Birdie Blocks

I have been doing a "block of the month" project, along with a few friends. Last night, we had a little stitching party at my house to work on the March block.

The pattern is free online from this site: Little Miss Shabby

I am now caught up to date with my Jan, Feb, March blocks. I just took fabric from my stash. I have so many other things on the go, so I didn't want to buy more fabric for another new project... I told myself that if I could find enough suitable fabric in my bins then this project would be a "go!" If not, I would pass.

I don't know where the finished quilt will go. Depends on how large I finish it. The pattern calls for it to be 52X66 when complete. This link will give you an idea of the finished project: Birdie Stitches Layout.

January


February


March
Since the March block wasn't my absolute favourite.... I borrowed Kim's sketch with a cleaner rainbow, adding a shamrock, and using the January birdie (because he's fluffier!). Thanks, Kim! I added the little shamrock to his chest and did 3 lines of stem stitching to pull in more green.

A Visit to the Sally Ann:)

I loves me a good deal! The lady at the Salvation Army thrift store in Aldergrove said I got "the deal of the day!" So, I thought that was pretty blog-worthy!

I have gone for runs by this store, and I drive by it often, but I never go inside. Today, I went in twice! The second trip in was to check out footwear... and look at these 2 pairs of boots I found for Elise. She loves them! ($3 each :)

I know it seems silly, but this is one of my favourite movies! I own the original, but not this version of it. I think I'll have to do a little stamping tonight so I can watch it! 50 cents :)

Now.... the very best purchase: a Janome sewing machine with all its bits for only $30.00!!! The lady at the till said she hadn't seen that in there, and declared this the "deal of the day!!!" I bought it before someone else snatched it up! I think the kids will have fun sewing on this. And it actually has more stitch options than my current machine, so maybe I will have to start using it as my regular machine!

Food for Thought...

Just got this in an email... something to keep in mind next time you're shopping!

Made In Canada

A physics teacher in high school, once told the students that while one grasshopper on the railroad tracks wouldn't slow a train very much, a billion of them would. With that thought in mind, read the following, obviously written by a good Canadian.

Good idea. One light bulb at a time ...

Check this out . I can verify this because I was in Lowe's the other day for some reason and just for the fun of it I was looking at the hose attachments . They were all made in China . The next day I was in Home Hardware and just for the fun of it I checked the hose attachments there. They were made in Canada! Start looking.

In our current economic situation, every little thing we buy or do affects someone else - even their job. So, after reading this e-mail, I think this lady is on the right track. Let's get behind her!
She said:

My grandson likes Hershey's candy . I noticed, though, that it is markedmade in Mexico now. I do not buy it any more . My favorite toothpaste, Colgate, is made in Mexico now. I have switched to Crest. You have to read the labels on everything .

This past weekend I was at Wal-Mart. I needed 60W light bulbs . I was in the light bulb aisle, and right next to the GE brand I normally buy was an off-brand labeled, "Everyday Value. " I picked up both types of bulbs and compared the stats - they were the same except for the price. The GE bulbs were more money than the Everyday Value brand but the thing that surprised me the most was the fact that GE was made in MEXICO and the Everyday Value brand was made in - get ready for this -in Canada in a company in Ontario . Their Equate products are also made in Canada , and are very good.

So throw out the myth that you can not find products you use every day that are made right here.

My challenge to you is to start reading the labels when you shop for everyday things and see what you can find that is made in Canada .The job you save may be your own or your neighbour’s! (Your children & grandchildren also)

If you accept this challenge, pass it on to others in your address book so we can all start buying Canadian, one light bulb at a time! Stop buying from overseas companies!

(We should have awakened a decade ago.)

Let's get with the program. Help our fellow Canadians keep their jobs and create more jobs here in Canada .

If President Obama insists on a “Made in America ” policy, which is commendable of him, to support American workers, we should do likewise. BUY CANADIAN! Read the labels. Support Canadian jobs.

Happy Birthday!

My little Todd turned seven yesterday. What a joy he is. Kind to his friends, and such a sweety (most of the time :) For the next two weeks, we have two 7-year-olds in the house! I'll get a picture of the boys together at some point while they are the same age. And in between their 2 birthdays we will have a joint party for them. (Pictures will come after that, too!)

Yesterday, he got to open a gift (a hotwheels bike, which he loved!!) and we had a DQ ice cream cake as a family. Today, Todd took Wagon Wheels as a treat for his friends at school and then got to go on a date with daddy after school and spend $2 that he got in one of his birthday cards.

Happy Birthday, Todd!
You are very loved.

Imagine Kids Portraits by Revival Arts

Last year, my kids got to be a part of a special project in the Fraser Valley. Revival Arts Studio put together a beautiful book of portraits of kids in the Valley.

IMAGINE

All the session fees were donated to Matthew's House.

♥

It was a great success, and Revival Arts is putting together another Imagine Kids book this year. If you are in this area, don't miss your chance to be a part of this great project! Click on the links I've included above, and you'll be given more information.

Monkeys Monkeys Everywhere!!

