Weekend Views & More

Dunkin' ducks.

Clear blue sky.

Solitary seagull.

Shadow shot.

Swan and friend.

Something red.

Something read.

Something red and dangerous.

Backyard bird party.

Fighting for the suet.

Cute cakepops.

Co-worker's scrumble crochet purse.

And the back.

Another co-worker's crocheted wire necklace.

The birds above landed in the yard and there were hundreds of them.  The light off the camera lens really spooked them, making shots difficult.  There were as many as seven on the suet feeder at one time.

The crocheted purse was interesting and beautiful.  The teacher told me that she met with a group of crocheters each of them bringing crocheted motifs to share with each other.  Then they attached them together and to a felt piece.  Lining was added to the inside and a braided strap to the outside.  I think it's positively beautiful and told her so.  

The wire necklace was done by another co-worker.  Another talented lady!  

Teapot Tuesday 186

Another cool teapot don't you think!  Like a giant cupcake.  So much so that this week we are asked to include cupcakes, or cake, or party paraphernalia, etc. on our cards.  They will be going to a young man who  has had some recent health problems but who is going to be delivering them to the hospital that he stayed in to be used for other children there.  What a nice thing for him to do.  You can read all about the challenge here and the destination here.

I like to make interactive cards for children, so with that in mind I scoured my stamp choices and came up with this tag stamp that has a little cupcake on it.  It's from a retired hostess set.  I stamped, punched and colored four of them.  Then I got out some square punches, a little round one, and a button and made the spinner.  

See, it really does spin!

The mitered corners on the tags made them fit together so well over the square.  I punched a 1/2' hole in the square before I glued the tags on it.  I positioned the spinner on the card where it would be centered and then glued down a button that was a little smaller than the punched hole remembering to push it all the way to the top of the circle so the spinner would remain centered.

Then I added the spinner and glued the remaining squares on top of the button.  Wheeeeee!   I hope they have a lot of fun with this. 

And speaking of fun, it's going to be fun checking out all the other creations for this week's challenge.  Won't you join me here?

Jingle Belles - JB12:04b All Buttoned Up

I had this idea to use some of these buttons for a wreath as I've been seeing a lot of bracelets like this on Pinterest.   This is one of those cards where I have to tell you that IRL it looks much nicer!  

Whew - got two cards done for this Jingle Belle challenge and just in the nick of time!  Gotta run to a meeting, but here's the link to see the rest of the lovelies for these last two weeks.  

Jingle Belles JB12:04 A - All Buttoned Up

So, did you guess from the title what was up with this challenge?  Buttons!  I love buttons.  Unfortunately, I tend to hoard them.  I have jars and tins full.  My love for buttons goes back to my childhood.  My grandmother "Stella", who lived downstairs from us, worked in a sewing factory and she had cookie tins full of buttons that we used to play with.  I can still picture some of my favorites.  I say picture because those tins went missing after my grandmother died and have not yet been found.  Well, truth be told, I don't think that anyone ever searched for them and they are probably still stashed away in the house as my family still lives there.  One of these days I hope they'll find them.  Until then, I am destined, I think, to snatch up any buttons that I come across. 

You're probably thinking - with all the buttons she claims to have, why are there only three on this card?  No reason other than this was the first idea that I had and that's all that was necessary.  I thought the swirly tree die would look good with some buttons, and would probably have added more if I had smaller buttons to choose from.  You can see that I added sticky pearls where buttons wouldn't fit.  

The edge of the Night of Navy cs was stamped with a stamp from Autumn Days in VersaMark and then embossed with White EP.  A simple white ribbon was added at the bottom.  I wanted the tree to stand out so I kept this pretty simple.  

I'll be back with a second card before the deadline on Wednesday.  If you'd like to get a head start checking out the entries for this challenge, click here.

Sunday Zentangle 2-19-12

Happy Birthday - You're Making Me Old!

