Bridesmaid Barbie and Sharing Breakfast...

Happy Thursday to you! As I am typing this I am waiting for the call from Brakes Plus letting me know they are done with the van. The brake light has been coming on intermittently for the past week or so and I took it in yesterday to find out why. It turns out the cylinders were leaking on the rear brakes. So, this morning I dropped it off. Thankfully, Steve's buddy is driving today, so I had the Saturn available to drive Jessica to school.

I wanted to share the finally finished Barbie dress! It's actually a bridesmaid dress, complete with a hat and bouquet! Jessica was so excited this morning when I sewed the last little snap on before she left for school. She decided this was the Barbie to wear it. It's actually mine from when I was a girl. It's Barbie's sister, but I can't remember her name. I want to say Skipper, but I keep thinking that was the even younger sister. Anyway, this doll's figure isn't as "fully developed" as Barbie's, so the dress fits just a little bit more loosely than it would on a regular Barbie. ha, ha.

Ohhhh....looking at these pictures I think she needs a slip under that skirt. Yikes! Flashbacks to Princess Diana and those infamous photos...LOL I used a bedspread weight cotton thread to crochet and a size B hook. The pattern called for a baby yarn and size 6 hook. The skirt came out just a tad long, but it still looks okay. I sewed on four snaps, you know those little metallic thingies that were used a lot before Velcro came along. The stitch is mostly double crochet and some single crochet, so not a difficult pattern to follow at all. I finagled the addition of the flowers on the bouquet. I found a small bunch of silk flowers in the bridal section of Michaels and they were on clearance. I used just one sprig from the bunch. I was supposed to sew two ribbon lengths onto the back of the bouquet, but I decided to just put the sprig through the hole, bend the wire in half and wrap the ribbon around the "handle" for the bouquet, I tied it in a knot at the top and snipped the excess off. This way I didn't have to mess with more sewing and it looks a little "neater." So there you have it. I think Jessica is very pleased.

Speaking of her...look what I watched this morning right after she got up.

Daddy made a waffle for his breakfast and he shared it with her. Don't you just love that bed-head hair??? It's always a challenge to brush it out because she has a sensitive head and always whines and complains that I am hurting her when I brush it (even when I am not doing any brushing, lol) Anyway, I just thought this was a sweet moment between the two of them.

Well, the shop hasn't called yet, so I am hoping that there wasn't a problem getting it finished. Guess I'd better go call and find out what's up.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jeanne

Hooo-Hooo~Baby Owl on the Loose!

Happy Wednesday to you! I hope your mid-week, over the hump, day is going well for you. I've been working on the Barbie dress, but I needed a little break from that, so I decided to whip up a baby owl from one of my Amigurumi pattern books (Amigurumi World~Seriously Cute Crochet by Ana Paula Rimoli). I think I have owls on the brain because I have a pattern for a knitted owl from Amy Gaines' Etsy shop that I would really like to work on. The thing is, Jessica really wants me to finish the dress for her Barbie. I'm getting there, I promise, but I just felt like working with regular size yarn for a bit. LOL

 

She's (or is it a he? I dunno) about 4 inches tall. While I'm not a huge fan of owls per se, this one, and the one in Amy's shop, may make a convert out of me. I'm not sure how adding those eyes and nose gives it such personality, but it somehow does.

Jessica was okay with the detour, but only because she knows I'll get back to her project. By the way, thanks for all the great comments about her 100th Day of Kindergarten project. She had a full day of activities counting to 100 yesterday. She said the only normal part of the day was going to Specials (Art class). LOL Her teacher fully embraced the celebration and even wore a funky hat with 100 things attached to it. I didn't have my camera (shame on me) or I'd have taken a picture.

And I gave my friend, Susi, her doily and wristlets today. She was so appreciative. Those wristlets got the most enthusiastic response! She really likes them! Yea!

Okay, that's it from me today. I need to work on some Valentine's stuff, but honestly haven't been "in the mood" to make cards/paper projects this week. Go figure!

Thanks for stopping by and I may be back tomorrow with a completed Barbie dress...

Jeanne

100th Day of Kindergarten!

Happy Tuesday to you! As my title says, today is the 100th day of Kindergarten for Jessica. To celebrate this, the kids were to collect 100 things and display them somehow. Jessica has been thinking about how she wanted to do this for a week or so. She nixed using cotton balls, hearts and various other items. We wandered the craft aisle of Walmart yesterday and when she spied the confetti butterflies, she knew exactly what she wanted to do.

