Farmgirl mail from BEV!!!!

This is my suprise from Beverly that I received yesterday in the mail. It was a great suprise and it was the PERFECT day to get some "farmgirl mail".... I have been interested in getting some tote bags to take on my shopping trips but I just didn't have the time to make one and Bev suprised me with one that she made herself! It's just ADORABLE and I can't wait to take it on my next grocery shopping trip and look all "eco- friendly" : ) Thanks so much Beverly! It blesses me so much that you thought of me and sent me such a thoughful and beautiful gift! You farmgirls are SO much fun!!!!!!

Last minute wedding gift...

My friend Sara is getting married tomorrow and in the hustle and bustle of wedding planning she forgot to get a guest book. Sooooo, I whipped out my creativity and made her one of my Keepsake Canvas' for people to sign at the wedding. She has always been into culture and travel and she is incorpoarating a sort of European look int the wedding style. I stopped by the church to check out her colors and decorations before running to town to pick up everythign I needed for the canvas. I put this together in about an hour and a half, and I think it turned out good. I have never done a canvas THIS big so to me it looks like alot of blank space but I think the peoples signatures will fill it up nicely. I may think of one or two more things to add to it before I take it over to the church tomorrow though...

An Invitation to...

This is just a sample of the Bridal Shower invitations that I am making for Sara's shower. Mom and I raided Michaels Craft store to find some good pink " junk" for the invitations and we designed them late wednesday night. Then when I came home I just wasn;t feelin' it so I rearanged the layout a little bit and came up with this. I'm really happy with the way they turned out. Hopefuly I can get all 40 of them done and mail them before it's too late : D

Tea Parties and Birthday Parties!

Well, Maw Maws birthday was yesterday and due to my car being worked on, I wasn't able to go eat birthday cake with her and the rest of the family. But, it actually worked out better that way because I hadn't even started working on her gift yet so I worked on it a little last night and finished it up this morning. Poor Abby, I've been so busy sewing and making things ( trying to save money by making gifts instead of buying everything) that she has been having her tea parties all alone. I think I'll take it easy today and spend some time tea party"ing" today! Maybe if she agrees to a nap I can sneak in a few minutes of work on her fairy dress for the wedding BEFORE i start dinner and get ready for the bedtime routine : )

* I guess I should explain the gift in case it's not obvious... It's a tissue holder. Hey, what do you make for a maw maw who has everything?! I think she will like it. Who DOESN'T need one of these huh? lol It was alot of fun to make...and easy to. I made up the pattern myself and it was a trial and error process. I saw the idea on a craft show but didn't take the time to look up the pattern for it : )

This Week

This past week has been pretty off schedule so any sewing and crafting I did was a last minute idea that was put together pretty fast. I made the flower pin cushion for myself because I wanted to try out the idea. Now I worked out a few kinks in my pattern and If I decide to make one for someone else I'll have a better idea of how to do it. I made the pink card for my sweet hubby. His job requires him to travel around the state for several days at a time and I thought this was a good "welcome back" card to let him know i missed him. The first Valentines Day after we got married, I bought a minature mailbox, about the size of a pop tart box ( sorry, it's the first example that came to mind: ) and it has hearts al over it. I put it on our nightstand and anytime the flag is up that means he has a letter or a note or a gift inside...the only regret I have about that idea is that I wish i had bought one for HIM to put presents for ME in too!!! LOL Anyway, It's kinda cheesey but I'm a beleiver in "random acts of kindness" to build a strnger happier marriage. Now that I look at the card it's a bit girly to give to a man but i think he gets a kick out of my ambitious artwork : )

I spent a few days hanging out with mom and dad and the younger kids ( who aren't really as young as I make them sound ) and it was a blast! I forgot how much fun it is to sit around and visit and laugh in the evenings without the television on. We all have such a funny sense of humor I dont know if we actually talked or laughed more. It's the last few months of my baby sisters single life and it feels weird that she is about to leave the nest. It's weird seeing her grow up and plan a wedding. But I am so happy that she found her prince..even IF he steals her from us occasionally: ) Mom and Dads house has such a peaceful and calming effect on me. My mom is the best ( hugs mom!!!) She and I talked and laughed and cooked and cleaned and worked on wedding stuff..it was like havinga slumber party with my best friend!

So, this week ended on a positive note. I feel rested, inspired, encouraged and optomistic! Everyone needs to go home sometimes! ( and I say that like my HOME is far away...I live six miles from my parents house ( the house I lived in all my life) and I visit several times a week ussually..I guess you can never get too much of a good thing though!!!!!)

Projects of the Past...

Well, I can't say I am very good at making the layout of this blog but, oh well. I'm just showing off a few pieces of work that I have done in the past, and trying to fill a few pages on my blog : )
These are just some things I have made that are around my house or made as gifts. The "Baby Sleeping" was made a few weeks before I had my daughter. I was going through a rough time and I had a lot of time to kill so I stitched this up, thanks to the inspiration of my moms sewing room. I still love it to this day and it hangs on Abby's door even when shes NOT asleep :). The Virtuous woman piece is something I made when I was still living at home. I was probably sixteen or seventeen. I don't remember exactly. I designed the whole thing myself and my mom had it on the wall at her house until I got married and now it is at my house : ).
The two "keepsake canvas'" are my original idea that I came up with shortly before Abby's first birthday. I wanted to keep EVERYTHING from her birthday party but I settled on having everyone sign the canvas I had decorated. Now she has a keepsake from her first birthday that she can keep forever! And it has special notes from all of her family. The blue and brown one is one I made for my sister in law who is expecting her first in March. This one is for her to take to the hospital and have all of her visitors sign it when they come to visit the new baby! I love the colors in this one! Oh, and the red label at the bottom left corner is not part of the decor, its the little note that I stick to each "Keepsake" after I wrap it.

Fairy Skirts!

Well, this is my latest "finished" project. I have several in the works but this one is finally done. My sisters wedding is in April and there are nine little "fairies" in the wedding so they all needed fairy dresses! We we worked on these faithfully and finished them in just a few days. We had so much fun making them and Abby had even more fun playing IN them!

Jar full of Goodies!

I had so much fun searching for fun stuff for my swap buddy, but I had even more fun opening the jar she sent me. When the box came in the mail, Abby ( my one year old ) was so excited to open it with me so we sat in the middle of the kitchen floor and she handed me each item out of the jar as she went through it. It was so fun to share that with her and see how she reponded to each little "pretty" in the jar. We both LOVE all the treasures in our whimsey jar. There were three beautiful pink and ivory fabric quarters, some glitzy rhinestone decorations, three cute little roles of ribbon, a page of heart stcikers, some heart and lock charms for scrapbooking, buttons, felt embelishments, a heart rubberstamp and some sparkly flower embelishments ( my favorite because they are glittery!!).Thanks Cheryl!!! Each little thing in the jar was so cute and very thoughtful !!!