The Quilted Scrapper

While it may not be spring outside yet, since we have over a foot of snow sitting in the front yard, spring has now began to enter the house. The only holiday's I decorate for are Halloween and Christmas. Other than that I may change my tablecloth, add a festive table runner and call it good. I cannot justify spending the time and money decorating for every holiday. Plus then you have to store all the stuff. I would rather have more room for my scrapbooking and quilting supplies. However, after the long winter we have had with no end in sight, I was in need of some spring cheer to brigthen up the house, so I decided to make a Spring banner to hang on our fireplace. I am pleased with how it turned out. Most of the embellishments I created myself either using the Doodlecharms cartridge or Make the Cut on my Cricut. The bird, butterfly and frog were in my stash from an old scrapbook embellishment swap I participated in. Here are close-ups of the letters to show more details.

Every Tuesday, Bo Bunny  hosts a card challenge where they provide a sketch and using Bo Bunny products, you create a card based on that sketch. One of my New Year's Resolutions was to work on these challenges more often. This week's challenge was this great sketch: And here is my take on it using Bo Bunny U Bug Me! Arrows and Stars paper that I had been hoarding in my stash! The stars are popped up with pop-dots:

I have been working on this quilt for a good friend's 30th birthday since October. Had I decided to start the quilt more than a month before her birthday it would have been better. But luckily, not only is she a great friend she is also a quilter so completely understood why it was late. In my defense though, I did have the top completed by her birthday, it just took me 3 months to get it quilted and bound (even though I did not work on it in December). The pattern is Wagon Wheels from the Buggy Barn . Kristen loves the Buggy Barn patterns and style so the minute I saw this it I knew it was perfect for her. The quilt is not perfect however, but that is okay because neither are any of us. It is late, much like we are; it has a few flaws, but what person doesn't; and I am not completely sure it is square, but square is not our personalities, so it is perfect to me. The other thing I really like about this quilt is I made it completely from my fabric stash and hers and I hav

While I enjoy social networking as much as the first person, I find that in the age of Facebook and e-mail, birthday greetings have gotten impersonal. Back in the old days, i.e. 5 years ago, if a friend or family member was having a birthday we thought nothing of putting a birthday card in the mail. Now it seems, that with Facebook reminding us the day of a friend's birthday, a quick e-mail or post on a Facebook Wall is all that happens. Last year I did okay at mailing at birthday cards ahead of time, but since my Crafter's ADD was in full force, I always seemed to remember the day before the birthday which meant by the time I finally got a card made and mailed, it was a good week after a friend's birthday. So this year, I have marked birthdays in my daily planner so that I am reminded at least a week ahead of time of an upcoming birthday! So far this year I have been ahead of the curve and gotten all birthday cards mailed at least 3 days ahead of time. This one was for

These are the cookie bouquet's I made for Simon's pre-school teachers. I was aiming for 3 cookies each, but the cookie had a different idea!

One of my New Year's Resolutions was to start and finish projects before midnight the night before. I am doing fairly well so far, since I got Simon's pre-school Valentine cards made last month and I finished the rest of my Valentine cards last week. This weekend I need to finish Valentine's Day cookie bouquets for Simon's teachers and we will have another holiday in the book. Here are the Valentine's Day cards I made: Here are the Valentine's for Simon's classmates using the Robotz Cartridge  and my Cricut Expression: And the Valentine's I made for Simon's teachers. I was inspired by a card I saw in the latest Close to My Heart  catalog.  I hope everyone has a fabulous Valentine's Day.

Reflecting on 2010 and all the great project ideas I had in my head and looking around my craft room seeing some of them partially finished, piles of fabric with patterns attached, stacks of scrapbook magazines with pictures being used as bookmarks, and only about six projects fully completed, I finally realized what my problem is. It is not that I don't have the time, the patience or the energy. It is that I have Crafter's ADD. For those who are not aware, Crafter's ADD is: Starting one project, get up to do something, see another project, do a little of that project, maybe go back to the first project, but realistically start a third project and so on. No wonder I cannot get anything completed! I am sure I am not the only one who suffers from this disease, but am one of many who suffer and are not sure what treatment to seek. Upon realizing this flaw in my creative ability, I thought if I admitted I had a problem it would magically fix itself and I would be able to focus