Its hard to believe it has been five years since I started the store. We started out with about ten designers and then grew. Sometimes we had as many as thirty three designers. It has been a real roller coaster for sure.

We opened on May 15 which happens to be Chocolate Chip Day. So our bash is going to be a little bit about chocolate as well.

So, we are celebrating with a blog hop and a store shop and a forum search. Sixteen clues will lead you to where you need to go. Each clue indicates where a link may be found for goodies. There will be new kits in the store as well using the same color scheme as our goodies – so it all can be added up to one huge awesome kit!

My part of this celebration is a very small mini-kit. It has three papers and three elements, a rose, a tag and a chocolate bar that can be used for page title or decoration. To get this little mini kit, just click the download button.

Here is the preview:

Download

admin Store Stuff

Have you seen our store lately? We felt it was time for a change so I created a new banner and look for us. Here is the banner, but of course it looks much better where it belongs in the store. Other graphics in  the store were also changed to go along with our new look.

Another biggie for us it the new categories and type of products we are adding to our store. We have always had some printables and mixed media, but now we are going to go big time into this area. AND our awesome Cynthia Powell is making some tutorials for us in video format as well. Check her out at her blog: http://cynthiapowelldesigns.blogspot.com/

We really have some talented ladies there. Twelve of our designers collaborated on a new gift for you all. It is called Flowers in the Wind and has over 2G of goodies. It is yours free with a $10 purchase in the store. I was very impressed with the quality of their work when I put the previews together. Here is one of the previews. This kit is so huge, it took FOUR previews to do it justice.

So what are you waiting for?Why are you not shopping right now? OH I know you need more. Well, for right now, the outgoing collab is also still available and will be added to your cart as well for the same $10 purchase. For some reason I did not turn off that gift yet. So that means for $10, you will get both collabs.

For those of you who want to wait and only have $5 to spend we also have a gift. The two printables that are part of the big collab will be given free for a $5 purchase total. This includes a card and envelope as well as a pillow box print out. Instructions are included on how to make these with the files given. Don’t they look gorgeous?

So many goodies to tempt you, it might just be hard to limit your purchases to $5 or $10. But never fear will will always be there for you to return.

If you did not receive our latest newsletter, you can see it here:

http://digiscrapstation.com/newsletters/03012013.htm

admin Store Stuff

Guess I am having just too much fun to plop myself down in front of the computer and write a new post.

I have really enjoyed my quilting activities lately. The quilt club that I do each month is a real joy. I get excited when I find new ideas to take back to the ladies.

My latest idea I took to the ladies was this pincushion. As you can see, it was made with scruffy pads stacked on top of each other. You have to use a fusible type tape to make it work. You wrap it like a gift and for each fold, you insert wonder under or steam a seam and give it a little hit with the iron. It comes out so cute! And it helps to keep your pins and needles clean as well!

admin quilting

admin Uncategorized

Don’t you hate to wait? Especially when it is something that is important or exciting to you?

The important issue that is giving me anxious moments is the medical thing. Ya I posted about how frustrating it is and how I just wish it would be over, but hey it is still hanging around. Had a CT yesterday in Austin and go back to a specialist Tuesday. So the waiting will not be over soon.

The other more exciting event I am waiting on is the retreat I am going on the middle of this month. It’s with a bunch of us that get together on retreat about three or four times a year. We have a ball and actually get some quilting done. Some get more done that others. Getting a bunch done is not that important to me as the fellowship is. We have a BALL!

But this waiting brings me back to the waiting days we used to have when I was teaching. I would hear fellow teachers saying just three more days to the weekend, or ten more days to Thanksgiving. They would be counting down the days to the next break. Their whole lives were spent counting the days until they could do something they enjoyed. Or perhaps they looked at as counting the days until they got a break from doing something they did not like doing. It seemed so sad to me, it was like they were wasting their lives, frittering them away waiting for other parts of it to start. That is spending 71% of your life waiting.

