Carrot Toss bags

Carrot-shaped bean bags ready to be sewn up tight!

Filled with rice so I'll be sewing tiny stitches--maybe twice around?

Pysanky Egg Decorating

 I was fortunate to learn this batik-like art of decorating eggs for Easter from a Laurel Ridge neighbor and good friend who has Ukrainian origins.  She taught a class of about ten people how to apply the pure beeswax with a traditional Kistka.  We followed a beginner's pysanka design of oval egg shapes, round tear drops, pine branches and a star, following Irena's step-by-step directions.  After each application of wax design with the Kistka, we used a different colored dye bath.

The last dye bath was black.

At the end, we heated the egg over a candle flame to remove the wax which covered much of the egg.

Our design appeared in full color and geometry.

Each color and design has a meaning.

The finished pysanky stands for life, hope, happiness, 

and rebirth.

The egg is not blown or hard-boiled.

It is not edible, but much more than decorative due to its symbolic meaning.

It is very fragile but the inside does dry out eventually.

It was awesome to participate in this workshop

using the traditional methods of Ukrainian pysanky.

Fairy garden reno

A trip to Ballek's greenhouse meant a purchase of some new plants for the fairy garden terrarium. A goldfish plant and sellaginella (bright green lacy fronds). Some fresh soil and a good wash off brings the magic back for February.

Christmas Thanks

Deer in forest embossed card with white ink and Smooch spray.

Cuddle Quilts for Twins

Clouds, bees, bunnies for girl.
Snowflakes, snowmen and skating penguins for boy.

Maxi Masculine and Mini Feminine Chef Aprons

June is a month of anniversaries, birthdays, and a bridal shower.  Time to make some chef aprons for the bride and groom and a little grand-niece expecting a new sister this summer.

I use two patterns made from tracing around my own chef apron and my granddaughter's T-shirt. They are both on craft paper--and well-used.

For the male version, I use Parson Gray fabric designs.  Parson Gray is fabric designer Amy Butler's husband. The patterned one is Dimitri Vine and the textured one is Rustic Weave.

The neck tie is attached at the top on one side with right sides together.

The other top corner has a short tab with 2 1-inch D-rings 

also placed inside the right sides of the fabric.

Attach reinforcements of black denim on the the armpit corners.

Fold the black denim under and top stitch across.

A little tricky since you're working on the bias!

Ready to sew.

Neck tie and tab with D-rings and reinforced corners inside.

Sew right sides together all the way around

except for the very bottom where you will turn 

the apron inside out.

Now the fun part!

Turn right side out.

Clip corners

and curves.

Pressing is really important.

Make sure those corners and curves are sharp!

Turned and pressed apron.

Top sew all around starting at the opening.

Mark the whole for the grommet with a white pencil and the grommet top piece.

The instructions are on the back of the grommets.

I use the hammer on the garage floor on top of a piece of newspaper!

Masculine version done!

Mini version, too!

The armpits are the pockets for a couple utensils.

The fabric is Amy Butler Love Sun Spots and 

Midwest Modern Daisy Chains.

Now I need one for the bride!

Springtime Is Time for Anniversary Cards

I needed a few this coming week so I found an inspiration on Pinterest using materials and tools I had on hand in my stash.

This idea was from Simon Says and highlighted their hello die cut.

These are the cards I made:

I used some Papertrey Ink white cardstock, some light blue cardstock from my scraps 

(not sure which color or source) and some Strathmore Vellum and

Recollections Precious Metals silver cardstock for the basic building blocks.

I also added another layer and texture with the Paper Artist Butterfly Frame embossing folder.

From blue and silver and vellum, I cut some leaves from Turning a New Leaf , 

a Papertrey Ink die cut set.

And from the silver metallic cardstock I cut double layers of the sentiments

from Di-Namics Celebratory Greetings set.

For adhesives I chose the following: Scotch foam mounting tape for the embossed layer, 

Creative Memories ink pen for the fine work attaching the leaves and the sentiments.

I tried the Scotch vellum tape for the first time.  Not easy to use on the stems!!!

A mini Glue Dot held the metallic wire bow on the card.

Some glittery embellishments completed the cards:  Liquid Pearls, Glitter Glue in clear, 

some rhinestones and Smooch shiny spray from Stampin' Up.

Also, a few tools like scissors, corner rounder and a sharp pick came in handy.

It feels good to have enough materials and tools now to make a decent

facsimile of a wonderful design with my own flair--and stash.