On a Roll......... #6................

Well I did it again!  I just couldn't stop making the most DARLING little card holder folders with sets of cards and envelopes that I found on LyricLover810's channel LyricLover810 on YouTube. I just ADORE her projects! They are usually quick and fun and easy. These are fun to make and very addictive!

My daughter-in-law had given me a big stack of beautiful, shabby/vintage scrapbook papers a few weeks ago, and I was looking for something to make with them. Thank you so much Siobhan! I used almost all of them!  I think I made 10 card folders with matching cards........ and I still want to make more!

I love the shabby-chicness of them (is that a word? if not, I just invented it). My first card folder was not really shabby, more vintage and looks like old ledger pages. I "distressed" the edges with brown ink. I was "testing the waters" to see if I would enjoy making these, so used some of my own papers. But I do love how it turned out.... it's Etsy shop worthy.

I made the cards (blank inside) with some random papers I already had (trying to use up my stash, right?).

I'm just so in love with these folders. I mean.. they do hold 6 cards and envelopes, but I think the folder alone is the star........ it could be used so many different ways once you use up the cards! I've put all of these (except the very top one) in my Etsy shop My Pink Paper Cottage. 

I'm going to show you some photos (and try not to talk your ears off)........ I just love these and love the papers. I don't even know what brand they are or what company made them. Does anyone know another word for "shabby chic"? It's probably overused, but I don't know what else to use to describe these. Maybe "cottage style"...... or "soft French country" ????

Each card folder is 6" x 6". The cards are standard A2 sizes, not the smaller notecard sizes.  

This set coordinates with the "Unforgettable" set above. (same papers used on both, but reversed).

 Most of my folders have one that coordinates with it. I used one pretty paper on the outside of one, and then the same pretty paper on the inside of the other one, and visa versa. The listings in my shop will tell you which two coordinate.

SWOONING over these papers!

The theme of this set is more "whimsical". I love the soft yellows and the dancing flowers inside (covered with glitter!). This set coordinates with the "Life is Beautiful" set below.

Glitter all over the flowers but you can't see it in the pictures..... 

And then of course, I had to make one of my "wallpaper gift bags" to go with each one! Just couldn't resist! Here are some of them.

I've also listed a brand new 6" x 9" photo album in my shop. Another one of my favorites ever...................  it's like one of my mini albums (that I've been making for years) with 8 pockets inside, but much bigger.  There are pretty photo mats inside each pocket, to hold a 4 x 6 photo. Did I say I love it??????  shabby... cottage... country.... roses.. .vintage... gold ephemera..........  it's  HERE in my shop.

Well friends... that's it for now. I'm continuing to be a good girl and work on my quilt for my son.... I have 22 blocks made and 14 to go! I've been a busy girl........

Have a good week everyone!

~Marilyn~

For the campers and glampers!

And this was a few years ago and this was their SMALL RV!!!

A friend of mine's husband recently had his 75th birthday and I was trying to think of something unique for the man who has everything! I mean... their "campermobile" is a HUGE 45 foot gooseneck RV with 5 sliders! Now that is NOT camping... but they do love being outdoors enjoying nature, and they call it camping. So................  I made a little mini album for him (the thing I do best) to show off some sweet little cartoons and camping jokes and phrases. I spent hours searching the internet for camping posters, quotes,  and jokes, etc. and ended up having way more than I needed!

Here are a few that I could SO Relate to my friends!

Hilarious aren't they???????? Can any of you relate to these??? 

And here is the little album I made........

The little pockets hold small "posters" of the  various State Parks in the U.S.

My friends have been to alot of the State Parks!

I made a little leather "belly band" to keep it closed.

My girlfriend had told me that her hubby keeps forgetting to pack things when they go on their trips (and boy do they love to travel!.......... alot........... they are on the road more than they are home)..... so I suggested a little notebook with a list of things to remember to do or to take. So I also made him a notebook where he can make a reminder list of things he should do before they leave. Now as to if he's actually used it, I don't know! Can lead a horse to water and all that, but can't make him drink!

 I filled a little baggie with stickers that he can put on each page, such as "to pack before we go"; "don't forget to do this"; "favorite campground"; friends we've met on the road" and others.

Lots of blank pages to make notes on, to write down favorite places and keep little diaries.  I added more quotes and posters to some of the pages.

I modpodged the front and back so it would stand up to some wear and tear. I hope he uses it!

Just thought I'd share this with you all.

Have a good week everyone!

~Marilyn~

This and that.... and I'm a winner!

Hi my friends, It's such a nice day here in central Oregon for a change! It's "only" 90 degrees, no wind and a nice clear blue sky. We've had such heat the last couple of weeks, that this is a nice change.

My yard and flowers just aren't "up to snuff" this year. More on that later.............  First though, I won a really neat set of  "Love Grows Here" cards and a card folder from Kim at ArtJoyStuff!  She also sent me a pretty tag that she made.  Here they are:

Six darling cards inside!

Shaker cards.

Darling decorated envelopes that are lined!

 Here's the sweet tag she made:

And as an extra treat, she sent me THREE of her lovely vintage cards, with lined envelopes to match. I'm a happy girl..........

Thank you so much Kim!  You can find her Etsy shop: ArtJoyStuff here. Her items are so shabby, scrappy, lacy and whimsical!

