Birthdays and Babies

Well it's that time again, birthdays and babies.  Time to design again. Here you have it : one boy card, one girl card and a baby card.  Hope you like them.

Thanks for visiting, have a Wonderful weekend!

P.S. Don't forget the Red, White,   and Blue Blog Hop starts Sunday, July 1st !

Mod Podge Fun!

I was asked by Michaels to come in and teach a Mod Podge Make it-Take it yesterday.  I haven't used Mod Podge  for a long time.  So I played around with it, making a key ring and a luggage tag.  What fun and I think the results are great.  Take a look.......

Key Ring front

Key Ring back

Luggage Tag front

Luggage Tag back

These are acrylic shapes that I Mod Podged with images cut from paper (I didn't even  know they made special Mod Podge paper). On the words travel, inspire and dream I used Mod Podge Dimensional that leaves a raised area wherever you put it. I photographed it before it had a chance to completely dry so that you could see it in the photo. It dries clear or with glitter depending on the type you use. I used clear on both the luggage tag and the key ring (but forgot to photograph the key ring while wet, so you can't  see it in the photo). You could easily use scrapbook paper and other acrylic shapes to add to shadow boxes,  SMASH books, and scrapbook pages.

Thanks for visiting!

Classes on Sale !

All paper crafting and scrapbooking classes are 25% off at Michael's. It's their Beat the Heat promotion in U.S. and Canada. You have to sign up and pay for the class by June 23rd, but it's good for any classes that are scheduled. (in my local Michaels, that includes all classes til the end of August !).

Let's finish up my May Madness

I wanted to send thank you cards for the lovely Table Top Quilts I won.

Since it's the end of the school year, I received a couple of gifts: a really nice altered clipboard and a giftcard to a frozen yogurt shop. I made a couple thank you cards, one with a coordinating envelope.

Altered Clipboard Card

I also made a gift of photos for a mom who missed seeing some school activities of her daughter. I got this idea from a neat website Thoughts of a Cardmaking Scrapbooker. Her link here:  http://chelemom.blogspot.com/

This is made from an empty ribbon spool, decorated inside and out with scrapbook paper, handmade and punched paper flowers and cricut cuts. The ribbon holds photos that accordian fold into the middle of the spool. Simply Adorable!

I think that's it for the month. Nothing to show for quilting (have to keep my work under wraps until the Red White and Blue blog hop).  Thanks for visiting!

It's been SO busy, it's hard to think of where to start..

May has been a super busy month and we have been home all month (no camping this month til Memorial weekend). Sure didn't expect to be so busy. Figured "being home" would mean relaxing,  catching up on scrapbooking and quilting, watching a few movies on DVD, read a book.... Wow was I wrong! It started with the church annual dinner dance auction.  It's a fun, black tie optional affair. We love to dress up for it. No stress, the dress and tux were back from the cleaners, so just get ready on Saturday and go. There is a silent auction for desserts during dinner, followed by a large silent auction for things like box seat tickets, and 2 weeks in a condo in Florida. There is dancing with a band and casino action. Just lots of fun for a good cause. Little did I know that on Thursday before the dinner, my friend would tell me she was now in charge of the dessert auction and needed a few extra desserts.  Guilt trip! Ok, I don't work on Friday, so I guess I can make some desserts and shop for some fancy containers to put them in.....mini Cream puffs in a decorator "book" with a French design, Madame Samm's chewies in a brown leather suitcase (2 layers), and a Mocha Praline Crown (fancy name for large cream puffs with chocolate filling instead of custard).

We had a great time til the wee hours of Sunday morning, then slept in on Sunday. Unfortunately nothing else was accomplished.

I Won!! Twice!!
I received 2 awesome table toppers in the mail! Giveaways from Madame Samm's blog hop! They are absolutely wonderful!  Cherry and Thearica did a great job and I'm proud to have them displayed in the house. Thearica made the rose one that is on the fireplace in our bedroom and Cherry made the Spring one that is in our dining room. Cherry sent the extra coordinating fabric that you see below the table topper. I'm excited to come up with something creative for that! It's hard to see in the photo, but the Spring table topper has awesome FMQ! Even my DH noticed! (up until now I've only done stitch in the ditch, so he hasn't seen the beauty of FMQ. He was very impressed.) Thanks ladies!

Along with all of that was Mother's Day and 3 grandchildren's birthdays and a double bridal shower at work. I'm glad I made the Mother's Day cards way in advance as the girl in charge of decorations for the bridal shower asked me to make centerpieces. (9 small tables with 1/2 bride and grooms and 1/2 bridal cakes, as well as a large bride and groom for the gift table and the cake table). It was lots of fun and they turned out nice.

Next, make 3 birthday cards for the grandkids. One for my 12 yr old granddaughter, 10 yr old grandson and 6 yr old granddaughter. It's fun to make cards they enjoy.

Time to close this post.  I'll try to finish showing the rest of my May Madness soon.

Thanks for visiting.

Mother's Day is fast approaching!

I enjoy making handmade cards. Mother's Day is almost here, so it was time to design a card to send to my Mom and my Mother-in-law.
I started with 8 1/2" x 11" piece of white cardstock folded in half for the card.  Using a 5" x 8 1/2" piece of pink cardstock, I punched around using Martha Stewart's Deco Shell corner punch and edge punch. On the 3 1/4" x 5" piece of yellow cardstock, I used just the corner punch. Then I topped it with a  3 1/4" x 3 1/4" piece of pink cardstock punched using both the corner and edge punch. I wanted to try a new edge punch I had purchased that could also be used to make flowers. It's called Dimensional Flower by EK Success. I punched 2 pieces of 11" marroon cardstock, glued them on top of each each other 1/2 petal off center and twirled on a pencil into a spiral. The yellow flower centers are yellow cardstock cut with Martha Stewart's fringe scissors and twirled into a spiral. Flower stamens were added to the center. The wording "Mom" and "Happy Mother's Day" were cut with the Cricut cartridge Mothers Day, using the marroon and yellow cardstock.  A 1" x 11" piece of pink cardstock was edge punched  and attached inside the card as a decorative finish.  I hope you like the results.

inside

Thanks for visiting.

