It's been too long ...

It feels good to be back!  I've missed you all so much.  Our sharing of ideas, loving and kind words, and inspiration for living life.  Not just talk about our common love of paper crafts ... no, our friendship reaches beyond the talk of ribbon, buttons, and stamps.  I am touched by your emails of concern and am happy to say that all is well here.  Everyone is happy and healthy and I wish the same for you!

What better way to return to my studio than to "celebrate" with glitter, pins, buttons, and more?  I have a sweet July Holiday arrangement to share with you today.  Red, White, and Blue is so cheery ... layered with a paper doily, dyed seam binding, decorative pins and a star (or two) make for a festive greeting!  Do you have plans for the 4th of July?

Thanks for stopping by ... so happy to hear from you!

Snowmen and a stocking ...

Thanksgiving is over and everyone has gone on their way home.  We had 14 for dinner this year and the fridge is full of leftovers (much to the joy of my husband and kids).  It was wonderful to sit at the table with some of my husbands family ... catching up on things happening in their lives and marveling on how much the children have grown.  The rest of the weekend has been spent preparing for Christmas.  The tree is up and decorated while the first of the cookies are in the oven.  The house smells fabulous!  My daughter and I always bake plenty of cookies ... some for the office, for school lunches, and my family Christmas, and more for Christmas Day at Grandma's.  Our time baking together is such a blessing ... every year gets better.

I found the cutest pattern on-line for a crocheted stocking.  Isn't it sweet?  I love it!

Thanks for spending some time with me ... good night.

Crocheted Christmas

Don't you love this crocheted pattern?  It makes such a sweet little tree and the perfect size too.  I was also pretty excited to get my silver glimmer paper order from Stampin' Up this week.  You'll notice I've been playing with it a lot lately.  Paired up with the red glimmer paper ... it's twice as wonderful.  Also in my box of new toys was our mini button stamp set.  I've stamped them and then applied a light coat of spray adhesive and glitter.  Yep, another new love!  I promised a crocheted Christmas tree and here it is (along with a few other goodies) ...

If I don't get back here before Thursday, let me take this opportunity to wish all of you a very Happy Thanksgiving.  I am so blessed to have you all as my creative friends ... thank you for visiting!

Late night posting ...

Hi everyone ... perhaps I should re-introduce myself?  It's been so long since I've stopped by.  It's never intentional ... my absences.  I get busy, distracted, always something to do or somewhere I need to be.  I haven't forgotten about my little blog - many days I've hoped for a moment to spare for a quick post.  It's late today (way past my bedtime) and I'll be brief ... just stopping by to share a few greetings that have come together lately.

Thanks for stopping by today ... good night!

Would you like to Swing on a Star?

I hope your Christmas was as wonderful as ours.  We've been spending time with family, reading, relaxing, napping, reading some more, napping, reading some more ... well, you get the picture.

It's been FOREVER since I have posted!  I know ... what have I been doing with all that "spare" time?  Brendan's birthday party in coming up fast and it is a Medieval theme.  So, we've been researching games and activities that from that era.  Did you know that they bowled back then?!  Of course a catapult is a must (with sheep and cows to toss - LOL) and Sabrina wants to be in charge of the stockade.  I'm still thinking on that one. 

On to the card!  Under the Stars is a great "outdoorsy" stamp set.  I think the bear is kinda scary but holding a string of stars he's adorable.  Especially paper-pieced in silly patterns.  Think of all the possibilites with colors and stringed shapes!  He could be holding hearts for Valentines and paper-pieced in reds/pinks.  (Real Bears Wear Pink!).  We have a wonderful heart punch that gives you three hearts in one punch.  And they are just the right size for "stinging".  Just click on the link to the left access our catalog and place your order!  The stars are made with our Star Punch from scraps of Designer Series Papers and the string is a natural hemp.  The buttons are simply a small one on top of a large one.  I tied them together with floss and stuck them on with a glue dot.  Both buttons come from our Stampin' Up collections.

As you can see the words are in an arc.  This stamp is actually from our Crazy for Cupcakes set.  I've always been puzzled by what to do with a stamp that have the words in an arc.  I have never really used them because I felt the arc had to match the image I was stamping around.  Yep, that's the perfectionist in me ... with a dash of engineer.  If the arcs didn't line up (meaning if they weren't concentric) well, forget it.  I just couldn't deal with that.  The stamp went back into the box.  But here's a solution to the problem.  I stamped the words on a scrap of Whisper White cardstock, punched it out with a Circle Punch, and added the buttons to mark the center.  I think it works well, what do you think?  See that "comment" thingy below?  Click on it and leave me a message.

Check back tomorrow, I've got a New's Year card that is just begging to be posted!