Have a magical day!

Hello from sick ville!  Another day of feeling rotten, at least I didn't have the headache today.  Mainly a sore stomach and rotten feeling all day long.  I had my little sweat shop going most of the day.  I finished 15 more fabric pins, 2 crochet pins, and 2 tissue covers plus have more of them ready to finish.  I got sick of working so quit.  I sure hope I sleep tonight.  I didn't fall asleep till after 5 this morning and slept till about 8:30 and have been awake since then.  I rested a couple of hours this afternoon but did not fall asleep.  I think I will take some tylenol pm, do some cleaning until it starts working and hopefully hit the hay and get a good nights sleep!  See ya tomorrow!  Elaine

Rainbow Magnet

My day started out with a visit from Susie today.  We had a lot of catching up to do and I showed her all the stuff I have been working on.  She bought a bunch of stuff for gifts.  I gave her a metal bear/tree candle holder that I found in my travels that I thought would look perfect in her house.  She has a beautiful log home.  She brought me a wall cabinet that she no longer needs as Wayne built her a bigger one.  It is so cute.  Now I need to figure out where I am going to put it.  After she left, I returned Di's phone call as we were chit chatting before Susie stopped in.  I started working on the little fireman magnet for Susie.  She wanted one for her grandson Jayden.  I finished that and hit the bed around 2 as I had felt rotten all day.  I think I have the touch of some flu bug as I felt like I wanted to throw up although I didn't, had the DH, migraine, burping.  I fell asleep and got up at 4 and felt worse than I did before I went to sleep.  I decided to take some migraine medicine and made something to eat.  The medicine relieved the headache and I started working.  I got a ton done although I feel rotten, now my stomach hurts.  But the good news is that I finished 9 flower pins tonight, finished up 16 crochet pins, put magnets on the back on the rest of the magnets I did yesterday, and cut out 17 more flower pins.  So I am a happy camper.  Drop in and see what I have been up too!

Owl Magnet

Hello!  Lady Di and I took a little road trip today to Stevens Point. We were going to pick up some fabric for Community Quilter's at Hancock Fabrics but after we got there we didn't like the looks of the sale fabric, that it was too thin so we did'nt buy any.  But, the good news is, that I got the rest of the fabric that I needed for the I Spy Quilt.  Jenna had requested turquoise and I found a really nice print for the back, and a different print for the front, and binding.  It is so pretty and will be great for either a girl or boy.  Hopefully in about a month, we will know what she is going to have.  Then Di decided we should go to Cold Stone Ice Cream and we had some ice cream. I have a feeling that we will no longer be able to make a trip to Stevens Point without stopping there.  Hee Hee!  We just discovered it was there this month. Then we decided to head towards home and stopped at the Scrapbook store at Coloma.  I had picked up some Animal Cracker's baby kits last summer and their were still 4 of them on the shelf, 2 girl, and 2 boy kits and they were marked down further so I took the last of them.  I made the most adorable baby cards with them last summer and they flew out so I wanted to get more of them while I still could. I have never seen them anywhere else, but I did see some cards made with them in CARDS magazine.  Each kit has 100 buttons, prima flowers, die cuts, chipboard letters,a total of 235 pieces per kit, and it worked out to less than 3 cents per item.  You sure can't beat that.  Normally I never buy kits as they are too expensive and I have felt from day one since I started stamping that it is way cheaper in the long run to buy tools and make your own flower's and letter's, whether you use punches or die cutting machines, or stamps.  You can make your own embellishments way cheaper than you can buy them and it is also a good way to use up scraps. I am a big fan of both punches and the Big Shot and use mine on a daily basis.  But this was too good to pass up and for the most part, colored button's usually run about 20 cents each or did when I was buying them to put on pillows that I made to sell when I had the store.  I haven't priced them for awhile.  I either buy mine now from Stampin' UP! or a thrift shop if I can find a good deal on them which is rare.  You would think button's were made of gold, and I am sure glad I have a good supply of them stashed away! So the button's alone were worth what I paid for the kits.  But I bought them for the die cut animals which couldn't be cuter!  Di was teasing me, she said you sure love your button's and I said "Yes"!  She says "You must have thousands of them", I said Yeah.  But I sure use a lot of them and she said "Yes you do!"  So...when I got home I rested awhile and after I got up, I combined the 4 kits and the previous 2 I had bought last summer (what's left of them) and sorted out all the elements so they will be easy to work.  Taffy and Molly for some reason were quite fascinated with the sorting process and were up on the stamping table watching.  After I got done with that, they took off.  Then I made 4 cards tonight that I will be showing at Danna's party and I just ate supper.  Sometimes I get so wrapped up in what I am doing that I forget to eat.  I just finished taking some pictures of the magnets I have been working on.  Finally you will get to see all the coloring I have been doing, or I should say did.  As most of the images were colored last summer or fall at the flea market.  But it sure makes the assembly work go a lot quicker when that much of the work is done. Coloring images is very time consuming, but can be quite relaxing and almost a form of meditation, because you can just kind of let your mind zone out. I just focus on the technique and picking the colors I want to use, shading, etc.  I just love this owl to pieces and am so sad that this digital image was stored on my external hard drive which crashed about a month ago!  Hopefully at some point I will be able to get some one to try and retrieve some of my stuff off of it.  I hope they will be able too.  If you would like to go back to the post to see the baby cards I made with the elements from these kits I bought today, look at the right side bar and under Labels.  Then click on the one that says baby and it will bring up the baby card posts.

