Tuesday, December 25, 2012

More Christmas Creations

Hello Again!  I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas and Santa was good to all of you!! 

Now that my son called and told me they love their gift, I can post the pictures of the quilt I made for them.  This was actually started about 3 years ago - some things just take me a l-o-o-o-o-o-ng time to finish :(  I have forgotten the name of this pattern.  I have a quilt on my bed that's the same pattern.  The kids loved it and asked me to make them one like it that would be large enough for their California King bed.  So without further ado --

This was on a double bed and hung off nearly to the floor!

Closer view of the center motif

Close up of the center medallion to show quilting

This is a log cabin variation.  The curved appearance is achieved by cutting the green strips narrower than the white ones.  I had it machine quilted at a local quilt shop.  I love the way it came out!!


I made Chocolate Cards for most of my Christmas gifts this year.  Under the chocolate bar was a check.  A very special Thank You for the ideas goes out to Christina Carstensen for posting all the pictures of her fabulous chocolate cards she's made over the last several months.  Be sure to visit her blog here to see her fantastic work.

Most of the stamps I used on these cards are from the new Christmas Story Collection available from Diana's Magnolia-licious store. She has the pictures of the stamps in color now!  How great is that :D

Daughter Becky and Granddaughter Megan's cards

Son-in-law Jeff and Grandson Jacob's cards

Insides of Becky and Megan's cards

Megan's fiance' Justin's card



Becky can't eat chocolate so I fixed her up with Twizzlers.  They were just a tick larger than the chocolates so I folded the edges over and taped them in place to fit the same size card.

The last Christmas gift I made for this year is a candle for Becky.  I masked the scene of Edwin and Tilda ice skating.  This idea came from Rene' I think.  This was a little bit more coloring than the Stamp Camp candles were, but I'm pleased with the results. 

Candle front

Candle back


Thank you for stopping by again and spending some time.  Drop a comment so I'll know you were here.

Huggeroonies,

Sunday, December 23, 2012

More Stamp Camp pics & The Project!

My daughter Becky helped me prepare for Stamp Camp this year by decorating the gift bags we used to sort the project kits for the participants.

When each person arrived they were greeted by a bench with a display of the finished gift bags including their names on a tag.  The bags were beautiful!!!  Becky did such a wonderful job we promptly hired her for next year! :D

Overall view of gift bags




Close up of some of the bags






Although some of the bags were similar, they were all slightly different.  Didn't she do a great job?

She wouldn't let me even peak at the bags until they were all done.  As we would chat on the phone, she would ask me what I was doing.  My answer every time - I was working on a  project, but no details were told.  What I was doing became known as "The Project".  It was a special Christmas card I made for each of my three kids and my brother Jim and his wife Marion.

Drum roll please--

Presenting The Project --
The Project - Front
 
The Project  - Another Easel Card - Open 
Everyone has received their cards except Becky - she'll get hers tomorrow - so I feel safe revealing it to all of you!

All of the stamps are from the Magnolia Nativity collection and were colored with Copic Sketch markers.  This is about 1/3 of the stamps in the collection.  They are all so beautiful it was difficult choosing which ones to use.  All of these stamps are available from the Magnolia-licious store and the very wonderful and generous Diana.

Thank you for stopping by and sharing my special card.  Please let me know what you think about this card.  Having made four of them, it is safe to say I'm a glutton for punishment -- but it was soooooo much fun coloring all those images :))))

See you soon,

Huggeroonies,

Friday, December 21, 2012

WOW!!!  Has it really been three months since I posted!???
I may have been away from my blog, but I've not been snoozing - I have been VERY busy. 

I finished up my canning in early October.  I ended up with 15 cases of assorted canned goods - 4 varieties of pickles, chunk tomatoes, spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce and salsa.  There were no pears or applesauce this year due to the bizarre spring and a general lack of the fruits in our area this year.

Once canning was completed, I began preparations for our church Christmas Card Stamp Camp that was held on December 8. Since I don't work, I volunteered to do the "leg work" of gathering and sorting many of the supplies for the event.  Each of us did 3 projects and were responsible for getting the "kits" made up of pre-cut pieces and embellishments for each of the 25 participants, the other 3 team members, and completed projects for the kitchen crew who prepared a fantastic lunch for us.

Here are pictures of the 3 projects I presented -


An easel card Christmas House

A Vellum overlay card

and a "stamped" candle

Everyone seemed to enjoy the candle and were surprised at how easy it was. 

