Stepping up to the Plate

While I am still just walking by my wall of rubber, my laundry still gets done in between the time I spend playing with my new Bernina sewing machine. I am so very lucky to not only have the time to sew now that I am retired, but to also receive great new ideas and instructions from my local Bernina store "Sew From The Heart" -- and that is exactly what I am trying to do -- Sew from the heart. Here's my "latest" -- a Christmas tree napkin" created on my Bernina 830 (fondly named "Bernie"). I'll be hitting the rubber soon though with the approaching holidays ---but whether I am stamping or sewing, it is always from the heart.

Monkey "See"

My sock monkey is slowly reaching maturity; a heart has been pinned to her chest and for eyes, a "perfect" set of buttons has been selected from Granny's button box. So now that she can see, she is searching the studio for embroidery floss to create a mouth so she can speak.

In the meantime, I'll be in the laundry room pretending to do the wash while I am searching for my stamping supplies. It is past time to think about making Christmas cards! I'll be back soon....

Granny's Button Box

When my husband and I married (almost 51 years ag0) one of the things that my dear MIL gave me was a "starter" button box. She said that it was a tradition to pass down buttons from the family to newly weds. I still have a lot of those same buttons and I have felt compelled to add to the collection over the years. My early memories of family button boxes (often round tin containers) were the searches through them to replace a missing button or to find a complete set for a new garment. There were other reasons to look in the button box -- to make spinning toys, fancy necklaces and to play the game "Button, button, who's got the button?"

Today I played "button, button, who's got the button?" as I went searching in my button box to find a perfect set of eyes for my new sock monkey. She will arrive on my blog soon.

Springtime

Dear friends -- thanks for not giving up on me! I
Can't believe how spring has sprung into the warm days of June here in Phoenix. We are about to complete our tomato harvest and I wish I could share some of the lucisouness with you. I had fun making this card with a Penny Black "leftover" - an embossibility, sizzix, paper rickrack, and paper from Stash. I have high hopes of getting back to my regular postings and regular challenges soon. More to come -- but right now I am basking in the sun and playing on the waters of Lake Powell!

T Bear Spring

I have just returned from a fun-filled "girls' week" in Las Vegas where we attended the Bead and Glass Expo. So now that I am back home, I'm doing "double duty" in the laundry room. Washing and playing at the same time. With some Sizzix die cuts, an embossability, a cuttlebug embossing folder, and bits of paper this was assembled before I could load my first batch of clothes in the dryer.

Spring

Happy Birthday -- My Dear AZ SIS!

Spring is here! What's more fun on a beautiful spring day then to go for a ride with friends? This bicycle bovine with chick friends is such a happy image I couldn't wait to create something with it. Visit the Penny Black challenge spot for lots of great Spring ideas because the challenge this week is "Spring is Sprung."

Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to leave a comment. I'll surely return the visit!

Stuff I used: Penny Black, All Night Media, G (Michael's $ stamp); Sizzix dies, Cuttlebug embossing folders, McGill punches, Tim Holtz distress inks, Coloring by Prismacolor markers and watercolor pencils, Mystic Fire embossing powder, pop dots, Pilot gold pen, ribbon and flowers from stash.

In the Green

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

While I am "green" thinking, I got out Sizzix dies to create this simple and quick card. The frog's chest is bleached so a little hint of pink could be added, and then he was run through the cuttlebug with the dots embossing folder for a textured skin. The Lily pads and background are also cuttlebug embossed and some of the items are raised with pop dots. But the most fun of all was to make his tongue out of a rubber band -- look out all you flies out there.

Other stuff: watercolor pencils, Pilot Gold marker, Tim Holtz distressed ink, (eyes: super adhesive tape, mystic fire embossing powder).

Treasure the Moment

This week in honor of St. Patrick's Day, the Penny Black Saturday Challenge is to create in green. What could be easier when you choose to stamp a Penny Black frog! For more information on this challenge go take a look at the DT creations. I treasure every moment I am able to sit with a book and so does this darling little frog. His book is raised with pop dots for dimension. Other moments I treasure are when I have time in my studio and when I visit my blog friends to view all their beautiful creations.

