Artistic Flair

Cuddle Quilt

2012-01-01T18:37:00.002-06:00

This is a quilt kit I purchased from Flying Goose Quilt Shop in New London, MN during the Willmar Country Quilters Quilt Show in September 2011. All the fabrics are cuddle fabric and super soft and cozy. The strips were all precut when I purchased the kit, and it tells you how to do the sew and flip method of quilting, so you sew all three layers of your quilt sandwich at the same time. I had this project done in one weekend and use it every day when I sit in my livingroom to watch TV.

Fabric Scrapbook: Turquiose Memories

2011-09-28T15:46:00.006-05:00

This project incorporates two of my hobbies into one: scrapbooking and quilting. The original inspriation came from Willmar Country Quilters Guild where we were asked to blindly pick a color crayon from a basket, and then make a project using that color, plus black and white. Turquoise was my shade and this is what I made.

I found a pattern on the internet at modabakeshop.com called Eva Scrapbook and used it at my guide to complete this piece. I printed the photos onto a printable fabric on an inkjet printer and then ironed it onto my fabric designed pages. The photos are all of my mom.

Jaycee Memories - My T-shirt Quilt

2011-09-15T16:34:00.003-05:00

It has been a very long time since I have posted anything here. It's not that I haven't been crafting, I just have had so many irons in the fire! Between scrapbooking, quilting, photography and my everyday life, there just isn't enough time to do it all. I promised last year to post a photo of this t-shirt quilt I was working on. I finally finished it in March 2011, hand quilting and all. So here's the final quilt. I didn't photograph the back, but it is a small, blue floral flannel fabric. It is a very warm quilt.

Graduation Album

2010-03-31T11:52:00.006-05:00

I have been working on my daughter's graduation album for a few months now and have finally finsihed it. I will be ordering Creative Memories StoryBooks for this album, as I want a copy for myself and my daughter, and there could be others who want a copy too. I have posted a few of the pages so you can see the end result.

I used her favorite color, purple, as the main color for the album. I designed it in StoryBook Creator Plus 3.0 as a 12 x 12 book but decided that it looks just as good as an 8 x 8, so that is the size I will be ordering. I really enjoy digital scrapbooking in addition to traditional paper crafts. Each has its positive aspects and works well for certain purposes.

Welcome!

2010-03-30T18:16:00.005-05:00

This is a project I will be doing with vinyl, eventually. I did a test with paper just so I could get an idea on what sizes I wanted each word. It will go above our entry door. We currently have an old fabric sign with the word "witamy", which is Polish for welcome, and no one knows what it means, so I used some other languages for welcome. Now I just need to find some time to cut it all out in vinyl and get it on the wall!

Rylynn's Polka Dots

2010-03-26T11:53:00.002-05:00

This is a page I did of my friend's little cutie, Rylynn. I had the scallop/polka dotted paper in my stash and mounted it on a sheet of butter yellow that coordinated nicely with her outfit. The tag with ribbon is Creative Memories Tag Maker, which I sanded the edges of to give it a little contrast. She's a little doll!

Kalib

2010-03-25T12:48:00.002-05:00

This is a page I did of my nephew Kalib. I used Street Sign Cricut cartridge for his name, and the striped circles were punched with my CM Circle Maker. The 3 layered circle on the ribbon was cut with the CM Cutting System Circle Makers, as the sizes of those were slightly larger than my shape maker punch could do. I still need to do my journaling on this page, but I like the end result.

Giddy Up Cowgirl!

2010-03-24T10:50:00.003-05:00

I saved this embossed leaf paper from K & Co. for YEARS waiting for just the right photo to use with it. I took a regular photo and used photoshop to give it that "aged" look. Also used fabric photo corners from Martha Stewart to keep with the vintage look of this page. The copper metal embellishment was another one of those items I've had forever, and it looks great here!