The other girls made mostly traditional cards and a cone basket ornament.  I don't have pics of the rest of the projects.

The door prizes were the table decorations handmade by the four of us. They turned out beautifully!!  The idea came from the Magnolia Ink Magazine No. 5 2010.  I thank Karita for the great tutorial in the magazine.
Close up of a couple of the candy boxes
One of the tables awaiting the start of Stamp Camp



A few of the "campers"

Here are the candy boxes I made -


I used stamps from the new A Christmas Story collection and the Tilda with Banner from the new Nativity collection.  I just love every stamp in both collections.

I have also made many chocolate cards and 4 Nativity scenes, but they will be in the next post!

Thank you so much for visiting my blog and staying with me through this L-O-N-G post.  Please leave a comment telling me what you think of the candy boxes and projects for the stamp camp.

Huggeroonies,

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Tilda's Town #18 - Autumn Colors

I've been very busy again getting tomatoes and peppers done.  When our tomatoes "came in and ripened" they were overwhelming in number :(  But things are slowing down.  I think I'm about 2/3 finished with them.

I haven't had much free time the last couple weeks to play.  I did manage a half-hearted attempt at a Tilda's Town challenge card with the theme Autumn Colors.  I really love the fall colors!! I had colored up these adorable fall images a couple weeks ago, but didn't get a card made for last week.

On the front I used several fall stickers that I've had in my stash for a couple years.


All cardstock in this card is from Stampin' Up!  The designer paper is from a DCWV Fall stack from 3 years ago.
The Sentiment is Magnolia and cut with Spellbinders Labels Twenty.


Here is the left inside. Tilda with Corn was fun to color.  I like corn on the cob a couple times a year.
The background stamps are Magnolia minis.
The sentiment is also Magnolia.  I thought "A Little Yummy for Your Tummy" went right along with all the canning I've been doing lately.  It was cut with Spellbinders Labels Six.


The right inside features Tilda with Carrots and Tilda with Lovely Jam.  All images are colored with Copic markers.
Silly Tilda!!  She doesn't seem to realize that she's holding a jar of sweet pickle relish :D  I've made lots of that this year too.

Here's the full inside!  This was fun to do, even if I was really rushed.  I sure hope you enjoyed seeing some yummy for the tummy!!

I am entering this card in Tilda's Town Challenge Autumn Colors.

Huggeroonies,



Wednesday, September 05, 2012

Tilda's Town #16 - Back to School

I finished another card today! On a roll :D

The challenge at Tilda's Town this week is to create a Back to School card. This was very fun and easy - no big flower bouquets, no fancy ribbons - just several Magnolia images and cute designer papers.


I think this DP is from Stampin' Up!, not sure.
I used the Maggie House No. 9 as it looked like a school house to me.
Tilda and Edwin are sitting on the New Bench waiting for the teacher to announce that it was time to begin class.  All images are colored with Copics.  The tag was cut with the Doohickey die Vintage Tag and inked with SU Pacific Point.
The sentiment was computer generated.
The flower is from Wild Orchid Crafts.


This is the inside left panel.  The "chalkboard" was made by just gluing four Crumb Cake strips to the edge of the piece cut from the DCWV Grade School stack.
The "Welcome" banner was cut with Poppystamps Simple Banner die.
The School Desk and Garden Chair are older Magnolia stamps.
The images were colored with Copics. 
The banner letters were stamped with SU Pacific Point ink.


This "chalkboard" is another sheet from the Grade School stack.  I just thought they looked like a "first day" greeting and had lots of bright colors in them! 
The images are Autumn Tilda with Pencils and an older Maggie - Tilda with Pencils - and colored with Copics.

Here is a picture of the full open inside.


It does look like a cheery, welcoming school room!!

I am entering this card in the Tilda's Town challenge - Back to School.

 Thanks so much for stopping by.  I hope this has brought back some good memories of the first day of school for you.

Huggeroonies,


Wedding card


Today I would like to share with all of you a wedding card I made for a young lady from our church who got married this past week.

This is based on a Bev Rochester card from a while ago.
I just love Whiff of Joy's Willow as a Sitting Bride.  I first saw her on a Suzanne Dean card several years ago.


The designer paper is from My Mind's Eye Wild Asparagus stack.  The card base is Stampin' Up's whisper white with Pretty in Pink for the layering.

Willow was stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black and colored with Copics.  I added Shimmerz Pixie Dust to her dress and Diamond Stickles to her veil.

To add a very personal touch to the card, I took a small piece of the tulle leftover scraps from hemming the dress and added it to the veil in the image.

