Friday Night Fun with Heather Bailey

Well not actually with the real live Heather Bailey, but Fun with one of her lovely patterns! 

This was featured in one of my first blog posts as a fun pattern I purchased from Heather's blog and shop, "Hello My Name is Heather"

I decided to go ahead and make one of the little flowers tonight.  So I scrounged up some wool felt that was in a packet I purchased for the wonderful Charlotte Lyons at Silver Bella last year. 

Then I raided a huge bin of felt that my mom has for the purple background flower.  I also had the cute pink wirey pom pom string from an etsy purchase at Angela Harris' shop.  I made the yo-yo out of a scrap of vintage fabric I had, and the button was left over from my Rebecca Sower class at Silver Bella.  Don't you love using up little pieces of this and that for your projects? 

Hope you are all having a great beginning of your weekend!   Thanks Heather for the fun pattern, keep them coming :)

Happy Crafting,

Rach

Wild Flowers!!

Aren't highways always a little more enjoyable when they have Wild Flowers dancing along the side of the road as you fly by?  The gravel back-country roads are just a bit more romantic with the spray of color that Wild Flowers add.

My parents' friend and neighbor owns Grandpa's Woods Golf Course, and he has some beautiful Wild Flowers in the middle of the course.  We drove over there tonight to get a look at the wonderful mixture of flowers.  We had to run on and then quickly OFF the course as to avoid getting beamed by any golf balls!

Take a look at these quick pics I took!

Good night!

Rach

Blogging for Bliss

Hi Everyone,

Next Tuesday, August 4th is the blog book release party for Tara Frey's book Blogging for Bliss!

Artsymama's blog will be the party headquarters and she has already begun a blogroll of everyone participating. You will also find a button for the party on my side bar (designed by Hope Wallace), she said you can add it to your blog if you are participating.

Looks like a fun way to think about why you blog, and what you want your blog to represent!

Looking forward to it, thanks Kari and good luck Tara on your book!

Happy blogging,
Rach

Stitchy Hellos - A fun Giveaway!!

Today's project was punching holes with a needle so I can be ready to stich these cute cards soon.

Have you seen these great cards?  The company is Sublime Stitching .  I believe I found these cards at Fancy Tiger in Denver.  They have great stuff, and a cute blog.

Anyhow, you use the needles they provide to punch a hole on each dot of the card, then I'll go back through with the thread provided to create the design.

I am so excited to create these and have a reason to send one out in the mail!  The "real" mail, snailmail as it were.  So to have a chance to have one of these beauties sent to you....finished of course with a special note from me in it, please leave a comment here.  Tell me your favorite embroidery stitch.  If you don't embroider, tell me your favorite project you've done, or seen someone else do.

You probably have a few days to make comments before I finish the card.  But make a comment now!  As soon as it is stitched, it will be sent to a random winner.

Good Luck!

Rach

Tribute to Cork

Hello all, 

I just wanted to include a couple of pictures of our good 'ol boy Cork.  He was 13 years and about a month old, and Friday night he passed onto doggie heaven.  He is probably running around with his brothers and sisters now.  The picture below is of my Dad and Cork a couple Christmases ago.  Cork loved bones, bread, anything he could eat!  He also enjoyed walking in the creek on my parents property.  He was a loyal dog to my Dad and loved going hunting birds.  

Rest is peace Corker!!  We love you.

Craft Talk

Oh my gosh, this video is so funny, I had to share it! It is on YouTube, 

and I saw it on one of the blogs I came across, unfortunately I can't remember 

which one now! However, this is fun to watch for all crafters :) CRAFTASTIC!

Happy Birthday Allie!

Today we are celebrating my niece Allie's 8th birthday.  Her actual birthday is the 6th of August, but we surprised her with a little party.  

We decorated with crepe paper, balloons, and a cute little fabric and canvas paper garland with her name on it that I made this morning.  The boys of course helped.

Allie was very surprised when she came in, and excited!

She had a great time opening all her gifts.  We bought lots of art supplies for her and Pokemon cards and a Lil Webkin.

Allie requested Pink Lemonade, Chocolate Cake and Cookies and Cream Ice Cream, so that is what we had!

Here we all are with the birthday girl.