Autumn Page

2010-03-23T16:03:00.002-05:00

This was a really simple page to do, but I love how it turned out. One of those beautiful fall printed papers you're not always quite sure what to do with. This photo fit perfectly with a couple mat layers. You can't quite see it, but I sponged the edges of the torn layer with some brown ink to add a little more dimension. More pages to come!

Sweet Baby

2010-03-22T10:18:00.004-05:00

This is my niece at 6 months old. I love the jacket she is wearing, because I too like to wear my leopard print accessories. I used Ashlyn's Alphabet for her name, and the heart came from Plantin Schoolbook cartridge. This was a fun page for me to create. The scallop under the ribbon was Creative Memories Scallop Circle Maker.

Cute as Can Be

2010-03-21T15:57:00.010-05:00

I was at a scrapbooking crop Friday night and all day Saturday. Wanted to share some of my completed pages. The one with this post is my niece Rylee. I had tried several times this day to capture a nice smile, only to get some form of goofy expression from her. This shot was taken after she had made some more silly faces and as she headed towards me and the camera she gave me this nice smile right at the very end of her approach towards me. I used the Storybook Cricut cartridge for the swirly shape behind the photo. The only other embellishment I did was stitch around the outer edge with white thread.

Quilting Again

2010-03-01T22:11:00.003-06:00

I started quilting again after at least a six year absence. I don't consider myself a "quilter" by definition. This project, a t-shirt quilt, is only my third project, the first two being small crib size & wall hanging sizes. I learned to do embroidery and cross stitch in grade school from my grandmother, but have taught myself the quilting process by reading books. Of course home ec class in junior high school gave me the basic sewing machine skills, but I'm no master seamstress either.

I know I still have a lot of room for improvement. I am just now understanding why you really need to press your seams and still mastering my own unique quilting stitch, which is a form of what is called the "stab" stitch, not as common as the standard quilting stitch. Some day I'd like to master that as well, but it feels so odd for me.

I'll post more photos as I get closer to being done. These t-shirts are from my fifteen years as a Willmar Jaycee. I didn't want to get rid of them, but didn't wear many of them at all. I'm recycling and preserving fond memories of my years as a Jaycee.

My next quilting project after this one I hope to be a denin quilt using my old jeans I've been collecting.

Back to sewing

2010-01-04T11:47:00.011-06:00

My craft project this past Sunday. Finally got one thing off my "to do" list. It's called a Sweet Treat Bag after the HoneyBun Fabric by Moda used to make it (just 10 strips of fabric 1.5" x 44").

All machine sewn except the button and velcro closure for the flap. This was something I picked up at the Bug Bee Hive weekend scrapbooking retreat back in October after watching the local quilt shop (Sweetwater Cotton Shoppe in Paynesville, MN) bring one of their samples with that Friday night to show us. The kit cost $6.00...I just had to buy some fusing, the button and the velcro, so it was an inexpensive project, and wasn't as complicated as I thought it might be.

I don't do a lot of sewing, but when I saw the finished sample I had to give it a try, and for $6.00 I wasn't going to be out much if I ruined it.

Here's the link to the PDF for the instructions...http://www.unitednotions.com/fp_sweet-treat-bag.pdf

Scrapbooking Armoir for Sale

2009-12-07T15:20:00.004-06:00

A work center built by my husband out of oak - it is currently unstained. Two piece unit: top unit is 23" deep with four shelves. Inside shelves are adjustable to any height. Shelves on right side of door to hold craft punches or other items, dowels can be used for ribbon spools. Pull out work table can be put away with your project/scrapbook left as is until you can return to it - 40" wide and 24" deep.

Bottom unit of armoire has side doors that retract into unit. This unit is a closed floor style. As you can see the bottom is raised off the floor. Price starts at $1200 for unstained armoire, without bottom drawers. It also shows a separate set of drawers that is optional to purchase for $600, unstained. It has 16 drawers to hold 12 x 12 papers/scrapbooks/tools - sizes range from 1" to 5" deep. Can stain for additional fee if requested.

