Family Quilt: The Wedding Square

Another embroidered quilt square finished, woohoo! 

If you missed my initial family quilt post, the main idea behind the quilt was that in the colder months I am more apt to pick up my embroidery and work on a random project. The thing was, I had no use for the embroidery when it was done. I just did it to practice and keep myself busy when I had free time. So, instead of making a bunch of projects that had no use, I decided to start embroidering on a standard sized square and when I acquired enough of them, I will put them together into a quilt. I chose to do a family theme and so the finished quilt will tell a story of our family and hopefully some special things about us. 

Winter Embroidery - Lily's Family Quilt Square

Hi! 

I'm back sharing another square from our "Family Quilt" that is in progress. I really need to trace another square and get working- it's been almost two weeks since I finished this one and I have yet to really nail down plans for the next one. 

I guess I just got busy sewing for baby& trying to catch up on scrap booking Lily's year being a 5 year old. I realized the other day she'll be turning 6 in May and I have yet to put ONE PHOTO in her 5yr. old album. How sad! I also ordered another copy of "The Belly Book" to fill in for this baby. Thank goodness I've been using an iphone app to track different aspects of the pregnancy. I thought to myself, if this baby is a girl she will be awfully sad looking at the pathetic amount of memories captured of her time in my belly. Is it just me or am I the only one who thinks that girls appreciate the memory albums more? 

Smashbook style Yearly Album

Lately I have been tackling those projects left for *another day* ... you know, the ones that you had great intentions to finish but never actually did. 

To start: My craft room has seen a lot of sewing lately, but almost NO papercrafting. It's really taken a backseat to my sewing, which is totally fun but the albums are looking bare and I promised myself I would realistically use them, thus justifying my purchase. Plus, I do enjoy looking back at them. 

I just don't need shelves and shelves of them. 

Plus, storing things is not something I enjoy doing. 

I could never be a hoarder, I purge whenever I feel like clutter is creeping in on me. 

So I got back on it this afternoon as the kids slept. 

Christmas Photos :: A Quick Look at a Simple Gift

Each year, me & the mom's club (as we like to call our little group of mothers) like to get together and have the girls photographed for their grandparents. Unfortunately, each Christmas, budgets also tend to get very tight for each of us. This year, for the FIRST TIME :), I was confident enough to give them a photograph of the girls that I took. We brought them together on a sunny day, laid down a white sheet facing one of the huge picture windows & snapped away. 

FLASHBACk to my CHilDhooD.

Oh how i loved sitting in the recliner next to my grandmother sewing. To be back in that time& to spend another day just talking to her, it makes me cry a little just to type this. 

CCL "Take Me Away" Blog Hop with*Blog Candy

Hey all! Hope you are maneuvering through the blog hop with ease! 

For my :vacation themed: project I chose to create a mini album for a our first family vacation since the new baby has arrived. We'll be heading off to Colorado & California to visit family members in September. I wanted this album to be photo ready. 

I also chose not to bind the album until photos were put inside. It makes layering & any sewing much easier. 

Fathers Day& Photo Frames

Hi everyone! What a gloomy quiet Saturday we are having here in Iowa. I'm updating with a few recent projects, first up is the Fathers Day t-shirt I helped the kids make dad this year. 

I love love love using freezer paper to make my own screenprints. If you haven't heard of this technique, you need to check it out. I also made Archer boy a onsie of pictures that Lily drew for him:: an idea I picked up from Delia Creates Blog. Lovely blog she has over there! 

You will need:

Freezer paper

an Xacto knife

Permanent Acrylic Paint 

Foam Brushes

Iron/Ironing Board

**Smashbook** UPDATE

Before we went to Vegas (woot woot // I'll smash that later!), I ordered a bunch of instagram pictures. I really looove how they turn out from postalpix. 

baby announcements

Yay, I finally found the cord that links my camera to my computer. 

Photos are back up and running! 

Lately I have been making a lot of these birth announcements. It's showing its positive and negatives. They are a ton of fun, BUT they made me realize I have no number stamps?? HOw is this possiBle? 

I had to back-track and find a better way to make them, here's my first ones:

First it annoyed me to write the stats...

CCL Happy Birthday Card Swap

Just a quick update since I was really excited to receive my package from Deb over at CCL (creating the crafty life: linked on the right of my page). This was the first swap I have participated in, & it was so much fun. Since everyone seems to have received their packages I wanted to quickly show you 

one of the cards I sent to the group. I'd love to share the second but I realized I didn't photograph it! (aagh, how frustrating)

Once again thank you so much Donna, Paula, Marie, & Sandi for their lovely creations. It was such a fun package to get! 

I chose a simple layout; Hopefully this allows
the ladies to incorporate a photo of the
receiver! 

Just a quick example of how a picture would
add some spunk to the card!

Quick Simple Clean Birthday Card

Hi& Happy Friday!!

Even though I'm not working, i absolutely love the weekends. It's my 2 days to have the family home and no house work. Since I'm still waiting patiently for baby boy to make his move& come I spent today making a few birthday cards for April birthdays. 

I love using layers/etc but today I wanted to work a bit on keeping things REALLY simple. &I don't think I could have kept it any more simple than this!  

To add some icing without putting too
much color, I used glossy accents

Grandma's St. Patrick's Day Birthday Album :: Projects Of Recent

Smashbook !!

