Penny Black : Dancing Chick - Mother's Day thank you

Hello and thanks for popping in :-)

I made this quick and simple little card the other day to give to my SIL & her DH to say "thanks" for having us 'round for Mother's Day lunch.  It was great catching up with some of my extended family.  As I was dropping into my SIL's home just over a week ago, I wanted to bring this card along but it was foggy at my house - I had hoped it would lift by the time I dropped my DD at school, but it hadn't, so I stood on my decking in the freezing cold fog trying to take a photo of this card!  I bet I must have looked really silly LOL!!  The sun was trying to poke thru so I sort of got a reasonable shot, but anyway, what can you do?!!

The card was super-quick and easy to make. I diecut the card with my Cuttlebug and Spellbinder Scalloped Square Nestabilities using the Tutorial by Bev Rochester (Bev's Blog is: All the things I love) which was posted on the Whiff of Joy Tutorials and Inspirations website.  Been wanting to make one of these cards for ages but didn't know how until I stumbled across it the other day.  

I made the Scor-Pal lines first then embossed the top and bottom panels with my Cuttlebug and small dots folder from the "Just my Type" set.  This cute little image was coloured with Gamsol and Prismacolor pencils - but I watercoloured the grass with Acrylic paints.  I lightly chalked around the image for the sky and added pink and lemon chalks to complement the image.  

I added Kindyglitz Crystalina to all the flowers,  plus fine lemon/pink glitter to all the tiny hearts (the leftover punchies from my Arrows border punch - I use them ALL the time, don't I?!!).  The bow was made with my Bow Easy.

I'm popping this card into the Splitcoaststampers (Clean and Simple) CAS56 Challenge of 'It's hip to be square!"

Thanks again for stopping by!  See you again soon!

Jocelyn

Card Recipe:

Stamps:  Penny Black 'Dancing Chick' 2564F, Sentiment: from Impression Obsession WP16 Sentiments 1 clear stamp set

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black

Accessories:  Cuttlebug, Dots embossing folder from Just my Type set, Spellbinder Large Scallop Square Nestabilities, Bow Easy, lemon organza ribbon 7/16" - 12mm wide, EK Success Arrows border punch, Scor-Pal, Gamsol, Prismacolor pencils, paper stumps, JoSonya acrylic paints, paint brush, Kindyglitz Crystalina, .008 fine lemon and pink glitter, Cardstock: white, lemon, pink

Penny Black 'For goodness sake' card number two

Hello and welcome to my little world :-)  I haven't had much time for cardmaking this week because my DD was off school all week with a chest cold - which I have now as well :-(   Still, us Mums just keep going, don't we?!

I made another DT card for Fat Cat's Card Corner using the gorgeous Penny Black 'For Goodness Sake' slapstick stamp that they sent me in my DT Kit.  Check out the first card I made with this set here.   I have just checked their website and they are out-of-stock until June but you could email them and ask if they might be able to reserve one for you.

I stamped the image onto Watercolour paper and watercoloured with my acrylic paints.  I added some fine crystal glitter to the flower on the girl's hat and poncho, and on the 3 dots on her shoe, as well as the bunny's tulip and heart.

The large flower was diecut with the Marianne Design Creatables flower die that was part of my kit - there are 2 sizes of flowers in the set (plus 1 leaf die).  Once I diecut the flower, I ran it thru my Cuttlebug using the Textile embossing folder just to add some texture to the designer paper.  The flower is up on a 2mm mount (dimensional).

For the sentiment, I diecut lavender cardstock with my Cuttlebug and Spellbinder Scalloped Heart Nestabilities die then punched the white cardstock with my old Carl CP-2 Heart punch (which I have had forever).  The tiny heart in the centre of the panel is a leftover punchie from using my EK Success Arrows Border punch - I added some Crystal glitter to the heart too.

The bottom panel has been punched with a Martha Stewart Pinking Scallop edge punch - I seriously love this punch - it's so pretty.  I ran the panel thru my Cuttlebug using the 'oldie-but-a-goodie' Swiss Dots embossing folder then attached the ribbon.  The bow itself was made with my Bow Easy, then I sewed on a gold heart charm before I glued the bow onto the card.