A Start on the Art Journal

So I finally took the first step to begin my art journal.  I thought the journal from evalicious was going to be the start, but I decided I wanted a bigger canvas and heavier weight pages for what I want to do first.  

We stopped at Dick Blick's after my Dad's cardiology appointment today and did a quick run through of the store.  I bought chipboard for my Recipe Swaps for Silver Bella.  I also picked up a cool book-making kit, that I'll try at some point.

When we got home tonight another one of my aunt's stopped by for a visit.  Then we spent some time with our 13 year old Lab who was struggling today.  I am hoping he is better tomorrow, especially with the weather cooling off some.

I decided to punch holes for binder rings on my journal.  I am using a variety of 3 kinds of paper pictured here.  

The covers are heavy weight thin canvases.  I thought I was going to put in smaller papers and such, and I may still do that later, so I punched four holes.

We will see if inspiration hits me this weekend, and perhaps I'll decorate the covers.

We are having a surprise birthday party early for my niece who will turn 8 on Aug 6th.  I bought her art supplies and "real" art paper, I think she'll love them!

Happy Crafting,

Rach

Fun Fabrics!

Hello All -

I am itchin' to post the pics of my October Tags for the Year of Tags Swap for Silver Bella, but alas if I do it won't be a surprise!!  DANG IT!  I have a hard time having something for people and not being able to give it to them right away!  That is why I don't shop too early for Christmas...gifts burn a hole in my pocket!  I am nearly done with the Tags and then I will begin the covers for the finished Year books!

Ok, so I need to post about something else to take my mind off not sharing the tags....How about the new Japanese fabrics I purchased on etsy?!?  I bought them from sonatine's shop.  (watch the shipping rates, it's a little pricey of course coming from Japan!)  My mom was jealous I received a package from Japan....maybe I will share with her ?!?  Or maybe I will make a little quilt with some of them and have her quilt it for me.  

Anyhoo - here they are....  I love the vintagey looking french one:

... and the japanese crazy candy one.  

The flowers with the dots fabric reminded me of an old feedsack, which I love love love.

I think I may create a large yo yo to affix to my art journal.  I laid out all the art journal supplies too tonight and just stared at them.  Apparently the cover and paper I bought is 9x12, so it doesn't fit in a normal three hole punch....challenging....

Tomorrow after my Dad's doctors appointment I may try and stop at Dick Blicks to get some lightweight Chipboard so I can begin on my Recipe Swap for Silver Bella.  

Is everyone as happy that tomorrow is Friday as I am??

Happy Crafting,

Rach

Is it Friday Yet?

Hi All-

No crafting done today.  However I gathered lots of inspiration adding a number of new blogs to my google reader account.  Does everyone use Google Reader to house all their favorite blogs they like to read?  I was having a heck of a time going into all my favorites to see if there were updates, that is until I found the Google Reader, and now I can easily see which ladies have updated their blogs and spend time reading those and finding new ones!  I love it.

I thought I would include a picture of Harley tonight.  This is how I felt all day, so yawny!  Then of course I couldn't get away without posting a pic of MaGraw too, so he is below too.  I always have to take pics of MaGraw with colorful backgrounds so you can see that black little kitty!

Happy Crafty Dreams,

Rach

D O N E!!!

I am finished with my Stichery Sampler!!  I am so excited it is complete.  I just need to find a cute old frame to put it in and hang it on my wall.

I wasn't quite sure what to do for my last three blocks, and decided I loved the polka dots from the yo - yo and I might as well try some red dots next to it.  It reminds me of the French General jewelry tool kit I bought.

Then I decided the little birdie would be a nice finish to the piece!  The orange and black weaving was an Ode to my October Tags I am making for the Silver Bella Year of Tags swap :)

Now I am sitting here trying to decide if I should spend time finishing the tags, OR should I sort out what I am putting together in my art journal??  I received the art journal from evalicious, and it is very cute.  However, I am thinking of using the papers in a bigger sized 8x10 journal since that is what I had in mind working with.

hmm, decisions, decisions.  Does anyone have an art journal they are working on now?  I'd love to hear about it and how you like to use it!

Happy Crafting,

Rach

Sampler ALMOST DONE!

