Heart Swap #1

Back in early January, my friend Jennifer posted she was going to host a Winter White Heart Swap.  The rules were only that the heart should be in some shade of Winter White, and they should be approximately the size of our hand.  They could be any medium of our choosing.   I couldn't wait to get started!

This was my contribution for this swap:

   Look at this beautiful heart by Lonnie Jenck:

I love this fabric heart with embellishments.  I'm not sure who the creator is since the packaging got separated from the hearts.  If you recognize who made it - let me know!

 This is a lovely paper heart with beautiful lace embellishment - again, I don't know who created this one.

This pretty heart has chunky glitter and multi-colored pearls and was made by Jill Sibbald:

I'm not sure who was the creator of this heart as there was no name attached but it is a paper and chenile heart with a fun "love" tag.

My friend Jennifer Barnes made this beautiful heart with so many layers and textures:

 Patty Cross came up with this pretty fabric heart adorned with glittered clay wings:

Another sweet fabric heart, I'm not sure who made this one either~!

This heart came all the way from Germany!  Our friend Wanda created this precious heart with a fun glittered heart in the little pocket on front.

This was a really fun swap to participate in and came at the perfect time after the holidays.

Next up, I'll post about the  3 inchey swap I took place in, so check back!

Valentine Soiree

Yesterday was Bobbie's Valentine Soiree at the Paper Crown.  It's always such a great time creating beautiful projects and just spending time with friends.  Of course, Bobbie made us these cute name tags:

Look how adorable this treat station is!  We never go hungry at these events that is for sure - and do you see all the sweet gift bags?  Every single person in class went home with a door prize.  We were all  in love with the banner adorning the booth and one lucky person got to take it home.  

These were our kits.  Inside the frame were all the components for making our main project, and the small bag to the left contained materials for making a little party favor.  

Here's a few of the ladies with their completed projects.

Me and Shelley:

It's always a good time crafting at the Paper Crown.  Also yesterday we found out the details (and signed up for) the Spring Retreat!  Click here for more details.  Space is limited to 30 so if you think you might want to go - sign up now.  Believe me, classes fill up very quickly.

Creating

Over the past few years I've seen a year long course offered online at Willowing.org called Lifebook. Although I had wanted to,  I hadn't signed up because of time constraints.  However, this year, even though there won't be more time in my life, I'm determined to make time for creativity.

One of our first lessons was to take our word for the year and create a Guardian Angel to guide us through the year.  My word this year is "Move" and I'm pretty happy with how my angel turned out.

Before Christmas, I had taken Christy Tomlinson's Artsy Ornaments class.  Tam Laporte, the founder of Willowing.org taught a class on making a paper clay doll using a jar as the base.  A few months prior to the class, I had a few flood lights that had burned out but I thought that I could use as a base for a doll.  I had already covered the bulbs with masking tape paperclay, then I set them aside in my craft room for months!  In December, after watching Tam's tutorial, I finally took the time to collage and paint this little doll and I think she came out pretty good.

As January was in full swing, I was feeling kind of sad that I wasn't participating in any Valentine swaps this year.  Shortly after that, Jennifer Babcock announced that she was hosting a Valentine heart swap and I think I was one of the first to sign up.  :)  For the swap, we were to make 10 hearts the size of our hand made from any medium we chose.  I made mine from fabric, lace, organza, and embellishments, and my hearts are pictured below.  Jennifer is mailing our swapped hearts back to us this week - it will be fun to see all the creativity!  

Then, to my surprise, shortly after Jennifer's swap, my friend Laurie Jackson announced that she was hosting a 3 inchey swap.  Mine are almost complete to send off but I won't post pictures until the 3 inchies are actually returned.  (Some of the swap participants read my blog).

 Lastly, Danita was offering an online class called "A Doll Story".  I believe I've mentioned it on my blog just a few posts back, plus I have a button on my side bar.  I'm a tad behind, but here is my doll so far:

I'm hoping to catch up on Sunday while Doug is busy watching the Superbowl.  Tomorrow, I'm going over to the Paper Crown to attend Bobbie's Valentine Soiree which I know will be fabulous, as always!

I can't believe that today is the last day of January.  It's been quite a month.  We're looking forward to moving into February.  

Thanks for stopping by!

A Doll Story

I'm getting excited to start this class on January 20, 2014.  If you'd like to join us, click on this link to register.  It's going to be so much fun!

