Handmade Christmas

I made a KALEIDOSCOPE. I have never made one before but was determined to make one for my sister-Lark. She has been talking about one for a while and I wanted to make her something special for christmas and so.....here it is. I found a book that showed me how to do the inside mirror. You have to use first surface mirror glass. Never made a name in wire before but it worked out. The end of the vial is full of beads and glycerin so it changes the image inside. So much fun.
Then I saw these on-line and thought...I can make those. Had to order everything on-line. This has been a 4 month endeavor because of my back. But I had to seal them twice - then paint the faces - then seal 2 more times. I only made like 42 of them. LOL. No seriously. I love them though and gifted them to my sis. I also have a gift of these for someone else special to me. Hope she doesn't read this before I get to her house. I gave my niece some with horse ribbons on them. They were fun.
And finally, I made some penguins ornaments out of felt. Just learned on Martha Stewart that here is BETTER felt out there called WOOL felt. So much nicer than what they sell around here. Gosh I miss Baer's Fabric.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and the New Year brings you exactly what you want whether it be health, money or family. Thanks to all my friends and students for a great year. I appreciate each and every one of you.

Now for my new favorite Christmas songs.....this one is so silly..click here. Along with the Polar Express Soundtrack. We all need some new sounds. Oh and don't forget that I want everything in the SANTA BABY song. And if you can't fit it under the tree - my back deck will work.

oh and WHERE IS THE SNOW....I love snow. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

gelatin printing

Organized?

Tryin' to clean it up and get organized.....I need a month off work to get it all done.

Scissor obsession! I think so.

WOULD you call it a scissor obsession. It was all because when Garden Ridge got rid of their craft department years ago the scissors were 1.00 each. Well I couldn't pass it up so I bought all kinds.

A Birthday PRESENT!!!

So Taylor's best friend wanted a CREATIVE present. Well she came to the right household. We love to do anything creative. SO HERE IT IS HANNAH.

Happy Birthday!!!

HERE's a song just for you Hannah sweetie!!! press HERE!!

You are such a great friend to Taylor. I hope you have a WONDERFUL day!!! We love you! Thanks to the lady on YOUTUBE ...Lisa Shea who does a great job with instructions (goes slow enough so we could keep up) on how to make the money origami flowers and the butterfly we used. This was great fun for Taylor and I. HERE's a song just for you Hannah sweetie!!! press HERE!!

You have to go there.....

Has anyone ever told you about....drum roll please..........StumbleUpon.com It is the most addictive surfing you will ever do. Go try it - you will NOT regret it. I promise. My Paige introduced me to it and we sat for hours the other day with it. Of course - it is fun with her new laptop.

THIS place has gone to the birds.....

THIS crazy place has gone to the birds!!! No....literally.

Swim little fishy.....swim little fishy

Of course Taterbug had to get in the act. She has the lips to make GREAT fish lips huh?

My sis was here for graduation and she stayed for 7 days. WE HAD A BLAST. I had to go back to work to get some rest. LOL. She has a new sewing machine and we had to venture to the quilt store. She doesn't have what we have here - Louisville has some great quilt stores. HERE IS WHAT WE MADE!!!!! AREN't THEY adorable. They are called Parlor Pets. The goldfish and there are 4 separate patterns.

My "baby" Paige. Where did the time go?

And I can't go without showing you Paige when she was little along with tatertot. She was and still is a beautiful girl. My babygirl. She can never change that. I think all mommy's feel this way.

Paige BOUQUET's for graduation party.

Now on to the fun part that Lark and I did. I had this crazy idea to not have real flowers at her graduation party but I would make paper ones that would last. So while laying in bed one night at midnight I thought up a Paige Bouquet with pictures of her in the center. Lark helped me get all 50 of them done-last minute of course. So hard to work 48 hours a week and do creative stuff do. I used green straws and a daffodil patter off of Martha Stewart's website. They were so much fun.

It happened and I can't believe it is over.....

Above is Paige's invitations to graduation ceremony and beside it is the graduation party invites I made. She drew the bulldog puppy since that is her mascot from school and I made it into an explosion card. I must say - I loved it. But after making 35 of them - I don't want to make anymore explosion cards for a long long time. LOL.

