Friday Fun

This week I have been making cards and tags for birthdays. There are several Spring birthdays in my family and I am trying to get a jump on the card making so I am not scrambling at the last minute to pull something together.

This is a card I made for my Aunt's birthday. The flower on the front is from a Dollar Store lei that I pulled apart so I could use the flowers on cards and other projects.   

I read quite a few blogs and really enjoy reading the Craft Addictions blog at: www.craftaddictions.blogspot.com. She has a favorite Friday post each Friday in which she posts some of her favorite things.  I thought this was a great idea and wanted to share a favorite of mine each Friday as well.

I love to go antiquing and thrift store shopping whenever I can.  I also love ebay (who doesn't?) and I have a collection of vintage compacts and vanity purses.  It is a fun collection

 that I have added to for the last twenty years.  One of my absolute favorites out of this collection is a petit point compact that is just stunning.  I love the stitching on it and I can imagine the lady who carried it must have been quite elegant.  

On another topic the iPod elves (see March 12 post for an explanation) selected some great tunes for the morning exercise on the treadmill. One of the selections was by the Corrs called Would You Be Happier:

Have you ever wondered where the story ends

And how it all began, I do - I do, -

Did you ever dream you were the movie star

With popcorn in your hand, I did - I did - 

Do you ever feel you're someone else inside

And no one understands, you are - you are

And wanna disappear inside a dream

But never wanna wake, wake up

And then you stumble on tomorrow

And trip over today,

Would you be happier if you weren't so un-together

Would the sun shine brighter if you played a bigger part

would you be wonderful if it wasn't for the weather

You're gonna be just fine - You're gonna be just fine -

 

Don't You Just Love the Dollar Store?

Okay - I admit it -  I really like the Dollar Store.  Every time I go in I find something I can use to create with.  These tags are an excellent example of that. The yellow and green centers on two of the tags are lucite buttons I found at the dollar store.  When I saw them, I just knew they would be great to use as the center of a flower.  I would love it if they were glass and vintage, but these have a nice look to them and will do nicely until I do find some lovely vintage glass buttons.  

I found the crepe paper at Hobby Lobby. Three rolls for $1 which is very reasonable. The cashier told me that this item will be increasing in price (2 rolls for $1). Perhaps I should have purchased more!

The tags will go on packaging for birthday presents. Now I need to make the cards and buy the presents!

Happy Easter

I made another of the pom-pom bunnies and hope to send it off as a thank you gift soon.  This bunny is wearing a hat and is all ready for Easter festivities.

I worked on a thank you card as well this week.  I love this patterned paper - I am not sure who makes it, but the colors are really soft and beautiful.  

The iPod elves (see previous post) were in a rather melancholy mood today.  Most of the songs they selected were rather slow paced.  One of their selections was "Life is Sweet" by Natalie Merchant:

...Oh, they told you life is hard

misery from the start,

It's dull, it's slow, it's painful

But I tell you life is sweet

in spite of the misery

There's so much more, be grateful

Well, who do you believe

Who will you listen to

Who will it be

'cause it's high time that you decide 

in your own mind.....

Welcome Spring

We have had glimpses of spring here in Georgia.  March has featured some wonderful sunny and cool days and then will turn back to winter with gray, cold and rainy weather.  Most of us don't complain about the rain here because we need it to make up for last summer's drought.  

I made the rabbit pictured here to welcome in spring.  The idea for the project came from the Martha Stewart website. The pom pom bunny I made is a little 

different in that I made it with a pom pom maker so it turned out larger than the sample project.  I also could not find any black beads that did not have holes in them or looked right so I improvised and used an eyelet with a brad inserted in it and that looked perfect. I stamped the cupcake 

 liner (her skirt) with polka dots and used the same stamping ink to dye the rick rack pink. I also used the white nylon bristles of a whisk broom for the whiskers (instead of thread as used in the Martha Stewart project instructions).  The nylon bristle whiskers were added after the photo of the project was taken.  

Random thoughts for today:  Every morning I hop on the treadmill with

 my iPod to get my exercise.  I usually set my iPod to the shuffle mode and (apologies to technology here and all those 0s and 1s) the iPod gnomes or elves pick the songs that will play. This is how I envision it:  there is a long line of  iPod elves perhaps 50 to 100 and the last elf in line selects a track and hands it to the elf in front of him, who hands it to the elf in front of him, and so on and so on until it reaches the elf at the front of the line who puts the track in the slot to play (sort of like the concept of an old fashioned jukebox). This first elf goes to the back of the line (he will select the next track that plays) and this goes on ad infinitum every day.  Sometimes I like what the elves select and sometimes I don't.  My husband just asks me why I don't create a playlist, but I like the randomness of the shuffle and the iPod elves! Today the iPod elves selected some great songs.  One of my favorites is "This One's For the Girls" by Martina McBride:

"This is for all you girls about 42, 

Tossing pennies into the fountain of youth, 

Every laugh, laugh line on your face 

Made you who you are today"

"This one's for the girls 

Who've ever had a broken heart, 

Who've wished upon a shooting star

You're beautiful the way you are

This one's for the girls

Who love without holding back

Who dream with everything they have

All around the world

This one's for the girls"

Done, Finished, Completed - Part 2!

Here is another page from the heritage album.  This is a photo of my grandfather as a young man.

I don't usually plan my projects out, but this one required a lot of pre-planning.  For example, I had to figure out how I was going to bind the book and where the photos needed to be placed on the page so that they did not overlap into the crease where the page bends.  Lots of measuring and thinking about how it would look even before I printed out the first photo.  Even though I am pretty detail oriented I did mess up a few times and had to reconstruct a few pages. Thank God for inkjet printers - that exercise would have been most painful if I had to run to the copy shop each time I made a mistake.

The numbers on the photo correspond to a legend I created and placed at the front of the book. The legend indicates who is in each photo and any other details about the photo that would be of interest (dates, places, etc.).

Done, Finished, Completed!

I have finished the heritage album I wanted to create to give to my brother for his 50th birthday. It turned out fairly well for my first attempt at creating such an album.  It has been sent off to him today and should arrive on his birthday which is great.  I really hope he likes it.  The process of creating it was fun.  This project spurred me to ask questions about my grandfather's life that I had not thought to ask before.  

The photos of children posted here are of my great  grandfather 

and my great grandmother. 

I am still learning how to use my digital camera to take photos that will translate well to being posted on the blog.  I have learned to use the macro setting and the timer which I

 think will help the quality.