Overall unit dimensions 48" wide, 24" deep, 68" tall with top and bottom sections for easy moving.

Please contact me if you have any questions or are interested. Live in Minnesota and may be willing to deliver depending on your location, or possibly meet halfway, etc.

This is my armoire where I work on my crafts. I love it because I don't have a separate room to do my crafting, so this looks beautiful near my dining room when not in use. I can also leave my works in progress on the pull out worktable and not disturb anything when I need to put it away.

This is the open floor style bottom. As you can see, I have wheeled units I can roll in & out when I'm crafting. This style starts at $1000 unfinished and $1400 stained.

The L Letterpress Tool Kit Giveaway!

2009-11-17T16:38:00.004-06:00

The L Letterpress Tool Kit Giveaway!

This is one of the coolest new tools I have seen in a while! The concept is not new (in fact, letterpress is an old art) but it is so cool to see it back in a smaller, more user friendly format! Go and enter to win one of these great tools!

Posted using ShareThis

Girlfriends!

2009-11-06T16:52:00.005-06:00

Check out the cute "girlfriends" you can make at the CM blog! Go to this link to see both traditional (using paper & punches) and digital versions. Cute, cute, cute!!

http://blogs.creativememories.com/ideas/2009/11/make-friends-with-cm-no-literally-.html

New Laptop

2009-11-04T17:11:00.002-06:00

My new Gateway NV7802u laptop...woohoo! So far I love it!! 17.2" screen looks great. Windows 7.0 is taking a little time to adjust to. Can't wait to start doing some digital scrapbooking with my Storybook Creator Plus 3.0 software from Creative Memories on here!!

The Gypsy 24-hour Design Challenge Project by K Wiggins

2009-10-27T15:25:00.004-05:00

The Gypsy 24-hour Design Challenge Project by K Wiggins

Posted using ShareThis

Check out this awesome layout using the new Gypsy from Cricut and the Life's A Beach cartridge. What an inspiring and fun layout!! You can vote for her to win the challenge by clicking on the link above.

2009-10-13T13:13:00.002-05:00

These are a couple more of the make and takes we did at Scrapfest this year. The first one is a container to hold treats/candy inside. The bottom one was made at the Hero Arts booth.

Make & takes at Scrapfest

2009-10-02T15:49:00.003-05:00

I'm finally getting to another post from Scrapfest. These are two of the 15 free make & takes we did this year at the various booths. Most of these projects only took a few minutes to do. I will post more of my samples in the coming days.

Scrapfest 2009 at MOA

2009-09-24T14:49:00.002-05:00

Yes, I'm still here! It has been far too long since I have posted anything. I went to Scrapfest at the Mall of America in Bloomington, MN for the first time this year and had a blast! My sister and I were able to make 15 of 33 free make & takes on Saturday. Next year we hope to be able to attend Friday and Sunday as well. Some of the lines were definitely a long wait, but we had fun and tried some products we hadn't used before. I definitely recommend going next year if you are able!

Scrapbooking Armoire For Sale

2009-04-21T19:00:00.010-05:00

April is half over already?

2009-04-20T10:35:00.002-05:00

Wow time flies by fast these days. I definitely see the challenges in blogging now that I have one of my own. There never seems to be enough time in the day to accomplish everything you want to do, including posting new entries to your blog. I had hoped to stay on top of this a little better, but I will try to be more diligent.

I do have some photos of a new scrapbooking armoire I will be posting very soon. My husband built it and it will be for sale. Pictures and info will be posted sometime this week.

Thanks for checking out my blog!

Strange Brew

2009-03-20T21:02:00.003-05:00

These are two of my guy friends clowning around at a brewery tour. They both love being funny and they both love beer. I used the All Mixed Up Cricut cartridge for the title on this page. The patterned sheet came from a discontinued Creative Memories paper pack called Asian Miyabi...I liked the way it worked with the rest of the layout.

