Thursday, June 30, 2011

You’re invited to the Gina K release tonight!!


I am excited to extend an invitation to Gina K. Designs June Release Party to you!!  We have a fun evening planned for you filled with chatting, prizes, challenges, stamp set reveals, design team shares, and most importantly, at the end of the party you will be able to go shopping!

If you came from the lovely Emily’s blog, you're at the right place. If not make sure to head over to StampTV where you will find a list of all those participating in today's hop.

Here's a ‘little’ peek at one of the cards I will be sharing at the party!  It is my favorite one I made using the new One Free with 3 set!!

butterfly2

Hope to see you at the party, here are all the details:

Head on over to the very talented Cat’s blog now to see what sneak peek she's sharing with you today and see you back here on July 5th for the beginning of our 3 day Inspiration Blog Hop series!

Pin It

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Sew What’s New??


paper pieced lady
It took me way too long to get this set & ink it up because it was SEW fun to work with!!  Sew Pretty by Gina K Designs is a fabulous set to have if you or someone you love adores sewing so it was a no-brainer for me to have!  The set also begs to be paper-pieced, which happens to be one of my TOP favorite techniques so I grabbed my Basic Grey Hello Luscious papers and ‘picked’ out her outfit and apron!  First, I stamped the main image then colored her in.  Second, I stamped her shirt/skirt onto the solid green, cut it out then adhered it to her.  Lastly, I stamped it onto the pattern paper and just cut out the apron and adhered it to her ‘outfit’.  That way the apron appears to layered ONTO her outfit properly.  I also made this card as a sample for Jimmi’s Mix It Up Monday challenge at StampTV; to paper-piece.  You have one more day to participate in this challenge for your chance to win a free stamp set valued up to $24.95!! 
Speaking of sewing, my friend Stephanie and I went to The Cotton Cupboard again yesterday!  I didn’t have to go to work until 12:00, so she and I met for breakfast at The Java Dive (organic) and I had a delicious waffle and coffee!  Then we couldn’t resist getting more fabric!  Another reason I made this card was to give it to Jessica, the shop owner which she LOVED!!  She was showing it off to some of the ladies there.  The shop was hopping!!  Here’s the loot I got – some gorgeous Batik fabrics!!  Sorry the photos aren’t that great!  Once I get some time to sew, I will make something and share it here.  For now, I am off to stamp with my NEW Gina K stamps; the release is this Thursday, June 30th at StampTV for the party!  More details to come!!
IMG_2853IMG_2854IMG_2855IMG_2856IMG_2857

Card Details
Stamps: Sew Pretty (see link above)
Cardstock: Ivory, Tan Leather pure luxury; Basic Grey Hello Luscious (see link above)
Inks: Memento rich cocoa; Antique Linen distress
Accessories:
Jenni Bowlin button; copic markers; ivory cotton thread
I am planning to share this at the following link parties:
BLOG TITLEsomewhat simple button
UndertheTableandDreaming

Photobucketsew many ways

linkingpartybadge copy
Show and Tell Friday
Flaunt it Friday
Pity Party 42
Frugalicious Friday
Friday Fun Finds
Feature Yourself Friday
It's a Hodge Podge Friday
Lovely Crafty Home
The Girl Creative
Tatertots and Jello
Savvy Southern Style
Tea Rose Home Pin It

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Saturday Fun Day share!!


So at the last minute, we scheduled to hang out with our friends James & Stephanie on Saturday who live up in Lakeway (about 40+ miles away from us (miss the days when we lived about 10 miles from one another when we first met in ‘03*sniff*sniff*!) First, there was a Geocaching event John wanted to go to (the 2010 awards ceremony and although he one of his caches was nominated, he didn’t win but that’s o.k.) it sure was HOT too!  I got a darker flip flop tan on my feet than I already had! 

Our first stop was Opie’s BBQ in Spicewood.  I had tried this BBQ many times at work (leftovers in the cafĂ©) and fell in love with the Spicy Corn & Tater tot Casserole!  In ‘08 it was rated one of the Top 50 Best BBQ’s in Texas.  Well, John was not much of a fan of it so I suppose I will only be having it at work when it’s leftover (like it was yesterday).  But James and Stephanie liked it!! 