Stuff I used: Stamps - Penny Black, PSX, Cuttlebug embossing folder, Sizzix dies, McGill Word Tag punch, watercolor pencils, Diamond Glaze, DaisyD's paper and gems

A New Baby (Stamper)

We have a new "baby stamper" in the family! Last week-end, our younger daughter accompanied me to the Mesa Spring Fling where like-minded individuals gather to see all the new products offered by some of my favorite rubber stamp companies. I think she may have been encouraged to come with me by her father thinking that I wouldn't spend the entire day there. As it turned out, however, we now have another stamper in the family. We walked around all the booths more than twice, looked and touched (and purchased) lots of stuff! Here is a card she created at one of the make and takes. Simple and sweet -- Happy Spring!

Cat's PJs

Happy Belated Birthday to my AZSIS, Mary

The Use It Tuesday challenge recently issued the latest challenge (#3) to use one of two sketches created by Sami – one for cards and one for scrapbook layouts ---so as stated in the challenge – “. . .no excuses to not use your stash.” And using your stash is what this challenge spot is all about. Sami and Siobhan know that we all like to buy crafty things – and they also know that it is inherent in the buyers of such things to stash and save and not use.

The sketch I chose to use is this one:

You can find two great examples using this sketch and more details about participating in the challenge by visiting Use it Tuesday. The deadline for this challenge is Friday, March 18.

The cat in pjs (Uptown Rubber Stamps) is just one of I won’t tell you how many stamps in my studio that have yet to be inked. But every 2nd and 4th Tuesday (for Use It Tuesday), I shall try to ink another one!

This card features epoxy heart stickers and sentiment from Dollar Tree, cuttlebug embossing folders, Martha Stewart punched border, prisma markers, and ribbon from stash.

Guess I’d better go get in my pjs – it’s way past time.

Mikey Likes These

My granddaughter has a visitor at her house this week: Mikey.

Mikey is her class teddy bear who visits each student for one week during the school year. During his stay, the host family for Mikey takes pictures to log his adventures to share with the class. Each student then gets a copy of the photos and maintains a journal of Mikey's travels.

This week, Mikey spent time with us helping to create his favorite kind of cards - Teddy Bear Cards. Here are a few of "our" creations.

Mikey likes these -- they are all variations of the Teddy Bear Sizzix die - layered and mounted with pop dots, cuttlebug embossing folder, Martha Stewart border punch, and Shayna's heart punch.

Shayna and Mikey also made 22 boys and girls from Sizzix - complete with clothing and bright colored hair for "wild hair day" at school.

Box of Cards

My dh and I play so much Gin Rummy that I've got a lot of old cards to play with so I am always looking for ways to reuse or repurpose them. I learned how to construct this box of cards from Origami Boxes by Florence Temko. It is crafted of 21 cards and requires no gluing. Prior to assembly, the cards were further distressed and inked. Box is decorated with foam stickers and ribbon trim; the top is decorated with a paper accordian medallion and a wooden bead. I learned how to make the medallions last summer -- you can see other uses and instructions contained within this post. I also used them in another card trick: Casino Royale - link below.

In my series, this is card trick Number 13 -- to see other card tricks: King for a Day,Drama Queen, Gogh have great Birthday, A Perfect Pair,Lucky Draw, Queen of Diamonds, Queen for a Day,High Handed, Make it a Royal, Friends, Mr. Personality. Casino Royale

Use It!

It wasn't until I saw Sibohan's new blog challenge spot that I realized how long it has been since I've done anything serious in my studio. The new challenge spot that she and her co-founder, Sami, have designed is called "Use It Tuesday" and it's intention is to target those crafty supply hoarders. Their challenge is to "dig into your scrappy stash and play along." Well, that's where I become embarrassed -- as I am one of the best hoarders around and lately I've been doing more hoarding than creating. Won't you join me in creating something from your stash for their challenge?