Look What I Got In The Mail Today

Earlier this week I posted a picture of a cross-stitch ornament that I had made for an ornament swap. My ornament swap partner is Sarah and she lives in Oregon. I mailed my ornament to her earlier this week. Today I received the ornament that she made for me. Isn't it just adorable? The wreath is made from felted wool. There is a tiny gold star charm at the base of the purple ribbon hanger. Makes me want to try my hand at felting wool (oh no! another hobby!).

The ornament exchange was put together by the people at Pink By Design Stamps.

A Handmade Card Just For YOU!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Handmade Christmas Ornament and Random Cuteness

I just finished stitching this Christmas ornament. I was very unsure about my ornament "finishing" abilities; however, once I got thru putting the ornamental binding around the edges and giving it a ribbon hanger, I thought the end product looked pretty good. The pattern is in the Just Cross-Stitch 2011 Annual Christmas Ornaments issue; the designer is Jeanette Douglas Designs. It is called "2011 Noel Stamp Ornament".

I am participating in a handmade Christmas ornament swap and this was my contribution. The only rules of the swap is that the ornament had to be handmade (paper, fabric, beads or any other medium). The recipient of the ornament lives in Oregon. I mailed it yesterday so she should have a surprise in her mailbox by the end of the week. I hope she likes it.

I've started stitching another ornament for a friend.....I owe her a handmade item. I'll post that pic soon.

And......to end this post in a randomly cute way, just take a look at this picture of Tater......awwwwwwwwwww, how cute!

Bragging on Cheryl

I *LOVE* getting snail mail (good snail mail....not advertisements, bills, etc.)

Look at this cute Thanksgiving card that I got (via snail mail) today from my crafty friend, Cheryl. And while we are on the subject of Cheryl, you need to check out her blog - she has made the *cutest* Christmas planner.

Both Cheryl and I LOVE to make cards. Her card style is so different from my card style......probably a good thing.....that way we won't fuss and bicker and say "you stole that design from me!" (not that we would do that anyway). :o)

Cheryl has also started making the cutest paper hair bows - she has pics of these on her blog also.

So, visit Cheryl's blog (don't make me tell you again!) and then go get your craft on!

My New Hat!

This blog post doesn't have *anything* to do with paper, fabric or books (except that THE HAT is made from wool.....which is a fabric) but anyway.............

My friend, Judy, and I went to Green Hills Mall yesterday to check out a couple of the new stores - Nordstrom and The Container Store.

I didn't walk in Nordstrom looking for a hat. But when I saw this one.......it had my name on it.


Isn't this the cutest little hat?????????? It looks like it has some blue in it but it is actually black 'n gray. I *love* my new hat ;o)

Ooh La La............Paris

Just a quick post to show you the "welcome home" card that I made for a friend who recently spent 3 weeks in Germany and France. The card has a Paris theme...........one of her favorite cities. With the exception of the Paris paper on the right side of the card, all the embellishments were from papers/stickers/buttons that I've had for awhile so I won't even try to mention the manufacturer. The Paris paper is from Graphic45 Curtain Call Collection (Tour de France) and the brown/white twine is Stampin' Up. There is a glare on the top right sticker - it says "memories". I spent the day with my friend yesterday and hand-delivered the card to her....she *adored* it!



I have two specific cards on my "must make today" list so I'm off to get my card-crafting on!

I've neglected my blogging.....too busy doing other activities - guess it's "that time of year"! Anyway, I mentioned in a previous post about the grand opening of the Archiver's store in the Nashville area. I did get in on the Grand Opening day and thought I would post my purchases.

The pic below shows some emerald gemstones which I bought to embellish Christmas cards, a package of tiny antique keys....they are soooooo cute and I have several friends who are crazy over antique keys - (can't wait to use these as card embellishments) and a 6x6 pad of Christmas paper "25 Days of Christmas" by Simple Stories (36 sheets of patterned paper).


And then I found a 12x12 sheet with a Paris theme to use on a card for a friend who just returned home from there. This is double-sided paper (the back is a cream/taupe stripe) by Graphic45. The 12x12 sheet on the right has a baby theme. It is also double-sided. This paper is made by October Afternoon. A friend of mine just had a baby boy and I have another friend having a baby girl in January so I'll be using this on their baby cards. The 12x12 sheet at the bottom (double-sided) is for my "November/Thanksgiving" cards which I hope to get crafted this afternoon. This sheet is by TPC Studio.

And then I HAD to buy some 12x12 Christmas sheets (all double-sided). The one with the green alphabet is actually a 12x12 sheet of stickers and is not double-sided. This is by BoBunny and has some really cute Christmas stickers on it. The black sheet has Christmas sentiments on it (Peace, Joy, Holiday Wishes, etc) and the cream color sheet below it has vintage-looking Christmas sheet music - both of these are by Graphic45 (they have some GREAT paper!). The red sheet on bottom left has santa heads embossed on it and is made by Bazzill Basics. The top left sheet is by TPC Studio and is called "Timeless Christmas Cards" - the little squares are pics of vintage Christmas cards.

I also made a trip *BACK* to Archiver's yesterday with my card-making buddy, Cheryl. It was her first trip to Archiver's and she LOVES it!!! Yesterday I purchased the gold Krylon paint pen that I used on a make-and-take (see November 4 posting).

After finishing this blog, I'm headed to my craft room to "craft away the afternoon". I hope to have lots of pics to post soon. Happy crafting to you!

Oh My!!

Today was the grand opening of the Archiver's store in Franklin. I usually don't get in "grand opening" mobs; however, we are talking cardstock, decorative papers, ink pads, rubber stamps....need I say more? I'll have to post some pics of the *cute* cardmaking supplies that I bought. In the meanwhile, I do have a picture of the free make-and-take card that I made at the store.

Red cardstock was used for the actual card. A gold paint-pen (made by Krylon....the spray paint people) was used to draw a border around a smaller piece of green cardstock....doesn't it look like the card has a piece of green cardstock adhered to a piece of gold cardstock? The Christmas trumpet and "Joy to the World" was stamped on the white die-cut piece using black ink. The ribbon on the trumpet was colored red using red marker; the red marker was also used to color the holly berries. A green marker was used to color the holly leaves. Gold glitter paint (in a squeeze bottle) was used to color in the trumpet. The gold paint pen (I think I may have to get me one of those) was used to make the gold border, which is hard to see in the picture, on the white die-cut.

The green cardstock was adhered to the red cardstock using tape adhesive. The stamped piece was adhered to the green cardstock using foam adhesives for dimension.

If you are not familiar with Archiver's, you need to stop by the store to see all the goodies they have. They also offer classes and have a "Free Crop Night" on Friday nights where you work on your projects using their equipment (die cutters and dies, heat embossers, etc).