Marbles and the LaLa box

When I was a kid I loved marbles!!  I don't remember where I got them, but I do remember the cool orange marble bag my mother made.  We'd play marbles at school and in the neighborhood.  My marble collection grew when I started winning other kids marbles.

The orange bag of marbles is still in the game cabinet at my mother's house where my nieces and nephews played with them.  I imagine their kids will play with my marbles as well some day.

I was in an antique store in Grand Rapids one time and saw a HUGE tub of vintage glass marbles!  I couldn't resist plunging my hand in to feel them.  The sign said "all the marbles you can fit in a baggie $2.00".  The baggies were pretty small, but I crammed in all I could and felt like I got a deal.  The most fun was picking out the different colors.  Now these marbles reside in the LaLa box for my grandaughters to play with.

What's the LaLa box you ask?   Shhhhhhh, it's for girls only.

The LaLa box is a box under the bed in my room that contains, well, stuff!  All the fun little things that the adult in me wonders what to do with and the little girl in me won't part with.  Let's see, there's some of my grandmother's costume jewelry, old keys, sparkly coin purses, a tiny doll made out of a sock, pens that write glitter, and notebooks with kittens on them.  Miniature office supplies, small toys out of Christmas Crackers, plastic butterflies, small jewelry boxes, and the foam tiara I wore when I got up at 3:00 in the morning to watch the royal wedding with some stitching friends.  That's not a complete list, but you get the picture. 

When my grandaughters come to visit, they ask to see the LaLa box.  We go in my bedroom and shut the door, pull the box out from under the bed and sit on the floor to just look at everything.  At first they wanted to keep this a secret thing between us, but later decided that any girls would be allowed (like aunts and mommies).

Now the LaLa box has marbles.  I guess I'll have to teach them how to play :)

() () () () () () () () () () () () () () () () () ()

I'm doing a bit of framing lately.  Here's the Fall Mystery Stitch-Along from the By the Bay Needleart blog.  It was a really fun stitch and I found the coolest frame at Hobby Lobby.  What do you think?

 

 

Happy stitching!

Sherri

Making a gift card or money holder from a greeting card

Recently I gave a gift card as a shower gift.  Now, gift card holders that you buy can be cute sometimes, but they just seem ordinary to me. And if you want to give a card also, here's a way to combine the two and make something pretty neat.

1.  Pick a greeting card you like.  Since this was for a baby shower, I chose this cute little bear.  Make sure there is plenty of unprinted space on the inside of the card.

2. Pick a cute gift card.  The wish list for this shower included Target gift cards.  I fell in love with this little baby buggy.  Now, pull the card off it's carrier and throw away any envelope or holder it came with!

3.  Find some scrap book paper that coordinates with the card and envelope.  I'm not a scrapbooker, but I like to keep a stash of papers just for projects like this.  This bit of stash will work perfectly!

4.  Cut out a piece of the scrap book paper that is large enough to fit the gift card behind it.  If you have decorative paper scissors, use them to create a nice edge.

5.  Using a glue stick, glue around all the edges except the top.  Place the paper on the inside of the card and press down to seal.  This makes a little pocket.  Be sure to leave the top edge unglued!

6.  Insert gift card so part of it sticks out.  I cut a teeny piece of post it note to write the amount of the gift card and stuck it to the back of the card. 

You can also use the pocket as a money holder.  Actually, I first came up with this idea for a wedding shower when all the guests were giving cash.  It's really hard to find a nice (not cheesy) money holder.  This is perfect for graduations, birthdays, weddings, Christmas, or any occasion!

Until next time, happy stitching (and crafting)

Sherri

Simplify

To simplify my life has been a continuing goal for some time now.  Every now and then I need to be reminded of this.  I thought maybe a sign would be a good reminder but I'd have to paint it or buy it. Then I came up with the idea of glueing scrabble tiles to something.  Still a bit of work.  When I pulled out my old scrabble set to pick out the letters, it just came to me!

How much simpler could it get?

Top 10 Things That Keep Me From Blogging - No. 1

Drum roll please . . .

It's too *(#@^)&* hot!

I wish I could say that riding my Harley was the No. 1 thing keeping me from blogging, but it's too *(#@^)&* hot for that, too!

Later,

Sherri

Top 10 Things That Keep Me From Blogging - No. 4

Packing up the rest of my inventory to go to it's new home . . .

A new shop in Grove, Oklahoma is buying out the remainder of my inventory and shop fixtures.  Check out Forget Me Nots website and "like" them on Facebook.  We're making the first delivery this weekend.  I'm looking forward to seeing the shop and spending a quiet weekend at a cabin on Grand Lake of the Cherokees.

Later, Sherri

Top 10 Things That Keep Me From Blogging - No. 5

Selling off my Berri Patch inventory on ebay and etsy . . .

The listing and packaging take a lot of time, but I've had fun.  The best part is selling internationally.  I'm amazed at some of the places my stitching stuff ends up.  The red "pushpins" on this map represent some of the places I've shipped packages to.

Later, Sherri

Top 10 Things That Keep Me From Blogging - No. 6

Shopping on etsy.com . . .

Whenever I get a bit of money piled up in my Paypal account, I like to treat myself to something special from an artist on etsy.com.  I can spend hours sitting at the computer shopping for just the right thing.

 

Isn't this little iphone case adorable!  The owl and tree are hand embroidered and the strap at the top has a button so you can hook it to your purse or beltloop or whatever.  This goody came all the way from Alberta, Canada by maiseyhandmade

Later, Sherri

Top 10 Things That Keep Me From Blogging - No. 7

Trying to get organized and making a mess instead . . .

Oops!

