Capture the Details

wishes....

I wish you a beautiful weekend....

:-)

new....

Mother's day is approaching and I have some pretty gift bags available in assorted colors...

They come with a sheet of coordinating tissue paper. I call them 'A Gift In Itself" Gift Bags because they are so pretty that the bag itself makes a cute gift! They can be reused over and over again too! See them all here.

I also just added 'Flutter Bys' to the store.....

Find out all about them here. :-) 

busy weekend

The kids had opening day for spring sports on Saturday. Both Ben and Sarah had a game that day... luckily they were both at the same park, so Todd could be with Ben and I could be with Sarah for the overlap.

Ben's game was first. (He is so excited to be a "Philly" this year!)  Todd is an assistant coach for Ben's team. Here are a few shots of Ben and Todd from the game.....

Ben playing second base....

Ben batting (yeah, he's a righty but he bats lefty)....

He got a base hit.... Todd was first base coach and patted him on the helmet...

They only got into the second inning before Sarah and I had to head up to her field, so we missed the rest of Benny's game.

Sarah is pitching this year (!!!!!). I'm so proud of her!

Look at the concentration...

She is doing pretty well with it.... just have to get her to practice on a regular basis. :-)

Then, Sunday was Sarah's 11th birthday. She had a few friends over for a little party in the afternoon....

 
And the house-full family party after supper.....

Thirty-one assorted size people squished into my tiny house!

So, a busy weekend... but a good weekend! :-) 

happy birthday to me :-)

My birthday is Earth day. That's how I remember! LOL Nah, I just think it's cute because it rhymes. :-)

So, yes, today is my birthday. WoooHooo! The big four-two! My only thought for the day is how the heck did I get here so fast????! Wasn't I just seven??? (I chose that number is because I found an old layout that I did years ago and it's about my seventh birthday....Thought I'd share....)

Some close-ups.... Me, looking like the queen for a day! LOL...

The journaling. Warning: This will bring back memories if you are close to my age....

(click to enlarge for easier reading)

 
And the snapshots along the side.... These are the original photographs, so they have that old, faded, 70's look to them. This one shows my dad helping me with a present. I was trying to figure out if the toy looked familiar but I can't tell what it is. I have on the lovely blue plaid dress and you can only see the top of my head...

My dad must have taken this one of the mayhem in our playroom. Not only did I have on a plaid dress but check out those gold tights! Can you say seventies???? I have my back to the camera and that's my mom standing next to me ...

One more.... the group shot at the table. My mom said kids came in off the street for my party. LOL! We lived in a quiet neighborhood but there were kids all over the place. I invited my friends that lived right around me in the neighborhood and I see one of my good friends from school, Kathy, the blond girl next to me, but some of these kids I have no idea who they are! They lived further down the street I think....

 My brother Doug is in the green (plaid!) shirt directly under the yellow telephone cord.

Ah, the good ol' days. I am happy to keep adding to them! I am blessed to be healthy and happy and to have an awesome family. :-) And it is a beautiful spring day ~ I truly couldn't ask for more.

Thank you for all the birthday wishes on Facebook and the emails, too! Love you guys! :-)

modeled after Monet

Good morning! I hope you all had a nice weekend. :-)

My little man had a virus over the weekend so he spent time with me while Todd and Sarah were at softball practice. Ben and I sat at the kitchen table yesterday afternoon, keeping each other company while working on our own things. I had to get my taxes done and Ben wanted to paint. I thought I'd share his masterpiece with you. Ben learned about one of my favorite artists, Claude Monet, and he wanted to do an impressionist painting using techniques similar to Monet's. So, he did a water garden with water lilies, a bridge and grass. I love it and it now hangs on our refrigerator!

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I also wanted to let you know that I got the coffee or tea tags done over the weekend and they are now available in my shop.

 
Check them out here. :-) 
 

magnets are listed!

Yea!!!!! (I love the coffee stains on the packaging! P.S. it's in the details!!!) Here.

.....working on coffee or tea tags (they are done, just need packaging) and then, hmmmmm.... wink :-) 
 

layout + update on previous post :-)

Stacy has digital kits available at Two Peas and I made a layout using her latest kit, Birds, Blooms and Bikes.