Tag treat

 

Good Evening!  It was kind of a nutsy day in Mayberry today.  Lots of phone calls, drop ins, and computer chat.  But I did manage to get my projects cut for Danna's stamping party on March 8th.   The only reason I was able to get that done is that I already had it planned what we were going to do.   I just finished up cutting the second project.  I had hoped to be done earlier but I had took the lap top with me to rest on the bed and guess who fell asleep sitting straight up in bed with the computer on her lap!?!?!?  No....it wasn't Molly or Taffy although they were sleeping too!  ME!! Boy I was mad when I woke up at 8 as I hadn't intended on napping.  It always amazes me how I can fall asleep with the tv blaring, lights on, and sitting straight up.  Oh well, I must have needed it.

Today's project is one of the samples I will be bringing on the 8th.  I borrowed Diane's two  tag die (p.198)  which we will be using to make an absolutely adorable project with, and while I have it, I thought I would make up a couple of more things you can do with it.  You will have to come to see how it open's up, but it will hold 3 Andes mints inside of it or another little treat.  This would be great to give someone who has given you good service some where.  A clerk, a waitress, whoever.  You could keep a few of these tucked in your purse or pocket, just ready to brighten someone's day.  Everyone loves to feel appreciated.  The circle was made with the 1 3/4 circle punch.  But before I punched it out, I used my Classy Brass, Punches Plus that is on p.188 of the catalog.  It is such a handy tool and I don't use it near as often as I should.  I should leave it laying on my desk so I remember to use it.  I am one of those people that if it is out of sight, it is out of mind.  You can dry emboss with it too but in this case I just used it to do the paper piercing around the circle.  Then I stamped it with the stamp set from Eight Great Greetings.  I have found that several of the stamps in this set fit inside the 1 3/4" Circle punch which is pretty cool.  I made the leaf branches to match the stamp with the little Sizzlet leaf die.  Such a perfect match.  And I love the textured card stock, and would love to use that on all my projects.  I popped up the circle with dimensionals and took some retired gingham ribbon to tie a bow on the top of the tag.  A fun, quick project, and it could be quickly changed for different holidays.  There are a lot of different occasions to choose from in the stamp set Eight Great Greetings...check it out!  It's on page 46!!

Flower Gift tin

Hello-  Today's post is an altered tin project.  Fill the bag inside with some sort of goody, tie a bow around the top and you are all set.  The designer paper I used on this can is Stampin' Up! Tea Party.  The word "friend" is from the stamp set Wonderful Favorites.  The Modern Label punch was used to make the tag and I punched 2 flowers with the 5 petal flower punch and curled them to make the flower.  The ribbon is pink taffeta.  It looks so springy and cheerful to me.  Unlike the view out the window!  Another month and spring should be here.  It will be nice to see green grass again!

I got my haircut this morning.  Boy was it long.  I hadn't had it cut since the beginning of December, about 3 weeks before the wedding so it really needed it.  I decided to make a stop at Practical Cents before heading home.  Not too much new there.  A quick stop at Pamida and I was home for the day.  I worked on magnets while chit chatting on the phone and got 11 finished this afternoon.  I had done the coloring on some of them on other days otherwise I wouldn't have gotten that much done.  I just got up from my rest time and had some supper.  Little Miss Taffy is busy licking out the empty yogurt container.  She has decided that she likes yogurt and she sat on the couch patiently waiting for me to get finished to get the empty container....lol  I think she associates fruity smells with yogurt as this morning when I was putting on lotion she got all excited and was looking around trying to figure out where it was coming from.

Old Lace

I am sitting here eating supper while listening to the new Billy Currington CD.  So far it is good and I am enjoying it.  I ended up being home all day long today, which was a good thing as I hurt from head to toe.  My I spy fabric swap came back today and I tell you, every square is cuter than the next!  I think Jenna and the baby will love it when it is done.  I plan on taking it with me when I go on my quilting retreat next  month with Lady Di.  I worked on magnets on and off most of the day and crocheted a few more flowers.

