A Long Time Coming

Ta Da......a quilt that has been in the making for many years! I have a tendency to start projects, get inspired to create something else, and then lose track of how many UFOs I have. This one came out of the back of my UFO drawer and I've been plugging away on it for the the last month or two. And now it's finally done!
That feels good. And the best part is I still like it as much as I did when I started it! Yay! The yo-yo flowers just make me happy.

Thanks to my girl, Cathy, for kicking my butt in gear and for her help doing the wonderful stippling behind the yo-yos. Still need to take a full photo so you can see the crow that's on it.

Altered Monogram

So, here's a little something that I got around to doing last week. I must say I haven't altered many items, so this was a good test to see if I could do it. I think the hardest part is knowing when to stop and say "It's Done". A neighbor's daughter is going away to college this fall and I made this for her as a gift. I hope she likes it. Everything was from my stash. I love it when I can use up
some older products too (not that I can EVER use up everything).

Been on a quilting binge....getting projects farther along. Stay tuned for a picture of a COMPLETED quilt. I must say it feels great getting them finished. Thinking about trying to
sell a few, maybe on e-bay or something. I always look forward to the piecing part of a
quilt but not so much the quilting part. Maybe some day I'll be over that fear. I think that I just need to do it more to be more confident. We'll see.

This is Why

This is why Michael wants to attend the Art Institute next fall. This is all done in Photoshop in the course of 3 hours. Ever since his interview with the school last week, he's been a little more excited about his art. The school is in west Sacramento and is fairly new. They opened last October, so it's a small campus. I think that it is a great fit for him. I can't say how excited (and broke) I will be if he gets in. They still have to send for his transcripts and he needs to maintain a good GPA his senior year to get the final acceptance letter. I can't foresee any problems there.
This piece is so serene and calm......Enjoy!

Cocktails & Going Bananas

Just some randomness going on here. I received my Mosh Posh kit for this month that had some really fun papers, so I dug in. The October Afternoon paper just shouted out to me to be cut out, so away I snipped. I had no idea where I would be going with those flowers so I grabbed whatever was on my desk and viola..... a layout was born. Not that we have a problem or anything....just that my friend Cat and I love to have a martini or two when we're dining out.


Now, the bananas part. My family loves banana bread. Mike is the only one that really eats bananas, so I buy a bunch and most of them go mushy. Thus, I must make banana bread. I've had this recipe from an Amish cookbook for over 20 years! Unfortunately we have a little dilemma in our household. Some like the banana bread on the undercooked side and some don't. So, this time I made two loaves to try and make everyone happy. Either way, this recipe is delicious!

Photo SHAZAM

One of my favorite things to do is learn new Photoshop techniques. And one of my favorite places to learn them is from Jessica Sprague (http://spraguelab.squarespace.com/). This is my version of her technique for making photos pop. It was so easy and fast to do. I just love the result. I know I will be using this over and over again. Thank you, Jessica!

My "Happy" Place

Here's where I get to enjoy myself. I just put this together real quick in Photoshop
and hopefully I can get the picture to come out large enough for you to peek (click
on the photo to enlarge it further).
The closet cut-out is my favorite. Mike put it together for me. It's where I
stand and scrap. The white container next the the "J" is where I have
all my mini albums stored. I think I might have to move up to the next size soon.
On my black magnet board I have a collection of "J's" also. I treasure the one
my secret sister LeAnn made for me (the large cute one with the flower) a couple
of years ago. And, of course, I really love being able to change out the quilt behind
the desk. Right now it's one of my favorites. I really need to get my behind in
gear to get some other quilts finished to hang here.

Project "The 25th"

Here's something I've been working on for the last couple of months. I found this idea from a wonderful scrapper here:
♥ shimelle.com :: art & stuff from shimelle laine ♥

I love the randomness of it and think it will be fun to see little snip-its of everyday life as I look back on this album. The album itself is a Maya Road 8 x 8 album that I covered with some
leftover scraps (Creative Cafe felt and some Elsie fabric paper) One of my goals in doing this
album is to use STAMPS! I have tons of them and I really would like to use them more on my
layouts. They scare me a little bit because sometimes I don't get a good print on the first try,
especially if I'm using paint on them, but what the heck....I'm going for it. June's layout
is in progress so I will post June & July sometime in another post.

Thanks for stopping by!

Can I do this?

Welcome to my blog!! My plan is to try and add some craftiness to the world one project at a time.

My first attempt will be uploading a picture. Whoa... I think it worked. Just a fun one of me using a Warhol technique. I've done this once before using a magnolia blossom photo from my backyard.


I'll be back again with another post when I try and figure all of this out. 'Til then, keep crafting!