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I see skies of blue….. clouds of white
Bright blessed days….dark sacred nights
And I think to myself …..what a wonderful world.
The colors of a rainbow…..so pretty ..in the sky
Are also on the faces…..of people ..going by
I see friends shaking hands…..sayin’.. how do you do
They’re really sayin’……i love you.
And I think to myself …..what a wonderful world
Yes I think to myself …….what a wonderful crafty world…Oh yeah….
The charm is another from my Three Altered Charms for Thee swap on Swap-bot from Snarglebean. The Button Fairy is from the Valentine Button Fairy Swap also on Swap-bot made by Sleepingrover2010.
The charm is made by stamping the image on white fabric and embellished with beads and a small apple charm on the other side. It is stuffed slightly, too. This is truly neat and unusual. One side is stamped with a butterfly and the other with a face. Both sides have a bit of beading. It is simple and lovely!
The button fairy appears to have a hand drawn face and the wings are embellished with glitter. I love how she did the tail with the curly cue. Lovely, lovely. My Thankful garland that Christy made for me is getting quite full with all of the button fairies I have received.
Tomorrow please remember to wear red!
National Wear Red Day—February 1, 2008— is a day when Americans nationwide will wear red to show their support for women’s heart disease awareness. This observance promotes the Red Dress symbol and provides an opportunity for everyone to unite in this life-saving awareness movement by showing off a favorite red dress, shirt, or tie, or Red Dress Pin.
Do it for all the loved ones in your life!
The Queen just opened her Etsy shop. Go and check it out and snatch up one of her lovely Valentine brooches or maybe two! I did!
Before I start the “flashing”, let’s cover some other topics…
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Why when you are shopping and you see something you want do you stop the cart in the middle of the aisle caddy-corner to block all through traffic?
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Why do you look for a street with a string of cars on your bumper because you are cruising at oh….5 mph and not pull over so we can pass?
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Why when you are in a store and I am checking the rack beside where you are looking do you feel that is reason to engage me in a lengthy conversation about your purchases and the use of each?
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Why do you place your cart in line at the checkout and then say, “oh I forgot something” and then leave your cart there and expect me to push it up for you until you come back with an armload of additional items?
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And the one that sends me over the edge… Why, oh why do you stop in the middle of an aisle when I have been on your heels for the entire time and then when I finally utter “excuse me” play like you had no idea I was there?
Whew, that feels better. Those are some of the things that make me go hmmmmm….and they all happened to me yesterday in short order!
{deep cleansing breaths}
Now on to a happier place and time. My swap pressies were received by my partners so I can reveal the items I sent.
First, the Valentine Button Fairies I sent to TraySeeH, YooperHill, and rubberstampcollector for the swap-bot swap.
I am still finding the blue Martha Stewart glitter everywhere. I am starting to think it is pro-creating itself.
Next up is the Three Altered Charms for Thee for Lisapotterylady, jstubbs, and qmock again for a swap-bot swap. Below are front/back of each.
MaryAnn and I are doing a 1:1 swap. I sent her this pendant and she is sending me one of her Uglies.
So, I have been busy creatively. I am still working on Barb’s hanging heart for the Sweet Goodness swap. Some assembly is still required. (Psst…Barb that is another hint!)
Have a great day!
It was a great mail day today! First up is the gifts I received from Dolly of From My Cherry Heart for the Oh So Charming Itty Bitty Valentine Swap. It is pink perfection. The box was wrapped in pink paper with hearts and a paper doily heart. So precious, I hated to open it. Inside were pressies so I tore away! Now it resembles heart confetti!
Inside were 3 itty bittys, some Hershey kisses (YUMMERS!), a pink felt heart, and a sweet heart shaped little doll. So sweet and in my fav color of pink. Thanks, Dolly! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!
Next up is the button fairy I received from Grandmaroro from the Swap-bot Valentine Button Fairy Swap. Unfortunately, she doesn’t have a blog for me to link or a flickr page. (Joan, let me know if you have either and I will link them.)
Pretty little lovely with flowers and beads in her hair. I love the little beads on the end of her tail. So cute, thanks Grandmaroro! She also sent along some cute stickers, too!
As if that is not enough, I received my giveaway prize from MaryAnn of A Very Mary.
The quotations in the book are great. My particular favorite is Barbara Bush’s quote on Bill and Monica. I always loved Babs because she looked like a Grandmom, but was pretty “salty” at times! She also sent some book pages in various languages for my papercrafting exploits. If you read this post, you will understand why I laughed as I saw the labels on the pages.