All the designer papers are digital and are from NitWit Collections Fat Quarter Bundle Series "Just Ducky" ©2010 by Mary Fran of www.nitwitcollections.com 

I think you could use this card for lots of different occasions: birthday, friendship, thank you etc.

I'm popping this card in this week's Splitcoaststampers "Ways to use it" Challenge WT272 of "Paint".  Of course, I used paints for watercolouring.

Thanks again for visiting and have a great weekend - hopefully back in a few days with another card.

Jocelyn

Card Recipe:

Stamps:  Penny Black 'For goodness sake' 40-021 Slapstick unmounted, Sentiment: Impression Obsession - Sentiments WP16 clear stamp set

Ink:  Stazon Jet Black

Designer paper:  NitWit Collections Fat Quarter Bundle Series "Just Ducky" ©2010 by Mary Fran of www.nitwitcollections.com

Accessories:  Cuttlebug, Swiss dots & Textile embossing folders, Spellbinder Scalloped Heart Nestabilities, Marianne Design Creatables LR0109 flower die set, Carl CP-2 Heart punch, Martha Stewart Pinking Scallop edge punch, EK Success Arrows border punch, 140lb/300gsm Watercolour paper, JoSonya acrylic paints, paintbrushes, gold heart charm, lavender sewing thread, mounts (dimensionals), organza ribbon 3/8" - 10mm wide, .008 crystal glitter, green button, Cardstock: lavender, buttercream, rose (tiny heart).

Gone Fishing!

Today, my happy little fish tutorial is featured on Tip Junkie /Kids summer activites and crafts. Check out all the fun ideas for kids! Go Fish!

Seasons In the Sun

(My baby, 2005~ it's obvious that she has brothers! It's also amazing what a little mud and water will do for entertaining! What JOY!)

Summer is almost here for my kids! They are all anxiously awaiting the last day of school! I think I am too! I am looking forward to long summer days, family reunions, family vacation, late night sewing projects, and cooler weather in the rocky mountains. I also can't wait to visit some of my favorite quilt stores in Utah. I always love the new Halloween and Christmas fabrics!

My Etsy shop will be temporarily closed June 23rd- August 30th. It is always great to return in the fall with new projects to share and new creations! Thanks to all of you who visit my shop!

Wishing you all fun summer days playing in the water and mud!

Ribbon and Wrapping Paper

Check this out!

Do you have a lot of ribbon? This idea is great for organizing ribbon of all sizes, texture and color! I've been looking for a solution to the madness of ribbon and tissue paper.

The best part, it's so easy to make! I found it HERE -33 Shades Of Green! It's nice that you can use a frame that works well with your space.

I hope this is useful for you as well!

Princess Accessories

Fit for a Princess!
Every little girl needs a handmade magical fairy princess wand to go with her "dress-up" clothes!
This is a great craft project or party favor for a little girl Birthday party! Welcome smiles and twirls!

From Fishing poles to Princess wands...remember the fish, use your leftover dowels.
Would you like to make one? Here's a easy tutorial!

Materials needed:
Dowels (Walmart craft isle or any craft store)
ribbon (wide and narrow-I used my ribbon scraps)
flowers (dollar store~I used 5-6 flowers per wand)
wire, glue sticks
buttons or jewels
bells (thread bells through narrow ribbon)
tulle (great use of tulle scraps)


1. Cut two tulle squares measuring 6" X 6".
2. Take flowers apart(take centers out of the flowers).
3. Place two flowers in the center of the tulle .

4. Pinch the tulle and flowers to a point.

5. Wrap tulle with wire on to your dowel.
6. Repeat steps 1 through 5 until you have a full wand of flowers wrapped in tulle. I made 4 sets for one wand).

7. Take wide ribbon and fold the raw edge over.

8. Wrap the dowel and glue with glue gun top and bottom.

9. Embellish wand with large bow, several smaller ribbons, tulle, and buttons.

10. Thread ribbon through 3-4 bells, place in wand. (My daughter loves the bells!)

Celebrate the magical days of childhood! Enjoy!

Make a wish for the day.....I wish breakfast for my kids to magically appear!

New Beginnings

I'm back, and now a Mrs!

I'm SO sorry that I dropped off of the face of the planet over the last month! Who knew wedding planning could be so time consuming?! Combine that with work, kids, my youngest sister getting married in June, we were busy people.

