Christmas Junk Journal

I have been having the most fun this Christmas. First of all I participated in a Christmas Card swap with 139 other people from all over the world. We did not have to send cards to all 139 participants, but I could not resist and do so. But of course there were some who just could not afford that many stamps. The number of cards I received in return is still being counted, but last year with the same group, I got more than a hundred cards. It makes going to the mail box so much fun.

Then I participated in a different swap. We sent envelopes of goodies to five people for five weeks and at the end send a special gift to one of the participants. This meant we each got 25 envelopes of goodies to open one each day and then a better gift to open on Christmas Day. I cannot tell you how many little pieces of goodness I received in the mail. Oops there was another swap where ten people sent me happy mail for November and for December. So more goodness came to my house. My craft room was overflowing with fun.

I just had to do something with all this goodness and not just pack it all away for next year. So, I made a journal, a Christmas Journal with all sorts of tags and writing places. I love how it came out. I used a lot of what I received including the decorated envelopes. I even used the little Christmas graphics that decorated those pretty return address labels. Some envelopes had washi tape on them that I was able to peel off and reused as well. I was able to peel off many of the postage stamps and use those as well. I had a ball!!

So, I made a video of the book for everyone to see who contributed as well as anyone who is interested and here it is.

Update

Lots has happened. So where to start.

There has been a major shift in my crafting focus towards arts and away from sewing. I still sew a lot, but my main focus now is art journals, cardmaking, beading, painting, mixed media and other stuff like that. It makes organization in my craft room interesting.

We lost Clio and Dayton and now have Skittles. Check out her pics under Cats, Cats, Cats.

Grandson is growing by leaps and bounds and is pretty busy with his sports and after school and weekend activities.

Hubby had a battle with cancer, but has won so far.

I had cataract surgery in both eyes and have ditched the glasses.

And life goes on.

 

craft room update

So it seems that I need more room for crafting and less for sewing nowadays. The sewing machine has been put up for a while so I have some fun with some old friends. I forgot how much fun I can have with some papers, glues, paints and the like. Here lately I have been really getting into stamping, mixed media and painting.

So it was time to reconfigure the craft room I did not take the quilts down as they remain my part of my family, but will be putting up some of my other stuff soon. I am amazed how much room I have with the sewing stuff all put away. After I took these pics below, I even put away my ironing board and brought out a table to sit at. It is totally lovely to be able to sit and stamp, paint and the like.

Here is the room now

craftroom5_25_16

As you can see there is still a lot of sewing stuff around. I just have other things in front of it. Also I can still work on my hand embroidery and on my crazy quilting as all that stuff is easy to get to. It is the machine embroidery and fabric items that are behind tables and shelves.

I know that sooner or later I will be returning to these things and they will be waiting there for me. Just like we go through stages in our lives and we also go through times when different things appeal to us. I like to think that means I am well rounded, and not just physically, ha.

Currently, it is the artsy part of me that is getting the attention and fun while, for the past five years it was the traditional quilter that was getting stoked. By paying attention to all parts of our lives I feel we maintain our mental health and are able to deal with what life throws at us.

I like to think of my craft room as a reflection of my mental health. It seems that when I am starting a new project it is clean and relatively neat. My mind is in decision making mode, business like and efficient. Then when in the middle of the project the mess begins and towards the end things are strewn all over the room. My mind and focus are entirely on the project. Actually, my mind cannot seem to focus on anything BUT the project and all the myriad details that go into it. Then when the project is down, I walk it down the hall to show my husband and all is well. He gives his approval (he has been trained well in that department -ha, ha) and then I go back to the craft room and clean up.

When the day comes that I cannot work in my craft room, I will be at a loss. I hope there will be something around to pick up the slack. I believe all will be OK if I judge from past history. Cause see I go through phases and move on.

 

 

Bringing the outside in

Those of you who know me very well, know that I don’t “do” outside. No garden, no flowerbeds, nothing that gets me outside in the heat and sun. I think it dates back to when I was a teenager and was living without sunscreen and sunglasses. Too many major sunburns and too much bright sun headaches contributed to an aversion to the sun and outside.