I like how this card turned out and I put the saying inside "Have a bloomin' good day!"  Too cute!  The lace on the bottom of this card is some I found at the thrift shop in a little baggie a few weeks ago.  It has an old look and feel to it. It makes a fun different accent.

Little Snowball girl

Hello!  I just love this Pure Innocence girl and it is another example of paper piecing.  If you look back further in the archives to last week, you will see that I made a card with this same image.  This one is a magnet.  I had picked up several bags of these mat cut out's before Ben Franklin's in Plover went out of business with the intention of making magnets with them.  I worked on a bunch more today and made 10 different magnets this afternoon after I got back from the library board meeting.  The board had asked me to come and give them an update on how the scrapbook is going.  They are very happy with what I have done so far.  I will have to take some pictures and show you the latest pages.  I slept in this morning and got rested up again.  Tomorrow I am headed to Stevens Point to visit a friend so plan on hitting the hay early tonight.  Wasn't the snow falling down today just lovely.  I could have sat all day and just watched it.  Such nice big flakes and they were slowly swirling down from the sky.  I love to watch it snow!

Celebrating my birthday with the girls

Yesterday is the day I had been waiting for.  I got to spend the whole day with both of my girls, and Zach too.  It was a very long day for me and will probably take me days to recover from, but it was well worth it!  I left town around 8:30 and headed to the Dells and hit the thrift shop there.  I found a couple of chunks of fabric there.  Next stop was St. Vinnies in Reedsburg.  I didn't find much there but did buy 3 articles of clothing that I will tear apart for crafting at a quarter a piece.  Also found a couple of daily quote books that I will use in my tag making.  I do love recycling.  I have been doing that LONG before it became popular to become GREEN!  I also found some funky cord for card making, and bought a couple of old aluminum jello molds that I am going to use instead of baskets for displaying some of the items I am making in.  And I did leave a quilt top their that I thought about purchasing but didn't.  It had pointy edges and I knew it would be a ton of work to finish.  It is probably one of the reason's it got there....lol  I made one more thrift store stop and hit the jackpot there with finding a pedestal cake stand.  Angela has several that I really like, and I decided I needed to try and keep up with the July's...LOL  Just kidding.  I am not sure if I will put pincushions on it or may make felt sugar cookies for mine. Carol and I bought tiny beads to do that years ago.  I think she has them. And I will use it at times for cakes and cookies. I headed over to Sarah's and got there around noon as we planned.  We visited and she finished stirring up lunch while we waited for Jenna.  She made us homemade BBQ pizza, which I think is a bisquick recipe with pears and green beans.  The girls gave me a gift card for AppleBee's so I will be able to have my "cowboy" burgers, as Jenna said.  So that will be fun.  Jenna and Antonio had a special flaun (sp?) cake that Roberto made for me.  It was really different.  I have never had anything quite like that.  I don't know how to begin to describe it.  Just that it is something that you would probably order in a very expensive restaurant.  The little boys from Milwaukee surprised all of us by calling and wishing me a happy birthday.  We watched the movie "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" and that was pretty funny.  For dinner, Sarah had made us a beef roast, potato's and carrot's in the slow cooker.  Oh and in the afternoon, Zach had made us homemade popcorn on the stove.  We played a game of scrabble in the evening and Jenna beat the pants off of us.  Then we spent a couple of hours watching ONE out of two disc's of wedding photo's.  We had fun looking at them.  Seeing things we missed, and reliving a beautiful memory.  Lot's of beautiful pictures and Jenna is just glowing in them.  I left around 10:45, way later than I had planned but the pictures went on forever!!!  I decided that while I was down there, I should grocery shop so went to Lake Delton Walmart and grocery shopped.  By the time I got home and got the van unloaded, it was 1:30am.  I saved about $30.00 with coupon's so that was great.  I put groceries away, answered a couple of emails and headed to bed around 2:30.  I figure it will take me several days to recover from this one as that is really overdoing it for me, but I wanted to get the most out of my gas money dollars.  It sure was a fun day though!

Snowflake Tin

Good Evening.  I made two of these snowflake tins earlier in the week.  They are almond cans that I covered with pattern paper.  I dolled them up with some ribbon and used the snowflake punch to punch out two snowflakes.  They are attached with a pop up glue dot.  I just love how the pop up dots lift things up and they have such great holding power.  I used some stickles to give the snowflakes a little dazzle, and put a bag and a ribbon inside the tin so it is all ready to be filled with a treat.  They make a great little gift when you don't want to spend a lot yet you wish to remember someone.  That is what I love about having supplies right in the house.  You can quick whip something up when you need an unexpected gift.  I had lots of people here today picking up their order's.  Doris, Dana, and Diane all stopped in.  I worked on the library scrapbook project this afternoon, and tonight while I was resting, I made 6 of the cutest little crochet flower's.  Tomorrow is my birthday "day" with my girls and I am very excited about it.  We are meeting at Sarah's house and I can't wait to see and spend the day with them!