Colorized Heritage Photo

2009-03-17T13:56:00.003-05:00

This is another photo of my great-grandparents on my maternal side. It was hand-colored at some point, probably not professionally done. Still, it is a neat candid picture of them. My grandmother, who is now 92, still remember the day they took this photo while visiting family in Washington state many years ago.

I used a fancy gold, embossed sheet of paper that I had been saving for some time on this layout. My Cricut was used to make the dual pink flower design at the bottom right, using the Home Accents Solutions cartridge. I also added a couple fabric brads at the top.

Thommes' 50th Anniversary

2009-03-13T14:08:00.005-05:00

This was the photo taken for my great-grandparents 50th Anniversary. I am proud to say both sets of great-grandparents on my maternal side made this milestone celebration. It certainly doesn't seem to be the norm anymore, although there are rare occasions that it happens.

I used my Cricut for the lettering and stamped the word "celebrate". I really like the fancy metal embellishments in the corners. I saved these for a long time until I had that special photo that was just right to use them.

More Family Heritage Layouts - The Sisters

2009-03-08T16:19:00.005-05:00

Here are a couple more layouts I did for my family heritage album. They are photos of my grandmother with her sisters. I love these old pictures. It is so neat to see the hairstyles and clothing, and in my particular case the extreme age differences between the siblings. My grandmother was the 17th of 18 children, so she is the youngest in both layouts.

111 of My Favorite Movies

2009-02-10T16:40:00.002-06:00

This is a list (not complete in any way) of some of my most favorite movies. You know the ones. You will watch them every time they are on TV and you never get sick of watching them again. As I first mentioned, this is not a complete list. In fact, I may find myself adding to this list as I think of more great movies. There are many movies I have seen and liked, but these ones stand out for me. Some are Oscar winning/nominated films, others may have received two thumbs down from critics, if they were even noticed at all, but they entertain me and I enjoy watching them. Hope you enjoy reading my list.

Air America (1990)
Air Force One (1997)
Airplane! (1980)
American Grafitti (1973)
The American President (1995)
An Officer and a Gentleman (1982)
Back to the Future (1985)
Bad Boys (1995)
Bad Boys II (2003)
Barefoot in the Park (1967)
Bettlejuice (1988)
Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
Big Daddy (1999)
Big Trouble in Little China (1986)
Blast from the Past (1999)
The Breakfast Club (1985)
Bring It On (2000)
Broken Arrow (1996)
Can't Buy Me Love (1987)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
Cocktail (1988)
Con Air (1997)
Dante's Peak (1997)
Die Another Day (2002)
Die Hard (1988)
Dirty Dancing (1987)
Disclosure (1994)
Doc Hollywood (1991)
Doctor Zhivago (1965)
Driving Miss Daisy (1989)
E.T. (1982)
Erin Brockovich (2000)
The Fast and the Furious (2001)
50 First Dates (2004)
Fire Down Below (1997)
Footloose (1984)
Forrest Gump (1994)
Ghost (1990)
Golden Eye (1997)
Good Morning Vietnam (1987)
Gone in Sixty Seconds (2000)
Gone with the Wind (1939)
Grease (1978)
Guarding Tess (1994)
Happy Gilmore (1996)
Hope Floats (1998)
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003)
Independence Day (1996)
The Italian Job (2003)
Jurassic Park (1993)
The Karate Kid (1984)
The Karate Kid, Part II (1986)
Kate & Leopold (2001)
Legends of the Fall (1994)
The Living Daylights (1987)
Lord of the Rings Trilogy (2001, 2002, 2003)
Meet Joe Black (1998)
Message in a Bottle (1999)
Michael (1996)
The Mummy (1999)
The Mummy Returns (2001)
Murphy's Romance (1985)
My Fair Lady (1964)
Mystic Pizza (1988)
National Treasure (2004)
The Net (1995)
No Way Out (1987)
Ocean's Eleven (2001)
Panic Room (2002)
Pirates of the Carribean Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
Pirates of the Carribean Dead Man's Chest (2006)
Please Don't Eat the Daisies (1960)
Poltergeist (1982)
The Presidio (1988)
Pretty in Pink (1986)
Pretty Woman (1990)
Rain Man (1988)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Real Genius (1985)
Remember the Titans (2000)
Risky Business (1983)
Rear Window (1954)
Road House (1989)
Sahara (2005)
The Saint (1997)
The Secret of My Success (1987)
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Sixteen Candles (1984)
Sleeping with the Enemy (1991)
Sleepless in Seattle (1993)
Somewhere in Time (1980)
The Sound of Music (1965)
Stripes (1981)
Sweet Home Alabama (2002)
Swordfish (2001)
Ten Things I Hate About You (1999)
Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991)
Tin Cup (1996)
Top Gun (1986)
The Wedding Singer (1998)
Under Siege (1992)
Walking Tall (2004)
The Wedding Planner (2001)
West Side Story (1961)
When a Man Loves a Woman (1994)
When Harry Met Sally (1981)
While You Were Sleeping (1995)
Wild Hogs (2007)
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Working Girl (1988)
Yours, Mine and Ours (1968)

