Amy’s Summer Poncho

Since I’m spending an awful lot of time hanging around the house these days, I decided to enjoy the time as much as I could today and finished Amy’s summer poncho. Which wasn’t difficult, as it was a pretty easy pattern. Lots of chain 5s and double-crochet shells. Then there is that flower, which was different than any I have made so far.

Hey! It fits Jessica, too! Cool! LOL I’m going to be making her one, too, but a different style. She’d kind of like one like Amy’s, but I don’t really feel like doing all those chains and shells again so soon. LOL

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I took these pictures as the news was saying there was a funnel cloud spotted nearby! It was about 4-5 miles west and a little north of where we live. As you can see, it was sunny in our neck of the woods, but it was close enough and at about the same time Steve would be on his way home, driving in that general vicinity, so I called him to make him aware of the situation. All was well. But man, this is getting a little TOO close for comfort!

That’s it from me for now! I hope you had a great day and are looking forward to a happy Wednesday.

Jeanne

Teapot Pincushion, Mary Engelbreit Style…

Look at what I just finished! Isn’t it cute?! I’m pretty pleased at how it came out. I got the pattern free at Crochet Soiree, although I can’t link it, because for some reason, it’s no longer available there. It’s possible  it was a freebie available only during their launch week. It’s supposed to be a pincushion, but it’s awfully darn sweet as just a decor item. Amy’s singing, “I’m a Little Teapot,” as I type this. Too cute!

I made twelve of those little flowers that you see on the lid (the pattern called for 12), but they didn’t all fit (maybe my tension was too tight, I don’t know), so I strayed from the design to add some to the side of the pot. I made ‘em, thought they were cute and wanted to use ‘em!

I’m pretty sure the recipient of this doesn’t read my blog, unless I mention there’s something I would like her to look at. Well, if she does see this, I sure hope she’ll act surprised when she gets it. LOL

Thanks so much for your sweet comments on the cupcake I posted the other day. As time has gone on, it’s grown on me, so I will leave it as is. I think you may have figured out why I chose the ME style for it. hee, hee

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I don’t know if you heard, but there were 5 tornadoes in the Denver Metro area on Sunday. I was chatting with Erin at the time and had no clue. Although, it did get pretty dark here and the rain came down in sheets and bitty lumps (hail) for a few minutes. I mention it because I found out later that one of the funnels was spotted just a few (like 3 or 4, max) miles north of where we live! I don’t believe that one caused much damage (if any). But there was another one south of Denver that hit the Southlands Mall and caused significant damage. They say that one was on the ground for a good thirty minutes! We’ve heard of and seen video of funnels appearing out east more, but it’s not common for them to show up in our neck of the woods. Mother Nature sure is a temperamental lady.

Our weather lately has been quite different than what’s been “normal” over the past several years. We’ve been in a drought situation and I think it’s changing back to what it used to be like when we first moved here. More thunderstorms and rain than we’ve been used to over the past several years. It’s interesting and keeps us on our toes, that’s for sure. LOL The very good thing is, despite hitting that mall, only one person was injured, and that was because he was on his front porch watching it when it hit, rather than taking cover. I think he’ll be okay. I think we have the threat of severe weather all week, although yesterday around here, it was pretty quiet. Let’s hope the tornadoes stay away!

Have a good one! Thanks for stopping by and for all your encouraging and supportive comments. I sure do appreciate your taking the time to visit and leave them.

Jeanne

Kelleigh’s Cupcake, Mary Englebreit Style…

First off, thank you for the very kind comments I’ve received about my angst over the girl's’ behavior in yesterday’s post. We are dealing with it and I think the girls understand what has made us so upset over their behavior choices and they accept the consequences we have handed down.

That being said, I decided today to work on a template I received as a freebie when I donated to the Stamp Out Alzheimer’s fundraiser. Kelleigh Ratzlaff is an extremely talented friend of mine and she created the template to make this neat cupcake box. You can find it in her shop here at The Digi Chick. I was inspired by this awesome cupcake created by Dana of Paper Daydream. You might just want to subscribe to her blog because she’s extremely creative, too!

