Sucker For Love

Simple and sweet....

Today:

• I'm not feeling well...
• I snapped several photos for a photo project
• I used my sweet little heart mug from Anthropologie for the first time
• I was surprised by a little bit of snowfall overnight
• I wish my sweetie wasn't so far away
• I woke up early and laid in bed and read the new magazines I bought yesterday
• I called about a neat place i think would work well for our wedding site
• I wish for a window of time for a little nap

Crocheted Cuteness

I found this pattern in the February 2009 issue of Crochet World Magazine. I thought it was really adorable and wanted to make it for my fiance's littlest son, Ethan. I had Quincy model it for the pictures here....Ethan didn't care much to wear it...but for the 2 seconds it was on his head...it looked cute!

http://www.crochet-world.com/ It was a super-easy project. Quincy got a kick out of wearing it for all of about 45 seconds...which was his limit. Thankfully, I had the camera poised and ready to go!

Happiness is...

...a crocheted shawl to snuggle into.

This shawl was commissioned by my mom for my Great Aunt Lorrayne who lives in Iowa. We're thinking she just might like to receive this....

How To Make a Paper Snowflake

Here are some super easy steps to making paper snowflakes!

WHAT YOU NEED:
paper
sharp scissors
bone folder

Fold #1: Fold the sheet of paper so that the top edge lines up with the left edge of the paper. Fold in your crease.

Trim away the excess paper so there is a triangle remaining.

Fold #2: With the folded edge of the triangle at the top, fold the two upper points together. Fold in the crease using the bone folder.

Fold #3: With the single fold under your left hand, line up all three points. Press in the fold with your bone folder.

At this point, you have made 3 folds. There is a single fold on the lower left edge of this triangle.

Fold #4: Fold your triangle so that the single folded edge lines up with the longer edge of the triangle.

Use the bone folder to press in the crease. Your paper should look a little like a torch with a flame on it.

Cut of the "flame" from the "torch."

Using your sharp scissors, cut shapes from your triangle. For the laciest snowflakes, the key is to remove as much paper without cutting all the way through to the other side.

Try straight cuts and round cuts. Cuts that look like the above image, produce a snowflake that looks like THIS:

Enjoy making a blizzard of snowflakes!

New Rules!

You may recognize these pieces from Monopoly, but Quincy has taken to building villages with all of the plastic buildings. This is one of his close-knit communities!

Reading Pleasure

All right!
I admit it!

I am a pattern junkie!
I love patterns!
Patterns for anything!
Patterns of all sizes!
Quilts, clothes, slippers, aprons, dolls, bags, pillows.....

I love patterns!

(Thanks, Danielle for helping me come to this realization!)

Bumble BEEDS!

While in New Jersey, my cousins took us to Absecon to visit a little shopping village called Smithville. I found a little bead shop where I purchased these brightly colored lampwork beads. I haven't quite decided what to do with them yet, but I do know that each of my daughters and I will have a piece of jewelry of similar design. The orange bead is for Kait, the green bead is for 'Manda and the blue bead is for me.

Today, at the end of a shoot i did here at my house, Q was playing with the beads and was having a bit of fun. I decided to join him.

I Love Handmade Stuff!

I participated in a couple of swaps this past week. For one, the challenge was to send my partner an oven mitt. When I looked through her profile, I discovered that she has six cats...and likes them...(a lot, apparently) I dug through my fabric stash and found a piece of fabric with leopard spots on it. Seemed a good fit. I fashioned an oven mitt and then included some measuring spoons and recipe cards and sent it off. Here is the mitt:

And for another swap, our partners were supposed to list ten items they would like to have for their quilting room...then the sender picks five of those items to assemble together in a nice parcel. One of the items my partner requested was something handmade by me. I made this cute pincushion. Notice the use of the paisley? I hope My partner likes paisely, too. :)

This pinchusion measures about 3.75 inches square and 1.25 inches tall.

Let Them Eat Cupcakes!

Today seemed like the perfect day to bake up a small batch of something yummy.

A while ago, my Dad and his girlfriend, Karen, sent us a Cupcake Kit...which turned out to be the perfect solution! So we pulled it out of the cupboard and got started.

Here is what was included in our kit: One bag of Vanilla Cupcake Mix, One bag of Vanilla Cupcake Icing, One pouch of Cupcake liners, and one bag of Cupcake Sprinkles.
Quincy sure had a great time helping to mix up the batter.

He REALLY wanted a taste of the batter. He was a good sport about waiting to lick the bowl and the spoon AFTER we'd filled the cupcake pan with what we needed. Actually, he kept telling me, "Mom! You're gonna use it ALL UP! I want some, too!"

Next, we lined each well of my antique muffin tin with a cute cup liner. The strange thing about this tin is that there are only ELEVEN wells. Whose idea was it to bake one less cupcakes than a dozen??? Whatever the reason, Q and I were having fun. And the unsual number made it easier to fill ALL the cupcake wells.


We then set the timer and placed the muffin tray into the oven....




Fifteen minutes later....and a little time allowed to cool and decorate....this was our finished product:

YUMMY

Pretty Kait

Today was registration day at school for Kaitlyn. She will be a Freshman this year. It sure is hard to believe how quickly this day has arrived.

One of her friends curled her hair for her and we decided on a whim to shoot some portraits. These were a few of our favorites. Kait helped me with a few of the edits...she told me what she wanted and what she liked.

Take a peek!

This is the photo Kaitie likes a lot:

Cheap! Cheap! Cheap!

Okay! Now that it is finished...maybe noone will have to hear anymore about this project!

I bought a paper box full of 12 skeins of Lion Brand Chenille yarn at a yard sale. The gal who was selling had started to knit an afghan. Apparently, she gave up and lost interest and sold the whole lot of yarn to me for a whopping THREE BUCKS! I unraveled all of the sloppy knitting and crocheted this lovely shawl. I made it a little larger than the shawls I typically make. It is VERY snuggly and and warm. All the kids love to cuddle with it...so does Moses! She curls up in it and falls asleep.

I can hardly wait for a cool Autumn morning when I can drape this around my shoulders and sip my latte.

Here's to yard sales and FINISHED PROJECTS!

The Writing's in the SAND!

This was a little gift from Kaitlyn on Island Beach Starte Park in New Jersey. This was by far, my FAVORITE beach. The kids swam in the water and collected shells and we just had a very lovely relaxing day at the beach.

Thank you, Kait, for the coffee cups and beans! I loved how excited you were for me to see it before the waves washed over it! I love you, Darlin'!

All In The Family

I really just love this shot of all of our feet. I snapped it with my little point-and-shoot camera just moments before we left for the airport.

Pink and Orange Swap

I signed up for the hot pink and orange handmade swap. The requirements are to make something for my swap partner using the colors hot pink and orange. I decided to crochet a scarf. The project is almost finished. I like it...it is bright and cheerful. This is a swap item i would LOVE to receive....isn't that how it is supposed to work?? :)

The Quilt Is Finished!

This was the label i handstamped...mostly as kind of an inside joke with my dear friend Russell in mind...it turned out pretty cute and when my Aunt Dianne read it, tears welled up in her eyes.

Typically, when I make a gift like this for someone, I am frantically trying to put all the finishing touches on the item at 3 in the morning. I am proud to tell you that this gift was completed before the day of presentation...and with a few days to spare, I might add. When I first laid the quilt top out, I was concerned it might look like Binky the Birthday Clown threw up...but the more I looked at it, the more I really started to like it. It definitely makes me think of BIRTHDAYS!

the finished measurements are: 59 x 77