Shanty Town page

2009-01-26T18:17:00.004-06:00

This is a layout I worked on over the weekend. I used the Cricut Printing Press cartridge for the title and other lettering. For this Jaycee project we camped out overnight in a mock shanty town to collect donations of food and clothing for the local area. We built our "headquarters" from wooden pallets that were lined with cardboard. This was done the weekend of Thanksgiving and it was actually pretty chilly out, despite the lack of snow...probably in the 30's.

Laff Olympics

2009-01-22T12:59:00.006-06:00

This is a two-page spread I did for an event back in 2000. Teams did various relays and races. It was a cool September morning, but it was a fun time!

The title was made using Cricut's All Mixed Up cartridge

Weekend Accomplishments

2009-01-19T11:10:00.005-06:00

Here are a few pages I finished over the weekend. This is another big book project I have started to highlight my 13+ years as a Jaycee. The organization has been a great influence in my life and I strongly encourage any men & women ages 18-40 to join their local chapter. If you don't have a chapter one can be started in your area with enough interest. The people in this organization are like my second family, and the skills I have learned have made me a better person.

For the first layout, "#1 Chapter, I used my Cricut and the Mini Monograms cartridge for the scalloped layers, Street Signs for #1 and the sub-title "in Minnesota", and I used Stone Script for the word "Chapter" and "2006".

The second layout used Going Places cartridge for the arrow and couple, and Alphalicious for the title. I like the way both of these turned out.

Minnesota Jaycees 2005 Scrapbook

2009-01-15T19:49:00.005-06:00

I was asked to make a scrapbook for the 2005 State President to highlight his year in office. I spend many hours working on this throughout the year as events took place and photos were sent to me to include. Some of the photos are not the greatest since I wasn't planning to post them when I took the pictures three years ago, but at least you can see the layouts.

Family History Title Page

2009-01-15T16:14:00.008-06:00

This is a title page I made for a family history book. I used my Cricut machine to cut the letters and tags. I used Opposites Attract cartridge for "Thommes" and "Family". I also used some satin ribbon and brads inbetween the two layers of paper. I think it turned out very pretty.

This is a project I wanted to start a long time ago but never got to until the middle of 2008. I still have some pages to do, but have a large chunk of it done now.

I hope to show you more of my family history pages in the future. Hope you enjoy looking at them!

Vintage Photo Layout

2009-01-09T11:37:00.009-06:00

This is a layout I did showing my Grandfather leaving with two brothers to catch a freight train from Minnesota to Washington to look for work in about 1940. It is one of my favorites. I really like the way it turned out. I had some ribbon that looked like burlap I used across the top along with some jute to tie/hang the photo from. It really mimics the photo as the men had bags wrapped in rope with their bedding, etc. for traveling.