Anyway, I was inspired by Dana’s work, but my effort definitely pales in comparison. There’s no way to sugar coat it, hers is gorgeous, mine….not so much! LOL I thought using the vellum was a brilliant idea, but when it came to adding sparkle, the only thing I had that I thought would work was a glittered clear glaze. So I added it after I score the circles and colored in the dots with markers. Not so smart on my part as the vellum started to curl (duh, Jeanne, it’s a wet medium….sheesh) Oh well. I soldiered on as best I could. I was trying to mimic the Mary Englebreit style, but don’t think I succeeded there either. I had to keep fighting the curling vellum, which makes the cupcake want to pop open. Ah well…I tried at least. Now I know. I’m sharing because I really like the whole cupcake box idea and wanted to let you know about it! The template itself is awesome and I know I will make more cupcakes. Thanks, Kelleigh, for designing it and making it available to everyone!

The plan is for this to be part of a gift, but I truly think I need to go back to the craft table and try again.

Credits:

Template: Cupcake Box by Kelleigh R (Digi Chick)
Paper: Vellum, black cardstock (to which the old, old, old, I don’t even know who made it, pattern paper is adhered)
Accessories: Holiday Red, Clover Meadow markers (CTMH), Heart pin (Making Memories) beads…from my stash, red ribbon (Michaels), rick-rack (Walmart, I think)

Thanks ever so much for stopping by. I’m off to work on another part of the gift, something  that is progressing nicely, unlike this attempt. LOL

Jeanne

Layout about Amy and Georgiana…

Good morning! I’ve spent entirely TOO much time on this relatively simple layout, but I persisted because this is something I don’t want to forget. This is about something that happened with Amy while we were eating dinner recently. I didn’t have my camera around at the time, so I took the photo you see in the layout this morning to help me tell the story.

Template: Simple Scrapper WAL Task 3 by StarXLR8 Designs (not using it for it’s intended purpose, though hope that’s okay)

Kit: At The Park, Talk Dots, (Nitwitcollections)

Font: Print it! Becca (Sweet Shoppe Designs)

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Well, I started this post this morning and am just now getting to publishing it. The day started off pretty darn good, but has ended up with a frustrated and very upset mommy. Both girls have made some very poor behavior choices that make me feel sad and disheartened. Two different incidents, but both choices they have made to behave inappropriately and in a manner that is unacceptable. One happened today at a birthday party we attended (the offending child was brought back home, kicking and screaming), and the other I was just made aware of after we got home from the party. It was something that occurred the other day (and had I known, she might not have even attended any birthday party). I’m not sure just yet how to respond to either incident and hope that whatever action is taken, it will impress upon them the gravity of the choices that they have made. Sigh…I’m just sad right now.

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I might not have even mentioned anything, but life  is sloppy and messy and we have to take the bad with the good, I guess. They are both basically good kids, I know, but when stuff like this happens you question yourself and your abilities. There’s something to be learned from this…I just hope I can figure out what it is.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope your Saturday has progressed more pleasantly than mine.

Jeanne

Blog Awards….Awwww THANKS!

 

I have received a couple of neat blog awards recently and have been remiss in not acknowledging them.

This one came from Sarah at Sarah’s Paper Tray.

This one was given to me by Barb, of The Buzz.

Both of these lovely ladies are so sweet and kind to think of me. Thank you SO very much. Because they have passed the award onto so many of the same people I would select, I’m choosing to say a grateful thanks for your kind thoughts and wonderful encouragement of my crafty efforts.

If you haven’t already, you really need to click over and take in their wonderful crafty creations!

Thanks again, ladies and right back at you!