ON ANOTHER NOTE:

As many of you know (from my comments on YOUR blogs)... my yard is not doing well. We had a big "reseeding" day in early May, dug and raked and raked some more... got out all the weeds (we thought) and seeded with some really expensive Pacific Northwest special grass seed. Well.. I'm so disappointed. A little bit of grass came up, and we've watered religiously, but we are still left with MANY brown/dirt patches. 

This is as good as it got... and has been downhill from there! (I'm embarrassed to show you what it looks like now).  I sprayed all the weeds again and in doing so, killed alot of the grass! It was supposed to be OK to spray the weeds in the grass and not supposed to kill the grass......... but it did......... and now is even worse. We reseeded once more but nothing much came up. Our soil is very shallow, very poor, with hardpan under it about 2-3 inches down, so we figure all it's good for is growing weeds.

When we started, the entire back yard was one big dandelion bed!

We need to just get rid of it all and start from scratch with new dirt. Just can't afford that, so we'll figure out other ways to deal with it by putting in raised beds graveling over the entire yard.

We did find one spot where we could dig down about a foot, to plant this Golden Chain tree. It seems to be doing well and I hope it survives the winter. They grow really fast and will provide us some shade in our "patio" gravel area.

See all the brown around the tree? I think we may do a raised bed there and just fill it with pretty rocks and put a few shrubs in.  That's what we may do with all the big brown patches! We'll leave what grass there is, and put gravel paths that meander through the yard and maybe one other raised (rock) bed.  When ya can't win, just go with the flow I guess.

This was our yard BEFORE we did the reseeding.... full of weeds, dirt, rocks piled up from our front yard raised rock bed removal, and the stump from the tree that fell over in our front yard. This is only one pile! We had two piles of big rocks, plus two piles of dirt from the front yard raised bed we took out.    

We had a corner that had steps up to an old gate (previous neighbors used it)... so decided to pile all the dirt over there and make a raised bed. This is the BEFORE:

Here's AFTER we piled up all the dirt over the steps, and laid out rocks for a two tier garden bed:

It is actually doing quite well, as it has nice deep dirt to grow in. I mixed in alot of peat moss, compost and steer manure. See that stump in the back? That was what we saved from the big tree in our front yard that blew over a year ago last April. When it was cut up and removed, we asked the guys to save the stump for us. It's really pretty, and the cats like it to use as "steps" to climb up over that fence!

The shrubs on the top are a lilac and Snowberry bush, that I got last year at our Bi Mart for $1.00 each. It was during a very hot spell and they were all wilted and on sale.. so I bought two of each. They wintered over in their original pots and survived.. so two are in the back and two more are in the front yard. All are doing very well.

The red flowers on the lower tier are $1.00 geraniums I got from a big box store. They were very wilted and almost dead, but revived once I put them in here and have watered them alot. We have to water every day here, sometimes twice, as it is so DRY and usually windy, which makes it worse. Everything dries out so fast.

A nice little buck was meandering down our street the other day. I think it's the same one that ate half of my new rose bush about a week ago. The neighbor came and showed me a video of him eating it! She had taken the video with her phone and had to come tell me. The rose has survived, though is much smaller now! New buds are just coming out.

The area by my front "stoop" is doing fairly well, though I don't have as many pots out this year. My bench that I painted last year needs paint again as I left it out all winter! The two pots sitting on the bench (in the top picture) have flowers that came up all by themselves from last year. The one on the left is a chrysanthemum and the right one, I'm not sure. It sat quite awhile along our house and I paid it no mind... didn't water it or anything.. but the vines just kept growing.. so I decided a few weeks ago to bring it out and start watering it. Now the vines are growing all over behind the back of the bench! It's really pretty.... some sort of ground cover I think.

You can just barely see the trunk of our new front yard tree (to the left)... a Quaking Aspen. It is doing very well and we can already hear the leaves quaking and chattering against each other when the wind blows. The orange marigolds in that blue bucket came up again on their own too. They are not usually "perennials" but it started with one tiny plant which I starting nursing along, and now is really pretty! There are some more stray ones growing in the bark mulch below the bench!

My birthday came and went in late June.... roses from hubby. Love the boot!

My sister gave me the most darling pink featherweight sewing machine replica! It's about 3 inches tall.

I got to have a "sewing bee" day with my sister in Bend, Oregon a week or so ago. She has inspired me to make a quilt for my son for his 40th birthday. I've been wanting to make one for him for years...  using all of my scraps and strips that I've saved from the last 42 years of sewing! A few months ago, I finally started taking out my scraps and washing and ironing them. More on that process later! What a mess!

I'll have rows of strip blocks, in different color sets, probably browns, burgundy, blue, green, maybe yellow/orange and maybe purples. These are most of the colors I have scraps for. The pink scraps will be saved for a later quilt for me!

Here are my six brown squares. I have four done in the burgundy also. Need 36 blocks, six each of six colors. Do you think I'll get it done??? His birthday is September 13th!! My sister has so graciously and sweetly offered to quilt it for me, with her long arm sewing machine.  He may only get the quilt top on his birthday, but at least it's a start.

In fact, I'd better get sewing today! I'm trying to finish at least two blocks a day!

Have a happy Sunday all...........

~Marilyn~