Yeppie Goodwill!

Oh my - check out my awesome Goodwill find! The bears were mine already. I use to be a really active collector of Boyds. Now it's only if I can find them at Goodwill and yes, I have found a few there!!

The chairs and ottomans! They were sold as a set of two for $10.91 each. They retailed for $45.00 for the set. They are so cute. BUT, I must admit, when I saw them the 1st thing that popped into my head was....

Now I must find the matching sofa and I have to build some little tables and paint them a distressed red!!! Too adorable!! The hat pins are from two earlier swaps that I will get back over the next month I think.

I have some more goodies that I bought and have BIG plans for. I will post as the projects unfold! Smiles!

Old Victorian

Funny, it's 2011 and I am trying to recreate the Victorian age! Here's my very 1st ATC card for a SSSD swap. I like the way it turned out. We were to use red, black and cream. It's fabric and lace on card stock.

 

This was fun and more challenging than I thought it would be. It's hard to stay within the 2.5x3.5 size! I will keep swapping these - I like them!

There's a chill outside

Here's my winter card. It's for a swap....

I made 6 of them, not 12 or 8 but 6 of them.  A funny you tube joke... Maybe I will 'splain it one day later. =)

House and Home

I adore my house. It's beautiful and I like the bones. BUT, after my stroke, I needed to change everything. Do not ask me why, I don't know. Now, my hubby was more than willing to aid me in this endeavor. See here:

Here's a picture of my kitchen after we pulled all the doors off the cabinets and primed the walls.

This is from the other entry to the kitchen. We pulled all of the decor out and either put it in a yard sale or gave it to Goodwill.

Here's a picture of my living room:

Here we decided that neither of us liked the marble surround. So, down it came! Mantle and all! We had already removed all the decor items and sold them or gave them away.

Now, the funny thing is.... only after we tore everything apart did we find out just how expensive it is to replace kitchen cabinets, how much money it costs to have them resurfaced and just how hard it is to repaint cabinets that are NOT real wood, have begun to fray and separate and are just this side of old. 

Here's a picture of my front entry stairs:

You can kinda see how all the carpet had been removed. Well the stairs going down have been removed and replaced with solid stained wood. They are BEAUTIFUL. However, the stairs coming up... well, we realized after the carpet was removed that to replace all the stair treads, we'd have to remove all of the spindles and hand rails!! Can I explain that one or two spindles are crazy cheap - but 700,000 (the number of spindles we needed tee hee) are soooo not crazy cheap!!

I will not add anymore pics to save face for my dear hubby. We have many, many more projects that have not been completed. He has a disorder. Its call PDD... it's a very sad disorder. It's full name is "Project Deficit Disorder".  Have you heard of this?? It's when a man has a hard time finishing the projects he starts!!  So, wanna give a guess at just how long ago these pictures were taken??  

August 2009!!! 

SHUT UP - I am NOT kidding!! 

So, I know we have no money.... I can't work since the stroke. Pooo Pe-pole!! I have been compiling a list of pics and tutorials of things I wanna do. It's hard living in a house that's all busted up with ZERO personality!! Here's one thing I really like...

Hubby has promised to make me one. He says we already have some of the needed wood in the shop.  I really like these mirrors when they are really large and leaned against the wall. So, he promised to make me one to lean against a wall downstairs and one to hang here in the dining room. =)

I will continue to post here as we re-create our entire home from scratch and on a budget thinner than a dime!!

Ooo, more cards??

Here are some cards I've been able to create. Some are duplicates of a swap or two and some are not. These are not swaps.

This is a duplicate of a swap card.

This is also a duplicate of a card I made for a swap. See, I always make duplicates of any swap I create. That way I am not giving away my only creation! =)

Thanks for stopping by =)

Hubby turns 46!

A little late, but that's just how my weekend has gone...  We eate a nice dinner on Thursday for his b-day dinner.  We had ribs, corn on the cob, baked beans and I can't remember the rest. But here's what he's been craving....

I can't wait for it to cool off a little bit so we can have a tiny little slice! So pretty!!

Button, Button - Who's got the Button?

Here are some of my button charms for my SSSD swap. We have up to 10 ladies swapping and we are creating 3 charms per person. I've added these to the other two types (see below).  I really wanna do bottle cap charms.... since I have a good bit of time before these are due, I may have to do 10 and add them to the swap just cuz. =)

I will say these little guys are just adorable in person. My whole family thinks these are too cute, even the hubby!

These charms were labor intensive and really kinda hurt my wittle fingers! Opening and closing all those jump rings!! Even with my baby pliers, my hands & fingers still hurt! They are worth the pain to me. I sure do hope the other swappers feel the same as me!

Charming, aren't I?