Next on our stop (which is right up the road from their house) was The Cotton Cupboard.  Stephanie suggested we Jessicago there since I love to sew and I’m SEW glad we did!  That place is a sewer’s dream!!  Much to my surprise, I know the owner, Jessica (pictured at the right)!  She was always so friendly and cheerful; we met a few times at my in-law’s house about 10 YEARS ago because she was friends with John’s step-sister.  It was so funny when we saw one another on Saturday, we both said the predictable, “you look so familiar” and I won because I remembered her and her name!  John was impressed; as we chatted later about how he was surprised I remembered HER and HER NAME, I told him why.  There are few people in this world that make lasting impressions, and well, Jessica is definitely one of those people.  We saw her 19 yo daughter who also works there, I think she was about 9 when we saw her last.  Time flies and kids grow up so fast!  Looks like Jessica did a great job raising her and her little brother, who we found out SEWS at age 13 (I think that’s how old she said he was). 

Ok now onto more goodness since I am just rattling on!  quilters candyThey had the coolest tub of scraps called ‘Quilters Candy’ they are ‘6” squares, sugar free, fat free and you can’t have just one’!  It’s true, because I think I bought like 13 of them!  

I thought they would make great mug rugs or coasters so I told James & John to pick some out so I can make them some!  Here is a picture of them all having a ton of fun in there!  At one point, I looking for candysaid, ‘I changed my mind about getting these’ and John said, “oh shoot are you serious” with the most disappointed look on his face and I said, “no, just the ones I was thinking of getting'” because I know he was thinking he just wasted 20 mins of his time looking through the tub!  We all had a good laugh about that one!  o.k. now the EXCITING thing I talked about going on July 16-17 – is that Stephanie and I are going on a South Texas Quilt Bus Trip with The Cotton Cupboard!  Woo hoo!  I am SO EXCITED about it!  Here are all the details, in case you’re in the Central Texas area and want to go – there’s about 8 spots left!  We will visit 6 different quilt stores, be on a luxury bus (that has a toilet!), get lunch & activities at the quilt shops, stay overnight in a hotel, and I will get to spend quality time with Stephanie, and we won’t even have to miss work since it’s Sat & Sun.  I will be sure to take lots of pictures so I can share when I get back! 

Next, we went to Scrapology which was a real neat store!  I found some cool Deadbeat Designs and Texana Designs. 

We went to a cool kitchen store after (can’t remember the name though) and that is where we saw the Soda Stream in action, in which you take cold water and add it to the machine and carbonate it, then slowly add your flavor soda syrup!  It is only $110!  We tried the VERY carbonated Root Beer – delish!!  What I was most excited about, was getting my long coveted  Whirley Pop! I am a popcorn fiend! It is my all-time favorite snack!  I usually make it in a big pot and pour salted, melted butter over it and season it with either Tabasco or a combination of garlic salt & chili powder or garlic powder and Greek seasoning!  yum.  We tried this the other night and I have to give it a big ‘ol THUMBS up!  All the popcorn popped and it seemed to be real fluffy!  Can’t wait to try some of the recipes others have posted on the website.  

Next was a super fun place called Lake Travis Wine because we got to sample LOTS of wine!  Back in February, all 4 of us had a wine class with food pairings and talked about the idea of making/bottling our own wine.  bottling wine
Well, they do it at Lake Travis Wine and we finally decided to do it – there are rules against us mixing the wine so we are not going to be involved in that process, but when it’s ready to be bottled, we plan on having a wine bottling party and even get to make our own custom labels. We figured these would make nice Christmas gifts too. Oh my – I can’t even remember how many wines we tried but I will tell you that we had some fun laughing about a lot of stuff and were feeling good! ***Raspbeery, Vaginizer and Michael Jackson (all inside jokes of course!)*** To the left is the man who kept bringing us all the wine to try – his name is Chris and is a great guy!   

fun people

These people were hanging out at the bar area enjoying their wine, the lady in the middle made a killer cracker for us to have in between wines to cleanse our palate and we almost ate the whole bowl!  You take oyster crackers and 1 cup of oil, 2-3 TBL of red pepper flakes and 1 pkg of Fiesta Ranch dressing.  Mix it all up and every 30 mins mix it again and again until the crackers turn an orangey color.  YUM!  funny man
And this funny fella showed me around the back where all the wines are fermenting, I thought he worked there, but we are not sure about that.  All I know is he wanted to take a picture with me & kept calling me ‘sweetheart’.  I have a feeling he had been drinking ALL afternoon there!  We only drank for about 45 mins or longer and we were feeling good, I can only imagine how good HE was feeling! 

