Crafter's Block

My blog posts have been few and far between lately. I seem to be procrastinating about crafting. What the heck?!? I am observing, partly due to the lack of posts on this blog, that whenever I find some free time I come up with something else that "has to get done" before I craft; Stuff like organizing all of my daughter's hair gizmos (rubber bands, barrettes, etc.), cleaning out desk drawers, file cabinets, and closets. I usually don't get the urge to do these things. Ever.

Today I actually crafted some things to necessitate a post. The card above is for a swap I am in that I turned in a day late but nevertheless did finish. We were given the owl stamped in black. I am looking forward to seeing what the other girls in the swap did with this guy.

I didn't feel like putting the paper, stamps, and inks away just yet so I made this card for a relative whose b-day is coming up soon.

My friend Dawn put one of my cupcake pincushions in a cupcake swap that she is in this month. I had the cupcake close to being done (as shown in this post) but she needed to finish it off with some embellishments which I never got around to doing (shocker). I am looking forward to seeing what she did with it because she is super crafty. I love cupcakes. The theme for the card swap in September is cupcakes too!

Sparkly Card Swap

I am part of a monthly card swap. The theme for this month is "sparkle". For this card I was inspired by a card in the latest issue of Paper Crafts (page 54). You can download the template for the bird and flourish from the Paper Crafts web site. Ken, Lydia, and I are going for a bike ride now to deliver these and they are ready to go...

Bugs, But Not Butterflies

The theme for the card swap this month is "Bugs, but not butterflies". This is what I came up with. I was inspired by my EYE - Bee - M (Rebus) screensaver (IBMers who have been around for awhile would know what I mean). I used a brown lunch sack as the base and slipped inside of this card is the following:
I was having crafting withdrawal so I had to make this card this morning before I did anything else. We are leaving for Disneyland tomorrow and I have lots to do to get ready before we leave, but crafting had to come first! Lydia also crafted with me this morning and made this tree which she requested be posted on the blog. :-) She is a blogger too.

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. :-)

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.

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.

November 2007 Card Swap and More Christmas Presents

I finised the cards for the November swap last night. Here is the sketch we were told to use as a guide.

I am a Stampin' Up! hobbyist demo. No, I don't "deal" stamps. I have to laugh when people ask me how long I have been a "dealer". It sounds like I am pushing drugs. I received this set of stamps in the mail yesterday, free of charge, as a holiday gift. I am looking forward to stamping with them and coloring the images with some bright colors.

Keeping Busy

I had quilt class last night. I finished all of my home work for it! That included ripping apart the four squares I did in the first class and finishing five additional squares. Last night in class I made a nine-patch variation block and I started 3 log cabin blocks. The next class isn't until 11/20 so I have plenty of time to finish up one more 9-patch variation and the 3 log cabins. I have been using my Brother $150 special from many years ago to do my home work and I use a Bernina 240 in the quilting class. Now that I've sewn on a Bernina, I can tell how clunky my Brother machine is. If I keep with this quilting thing and sewing more often, I will get more serious about looking for a Bernina to bring home.

So all was well in my world....until I woke up this morning with a migraine. I thought I had the flu but I'm feeling better already so I think I just got really sick from the headache. I am so relieved to be over the worst of it.

This is the sketch we are using for the card swap I am in this month:
I played around with this and came up with these 2 variations so far...


I have made some progress on the purple scarf I am knitting for Lydia, my first knitting project. I am hoping to finish it before the snow gets here. Also, I think I have all of the prints and supplies ordered that I'll need for the scrapbooking retreat on November 9. I am known to procrastinate when preparing for something like this but I think I will be in pretty good shape as far as being ready for this one.

Ready for the Card Swap this Thursday

I finished my cards for the card swap happenin' this Thursday. The theme is "stitches". The frosting confetti does look yummy enough to eat but I wouldn't recommend it because it's not good to eat beads.

Thankful for the folks who make crafty podcasts

I finished my cards for the next card swap I have coming due next week. The theme was "flowers". I really like this set from Stampin' Up. It's the Big Blooms set. I have a need to do a more substantial project next. Lydia is not feeling well today :-( so I might get some extended amount of time to work on something.

I did a 14 mile run this morning. I would like to get to 18 miles soon since the marathon is only 11 weeks away now! Before I left for my run I searched around on iTunes for some more crafty podcasts. Doing these long runs gives me a couple hours to catch up on my favorite podcasts so I'm pretty caught up and need more than 2 podcasts for this amount of time, especially when I don't have a CraftSanity podcast to listen to which are usually at least one hour. Jennifer admits she likes to talk and I am just fine with that because I like listening to her. I didn't find any new podcasts to add to my listening stash but I did find a cool video podcast from Crafted by Us. I watched two of the Crafted by Us video podcasts when I got home and I really enjoyed them. The show is hosted by Michelle Johnson. I've added a link to her blog under Podcasts. What I like about her podcast is that we seem to have a lot in common. She isn't stuck on one type of craft but likes to try all kinds of crafts and isn't afraid to try new stuff. Also, if something doesn't turn out, she is not bummed because at least she had fun with the process. Amen! I checked out her blog and discovered that she runs too! I'm thankful there are Jennifer Ackerman Haywoods, Sister Dianes (CraftyPod), and Michelle Johnsons out there who take the time to put these podcasts together. Thank you ladies!

Put My Butt in the Chair

I love how Alison Lee talks about putting your butt in the chair on her podcast CraftCast. The point is that one of the things you have GOT to do is get yourself doing SOMETHING to get your creativity flowing. Recently I listened to one of her podcasts where it was pointed out that artists do NOT always (probably hardly ever) get their finished product on their very first try. There are lots and lots of things that get thrown away before you come up with something you like. Even though I probably knew this all along, hearing it was very inspirational for me and freed me up to try new stuff. I did put my butt in the chair and I did throw away a few drafts before coming up with this final design. That is OK! I pulled out all kinds of supplies that I normally don't use and just started experimenting. The result is that I finished my cards for my first card swap and I think they are acceptable. I am my worst critic so I can't say for sure I love them but I do like them. I pushed myself enough to know I did the best I could on this one at this time. The theme for the swap was "Tag You're It!". I made a pocket card and in the pocket is a tag (= bookmark).

You can't tell from the picture but the bookmark is very sparkley. I covered the whole front with dazzling diamonds glitter (made by Stampin' Up!).
Here are the directions and supply list for the card and bookmark.

I liked this swap and will do more because the deadline forces me to get DONE and it encourages me to push my creativity level up because I want to make something that people are going to really like.

I am running in a 1/2 marathon on Sunday in Madison (WI). I think I am ready for it. I ran 10 miles this past Wednesday and as soon as I am done with this post I am off to run 13 miles.