It is bad enough that we have to spend a certain amount of our life in sleep and other life sustaining activities, but to voluntarily give away such a large proportion of our lives to doing something that makes up dream of being elsewhere is wasteful. If you don’t like what you are doing now, don’t dream of times to come, but make NOW something that keeps your attention focused on now.

So with that in mind, I am making up my lists of what I want to do NOW. I may not get to all of them, but I am going to enjoy doing what I can.

Does that mean I am not going to anticipate the retreat? NO, cause to me the anticipation is part of the fun. I am picturing myself at the retreat, talking to my friends, seeing the work they have done and what they are working on now. I see myself staying up all night due to excitement and having a ball.

Will I spend time and energy being frustrated over this medical thing taking so long to resolve? Probably. I am not perfect and will get frustrated at the limitations forced on me with this yuckiness of vertigo but I will work harder not to let it get me down.

By the way, I updated my Crazy Quilt page with some new photos showing the progress I am making on it. You might want to take a look by clicking on the tab above.

admin Uncategorized

admin Uncategorized

Its been too long, way too long!

May 27 wake up with congestion and major coughing. Have to cancel plans to attend Memorial Day cemetery cleaning/visits, During the day, ear issues develop

May 29 get in to see PA and get RX for antibiotics and cough syrup, plus directions on what OTC to take Ear Infection disappears in days

June 14 see PA again – more coughing

June 24 Vertigo sets in –coughing gone, but Vertigo is so bad I cannot walk

June 25 see PA again, cry and throw up cause the vertigo is soooo bad

June 28 See ENT – MRI scheduled Hearing test administered  down the hall

July 16 – follow up with ENT –also balance test administered IF YOU EVER ARE OFFERED ONE OF THESE DECLINE Doc gives RX for antibiotics and steroids. Says there is heavy mucus in my mastoid

August 8   Doc gives another round of antibiotics and refers me to a ear specialist. Won’t see him until August 27

I AM SO TIRED OF THIS!

Poor hubby he has to drive me anywhere I need to go as, of course with this vertigo I can’t drive. But this crap has been going on all summer and I am gaining weight like you wouldn’t believe! About early July, I decided that I was not going to stay sitting in my chair anymore and have been sewing and working on the computer. It takes twice as long to get stuff done, but stuff is getting done. That helps in that I am not fretting over stuff that is waiting on me.

OK, just had to let it out. Moving on

admin Uncategorized

Yep, up to my old usual tricks and taking so long to get back to you all. This time, my excuse is I had to rewrite the instructions for the potholders that I promised. I am so sorry to the ladies who took the class and had to suffer through my errors. Disclaimer here – -these new instructions have NOT be tested by anybody but me, so if you find mistakes please let me know.

Here is one of the potholders that are made using these instructions. If you don’t have a embroidery machine, you can just put a pretty print in where the embroidered heart is.To go to the download page, click on the link below it. The download is not hosted on any commercial site, so you won’t have to wait for downloading or whatever.

Oh, and the other potholder has a star in the center. The instructions give supplies needed for two. Also, the embroidery files that are included are in the following formats: ART, EXP, HUS, PCS , PES, PEC, SEW – -I don’t know what machines will work with what formats, so just included all the formats I could make.

Click here to download instructions.

admin Freebies, sewing and crafts stuff

After being ill for too long, I have decided to just ignore it all and move on. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I am following doctor’s orders and keep working on a remedy. But I am just plain tired of being ill and giving in to it.

So lets move one!

Recently I taught a class at the store that was called Red, White and Blue. I thought I would post some pics of the samples here that I made up for the class. In the next few days or weeks I will be starting to add patterns and the like for my blog readers. So. lets start it now.

Here is what I designed for this special Red White and Blue day. There are two potholders, two chickie pincusions, a crayon wrap up roll and a little patriotic butterfly wallet purse. I digitized the machine embroidery parts as well. I just love how that butterfly came out. Stay tuned to get these patterns free in the next few days.

admin sewing and crafts stuff

In Flanders Fields
John McCrae, 1915. In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

admin Uncategorized