Life on pause mode.....

I don't have anything in particular to blog about today, as I've been SICK for almost two weeks and my life has totally been on PAUSE! So thought I'd try something different today and just start writing with nowhere in mind to go with it. 

I have no plan for today's blog, other than I know I should post "something" as haven't been here since before Christmas. and... where in the heck did the time go? 

I've been in a stupor since 2 days before New Year's. My husband and I both got sick one day apart.. him first, then me. Not fun at all.. we couldn't take care of each other (though does hubby really take care of wifey when she's sick? not usually!). 

We both have spent the last NINE days in our jammies (at least I have - he got dressed and actually put his shoes on!). I haven't been this sick for 5 or 6 years, but won't dwell on it since I'm finally feeling better and feeling human again! 

I'm just going to post some random pictures with a running commentary.. that's about all I'm up to today!  And I know everyone is so done with Christmas so will mention it just a little, as at least I felt good then.  Although.... I was so worn out from our move, and then all the work we did, and then company, and Thanksgiving, that Christmas decorating just didn't happen much this year. I guess we deserve to have a year now and then when we aren't perfect and don't get it all done!

I think my little (fake) tree had the sum total of about 10 ornaments on it! We got it put up on maybe Dec. 20th and then I couldn't find the tub of ornaments in our garage.. and I mean we looked everywhere. I found a few little stuffed fabric ornaments that I had made 30 years ago in the one tub I brought into the house of "soft goods" so stuck those on the tree.  and found a little (big?) canvas board I had made a few years ago, so hung that on too. Poor little tree.

Looks pretty good at night with the lights! I really enjoy the lights - yes the tree is still up.

Our kitty, Maddie sure did like that tree (and still does)... of course. And she only knocked it over once!  Not much decorating happened after we got the tree up. And I still felt good.. but no motivation this year for some reason to decorate. So I didn't.

Oh.. I did manage to make a batch of chocolate chip cookies. I was SO craving chocolate! This was in between making 18 gifts for Christmas presents. That's another whole story of what happened during the month of December. Maybe I'll show some of them in another post. I ate a few (cookies) and ended up giving the rest to our new neighbors... ages 58 and 59 and they are raising their FOUR grandchildren! Yikes. I felt like they needed some sweets, bless them.

OK... Christmas came... we had our own little event at our house.. had a nice breakfast, opened a few gifts. Table of gifts below - poor tree in the background.

Went to my sister's house 70 miles to the south of us at an elevation of about 2,000 feet higher, on Dec. 26th and got to see my nephew and his fiance, and my great nephew. What a little cutie he is!

Did I mention that he was sick??? coughed all over everyone... hum.m.m.m.m. did most everyone there get sick? yes.. except for his mom of course. She's immune. But they live in Florida so it was a special treat to see him and give him a few hugs. He had NO INTEREST in opening his gifts!

My sister made a GORGEOUS quilt for our great nephew. It's a monkey theme and love the bright colors.  She makes such beautiful quilts (sigh... I'm envious).

Here's my sister's picture perfect "log cabin" in the snow. Did I tell you they had about 2-1/2 feet of snow??? Yes... I just moved from there in October... I'm so glad! We had NO snow!

My little (partial) family at my sister's house. Me in front in red (God did I eat that much? I had just run from the car where I set the camera... ran through 2 feet of snow and up the (icy) steps so I could be in the picture. 

I really didn't take that many pictures at my sister's house.. for some reason... I don't know why as I usually take hundreds. Now I regret it. I had decided to try to spend more time visiting and less time with the camera always in my hand. Now I wish I had more.  It was a lovely time and lots of food.... which is a good thing, right?

So Christmas comes and goes.....and I knew my nephew and finance, and my other nephew's wife and her son (the ones who live in Florida) were going to stop by our house on Dec. 28th on their way back to Portland, so I decided NOW was the time to decorate! So I got busy and put a few things on our mantle and shelves around the house.