Hugs,

Jeanne

Urban Prairie Flower Card…

Hi there! Okay, pick yourself up off the floor, I managed to get into my crafty corner this afternoon and make a card! I know, I am just as shocked as you are. LOL

The girls and I have had a nicely busy first full week of summer break. We are going to a local school for lunch almost every day like we did last summer. It’s not being offered at our home school this summer (they switch schools each year), but it’s still close by and it’s still free. Another family we got to know last summer is going too, so it’s nice to catch up with them. We are also going to the library each week for their free programs and to check out books. They are having a summer long reading “contest,” where if the girls read each day during the week, they turn in their log for a prize. I am participating in the adult version since I read every night before going to sleep. The program this week was by Mr. Bones, a guy who studies dinosaur fossils and even goes out on expeditions to find them. He  found a dinosaur egg not far from where we live (within 20 miles). I’m bummed that I didn’t bring my camera to the program because he makes “puppets” of dinosaurs out of paper mache and foam. They were incredibly realistic. Next week, we’ll start swim lessons again as well.

So, in between our daily activities, I have continued to work on cleaning up around here, helped the girls with their needlepoint projects, worked on a few of my own projects-I got one microphone made, and started the second…should be able to share those soon. The girls still don’t know, so shhhhhhh…

Today I did a aluminum can recycling run and cleaned off our deck before finally heading into my crafty corner. The card I was inspired by was created by Carol of Happiness Blooms blog. It’s the middle one on this post.

Obviously, I don’t have the same stamp sets, but I thought Hero Arts’ Trees, Birds and Messages set had a lovely “vine” that worked nicely. I colored in the flowers and leaves with Prisma and Koh-i-noor pencils and blended the colors with odorless mineral spirits. Very simple.

Last week, Nichole Heady challenged her senior design team at Papertrey Ink to come up with cost effective embellishments and she participated as well. She shared a tutorial on how to make crocheted flowers using DMC floss instead of cotton thread. You know I was all over that! I have loads of floss and was eager to try her tutorial. You can see the result of my first attempt on this card. I just picked a color, any color, and it just so happens that it coordinated pretty well with the Cranberry color in the papers I used for this card. Serendipitous, yes?

I added the circle image from Verve’s Artful Elegance set to help offset the flower on the Nestie scallop circle. Other than that, this card is pretty straightforward.

Supplies:
Stamps: Trees, Birds & Messages (Hero Arts), Artful Elegance (Verve)
Paper:  Cranberry, Breeze (CTMH) Black, Urban Prairie (Basic Grey)
Ink: Breeze, Cranberry (CTMH), Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Accessories: Black Brad (dollar store find), Prisma, Koh-i-noor pencils, odorless mineral spirits, DMC floss, size 2 crochet hook, scallop circle Nestabilities, piercing template/mat (SU), piercing tool (Making Memories)

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The Windows Live Writer “format fonts” function is still not working correctly, despite my attempts to contact them again. Sigh. I’ve tried finding a way to uninstall and reinstall, but I can’t find it. I’ve also tried a repair on the program that didn’t help. Guess the WLW team must be stumped or feverishly working on finding a fix. (at least I hope they are). I can’t change the font in my post, nor can I resize the font. However, all the fonts show up in the watermark feature and I can resize those. Go figure. I suppose I could type up my posts in Blogger, but I do like the features in WLW, so I guess I’ll just deal with this minor inconvenience for now.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I’m hoping to have more to share with you over the weekend.

Hugs,
Jeanne

Rainy Day Fun…

Nope, I haven’t made it back into my corner yet. Today was a rainy day, which might have made it a perfect day to work on some cards, but with the girls home and wanting to do handwork, we instead went to Joann’s and picked out a beginner’s needlepoint kit for each of them. And we also picked out some bright colored yarn for some new ponchos. I know, I know…there’s always something to be created isn’t there? Quite frankly, when it is spring/summer I don’t really like seeing the fall/darker colors on the girls. Maybe it’s a strange justification, but that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. LOL

Here are some photos of the girls doing their first needlepoint stitches.

One of these days, I will get another card made…

Thanks for stopping by!

Jeanne