Oh! and one lucky person will get to take this class for free.  :)

Goodbye, old friend.

Earlier this week, we said goodbye to Niles.  It's a heartbreak as you all can imagine, even though we knew for a while that this day was coming, it's not easy to lose a member of our family. 

Although this guy was tiny, he was a fighter and that's probably what kept him here with us as long as he was.  At his biggest, he was 4.5 pounds, and for the last six months or so, he was a teeny weenie 2.75 pounds. So physically fragile but so mentally tough. Our proud little man.

When I got Niles almost fourteen years ago, he was so spoiled from the beginning.  Here's a picture of him in his little bed, surrounded by all his toys.  He had a little smirky face and such a little attitude! If you picked him up to love on him, when you put him down, he's wipe your "stink" off him.  He did a little moon walk and it was so funny to watch him. He just wanted to play all the time and chase the tennis ball until he would practically fall over with exhaustion.  He'd sleep and get up and do it all over again.

He had a little fur coat with leopard cuffs, (a whole wardrobe actually - jammies included!):

He loved to curl up anywhere warm: 

Or anywhere there was a ray of sunshine:

Back in the day, he could run and jump higher than you would ever think, but over time, he just couldn't jump anymore, and running made his little bones ache. 

We almost lost him three years ago when he got attacked by another dog.  He had severe injuries and was in shock. We set up a doggie ICU to watch him constantly and to keep the other three dogs away from accidentally hurting him more.  We were so afraid when he wouldn't eat anything - not peanut butter, not even a hunk of cheese.  Usually, he would sell his soul for cheese, but he wouldn't even look at it. By some miracle, Doug got him to eat "special chicken dinner" and we nursed him back to health.  

Though, after that incident, he started to slow down.  His bones really began to ache and we had to start pain medication for arthritis. We teased that he was a little "junkie" because when he would need his pain medication, he would come to the cabinet where I kept his pills.  He would take it without even hiding it in cheese and he would go on his way.   His eyesight and hearing began to fail, and over time he lost a few teeth. But he was a proud little man and he *loved* his Douglas.  When Doug would come home from work, Niles would come out from wherever he was sleeping to greet him with an ear to ear toothless grin and wagging of his little flag tail.

Doug loved him too.  He took such wonderful care of Niles - every night tucking him in and wrapping him in a warmy blanket.  Making him special warm roast beef dinner trying to keep him from losing any more weight.  We're all going to miss him so much.  We gave him the very best life we possibly could and got so much more from him in return.  I have a million stories and memories and for the time we had together, I am so grateful.  He is so terribly missed.

 I hope he's having fun in Heaven chasing bunnies and getting lots of snuggles from my Mom.  I'm sure she's feeding him cream cheese on bagels just like the old days.  Goodbye, old friend.  I'll see you again. xoxo

2013 White Christmas Tag Swap

It almost didn't happen this year, but Chris from Perfectly Printed decided to host our annual White Christmas Tag Swap and I'm so glad she did!  Here are the tags I received:

Created by:  Jonnelle

Created by: Nora Neeley

Created by: Tammy Kaplan of Snipsandthreads.blogspot.com

Created by: Kimberly Laws of artjoystuff.blogspot.com

Created by:Jeanelle Ricca

Created by: Leann Shultz

Created by: Chris of "A Little Creation"

Created by:  Terri Wilkerson of Junqueseeker.blogspot.com

Created by: Jacqueline Reed

Created by: Chris of Perfectly Printed

Created by: Erica of Golden Egg Vintage

Created by: Deidra Kidder

And this is the tag that I made this year for the swap:

If you'd like to see the tags for the past years, visit my posts below:

2012 White Tag Swap
2011  My Tag  for the Swap
2010 White Christmas Tag Swap

Thanks for stopping by!

Winter Soiree 2013

 I'm feeling much better so today it was over to The Paper Crown for Bobbie's Winter Soiree!

This is the class sample that Bobbie made to entice us - not that we need any encouraging when we know Bobbie is teaching.  In fact, she announced today her upcoming Valentine Soiree and we all signed up without hesitation.  We don't even know what the project will be yet, we just know that if you don't sign up early, you'll miss out!  And THAT would be unbearable!

Bobbie has an amazing eye for detail.  Of course, we couldn't get started without our cute name tags!