Behold her 100th Day project!

She's a girl after her mom's heart because she loves butterflies about as much as I do. She decided to use blue paper, with green so she could have grass. She also wanted some flowers and leaves. That Mommy crafts so much worked out well. I had a pair of scissors that cut in a grass type shape, a flower and leaf punch and my handy ATG gun. LOL She cut the stems herself and adhered it all herself.

It was so fun listening to her chatter about the butterflies as she put them on the paper. She had all kinds of stories about what they were doing...playing butterfly chase and tag, sitting on clouds...you get the idea. We started out by counting the butterflies out in groups of 10 and she knew every number. Yea! This was a fun activity for both of us!

Thanks for letting us share.
Jeanne and Jessica

Quilling!

I REALLY should be working on cleaning up the house, but before I get started on that I just HAVE to share something with you.

First, I have to say a grateful THANK YOU for all the sweet comments on my recent foray into different crafting techniques. It warms my heart to know that you appreciate the different things I am trying/getting reacquainted with.

I can't remember if I shared this before, and if I have, forgive the repeat, but I have been a crafter most of my life. I've done all sorts of different crafts, counted cross stitch, plastic canvas, crocheting, knitting, beading, tole painting, just to name a few. I have my mom's wonderful influence to thank for my love of crafting. She was always working on something and exploring new things. I don't think I remember a time when she didn't have a project going. She taught me to crochet, knit, and sew and really to just love creating things with my hands. She never got into painting, though. She said her hands would shake too much when she picked up a paintbrush. She even did a latch-hook rug, a huge one, that sits in the living room of the house I grew up in. When I say huge, I mean HUGE. It helped keep us warm in the addition, as the flooring was cold.

So anyway, I drifted away from lots of crafting after she passed away. Maybe it was just too painful in some ways...when so much of my creating was closely linked to her and our time and mother/daughter. Then, I discovered and became obsessed with scrapbooking and that's where my interest was for a good 15 years or more-a craft my mom never really focused on. I dropped all my other crafting efforts. After I quit being a CTMH consultant last February (can you believe it's been a year already?), I started rediscovering the joy in creating all sorts of different things. It feels like I am honoring her memory and influence now. Plus my girls are getting to the age that I was when I started crafting with my mom. I want them to experience the same joys I did.

Okay...got off on a tangent there, sorry. What prompted this post is a comment I got on my quilled Lavendar  card. A very nice lady named Pat Caputo left a comment and included links to her blog, Quilling With Whimsiquills and online store called Whimsiquills. I checked them out and was completely blown away by the artwork I was seeing. I have just scratched the surface, but I can tell you this, I've added her blog, plus the ones she's linked on her blog to my Google Reader. I never really thought about exploring blogs for Quilling. Oh. My. Goodness! You have to take a peek. I will definitely be exploring (and practicing) for a long time to come. Pat, if you read this, thank YOU for commenting and opening up a whole new avenue for me.

That's what I wanted to share today. Now I really must get some housework done or I will start feeling guilty that it's looking so dirty and cluttered. LOL

Jeanne

Meet Miss Kitty

Happy Monday to you! I finished my latest "critter" last night and am excited to share it with you.

Meet Miss Kitty (whose name might change, per Amy)...

Isn't she so sweet? I love that Peter Pan collar and the Mary Janes! The pattern is by Amy Gaines and she has an Etsy shop. You can find the pattern here. She has some of THE cutest Amigurumi projects I've seen. She's even got a booklet out that I have in my stash. Those hot pink kitties that I have made are from her book!

I have those of you who asked me to start an Etsy shop to thank for my discovering her! I went to the Etsy website and looked around to see what all was involved and discovered her stuff. As a reminder, because I am such a copier of projects, I won't be setting up a shop myself, but I am all about enabling! Those of you who want to learn to crochet, I promise, these are not hard patterns to follow.

Anyway, when I saw this kitty and her friends, I just couldn't resist. Amy is a great seller and very prompt. She's also super sweet. I asked her if she had a blog, but she doesn't-yet! I can't wait until she starts one after her move.