Paper Piecing

Hello!  This is a card I made one day last week.  I love paper piecing.  It is very time consuming and piddly but I love how it looks when it is done.  Don't know what paper piecing is!?!?  Well, first you stamp your image on your card stock.  Then you stamp it again on patterned paper, and cut out the images that you want to paper piece.  In this case I stamped it on two different pattern papers.  The scarf, boots, and mittens are one pattern, cut out, and then glued on top of the background layer, carefully matching up the original stamped image.  The hat and coat are also paper pieced with a different pattern paper.  I colored the face, snowballs, pants, and the ground underneath her.  You can click on the picture to make it larger to see more detail if you would like too.  The snowflakes have some Icicle Stickles on them to make them sparkle a little and I love the embossed background with Stampin' Up! Perfect Petals embossing folder.  You will be seeing some more paper piecing in the near future as I worked on magnets today and did paper piecing on some of them.

Fabric Brooches

 

Hello!  It has been a busy day here in Mayberry today!  My stamping order arrived and I got that all unpacked and repacked ready to go out.  My neighbor Debi was over today to buy a pincushion, Sandy Renner was just here to pick up the orders that need to be delivered, and I have had numerous phone calls.  I did manage to get the dishes done and the tags for the 9 pin cushions done that I started earlier in the week so now those are finished.  Sandy Wellumson was here to pick up her order and I was showing her the projects that I have been working on and also my new quilt.  She thinks it is definitely from the 40's also, and she thought it was in very good condition.  The reason it is thin she said is that it was a summer quilt, that is why there isn't wool in it.  She loved the color's in it too.  I had her try to guess what I had paid for it, and she said well if it was in an antique shop, you would have paid about $300.00 and she is right about that, as I sold quilts similar to this one in that price range.  Sandy did not know what pattern this was and neither do I.  She said she was going to look it up in one of her quilt books.  Now that I think of it, I have a book that may tell the pattern of it too, I will have to look it up.  Sandy brought me a beautiful card that she made and a very pretty fat quarter.  It is pinkish with leaves on it.  I will have to make something special with it!  I also had a very nice card come in the mail today from Kathy Seymer.  So my birthday is continuing on!  Love it!

These fabric brooches I made with the Big Shot and the Fancy flower folds die.  I just love making them and have been having a blast picking out buttons for the flower center.  Some of them have some really cool buttons on them.  Fabric brooches are all the rage and have been selling in catalogs for between $16.00 and $40.00.  I am selling them for $10.00.  They look great on jackets, denim, tote bags, purses, etc. and they make a nice gift.

Well, I am off to rest.  I am not feeling the greatest today.  Have a good night!  Elaine

Just another day in paradise...

Hello!  Just a quick post before I head to bed.  I am thoroughly enjoying my new sewing room upstairs and have been spending 2 to 3 hours up there per night the past few days.  I made 6 more brooches tonight and they turned out oh so cute....maybe tomorrow I will post a picture.  I need to shoot a bunch of pictures of things that I have been working on, and lucky for you, I do not have any pictures left on the computer to post, so I will have to get busy and take some pictures!  This card was on the camera from Monday.  I made this card to send to Pat Markor.  Her birthday is today, the same day that my grandmother's birthday was.  Happy Birthday Pat!  My grandmother made the very best chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.  We always celebrated our birthdays together while I was growing up.  I received a birthday card today & money from my sister and Di and I got quite a chuckle out of it.  I had went up town to the thrift shop and was carry my loot out of the van when Di arrived.  She laughed when she saw me...said she caught me!  Any whoo..I digress.  The card Lenore sent was so appropriate, I will have to remember to bring it to stamping next month to show the gals.  It says Witch Crafts on the bottom of it.  Then there are two witches sitting at a table with a skull and glue bottle in front of each of them.  Then there is a witch standing with a skull and a bottle of glue in front of them and she is saying...Now we take our skull and glue macaroni and glitter to it.....(then you open the card and it says)...just witching you a happy birthday!  Too cute!  Thanks Lenore!  Nite!

One last Valentine

Hello!  Well, I am still celebrating my birthday today.  Susie was over today for a visit and to bring me  a birthday gift, and my friend Mike, from Germany called today to wish me a Happy Birthday.  He never forgets.  It doesn't always work out for him to call on the exact day, but he always calls sometime the week of it.  It is so great to be loved by so many people!  I got a little bit of crafting done in between things.  I sewed the buttons on the 9 pin cushions I started yesterday, made a birthday card, and did a stamped/paper pieced magnet that I will show you soon.  During my rest break this afternoon, I watched an episode of House and worked on punching up scraps, the ongoing saga.  I went to the Fibromyalgia support group tonight and just finished eating supper.  Right now I am trying to head up to the sewing room but someone from Oregon is detaining me...by continuing to IM me.  We won't name any names, the guilty party knows who they are!  LOL  I'd better run before she discovers that I am still on here!  Until tomorrow...have a good night!

