Marvelous Possibilities

Mary had a Little Lamb was my theme song growing up, and so I have always had a fondness for little lambs.  When I saw the Hand Knit stamp set it was love at first sight.  I didn't knit much in those days, but I was learning.  In fact, my sister, Sally, had worked in a yarn shop for many years, and eventually bought in as part owner when she retired.  She was a fabulous knitter, with a great personality and tons of patience, so she saw to it that all her sisters, and many of her nieces, learned how to knit.  I used to call her "the yarn pusher", because she always gave you a beautiful ball of yarn as a gift, along with a pair of needles and a pattern, so that you would have no excuse for not learning.  Once she got you hooked on this addictive habit, it was going to cost you big time to continue knitting.  But, you've got to love her, and we all knit today.   I decided that I was going to make some little tags and cards to sell at a craft sal...

I have 2 craft sales coming up the end of September, and September starts next weekend. I always have more ideas than I have time for, so today I started making a list, and trying to prioritize.  Lacking motivation, or the supplies to get some projects done, I struggled all day with what to do.  I could waste a lot of time looking on the Internet for new ideas, but I decided that instead I would look for a challenge for my inspiration again.  Today I pulled out 2 challenges and my Betsy's blossoms stamp set.  I found a beautiful color palette from Color Throwdown 206 to use Cameo Coral (I used Calypso Coral), Certainly Celery, Pretty in Pink, and Tempting Turquoise (I used Bermuda Bay).  Since my plan was to make some little note card sets, and I was using 3X3" squares, I remembered that the card challenge 270 at Stamping411  was to use a square card.  The big challenge was to get the layout on my tiny cards, but, I did it. ...

I was a little bit bored tonight, so I headed back to the craft room and looked for another challenge to do.  I decided to combine three challenges, for color, layout, and technique.  It's always fun to try to find some challenges that can work together, and I really had fun doing this one. First I went for the color, since I already had some of these colors on the table from the last challenge (not that I used any of that stuff in the end).  Colour Q Challenge #151 suggested using Pumpkin Pie, Tempting Turquoise, Basic Gray, Basic Black and White (I used white inside).  Second, I liked the idea of using herringbone design suggested by the challenge #132 at Hand Stamped Sentiments .  Looking at the graphic I had the idea to use herringbone paper, but then saw other cards using the paper piecing technique called herringboning.  Since I have been on kind of a state fair theme this week, I kept thinking of a quilt pattern.  I love the...

The Minnesota State Fair is in full swing, and I love the fair!  Not sure when I will go, but I will be sure to attend as it runs through Labor Day.  They had a bit of excitement the first day, when one of the midway rides, the Stratosphere, which consists of swings circleing around a tower that raises you up 40+ feet in the air.  The ride broke down leaving people up there for 45 minutes, and the same thing happened again on Friday.  You won't get me on that ride!!  No way!! I feel like I have been riding the Ferris Wheel for the past couple of days.  My daughter-in-law made a trip to the hospital, where they kept her for a day and a half for observation, and waiting to make a decision on whether they would need to deliver her baby early at 36 1/2 weeks.  So, I've been feeling the ups and downs, and round and rounds of waiting to see what will happen.  They sent her home on bed rest, which is a good thing.  However, this was the wake up ...

This is my pair of Perfectly Preserved pears made with Nuggets.  The very first thing I made with this set was to make these little treat jars.  I just knew I had to make a 3D jar, because that jar just speaks to me.  I used to do a lot of canning, and pears was one of my favorites things to put up.  They are fun to pack in the jars, too, because they slip together so easily in the jar. I used some of that little pear printed paper from Orchard Harvest DSP to wrap four Nuggets to pack in my little jars.  I made a little 3 sided box with a strip of paper 4 1/2" by 1 1/2" wide that I folded 1/4" in on either side lengthwise.  Then I folded  it twice at 1 1/2" and 3" so both the sides and bottom of the box are 1 1/2".  I punched the oval on the the two jars, then glued them front and back to my little box.  I put the nuggets in the jar, and took a 2" strip of matching paper for the jar topper, and folded it over the top of the nuggets an...

 The Minnesota State Fair starts today, and it's a really big deal around here.  Since the fair is in St. Paul, where I live, I grew up going to the fair every year.  Sometimes more than once.  It's 12 days long, it covers a lot of ground, and there is so much to see and do.  Great entertainment, great food, great people watching and great exhibits, that's why they call it "The Great Minnesota Get-Together".  Even though the fair is still not all about farming, that is always been an important part of any fair, and people all look forward to seeing the animals, the crop exhibits, the farm machinery, and the tasty treats that go along with it.  The dairy building makes the best malted milks and sundaes, and you can watch them carve the head of the Princess Kay of the Milky Way (the queen of the fair) out of butter.  All the princesses who represent counties all over the state get their heads carved in 25 pounds of butter.  They sit in a ...

 Couldn't you just eat these up?  I love this stamp set called Scentsational Season, and it's coordinating Framelits Holiday Collection.  This first card was used to cut 3 of the figures out of Crumb Cake paper.  Then we laid the crumb cake piece over the white card and pencil traced the outlines.  We added adhesive using the Adhesive Circles to cover those outlines, then layered ribbon to cover each outline.  The crumb cake paper was then layered over it using dimensional adhesive to lift it off the surface.  We added a little dot and dash outline with a white gel pen, and finished it off with Espresso brown Baker's Twine and a tiny tag.  Using the same Sensational Season stamp set, we used the mug, steam, and candy cane stamps to create this sensational gift pack.  It's an awfully sweet idea, but what makes it even more fun is you can add some Sugar & Spice or Peppermint Sticks Scented Stampin' Emboss Powder to the stamping to add...

This past Saturday, I attended a holiday workshop where we created lots of fun projects.  I was especially excited about these Halloween projects.  We had some wonderful demonstrators who created these projects, and I just had to do the assembly, so I cannot really take the credit for them.  My favorite was the treat box, which is similar to one in the SU holiday catalog.  After watching the demonstration, I was ready to make this one my first project.  I thought this was cute, and quite easy-peasy to make.  I took my black box, which was already scored for me, and I attached the plaid paper, and headed over to the the Big Shot to cut the frame out.  When I completed the cuts, I came back to assemble and said "How did that happen?"  Somehow in the course of cutting the Framelit moved, the plaid paper moved, and my cuts were made right over the crease line for the box!!  I screwed up, big time!  I was so disappointed ;(  Sinc...

I went to a wonderful Holidays Camp-a-Rama hosted by Dawn Olchefske this past Saturday, and, as usual, I came away full of inspiration, and a box full of samples.  I always enjoy getting together with the ladies at workshops like this, because I make so many new friends. We had great demonstrations, wonderful sample boards that gals brought to share, a card swap, along with a card contest where we could vote on our favorites from the swap.  This was one of my favorite projects, and I could not wait to show you.  If you have seen the Stampin' Up! Holiday catalog you would be awed by the lovely ornament on the cover, at least I was.  Of course, there are always a hundred things I want in the catalog, so some things get pushed down the list, and my favorites get purchased first.  I usually have a hard time wrapping my mind around the idea of creating Christmas projects in July and August.  So, I usually order things that I would be more likely to use right a...