I was able to spend time in my studio today. First I had to lay down for a bone density scan. My 1st ever. Whoot, whoot. No, but I did get to work on my charms for a swap. 

My 1st charms were the single strand charms.  My daughter tells me they really are pretty, but I wasn't really super happy once I finished. So, I moved up to double stand at the bottom attached to a single. Those were much better. I am afraid mine might be longer than most. Then, today I started working on loose button charms. It takes waaaay more time cuz I am attaching each button with a jump ring. The average # of button, you ask?? Between 20 and 24! I decided to tie little ribbons on the charms here and there cuz the buttons looked lonely! I will finish up ALL my charms tomorrow and post pics here! I know the waiting will be agonizing!

I should be stop swapping so much and work on more of the cool things I have on my sewing bucket list! LOL  It's just swaps are soooo much fun and so addictive. I've even signed up to swap ATC's now!! I've never created ATC (knowingly that is). But, I am super excited to give this a whirl and I have some great ideas.  Okay, gotta run. I have a casserole in the oven that needs me. Isn't nice to be needed?? I say "Yes!"

Flowers Obsession!

Oh my, this started with a SCS swap for hand made flowers. I couldn't stop! There are so may tutorials on line I've wanted to make forever. So, it was the perfect time. I even took 3 spots in the actual swap!

Okay, the tissue looking flowers are made from an old sewing pattern that I cannot find the directions for. They were super easy and way fun! I made yo-yo flowers by stacking different sized yo-yos. I made burnt edge flowers gathered flowers, wrapped flowers and I even hand wrapped a flower of of muslin, sewed it together using my doll needled and then mounted it on canvas! I gave those flowers a little spritz of home made glimmer mist! I still haven't even broken the surface of all the lovely hand made flower tutorials out on the great wide web. So, this flower obsession is far from over.....

So, I have more than I needed for the swap. I will use some for another swap I am in. That one you make special gifts for a fellow swapper. It's addictive and so much fun!

Happy 4th of July

We are the land of the free because of the brave who fight for us each day. I send a HUGE thank you to all those who have served, are serving or will serve for our country!

Happy Pumpkin Day!

It's still Halloween here at my house! Well, at least in my studio! I finished another swap for SSSD today. This one is a sketch swap for September. Yes, we've already discussed how severe my OCD / Over Achiever problem is...

Aren't the stamped images just the cutest?? Now, pardon my image quality, remember my beloved camera is in Italy right now!! "major frowny face: BUT, yeppie it comes home tomorrow!!! Oh yeah, so does my hubby.... LOL   He's been gone pretty much for the whole much of June (France from the last week of May, mid-month he moved over to Italy). Okay, now I must take my little wild man up to Burger King for the indoor play ground! He's been such a good kid the past few days. We have coupons!! :sing song voice:

Peter, Peter Pumpkin Eater

I finished a swap today and I colored 14 large pumpkins. Who knew I could use all the color in the Copic nib?! I have to see now if I used all the ink and need to replace it?? How?? Guess I'll find out, huh? Anyhoo, here are the cards:

I'd never made an easel card before and decided to use the Stampin Up scalloped circle die. I had never worked with mulberry paper before either and used it under the stamped image. I even sprayed it with glimmer mist, although it is a little hard to tell. Of course I used my Copics to color the image. I also used some Queen & Co. charm brads I've had forever as the place to tuck the card front into to hold it up. I think they turned out so cute! 14 cards in all, and I am tired of coloring! LOL

I also made a cute little 4th of July box for a friend. She's having me and wild man up for dinner tonight. I have to go and get chocolate squares to put inside. I used the SU scalloped envelope die for this little box and some left over patterned paper. Making hte box was fun, but I killed my embossing mat! Cut slap thru it!! Guess I don't really know how to use it! LOL

I know, I feel like I just didn't do this little box justice! I could've decorated it much better, but after coloring 14 pumpkins, I just wasn't feelin' it. Sorry, next time I'll make a little gift and it WILL rock I tell you!! Now, it's off to eat cereal. I've been up crafting since 6am this morning. For me that is ridiculously early!! I will pay a high price for being crafty this early! I'll fall asleep before dinner, I just know I will.

Happy July 1st

Wow!!  Half of summer break is over. Can you believe that? I can't. 

Here's my project for today! I am learning to machine quilt. I am hand piecing a hexagon quilt now. The design is called Grandmother's Flower Garden. I am crazy enough to think that when I finally finish this baby, I will hand quilt the top! But anyhooo,  I made this Cricut Cover for my Expression 2. 

I know I was a little over  zealous in my meandering of quilting. But it was my 1st real machine quilting. I am still tickled pink with my results.

 

I will have to take pictures of my flower garden and post them here. It's pretty and very relaxing. I'll post this weekend. =)