For My Daughter. Part 2

 This is the second segmented frame I've done. As with the first one, this one goes to one of my daughters.

 This stamp is from the set called Every Breath. Created by Phyllis Harris and sold by Unity Stamps. This one is probably my favorite. So far. Unity carries several. I want them. All. It's really sad that I'm not independently wealthy. Seriously. I used my Sizzix Machine for the oval, then decorated around it with rhinestones. Metal flowers came from Michael's ( on sale).

Close up of the girl and the bling. After everything was put together I added gold stickles to the dandelion.
I'm really pleased with the way everything turned out. However, I wish that there was a local copic class I could take. I'm not thrilled with my blending here. I suppose it just takes time.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a wonderful day.
                         K

For My Daughter. Part One

 I love these Phyllis Harris stamps from Unity Stamp Company. I wanted to make something special for my daughters. I bought two of these segmented frames on Sale from Michael's a while back. They were perfect for what I had in mind.

 This stamp is called Face the Sunshine. I love how life-like she looks. I stamped and colored her with my copic markers. I found the perfect shade of blue to match the paper I picked out ( don't you love it when that happens?) the metal hope and love embellishments from my stash ( Tim Holtz, I believe). The metal flowers came from Michael's ( on sale!)

Close up of the sweet little girl. Corners are embellished with little pearls.

Unity Stamps carries several Phyllis Harris stamp sets. I'm working on collecting them all. So far I only have two.. :) If you like this stamp as much as I do- you should head right over and get it! www.unitystampco.com
They are a wonderful company. I made a mistake with my shipping address and they were very helpful and helped me to correct it so that I was able to get my stamps in a timely manner.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope your day is full of joy.

Some Birthday Love

Today I spent some much needed time with my best friend, Kathryn. I can't believe it's been 3 years since we've seen each other. I'm hoping that we won't let another 3 year's go by before we see each other again.
 
In honor of her birthday I made this cute little gift card box. I used my Stampin' Up envelope punch board to make the box and my cute little ice cubes stamp from Unity Stamps (I've been dying to use it!).  I love that our birthdays are so close together, as we were able to do a little gift exchange before we headed home.
I had some crafty odds and ends that I picked up on sale over the past few months for her as well.
She got me all sorts of cool crafty stuff ( I can't wait to play around with!)

The weather worked with us for a change. It was beautiful out! Which made it easier to snap a cute picture before we left.

Thanks for the time well spent today Kathryn. I'm looking forward to some quality crafting time.

I love these little Ice Cubes ( Unity Stamps- Itty Bitty). 

I stamped the image twice, cut the cubes out and layered them with 

a pop up dot.

After everything was put together I added stickles to the ice cubes.

Fun little gifts from my bff. Can't wait to dig in and craft!

So Sad

You know how Monday's tend to be the WORST day of the week? It turns out that my Monday was beyond terrible. Words can't really express what a horrible day it was.

I woke up yesterday morning needling to make an appointment at the Vet for my cat Scooby. He'd been having some breathing issues (at first with thought it was adrenaline because a metal ladder dropped on our wooden floor).

The clinic made room for him right away, which was a blessing. After the Dr listened to his head and lungs she decided that an x-Ray was needed. I pretty much knew it was bad when I brought him in. But, I had hoped, prayed I was wrong.

The results were that his heart was weak and he had fluid on his lungs. The four possible causes of this are:
. Cancer
. Congenital heart failure
. An infection.
. Benign Kyle (there was a longer more technical name for it, but I can't remember what it was)

She could have drawn some of the liquid out of his lungs but he would have had to be sedated. The sedation itself more than likely would have been too hard on him. So, I was left with the only choice I could make. The one that was best for him.

At 10 am yesterday morning I had to authorize the injection that would put him to sleep. It was by far one of the hardest things I have had to do. That, and tell my kids that their favorite pet died. It was hard. It was horrible. I felt like I let my buddy down. I know that we did the best we could for him. However, that doesn't make the sadness go away.

Its going to take a while for me to stop looking for him first thing in the morning or when I walk into the house. I have to remind myself to turn off the water in the bathroom sink ( he was uber spoiled and he trained us well). Even our Calico who doesn't really like anyone looked for him this morning.

Scooby, you were a cool kitty and an amazing companion. You are greatly missed.

Some Much Needed Craft Time

Good Grief! I can't believe how long it's been. I have been crafting. Really. I just keep forgetting to make time to blog about it. Life with Teenagers gets crazy sometimes!

Last night was horrible. One of my SD cards got corrupted. I'm not sure how. But, I lost all the pictures that were on it. Most of them were older, so hopefully, I already backed them up on the computer. Nevertheless, I'm very distressed at the thought of losing all my work. The silver lining in my cloud is that I found my other SD card and was able to retake some of the pictures of my crafts. So, YAY!

Here's a small sample of what I've been working on recently.

 I love this Unity Stamps- stamp. It is currently one of my favorites.

 I have always been a big fan of Riley Moose. I especially love the ones with snow themes.

I altered this tin to put stamps in. It's cute and functional. I love that. This is a Unity Stamp from the KOM. Sometime in 2010. I can't remember when exactly and I don't have time to look it up. I have to get dressed and head to church. My sister and I are folding the information pamphlets for Sunday.