My son turns 31 today.  He is tall, strong, smart, and handsome and I am very proud of him.  He is also engaged to be married this coming October to a wonderfully accomplished and beautiful young woman.  We are so looking forward to celebrating their new life together.  

These are a couple of photos they had taken for their engagement which I haven't shared yet.  (But have permission to do so.)

And the card that I made them for their engagement which actually happened in May.  He proposed at the beach, they had the photos taken at the beach, and they will be married at the beach.  

Happy Birthday to my 6'4" two-legged mouse.

Pigs Gone Postal

Six little piggies are making their way to new homes in New Zealand, Ireland, California, North Carolina, Connecticut, and New Jersey.

Last night I turned some previously used boxes that I had collected from various sources inside-out, stamped and colored the pigs on them, and then reglued the joint.  It was therapeutic AND fun!

Then I took to packing them.  My apologies to the ladies because I had to use crumpled newspaper as filler as we are away for the weekend and I forgot my packing paper/popcorn.  Had to  make do to get them going.  Some of them have a very long journey.

HWNSNBP - sometimes otherwise known as my Boxman - became my Boxman again today helping me get these posted.  I think it would have been a pretty funny sight seeing me try to balance 6 boxes all stamped with pigs.  Thankfully, I didn't have to worry about that!

If you haven't seen my post about the Pigs on Parade you can find it here.  And..... as luck would have it, I found two more pigs (without recipe boxes though), so if anyone else is interested in playing along, e-mail me or leave a comment here.   I'll do my best to get them to you as soon as possible.

Teapot Tuesday 185

It's been a while since I've done a Teapot Tuesday Challenge.  Life does get in the way of my fun - bah!  This looked to be an interesting challenge and you can read all about here.  Cindy is such a super writer.  And she always find such great inspiration for us.  This reminds me of a lamp that my cousin bought.  But for this challenge think camouflage, pink, and hearts.

I've got camouflage, pink and hearts!  Lucky for us it's Valentine's season.  I didn't have to dig anything out cause I was using most of this stuff on other Valentine projects.  

The base is Pretty In Pink with lots of Pretty in Pink hearts I got from the Fashionable Hearts embosslit.  The little teacup is from a new set called Tea Shoppe and the tree comes from Valentine Defined.  The background looks hard but it wasn't really hard, just a little time-consuming.  What was hard was coloring the tree.  I used several different shades of green markers and the stamp had to be held just at the right angle so I could tell which little heart had been inked already.  For some reason (I think it was because I didn't do such a great job cleaning this stamp the last time I used it) I kept getting green hearts with pink outlines.  Not the effect I was going for, so I tried three times before I got one that I could live with.  

The finishing touch was adding the little white cotton thread bow.  

Okay, over to the gallery now to check things out.  Click here to join me.  

Happy Valentine's Day

A few more Valentine's that I put together. 

Hope you have a wonderfully sweet day!

Valentine Marshmallows

This big pink slab of sweetness becomes...........

These two-bite-size cinnamon flavored marshmallows.  Aren't they pretty in pink?  The cinnamon flavor comes from adding ground red hots candies and it's very mild, but just enough of a hint of cinnamon.

After they are cut, they are tossed in a mixture of confectioner's sugar and rice flour to keep them from sticking together.  

I also made a batch of plain vanilla ones.  Both varieties were packaged up together.

Found these boxes on 70% clearance in the dollar section of Target after Christmas.  What a bargain!!!

I always keep a look out for clearance items that can be used for other events.  Red and white will do not just for Christmas but Valentine's as well.  (Green things I put aside for St. Patrick's Day.)  I just added a Memory Box floral wreath die cut that I cut from watercolor paper and colored with my SU markers to make these look a little less like a candy cane.  (If it were me getting this box I would be gently prying that wreath off and making an ornament out of it as it reminds me of the delicate, but sturdy papercut ornaments I've seen at this little Scandinavian shop in Cape May.)