So far, I only have a few pictures from the wedding. Once I have more, I'll post them, along with some really fun DIY projects that we did to make our wedding fun!

Our cake was made by one of my bestest friends,  the wonderful and talented Jocelyn of Sugarbelle

Reuben and Zeke painted a nasty old tacky gold picture frame for us. I bought it at a church garage sale for a buck, with the intention of giving it a face lift.

 I was so impressed with how neatly they painted it too. Not bad for a 6 and 7 year old!

We used this for our seating chart. Notice that there aren't any numbers? We did

 antique/vintage modes of transportation instead.

More to come soon, thanks to our three fantastic Photographers,

R. Irvine, Karen Schliewinsky and Simone Upham.

Playdough

1 cup flour
1/4 cup salt
2 tablespoons cream of tartar
1 package unsweetened Kool-Aid or other powdered fruit drink
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 cup water

1. Mix flour, salt, cream of tartar and Kool-Aid in a medium pot.
2. Add water and oil.
3. Stir over medium heat 3 to 5 minutes.
4. When mixture forms a ball in pot, remove.
5. Knead until smooth.
6. Play and explore with this fragrant, brightly colored dough as you would any play dough.
7. Put in a plastic bag and refrigerate to store.



My favorite playdough recipe! Have Fun!

Deck The Halls Of Home With Joy

Welcome friends....As many of you know, this blog started out as "just for fun" Christmas inspiration. Happily, it has evolved into a place of friendship, laughter, inspiration, expression of creativity, crafting and more.

Thank you for following along! I have met so many wonderful friends! I hope you all feel welcome here and know your friendship is heartfelt.

Welcome to a favorite room in my home~the Dining Room. Like most families, we spend many special occasions, celebrations and Holiday dinners in this room. I am a mother of six- four are boys! I love having a formal dining room where my boys can see, feel and appreciate a sense of beauty. (A Mom can only try and I do try!).

I've alwys been inspired by the window treatments in the Armstrong Mansion (My Great Great Grandparents home-Francis and Isabel Armstrong.) Today it's a beautiful Bed and Breakfast Inn in Salt Lake City, Utah. A great place to celebrate an Anniversary!
My Dining Room has three large windows in front of the house that face south. When we were celebrating our first Thanksgiving a few years ago in our new home. I wanted our room to feel inviting. I also wanted it to be somewhat formal. I kept thinking of the Armstrong Windows.


I started dressing up the windows in fall colors and fall textures, they are my favorite colors to work with. I was decorating for Fall, but loved the colors so much they have stayed through all seasons.




1. I started with a grapevine swag that I placed horizontally above the shutters. The grapevine is anchored to drapery hooks.

2. I draped fabric (56" wide) 8-9 yards of brown textured fabric weaving in and out of the grapevine.

3. I embellished the brown fabric and grapevine with fall garland beads

4, Next, I Added a twist of ribbon to help secure and hold the garland into place. I may add sheer or textured fabrics to the sides of the windows for a more formal look.


Enjoy!
I'm joining Creations by Kara!

Penny Black 'For goodness sake' - new slapstick stamp

Hi and welcome to my Blog :-)

This is my Design Team card I made for Fat Cats Card Corner using this adorable little Penny Black "Slapstick" stamp.  I've never used one of PB's Slapstick stamps before, but it is great quality and deeply etched rubber just like their wood-mounted stamps (except of course you just use a mounting block to stamp with).  This little bunny reminds me of a Bunnykins mug I had as a child - my late father would heat up some milk for me every night to have in my little mug before I went to bed.  The milk HAD to be in THAT mug!!

I thought this image would be perfect for watercolouring and tried to keep the colours pretty and soft.  I haven't watercoloured for months so it was nice to get back to my "first love".   The butterfly in the top RH corner was punched and then I ran it thru my Cuttlebug using the Textile embossing folder.

I added Kindyglitz to the yellow flowers on the girl's hat and under her chin, as well as the heart and tulip on the bunny.

The teal cardstock side panel was punched with my new favourite punch (which was also part of my DT kit) - Martha Stewart Pinking Scallop edge punch - and the designer paper was put thru my CB again using the Textile folder.  This panel was popped up on 1mm mounts (dimensionals).

The main panel is also up on 1mm mounts.

