasonal words prior to attaching the gingerbread man with 3D dots for dimension.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
It's Wonderful
I am so happy that my DH is back from his business trip to Belgium. It was a LONG two weeks. I've always been grateful and appreciative of all the work he does around the house, but sometimes I forget how much work that really is. I had to do all his work as well as mine while he was gone and it was really hard to get it all done. He did bring me back some wonderful gifts: coffee and chocolates.Woo Hoo!! He knows what I like!
Monday, October 17, 2011
Paper Pumpkin
Hi,
Just finished making my Paper Pumpkin. It's easy to make with 7 sheets (12x12) of Orange cardstock, 1 sheet of 8 1/2x11 Kraft cardstock, scraps of green cardstock or green patterned paper and a few ribbons.
Start by cutting your orange cardstock:
Piece# Cuts
1 3 @ 3 1/2" and leftover used to cut 12 1" circles
2 2 @ 3 1/4" and 1@ 2 3/4" and 1@ 1 3/4" with leftover to cut 8 1"circles
3 2 @ 3 1/4" and 1@ 1 3/4" and 2@ 1 1/2"
4 2 @ 3 1/4" and 2@ 2 3/4"
5,6,7 2 @ 3 1/4" and 1@ 3" and 1@ 2 1/2"
1. Sort your strips by size.
2. Accordian fold the strips every 1/2"(I used the Martha Stewart scoreboard to make it quick).
3. Adhere 3 strips of the same size together to make a long piece.(the exception is the 1 1/2" & 1 3/4" sizes each have only 2 strips). I used Yes!paste, but a stapler, or tacky glue or hot glue would work.
4. Adhere the ends to make a circle. Keep track of the sizes.
5. Get your hot glue gun ready.
6. I started with my 4 @ 3 1/4". Take one and push down on the top edge of the accordian until it flattens, pushing it toward the center to make a rosette. Hold in place and place hot glue on the center edges. Attach a 1" circle. Hold in place to set. Once set, flip it over and put more hot glue and another 1" circle. Repeat this for the other 3 1/4"circles. Edge the rosettes with brown ink (I used Distress Ink pad in Walnut). I wrote in pencil on the 1" circle of each rosette, the size of the rosette, for easy assembly.
7. Repeat #6 for all the different sizes.
Woo Hoo ! You should now have 10 rosettes edged in brown ink. Time to assemble.
The layers of the finished pumpkin will be in this order: 1 1/2, 2 1/2, 3, 3 1/4, 3 1/4, 3 1/2, 3 1/4, 3 1/4, 2 3/4, 1 3/4.
The way I assembled it so it wouldn't end up lopsided is this: hot glue the center of a 3 1/4 to a 3 1/4. Repeat this for the other two that are 3 1/4. You should have 2 sets of double rosettes. Be careful when you assemble so that they stay level. Now take one of your double rosettes and put hot glue on the center. Top it with the 3 1/2 rosette. Next hot glue the other double rosette on top of the 3 1/2. You should now have a stack of 5 rosettes which is the middle of your pumpkin. Set this aside and get your 1 3/4 and your 2 3/4. The 1 3/4 is the bottom layer, so glue the 2 3/4 on top of it. Now taking great care to keep your pumpkin level, glue your 5 stack of rosettes on top of the bottom layer. Yeah! Only 3 more rosettes to go! First glue the 3, then the 2 1/2, then the 1 1/2. We have a pumpkin!!
For the stem, cut 3 strips 1 1/2" x 11" from the Kraft cardstock. Fringe cut the long edges of the pieces. (I used Walnut distress ink on the edges before fringing them). Put glue along the uncut edge of one strip and roll it up tightly. Add the other two strips in the same manner. Use hot glue to attach the stem to the top of the pumpkin.
Time to decorate!! I used my Cricut (Flower Shoppe cartridge) to cut 2 leaves @ 3 1/2" and 1 leaf @ 4" (but you can free form cut them). I put them through my crimper for texture and added some distress ink. (you could just do a loose accordian fold and flatten back out). I used some netting and some orange, purple and green ribbon. I also attached a button. (for this button, I used a punch to cut it from scrap cardstock, then heat embossed with gold and distressed with Walnut ink. Tied on with twine). The cute curly wire is cloth covered wire from the floral department that I wrapped around a pencil.
I was able to make this pumpkin for $2. (The cardstock was on sale 4 sheets $1, and I had the rest of the items in my stash)
I hope you enjoyed making your Paper Pumpkin.
Just finished making my Paper Pumpkin. It's easy to make with 7 sheets (12x12) of Orange cardstock, 1 sheet of 8 1/2x11 Kraft cardstock, scraps of green cardstock or green patterned paper and a few ribbons.