My collection is growing.  :)

And of course, the class kits - packaged so prettily!

My Snow Queen came out so sweet - I'm in love with her.  I haven't gotten a full length picture of her yet as the day got away from me,  but here she is riding shotgun on the way home.  How cute is she!?!

As a class bonus, we also made these adorable star ornaments:

It was another wonderful workshop with lots of delicious food, door prizes, fun and friendship.  I say it all the time but, we are so fortunate to have such talent here in Oklahoma and such a great group of ladies to spend an afternoon with.

This happened...

I had a little episode over the weekend that ended up with me in the ER and getting to spend the night in the hospital. 

I am on the mend and feeling better and stronger each day.  :)

I'm a little behind on my Christmas crafting, journaling, and decorating but I'm taking it slow and will hopefully get caught up soon.  We have bad weather coming in for the next two days so I think I'll have a chance to do a few things around here - with plenty of time to rest too.

Holly Abston's Ship Class

So, on Sunday I trekked back over to the Paper Crown to attend a lace ship class taught by Holly Abston.  

Holly taught this class in California at Jenny Doh's Crescendo studio back in the spring time, and we were SO EXCITED when she agreed to teach it here at home.

Isn't it so cute???  My ship is about six inches tall in total, but Holly has made them as large as almost two feet tall.

It was hard to get a good photo, but trust me when I say that my ship is precious!

I'm definitely going to have to make a few more of these.  The hardest part is wrangling the wire which was a bit daunting at first, but once I got the hang of it - no problem.  I'm dreaming of all the different laces I can use...

Sewing on the lace was fun and therapeutic and one of those things that you can sit, talk with your friends, and just relax.  It was a perfect class for a Sunday afternoon.

Jackie Peters snapped this picture of us after the class.  It was fun to have Jackie actually crafting with us since she's always teaching.

Speaking of Jackie, hop on over to her blog:  Good Grief Girdie and check it out.  She's been busy creating for tomorrow's Glitter Market.  I'll be there first thing to get a good place in line before the market opens.  :)

Let the Christmas Crafting Begin!

Here in Oklahoma, we are so very lucky to have a store like the Paper Crown where we can go to take some fabulous classes.  On Saturday, Bobbie from My Creative Life Diary taught a class with four beautiful projects! Bobbie is so generous in everything she does, and is a genuinely beautiful person, inside and out.  Check out her blog - she does amazing work.

Our first project was this adorable rosette ornament:

Next up we made this fun Christmas notebook to keep our holiday receipts and to jot down important notes for the holiday.  Isn't it festive?!?

 We also covered a photo album with these fun papers and embellishments:

And this - believe me when I tell you that the photos cannot do this beautiful project justice.  The finished project is approximately 15 inches tall and is so freakin' adorable!  I'm not a fan of hunting or deer heads but this wall hanging is just too sweet for words.

Can you believe we did all these projects for one class? We all had so much fun.

Stay tuned - I've got lots of stuff to talk about coming up.  I took another fun class on Sunday, I've signed up for Dawn Sokol's Christmas countdown journal class and also for Christy Tomlinson's Ornament class.  Can't even wait!

Pumpkin King

Yesterday, Bobbie from mycreativelifediary-bobbie.blogspot.com taught this fun Pumpkin King Class at the Paper Crown in Oklahoma City.   Bobbie is not only a great teacher with amazing attention to detail, but she is also one of the nicest people you will ever meet!  

If you can't really tell from this picture, this adorable piece is over two feet tall, and it looks great on my mantle. 

Bobbie also made up cute little "favors"  which were kits to make this cute little banner below.  Since we had enough time in class, we were able to finish these too.  

Of course, what is a class without an adorable name tag? So sweet!

Bobbie had a giveaway on her blog a few weeks back and I was the lucky winner.  Isn't this just gorgeous!?!  

 I got to see and spend time with my creative friends and had the bonus of coming home with all this cute stuff!

Halloween Shadow Box

I went again this year to Ann-Denise's 31 Wishes Event and had a great time.  One of the swaps was a Halloween Shadow Box and I sooo wanted to participate but as usual, I waited until the last minute to get my swap done. Even still, I think it turned out pretty cute.  If you'd like to see it more closely, click on the picture and get a better view.  I'm sorry if it's a bit blurry, but you'll get the idea.  ;)