Breast Cancer Awareness Month Bookmark

In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month here is a bookmark I made and gave to my MIL whom has survived Breast Cancer for about 6 years now. 

Close Up

Here is how to make it:

12 inches of ribbon (to fit double in a book or the length of your book,  plus 3 inches.

1-Head pin

1-Eye pin

Split rings or jump rings

Beads and charms of your choice

Strong fabric glue or glue gun or glue of choice

Pull ribbon through jump rings, (I used 8-10mm jump rings).  Fold ribbon over about 1/4" inch to hide raw edges then fold over again and glue in place (about 1" or 1 1/2") whatever looks and feels right.  Add beads and charm to head pins and eye pins in desired pattern.  Form a loop at the top of the head or eye pin.  Add to jump ring on ribbon.  Repeat on other end of ribbon.  Done!

Feel free to ask any questions if anything is not clear.  Enjoy!

DCWV Blog Giveaway!

DCWV is giving away a paper pack that is perfect to use with a Cricut!   Check out the giveaway here!

http://dcwvinc.blogspot.com/2010/10/say-what-giveaway-today.html

So visit them and win!

6 Small-home secrets

6 small-home secrets

1. Paint all the rooms the same light hue. Match flooring and other shared surfaces for a seamless look.
2. Build in storage cupboards with doors and buy a closet-organizing system ― “worth the splurge to keep the house neat,” Julie Hart says.
3. Install inexpensive wall pegs to make cleanup a snap and keep frequently used items at the ready.
4. Choose easy-stow guest seats for living areas.
5. Create several places in the backyard to lounge and entertain, especially if you live in a relatively warm area.
6. Re-evaluate your belongings every few months. Donate, recycle or discard what’s not needed.

As seen on Sunset.com

Close To My Heart

So I've been thinking for awhile now about becoming a Close to My Heart consultant.  I've never really been a consultant before for anything ,other than a short stint with Avon and I mostly bought for myself.  I'm finally taking the plunge!  A lot of things are changing at CTMH, so now's the best time to sign up.  They have a lot of classes to take on-line that shows how to work the business and how to make different items with the many stamps, inks and papers that they have available.  I can't wait to start learning all about them, although I know quite a lot already having learned about them well over a year ago.   Keep watch, I'll post about them soon.  I just signed up tonight!

I made this tile last year as a good bye (moved away) gift to a friend.  It is a ceramic tile stamped with a CTMH stamp of the month set, using staz-on ink to make it permanent.  I also warmed this tile in the oven to try to insure that it stayed permanent.  Because the tile was ceramic, the stamps smeared easily while stamping.  Since staz-on takes a little bit to dry on this surface, I was able to wipe off the goofs (about 3-4 times).  I also recommend having staz-on remover close at hand also.  To finish it off, I glued ribbon around the edge.  I included an easel to display it, but this would also make a nice coffee mug coaster.  Enjoy!

Summer Time Vacation

So after attending Grandpa's funeral on Friday and spending the day with family, we headed up to Grandpa's cabin in Minnesota on Saturday.  We thought of canceling our plans, but Grandpa would not have wanted that.  So we started our vacation a couple of days later than planned and are now enjoying this peaceful place up on the lake listening to the loons and trying to catch some fish.  (Some days are better than others.)   Grandpa and Grandma have taken really good care of this place.  It is nicer now than when I was a child.  One of the best parts is that it is just five feet off the water!  My husband's folks joined us up here as well.  They are impressed by everything and are enjoying watching all of the different types of birds that are here.  Especially the loons and the orioles.  They even bought a bird feeder (a knitted bag style) to hopefully attract some goldfinches too.  (and they have!)  So anyway, this is where I am, so I'm not doing any crafting (although I do have some beads if I really get bored!).  I hope you all are enjoying your summer and are being creative, (even if it's only choosing something new to make for dinner).  Bye for now!

Grandpa-You will Be Missed

On Sunday morning at 3:40a.m. surrounded by his wife and kids, my grandpa went to be with Jesus in heaven.  I last saw him on Friday and was able to be at peace with his soon to be, passing.  It was so hard to see him sick like he was, cause this is a man who never got sick.  He just went down hill so fast.  I arrived in town late Monday (Memorial Day), saw him Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday, and by early Sunday morning he was gone.  It's kind of hard to believe he is gone.  It's so easy to take for granted that loved ones will always be there with us and then in a flash, they are no longer with us.  This is my first such experience.  Tonight we went out to dinner with my Mom, Dad, Grandma, Sister, Niece,  Nephew, Hubby and me, and I honestly thought for a split second that grandpa would be there too.  He was such a great grandpa.  A wise man and helpful to everyone,  always giving out advice.  He liked to start out by saying things like, "Let me give you a little pep talk", and "I'm going to pick on you a little bit", "You know I'm teasing now, don't you?"(wink, wink).

