Kick up Your Heels

A favorite thing I endeavor to do in my studio is recycling.  In fact, I have built quite a reputation in that regard.  While I was still working, my co-worker was so much aware of my desire to recycle that she would always ask before discarding something that might have recycling potentional.  

Today a box has become a very stylish cowboy boot in honor of my son-in law's ___th birthday.  The box was somewhat stylish to begin with having contained a Hawaiian styled mug from Hilo Hatties.  

Sissix die, brads, cord for a lariat and the phrase created with a label maker were the basis for this design.  My artist son and his fiancee embellished the envelope (with the assistance of a Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers stamp) and the inside to make our greetings and well wishes known.  The barbed wire is from an unknown unmounted stamp.

Kick up your heels!

Flat Shayna

Flat Shayna has kept me pretty occupied as of late. For those of you not familiar with the concept, this is a derivitive of the Jeff Brown book "Flat Stanley" where a little boy named Stanley becomes flattened. He soon learns there are advantages to being flat such as being able to fit into an envelope and mailed to California for an exciting vacation.

Thus, in kind, Flat Shayna, aka, my granddaughter, arrived in my mailbox with instructions to have fun with her and report back to her school classroom what she did. Flat Shayna has traveled the "world" and while documenting her visits, many folks on the street knew right away about Flat Stanley and didn't find our antics to photograph Flat Shayna at all an oddity.

Heart to Heart

I have been "chained" to the laundry room but my mojo went missing so all I've been doing is laundry!

Valentine's Day upcoming has given me the incentive to break free! The Clean and Simple model (FTL176) offered me an "easy" jump start to get back on the drawing board. The sketch requires four images -- which is a challenge in itself. I loved adding the background paper to the inside too.

The heart stamps are all PSX, word stamp

is edited from a Hampton G stamp from Michaels (shown in full on the inside) other products used fiskars border punch, DCWV papers, cuttlebug embossing folder,

McGill oval punches.

Thanks for stopping by -- Happy Valentine's Day "friend to friend - Heart to Heart."

Ready for a bedtime story

I guess I still remember how to sew -- pajamas, at least. Here Lucky Lucy and her new sister (who arrived under the tree on Christmas day -- I believe she was American Girl of the Year for 2011) are set for a bedtime story in their stylish new pjs. The "crocs" were a great find on Amazon.com!

These may look simple -- but the doing was not so much -- requiring a lot of fussy finishing -- but makes me all the more pleased. Now, I am ready for my bedtime story --

Lucky Lucy

I've shown a paucity of paper crafting since my DH gifted me with "Bernie" my beautiful Bernina sewing machine, as now along with my paper stash, resides an equally daunting stash of fabrics, leather, bindings, laces, elastics, needles, threads, buttons, and more....and my darling granddaughter with two American Girl Dolls.

Meet Lucy

(short for Luciana) wearing a period costume fashioned in pink -- my granddaughter's favorite color.

The "jacket" can be removed to offer a more modern looking dress. This was a bit more challenging than sewing for a real person because of the small size -- (though not as small as those Barbie outfits I used to make for 2 darling daughters) -- but a delight in every way to present it to Lucy to wear on Christmas day and to see how much she loves her new dress. Her "mother" aka, my granddaughter was all smiles too! So, I am a Lucky Lucy too!

More than two Peas in a Pod

New Year's Resolution Number One: blog up to the plate! Here's my first fast and quick with Sizzix dies. Such fun and so easy peasy. I'll be visiting all my blogging friends in the next few weeks as I rev up my mojo and start working on my "laundry list."

Happy New Year to all!

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.