(click on image to see it larger)

 
There are some really fun things in her kit - check it out!!! :-)

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If you read my previous post you know that I am playing around with the idea of coffee stains and owls to develop a new line. I decided I am going to call it: coffee or tea?  I made really cute magnets (I love them!!!) and I will give you another peek at how things are progressing. Here are a few of them....

Aren't they cute??? I am smitten with the 'bags'!

The are made from acid free cardstock and the back has a pretty patterned paper and the magnet....

I have a few other designs for the magnets, but I'll save them for when all is said and done. I still have to design the packaging. I think these would be so cute for a mother's day gift or even for a co-worker or just for yourself if you like coffee or tea!

I am also envisioning the possibility of tags, maybe note sheets or a matchbook journal.... fun! I'll let you know when things are available in my shop! :-)

on the drawing board tonight

....playing around with coffee for a new line I am developing....

Here's a peak! Coffee stains and cute little owls that love coffee, yes they dooooooooo!

This part is so much for for me. I draw all kinds of doodles in pencil, ink in the lines and then scan in the art work. A fun feature in Adobe Illustrator converts my rough, inked lines into smooth, clean lines and turns my image into a little, virtual coloring book. Amazing. :-)

Here is my original ink drawing....

 
Okay, back to work! I am excited to see where this will all end up! Stay tuned! :-)

Monday Make It: Needle Felted Ball Banner

There are sooooo many crafty things I would love to try. Needle felting is one technique that I did take a whirl at and I love it. I came across a book of the cutest needle felted items and I fell in love with all the neat things you can create. It is very forgiving and relatively easy to do.

This is your DIY project for the week: a cute needle felted ball banner...

 

 
I made a colorful and whimsical banner that hangs between two knobs on a piece of furniture in my living room. The great thing about this DIY is that you can alter it to fit your needs. Like I mentioned above, it is easy to do, but this project requires a little chunk of time depending on how long you need to make your banner. (Mine would have been perfect to make while watching a movie.)

What you need: wool roving (it comes in a variety of colors), a needle felting tool, DMC embroidery floss, a regular needle, beads, a beading needle, invisible thread and tiny (about 1") styrofoam balls. (All available at a craft store.)

 
I recommend watching this video if you have never needle felted before. Pay close attention the the 'stabbing' technique that is demonstrated (and please be careful because it does hurt if you stab yourself! LOL). The video demonstrates a flat needle felted project using a brush mat and a wider needle felting tool. You will be creating a three dimensional ball so you won't need the brush mat. I also recommend using a single needle tool like I show below.

To get started, select a color of wool roving and grab a styrofoam ball and the needle felting tool....

 
The idea is to completely cover the styrofoam ball with the wool roving and make a cute little ball shape....

 
Pull off just enough wool roving from the roll to cover the little ball (try to keep the amount of roving the same on each ball so your balls will have the same finished size)....

 
Wrap the roving around to encase the ball...

And then start stabbing! (Watch those fingers!) Hold the ball and roving in one hand and stab with the other....

Just keep stabbing and working an area. You will see it start to 'grab' on to the styrofoam ball. Move on the the next area and make your way around the ball until it is all even and neat.

You can do as few or as many as you need. And the color choices are up to you too. Customize! I like an odd number because that looks better to me....

 
Next you will need to gather the DMC embroidery floss in whatever color you like...

And the invisible thread and the beads if you'd like to add a bit of bling.

 

Start with the beads if you're going to add them. Add a nice long length (about two feet) of invisible thread to the beading needle and add pretty assorted beads to the needle felted balls...

Once the needle felted balls are all blinged-out you can string them onto the DMC embroidery thread (push the regular needle through the center of each ball)...

Make the embroidery thread long enough for your needs. You can slide the balls on the thread to position them...

Cute!!!!!

:-)  
 

flower snapshots + new Etsy items

I wish I had a scratch-and-sniff blog because you woud love the sweet smell coming from this shrub outside my kitchen door....

Every once in a while the breeze brings the scent in the screen door and it is just heavenly. :-)

This little beauty is in full bloom at the bottom of my porch steps....

 
  
 And I got this a few years ago as a birthday gift and it is finally mature enough to put on a nice show this spring....

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. flowery goodness. :-)

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Just added today to my Etsy store ~

From the Paisley Patch Stamps

 
And a bunch of Salutation Sets

Like this one ....

...and this one.....
   

and this one...

Click on over and check them out! :-)