He is survived by 4 kids and their spouses, 11 grand kids, 11 great grand kids, plus one on the way. 

So thank you Grandpa for being just the right grandpa I needed growing up, you'll be greatly missed and I can't wait to see you again. 

With Love,

From your first Grand Daughter,

Amanda.

Here is  card I made for my grandpa on June 2nd and gave to him on June 4th.  He passed on June 6th.

My Grandpa

I just want to let you know why I'm absent right now.  First I'm not at home or have my computer with me.  I am staying with my sister.  I'm not sure how to work her computer very well, so please excuse this short post.  My grandfather has been sick since late December.  In March they discovered he had cancer.  Even though he did try cancer treatments, he has just gotten worse and worse.  Last week we found out it spread to his bones.  He was given 6-8 weeks to live.  I came as soon as I could, about 5 days after hearing the news.  I've been here with my family since Memorial Day.  He is going so quickly, I believe he'll be gone in a few days and probably next week will be his funeral.  I'm so glad to have gotten a chance to say goodbye.  If I had waited even one more week, I would have missed my opportunity.  Also this grandpa is the only grandpa I've ever really known, as my other one made choices that keeps him away from us, and does not know us, and visits us maybe once a year.  Now for some good news.  My grandfather has a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and he will see him soon!  So yea, I get to see my grandfather again someday!!!  Also, since I am staying with my sister who's husband is away serving our country and my husband had to stay home to work, we have gotten to bond through this experience and support each other.  Just today we said our goodbyes and feel at peace.  He knows we love him and we will miss him.  Even though he was pretty out of it, he still was able to say  I love you to us over and over and over as we left the room.  We have never been a huggy family, but this week, we have been doing a lot of it.  I also have time to play with my niece and nephew (8 & 12).  My sister lives about 30 minutes away which allows us some escape from the sadness going on,  or "anticipated grief" as the hospice workers told us what this is that we are feeling.  So I'll end this now before I cry all over my sister's pink laptop.  For any of you prayer warrior,s feel free to pray for us.  My grandparents are wonderful people and all 4 of their children,(and spouses), have taken the task to care for them as grandpa moves on, they are wonderfu peoplel!  I hope I can be that good of a care taker to my own parents if need be. They were all raised well! Thank you for "listening" and everything! Bye!

Garage Sales and Decluttering!

I want to let you know why I'm not here very often. 

I have been busy getting rid of clutter in my home, something I've been neglecting for far too long.  I believe I've been going through a bout of depression since 2006, for many reasons, and I also had a bit back in early 2002, that I may have never been completely over.  I've not been diagnosed, this is just my own opinion.  I had days where I would just lay around and do almost nothing.  On other days I would go out and shop for home decor or craft supplies.  I finally had a break through in January of 2009, but I still was not out of my hole yet, because I went back to acquiring items.   My house has gotten completely out of control!  I am slowly finding my way with the support of my husband and the encouragement of our pastor.  So this past Saturday I had my first garage sale in 2 years.  I had a lot of stuff, but mostly knick knacks and home decor and seasonal.  I only made 266.00 and was hoping to at least break 300, but I did better than it felt like I was doing.  It was a slow morning as there were 50+ other sales to compete with.  I had committed to sending what did not sell, to our church's garage sale next week.  Although it was tough, (there was still a lot of good stuff!), I did send it.   (I had already given them all the leftover stuff from my last garage sale and even gave them 90% of my beanie babies I had collected since 1998.)  About 5% of the items left after the garage sale, I kept and took to a consignment shop.  

I'm still going through many things.  Monday I went through some old books and magazines and today I went through my clothes.  I have a huge bag ready to go.  I hope to have one more sale before we go on vacation in June and then maybe another after vacation.  It's amazing how much freer I feel letting things go.  So far it's been pretty easy, but when I get to the good stuff that have no place to go, and I have to let them go, that's when it's going to be tough.  But it's all for a good cause, (my marriage, my sanity, our family and our friends), and by God's holy spirit guiding my way, I'll be able to do it.  So if this blog is lacking, this is why. 

Fishing Vest Card

Here is a fishing vest card I made for my FIL for his birthday.   I found the idea at splitcoast stampers.   It took me about 4 hours to make, but that included figuring out how big it should be, making a rough draft, making the templates for the pockets and then making the final version and adding all of the details.  I'm really happy with the results and hope to make another one.