But, I have always loved plants. So at times I am able to have indoor plants. Only right now we happen to have a cat that loves indoor plants as well. Except, he loves to eat them. As a result,  I have to be very careful about where I put plants and what kind of plants I bring into the house.

For the longest time we just did not have any plants inside. Then at Christmas time I was given a terrarium and the rest just fell into place. The first terrarium did not do too well cause of lack of sunshine, or lack of proper maintenance or something. So I confiscated an aquarium my hubsband had in the storage unit and built my own. It is not a sealed system, it has a lid that allows the moisture to escape. It also has a light that allows me to put it basically anywhere I want. With the lid, the cat can’t get to the plants so all is set.

Well, all is set for a while and then some plants die and I have to replace them and get to reorganize the plants and so on. This last time I put the plants in there with their pots. So the plants that do not need much water are not affected by the water that the plants that need lots of water. Maybe now they will last longer. I put some succulents in with air ferns and there is even a small lucky bamboo in the back corner. I am having mixed results with the succulents. One just immediately dropped all its fat leaves while another is thriving. The plant that looks like stones grew an inch and a half in one month and no longer looks like stones. But over all it looks good.

The fairies have a little house in there along with a bridge over the stines/creek. There is a bench for them as well as a lantern. I gave them a pet hedgehog which requires no feeding or upkeep. Overall they have a great place to live.

IMG_20160423_142501web

 

We can be such funny creatures now and then. Having a bit of green stuff growing in my house makes a lot of difference to me. Now, in addition to the terrarium I have some stuff in my kitchen window. What I really want to do is start growing African Violets again. But, it’s not to be with this silly cat we have. I love him though and will pamper him and keep him sweet without giving him plants to chew on.

We all make compromises for the people and things we love. At least we should. Its goes with being part of a family and group of people. Very few people would fit into our world without some sort of compromise. Though, at first glance cats may seem to have the better end of the bargain, one has to look at what they have given up to be a part of our family. Dayton gave up his front claws, his freedom and his manhood. Though, I don’t think he misses any of it, who knows?

It has been a long time!

Almost a year has gone by since I have worked and posted on my blog, wow!

A lot has happened. I no longer teach sew and quilt classes and find the freedom to be awesome. Now I can concentrate on getting my UFO’s done. I have added a few other crafts to what I do on a regular basis such as rubber stamping and Bible journaling. Also, I have made an effort to get back to my crocheting and knitting.

I finally taught myself how to knit a pair of socks and have a few pairs for hubby and me to wear. They sure are warm and nice in the winter time. I am confused as to why I could not figure it all out before. Now I have the hang of it, I find it easy. I guess that is how it goes.

As far as crocheting goes, I am in the process of crocheting a bag with pull tabs from coke cans. No, I did not drink a bunch of coke, I bought the tabs from ebay. It is rough going though as my teeth complain about the metal scraping on metal when crocheting with the tabs and even afterwards the teeth do not settle down.

Around last October, I began going to a neighbor’s for a Stampin Up workshop each month. I used to be into rubber stamping big time and even was a demonstrator Stampin Up and also Close to My Heart at different times. I really am enjoying getting back into it. When I gave up scrapbooking, I kinda gave up the rubber stamping too. But, now that I am doing it again, I am making cards instead of scrapbook pages. (I already have way too many scrapbooks collecting dust!)

Bible Journaling is an extension of the rubber stamping, but I find it much more fufilling. If you haven’t heard about it, look it up on Google and you will be amazed.

Thats just a little bit about this past year. I will be uploading pics and all. More to come later.

Sue Spargo Butterflies

Previously I have shown you my butterflies that I am or was doing from Sue Spargo’s Craftsy class. It is now a finished project and I love how it came out. I really love her style and techniques and hope to take a class from her soon. In fact I am signed up to take a class from her next year, but I really would like for it to be sooner!

To me it is like making a crazy quilt but with wool applique instead of the fancy brocades and silks. You wrack your brain to figure out what to do next to decorate what you have in front of you and then you start to work. Only, as you work, you make changes in the planned stitches so you never know what you may end up with.

