Neat Pics

Well, I've been down with my back since Friday, so no sewing for me in a while. What a way to spend the weekend, ey? My wonderful Mark helped me a lot, though. He took care of me and helped me a lot. He's the sweetest guy on the planet.

Someone sent me these pics in an email. Aren't they cool?

Have A Great Memorial Day

I hope everyone has a great weekend... a big salute to all the men and women who have served our country... past and present. Thank you.

Memorial Day/Fourth of July Wall Hanging

This is a wall hanging I designed as an "in-the-hoop" embroidery machine project, meaning that everything is done with the embroidery machine. There is no other sewing involved. Each piece is basically done as an applique on water-soluble stabilizer, then the stabilizer is rinsed away after all the stitching is done. Both sides of each piece is covered in fabric so it is pretty on both sides. The colors are appliqued pieces of fabric, and pretty ribbons tie it all together.


It really is easy to do, as long as you follow each step :) But isn't that the truth with pretty much everything lol...

Word Book With George Cartridge

This is a great tutorial on how to make a word book with Cricut Design Studio. I only have the trial version, but I am definitely going to try this!

Susan's Word Book Tutorial

New Cards

I finally had a few minutes to post the cards I made this week...

This one is for my sweety.



I used a Sizzix die to cut out this butterfly.



These cuts are from the Cricut Christmas Cheer cartridge.



The flower is from the George cartridge. I used some paper I had that I absolutely *hated*, but I thought it looked good on the flowers :)



The next 2 were also from the Christmas Cheer cartridge.





I am so jealous of the gals who are making crocheted flowers for their cards. I don't crochet, so I made some fabric yo-yos. the "rope" is from some "sticky stitches" I found cheap at Big Lots. I finally figured out where to use them.



Flowers are from the George cartridge.



I machine embroidered this butterfly on tulle.



The Mickey is from the Cricut cartridge.



I am so hooked on making cards lately, that I haven't been sewing very much! My sewing machines are getting sad and lonely, so I will have to work on some of my sewing projects next.

Great Vintage Photos and Cards

I found a wonderful link to some great vintage photo shares... would be great on those cards or heritage layouts!

Vintage Photo Freebies

I love the cards Jay made here - Indigo Inklings

Great inspiration!

I made a bunch of cards over the weekend, but this week has been a little crazy, so I haven't gotten to post them yet... This weekend is a holiday, though... 3 day weekend - woohoo!!!

My Other Critter

By now you all know that I have an adorable little pug :) but my other little buddy is Brewski. He is a russian dwarf hamster with such a sassy little attitude. He loves carrots and walnuts... that's what he is eating in this picture.

Awesome Blogs I Found Today

So I'm goofing off and reading other people's blogs... Here are some really nice ones I found:

Buttonberry has some nice tutorials here... I really like that gift bag!

A great car litter bag.

Regina has some beautiful cards here.

Back From Nashville

Nashville is so beautiful! I had a great time with my friend, Margy. She is an incredibly BAD influence when it comes to shopping! We went fabric shopping, which is always bad for my credit card LOL. I just get crazy feeling, touching, and *fondling* all those beautiful fabrics. Here is a picture of Choice Fabrics, where I left a BIG pile of coin lol

These are some other pics I took:

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

To all the moms out there, I hope you have a WONDERFUL day!!!!

Nashville Here I Come!

Tomorrow I fly to Nashville to see my friend, Margy, for a few days. We are going to hang out, shop, talk, relax, and who knows what trouble we'll get into :) Besides being a SUPER sweet lady, she has a sewing room to DIE for. I have to be very careful not to drool on all her wonderful fabrics when I'm there.

I'm supposed to be working today, but my head is so outta here already!!!

More Cards

A few more cards I made with my Cuttlebug embosser -





A Mickey card made with my Mickey punch, Fastenator and rick rack -

This card was a bit of an experiment. I've been doing machine embroidery for 7 years and I've kept ALL my thread snips the whole time - for WHAT I have NO idea LOL. For this card, I cut a circle out and sandwiched some thread snips and a silk flower petal between tulle and glued it in. I covered the back with a piece of pretty paper. Eh, it's different, anyways.

New Clock

Here is another clock I embroidered. The Looney Tunes designs are from Dakota Collectibles The clock is a cheapie from Walmart. They seem to be the easiest to take apart and put back together again.

My Sewing Buddy

My little buddy, Pugsley, follows me everywhere at home. When I'm playing in my sewing room, he hangs out with me and naps on the pillow I have for him there. Some people say he's very spoiled, but I just think he has me well-trained :)

Happy Cinco De Mayo!!!!

Hey everyone - I know it's Monday, but I hope y'all have a margarita or 2 on me!

Table Runner

I found a table runner that I started in a class several months ago and I finished it up today.

I LOVE My Cuttlebug

I wanted to make some embossed cards, so I got a Cuttlebug and some embossing folders. Man - talk about instant gratification! It's so easy to use and I love the look. Here is a wedding card I made:

Alcohol Inks are COOL

I had seen some projects made with Adirondack Alcohol Inks and I wanted to give them a try. WOW! They are super cool! They blend really well together and dry super fast. I painted some glass ornaments and a vase with them:






I was also working on one of those glass block lights for a while, you know the ones that people drill a hole in and put little lights in, kinda like this, but I could not pick a graphic I liked. I ended up painting it with the alcohol inks and decorating it with some dominoes I painted and stamped. The glass stones are from the floral dept at Michael's. I think I like mine better :)


Ok, well I went crazy with these inks. I admit it. I took a couple of plain boxes I had purchased for $1.00 and painted them with acrylic paint, then dabbed on the alcohol inks. I think they turned out pretty snazzy.

OMG

OK, so these are some silly crafts I've seen out there. I think these people have WAY too much time on their hands!!

Uh, tampon crafts

Very Private Websurfing

I hope you use a new pair for this!

Not New But...

Today is Thursday... I can't wait for the weekend, which is when I have more time to tinker in my sewing/craft room! I did go shopping last night at Joann's, though, and got some really cool embossing stuff that I want to try. I think they are on a mission to make me go broke with all those sales! I found a couple of new blogs with some beautiful quilts, so please take a look and leave some love for these nice ladies:
Anne Marie's Blog
Peg's Happy In Quilting
Lise's Blog

Here are a couple of pics of the quick quilt I made for my wonderful boyfriend for Valentine's Day this year. I machine embroidered some of the blocks with places we want to travel to someday :)

I just love my embroidery machines!! There are just so many things you can do with them. Here is an "in-the-hoop" project, made entirely with the embroidery machine. The only sewing is a slipstich to close the opening after stuffing it and I stitched his little ribbon on him so he wouldn't be nikked.

The design came from Sewing For Sarah

Happy First Day of May!!