I've been loving up my smashbook lately. Probably because CHA and checking out all the new products they have come out with; a baby book smashbook?? Oh this could be fun! 

I felt like if I was going to invest in a *new one then I should probably be better about using the one I got um, last august? I've thrown things here and there in it, but lately I've been printing quite a few photos and trying to incorporate them into the book. 

**note: Walgreens is terrible when printing instagram photos. Any suggestions as to a better place to print? 

So here's my work in progress: I love pulling in techniques I see from the master scrappers (scrapbookers who I am constantly amazed by).

Top Left: picture and leftover button from lily's Valentines dress:: Picture
she drew for me that folds out:: Top Right: love this technique used
by KP where you cut up a pic and round the corners
Bottom Left: Article on Plastic containers (they are BAD) that
I wanted to keep:: Photo of the snow we got <3

January Layout

Lily's January Layout :: 

I really liked a layout KP created ... She does amazing work that I just love her use of pictures and the smashbook style work she does at times. 

Lily and her little cousin Aubrea. The just adore eachother,  its
the sweetest thing to see. 

Baby Girl Mini Album

This is by far my best album made from scratch: by scratch I mean creating the cover, binding, and pages rather than buying pre-made elements and adding only the paper/embellishments. 

Here is the front of the book with only paper.

G45 Once Upon a Springtime Layout

Ah finished my layout! 

This particular layout was made using G45 Once Upon a Springtime Paper. I was able to check another To Do off my January list because this particular LO is for my HS Scrapbook. 

This is the template I used from CCL. 

There are SO many crafting materials I haven't had a chance to work with. Grungeboard was one of them until this project. Used his pre-cut set to add some pretty embellishment. 

I really liked the lines in this template. I fussy cut this cute little fairy instead of going with the butterflies. 

Also, chose to use fussy cut flowers instead of butterflies. Although, butterflies would have also worked quite well. I inked all of the edges of my paper with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. It is by far my favorite for edging, though I also like to use Tim Holtz black Distress ink at times too. Next purchase? Walnut Distress Ink. Its a bit darker than the Vintage Photo and I think it would work nice. 

I used Stickles in Diamond to highlight my splatter paint, it added a bit more bling. Also used it inside all of the flowers, on the wings of the tiny fairy, and on the '05. 

I like discussing lessons learned when doing this. Todays? Test the color of my paint against the papers I'm using. I would have like my splatter paint to be less pink and more peach. 

Paper Mache Photo Frame//Priest & Boys

Note: This piece may offend some!

Recently inherited an old Catholic school book and found, what I thought to be, the most hilarious page  ever. It had a priest on the phone with two young boys and included the caption "A pleasant voice makes friends." 

I used a wooden frame given to me quite some time ago and made a housewarming gift for my ruckus loving girlfriends. They have such a silly sense of humor, just like I do. Took the pages from the book and modge podge in order to cover the frame, then placed the images on top at the end. 

Finished the frame with roses from "Iamroses" and adhered a vintage button from my great grandmother. Really enjoyed how this came out. With a photo of the girls, it will surely be stunning in their new apartment. 

Homemade Christmas Pt2

As I said before, I  certainly love making my gifts custom...

This particular frame is a christmas present for a friend who has a very bright&colorful personality. She enjoys hoola hooping, has been involved in many charity events for children, & has a super big heart. 

For her frame I chose a blue base of acrylic paint, then crackled the multi-toned topcoat using Martha Stewart crackle.  

A close up of the crackled effect. 

A CLOSER close up. hehe

Love how that blue came through.

I got a nice package from I am roses this week. After witnessing the gorgeous work of a truly great crafter // katie from Memories to Keepsakes, I wanted to check them out. Lovely product and great customer service from this company. I would certainly recommend them!

I also used some silver stickles in the flowered corner...

This frame came out lovely. Its very simple and bright. If I find a pretty butterfly before wrapping time, I'll definitely add it. 

Personalized Birthday Presents//

Happy Birthday to a wonderful young lady I know, Mk. She's my daughters older half sister. So, the big 12! I must say this age puts me in my place. I was a bit stumped on what to get her. She's an edgy girl, I wouldn't say a tom boy but definitely loves skulls and chucks and skateboarding. 

First I made her a winter headband. I had made one for lily, which she seems to enjoy quite a bit. 

This time I used freezer paper to customize the headband with her nickname. A little E6000 and rhinestones jazzed it up.

On the inside I lined it with skull fleece. 

I went a little bit more girly with the bag, I would call this my decoy. She probably thought I got her a bunch of skirts&bows.   :)

A close up of the tag. 

I found a super awesome wallet on this blog ... it features the old school cassette tape. I am proud to say that even in high school i loved making mix tapes! 

I didn't photograph the inside once it was finished but its lined with felt. How awesome is that though?

Once again used E6000 to put bling on it. I was thrilled to discover the gems fit perfectly into all of the holes where the screws were. 

She was really excited and started putting all her birthday money into it. A good indicator I think. 

Photo Frame Christmas Gifts

Custom Frames 

I used:

Acrylic Paint 

Martha Stewart Crackle Paint

Modge Podge 

Old book pages

Recycled Scrabble Tiles

E6000

Tim Holtz Distress ink in Vintage Photo