Friendship Bracelets

Gracie came in yesterday with her Rapunzel Polly Pocket and wanted me to show her how to braid--I went through it a few times and then she came in several times yesterday and today and showed me the beautiful braids she had put in Rapunzel's hair. I told her about friendship bracelets and told her she could make a few with some colored floss that I have in my craft closet, so we picked out some colors and she went to town. She did the braids on them all on her own and I just tied them on her and cut off the ends, then she made one more and interspersed random knots and straight places and got a plastic "reader" charm out of her toys that she got in school last year. :) I think they look so cute and bring back memories for me, as I loved making these when I was a kid. One of these days I will look up instructions for the knotted kind with more than three strands and show her how to make those. :)

Blush Baby Quilt

I made this little baby quilt after my friend Shannon had her second baby, a girl. :) I finished it a few weeks ago, but just gave it to her this morning, so it's safe to post on my blog now. I took a Blush charm pack from Basic Grey by Moda and separated out the browns and reds and then purchased yardage for the borders and binding. I quilted it minimally because I was running into puckering issues, but washing it concealed all manner of sins. :) Thanks for looking and any comments!

Thank You Collage

This was the other card I made at the scrapbooking day a few weeks ago. I had all of these little elements in my scrap baggie; I just had to put it all together. :) The rhinestone was even stuck onto the flower and the leaf punch was already stamped with the texture stamp. I even had the card base ready from another idea that didn't work out, with the blue punched strip already adhered! :) The only thing I did was stamp the sentiment in black ink and stamped the "thank you" circle stamp in blue ink on blue cardstock and punched it out. Everything else I just trimmed to size as needed and stuck it all together. That scrap baggie sure does come in handy! :) Thanks so much for looking and for any comments.

Baby Girl Card in Five Minutes Flat

I made this card a couple of weeks ago at a scrapbooking day at a local church. I designed this card around the purple flowers, because I have had them for years and they kept falling off of the plastic sheet that they came on and driving me crazy. :) I had the green dotted scrap in my scrap baggie and I distressed the edges with my scissors, used a ruler and a thin black marker to draw the border, and adhered the stickers. I used a stamp for the sentiment and then went back over it with the same black pen so that it would match. I hand drew the heart. :) I included it in the bag with the quilt for my friends (you can sort of see the quilt behind it.) Thanks for looking and for any comments!

Pink & Brown Baby Quilt

I started this quilt months ago, but just finished it yesterday morning because I got to meet the new little baby yesterday. :) Nothing like waiting until the last minute! I think it turned out pretty cute...the fabrics are adorable. The binding isn't perfect, as usual, but didn't give me too many fits. I just quilted 1/4" in either side of the seams and it came together pretty quickly once I got going. I had time to wash and dry it and the finished size after shrinkage was 30X39, so not too bad for a car seat or play mat quilt. There is low-loft Warm & Natural batting and it's a good weight for spring and summer. Thanks for looking and for any comments! :)

Cute Conversation

This made me giggle the other night:

Grace: Ava, let's play Barbies!

Ava: Okay, that might be fun!

Grace: Yeah, it IS going to be fun!

They are such cuties and crack me up. :)

Finally Sharing Pictures

I haven't shared anything in soooo long--I took some pictures of my favorite jewelry today and liked how this one turned out, so I decided to post it. They are real butterfly wings, either encased in resin (the blue one and the black and white one) or glass.

The blue one, bright green one, and multicolored ones are actually reversible. The blue one actually has a totally different species of butterfly on the other side; a red, black, and white "88" butterfly. The green one has a more muted hunter green/black color and the multicolored one has basically the same colors on the other side.

The butterflies are raised in conservation gardens, allowed to live their natural lifespans, and then the wings are used to make jewelry. I think they are so unique and GORGEOUS! I am lucky enough to own these four pieces (and they are even more vibrant and beautiful in person--they are not color treated or enhanced in any way--that's just how they look), but I am totally coveting more. I swear, I think I could only buy this type of jewelry for the rest of my life and be satisfied. :)

Anyway, enough about my butterfly wing necklaces---here are some pictures of my sweet, sweet girlies, who are getting SO big! The lighting isn't great on these two of Gracie, because the sun wasn't really up yet and I had to use the flash. We were showing off her new outfit and I thought she looked quite cute with her pigtails. :)

Here's Ava with her messy hair, in PJs, but with those devastatingly gorgeous eyes and bright smile. :) You can see the mess behind her, though I can't tell what it is. I think it's a doll baby and some heart-shaped paper confetti that I punched out for her.

Enough for now, it's getting late, but I just wanted to share. :)

Baby Blanket

My friends had a baby boy on Monday and I made this pieced blanket yesterday since I was going to see them at a New Year's party last night. I took a charm pack and sewed together three giant nine patch blocks and then cut them in half top to bottom and side to side, which left me with 12 smaller blocks (this is called a disappearing nine patch). I then sewed all of them together in a strip, bordered it with blue swirly fabric, and backed it with a cozy baby blue flannel, which I sewed first right sides together until it was almost closed, then turned it "inside out" (which really made the right side of the flannel show and the right side of the blanket top show) and then stitched a 1/4" border all around the edges to close it up and finish it off. That way I got to avoid binding it, which is (for me) the worst part of doing a quilt. Best of both worlds! :)