The ribbon was made in 2 separate elements.  I tried to tie a bow but this grosgrain ribbon wasn't very well-behaved - it wouldn't sit nicely, so I did a "Faux Bow" in that I just folded the ribbon and sewed the button to the centre.

The pink and teal hearts next to the sentiment are the leftover punchies from using my EK Success Arrows border punch - they look like tiny hearts and are just so cute :-) 

Thanks again for stopping by - hope to see you again soon!

Jocelyn

P.S.  I have been fiddling around trying to learn how to edit HTML code so I can make my photos sharper (they have been blurry on my Blog but perfectly in-focus on my Splitcoasters Gallery which was making me crazy!!) - think maybe I am getting somewhere at last!!  :-)  I found a thread on Blogger Help where other Bloggers had the same issue.  Drop me an email if you would like to know the link.

Card Recipe:

Stamps:  Image - Penny Black 'For goodness sake' 40-021

             Sentiment - from Penny Black 'Tiny Wishes' clear set

Ink:  Stazon Jet Black

Designer paper:  Basic Grey Urban Prairie - Bountiful

Accessories:  140lb/300gsm Watercolour paper, JoSonya acrylic paints, paint brushes, Cuttlebug, Textile embossing folder, Spellbinder Oval and Scalloped Oval Nestabilities, Martha Stewart Pinking Scallop edge punch, EK Success Arrows Border punch, Carl CP-1 Butterfly-A punch, Kindyglitz Crytalina, Kaiserscrapbook Pearls - Bliss SB718, pink button, pink sewing thread, teal grosgrain ribbon 7/16"-11mm wide, Cardstock: pink, lemon, Colormates Medium Terrific Teal

From Window Valance to Crafting/Cooking Apron

What's Cooking?

Hello Friends! It all started with a black and white checkered Waverly valance that was the wrong size for my kitchen window! I loved the quality and design of the fabric-plus it was lined, so I hung on to it and made a apron from a valance!

I found my valance at Tuesday Morning for $8.00 per valance. The Waverly valance had originally started at $55.00. Several of the valances at Tuesday Morning were clearance priced between $4.00-8.00. You can easily get two aprons out of one valance! (Check the length). The fabric is heavy drapery lined fabric. The style of my valance is in a "V" shape, which makes it even greater for a apron! (The measurements of the valance are 52" width x 20" length).

I added four lined pockets, a tie that slips through the casing, and ties around the waist.

Quick and easy! You can easily make one too!

Let's Get Started:

1. You can find valances similar to mine on sale. (Look for the heavy lined drapery valance with 2"-- 2 1/2" opening or you may have one on hand that you are no longer using.

2. Place the valance/apron around your waist for desired size. Cut to fit. (This is the back of the valance shown in the picture). You can see the fabric lining and how well it is suited for a apron! (I cut 10 inches off on each sid, the "V'" should be centered on your waist) With a straight valance, you could get two aprons in one valance!

A. You will have raw edges on both ends of your apron, to make a nice rolled hem on both edges, unpick back approx 1/2 inch.
B. Fold and press into place and sew a 1/2" hem. Do not sew the casing closed, you will need to leave a opening for the ties. Press and set aside, move onto pockets.

3. For Pockets, measure desired width and cut 8-10 inches for length of pocket.

4. Measure and cut lining of fabric for back of pocket.
5. Cut interfacing the same size as front and back fabrics.
6. See picture below, place your pocket front and back fabrics right sides together, place interfacing on top(like a sandwich).

7. Sew along the length of fabric on both edges top and bottom creating a tube.

8. Turn the fabrics to the right side or front of the pocket, press, trim with rotary cutter both ends of long tube. Sew the two openings closed by creating a nice hem on both sides of tube.

9. Press pocket and place on front of apron, pin into place.

10. Measure and mark your pockets. I generally mark 3-4 pockets evenly spaced. Sew pockets to apron at both ends of pockets and bottom of pockets.

11. Measure and cut fabric to desired length for ties. I like my ties to go completely around my waist and tie in the front. Measure ties so they will fit through the valance casing.

12. Press rolled hem on both ends of ties, fold and press into place and sew. Make sure you press the ends before you sew. I like to sew top and bottom of tie.

13. Feed the tie through the casing with large safety pin.

Your apron is complete and ready to wear!

Enjoy!