My Christmas mantle! Everything I had was in my soft goods tub.. and I had bought a few glittery pine boughs, so those got stuck in a little vase!

This is the extent of my decorating... star paper wreath was also in my soft goods tub!

Well.. it did look festive and I've enjoyed it immensely since then (while being a couch spud).  And on a side note.... I DID finally find the tub of tree ornaments, but they never did get put on the tree.

I got a pretty picture hung in our bedroom above my dresser, and a quilt hung on the wall over our bed. Oh.. and also put up my mom's tea cup shelf that has been sitting on the floor in our bedroom since we moved in. I wanted to paint it white first. Well.... that never happened did it? so up on the wall it went.. though no teacups on it yet (see the empty shelf on the wall on the right?).

Pretty quilt on my pink walls. This is supposed to be my "cottage style" bedroom, but not there yet. DARK furniture keeps being added (hint hint hubby.. I don''t need a dark wood headboard!). You promise to paint it white don't you? And I'll paint that teacup shelf white too. It's a deal. And fleecy blanket on the bed for our new kitty. this room is NOT picture perfect yet! But I do love the quilt on the wall.

My mom's beautiful antique lamp....... plus a thrift shop picture in pretty pinks hung behind my dresser... all done (finally) in preparation for company. Isn't that how most things get done anyway???/ company coming? And I even dusted off the dresser!

Note to self: That dresser needs to be painted white also!

Company came and went on Dec. 28th.... Dec. 29th hubby gets sick.  Dec. 30th I get sick. New Year's comes and goes while we are moaning and groaning and feeling sorry for ourselves.

See the frozen "fog" (also called hoarfrost) on my little vine maples that I planted last Fall? It's been COLD here and house is SO cold and we've been cold. (I wear leggings under sweat pants, a pair of normal socks and wool socks over them and heavy fleece lined slippers, and my feet STILL are cold. A t-shirt, long sleeved thermal shirt and sweater over that.) Those little white things that look like thorns or stickers are just the frost from the fog. Was so pretty the other day - taken from inside the house of course (in my jammies - of course).  It's been COLD here though not down to zero thank goodness. Most nights in the low 20's.

All three of our (outdoor) cats get to be inside at night. A first for us. The two black cats have been outdoor cats for years and usually stay in our (somewhat heated) garage at night. But with our new kitty, hubby as decided that it's too cold for the two big ones to be out in the garage (well SHE got to be in the house, but not the two big ones).. and now all of a sudden, they all get to sleep in at night! They've finally accepted little Maddie onto their couch bed, though somewhat reluctantly.

My black female with the bright eyes, looks a little perturbed still.

I got a wonderful gift for Christmas from my sister. A Sizzix Big Shot die cutting and embossing machine! I'm so thrilled - a fun new toy to play with.. though really haven't played too much since I've been sick.  I did manage to make some "thank you" cards last week using an embossing folder I bought 2 years ago, in anticipation of getting an embossing machine.

I ran a glue stick over the embossed designs and then sprinkled glitter all over.. you can't see it in the pictures though. They sure turned out pretty and were super easy! I LOVE those birdhouses!

That's the extent of any crafting I've done since I've been sick.

And that's all of my exciting news for now.  I'll show more projects made with my Sizzix once I get some cutting dies and more emboss folders. I'm excited to try some fancy cards and flip cards, etc. There is so much I want that I can't decide where to start with the cutting dies. 

I've been spending alot of time on YouTube and Amazon since I've been sick.. making a wish list on Amazon and getting ideas on what cutting dies I want on You Tube. You Tube is my best friend right now!

I hope everyone is finding a little time to relax after the holidays and that you aren't sick!

Note to self:  I need to change my blog header!

Bye for now...............

 

Snazzy Napkin card...... neat technique tutorial!

I've wanted to use this napkin technique for ages, since I first saw it on YouTube. The results are amazingly gorgeous! Yup, this is a napkin.... come see how I did it.