Lastly, is the Etsy purchase I made from Jane’s Apron. I have loved her clipboards using vintage pattern packages and pattern books for some time. I especially loved this one as it reminded me of every outfit of Mary Tyler Moore as Laura Petrie on the old Dick Van Dyke show.
Isn’t it great? I plan to add a magnet to hang on my fridge and use it for my grocery list and coupons. Thanks, Julie!
The interview went well today. I should know something by Friday. I have another tomorrow morning so will be on the scarce side for another day. Remember how I said that sometimes I get dates wrong in my head? Here is a case in point…I was re-reading the interview confirmation for tomorrow’s interview…and it is Wednesday. So I will be around TOMORROW and scarce on WEDNESDAY! Wouldn’t that have been great to show up 24 hours early! Eager is good, but not 23 hours and 45 minutes worth of it! OMG!
Hope your week is a great one!
I was thinking today how I am inspired. How I can rough out a concept and then in the blink of an eye, the click of a mouse, the view of a blog post it is all changed. Such is my process.
I am working on my swap for the Sweet Goodness Hanging Hearts Valentine Swap. My partner for this swap is Barb whose blog is Woof Nanny. I was really psyched to be partnered with Barb for this one as her blog is one of the first blogs that I read way back when I was learning what a blog was.
Barb is a pet sitter (hence the blog name) and loves necktie crafts. I thought, “this is like phoning it in!” I will do a heart with a dog wearing a necktie. This will be easy. Enter one of Barb’s recent bloggy posts. Well, I would give it away if I lead you to her post that completely changed my project, but suffice it to say that when I read it the “light” went on and viola (whala, shazzam) there was “the project”.
I have spent the last 2 days working on it in drips and drabs, walking past, gazing at it, wondering what else does it need? It amazes me the collection of crap goodness I have amassed. I go looking for something and then I find something else. Often, I buy things not knowing what the heck I am going to use it for, but eventually I see something and take off running and, lo and behold, I have the item already. This is how the domino pendants happened, I bought them and then when I saw the idea there they were.
It is just about finished (1-2 more days of looking at it) and it is better than I could have ever imagined. I have been trying to get better with inking the edges of items and peppering Heidi with questions, but it all worked out perfectly in this case. Barb, I am not tooting my own horn (oh heck, YES, I AM), but you are going to love this. (I will let you know the post that inspired it all in the note I send with it.)
In between the work on Barb’s swap pressie, I have done the top stitching on the cozies and made some brooches for the new shop to deliver on Tuesday. So work goes on.
The background of these is a collage page printed on vellum and the bird images are from a field guide for birding I found at the Goodwill. I like how the vellum works. I have printed on paper and had the mod podge (I glue it down with) smear the image. Not with the vellum, it worked very well.
I have an interview today in the late afternoon so will be scarce. On Tuesday, I have another in the morning. What a difference the New Year brings! Cross fingers, toes, eyes (not if you are driving!) and say a couple of prayers along the day. I can use them!
Hope your week is starting well!
P.S. Barb, if you are reading the letter B is your sneak peek! No help whatsoever is it? Ask Christy how helpful I am with the sneak peeks!
You can read the interview with the dog about the dye job here.
Piddling Kind Of Laughter (make sure your speakers are on!)
Hope your Saturday is creative and silly, too! Always, always, always make time to laugh!
My funny Valentine
Sweet comic Valentine
You make me smile with my heart
Your looks are laughable
Unphotographable
Yet you’re my favorite work of art
Is your figure less than Greek
Is your mouth a little weak
When you open it to speak
Are you smart?
But don’t change a hair for me
Not if you care for me
Stay little Valentine stay
Each day is Valentine’s Day
Tomorrow is a big post office day. I have 7 packages all ready to be mailed off to my swap partners. Three for the Valentine Button Fairy Swap, three for the Three Altered Charms for Thee swap, and one for a 1:1 swap with Mary Ann.
The button fairies pictured were not sent for the swap. I made the one with the tulle for wings for myself and the other for a friend.
Hope you are all ready for a great weekend!
…if you’ll show me yours or so that famous line goes. I have a lot of swap items in the works now that I cannot reveal until they are received. There is a lot of activity with the glitter flying, the sewing machine humming, the mod podge podging, and on and on and on… There are also the ideas that are mulling in the brain and the sketches so that the brain retains that thought. So is my crafty madness!
I can show you a few items that have been received.
First, I completely forgot to reveal this button fairy that Britta received. I thought I had shown it, but had not. Britta is the person that organizes the swap-bot button fairy swaps.