After we left the wine shop, we hung out at James & Stephanie’s headbandhouse  and while the guys chatted, we sewed!  I finished hand sewing the last of my mug rug binding while Stephanie made her first headband and did a real good job!  Here is a picture of her wearing it - nice huh?  Then we had some pizza and chatted and stayed out way too late but it’s all good – we had another memorable day with our great friends! 

Pin It

Sunday, June 19, 2011

FSNI results!!


1st headband
Well, I survived my 2nd Friday Night Sew In and it was a blast!!  I think I was way more productive than last month because I completed 3.75** projects (will explain).  My first one was a reversible headband by Daisie (easy to follow tutorial!) but I think I made mine a little too wide in the center because it wants to pop up above my head a little.  Practice makes perfect (the next one should be better because now I know!) I used Amy Butler and an unknown coordinating blue fabric. 
tissue holder
Then, I made 2 pocket tissue holders, so easy & fun!  Look forward to making some of these as little Christmas gifts/stocking stuffers!  This tutorial was super easy to follow too!  I gave one to my friend Stephanie yesterday and she really liked it!!
seatbelt cover
Next up is something I made for myself and a co-worker because the shoulder seat belt cuts into the sides of our necks.  I made up my own pattern and will share a little tutorial soon on it.  It has a little batting on the inside to make it soft and closes with some velcro.
mug rug
Next up is my FAVORITE project, one that I have been itching to make for a while now, a Mug Rug!!  I used some Amy Butler Soul Blossoms fabrics and coordinating solids I picked up at my LQS.  I followed this tutorial and these binding tips and it was my first time to free motion quilt!  Wow, that was a lot of fun!! 
mug rug back
It took a little while to get the hang of it, for it to feel more natural and I had a challenging time taking out the pins I had basted the quilt with, but I'm sure with more practice, it will become second nature!! I am real proud of it in spite of the back that does not look quite as nice as the front even though it’s reversible. **about the 4.75 projects I made, I had all but the handsewn back binding done on Friday night so last night at our friend’s house, while Stephanie made her first headband, I completed the back binding my hand!  I will share a picture of Stephanie’s headband she actually modeled in a future post because this one is so loooooong already!
mug rug in action
Here is my mug rug in action this morning!  I am using my awesome ‘Do Something Creative Everyday’ mug I got from my sweet friend Carolina a few years ago (it’s one of my FAVES of course and a motto I try to live by *wink!)
FSNI mess
I thought I would share a few pics of the mess I created on Friday night (since we were out all day/night last night with some friends, I was not able to clean it and it still remains – yikes!) I will clean it today unless I decide I just have to sew one more thing!  Not – I think I sewed enough for the next few days!  I have some other things to take care of like laundry, housework, stamping etc!  I use the island as my ironing & cutting station.
FSNI mess2
The dining table is my sewing/computer station which is right next to the island!  I like to watch movies o netflix while I sew.  Here is a picture of my new sewing machine!  It sews like a dream, quite the workhorse, sewing 1100 stitches per minute!  I love it!  
Hope you have a great week and visit back soon; in my next post, I plan to share our super fun Saturday with our friends, all the goodies I got and what EXCITING thing will be happening on July 16-17th!!    EEEKS!!
Sharing on these links:

somewhat simple buttonBLOG TITLEUndertheTableandDreaming
Photobucketsew many ways Pin It

Thursday, June 16, 2011

GKD blog hop: Masculine


dad's day

Welcome to the Gina K monthly blog hop with the designers!  This month our theme is Masculine, how fitting since Father’s Day is just a few days away!! 