Start by cutting your orange cardstock:
Piece# Cuts
1 3 @ 3 1/2" and leftover used to cut 12 1" circles
2 2 @ 3 1/4" and 1@ 2 3/4" and 1@ 1 3/4" with leftover to cut 8 1"circles
3 2 @ 3 1/4" and 1@ 1 3/4" and 2@ 1 1/2"
4 2 @ 3 1/4" and 2@ 2 3/4"
5,6,7 2 @ 3 1/4" and 1@ 3" and 1@ 2 1/2"
1. Sort your strips by size.
2. Accordian fold the strips every 1/2"(I used the Martha Stewart scoreboard to make it quick).
3. Adhere 3 strips of the same size together to make a long piece.(the exception is the 1 1/2" & 1 3/4" sizes each have only 2 strips). I used Yes!paste, but a stapler, or tacky glue or hot glue would work.
4. Adhere the ends to make a circle. Keep track of the sizes.
5. Get your hot glue gun ready.
6. I started with my 4 @ 3 1/4". Take one and push down on the top edge of the accordian until it flattens, pushing it toward the center to make a rosette. Hold in place and place hot glue on the center edges. Attach a 1" circle. Hold in place to set. Once set, flip it over and put more hot glue and another 1" circle. Repeat this for the other 3 1/4"circles. Edge the rosettes with brown ink (I used Distress Ink pad in Walnut). I wrote in pencil on the 1" circle of each rosette, the size of the rosette, for easy assembly.
7. Repeat #6 for all the different sizes.
Woo Hoo ! You should now have 10 rosettes edged in brown ink. Time to assemble.
The layers of the finished pumpkin will be in this order: 1 1/2, 2 1/2, 3, 3 1/4, 3 1/4, 3 1/2, 3 1/4, 3 1/4, 2 3/4, 1 3/4.
The way I assembled it so it wouldn't end up lopsided is this: hot glue the center of a 3 1/4 to a 3 1/4. Repeat this for the other two that are 3 1/4. You should have 2 sets of double rosettes. Be careful when you assemble so that they stay level. Now take one of your double rosettes and put hot glue on the center. Top it with the 3 1/2 rosette. Next hot glue the other double rosette on top of the 3 1/2. You should now have a stack of 5 rosettes which is the middle of your pumpkin. Set this aside and get your 1 3/4 and your 2 3/4. The 1 3/4 is the bottom layer, so glue the 2 3/4 on top of it. Now taking great care to keep your pumpkin level, glue your 5 stack of rosettes on top of the bottom layer. Yeah! Only 3 more rosettes to go! First glue the 3, then the 2 1/2, then the 1 1/2. We have a pumpkin!!
For the stem, cut 3 strips 1 1/2" x 11" from the Kraft cardstock. Fringe cut the long edges of the pieces. (I used Walnut distress ink on the edges before fringing them). Put glue along the uncut edge of one strip and roll it up tightly. Add the other two strips in the same manner. Use hot glue to attach the stem to the top of the pumpkin.
Time to decorate!! I used my Cricut (Flower Shoppe cartridge) to cut 2 leaves @ 3 1/2" and 1 leaf @ 4" (but you can free form cut them). I put them through my crimper for texture and added some distress ink. (you could just do a loose accordian fold and flatten back out). I used some netting and some orange, purple and green ribbon. I also attached a button. (for this button, I used a punch to cut it from scrap cardstock, then heat embossed with gold and distressed with Walnut ink. Tied on with twine). The cute curly wire is cloth covered wire from the floral department that I wrapped around a pencil.
I was able to make this pumpkin for $2. (The cardstock was on sale 4 sheets $1, and I had the rest of the items in my stash)
I hope you enjoyed making your Paper Pumpkin.
Sunday, October 9, 2011
My First Quilt Squares
I have been following a couple of quilting blogs. Dawn at quilting by dawn, Madame Samm's guest bloggers at SewWeQuilt and Madame Samm at SewIQuilt. It's been inspiring. I've been thinking that I could do it, but wasn't sure what design I wanted to create. Dawn had mentioned the need for star blocks (and posted photos). Her post got me moving. We don't have many fabric stores close to our house, but Hobby Lobby does carry some fabric and quilt supplies. I found a Dritz learn to quilt kit, and picked up some fabric.
Here is my first attempt at quilt blocks. I'm excited to try some other patterns and make a full quilt.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Woo hoo, I have a business card !
I guess it must have been meant to be.... I almost never (never say never) read the sports section of the newspaper, but Friday I scanned the front page of sports. There it was, an ad for 100 free color business cards. No catch other than coming into Office Depot with the ad and designing your business card. I had to do it! I convinced my DH to come with me and help me to design it. I am so excited to show you! I really like how it turned out. Yeah!!
I also added a calendar of sorts to my blog on the right side, so I can list the scrapbooking, card making and other classes I teach. October's calendar is listed, November's will be up around the middle of October.
I also added a calendar of sorts to my blog on the right side, so I can list the scrapbooking, card making and other classes I teach. October's calendar is listed, November's will be up around the middle of October.
Friday, September 16, 2011
It's Been CRAZY
Sorry for such a delay in posting.