I did modify this slightly...very slightly. I have a difficult time getting stitching with DMC floss (for noses) to work well for me. It always looks extremely goofy and I end up pulling it out. Maybe it's the texture of the yarn as  a surface that does it. Whatever. I just know I can't get it to look right. I decided to see if I could crochet a nose in a triangle shape. The nose you see is the result of that experiment. I just chained 4, and single crocheted each row, and didn't had a chain 1 at the end of the rows, so that it would get the triangular shape, then I sewed it onto the face. When I make another one (because you KNOW Jessica wants one now) I would sew it on as I make the face instead of at the end...I think I can make it less obvious that it's sewn on then.

I used Red Heart's Super Saver yarn and think it came out so cute.

Thanks for stopping by. I am now working on a dress for a Barbie, per Jessica's request. I'll let you know how that comes out when/if I finish!

Jeanne

Vellum Butterfly...

When I saw this card by Laurie Schmidlin of Just Give Me Stamps, I actually said out loud, "Oh my heavens, this is a gorgeous card!" My girls quickly ran over to see what I was talking about. They loved it too, and asked, are you gonna make it, Mom? They know me SO well!

Here's my take on that gorgeous card...

At first I couldn't remember if I had that Basic Grey stamp set, but I quickly found it. Whew! When I saw the inspiration card with the lace she added, I knew I wanted to crochet my own lace/edge, so I did! And I really like how it turned out. I need to figure out a way to tuck the edges around the back, though. I ended up not sewing on the card because I was afraid I'd screw it up, so I used white brads to hold the vellum down. You may not be able to see it well, but I pierced the right side, using an Ornare template I got from Ellen Hutson's online store. That pin (yea, I finally used one) is from Making Memories Love Notes line. Found it at Archiver's. The "hello" is from Mixed Messages by Papertrey Ink.

But, I have to tell you about that vellum butterfly! Laurie used Copics to color hers in after heat embossing with clear ep. I decided to use pencils to color on the back side of the vellum. It looked okay, good enough, I guess. Then I wondered if using odorless mineral spirits to blend the color would work on vellum. I tested it on a scrap piece and grinned that it seemed to work well. So after coloring with the Kohinoor pencils, I used the spirits and blending stumps to soften the look. I've never seen that done before (that I know of). I love how it turned out!

The dp is some Doodlebug paper I've had in my stash for quite some time. It's a bit bright, but I think using the colors I did on the butterfly makes it work okay. That pink organdy ribbon is from my stash as well.

This was the card I was antsy to work on before. I'm glad I was able to get it out of my brain, too!

That's it from me this weekend. I am working on a new critter and can't wait to show you. It shouldn't take too much longer to finish it, so I'm sure I'll be able to share it tomorrow. Then I might have to start some Barbie clothes...LOL

Til next time, thanks for stopping by. Hope you have a great start to your week!

Jeanne

Sweet Lavendar Card

Happy Sunday to you!

After I got my Sunday Stuff done, I was able to head to my corner and finish the card I started yesterday. Boy! Was it ever time-consuming, but worth the effort I think. I decided to try my hand at creating the card that is on the cover of the Paper Pierced Cards book by Patricia Wing. She gives a step by step on how to create the pieces to this particular card in the book.

I was able to quill all but 6 of those teardrop shapes yesterday. All that was left was to make the stems, leaves and put it all together. I say all, but it took longer than I thought it would to finish it. LOL Especially because I was antsy to get to the next card I wanted to create (which I will share in a separate post).

I've been mini obsessed with locating some of the templates that were used in the book. I managed to get an email address for the author (who is super nice and so is her associate, Tony) and by week's end had three templates from the book on their way to me...from England! Pretty cool, huh? The embossing template I used is by Anna Griffin and can be found at Quirks of Art. I was excited to find it and another one that I'm sure I'll find a use for. The shipping was super quick, too. I don't have the template to pierce those corners you see (yet-it's coming), so I tried photocopying the cover of the book and using that as my template. It worked pretty well, but some of the corners aren't quite even. I ended up putting the top layer on pop-dots so it's not as obvious. And yes, I glued those seed beads in place, too! The purple mats are Hydrangea cardstock from CTMH and I also used their Colonial White cardstock. The other colors are from Michaels, their value pack cardstock. It's solid color and thin enough to quill pretty well, I think. The only thing I couldn't find were those pearly looking leaves, but I think it looks okay without them.

I'm happy to have gotten this card done and off my brain. I've been wanting to create it since I got the book!

Thanks for reading if you got this far, and for stopping by. It's time for a yummy chili dinner with cornbread. I'll be back with the other card.

Jeanne