This is "kind of" a tutorial, but very quick.. I didn't go into alot of detail.. and didn't take pictures as I was making it (darn... I should know by now that when I do a new technique, I should take pictures).

And YES... I used a napkin!

You can get a HUGE variety of napkins at Tuesday Morning, and online at different Etsy stores.

Here is the card in it's full glory and of course, the photo doesn't do it justice and doesn't show all of the glittery highlights.

Here's what I did:

1.  I used a 4x6 piece of watercolor paper.
2.  Made a 5x7 card base out of the green.
3.  Cut a 4-1/4" x 6-1/4" purple mat.
4.  Use a large napkin with the picture you like. Gently pull off the thin white paper that is on the back of the napkin. Sometimes there are two layers of the thin white paper so tear both off.

5.  Next, cut off the quarter section so you have one picture, and trim the picture to fit the 4x6 watercolor paper.
6.  Spread glossy Mod Podge on the piece of watercolor paper... and then spread some also on the back of the napkin.
7.  Lay the napkin onto the watercolor paper and smooth it out carefully to get out the wrinkles.. or you can leave them in for texture.  Trim off any edges that protrude off the edge of the watercolor paper.
8.  Put some more Mod Podge on top of the napkin, and sprinkle clear embossing powder on top, shake it off and then heat it with your heat tool to melt it and dry it.
9.  Once dry, put another light coat of Mod Podge over the picture and while wet, sprinkle some clear glitter on top.. then shake it off. I press it down as best as I can so that it will adhere well. Let it dry well or use your heat tool to dry it.

Here is a close up (above)... I think next time I'll try putting the glitter on as the first layer and not use the emboss powder... as alot of the glitter tends to come off when it's applied over the embossing... but the shimmery emboss powder does looks awesome.  

I wish I could have captured the full effect on camera.

Once the glitter was dry, I added a lavender ribbon on top and wrapped it around the back of the watercolor paper and glued it down on the back of the watercolor paper, before adhering it to the purple mat.

I used a little "sweet" tag that I had printed out on my printer on cream cardstock, a row of lace trim on the bottom, a black glitter butterfly and some tiny roses.



And voila! it's done! Was really quite fast and easy.. and alot of fun.  Next I'm going to use that darling chicken napkin to see what it looks like with just glitter and no emboss powder.



Try it, you'll love the results.

 

Hexagons and Sunflowers.

In honor of the warm summer days we're having now in Central Oregon, I thought I'd try a fun little hexagon "quilted look" card. For some reason, I love hexagons!  And how does this card remind me of sunflowers you ask? Read further.......  

I used a bright golden yellow for the card base (A2 size). I then cut a piece of scrap cardstock approximately 5" x 3-3/4" to lay my hexagons on. I cut out 19 little 1 inch hexagon shapes using my Cricut cutting machine. There ARE hexagon punches out there so that would also be an easy way to do this.  In fact, a hexagon punch is definitely on my wish list!

I picked summery colors for my hexagons in about 6 different designs. I used double sided paper so only chose 3 colors and used both sides of the paper. Remind  you of sunflowers yet??

Here's a close-up of the cute little hexies all snuggled side by side. 

All I did was start adhering the hexagons on my piece of cardstock, starting at the center top, and working outward. I used fast drying glue but you could also use adhesive tape. Just let them hang over the edge on the sides and bottom, and when it's mostly covered except for little side areas, trim all the sides and use the little leftover pieces to fill in the side areas.  Very fast and easy! 

Another fun thing I did was to emboss the finished piece once all the hexagons were adhered and it had dried. I have one Cuttlebug embossing folder and no embossing machine!  A Cuttlebug machine is on my "wish list". So I got the bright idea to use my pasta machine (which I originally bought for flattening out polymer clay, and have never used for that!) to run the embossing folder through.  I had seen this done on You Tube somewhere.

 
I set my pasta machine so the folder would just barely run through, put my pieced paper in, and cranked it through (it was hard to crank but it worked with some elbow grease). And voila! a beautifully embossed piece!