Scrapbooking Armoire

2008-12-31T16:40:00.010-06:00

This is where I work on my crafts. It is a scrapbooking armoire built by my husband. I love it because I don't have a separate room to do my crafting, so this looks beautiful near my dining room when not in use. I can also leave my works in progress on the pull out worktable and not disturb anything when I need to put it away.

If you live in Minnesota and are interested in something like
this, my husband does take orders for stained or unstained
armoires.

Simple Photo Gift

2008-12-30T09:52:00.004-06:00

This is a project I actually made in May 2008, but I found the photo so thought I would post it today. It is quite simple. 3 pieces of cardboard covered with paper that was cut larger than the cardboard and "wrapped" around to the back of each. I put a small strip of paper at top and bottom to connect each of the 3 sections and then covered the back with a slightly smaller sheet to cover the connections. Then I just added the photos and the little punched flowers from a Creative Memories Friendship Micromaker. This would make a nice homemade gift that is quick & easy: maybe for Mother's Day, a birthday, housewarming gift or some other occasion (or even a non-occasion just to show you are thinking of someone) when you don't want to give anything large or expensive. I keep mine on my kitchen counter...they are photos of my mother who passed away in March 2000.

Survivor Pages

2008-12-20T19:56:00.004-06:00

These are my latest two scrapbook pages. They are from some friends "moving away" party, which was Survivor themed because or friend wants to be on the show some day. I used several Cricut cartridges to make the Survivor logo: Don Juan for the title and evergreen trees. Tags, Bags & Boxes for the brown oval, Street Sign for outwit, outplay outlast. Going Places for the campfire and Plantin Schoolbook for the grass. I cut the ovals with the Cutting System from Creative Memories. I really like the way the logo came out...I gave it a "winter" theme since the party was held in January in Minnesota...we even had a challenge outside that night...a little chilly! The campfire also was made with various sizes of "flames" from the Going Places cartridge.

Storing Cricut Cartridges

2008-12-18T17:44:00.006-06:00

This is how I am storing my Cricut cartridges as of late. I have 15 cartridges, so by no means do I have them all (over 50 of them available). The frosted plastic boxes are old Storybox containers from Creative Memories that when purchased had a bunch of 4.5 x 6.5 color coordinated sheets in it for matting 4 x 6 photos. I can fit 7 cartridges in each Storybox. The black box is also CM and no longer available. I stack up the overlays to one side, and use the organizer from my last post as a reference to find the cartridge I want to use. This is working well for me, especially if I want to bring them with to a crop. I still have plenty of room to add more cartridges if I remove the cords. I have one of my Storyboxes full of my tool kit supplies at the moment.

I am keeping my boxes and the booklets, but I don't refer to the booklets very often, but they are there if I need them. I know there is more than one option for storing these, but I like to be compact and light.

Portable Cricut Reference Book

2008-12-17T13:50:00.004-06:00

This is an idea I put together to have a quick reference of all the Cricut cartridges I have. It is small enough to keep in your purse when you are shopping for new carts and also to carry with to crops if you don't want to have a large binder to haul around or the storage boxes with booklets in them.

I bought an inexpensive 4x6 photo album at Walmart for $1.00 (you know, the cheap ones we never know what to do with or might only be used for a quick grandma's brag book). I photo copied 4 x 6 size samples of my carts to slip inside the pages. I also included a complete list of all the carts made by PC and highlighted the ones I own and also marked the ones I still want to buy.

My first post

2008-12-12T17:09:00.003-06:00

This is my first day with the new blog. I have never done this before, so it may take me a while to get everything up and running. I hope to show some of my scrapbooking creations. I love my Creative Memories products and my Cricut. Here are two pages I just completed last weekend. My friend Lori gave me inspiration for the "Buck Fever" page. That's me deer hunting in 2004.