Let sleeping dogs lie...

Need I say more??

It's hard to crop with a puppy on your lap

So I caved, while working at an "Adpotion event" for Eye on the Sparrow, my daughter fell in love with this little sweetheart! She's a real love and her big sister Sarah is showing her the ropes around the place (including sneaking pizza for the two of them to enjoy!) Diamond as she is now known as loves her mommy and especially loves snuggling in my lap. The thing is sometimes it's a bit much especially when I'm trying to scrap!

Van Gogh with a needle!--another gift from the heart!

I work part-time at the YMCA. Since I work in the membership department I get the privilege of meeting all sorts of amazing people. One of those people is Jesse. Jesse and his wife come in to swim and while she is making herself beautiful, Jesse and I talk crafting. He is amazing. Woodworking, gardening, and more...you name it he has probably done it! One of the things he is most known for is his needle work. (Because of this I got him a pair of Gingher embroidery scissors last time I was at the Fiskars warehouse.) Jesse jokingly refers to himself as "VanGogh with a needle." His paints are the thread, his brush is a needle, his canvas is the fabric.

Jesse follows patterns and also creates his own designs. Like this

Jesse surprised me one day at work with this. He found out my initials and my husbands then created these hand embroidered pillow cases for our bed. (Apparently at his church they are the #1 requested wedding gift!) His gift overwhelmed me, I was speechless, they are so beautiful! Thanks Jesse for sharing your talent with us! We love them, they are almost too pretty to sleep on!

Only have eyes 4 U

So hubby has a love hate relationship with my crafting. LOVES that I create things (even brags to his friends when I do well) but HATES well the mess (true creativity is never neat mom says ;) For his birthday I try to make him something. He's a good hubby and oohs and aah's over it and then gives it back for me to display.

I was in a goofy mood today and since it's his birthday I decided to make him THIS

I had this idea almost 2 years ago, but wasn't able to do it then. I finally got the supplies (3 big bags of google eyes...LOL) and thought he needed it for his birthday. Hope he likes it...(either way I get it to put on my shelf :) Happy Birthday Honey! I love you!

Supplies used; wooden frame, acrylic paint, LOTS of google eyes, assorted chipboard, glimmer mist (marshmallow, pashmina), ink (Tim H Distress in Brick), word bead, K and Co black glimmer letters, tacky glue, glue dots.

Surrounded by ART

I grew up in a very crafty household. Mom was always making things. She at one time aspired to be a commercial artist but then devoted her life to teaching. I grew up surrounded by crayons, and paints, and all sorts of fun stuff. One thing she laid aside as life got busy was her painting. Since she retired a couple of years ago one thing she started to do again was paint. It's fun to see her once again picking up a paint brush and bringing to life the things she sees around her. I am so not a painter (or draw-er) so her talent amazes me to no end! Mom's artwork is on display at the Smelly Cat Gallery in IL ;)

Easter Crafty!

We've been having fun with all types of crafty around here. First, Cornerstone Community Services gave us some coloring pads for our kids church kids. Since the older kids would be highly insulted getting "coloring pads" we decorated them a bit. After covering them with some fun Cloud 9 and Lil Davis paper, we added a ribbon loop for a pencil and then a cute spring stamped image. (Nursery kids are getting a mini box of crayons velcro-ed to the fronts as well.) Can't wait to give them to the kids tomorrow as Easter gifts from all of the teachers!

Then what happens when you go to a rummage sale and find 22 mini baskets for $2, 2 days before Easter? You buy them naturally, then glimmer mist them add a cute punched flower, some Easter grass and a candy filled egg and you have table favors for your family and friends for your Easter dinner.

Granted I will be sporting "Artic Blue" fingers for Easter (kinda got a bit messy during the misting process; ))

Paper -Lil' Davis, Glimmer Mist (in various shades) glue dots, gemstones

April fools!

So Angela over on Fiskateers issued a challenge for April fools day. The idea was to create food to fool your family. I had a crazy day but decided to try anyway. After sending the troops outside to play I gathered my supplies. I had to improvise a bit. But still turned out some realistic looking cupcakes. The goal was to make meatloaf and mashed potato cupcakes. I used a Pampered Chef easy accent decorator to make the "frosting" look like those expensive decorated types from the store. After some hesitation the kids really enjoyed their dinner.