If you came from Cat’s, you're at the right place. If not make sure to head over to StampTV where you will find a list of all those participating in today's hop.

I made this card to give to my Papasan (that is my nickname for DFIL), I am not even sure why I started calling him that so many years ago, but I will never forget the first time he called me and said “hey, it’s Papasan”, it made me smile and still does!  Cecil is his real name and he loves to fish when they go out to visit his brother & sister-in-law who live at the lake.  One of these days we plan to make a trip out there with them.  It’s been forever since I’ve fished!  I’m sure he’ll like this card, he usually appreciates them since he knows I make them special.   I used Theresa’s set Gone Fishing from last year, and tried to follow one of her gorgeous scene tutorials; I like how it turned out, but I think I went a little heavy on the shadow from the dock.  oh well!  Remember a few days ago I used Basic Grey’s Lauderdale papers and promised to show you the ‘masculine’ papers?  Well here they are – just perfect for a masculine feel, especially that ‘plaid’.  I used Jen Del Muro’s June sketch for my layout too. 

Head on over to Giovana’s blog to see what she's sharing with you today!

Card details:
Stamps:
Gone Fishing
Cardstock: Kraft, Black Onyx Pure Luxury, Basic Grey Lauderdale
Inks: Memento tuxedo black, Summer Sky; SU! pacific point
Accessories:
Jute ribbon

Pin It

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Simple Grad card


grad

I was asked if I had a graduation card in my stash for a friend who buys my cards and I didn’t *gasp* so I made a real quick one to give her and share with you.  It’s been a while since I’ve known someone who graduated from high school, got married or had a baby so I don’t always have these types of cards sitting in my boxes!  Maybe I should change that soon!  Since I didn’t know the school colors, I went with the traditional yet classic black & white theme, I like the simplicity of the card and hope she will too.  I made some simple score lines with my scor-pal for some added interest on the left side and bottom.

I want to share that I have taken a break from sewing lately too, just haven’t felt in the mood and I was thoroughly distracted for the past 3+ weeks reading The Hunger Games trilogy.  Those books were riveting, so exciting that I wanted to stay up all night to read! I ended up reading at work during my lunch, taking them with me in case I was somewhere I could read a few lines, read at home including nearly every night before going to bed.  Sewing will resume real soon because I have to get FNSIButtonworking back on my quilt in my Quilt Class and I have the Friday Night Sew in scheduled for this Friday evening.  Yea!!  I am super excited mostly because I will be using my new sewing machine I bought a few weeks ago!  I have used it once and that thing sews like a dream, I’m so excited!  So far there are 103 of us sewing crazies signed up!  Won’t you join us??  We will share on our blogs on Saturday what we worked on and there’s always a fun giveaway for a random participant! 

Card details:
Stamps:
School, Sports, Spirit!
Cardstock: White & Black Onyx Pure Luxury cardstock
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: 1 1/4” and 1 3/8” square punches, foam tape

Pin It

Monday, June 13, 2011

Mix It Up Monday–Wear your White!


mixitupmonday banner

june13 challenge

Hi there!   Here is a card I made using this week’s Mix It Up Monday challenge at StampTV!  Cat is hosting this challenge, and it’s a great one – to use white embellishments!  I used a white card base, white pearls, white ribbon and a white flower!  I used the new set by Theresa called Vogue Vases – isn’t it a pretty set?  I wanted to use some of my new pattern paper, Basic Grey Lauderdale and chose this fun print for a decorative vase with orange, yellow and white.  There are some great masculine papers in there (*hint hint* will show you more of that on Thursday with our monthly GKD blog hop!) 

Hope you will play along – you don’t have to have Gina K stamps to do so, but if you have them you may as well use them because your name will be entered in the drawing twice for it!!  Then you can win a stamp set of your choice valued up to $24.95!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Card details:
Stamps:
Vogue Vases
Cardstock: White, Sweet Mango pure luxury, Basic Grey Lauderdale
ink: Butterscotch Vivid, Cantaloupe Memento
Accessories:  white flower, orange button, white organdy ribbon, open scallop punch (EK Success)

Pin It

Sunday, June 12, 2011

I’m back but with a Heavy Heart


IMG_2162

Shelby Baker
1996-June 3, 2011

This is my reason for my recent absence from blogging.  We had to put our sweet dog Shelby, who had brought so much happiness to our family for the past 12 years, to sleep on my birthday. This picture was taken in April, isn’t she so cute?   Now that I look at the picture, she seemed to not be her happy self, since she usually always appeared to be smiling for the camera! 