Table Topper Blog Hop....My Turn!

Thanks Madame Samm for hosting this fun Blog Hop. I just started learning about quilting when Madame Samm had the Wantobe Quilters Campaign. I've been so inspired by all the wonderfully talented quilters who have so generously shared their knowledge. When Madame Samm put the call out for Love quilts to fit the adorable table top frame, I knew I wanted to try.

I designed my first table top quilt to show the things I love, my photographer husband, Ken, family, reading books, Maui, scrapbooking and paper crafts, camping, quilting and coffee. I tried applique  as well as fabric painting (the letter m in family and the design in the coffee cup). It was also my first time using freezer paper ironed to fabric, drawing the design on the freezer paper and cutting it out. I loved how the freezer paper helped with some of the more fussy designs.

Once my first was done, I thought I would try to make one that is a adaptation of my blog icon.

I've wanted to try the log cabin style block. I miscalculated the strips needed (the tut I was following made 14 1/2" blocks and I tried to recalculate.. after I sewed it all together, it was too small. I'm definitely still a Wantobe).  I just added two additional white and red strips, so it's not quite a log cabin block.

I haven't learned free motion quilting yet, so I stitched in the ditch. I hope to learn free motion quilting, so I can do some fancy work in the blue of the bunny quilt. I hope you enjoyed my attempts at mini quilts. Be sure to check out all the other blogs for today. The list is in my previous post.

Thanks for stopping by.

Table Top Blog Hop !!

Are you ready for some Inspiration?

Check out the amazing projects!

Table Topper Blog HOP Schedule

APRIL 16th- 25th

Table Topper Blog HOP Schedule

Monday April 16th

Jacque (Snoodles)

Lesley

Sharon

Dawnmarie

Piece Peace

Tuesday April 17th

Kris

Marcia

Jenny

Sheila

Josie

Wednesday April 18th

Vickie

Shanna

Deonn

Mrs Pickles

Sharon

Thursday April 19th

Leslie ( lesquilts)

Jennifer ( that girl)

Karen

Katherine

Friday April 20th

Marlene

Charlotte

Leslie

Darlene

Jane

Michelle

Cherry

Monday April 23rd

Christine

Just Carol

Patty D

Wendy

leanne

Elaine M

Judy C

Tuesday April 24th

Jennifer m

Roxanne

Syd

Selina

Connie

Patti

Jane

Wednesday April 25th

Mary

Marianna

Thearica

Kelly

Marnie

Pauline

Mdm Samm

Love

It's wedding season so I came up with a few cards. They can be used for weddings, anniversaries, or Valentine's Day.

Thank you cards

My DH and I went on a cruise with 6 friends. We used to camp together when we all lived in the Chicago area, but since we moved to Houston that hasn't worked out. Two of the couples have become "winter Texans" and stay in Brownsville Texas from November to April. Unfortunately that is still too far away to camp together as it takes 5 hours to get there. Last year we all decided to cruise together. It has become an "Annual Cruise with Friends" every February.  When you go on a cruise one of the things you do at the end of the cruise is give gratuities to your statesman (cleans your room), your waiter, assistant waiter and the head waiter in the dining room. This year I decided to put the gratuities in Thank You cards, instead of just a plain envelope. I hope they enjoyed the personal touch.

Lace Curtains

We decided to change our bedroom. New comforter, decorative pillows, window valances and paint. I wanted my DH to help pick out the new items as he has great taste and he put up with "pretty"  bedrooms for the past 20 years. We found some wonderful brown suede with barbed wire embroidery. Very Texan. Looks great, but DH thought it needed a little feminine touch. He wanted lace panels behind the suede valances at the window. So off to Joann Fabrics to pick up some off white lace to make the panels. Turned out pretty nice.

I have Finished my 1st Quilt !!

I am sew excited to have finished my first quilt.  I've done 16 blocks toward what I thought would be my first quilt, and planned to make a small quilt once I was finished, for my wheelchair bound Mother-in-Law. I planned to give it to her for her birthday or Christmas this year.  Unfortunately my Father-in -Law passed away this past week and we are flying home Tuesday for the wake and funeral. Fast forward to starting and finishing the small quilt so I can take it with to give to her. I went shopping Saturday to find some charm squares to make disappearing 9 blocks. I purchased fleece as the backing material as my Mother-in -Law really liked a lap quilt my Mom had given me that was backed with fleece.  I want to thank the guest bloggers on Madame Samm's blog SewWeQuilt for the tutorials that helped me with the disappearing 9 block, the sandwiching tutorial and the binding tutorial. I want to thank my sister Dawn for sharing hand applique stitching so I could blind stitch the binding.(quiltingbydawn.blogspot)  I could never have finished my first quilt in a weekend without them.

New Quilt Squares

I have been working on quilt squares with my Hawaiian fabric.  I've tried 4 styles of squares and have made 4 of each style. I still have a few more squares to make, then I can piece the top together. The photos aren't the best and the quilt squares haven't been ironed yet.

Quilting....planning a quilt for the "Mom's suite"

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.

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......)

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.



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.

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!