Click on pictures to enlarge.

Here is the finished card.  I chalked around all of the pieces before gluing them on.  The pockets are all a shade lighter of textured paper than the jacket.  Also, all of the pockets have folded tabs under them to make them pop off the jacket more, I could have just used pop dots, but I like to make things as real as possible. 

Click on pictures to enlarge.

 Here is the inside of the card.  I added the pocket after the card was done.  Next time I'll add that to the template and just fold it up for one uniform piece.  I liked how it gave me a place to put a gift card and the fishing license we gave him.   The papers and the stickers were all out of my existing stash of supplies, so this card cost me almost nothing to make.   So, how did I do?  Cute, huh.  Enjoy!

Another Birthday Cake

So my friend's birthday is a month after mine and since she made a cake for me, I decided to surprise her with a cake also.  This is what I came up with.  I'm no cake decorator, but I tried.  She liked it and that's what matters.  The only bad thing is that she did make her own cake this year and another friend brought her cupcakes.  Oh well.  We who surprise need to coordinate better.  I found a pearl dust for cake decorating and sprinkled it all over the cake for a very pretty sheen.  Enjoy!  

Framed Sentiments

A friend and I got together to make up some framed sentiment projects to see what we could come up with for a women's get together.  This is what we came up with.  The stamp set is Close to My heart and  came with 3 different  flower designs.   I tried to stamp out and color a daisy image, but the markers we were using made it look to color bookish, so I ended up making the calla lilies like my friend did.  I used a different ink, marker and phrase than she did.  I always have to be different !  Here it is!

Mine is the one on the right.  I liked the paper so much, that I didn't want to cover too much of it up when I put a coordinating paper behind the stamped image, so I trimmed it really close, maybe a little too much when you compare it to my friend's, but by itself, I like it.  I like how the calla lilies are softer on the frame to the left, but using the darker ink like I used makes them pop more too.  They both work.  These frames are 4" x 6".

Click on images to enlarge them. 

My husband gave me this stamp set for my birthday, so I made him this stamped sentiment for his birthday.  the sentiment is a quote from Helen Keller, so wise she was.  This frame is 5" X 7"

So I was on a role with these stamped sentiment projects and made this one to let the women know they could use other stamps than the flowers.  I had the paper already in my stash from a paper pack.  I really like how the writing on the background paper coordinates with the scroll cross and sentiment.  The frame is 5" X 7". 

Enjoy!

January 21st Another 35 candles!

Another 35 candles.  My husband turned 35 just 17 days after I did.  I know this is very late, but I'm going to try and catch up by sharing everything I've been wanting to share with you but have not.  For my husband's birthday I made a German Chocolate Layer cake.  It is one of my favorite types of cakes besides white cake.  Thankfully it's my husband's too.  I love the coconut frosting.  Rich chocolate cake is not my kind of cake so this is perfect since the frosting is a lighter taste.

MMMMMMMMM!

This cake was a surprise from a very good friend when we celebrated my husband's birthday with friends at a bowling alley.  She asked if she could make a cake, and I thought she was making a German Chocolate cake (so glad I made one the day before).  She included me on the cake since we weren't able to celebrate mine since my husband had to work that week.  It was a fun evening!  Isn't this cake pretty!  Since we had so much cake, we took this one to church to share with anyone who wanted a piece.  Enjoy!

Hello Again! and Beary Sweet Blog Candy!

I know I've been gone for a loooonng time!  Life happens!  I'm trying to organize my house and get rid of a lot of unneeded items.  Our office is finally taking shape, it was originally supposed to be an office/guest room, but the room is so small (about 10 X 10), and our roll top desk is so big, we only had room for a daybed.  We got rid of that, and I slowly started moving photos and scrapbook paper into it to make some (crafting space) work space, for myself.  Unfortunately our kittys had their "box" in there, since we got a dog, (dogs like to eat kitty "treats", wink, wink).  So I never wanted to be in the room.  Well we moved the box out, shampooed the carpets, put in an L-shaped desk, and a bookcase, and a lot of other containers for storage and such, and tada!, I finally have a designated workspace.  I usually craft in odd spaces like the couch, maybe kitchen table, the floor, anywhere, I can carve out some space.  It feels so good to have some space to call my own.  Some day we may turn our garage into a craft room, but I'll always need some space in our office.  It still needs a lot of work, still putting things away and finding a home for them, but at least the space is usable.  

So anyway, about the blog candy.  The women on the Beary Scrap Design Team blog have some very nice blog candy to give away so i thought I'd spread the news.  Check them out by clicking on their name to see all the wonderful goodies they are giving away!  Good luck!!