School started on August 22nd and it's been CRAZY busy. Everything I learned about uploading photos to my blog got lost in the filing system of my brain. I think I need a new filing system .... something where I don't "lose" the new stuff just because I can't remember where I filed it. I still can't find the "file" on uploading photos yet, but I did want to post. I will ask my DH tonight to help me upload a photo or two to this post.(It's really not fun to read a post without some visual).
I worked on a last minute, "make it with what you have with you in the camper" birthday card for a camping friend. I knew I was in charge of making the cake (which I baked and decorated in our little travel trailer), but for some reason thought someone was bringing a card. When I realized that didn't happen, I couldn't very well let our dear friend go without a card. So I made one for her from the stash I brought with to make samples for a display for classes I was teaching. The card and the cake turned out cute, so I took some photos to post..... hopefully tonight DH will get them up on here for me.
Well, I need to get off the computer for a while so I can go to the post office and mail a birthday card to my youngest grandbaby. Shannon will be 1 on Monday. Maybe DH will help me post the photo of her card also.
BTW, if you are a quilter, you should check out Madame Samm's blogspot, sewwequilt.blogspot.com It is an amazing blog with amazing guest bloggers talking about all kinds of quilting info. Facinating and fun!
School started on August 22nd and it's been CRAZY busy. Everything I learned about uploading photos to my blog got lost in the filing system of my brain. I think I need a new filing system .... something where I don't "lose" the new stuff just because I can't remember where I filed it. I still can't find the "file" on uploading photos yet, but I did want to post. I will ask my DH tonight to help me upload a photo or two to this post.(It's really not fun to read a post without some visual).
I worked on a last minute, "make it with what you have with you in the camper" birthday card for a camping friend. I knew I was in charge of making the cake (which I baked and decorated in our little travel trailer), but for some reason thought someone was bringing a card. When I realized that didn't happen, I couldn't very well let our dear friend go without a card. So I made one for her from the stash I brought with to make samples for a display for classes I was teaching. The card and the cake turned out cute, so I took some photos to post..... hopefully tonight DH will get them up on here for me.
Well, I need to get off the computer for a while so I can go to the post office and mail a birthday card to my youngest grandbaby. Shannon will be 1 on Monday. Maybe DH will help me post the photo of her card also.
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Birthday Cards
Today I started working on birthday cards for a couple of September birthdays. Thought you might like to see what I came up with.
This card was made with the Cricut Robotz cartridge cut at 4".
The robot on the right was adhered with pop dots for dimension.
The stamped background is from a Stampendous stamp set.
For this card I used a Martha Stewart Punch Around the Page Punch.
The letter M was cut from the beige cardstock and backed with the floral
print paper. I ribbon punched the upper right corner. I added a floral print
ribbon then stitched it to the punched piece before adhering to the card base.
A couple of paper flowers and a stamped Happy Birthday
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Card Challenge
Today I made a card for a card challenge. The challenge was to heat emboss a sticker and use it on a card. For this card I used gold embossing powder on the butterfly sticker. I used orange cardstock for the card base, A2 size, edged with black ink. I cut a 2"x5" piece of beige cardstock and using 2 different stamps, I stamped the design in beige ink, then edged the piece in beige ink. Using the George cartridge on my cricut, I cut the pale orange oval at 4". I stamped the oval with a flourish stamp and beige ink,then edged it in beige ink. On a 1"x1 3/4" piece of beige cardstock I stamped "Simply the Best" in black with a bit of the flourish in beige, then edged the piece in beige ink. Using pop dots, I raised the butterfly wings for dimension and attached it to the orange oval. To assemble, I first attached the beige cardstock 1/4" from the left edge of the card, attached a border sticker next to the beige cardstock, then the sentiment followed by the butterfly oval. Hope you enjoy it.
Saturday, August 13, 2011
My First Post
Ok, I guess I need to start posting since I decided to blog.
Not sure how frequent this will be, although I would like to
upload photos of some of my cards and scrapbook layouts to
share. I just became a Wantobe Quilter thanks to my sister Dawn (quiltingbydawn.blogspot.com). Check out her site, she has some
amazing quilts there. There is a button on the left side of my page
that will link you to hers.
This first post is an Easter card I made.
It would also work nicely as a sympathy card.
I used Bazzill cardstock for the card base (A2 size). The white is basic smooth surfaced cardstock from my stash. I like the smooth surface when I am stamping. The stamp is from Heartfelt Creations. They really have some beautiful stamps. (I was lucky enough to win this one at CHA-Houston 2010). I stamped it first on the white cardstock that I had attached to the card. I then stamped it 2 additional times on a separate piece of white cardstock. I used watercolor pencils and a waterbrush to color the book, leaves and stamens. I then cut and paperpieced using foam dots for the 3D effect. I used some blue ribbon from Michaels craft store as the bookmark. I hope you like it. Feel free to comment.
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