Craft Withdrawal

I am having craft withdrawal!! I must craft soon! I have been putting in a lot of hours at work and more hours working equals less hours crafting unfortunately. Thankfully I have a VERY wonderful husband who keeps up with the laundry and the dishes.

I did get out this past Sunday after church and a much needed massage (ahhhhhh...a gift from that wonderful husband) to pick up this fabric for a baby blanket I am going to make for a friend who is expecting. The blanket is one of the projects in the bend-the-rules Sewing book by Amy Karol which I mentioned a couple posts back.
Lydia and I visited with my grandma today and we were given this bowl made by my aunt. My aunt is a very talented quilter and she has been using her scraps (I think) to make several of these bowls. I love the colors in this one (orange is my favorite color). Very cool bowl isn't it? I don't know how she sews these on her machine (the bowl is thick) and I hope to find out because I would like to make one of these.

2008 Point Bock Run

I came down with the flu on Thursday and this morning I had to finally come to terms with the fact that there was no way I was going to be able to run the Point Bock today. This was Ken's first organized run and I really didn't want him to miss this opportunity so Lydia and I went to cheer him on. I was miserable but it was definitely worth it to see him waving at me as he started and to see him cross the finish line. Congratulations Ken!


I snuck a picture of my Snowy Zoe Shnuggle Bear (Zoe for short) snoozing on the deck, soaking up some rays yesterday afternoon...

Clever Coasters

It was another crazy day at work today but I balanced it out with a really fast 5 mile run and some sewing. I could hardly wait to pull out my bend-the-rules sewing book by Amy Karol this evening. I bought it back in October when I was in Portland; Saw it on the shelf yesterday and decided to crack it open. I got inspired. After Lydia went to bed this evening I did the Clever Coasters project. We needed some for our bed-side tables. The project called for just two 5 and 1/2 inch pieces of fabric for a coaster but I wanted to use the leftover scraps from the quilt I made recently and I didn't have any pieces left that were that large so I got out my handy dandy calculator and came up with this design. The back of each coaster looks just like the front so I guess you could say they are reversible? The colors will go great in our bedroom. Going to try out my new coasters now. Until next time...happy crafting!

Block of the Month - Block 2

I spent the afternoon at the quilt shop. It was so nice to get out of the house for awhile to do some sewing. I finished Block of the Month #2 and when I finished with that I worked on this tote bag. The quilt shop was closing before I could finish but I was able to sneak in another hour this evening at home to finish it up. Lydia wanted to help so I asked her to model it for me. This is my first tote bag. It was easy to make. Thanks to Dawn for the pattern. Now that I know the basics of how to make these, I plan to play around with the pattern and make another with longer handles and a shorter body. This tote will be great for carrying books and craft projects when I am on the go. I try to take advantage of the free time I get like when I am waiting for Lydia while she is in dance class.

Valentine for a Friend

This is a valentine I made for a friend. Here is what is inside the bag... When you unwind the paper on the spool, you see...

The valentine was going to be delivered today but I did not know we were in for another huge blast of snow. We have more snow this year than we have gotten in a very long time. Ken tells me he thinks we got about 10 more inches today. He took this picture after he finished snowblowing the driveway. You can hardly see the snowman we made a few weeks ago because it's nearly buried up to it's neck.

The snow is up to the light post in our front yard!

And our mailbox is buried!

Happy 40th Birthday!

My husband has a Valentine's b-day. I think it's pretty neat to have one of those but quite honestly I always get jipped. My husband is one that doesn't multitask very well and therefore celebrating two different things on the same day is out of the question. So in the end, Lydia shares her chocolates with me.

Ken turned the big 4-0 today. He says he doesn't feel older. Interestingly enough to me, I do feel older. The fact that my husband is 40 makes me feel like I am not a kid anymore. We celebrated by going to the WheelHouse for some Pizza with my sister and her family. We are going to Cedar Creek Lodge for the day on Saturday to do some more celebrating and playing at the indoor water park.

So, the girlfriend I ran the Portland marathon with in October tells me she joined the Portland Fit to train for the Portland marathon again. Now she has me thinking I need to do another marathon. I had a feeling this would happen. The first one was just to prove to myself I could finish. The second one would be to confirm I really finished the first one because I still don't believe we did it.

Swimming in February in Wisconsin

My sister and I took our girls to the Wisconsin Dells last weekend for some fun at the Kalahari indoor waterpark. We live in Wisconsin so indoor is the best option this time of year unless you are a freak. Laurel, all of two years old, was brave and had no fear. I was probably the one most afraid on some of the slides I tried. It was nice to play and relax. As if I didn't have enough to do at work, I was offered a project that I could not pass up and it's in addition to my already full schedule thus the reason why I haven't posted in over a week. I feel like I have drain bamage from all the thinking. I would like to get to the quilt store this week to pick up the block of the month and I am looking forward to working on it soon.