Happy Valentines Day!

Hi!  I am sending this card to all of you, my loyal readers, who I so appreciate!  I hope that you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day!  I spent the day at home, answering the phone with all the Happy Birthday wishes from every one, reading and answering face book well wishes, and working on some projects.  I altered 3 cans today, and cut and sewed 9 pin cushions.  I still have some finishing work to do on them.  I set up a display in my living room of craft items so that any one that wants to stop in and purchase items can.  I have lot's of nice little gifts here.  I also did some cleaning and putting stuff away both upstairs and downstairs.  I did take a break for a few hours and laid on the bed with my box of scraps and punches and worked on punching up some scraps.  It is and endless project working on that, as I make more just as soon as I get some done.  But right now the box is going down and I am getting ahead of the game!  My tylenol pm is kicking in so I am off to laa laa land!  Happy Valentines Day!  Hugs!  Elaine

Butterfly Tree

In my previous post today, I told that you I had also made some other things to hang on a tree.  I used the set Flight of the Butterfly and the matching punch to make a bunch of different ornaments for the tree.  Flight of the Butterfly is a fantastic set for doing something like this as there are so many different patterns that you can mix and match to make butterflies with.  And then if you change the card stock and the papers, the possibilities are endless!  I am sorry that I don't have a real good picture of the tree.  The cats were totally fascinated with it and would not leave me when I was trying to take a picture of it.  First Taffy was up there looking at it and wouldn't move.  I finally got her to scat and then Molly got up there, and then Taffy was back too, and finally I gave up!  You can see Molly standing behind the tree.  They were not bothering the tree, I think they just missed me and knew that the tree was something different that they had not seen before.  They are very smart like that.  If they could talk, they could tell you exactly what  I bring new into the house as they have to check out all the shopping bags, and sniff everything .  I hope you are all having a great weekend and that you are doing something special for Valentines Day!

Reversible Tree Ornament

One of my stamper's requested some idea's of things to make to hang on a tree made of branches.  She would like to do one and change it for the season's.  I made up one little Valentine one, and made it reversible so that when it spins on the branch there is something decorative on both sides.  This was also on my display table at Sandy's party.  This would also make a cute tag, or cupcake pick.

I (Heart) Quilts !!!!

Today was a fun day....Lady Di and I did our annual "let's go shopping for Elaine's birthday day".  We started out the day with some errands Di needed to do, and then we were off to Plover.  Our very first stop was St. Vinnie's and I am beyond thrilled at what I found there today!  Look at this!!!!

 

Isn't this a beauty!?!?!  It is all hand quilted.  It isn't very thick, a thin quilt but I love it!

 And guess what the best part of all is....!?!?!?  I only had to pay $6.00 !!!  What a steal.  It does have some rough spot's on the edges, small holes, but all in all it is in very good shape.  I collect quilts when I can find deals on them and have them scattered around the house over chairs, etc. and even have a few packed away that I need to get out.  I really love quilts, they give such a warmth, a well loved feeling to a home.  Here is where I decided to display this one.  I also fell in love with a couch they had there.  It was red leather and oh so 50/60ish and would look so cute with my table and chair set, even though the couch was a deep red.  It had those metal legs underneath that go at an angle that are so cool.  But, I had to leave it there.  It was a very good deal at $185.00 as it is mint condition.  Any one want to buy me some lottery tickets for my birthday!?!?  Maybe I will get lucky and win a couple hundred bucks and can go back and get it!  LOL

We had a great day.  We hit Michaels, Hancock Fabrics, and Good Will.  Charcoal Grill was my choice for lunch today, and we had yummy food.  Before we headed home we had to hit Cold Stone Ice Cream and by that time we were bursting at the seams!  Di surprised me with her birthday gift to me.  She paid for my ticket to a stamping event in Milwaukee in April called Year of Cards.  I have not been to that before and I am real excited about going to it!  It should be a great time.  Thanks for the great day Di!!!  Love ya...Boo 