Next, we move onto the itty bitty valentines I sent to Dolly for that swap. The valentines were to be 3″ square. I had shown a tease with the packaging earlier. Now I can reveal what was inside.
These are the Valentines I created for her. They were 2 sided. I used my heart shaped yo-yo maker by Clover in the small size for the heart yo-yos. I also had the idea to make one that was filled with heart confetti that you could shake about. I accomplished this by sewing netting to the back of one Valentine and then adding in the confetti. I framed it with some lace. Lots of glitter was used as I wanted them to be all prissy for the holiday.
I also made her a heart/button garland for the holiday and found a chocolate/white polka dot with a heart pocket apron at the Goodwill to complete the package.
To make the garland, I used white baker’s twine for the string, I cut some silk petals into heart shapes and also some felt hearts (I found them pre-cut at World of Mirth in Carytown). I sewed them on with some buttons on top to give it a bit of heft. The background is her apron.
Dolly, I hope you enjoyed it!
I received a call from another shop last week to bring some more items. I am in the process of making some brooches, cozies and pendants to take. More on that later, but here are the cozies in progress.
Isn’t the vegetable fabric cute? Since it was a fat quarter I bought on sale, I don’t know who made it. The brassiere fabric I bought one fat quarter of and then went back to get more as I thought it would be a hit and it was all gone. I found it was made by Timeless Treasures. I found it on Ebay from a seller in Canada and with the exchange rate/postage, I got it cheaper than buying from a US company. There are a few yards left, so hurry if you are interested!
Have a great day!
Yesterday was a great mail day again for me. I received the remaining button fairy from the swap-bot Button Fairies International swap and the first of three for the Valentine Button Fairies swap.
The one on the left is from Coffeelatte for the International swap. The fairy on the right came from Cooniebabies all the way from Germany. The picture doesn’t show it, but there is a raised flower pattern to the image. Both are lovely and will be great hung in my craft room.
Next, we have one of my Etsy purchases from pheartsb. It is the chickboy pendant.
I love the image on the green/daisy background. She also sent a ribbon necklace to hang it from. It is even lovelier in person!
Lastly, I bought some vintage clock faces on Ebay. I bought them from alteredkat. I saw these made into pushpins on Mary Engelbreit’s blog. I would link to her blog, but cannot locate it on-line via google search.
The embellishments were sent with the button fairy from Cooniebabies.
Hope you week is set to wrap up well!
The picture on yesterday’s post and this one are of the most excellent snow day we had on Saturday. It was great and started about 2 p.m. and then increased in intensity and snowed most of the evening. We had some accumulation and on Monday it succumbed to the sun.
I was out in the snow until it really started to come down. I found a couple of new awesome thrift locations in the area, the Goodwill and Salvation Army thrift shops on Mechanicsville Turnpike. They are HUGE and packed with thrifty goodness.
I found this awesome quilt! Aren’t the colors great? It is a twin size, but I will keep it at the bottom of my bed for those extra chilly nights. The backing is a great vintage sheet.
I also found the heart fabric and the pillowcase behind the mail goodness shown here. In the top right are the Kleenex and hand salve cozies from Sarah of Sassy Priscilla for our 1:1 swap. I sent her my cup cozies. The salve is Rosebud Salve. How come I never knew about this stuff before? It is AWESOME!
Also in the picture is the button fairy from my swap-bot button fairy swap I received from NicolaO. So pretty.
At the bottom of the picture is the altered pendant I received from LaLaLovefor the swap-bot Altered Art Charms Swap. Isn’t that the cutest thing you have seen? I asked her how she made the setting. It is from fimo clay and has the faintest swirl design in it. She then placed resin over the red riding hood image. Too sweet! She also made a custom matchbook box to house it. Lovely, lovely details!
Lastly, Laura at All About Pretty gave me this award. It was a nice surprise to realize that I made another person’s day. Go over and check out her blog for the why she gave it to me and the item she made from one of her virtual thrift shopping finds. It is really awesome!
Now I have to bestow this honor on another blogger and want to bestow it on Miss Sandy from Quill Cottage. Miss Sandy is always so uplifting, encouraging and willing to poke fun at herself for our enjoyment. I like that in a person! Miss Sandy, and she might hurt me for telling this, is trying to embark on her lifelong dream of a writing career. She is a fabulous story teller and I am happy to say my friend. And she just won a contest to have one of her blog entries published in a magazine. You can read the winning article here.
Hope your day is filled with goodness and happy surprises, too!
Cindy Is Crafty...and she makes things, too! 