My little sentiment is one I thought up and printed out from my computer onto some nice white cardstock. I trimmed it and matted it on black. I also used some black glitter paper for a strip down the right side and the little scroll that I cut out using my Cricut cutting machine. The hexagon covered piece of cardstock is matted with black cardstock measuring 5-1/4" x 4". I love the black with the sunny yellows and oranges..... so like summer and reminds me of sunflowers! 

From BeginningAGarden.com

On the inside, I glued a piece of white cardstock with a little leftover strip of hexagons that I had cut off to make the 5x3-3/4  piece fit better onto the black cardstock.

Give this technique a try. It's so fun! Since I love quilting with fabric, anything I can do to make my card looked quilted I really enjoy.  I thought of putting some little stitch marks around the hexagons but it might have been too busy looking.

I think some squares of pieced hexies would look great on a scrapbook page. Can you think of any other ways to use this technique?
 
And speaking of hexagons, I'm just about ready to post my tutorial for my awesome HEXAGON BOXES. Coming soon!

 

STRAIGHT OF GRAIN EMBOSSING.

Want to learn something new? I did! Here's a very RELEVANT (short and sweet) video presented by Close to My Heart, relating to dry embossing with our new embossing folders!  It's a must see if you love the look of embossed papers. (You'll need to click on my blog post title to go to my blog to view the video).
 

This video enhances this month's CTMH special campaign - purchase two cardstock packs or combo cardstock packs at regular price, and receive an embossing folder of your choice for free! (Retail value $8.95). Click HERE for the listing of combo packs. (Colonial white packs and white daisy packs are not included in this offer).

Please view my blog post here to check out this February, 2014 special.

Also, DON'T FORGET February's (2014) month-long online blast party on my website now. Anyone who orders anything from my website in February, 2014 receives a free mini stamp of their choice. Anyone who orders $50 or more in February, receives four of my custom made cards, or two cards and a mini stamp of their choice.  You'll be automatically "joined" to my online party just by signing in at my WEBSITE here.

See, you just can't lose! Even if you just want to try out one of the new embossing folders and place an order for one in February, you'll receive a FREE mini stamp of your choice.

Here are some of the mini stamps. See all of them on page 119 of the Spring/Summer 2014 Idea Book.

Remember, all of the monogram stamps are considered "minis" and are always available!

If nothing else, please watch the video. It is really informative!

FEBRUARY 2014 "EMBOSS" SPECIAL!

Be the "boss" in February of 2014!

New to CTMH for the Spring/Summer 2014 Idea Book are FIVE embossing folders to use in your Cuttlebug, Sizzix or other embossing machine. The folders are a touch OVER 5x7 so may not fit into the older emboss machines.  

Here are a couple of cards samples using the emboss folders.  I unfortunately don't have a Cuttlebug or embossing machine (yet!) but that's next on my wish list.

Sweet sweet Easter card by Susan Edwards at Busy with the Cricky. (Her blog is darling!) She used the Stripe emboss folder and the Damask emboss folder.  When embossing the stripes, you need to make sure that the paper is on the straight of grain. I will post a video on this in the next day or two.

Pretty thank you card by Lisa Stenz at Lisa's Creative Corner. This is using the Dot emboss folder. I love the effects that embossing gives.  Lisa has wonderful ideas for her cards!

 
Why not try some of our beautiful exclusive cardstock papers. Combo packs are included in this offer (20 sheets of 12x12 papers, 2 of each color) of our various design packs, or single cardstock packs of one color.  This is a $37.95 value for $29.00!

Don't you need some packs of these bright vivid papers for your summer crafting? (Yes, I'm already thinking of summer!).  We have about 16" of snow on the ground here right now, so I'm dreaming of sunny summer days.

Or how about two different combo packs (we have four)?

I think I just talked myself into getting some of these embossing folders, even if I don't take advantage of the special!  But I DO need some more plain colored cardstock......... hum.m.m.m.m.m.m..................