Pink and Brown Card Swap Challenge

I have been playing around with that idea I got from Natalie for the pink and brown card swap this month.

The flower on this one needs a rhinestone but I don't have any at the moment.

My niece Laurel joined me for some crafting time yesterday. Look at that focus she has! She is an intense artist. :-)


Something unexpected and exciting happened to me today. It's always nice when that happens right? My friend Nina contacted me to invite me to go with her to see Matchbox Twenty and Alanis Morissette tomorrow at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee. To top it off, she has some great seats right by the stage. Her husband bought her the tickets for Christmas and now he can't go so I am the lucky duck who gets to go in his place. That is if the weather cooperates. We had a bunch of snow dumped on us again today and it's supposed to be pretty white in Milwaukee tomorrow so we aren't sure if the bands will be able to fly in or not. The event could be canceled. We shall see. At first I passed on the offer but when I told Ken about it he asked me if I was "getting old or something". I thought "shuuuuh" and I immediately called Nina and told her I was going. :-)

The Purple Scarf is Done!

This afternoon while we were waiting for my niece to arrive Lydia helped me finish up the fringe on her scarf. She was happy to receive it and even commented that it will go really well with her lavender coat (gee, who-da-thunk?) and I am glad to finally be done with it! I started the darn thing in September. In the meantime, Lydia recently mentioned to my grandma that she would like a pair of blue mittens to match the hat she had made her. A few days later grandma had the mittens knitted along with a very long scarf to match! :-)

This is one of the projects I made last night when I got together with the girls. Thanks to Natalie for bringing such a cool project. I love this design. It opens up like so...
Natalie is soooo talented. I love the work she does. Because of this project and another card she brought, I have some ideas swirling in my head for this month's pink and brown card swap. I also now want to get a Cuttlebug for embossing. I used Natalie's last night for this project and I love it. I have a Sizzix that I am going to sell on eBay.

A Little Birdie Told Me...

I made it, phew. Finished the project and the cards for the swap tomorrow night. I even have all the boxes cut out, scored, and ready to go so the ladies can make one of their own. Inside the birdie card it says "about your good news!". I also made a few modifications to the goodie box as you may have noticed if you read yesterday's post. The box I posted yesterday didn't look right to me. The yellow was too distracting. The birdie card was fun because I got to use my chalks and blender pen, things I don't use often but should because they create a neat effect. Tomorrow night should be fun. Can't wait to see what the other ladies made.

Goodie Box

Well if you read my last post you know I am getting together with the girls this Friday and I need to come up with a project for them to make and a card for a swap. I had to use Stampin' Up! supplies and the new stamps only which limited me. I had other stamps I would have preferred to use. This is what I came up with for the project--I call it a Goodie Box. You could put a little note in it or some chocolate and leave it on your friend's desk at work to cheer her up because she has 327 emails in her inbox, charts due the next morning at 8 a.m., and she wants to stick a pencil in her eye because how is she supposed to get the charts done if she is in meetings all day for goodness sake people? I am going to precut the boxes on my Wishblade and take them pre-scored. We have too many other projects to make and quite honestly I don't have the patience to walk them through it without a Wishblade. By the time we'd be done I would be just as ready for that pencil. As far as the Goodie Box, I would probably use some fancier ribbon and different colors but I wanted to use up some supplies I have had for awhile. The goal is to share an idea to hopefully spark a new one and I think this does the job. I will have to make the cards tomorrow because I have to be up bright and early. And so I leave my kitchen table in quite a state and say good night.

Buns of Steel

You can't tell because I am so far away but this is a picture of me cross country skiing this past Saturday for the first time in at least 20 years. Because I am so brilliant, I did not stretch before taking on this activity. The following day it felt like I can imagine it would feel if you did a Buns of Steel video 100 times in a row -- without stretching first. Girls, I highly doubt there is a better way to tighten your buns than by cross country skiing. What a workout. I was sweating the whole time. It was a blast. If you are in the area, I highly recommend the Iola Winter Sports Club Nordic Center for cross country skiing. The people were very helpful in getting me set up with the right equipment and everybody there was smiling. The trails are very nice too.