Her bouquet and flowers on the swing are accented with Baby Pink Stickles.  The flower crown in her hair has Yellow Stickles on it.
The corners were cut using a Cuttlebug four corners Vintage die.  The pearls are from my stash.
The flowers and pearl spray are from Wild Orchid Crafts.  The leaves were punched using Martha Stewart Branch punch.

The sentiments were stamped with SU Regal Rose ink.


Of course this is an easel card!  Would you expect anything less from me!?!
The little pearl hearts are from WOC.

I am so excited that you could stop by today!

Huggeroonies,

Tuesday, September 04, 2012

Fall card for brother and sister-in-law

In spite of being very busy again this week, I took a needed rest and made an easel card for my brother Jim and his wife Marion.  They retired three years ago, bought a motor home and go visiting.  They have visited with family and lots of sightseeing - if a place looked interesting they stopped!!

They came to visit us for the last weekend in July.  We had a fantastic time!!  I haven't seen them in about 3 years.  It was so wonderful to see them and sad to see them leave.

They bike ride quite a bit, so I thought Tilda and Edwin riding their bikes would be the perfect way to say "thanks for coming to see us".


The card is very simple, but works beautifully.  I sponged the background with Stampin' Up! Pacific Point and Old Olive.  The images and tree were colored with Copics.  Edwin's shirt and Tilda's outfit were paper pieced.

In our conversations I discovered that Marion has done some stamping and was very interested in seeing my stamps and stuff.  She really liked the Magnolia stamps.


Here is the open view of the card.  The designer paper was from SU.  The jotting panel  was cut with Nestabilities Deckled Rectangles.  The ribbon from the "good ole" stash.  The fall leaf charms were from The Charm Barn.

And here is a close up of the bottom of the card.


I hope you have enjoyed seeing this card.  It was very fun to make.

Huggeroonies,

Friday, August 31, 2012

Scooter Tilda Birthday card

I took yesterday off from all the canning and freezing I've been doing!!  I really needed to rest :D
So I made a birthday card for Deby, our Stampin' Up! demonstrator and pastor's wife.

The Magnolia-licious Highlites Challenge this month was "Autumn Splendor".  I love fall and the gorgeous colors when the trees change and the weather begins to cool down from the 90 and 100 degree days.  It also means canning and freezing time.  This provides much of our food stock for the winter.

Here is my offering for the challenge this month.


All the papers are from Stampin' Up! Regals collection.  The image panel is Naturals White.
I sponged the background with SU Marina Mist and Old Olive.
The images were colored with Copic Sketch markers.  The Naturals White paper is more like watercolor paper and it was nearly impossible to blend the colors.
Tilda was stamped on Cryogen white and it blends beautifully.
The flowers and leaves were from Wild Orchid Crafts.
The pearls from my stash.

This is an easel card, so here is the open view.


The designer paper was from DCWV The Fall Mat Stack purchased several years ago.  It is just perfect with the brown, deep gold and dusty red flowers.
The sentiment panel was cut using Nestabilities Labels Ten.  The green label was cut in half and glued under the red panel.
The gold ribbon was a freebie from Ellen Hutson's store.
The pearls were from the stash.

That's all for today.  Tomorrow I will be doing tomatoes again.

I will be entering this card in the Magnolia-licious Highlites Challenge.

Huggeroonies,














Thursday, August 30, 2012

I've been busy!!

It's been a couple weeks since I've posted anything.  I have been very busy working on preserving my garden produce.  The cucumbers and peppers have been producing in very great abundance. 

Here's what I've been doing --

August 23rd - started batch #1 of sweet chunk pickles which take about 3 weeks to finish - no picture

         
August 23 - 14 quarts of Kosher Dill pickles


August 24 - 14 pints of sweet pickle relish

  

August 25 - 12 quarts of tomato chunks










August 26 - 12 zucchini muffins and 1 loaf of zucchini bread - forgot to take a picture

August 27 - 10 pints of Bread and Butter pickles - also forgot to take a picture

I was not idle though!  I worked on getting more peppers cleaned and chopped for the freezer.  Those I will use up in the spaghetti sauce that will be starting next week - just waiting for the Roma tomatoes to ripen. And I spent a couple days getting caught up on laundry and some cleaning.
Earlier today I started a second batch of sweet chunk pickles.

About three weeks ago I did up stuffed green peppers and froze them along with a dozen empty pepper shells.

Thanks for stopping by!! Me thinks it's time for a nap ;D

Huggeroonies,