It happened and I can't believe it is over. Paige Graduated from HIGH SCHOOL. Everything went by so so fast. Wish I could do it all over again. Although the heat about killed us along with total exhaustion - she was surrounded by everyone who LOVES her and were her friends. It was awesome. Even her very sick great aunt and a great uncle ventured out into the 95 degree heat to show her how much they love her and support her. 95 degrees the first of June was a record for us. But I wouldn't have traded it for all the fun and good time we had at Paige's Party. I just kept going in and out of the house. WE ALL worked so hard to transport all the food and smoke the bar-b-que. My husband, her DADDY worked so hard and I know Paige really appreciated it. She wrote us each a 2 page letter about her life and I cried like a baby. She also got to buy her dream with all the money she recieved.....a MACBOOK. She is in heaven.

DID YOU SEE IT? If not you missed it....

I love all kinds of music. If it moves me then I fall in love with it. Well did you see on TV last night "Girls Night Out". It was female country stars - a salute to them. Well first of all I must say that Carrie Underwood...click here and go down to where you see her face and play that one....for the first time gave me goosebumps. I MEAN WOW. She was absolutely amazing. BUT....my all-time favorite of the night was Miranda Lambert and her new group called "Pistol Annie." I am in love with this song...click here.... ENJOY!!!!!

THIS one if my favorite!!!! Love this look. SOOOOOooooooo Paige.

PROM - WOW it brings back memories. I think my Paige looks gorgeous. ENJOY!!!

Last weekend at Artiscape - IN THE HOTEL ROOM we dyed her hair. She wanted it darker with a little red so we found a color and tried it and it is beautiful on her. Of course - everything is beautiful on Paige. The weather didn't cooperate - it rained and poured. So the clouds were moving above and it was changing my lighting. I got a few favorites ...I mean I only took 150 of them. I just can NOT help myself. I love photography.

WHAT IS YOUR most favorite images to use under glass? Any suggestions? WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM ALL OF YOU. THANKS for viewing.

ISN'T she CUTE. I am going to make Paige's invitations for graduation so I asked her to draw a bulldog. It's her high school mascot. She is adorable. The girl can draw ANYTHING. I'm so jealous. I think she will have to black pen her so she will show up better when I copy her.

Yo-YO....It's yo-yo time. When Lark came to visit the first of March she bought a kit called Yo-Yo Monkey. She did the actual kit - it was browns, golds and greens. Well I can't make anything BROWN. I need a COLOR. I combed through my stash of fabrics that I have been collecting for about five years. All my favorite colors. So I finally finished the yo-yo part of it - 16 large and 104 baby yo-yo's. YES I SAID 104. Whoooooo I'm tired. Thank goodness for the clover yo-yo maker or I would have hated every step of it. What a great invention. Now onto making the head and tail. OMG this is going to take me a while because I don't know how to sew really. I'm not a good pattern person. I SO WISH I KNEW SOMEONE WHO SEWED. More later when I actually finish it. I don't get much done in a hurry because I have to go to WORK. UGH!!! AND Artiscape is coming up really fast. So I need to prepare kits. LOVE Artiscape. It is a great Art Retreat and put on by the best organizer in the world - Lisa Ohmer of European Papers. I have a sold out class to teach and can't wait to spend one-on-one time with Paige. It will be bittersweet because Mike Meador won't be there. Now I'm gonna cry.

Debby Rollins hard at work - you go girl!!!

Sorry Dot - picture is a little dark.

Debi Wind showing off her goodies.

And the lovely Donna Bryant showing off her birdies.

The skilled Connie Newbanks who really didn't need me, but we had fun all day.

Well I had a wonderful day with the girls from KCG. It was so great to see everyone. I asked Paige what she thought of class and she said "it was so different - it was a warm atmosphere because everybody knew everybody. It was so laid back." I think what she said was perfect. A warm atmosphere. Since Paige has been with me for over 10 classes she should know. She is an awesome helper. Everyone walked away with 3-6 finished pieces on Saturday and they really did a good job. So proud of them. THANK YOU FOR HAVING ME!!!!! It was fun!!!

Paige took some pictures so I am posting them. I HOPE nobody gets offended or their feelings hurt if she didn't get everybody. A couple of them were very blurry.