Cupcake pick

Hello!  Today I have a little cupcake pick to show you.  I have several Grandma's in my group that do stamping with their grandchildren, or other children in their life.  They are always looking for quick and cute idea's so I thought I would show them how easy it is to take a few punches and make a cupcake pick!  This was made with 2 scalloped squares punched out of Pretty in Pink card stock, one for the back and one for the front, tooth pick is sandwiched in the middle.  Use good adhesive like sticky strip so that they don't come apart on you!  The hearts were punched with the Heart to Heart punch, one in Real Red card stock, and one from the new Sending Love Specialty DSP that is in the Occasion Mini.  The hearts were popped up with dimensionals.  A little piece of our Real Red Gingham ribbon tied around the tooth pick and knotted, finishes them off.  I had this on my display table at Sandy's party.  I didn't think of it, I should have taken a picture of everything grouped together there.  It looked so cute, and everyone was oohhhinng...and ahhhing...much to my delight!  It's not too late to whip out a batch of cupcakes and make your own!  Me

Valentine Bitty Treat Boxes

Good Evening!  I made 3 of these Valentine Treat Boxes with the Bitty Box die that you use with the Big Shot.  I forgot to take pictures of them but they looked similar to this one on the outside.  The one I made today, I added the little squirrel from Animal Cracker's to the inside of the box and some little punched out hearts.  The outside is decorated with hearts from our new small heart punch and the Heart to Heart Embosslit.  The Heart embosslit cuts out the heart and embosses it all in one step.  I used the Stampin' Up! stamp set Teeny Tiny Wishes to stamp the words Happy Valentines day.  These boxes are so fun and quick to make.  After you cut one out with the machine, you can have it assembled in a couple of minutes, do some decorating and viola...you are done!  The hardest part for me is keeping the chocolate in the house long enough to give it away!  LOL  Have a wonderful evening!  Elaine

Sandy's Party

I hope you all are safe and sound, and snug in a nice warm house.  I ventured out this afternoon to go to the bank, pick up my prescriptions, deliver some Tastefully Simple and made a trip to the thrift store.  It was a trip that was well worth the stop as I brought home a trash bag full of fabric scraps, some batting, felt, and chipboard index cards.  I have big plans for that bag of scraps as there is a lot of good stuff in there.  Plus there is gaudy, satiny, sequin fabric that will make great Webkinz clothes and Brooke will be happy about that.  Her birthday isn't till June, but the way I get things done...lol...I'd better start thinking about it now.  I started working on some samples for next months camp and had a lot of fun doing that.  I have 2 cards made and 2 3D items.  I would probably continue to work but my neck has been bothering me since this afternoon, and I ache all over so I guess I'd better hit the hay and try to ward off a major flare up. Hopefully I can sleep it off! Tomorrow will be a brand new day!


This is one of the cards we made at Sandy's party last night.  Many people told me that they were going to use this card for their hubbies for Valentine's Day.  The lay out on this card is a nice one and could be used year round if you swap out the color's.  The gal's liked trying out the clear mounted stamp sets and found that it was a breeze to stamp the heart with in the heart with out using a Stamp-ma-jig. They are still a little fearful of the Circle Scissor Plus, but they did a great job, and no one had any goof up's with it that I know of.  It amazes them after they turn the cutter and the circle is cut.  I had many of them say to me that it didn't feel like it was cutting.  It really glide's with ease.  I find myself making many more cards with circle's on them than I did before as it works so slick once you get the hang of it.  I did not like the Coluzzle that we used to sell and I rarely demonstrated it.  My tylenol pm is kicking in so I'd better sign off while I am still coherent!!!  LOL  Otherwise, you won't be able to make heads or tails of this!  Hugs!  Elaine

Recipe: I(heart)Hearts,Perfect Polka Dots Impression Folder,Small Heart Punch,Scallop Circle #2 Die, Circle Scissor Plus, Glass Mat, Real Red & Basic Black Ink and Card Stock, Whisper White Card Stock

Cards for Freddy

Hi!  I just read this post on another demonstrator's blog and it moved me to share it all with you to reach out to this poor little guy, and brighten his day with a card.  As my late Aunt Gwen would say...you can always look around and see some one worse off then yourself.  I am so thankful for the blessings in my life.  Please keep this family in your thoughts and prayers!  Elaine

Here is the note from Lisa Flynn:

Hi Stamping Friends!

I know our Stampin’ Up! community has the most generous and wonderful people in the world. I would like to make a plea for cards for my mentally ill grandson.

Long story short – my husband and I are raising our 8 year old severely bipolar grandson. (My daughter gave him up, because she couldn’t deal with his illness). He has been on 15 different medications over the last four years and has been up and down with their effectiveness. Freddy has been very unstable for quite some time. Even he knew it. So, he has been hospitalized in an effort to get his medications straightened out and control his severe mood swings. Freddy was agreeable to going, as he is also exhausted from the shifts in his body. He will probably be in the hospital for a minimum of 2-4 weeks.

