Sale A Bration Reminder

Just a quick reminder for all you Stampin' Up fans.  Sale-A-Bration ends tomorrow, March 31st.  Place your order ASAP if there is anything you still want to get from the SAB catalog.  Here is a sampling of the items you can choose for free.  One for every $50 you spend.  

Flowering Fields

Party Pants

What I Love

Perfectly Artistic DSP

Pedal Pushers

Sunday Share | Blessed Easter

Happy Easter, my friends!  I pray you are blessed with special times today surrounded by special people.  I feel very lucky to still have my boys living at home.  My oldest has to work so he will miss church (on Easter Sunday, I know), but he works as a security guard on the weekends and criminals don't take Sundays off.  :(  He will be home in time for dinner though and for that I am grateful.   As my kids grow up and become adults I am sure their will be more holidays spent without them, so I treasure every one that they are near.

We won't be spending Easter with our extended families, but a recent trip to CA means I did just get to see many of them, including my in-laws and my precious niece.  Scott and I were even able to visit my brother's church last Sunday and I held his baby while he played guitar on the worship team.  Talk about an answer to prayer.  Mom & I couldn't help the tears streaming down our faces.

Speaking of my precious niece, check out those cute bunny ears.   I found them at the Target dollar spot and had to pick them up for Meeka.  Isn't she adorable?!!

She is such a good baby.  She's rolling over and trying to crawl now.  By the time I see her next she will probably be walking.  She seems to be growing even faster than my own babies did.  That is probably because I don't see her often.

Mom & Dad picked up this adorable outfit for Meeka while on a recent cruise.  She looks like a little elf or perhaps a baby hobbit.  So stinkin' cute!

And so happy!

Her bottom 2 front teeth are coming in, so she did a lot of drooling and chewing on her fingers.  (or anyone else's that got to close to her mouth)

Her sweet little laugh lights up my world.

Just in case you missed yesterday's post about Grandma's quilt, here is a picture of her with it.   If you look really close at the table next her you will see my hug you card I sent her between the lamp and the teal mason jar.  :)  It made me so happy that my card made her so happy.

Have a blessed Easter!

Sew Saturday ~ March Finish ~ Grandma's Quilt

As most of you know I ran into a bit of a snag finishing grandma's quilt last week.  My sewing machine broke just as I was getting ready to quilt it.  I was so disappointed that I wouldn't be able to finish it before my trip to go see her.  Even though my quilt wasn't finished I took it with me and showed grandma my progress.  I'm pretty sure she liked it, but she wasn't happy I took it away to get it quilted.  Until I told her I would have to finish it up and bring it back down to her, then she was happy again.  Not sure I will be able to do that, but I am going to try.

My grandma cracks me up.  I told her I had a gift for her, but that it wasn't finished.  She said, "well, why not?"
I said, "because my sewing machine broke"
She said, "well, what are you going to do about it"
I said, "I've already taken it to the repair shop.  Hopefully it will be done by the time I get back home."
She responded, "I should hope so"

Oh, how I love that feisty woman!  I'm not even sure she understood what I meant by needing to finish this quilt.  I do not come from a family of quilters and grandma has the early stages of dementia. 

I draped the quilt over her and it was a perfect fit.  She must have liked it because she didn't want to let it go.  She didn't want me to go either.  That is honestly the hardest part of visiting her.  Saying goodbye knowing it could be months before I see her again... if I get to see her again.  I take each moment and count my blessings.

Shhh... Grandma has a boyfriend.  That is Joe sitting beside her.  She won't admit he is her boyfriend, but they sit beside each other every day in the nursing home and eat their meals side by side too.  It's so cute.  Especially considering grandma has not dated once since my grandfather passed away in 1988.

Can you tell which border I used?  I'm going to bind it with the same fabric.  If you missed my earlier post I asked for votes on whether to use a light or dark blue border.  Clicky

I'm linking up with the OMG challenge, because I did make my monthly goal of getting the the orange peels attached to their white backings.  My machine is home from the shop, so hopefully I will get this quilt quilted and bound soon.