Hopefully I won't be gone so long, but life happens.  I have soooo much to share with you.

Here's a pic of a thank you card.  Enjoy!

See you later!

 

My Husband's Woodwork Creations

Yes, my husband is very talented too.  He likes working with wood.  When we met, he mostly was making jewelery pieces. Nowadays he carves into the wood with his favorite tool, the Dremel, and makes wall hangings.  For Christmas this year, he even made some jewelery boxes, for my sister and niece.  My dad also got a box to put his wallet, cell phone and change in at night.  For me he is making a cedar chest.  It's not done, so I wonder how long it will take him to complete?  He likes mixing different wood types together, like oak, walnut, cherry or cedar.  He also works with ash.  So here are a few of the gifts he made for Christmas this year.  Enjoy!

This is a pub sign he made for my brother in law to hang up in his basement over his bar when they finish the basement.

A side view.  The letters are all part of the same piece of wood.  He carved around them to make them pop out.  Lots of hard work.  this is also the first time he painted on anything he has made.  He prefers to see the natural grain of the wood.  I think he did a great job on this though.  It would not have the same effect if it was all the color of wood.  Some day I hope to get him to use colored stains, like green, white red, blue etc.... one thing at a time.

Another close up.

This is a jewelery box he made for my sister.  The heart design he found online, at angle, and kept it the same instead of straightening it out.  It presents a unique effect.  I drew the swirly frame and he carved it out.  So I can say it was part my design as well.

The inside.

  

I made inserts to fit inside of the box to make it more elegant.  My husband would not let me put anything permanenet into it, so I came up with the insert.  Small pieces of jewelery or money can be hidden beneath.

I think it turned out great.  Cardboard (recycled no less!), fabric,  double stick tape, and a hot glue gun.

Here is the jewelery box for my niece.

Inside.

 

Inside with insert.

Insert.

I made my sister and niece aprons out of the same fabric as their inserts, but I forgot to take pics.

 

Here is a baseball bat my husband made for my nephew.  He even engraved his name into it, and my husband does not have the greatest of hand writing, but he did an excellent job on this!

 

This is a wolf carving he made for his oldest sister.  It has a mirror behind it.

Up close.

And this is a carving of a moose he made for his second older sister.

Close up.  Sorry there was a lot of dust that the flash has captured.  On these two carvings, he carved on the side that would sit against the mirror so that when a person looked at the carving they could see both sides of the animal.  clever!

 

Here is the box he carved for my dad.

Close up.

 Side view.  It is held together with glue and dowel rods.  Looks like in laid wood.

Lid off.  He later attached the lid with a hinge.  This box turned out so well, my husband wanted to keep it for himself.  First time I ever heard him say that. 

Need less to say, he has been very busy making these for Christmas this year.  I wonder what he'll do next year?

Enjoy!

My 35th Birthday!

Yesterday, January 4th was my 35th birthday.  Since my husband has been on night shift it was a very quiet day.  Also all of my family live far away.  A friend and her two boys stopped by and brought me some cupcakes and hand made  cards.  Then we went to Starbucks and got some blended strawberry lemonade drinks and took the boys over to McDonalds so that they could play on the indoor playground.  They had a blast!  We had an almost nice visit.  The boys got to hollering so it was hard to hear at times.  When I got back, my husband was awake and had taken the night off of work to be with me.  So we went to Applebees for a nice dinner.  We were going to try a new place in town, but heard some not good reports, so we will wait awhile before trying them, let them work out the kinks.  After dinner we went over to his parents house since they had a gift for me.  And spent the rest of evening visiting with them.

Even though my friend brought me some cupcakes, I still wanted a birthday cake since I did not get one last year.  I also wanted to see what 35 candles looked like on a cake.  (Pathetic?)  So I made the cake, even though it was after midnight by the time it baked, cooled and was frosted.  I put on the candles and brought it down to my husband who lit the candles with a fire starter that was on too high and melted the candles before they got lit.  Oh well.  Then he sang happy birthday to me and I blew them out!  I had to relight them in order to get pics of them, cause I was not thinking ahead.  The candles were really melted by then, but they cooled completely while I was busy taking pictures and they came out wax and all.  The only wax drippings still on the cake were from my husband lighting some of the candles with another candle.  I frosted the cake with pink frosting, cause I like pink and my mom always frosted my cakes with pink frosting.  So here is the birthday cake I made myself.

 

 35 Candles

Pretty daisy print candles

4 of the 7 cupcakes we received

 Tie dye wax? I just thought it looked pretty!

No more wax on 35 holes!