Later, Sherri

Recycling For Gift Boxes

I finished my Christmas present sewing yesterday and tried to put my mind around boxing and wrapping.  I no longer care for traditional wrapping paper and purchased gift boxes (such a waste).  So this morning I grabbed some cereal and cracker boxes, some ribbon remnants from Michael's floral department, and some tissue paper I saved from a recent shopping spree. 

I'm please with the result.  I think these look interesting and scream "Green Christmas".  I found a tutorial for turning a cereal box into a gift box here.  Once I got the hang of it they went pretty fast.  Now I'm off to find some shipping boxes to recycle!

A Halloween Birthday Party

My DIL Jamie loves Halloween and loves throwing parties for Aislyn and Alyse.  What a great idea to have a costume party for their combined birthday party.  I think all kids like to have excuses to wear their costumes more than once.

I'm sure there were some great pictures taken that day (not necessarily by me) but I got a few decent ones to share.  What self-respecting grandma attends a birthday party without a camera?  And this party was special in that it's the first of their parties that I was actually able to attend!

The festivities started with ghost cookies, jack-o-lantern rice krispy treats, and other assorted goodies.

 Jamie had to miss the part of the party where the Mom's visited around the table.  But they seemed to have a nice time.

The birthday girls (aka Bat Girl and Spider Girl) got to open lots of presents.

Mom and Dad finally had to cut open the pinata!

My costume for the day was a Biker Babe.  I even got an airbrushed tattoo for the occasion.

And a good time was had by all . . .

Looks like Bella was more pooped than anybody else!

Sewing Birds

Last weekend I had the urge to make something.  Something I could start and finish in a small amount of time.  I had seen this adorable bird on Karen's blog, and decided it was just the thing.  The pattern is free at Spool Sewing.  I used some French General scraps and put her atop an old wooden spool wrapped with cotton household string.  I just had to give her some little beady eyes and a fringed tail!

While putting this together I thought about two other "sewing birds" that I have.  One is an antique victorian third hand sewing bird that DH gave me.  It originally had a tiny velvet pin cushion on top which was missing.  I guess I could replace it someday.

The other one was a vintage find on Ebay.  It has a place for a thimble, some spool holders, a pin cushion, and a scissors holder which makes the beak.  It looks like it was handmade from 2x4's and I love it.

I was pleased to add to my meager collection. Anybody else have any "sewing birds"?

Another Vacation and Back to Work

After I finished posting about my London trip, I headed east for a stitching retreat, a visit with my mother, and a visit with some stitching friends in SC.  I had a wonderful trip and left my camera at home this time.  Those of you who suffered through all my London and Paris photos must be jumping for joy!!

The stitching retreat was the Carolinas Region EGA Seminar at the Ridgecrest Conference Center in the mountains of North Carolina.  Such a beautiful place!  It was wonderful to relax in rocking chairs on the porch, sip coffee, and catch up with old friends.  I actually got some stitching done in studio time since I wasn't managing the book store this year.  I worked on My Stitching Chair Necessaire - progress pics coming soon.

I had a great visit with my mother (who is doing fine, for those of you who have inquired).  We worked on taxes, did some sewing, and went antique shopping.  Mostly I read and took a lot of naps!  Her friend Mike took us out to dinner at The Wild Horse Cafe in Pomeroy, Ohio and then to get ice cream for desert.  Like I said, I didn't take my camera, but the restaurant was pretty cool, so I took some pictures with my cell phone.  Here's the horse out by the road.

The restaurant sits right on the Ohio river and has a dock so people can come out to eat on their boats.  I walked down to the dock to snap a picture of the river.

Mommy and Mike waiving down at me from the porch.  It wa a beautiful day, so we ate "al fresco".

I spent a few days with my friend Candy in Hartsville.  She invited the stitching group from my shop over for a day of swimming, eating, and stitching. I had such a fabulous time.  I was able to visit some other friends, too, and do more reading and napping!

It was good to get back home knowing I had no more trips for a while!  I started back to tax work again.  Some of you know I did some tax season work for a firm I used to work for years ago.  It felt so good to be back and I was ready to start earning some money again :)  So now I'm working part-time during the year and full-time during tax season.  I even have my own cubicle!

I don't mind being in a cubicle at all but it would be nice if I could jazz it up a bit.  Please let me know if you have any cubicle decorating ideas.  Any help would be appreciated!

I'm still here!!

Hi blog friends! Tax season is over, but I just haven't made time to post. I'm off to Weatherford, Texas for Stitch-Away. A whole long weekend of stitching, eating, friends, and fun.

Anyway, I do have stuff to post about, maybe next week. . . between motorcycle classes. (More on that later.)

Take care!

Amy Mitten and Bella

Tax season is still keeping me pretty busy.  Today I split my time between house cleaning and catching up on my blog reading.  Yes, the blog reading was the most fun part!  My stitching blog friends have been so busy with wonderful projects.

I got to baby sit for Bella (my new grandpuppy) a few days last week.  We had a great time!  Here she is laying in my lap while I worked.  I didn't want her to leave!

On March 6th and 7th, the Tudor Rose Sampler Guild hosted Amy Mitten for a mystery sampler workshop.  She designed the sampler and the mystery especially for the guild.  I really enjoyed hearing the 10 chapters of the mystery as she revealed the 10 parts of the sampler over the two days.  I'll post more about the sampler as I stitch each section.  Here's a bit of a sneak peek from her model:  the tudor rose at the top of the sampler with the detached petals.  I loved learning how to make these.

I got just a few shots of Amy teaching and the room we were in.  You can tell my empty spot by the Mighty Bright Floor lamp.  I was so glad I decided to carry it along.  It really helps on 40ct linen.

One of the best parts was the display of samplers that Amy brought.  Her designs are all so beautiful and I love how she dyes the fabrics to give her pieces that wonderful antique look.  I'll leave you to drool.  Enjoy!