Here are the cards we made last night using Sock Monkey. Also, E with her striped monkey, and the authentic, handmade monkey my mom made when I was a girl. Time to make the boys some sock monkeys, I think! They are feeling a little left out!!!

We used Jolly Holiday paper to piece the monkey together. I love it when you can use something for more than its original planned use: Christmas paper doesn't always have to look Christmasy!

Monkey Business

Tonight is my monthly stampers club... we will be playing with a stamp set called Sock Monkey. When I was little, my mom made me a sock monkey, and I know lots of people that could tell stories of playing with their special sock monkeys. A few years ago, they became the rage again, and you could find them on quilts, in scrapbooks, stuffies mass produced and lining the shelves. I love the little guys! And I love it that there is a sock monkey stamp set.

Tomorrow, I will blog about the cards we make tonight, but for now, check out this vintage article that my mom gave me. I wish the year and newspaper source had been written on the paper, but it wasn't. However, the original is yellow enough to prove that it is a few decades old. I scanned it and whitened it up for here.

Looks easy enough to make, eh? I think after I stamp monkeys tonight, I'm going to want to make the actual thing, too!!

♥ Happy Valentine's Day!! ♥

Some people absolutely LOVE Valentine's Day, others might not be such big fans... Personally, I like any excuse for a celebration, but I also think we should show love all year long, and I am super glad that my husband doesn't only wait for Valentine's to take me on a date :)

This year, we made Valentine's Day about the love of our whole family. We spent the afternoon doing all kinds of fun things. Last week, Elise and I went on a date to White Spot and planned our family Valentine party. Here are a few of the things we discussed over french fries and a Pirate Pak:

♥ We should buy paper plates and napkins (which we did in colourful Valentine patterns!)
♥ We should decorate cookies (we ended up decorating 3 mini cakes because I didn't get sugar cookies made and little cakes were just a whole lot less work!!)
♥ We should make Valentines (the boys each assembled 20 treat boxes for their school friends, and Elise chose a random smattering of people she could think of to give treat boxes to, including the girls next door and the Senior Pastor at our church. She is enthralled by him because he remembers her name and visited her Sunday School class in his 2nd week at church!! That makes a pretty big impression on a 4 year old!)
♥ We should watch a family movie. (We watched Evan Almighty, and then I read the real story of Noah's Ark, straight from the Bible so we could straighten out the facts about how it all really went down!!)
♥ We should go on a hike so we could be ♥ Heart Healthy! (We didn't get to the hike, even though the rain held off, the kids ended up playing in the backyard instead. We will hike another day)

It was a day to remember, and Elise said it was the best day of her life! She has said that a lot lately, so I guess 4 is a good age for her :)


Lunch... fun plates and napkins. Pizza, some other goodies and iced tea.


Pencils to attach to the treat boxes for school friends... reminds me of the line from "You've Got Mail" where Meg Ryan's character talks about "bouquets of sharpened pencils in the Spring." I suddenly have the urge to watch that movie (for about the 45th time!) Might just have to do that right after I post this :)

Each treat box has 2 pieces of gum inside and a pencil taped to the outside. The comics are really lame in these, but the gum is yum (for about 2 minutes - then it loses its flavour... but kids don't care!)

Let the decorating begin. They had so much fun doing this, and it was really a treat to watch... but I am not even tempted to share this cake with them after watching them decorate it!!!



At one point, Elise took a HUGE mouthful of cinnamon hearts and there was an instant fire in her mouth. I've never seen her look so panicked! She quickly got rid of them and soothed her mouth with some chocolate chips.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13


A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.
John 13:34-35

Sweet Little Girl

I have been so inspired lately by my sewing friends. Here's a little pillow cover that I did this week. I love love love this fabric. It's from the new Occasions Mini from Stampin' Up! called Sweet Stitches and I think it is just darling. I added the image of the girl from the orange fabric to the center of the this block, and it will adorn a pillow once I get it all finished with the back half (the back will likely be the solid blue fabric).

Open House

Want to see and try out the newest products from Stampin' Up!? Come on out to my Open House...

It's at my house
from 7:00 - 9:30pm
Friday, February 11, 2011
Make and Takes
Yummy food
Lots of Fun!
Try out new products and browse the catalogue
Bring a friend and make it a girls' night out!!!

Hope to see you here.

RSVP to stampinsars(at)hotmail.com

Another Club Card

Here is the second card we did on Monday night. I love this paper, Love Letter, and this card is perfect for Valentine's, or for a number of other occasions just by changing the sentiment.




All of the items used on this card are from the Idea Book & Catalogue. I got a chance to use my brand new punch... 119275 Dotted Scallop Ribbon punch.

Rainy Day Fun

Today it is pouring rain... what better time than this to have a family craft day?! Steve and the kids drew on blocks of wood and then painted them to look like cars. In March, the boys will be in a wooden car race with cars they make at Pioneer Clubs. So, for fun today, they were working on designs for that.