Oh, and I'm super excited! We are in charge of Decorations for the Valentine's dinner at our church. We are doing burlap place mats ( among other things). I'll take a picture and share when I get the chance.

Have a blessed weekend.
K

Saying Goodbye

This morning we went to say our final farewell to my grandmother.  It was more difficult than I had anticipated. 

When I got the phone call last week I wasn't surprised. She was 86, had lived a very full life and had been ailing the last several years.  I wasn't overwhelmed with sadness. I was sad that she was gone. Sad for my Dad, and my cousin Michaela ( she was mostly raised by my grandmother). Perhaps I was even a little sad that I didn't have what I would consider a typical grandmother/granddaughter relationship. It's difficult to maintain a relationship with someone when you grow up feeling inferior because you were born the wrong gender. There were other issues, but this was the primary one.

 Don't get me wrong, I have no issues with being female. I don't believe that my male cousins are somehow better than I am just because they were born male. I like being female. I like the fact that at the end of my life I'll be able to look back and remember that I was able to do things that they couldn't do. Because I am female. I gave birth to 3 beautiful children all of them over 8 lbs. These 3 children are my legacy. They are here because I met, fell in love with and married their father. But, I gave them life. It was both an amazing and painful experience. I was able to labor for hours to bring them into this world because I am female. I am female and I wouldn't change a thing. 

Sitting in the second row of the chapel with my family this morning I wasn't overwhelmed. 
* There was music
* Reading of Psalms
* The pastor spoke and I was okay.

* When my Dad got up and gave his eulogy. Suddenly,  I was overwhelmed. Listening to him say his final goodbye to the woman who gave him life was more emotional than I had anticipated. For the first time I saw my grandmother through his eyes. How he saw her. Seen through his eyes she was an incredibly strong, fearless woman. A woman who when she walked into her kids' school the Principal and staff quivered in fear. A woman who wasn't afraid to speak her mind and stand up for what she believed in. A woman who was generous with her time and had a strong sense of responsibility. Looking through my Dad's eyes I saw a woman with a strong sense of family. I saw a woman I would have been proud to call my friend. Hearing the emotion is his voice triggered this overwhelming feeling of sadness. I didn't know this woman. I knew a different woman. One who made me more miserable than not during my childhood. I felt such sadness.  Sadness that we missed having a loving relationship because of her preconceived notions of ( what felt like ) my unworthiness. I wish I had known the woman I saw through my father's eyes.

It's Pinterest{ing}

I have a confession to make. I LOVE Pinterest. It's one of my all time favorite things.  A site that you can collect ideas. It's wonderful.  I have other things I need to do during the day so it isn't practical for me to be online for hours at a time. So, I try to be smart. I limit myself to once or twice a week, usually on the weekends and [almost] always at night. Perusing Pinterest at night means I'm usually not disturbed and I can window shop til my hearts content. I consider it a reward. After all I was good all week, no one died on my watch, laundry was washed, dishes were done, dinner was cooked. These are all good things and deserving of a reward. And Hey! Pinterest browsing is fat free! Big bonus there.  So, I'm going on and on about this latest fad... I have several folders with A LOT of info inside them. However, I'm not just collecting information I am also trying new things and stepping out of my comfort zone.  I have tried several of the recipes I have saved ( that will have to be another post) and a few of the craft idea's I've saved as well.  

Today I am going to share my experience making (sewing) a messenger bag. You can find this tutorial at crazylittleprojects.com/2012/09/messenger-bag-tutorial.htm .  Before you see the pictures of my messenger bag I need you to keep in mind that despite the fact I have a sewing machine, I have use it very little. When I have used it, my projects have been very basic. Curtains for my living room, my girl's room and my room. Quillo's were also made ( many years ago). If you're unfamiliar with the term quillo, it's a quilt that folds into a pillow. It's an amazing thing. Really.

Amber's instructions we pretty basic and fairly easy to follow. Any mistakes that were made were my own.  One of the bigger challenges I had was reading it straight off the computer. If there had been ink in my printer I would have printed the directions out. Also, when cutting out the material I made several mistakes and at least once had to go back to Joann's and buy more material. Learn from my mistakes people and CUT THE BIGGER PIECES OUT FIRST. You'll be happier for it, trust me.   I found that despite the fact that my scissors are really excellent, I wasn't happy with the way they cut the material. It was choppy in places. I think my scissors are better suited for cutting out actual pattern pieces. If you have the money go out and buy a rotary cutter ( I love mine- I bought it after I messed up the first cutting) and a self healing mat ( get the size you need). Also a yard stick is a beautiful thing. When used with a rotary cutter your cuts will be straighter. 

I found a pin showing someone using a pony tail holder as a guide for sewing straight lines with your machine. I gave it a try and found it worked surprisingly well.  Over all I didn't have a lot of trouble sewing the bag together. Most of my issues were I sewed too far in from the edge of  my material. Which if you sew, you know that means you have a smaller area when you're all finished. I also had some issues with the handle. Most of that was due to the fact that I'm not really comfortable with my machine and didn't know how to move the material in a way that would allow me to  sew multiple layers in order  to make it sturdier. 

Over all, I am pleased with my first try. Pleased enough that I already have material bought and cut out for my second bag. Which I hope to make before I leave on my trip next week. :) We'll see how much I get done between now and then.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope your week is full of sunshine.

                                ~K