Hi All -

Sorry for the delay on the updates.  As you can imagine, it's still busy around here.  We had Dad's work pals, and my aunt and cousin stop by on Saturday.  Saturday night I did get out of the house and had wings with my friends in Lincoln.  As we are eating a low sodium, low fat diet now, I ate 5 wings and felt like I ate a salt lick!  It was unbelievable how I tasted the salt so strongly.  I guess I am so used to no salt after only a week and a half, that I don't really need it much in my food anymore, which is great.

Anyhoo, Sunday we ran errands in Omaha.  I stopped at Mangelson's to pick a few last items so I can get back to working on my tags for the Year of Tag's Swap for Silver Bella!!

I also put in sometime on my sampler this weekend and this evening while watching The Men Tell ALL on the Bachelorette.  I am excited to see who Jillian picks next week :)

Ok, no more waiting, here is the sampler!  Only three blocks from being finished!!

Stichery continued!

Hi Everyone,

Tonight we had yet another couple of old neighbors stop by for a visit.  Bud and Betty stopped by and brought 3 8x10 pictures for me of the sidewalk chalk art I created for them when I was a wee thing.  It was a poem about trees and a rainbow with birds.  I will have to try to scan them and share this weekend!  What a flashback.

After they left I worked a little more on my sampler.  

I really like how my flowers came out.  I am enjoying using the little bits I have laying around in this so I can see them all the time.  

I added a little to my peace block, and my Dad thought the little misshapen pyramid looked like Chimney Rock, which is a famous landmark in Nebraska.  I think he is right!  I am sure that is what I had in mind all the while ;) 

Happy Crafting,

Rach

Stiching Sampler BEGUN, oh boy!

Hi everyone,

We had more visitors today.  First our neighbors from YEARS ago stopped out.  It was nice to see them.  Then a couple coworkers of my Dad's and then another past coworker of his stopped to say hello.  It is nice to see so many people care!  Oh and the comments being left at www.9news.com regarding our news video and article are really heartwarming.  We discovered from one post that the man who did the chest compressions on my Dad before the Firemen came happened to be a cardiac nurse...sitting right in front of us!!  What a miracle!

After all the visitors, I pulled some of my crafting supplies out to the living room to decide what to work on.  I almost started trying to figure out how to put together one of my bracelet kits from French General, but had no clue, and figured I would learn from Ms. French General herself, Kaari Meng at Silver Bella!  So then I pulled out my embroidery supplies.  I was completely inspired to work on a stichery project after nearly finishing my Rebecca Sower bracelet from Silver Bella, and then by seeing the Wonderful Amy Powers Stiching Sampler on her blog inspireco.  Amy's sampler is gorgeous and so inspired by her wonderful family.  I am a beginner embroiderer, so I hope to learn a few new stiches along the way and come up with something pretty cool.

Here are the first two squares: 

Don't ask me what the second block was going to be!  I started trying to do a larger pyramid using an interesting stich, but I didn't draw it out and it became really short!  Those Pyramid contractors didn't have much of a budget ;)  Anyhoo, I am enjoying it already!  I am going to try and add at least one block a day!  Anyone else want to start one too??  Stiching on the buddy system??

Crafty dreams,

Rach

More Visitors and Glitter!!

Hola!

Today two of my Dad's brother's came to visit, so we spent some time catching up with them this evening.  After they left I spent some time "organizing" all the things I brought with me to Nebraska.  I was also considering what project I could start using my new glitter!  During our Michael's stop on Sunday I picked up some Martha goods!

Any ideas?? 

Today the boys had a fun filled day.  They watched the baby bird fly from above the window to the nest by the front door.  To those that have cats and have heard them make that crazy "k k k k " sound with their mouths going crazy, you will know what I mean when I say MaGraw was making that sound at the baby bird. 

Then Harley was tuckered out.  I have never seen him flop on the couch like this, he seemed very comfortable sleeping like this!

Oh I almost forgot to show the pic of my new printer!  I have printed two photos so far for my Dad and my Mom has used it for faxing all the paperwork to the doctors!  It is pretty cool I have to say!

Off to bed, I need to get used to this Central Time Zone!!