I was getting things ready for my club on Monday night (there's still room if you want to join!! Just a $25 product purchase per month, and the class is free!). I'll post those cards on Monday. The kids and Steve were at the island, and I had my stuff spread out on the kitchen table. Amazingly, it was all cleaned up before we had lunch. The cars are drying and my projects are complete!

Valentine's Decorations

I wanted to do a fun Valentine's banner with my daughter, so I thought of the Heart punch by Stampin' Up!. We started punching and I quickly realized that this wasn't as big as I had imagined. So I traced a bunch of larger hearts onto cardstock, and she cut them out. Blue, red, kraft and purple. Most of the purple ones got added on the end because she said, "I don't think girl colours should be added in beside the boy colours." Whatever child, it is your banner!!

It goes all along one wall just below the ceiling in her bedroom. She is very proud of it, and she strung the hearts onto the red grosgrain ribbon all by herself!

Elise took a scrap from my stamping room and said, "Mom, I need you to write on this for me. Put, 'I love you the best Jesus' on here and then I'm going to add it to my heart banner." Well, be still my heart, what a little nugget! So she picked the red heart for it to go on, and then declared the banner complete!

Mine is not nearly as impressive, but I still decided to finish the one I started because I had all those little hearts punched out of beautiful patterned paper, so I didn't want them to go to waste.

Since it was smaller than I originally envisioned, I put it in the bathroom and not in my front entry way. I am thinking some decorated hearts on the pegs of my "Bathroom" sign will finish off the decorations in this bathroom. I changed out the candles for some pink ones. My goal is to paint this little main floor bathroom before too much more time passes. I would like it to be blue. A nice peaceful light blue. That's part of the reason I'm not too concerned about putting more pinholes in the wall!



It was a fun little project, and it makes me want to do a larger pennant style banner. Maybe even out of fabric! Oh, the possibilities are endless!!!!

A Link for you

I just came across this free Valentine's e-book. Some very cute ideas in here! Click on the link below...

Cupid's Handmade Crafts e-Book

♥

More Birthday Pages...

Here is another layout I did last night. I made the pagemap after I did the page. I like putting a lot of photos on a page, as I stated in the last scrapbooking post, and this page layout allows for 11 photos... enough pictures to nicely tell almost any story. I only matted one photo, and I think that is enough - every photo does not have to get the same treatment. This page doesn't really have a title, but you could easily add one in somewhere. I guess "E" is the title, and then on the second page, I've put a chipboard number 4, and that helps tell the story that it is Elise's 4th birthday.


The "e"s all over the place are some pre-made stickers that I found along the way and I had in my sticker drawer. I like the layers on them. Sometimes stickers can add a special touch, and I have quite a collection... my husband might call it a fetish. I have a whole drawer full :)

Here's a little tip... since I only scrapbook on one side of my paper (some people scrapbook on both sides to save paper, but I don't always scrapbook in order that the photos were taken, so I sometimes have to rearrange pages in a scrapbook) the backs of my pages are blank... unless... I do this - extra journaling that I remember from the day, or extra photos (that don't fit on the layout, and won't make sense alone somewhere in another book) or in this case, a Strawberry Shortcake birthday card that Grandma gave to Elise. Since it so perfectly fit the theme, I wanted it to stay with the page. I didn't have room for it on the front of the layout, so I attached it to the back. Down the road, it will be discovered and read again, and it is tucked in safely behind the page until that time!

I don't usually do my journaling all by individually stamped letters, but I was watching a movie, (Sabrina) and I was all done the rest of the layout, with the journaling being the last thing... there were still 20 minutes left in the movie - enough time to fiddle around with letters, but not enough time to start another project. So, instead of using computer font, or handwriting, this layout got very crooked stamped write-up! (but since it's for a 4-year old's page, I kind of like the messy look!)

Photo idea - take a close up of something on the cake and have it beside the full photo. I don't have a "girly girl" but she likes Strawberry Shortcake... I think it's the hat and the green striped tights. They don't look "princessy" - and E is really not into princesses right now!

The different coloured stripes on the bottom half of the page below are just strips of cardstock. A good way to use up scraps, and still get the feel of designer paper, but this way you can make it custom colours to match your photos. I mimicked the stripes on the pinata. I included the photos of Elise with the pinata even though they were taken a few days before the party - she played with that thing like it was a pet... I wonder what was going through her head when she then had to smash it to bits. Kind of like when we had pet sheep growing up, and the next thing we knew they were in the freezer! haha! Maybe not quite the same thing!

A little spring card

I heard today that we are now halfway through Winter. Spring is on its way!!!! Here's a card to get you in the mood for Spring :)

Club Night will now be MONDAYS

I decided to switch my Stampers club get togethers to Mondays because there were several people that had schedule conflicts... seems like Tuesdays are the popular day this year for people to plan things! And I thought I was being so clever by avoiding Wednesdays and Fridays!

If you are interested in joining, and the last Monday of each month, starting January 31st (unless it's a holiday, then we'll go the Monday before that one) works for you. Please let me know and I will save one of the last couple spots for YOU!

If you are unfamiliar with Stampers Clubs and have questions about how this works, ask away!