Bright Bunny Hugs

The StampNation challenge this week is to use bright colors.  One of the graphics for this challenge shows a cupcake with green "grass" frosting and an adorable, fluffy bunny butt sticking out of it.  I had to make a card with some bunny bums showing too. 

To make my "hello" patterned die cut stand up a little from the card I die cut the sentiment again using craft-a-board.  It needed a pop of pink, so I used one of my zig markers to color the craft-a-board and then glued the 2 die cuts together, slightly off-center.

If you would like to see the full card, along with the rest of the design team, and play along with us, be sure to head on over to the Challenge forum at StampNation.

Stamps: Quite Like You, Wishing You (W+9)

Ink: 025 (Zig Clean Color Real Brush) Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Paper: Hello Sunshine 6x6 (Lawn Fawn) Whisper White (SU)

Accessories: Craft-A-Board (Essentials by Ellen) Hello Script Die (Mama Elephant) Stitched Rectangle Dies (Lil Inker Designs)

WPlus9 Design Studio Clear Stamps, Wishing You

WPlus9 Design Studio Dies, Wishing You

WPlus9 Design Studio Clear Stamps, Quite Like You

Memento Ink Pad, Tuxedo Black

ZIG Clean Color Real Brush Marker 025, Pink

Mama Elephant Creative Cuts, Hello Script

Memory Box Dies, Open Studio - Stitched Rectangle Layers

Essentials by Ellen, Craft-a-Board 6x12, 12 pk

Oh My Stars

This card was originally created back in September for the Isreal challenge for World Card Making Day on StampNation.  I ended up making a different card for that challenge that I liked better, and didn't post this one.  Instead I saved it for March to bring a touch of spring green and yellow to my blog.

The background was created by sponging Squeezed Lemonade ink on white cardstock, then I added a stencil and sponged on the Salty Ocean.  Yellow + Blue = Green.  For the star I used the inlaid die cutting technique. By die cutting the star layers out of 3 colors I had leftovers to make two more cards.

This card would be great for a guy's birthday or any type of congratulations.  It's often difficult to find stamps and dies that work for teen/tween/twenties guys, but CAS-ual Fridays Stamps has several that I have used often.

Stamps: Twinkle (CAS-ual Fridays Stamps)

Ink: Squeezed Lemonade, Salty Ocean (Distress) Night of Navy (SU)
Paper: Whisper White, Daffodil Delight, Night of Navy (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Hanakkuh Die (CFS) Square Tile Stencil (My Favorite Things)

Ranger Distress Ink Pad, Squeezed Lemonade

Ranger Distress Mini Ink Pad, Squeezed Lemonade

Ranger Distress Mini Ink Pad, Salty Ocean

Ranger Distress Ink Pad, Salty Ocean

Ranger Ink Blending Tool, 1 Inch Round

My Favorite Things Stencils, Square Tiles by Mona Pendleton (Retiring)

Sew Saturday ~ Quilting Woes

There was a slight detour in finishing my grandmother's quilt.  My machine decided to have a meltdown.  Then I had a meltdown.  My needle kept falling out as I tried to quilt it.  The needle down position button wasn't working.  When I would press it the needle would stop just above the fabric.  When I tried free motion quilting it was a big ole' mess and every 5" or less the needle would fall out again or break.

Yes, I was super frustrated the first night, and in tears by the next day when I still couldn't figure it out, and knew that I wasn't going to have time to finish grandma's quilt before leaving.  I even called the shop where I purchased the machine and they had no good suggestions.  On Wednesday I took it into for a trip to the spa.  (aka repairs and maintenance)   The shop I bought her from is an hour away.  My helpful sales lady, Evelyn, was able to figure out why my needle would not go all the way down.  Too bad she was at a training on Tuesday when I called.  Perhaps I could have fixed the problem myself.  It had to do with one of the settings in on page 5 of my menu.  The cats must have been playing with my touch screen.

