Craft Day and Babies

We had a craft day at Karla's earlier this week.


Mary brought the "Your Vintage Gluebook" swap ATC's to sort for mailing. What an amazing sight, and how lucky was I to be there to see them all!

These are the beautiful ATC's I received in the swap...

Vintage Figments

rosalieackerson

penny4thoughts

friedaquilter

creativelenna

bleintz

Beth brought her new puppy, Button, with her. Between naps, and other necessities, he found plenty of things to do...here, he's helping Karla choose papers;)


We've missed Shawn and Bethany at recent craft days, but they were back this time with their family's newest addition, Ford! His first craft day and, at 8 weeks old, he too filled the afternoon with naps and other necessities. He's a sweet little boy! I can't believe I hardly took any pictures that day but fortunately Shawn took some, including one of Ford on this quilt I made for him...


The question now is whether he will be the productive crafter his big sister has become--Bethany was busy cutting and glueing before Shawn could unload everything from the car to the studio, lol!

Have a safe and happy July 4th!
Marilyn

It's a Circus Around Here!

It seems, recently, that many of my regular-blog-reads have noted how long it's been since they last posted.....and here I am thinking the same thing! What's up with that, I can't even explain.

I've been in the craft room and I've been makin' stuff...like these Itty Bitty Circus Book pages:


This is the last Itty Bitty Book Club Swap for a while. The head itty-bitty is taking some much needed time off--through the end of the year. Eleven swappers signed up for the Circus book and we were also invited to make more than one page if we wanted to. I always like a thick itty-bitty...hehee, I really like saying "itty-bitty". I found several great circus images out there on free image sites and decided to make three different pages (3 X 11).


Speaking of great images, for the backs of my pages I used three of them from the Logomachy Cards set I purchased from my friend Mary at her Green Paper Packages Shop. I added my blog information to them, but still a bonus page, don't you think? Mary also shares many wonderful free images on her blog, Green Paper.

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It seems like there is less of this

and more of this

in our backyard today! Raking vs. blogging.....I'll get back to you on that!

Marilyn

Round Robin Beginnings

I've added another page spread to my gluebook this week...

it's really become quite addictive! And to further my addiction, I'll now be able to work in books belonging to craft group friends too!

Beth suggested a very casual Book Round Robin. We can bring our books to craft day and work in our own or on a page for someone else. We can also work on other's pages at home and bring them back the next time we're together. No strict rules, just however it works out--and when nobody brings a book to craft day in a while, we're finished. Easy!

Beth, Mary, and I started our books this week. Shawn said she wants to play and I'm hoping Karla will join us later--she has lots of other projects going on right now.

We used book covers that we got from Mary and filled them with blank paper. The pages are hole punched and go into the books using binder rings.

I had a chance yesterday to decorate the cover of mine:


Mary made my first two pages...

(front)

(and back)

This is the front and back page I made for her book,


and the front and back page I made for Beth's book.


What fun! I'm excited for our next craft day!

Marilyn

Bonus Craft Day

Again yesterday, Shawn and Bethany and I drove out to Karla's for craft day--two weeks in a row! Sadly, Beth and Mary weren't able to be there this time (and were missed).

I worked some more on my gluebook and finished two additional pages. It's really fun to have a project without a deadline attached, one to just play with as the mood hits:)


We started the day with a pitch-in lunch of fresh, tasty dishes...eating outside where the air was pleasant and the surroundings were lovely!


Then after lunch we were treated to a walk in the woods...


or more specifically...


the Fairy Berry Trail!


What a delight!

Also a delight was seeing the journals that Karla made with book covers that Mary brought last week...


Beautiful, aren't they? As was craft day--thank you, Karla!


Marilyn

What? Me, EARLY?!

I usually don't give much thought to Halloween in August, but this year is different...thanks to Shawn who told me about Sarah's Vintage Spooky Tag Swap.

And not only have I thought about it, but I finished my 13 tags today, ready to mail to Sarah on Monday.





I like that I'm now in a 'spooky' frame of mind and ready to start on my Sweet & Sinister tags. My supplies are out and that little space on my table is cleared off. I might even have a couple of ideas left too:)

Marilyn

Putting the Pieces Together

This week I've been clipping, snipping and dyeing--sounds like a hair salon--and pasting to make Halloween tags for Sarah's Vintage Spooky Tag Swap.


Sarah is going to make tag books from everybody's tags (due 8/28), tying them together with a ribbon...13 swappers, 13 pages...how's that for a Halloweeny tag book?! I can't wait to see it!!

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Here's another fun tag book swap...

Sweet & Sinister Tag Swap

It's still open for sign-ups if you want to jump in!
(Tags aren't due until October 10th.)

You can go here or here to sign up.

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This next picture may quite possibly fall into the same category as watching paint dry...


I'm coming right along on my 1000 piece puzzle. But not without help...second daughter and her boyfriend were here last weekend. The three of us worked on it Sunday morning while Rick was cooking up a delicious breakfast--he's not a puzzle person:) But he is a fabulous cook and I swear he added some magic to our breakfast--we really knocked out a lot of this puzzle after we ate!
(edit - 08/22/09...finished this baby last night--yay!!)

Marilyn

Ephemera and Fabric Scraps--Things That Make Me Happy!!

Yesterday, I received a delightful piece of mail from Mary...it was her July Giveaway package that I was so lucky to win!


Vintage book pages and postcards, a variety of game cards--including Logomachy, vintage calling cards and other bits that are perfect for ATC's and tags, etc.


I was surprised to see that Mary also included a packet of charms--so pretty and unique! These will be great for paper projects too...and/or fabric projects.


As you can probably imagine, lingering over this package of goodies has been muchos fun! Thank you, Mary!!

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Today, I was back in front of the sewing machine and it felt goood!!! I made blocks for Rachel in my Stash Busting Bee International group.

She wanted Wonky Stars, either 12.5" or 6.5". I made five 6.5" blocks...


The centers are fabric


Rachel sent from her stash.


The points are from my stash.


Except for this last one, which is made with scraps from her fabrics.


I'd forgotten how fun it is to make these stars--just about anything goes!

Hope you're having a good weekend:)

Marilyn

More Miss Frenchie's

A few more pictures from Miss Frenchie's April in Paris show...


and a look at my purchases. These adorable Bingo cards are


from Beth's booth.


Next to Beth was Karla's booth where I bought a pretty flowery tray.


And on the tray are two French chocolate cards purchased from Gwen (French by Design at Mission Road Antique Mall).


Mary and her sister were there Friday night too.


Mary and I swapped ATC's recently. She sent me this one using a lovely opera singer image. I love it!


Mary is an incredible artist and does awesome collage work! You really should check out her blog if you haven't yet been there!


She wrapped my ATC in lace and ribbon and mailed it in one of the delightful
envelopes she creates--a gift in a gift:) Thanks VERY much, Mary!

Marilyn