The Birthday Girl with Her Quilt & Journal

Cathedral Windows Quilt #1

The QUILT is FINISHED!!!!! (I started this quilt in 2004!)

Rocking Chair Before & After (many years!)

This is a rocking chair my dad picked from someone's trash sometime in the late 1950's, thrown out because it had a broken rocker, so he made a new one, refinished in mahogany, and recovered the seat. After my mom passed away eleven years ago, I took it and it sat in my living room until several years ago when I stripped it intending to refinish it in walnut, retying the springs, etc. Last month, after I repainted the guest room, I found over 1/2 gallon of the previous wall paint (too much to just throw away, tightwad that I am sometimes), so I decided to paint the chair with it. After two coats of white primer, I thought I had a good handle on this project. Turns out that paint was not a good idea as it was too old - it had gotten really thin and didn't cover very well so it took four coats of the stuff and still didn't cover very well so I gave up on that part of the project. I found a piece of heavy cotton fabric on the remnant table that had small dots of that exact color in it. This is also something I will never again try to do!

New to Me Techniques

Today I attended a workshop with Donna & Emily where they taught a group of us how to do bleaching and embossing two different ways,



paper "felting" using paper napkins & plastic wrap;




how to make a paper pleated 'skirt' to use on a card



We also made two pop-up cards that hold gift cards inside using a die from Sixxix and sold through Stampin' Up. When I figure out how to keep it open to photograph, I'll post a picture here.

Bird on a Branch Punch

One of the items I ordered at the last Stampin' Up event was the bird and branch punch. The Perfect Plum cardstock is from Stampin' Up; the background is one-third of a tri-fold card package I bought from Dollar Tree a few years ago. The corner punch is by EK Success. The bird's eye is a dot of Starry Night Stickles by Ranger.

Stampin' Up Card Gallery #1 for 2010

These are the cards we make this morning at Donna's. Most of the cardmaking stations were set up as sets of two in order to use the same inkpads and punches.
















This one showed up on my camera as 'blurry'. I don't have a clear favorite this time. I really like having a choice of various sentiments.

A Journal for Hannah

This journal is my version of one a friend bought at a craft fair for her granddaughter. I started with a 7.5x9.5 composition book. The papers are some I've had for quite awhile; the purple scroll is Felt Fusion by Queen & Co.; the glitter butterflies and dots are Crystal Stickers purchased at Big Lots; the pink flowers are Flower & Lace Trim made by Crafter's Square purchased at Dollar Tree. I covered the inside jacket with a soft muted wallpaper page from a display catalog I've also had for a few years that I got from another friend; I added a grograin ribbon to the inside back jacket for a bookmark before gluing the paper ; the grosgrain ribbon is some I have on hand. I used JewelIt glue to glue the flowers on and YES glue for everything else. I didn't want to use a waterbased glue because I thought it might warp the cardboard cover. I would like to add her name to the front but am clueless on how to do it without it fading, i.e., printed on cardstock, or having problems securely gluing in on if I use the Cricut to cut the letters. the usable space is about 5.5x 5.5 inches.