OK I have been neglecting my crafts this past week but I need to kick it in gear this week because I have due dates. I need to have some cool things created for this Friday night for a Stampin' Up! gathering I am going to. We are doing a Shoe Box Swap and for that I'll need to create anything but a card. They call it a shoe box swap because you need to prepare enough supplies for everyone attending to make your project and everybody puts their supplies in some sort of box or basket so they are easily passed around the table. I also need to create a card for a card swap using any of the new Stampin' Up! stamps. I spent some time this evening looking for ideas and I have a few in mind. I will need to get busy with this stuff because Friday will be here before I know it!

Woohoo! Look Who's Two!

My neice Laurel turned 2 on January 19 and we partied in style with Mickey Mouse. She is so cute I just want to s-q-u-e-e-z-e her whenever I see her.

Go Packers Go!

Lydia is ready for the NFC Championship game today.

January Card Swap - Snowmen

The theme for the card swap this month is "snowmen". I have 2 stamps with snowmen on them. So with the one stamp I dislike just a little less than the other, I've been trying to come up with a card I like enough to put into the swap. I think my problem with this stamp is that I don't like the saying on it. It's too cutesy-poo for me (as is the heart but I was thinking these could still be used in February around Valentine's Day). Think I'll give it another try but without the words this time. If I don't come up with anything I like, I'll just skip this swap and wait until next month. No big deal. I enjoyed getting my watercolor paper and brushes out for this and I love playing with glitter.

Point Bock Run 2008

My friend Dana (who I ran the Portland marathon with this past October) emailed me today to see if I wanted to join her this year for the Point Bock Run on March 1.  This was just the motivation I needed to step up my running program.  (Thanks Dana!)  It will give me the extra kick I need to step things up a bit.  This is just a 5 mile run but it will be a good start for training for the 1/2 marathons I want to do in May.  Since it's a shorter run I want to train to run it at a faster pace.  Last year I did the Point Bock Run in 48:56 (results).  My goal this year is to improve that to at least 45 minutes.  So the training has begun.  46 days until March 1.

We Love Making Books

I just got the new Ginger Blossoms paper pack from Stampin' Up! and had to make a book with it right away. Actually I just made the covers and then I finished the signatures and the covers for this one...
I ran out of bookbinding glue so I ordered some more and will finish these up once that arrives.

Lydia had a great time making her own book too...

I am inspired by this post by Soule Mama about making books with and for kids. It occurred to me that I have been doing this all along with spiral notebooks. It will be more fun to make our own books together and I am now inspired to keep some readily available for Lydia to write in. She is very into writing stories right now. These will be treasures to hold on to.

Block of the Month - Block 1

Now that the beginning quilting class is over, I signed up for the block of the month. Each month I'll get a new set of material for a block. In 12 months I am supposed to have completed 12 blocks for a twin size quilt. I could do 2 blocks a month and make a queen but I thought a twin would be a good size for when I am lounging on the couch. There were two quilt options; one was primitive colors, the other black with bold brights. I chose the latter. I spent a few hours at the quilt shop this afternoon and I got this done. While I was there I also cut out the fabric I am going to use for a tote bag I am making. The following picture shows the fabrics I'll be using for that. I came home in time for the Packers vs. Seahawks game but the way things are going in the first 4 minutes (Seahawks 14, Packers 0), I wonder if I shouldn't go back to the quilt shop.

Sweetest Thing

My six year old daughter wrote this in her diary but I didn't think it was wrong to post it because she gave it to me and didn't tell me not to share it with anyone. I will be holding on to this to remind her how special I am when she is a teenager and realizes I don't know everything. Joking aside, I think this is the sweetest thing (besides her) and it's a keeper (and so is she).

Beginners Quilting Class Comes to an End

I sewed all of the binding on my first quilt in class last night. It was the last night of the beginners quilt class I've been taking. The only thing left to do is to hand stitch the binding on the back. The instructor told me to take my time doing that and to enjoy the process. After all of the work I've put into this thing, I sure will!

Today I put about ten more stitches in that Strength cross-stitch pattern I've been working on--that one with the itsy bitsy teensy weensy stitches?! The one I wrote about and started back in September 07?! I could only do about ten stitches because I got nauseous from straining to see where to put the needle. Seriously.

If you do a lot of reading, I recommend checking out Paperback Swap.com. I just learned about it today from Sister Diane. I haven't used it yet myself but I think I will be giving it a try.

Valentines for First Grade

My crafting buddy and I got a head start on her valentines for school. She is about half way done with coloring them. She is personalizing the colors for each of her classmates. I hope she will enjoy giving these valentines even more because she made them.

Shabby Shelves

I picked up this pair of shelves at an estate sale late this past fall and I wanted to share them with you because I think they are pretty.

I have the next hour to myself in my house so I am off to my craft room to make something!