Please keep him in your prayers and if you have time, he would LOVE to get some mail. Hospital stays are lonely, especially for child. Mail would really help cheer him up. You can write to Freddy at this address:

Freddy Golnek
% Stony Lodge Hospital
The Children's Unit
40 Croton Dam Road
Ossining, New York 10562

I would love to inundate him with mail, as he does suffer from abandonment issues thanks to my daughter and his dad, who has been in prison most of Freddy’s life. If you have a blog and would like to link to the post below to help reach more stampers – please feel free. Thank you so much. I hate to be a bother, but I just love this child more than life itself. Thanks so much!

Lisa Flynn

Life Savers

 

Good Afternoon!  It is beautifully snowing here in Mayberry right now.  Great big large flakes.  I guess we are only suppose to get an inch today, but we could get 5 to 8 inches  of snow tomorrow.  I have been making up a few more little samples today for Sandy's stamping party tonight.  Here is a couple of them  The pink one is made with the Curly Label Punch and I scored it down the middle so it would fold in half.  The words "I love you" are from the Stampin' Up! stamp set Three Little Words.  I used the Scalloped Square Punch to punch the red one and  I scored it in the middle and then folded it in half.  The "Just for You" was stamped on with the stamp from  the Stampin' Up! stamp set Sock Monkey and both the red and pink heart were punched with the Heart to Heart Punch.  These punches work perfectly to make topper's for lifesavers.  A fun little inexpensive gift to make.  You could make them for a whole class room, and you could change out the color scheme and stamps for the different seasons.  If you make some, I would love to see your creations.  Email me your pictures to quilter7@verizon.net  Stay safe, and stay warm!  Elaine

Primitive Rabbit

Good Afternoon!  I just finished this primitive rabbit and I thought I would quick pop it on the blog to show you.  I got this pattern at the quilt shop in Appleton last month.  He is for sale for $10.00 if you are interested.  Email me at quilter7@verizon.net if you would like him.  If you live in the area you can stop by and pick him up, otherwise I will ship him to you for actual shipping costs.  He can hang on the wall, sit on a shelf or chair, or be carried around by a little one. I have stitched on the buttons very securely and all seams have been double stitched to with stand wear and tear. One of the things that appealed to me about this rabbit is that the ears, arms, and legs are not stuffed, just the head and body.  I could just see a little one toddling around carrying one of these! I have not announced it here on the blog yet but I am going to be a Grandma!!  Jenna and Antonio are having a baby and the baby is due August 15th.  I am over the moon with happiness and wanted to shout it from the roof tops when I found out! I plan on making one for the new baby.  You will probably see more baby things on the blog this year as I definitely have "Baby" on the brain!  I also finished a sheep towel this afternoon.  I think if you look under "labels" on the right side bar, and then find "towels", there is a picture of the sheep towels I have been doing.  I need to get back to work now...have fun watching the Super Bowl if that is what you are doing!  Me 

A bumming we will go....

Today was road trip day for Lady Di and I.  We went to the Dells and Baraboo area and hit all the thrift shops and to Walgreen's.  We had lunch at Burger KIng and had blizzards at Dairy Queen.  It was a fun day....and this tells you how much I have corrupted Di...and how much she loves me :-D .....she really does not like thrift shopping and when I first met her, I could never get her to go with me.  And today she spent a whole day of it!  Now is that a good friend or what!?!?!

Today's card uses the stamp set Well Scripted, the new Polka Dot embossing folder and the highlight of the card are the butterflies and they were made with the new Stampin' Up Embosslit die Beautiful Wings.  It cuts and embosses the butterflies all in one step.  They turn out so cool!  I thought this would be a good card to show as the little lavender pearls that I put on the large butterfly were a thrift shop find.  I found a whole bag of pill bottles full of different colors pearls, all this size.  Today I found the tiniest little jingle bell's that will be cute to put on a Santa Hat, or on a collar on a reindeer at Christmas time.  I also found some tiny miniature wooden spool and already have a plan cooked up for them.  I just love finding all those little goodies at the thrift shop.  Di laughs at me, and I said to her, You just wait, you are going to be saying, can I borrow some of those little jingle bells some day! 

Congratulations Card

Hello...greetings from blog land!  It sure was nice to watch it lightly snow this morning.   I needed to return some books at the library this afternoon and I ran into Anita Wilson and the Wilson's kids.  We had a nice visit, and the girls might join us for stamping on Monday night.  I also took some mini catalogs over to Adams Columbia for some of the gals there.  While I was out and about, I decided to check out Practical Cents and took advantage of their book sale.  You could buy a brown paper bag of books for $5.00.  I got 38 books in the bag, can you believe that?!?  And I will probably only keep a couple of them for me, the rest I will be giving to other people in my life.  I really hit the jackpot!  I also picked up a few other things in the craft department and helped a guy that was in my class in high school find some curtains to fit his windows.  He had a locker by mine in high school and we were friends.