I have high hopes that her tweek has fixed the problem, but not in time to get grandma's quilt done.  There is still a chance that something is broken inside the shaft that holds the needle, so I left my machine at the "spa" to get thouroughly checked, cleaned and oiled.  They told me it could take 2 weeks.  Good thing I will be gone for part of the time, because I started missing her as soon as I drove away.  Is it weird to be that attached to your sewing machine and your sewing time?

In the meantime I am taking the finished quilt top down with me to CA.  It will give me a chance to see if it is a good size for grandma's lap. Come back next weekend for an update on which border I chose.

Calling All Sistahs

It's the 17th of the month, and time for your friendly reminder to do your monthly self-exams.  There is so much truth in the sentiment on this stamp from the Calling All Sistahs set by CAS-ual Fridays.  I wanted it to have an impact, so I made it the star of the card.

Here is my short video for you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZioEwcgLhg

Head on over to the CAS-ual Fridays blog to see the special blog hop they have going on.  You are sure to be inspired by everyone's projects.  And please consider spreading the word by reminding your sistahs (aka friends, family, loved ones) to check themselves. 

Stamps: Calling All Sistahs (CASual Fridays Stamps)
Ink: 003, 025, 082, 202 (Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers) Versamark

Paper: Marshmallow (Bazzill)
Accessoreis: Liquid Platinum Embossing Powder (Ranger) Sparkling Clear Sequins (Pretty Pink Posh) Stitched Rectangle Dies (Lil' Inker Designs)

ZIG Clean Color Real Brush Marker 003, Fluorescent Pink

ZIG Clean Color Real Brush Marker 025, Pink

ZIG Clean Color Real Brush Marker 082, Purple

ZIG Clean Color Real Brush Marker 202, Peach Pink

VersaMark Ink Pad

Ranger Embossing Powder, Liquid Platinum

Bazzill Card Shoppe Cardstock, Marshmallow, 10 pk

My Favorite Things Die-namics, Inside & Out Stitched Rectangle STAX

Pretty Pink Posh Sequins, 10mm Cupped, Sparkling Clear

Pretty Pink Posh Sequins, 4 mm Cupped, Sparkling Clear

Pretty Pink Posh Sequins, 6 mm Cupped, Sparkling Clear

Gone with the Wind ~ StampNation Sneak Peek

We have a very controversial challenge this week at StampNation.  I thought it would be fun to have a movie inspired challenge and chose one of the most popular American films of all times, Gone with the Wind.  

It turns out, over half of our design team had never seen the movie nor read the book.  The faced the challenge like true champs and used the icon pictures from the movie to create some fabulous cards.  You can see the challenge today at StampNation.  Here is a sneak peek of my card.

Actually I made 2 cards.  Both with gelatos.  On one I used the smooth side of my watercolor cardstock, on the second card  I used the rough side.  Both give a really cool look of the sky over Tara.  

I wanted to create an orange and blue sky like the iconic picture below, but I only had pink, blue and purple gelatos, so I made those work for me.  It was fun to play with something new, and those gelatos had been in my drawers since I first tried them at StampNation Live 2 years ago.

I have two questions for you today.

1. How would be inspired by Gone With The Wind when making a project?
2.  Have you seen the movie or read the book?

Stamps: Frankly (CAS-ual Fridays Stamps)
Ink: Onyx Black (Versafine) Gelatos
Paper: Basic Black (SU) Distress Watercolor (Tim Holtz)
Accessories: Clear Embossing Powder (SU) DIE 222-Z (Impression Obsession) MISTI

Impression Obsession Dies, Reading Tree

Gelatos, Set of 4, Blue

Gelatos, Set of 4, Red

Ranger Distress Watercolor Cardstock

My Sweet Petunia MISTI Stamping Tool

My Sweet Petunia Mini MISTI Stamping Tool

VersaFine Ink Pad, Onyx Black

Bazzill Card Shoppe Cardstock, Licorice Twist, 10 pk

WOW Embossing Powder, Super Fine - Clear Gloss