These tins were also in the clearance section.  Another bargain for sure.  

I made a belly band out of Regal Rose cs and kept adding punched pieces to pretty it up.

The big floral punch was stamped and sponged and I added a big sticky pearl to that pink flower.

The large boxes above were delivered to my oncologist's office and my physical therapy center.  Some of the smaller ones have not yet been delivered but they will be soon!

Sunday Zentangle 2-12-12

Yeah - don't look too close at this one.  I've had a headache all week and a redone root canal on Friday that is putting me over the edge.  Gonna try to find some peace in the stamp castle this afternoon. 

This Little Piggy

Quietly she said "It's my Blogoversary."

"What should I do?" she thought.

She pondered further "Should I celebrate, and if so, how?"

"It would be nice to do something different." she mused.

She wished she could do something creative and fun with her followers.  So this is what she came up with........This Little Piggy

This little 6" papier mache piggy has five siblings.  Each of them also has a recipe box that they've been living in in the craft room.  They were purchased some time ago on clearance and were supposed to be used to celebrate National Pig Day.  Time to get them out of the craft room and out in the world.  So this is what she I propose:  

This piggy will stay with me and I will decorate it, and perhaps even the box.  I would like to send a pig in a box to the first five people that are interested in doing the same.   You would get the pig in time to celebrate National Pig Day on March 1st and have the entire month of March to use your creative skills to give the pig a makeover of your own.    

When you are done, all I ask in return is a photo of your finished pig so I can share what you've done in my "Pigs on Parade" post.  You can use any form of decoration - decoupage, stamping, buttons, jewels, lace, paint, or anything your heart desires.  Wings are not included on the pigs and are optional, but would make them even more special to me.  You can decorate the box or leave it as it is.  If you want to document your creative process on a blog or in a photostream that would be great.  

So, what do you think?  Anyone out there want to do the pig in a box challenge?  I'll be taking requests until February 17th or until they are all spoken for.  

I think it will be fun to see these "Pigs on Parade" on March 31st.

Edited 2/12 - I am jumping with joy that all my piggies have been spoken for.  Thank you!  They will be on their way asap.  

Edited 2/18 - I found two more pigs if anyone is interested.  No more boxes though - sorry.  Send me an e-mail or leave me a comment if you would like one.

Valentine Swap - To Me

Hold on to your hats!  Here they come..............

They actually came in this superbly wrapped package all the way from Colorado.

The first thing I found inside was this lovely Valentine and candy from our hostess Laurie of Indulge Your Shelf.  

She also created this tag and sent some cute buttons in a little glassine envelope.  I LOVE buttons!

The first ornament comes from Karen.  She also used a little glassine envie to hold her sweet bottle cap ornament.

I love that she added the beads to the ribbon hanger.  So adorable.

This lovely vintage heart was created by Tami.  She packaged it so nicely in a stamped envelope with some baker's twine.  What sweet details!

I'm loving that little heart charm she added to this!

Just look at this little pink ball of sweetness created by Michaele.  I love that this stands up on its own.  She used a rosette on the bottom - genius!

This little "party" bird was created by Lisa.    

I just had to show you a close-up of the bird and hope that you can see how she lined the inside of the heart with sheet music.  This is so adorable.

Also adorable is the Valentine that I received from Lisa.  You can't go wrong with red, white and black!   The  little puppy brought back childhood memories of our neighbors' dog Poncho.  I laugh when I think that when he was a puppy I thought he got sick from the green apples that we threw for him to fetch because he would swallow them.  They, the owners, told us that he had to have an operation.   It was many, many years later when I realized that the "operation" he had had nothing to do with the little green apples!

Don't they all look beautiful?!  What a wonderfully talented group of ladies I happened upon.

Thanks to all of them for sharing their creative talents, and thanks to Laurie for coordinating this for us.  Happy Valentine's Day!