Today's card uses the stamp set's Well Scripted and I (heart) Hearts.  I used the Raspberry Lemonade DSP for this card, and it shows that you don't have to use the hearts just for Valentine's Day.  They will work good for cards year round.  Stampin' Up is donating $2.00 from the sale of every stamp set of I (heart) Hearts to Haiti.  The last time I checked, we had sold over 7000 stamp sets!  Isn't that wonderful!!!  There is still time to help the cause, let me know if you would like to order a set!

Tags, Tags, and more Tags!

Today's project was working on tags.  I had cut a bunch of them out awhile ago.  And I had stamped a bunch of little words and says .  I also have been punching up my scraps.  So I had all these little container's of things all ready to go, ready to assemble.  If you would like to see more of the detail on them, click the picture to make them larger.  Diane surprised me this afternoon and stopped over for a visit.  After she left, I packaged up the tags I had finished.  I had decided that I would do some cutting while watching a DVD I have home from the library on Excel.  I was all into watching the DVD and the audio on it started going bad and I got sleepy around the same time.  I stopped the video and thought I would just close my eyes for a moment, and 2 hours later...I am waking up to the phone ringing!  Phooey...I did not want a nap today.  But oh do I feel good!  I must have needed it.

A New Look in Mayberry

Another busy day in Mayberry.  Jessie and Jackie, my helper's from the flea market, came over after school today for about an hour and moved some things around for me.  When you come to visit, it will look really different in here.  They did a great job as usual.  They sure are good girls.  I did some prep work before they came and my body is tired and hurting.  But it looks wonderful, and it may not be from that, it could be the weather or lack of sleep.  I was wide awake last night.  I had gotten a really good nights sleep the night before and was not at all sleepy.  I finally turned off the light at 4am!!!  I was laying on the bed, punching scraps and watching TV for hours.  My body is kind of strange like that, the rare times I do sleep through the night, it doesn't know what to do with the good sleep, and then I won't sleep the next night.  But I felt good today, got something accomplished and that is the main thing.

Hugs & Kisses

Good Afternoon!  If you were at Doris's party, you probably recognized the scalloped piece of this card which is one of the new "hugs" you can buy from the Occasion's mini.  They come 20 to a package and are $4.95.  You can also purchase glassine envelope's to match.  I had decorated a few to show the gals and this is one of them.  I decided to show how they can be used on a card.  This was a very quick card to assemble as I had the majority of the work done!  I just added the stamped heart from the stamp set Best Wishes & more and popped that up on a dimensional to give the card some depth.  I recently acquired this stamp set in a trade I made.  I have wanted this set for a long time.  I love the curved verses in it and the fact that it cover's so many different occasions.  And the really cool thing about it is that the embellishments like this stamped heart will fit inside the scalloped circle!  Woo HOO! You will be seeing that sometime in the future!
I have been doing the dreaded "C" word this afternoon.  Cleaning!!!  I have to do that occasionally so that I can do the "S" words....stamp and sew!  LOL  Colleen and I decided while we were iming this afternoon to have a friendly contest to see who could get the most done.  No one actually wins, but it gets us motivated as we have to do something, to be able to write something...ha ha. As I am writing this, Taffy is playing under the computer desk with her mousie, and she has knocked some Stampin' Up! invitations on the floor for me to pick up.  Hmmm....I wonder if Colleen set her up to that one.  Do I detect a conspiracy!?!?!?  LOL  I have been doing things and dashing back to im them to her, and she must just be working and will tell me later as I haven't seen anything from her yet.  Does that mean I am winning.....hee hee!  Later!  Me

Valentine Time

It is time for me to start showing you samples of Valentine's.  Actually this card wouldn't have to be a Valentine, it would make a great Anniversary or Wedding Card too.  I used the Perfect Polka Dots Embossing folder for the background, the hearts are stamped with 2 different hearts from the stamp set I (Heart) Hearts, and then the edges of the center panel are punched with the Eyelet Border Punch.  This was a fast and simple card to make but looks very elegant.

Today was a work day.  When I am making something to sell, I like to mass produce and work assembly line style.  It all seems to go faster.  So that is what I was doing today.  Turning stacks of pony tails, sewing stacks, hand stitching the openings of stacks of them and doing the final assembly.  I also tufted 9 pin cushions today.  I got quite a few pony tails finished and have a lot more in various stages.  Some of this I was doing while watching 24 this afternoon, and did more of it again tonight while talking to my friend Colleen in Oregon, about her daughter's wedding plans.  We were discussing the stamping order that she was going to put in, idea's about how to make the wedding invitations, and treat boxes.  Plus decorating ideas.  We ended up talking for hours.  I am zapped out now and need to hit the hay.  Have a great day!  Elaine