Here are some pics from the completed butterfly project.

The completed project

The completed project

 

My favorite butterfly

My favorite butterfly

several more butterflies

several more butterflies

Milford Retreat

At the end of this month I will be teaching at Our House In Milford. I would like to invite you to join us. More info about the retreat center can be found at

http://www.ourhouseinmilford.com/

The dates are April 23 – 27, I am listed on the calendar as Organizing with Options. Fees include everything from patterns to meals and are $190 for arrival on Friday and $240 for arrival on Thursday. You just need to bring your sewing materials and supplies for making the items I am teaching. OR you can bring work of your own and choose to just listen in and take the pattern home with you to make at a later date. The supply list is on the right column of this blog.

It is a great retreat center that treats you like royalty. Meals are served three times a day in a separate dining room and these are cooked meals with great service. You are not allowed to carry your dishes to the sink even!

Each bedroom can hold up to three ladies, though usually there are only two assigned. Each pair of rooms shares a bathroom so that means generally there are four people sharing each bathroom. The craft room is huge with at least two four foot tables for each crafter if not more. There is a little kitchen area in the craft room with refrigerator, ice machine and sink and more. (Though you don’t need to use it much as the meals provided keep you full and happy.)

I will be teaching several things that weekend. One is an organizer bag that you customize to fit your needs. It basically is a “book” with pockets for pages. I blogged about it here:

http://scrappycats.com/blog/?p=1030

Also I will be teaching how to make some cute selvage ditties as I call them. They are little bags that are made out of selvages cut off your fabric.

Dittie Bags made with Selvage

Dittie Bags made with Selvage

In addition to the above,  I will also be teaching how to sew a cute turtle pincushion. I made one of these using crazy quilting to decorate it, but for the retreat we are just going to decorate it with a little applique. I call her Dottie.

Turtle Pincushion named Dottie

Turtle Pincushion named Dottie

You can choose to do all three projects, only one or none it is up to you.

Swappin’

I am an avid lurker and sometimes poster on a forum called Quilting Haven. There have been some retreats where I have met some of the ladies in person. It is a cool place to hangout while eating breakfast and to check in on the friends I have made in the quilt world who do not live close.

One of the things I love to do is join swaps. This year there have been several pincushion swaps so far and I have really enjoyed them. The pincushions I sent were crazy quilt items and it really gave me impetus to get those done. In return I got some nice items.

Today, I got an awesome set that totally blew me away. It is one of those little circle bags with the edges gathered on strings and pockets on the inside. BUT, in the middle of the bottom is a pincushion! PLUS included was a ring pincushion and a cool handmade threader. (That threader is made with beads and such and gives me some ideas for the next retreat gifties)

Already I have my current project loaded into the purse with the thread/floss in the pockets. The needles and pins I am using are in the pincushion and now I am ready to roll.

fromtheoutside

From the outside -love those rings on the ribbons

the inside - look at all those pockets

the inside – look at all those pockets

ring pincushion and threader

Perfection

I have always been haunted by the need for perfection in my crafting. If it is not perfect, then it is not good has been my attitude. Not such a good attitude but it does not apply to other people’s work just mine. Strange that I am just fine with other people’s work not being perfect and will even purchase work by other people that is not perfect yet I am unhappy with imperfection in my own work.

This does not mean I have achieved perfection in my work, just that I get very unhappy with my work if it is not perfect.

So when I found this tutorial about making the perfect loop in beading I just had to try it out.Here is the link:

How to Make a Perfect Simple Loop

I decided to practice by making knitting stitch markers. It has been on my mind to make some for a while now so combining the two goals was a great idea. I loved how the tutorial broke it down into very simple  steps and it really helped. I found I had been making my loops in a different way – making them this way increased the number of perfect loops I was able to make.

Of course not all the loops came out perfect and I had to make a bunch over but overall I was please with the outcome.

But now I have too many stitch markers. I might just make some more for retreat goodies. . . .

Here is what I made:

workarea

My favorites were the orange ones and the clay bead ones.

orangemarkers

claymarkers

« Older Entries