IMG_0142

We got Shelby in 1999 to be a companion for our lab Jazz who was just a year old.  They became fast buddies until one night Jazz got out of the back fence and we woke the next morning to just find Shelby back there.  We never found Jazz, and although I think Shelby missed her, she was perfectly content to be the only animal in our family!  But she went on having to deal with the 2 cats we still had so she ended up just being the only dog in our family!  Shelby never liked to play with toys, although one day last year when we weren’t paying that much attention to her, picked up one of Elsie’s toys and threw it in the air and it knocked down a few things on the TV and fell behind it.  It was pretty funny! 

IMG_0534

Shelby was a Daddy’s girl…whenever John was at home, she plopped herself down on the floor right next to him. Whenever he wasn’t at home, she would lay in those same spots, waiting for him.  She was always so happy when he came home!  She also LOVED living at the property!  We were blessed to have her for as long as we did, especially because she was diagnosed with a tumor on her lung Nov 6 ‘09 that I shared here.  Over the 19 months we still had her around, we enjoyed each day she would greet us with a wag of her tail in the mornings and evenings.  We listened to her cough change a lot over the months, seeming to get better & worse at times.  But when we took her to the vet last Summer, the vet was inclined to say it didn’t appear that her tumor was cancerous and was perhaps a fatty tumor like she had in other parts of her body, a result of her aging.  But when we stopped eating her crunchy food a few weeks ago and had a sore on the bottom of her mouth on the right, we knew something was wrong.  The vet ended up finding a tumor in me & Shelbyher mouth from her molars to her esophagus which explained a lot.  Our difficult decision was not that hard to make considering her age, the fact that she was not taking her medicine, eating or drinking much and the fact that we just could not put her through more suffering, we knew it was the right thing to do.  However, it was still so hard to endure but we had to be the ones she would see when she took her last breaths.  I take comfort in the fact she is no longer suffering and we will see her again in Heaven but it hurts my heart so much to have this emptiness in the house and in our hearts.

Pin It

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Gina K Inspiration Hop Day 4: Vintage Chic StampTV kit


what would you do
I hope you have enjoyed our past few days of inspiration hops with the Gina K designers!!  Our last share is using the new Vintage Chic StampTV kit and I have to tell you (and I know we say this a lot but we’re not lying) this is my FAVORITE kit of all time (since Gina has been doing them!)   The kit is jam packed full of awesome goodness pure luxury cardstock (24 sheets), black & white ribbon, brads and pattern papers created by Gina herself!  There are 11 images in the kit and 11 sentiments to mix & match to create stunning cards & projects!  On my first card, I paper-pieced some cranberry tart balloons that the silhouette lady is holding, and stamped directly on one of the pattern sheets.  How fun is that? I love the various widths and types of ribbon in this kit too! border bling & kit
My second card is also pretty straight-forward using all the supplies from the kit (but added a border bling for the sentiment focal point, cut out with a labels 9 die).   
moxieLastly, I have a card I shared on my blog earlier in the week, but I don’t want anyone to miss out on it so I am posting it again, since it was one of my favorites for this release!  It also uses all supplies from the kit!  I wanted to do a little something different with my sentiment, so after I stamped and punched it out with a circle punch, I also punched a black onyx circle (including the inside) and offset it and added a brad to the top.  You can click on the photo for a close up. 
As you hop through the blogs, make sure you leave comments along the way for a chance to win a free stamp set of your choice valued up to $24.95! We will randomly choose two winners so the more comments you leave, the more chances you have to win.  Thanks for stopping by!  Be sure to check out StampTV each week Monday and Friday we have challenges posted where you can win MORE free stamps!!
Pin It