Happy Crafting,

Rach

Manic Monday

Hi All-

No crafting done today :(  I had a VERY long day of working and catching up.  Then had to watch the Bachelorette, I must admit, it is getting down the the wire!  The most dramatic Bachelorette EVER right?!  Anyhow, then after that I set up my new PRINTER!!/FAX/ SCANNER/COPIER!!!  I am so excited about it.  I have always wanted one, but never pulled the trigger because I didn't know which one to get.  I have trouble with electronics, tv, etc because I want to make sure I am getting the best possible option for the money, but have NO clue what the differences are between all the models.

We stopped at Best Buy during our errand running yesterday and I pulled the trigger on the HP they had on sale.  It was easy to set up and I even printed a photo quality print straight from my memory card!  I will post a picture in the morning, I am too tucker out right now!

Good luck for a good week everyone!!

Rach

Trying to finish Silver Bella 08 projects!

Hi All -

I am glad I packed some projects with me to finish up while I'm here in Nebraska.  I took the Rebecca Sower needlework bracelet class at Silver Bella last year and have yet to finish it!  I made all the individual squares during the class but needed to put it all together and embellish.  I worked on it today and attached all the squares, added the little vintage number ribbon and the little black and white lacey bits.  I added the button as well.  All that is left to do is make a button hole and I am good to go!  I will try and complete that tomorrow.  

I was hoping to continue work on the October tags for my SB swap, but we had lots of errands to run today, including a trip to Michael's, and they didn't have what I needed for the tags...will have to go back to Omaha to Mangelson's for that special something.  In the meantime I found LOTS of other things I "needed".  I bought art paper to add to the art journal I am raring to go on making.  I was very inspired by Hope Wallace's journal, and am anxious to begin my own.  I did order a journal and instructions to make my own from Eve at her etsy shop evalicious.  I have lots of ephemera and other bits that I want to add too.  

I think I am going to order the latest eZines from Teresa too so I can have all sorts of ideas to journal about!  

Hope everyone had a good weekend!  

Crafty dreams,

Rach

Family Day

Happy Weekend!

I was so happy on Saturday to just wake up whenever I did and not have a whole lot to do.  My brother and his daughters came out to spend the day with us so that was nice to see them.  My nieces got into making bookmarks and drawing on some "real art paper".  Needless to say, there will be glitter all over the house for weeks to come.  

I began to work on my Silver Bella swap that I am hosting - A Year of Tags Swap.  I am Miss October for the swap, and let's just say the Orange and Purple watercolors and watercolor crayons got some use today.  I only have 5 tags done - need to make 12!  Tomorrow I hope to squeeze more time in to get further along.  I will then be making the covers for the finished book of tags for all my gals.

My youngest niece was very sweet today.  I asked her to sing a song for her grandpa to make him feel better.  She said, "well Family should make him feel better".  I asked her to elaborate, and she said that being with family always makes her feel good.  Being with us today she said made her feel good, and being with her Dad makes her feel good too.  Pretty wise words from a nearly 8 year old!  

To that end, I am posting a few Family shots.  Me and my Dad up top, and me and my nieces below.

Hug your family,

Rach

Heroes

We arrived back at my parent's place in Nebraska late last night.  We will be here a month or so, and head back to Denver for my Dad's bypass surgery.  I wanted to include a photo of four of the Firemen that saved my Dad's life at Red Rock's a couple weeks ago.  I am eternally grateful to these men, and to the others onsite that assisted.  How can you begin to thank these men that have given you so much?  The Firemen came to the hospital yesterday before my Dad was discharged.   My Dad was very happy to have a chance to thank these guys, and the Firemen were really happy to see they had such a great outcome.  Channel 9 News came by to do a piece on my Dad's Heart Attack, rescue, and the Life Vest that he is wearing until surgery.  I will add the link to the interview if/when it is listed.

I brought some crafting supplies, and will start a project or two perhaps this weekend.  We have lots of things to get settled here, like the matter of groceries for a new Heart Healthy Cardiac diet!  If anyone has some good recipes that are low fat, low cholesterol and low sodium, please send them my way!

Please tell the loved ones in your life to be sure to get an annual physical and if there is heart disease in your family history get a stress test and EKG, even if you feel fine and are in good shape!

Take Care,

Rach

Flowers at the Hospital

Here are the beautiful flowers that have been sent to my Dad at the hospital during his recovery from his heart attack.  There is a little chapel outside you can see from the window of my Dad's room.