The Sweetest Thing...

One of the most thoughtful and amazing things happened to me at work this past week. My friend Angie told me to close my eyes and hold out my hands- and she gave me this basket.

She gave me new shoes- and really cute shoes too. They were in this basket arranged like flower petals, and they're a bit messed up in this pic since I was trying them on for size. Shoes? Yes- shoes- lots of them! It may seem like no big deal to you, but I'll tell you why it was so amazing to me.

You readers in blog-land probably don't know this about me, but I am a large lady. I am 6'2'' I have big feet- size 13 women's shoes, and I'm, how shall I put this so I don't hurt my own feelings... not slim. I was always large for my age, growing up I was the tallest girl in my class all through school. As far as feet go, I've always had whoppers. I wore a size 8 when I was 8 years old, 9 when I was 9, and wore a 10 when I was 10. I held at 10 for quite a while, but slowly went up to a 12- and in my 20s, when my size 12WW shoes were just too small, I finally found a pair of size 13 shoes that were a perfect fit- I'd probably needed them for years and my feet could finally be comfortable.

Growing up I never had the cool shoes or clothes that the other kids had, I was adult sized as a child and they just weren't available. I've been wearing men's gym shoes for years, I also have several pair of unisex birkenstocks which have served me well over the years. I have plenty of work shoes and dress shoes, but was unable to find cute, casual shoes in my size... and then I was handed this amazing gift. Shoes that are exactly what I was looking for, they're in style, they're *women's*, cute, pink- they are something I've never had in my life.

This is the amazing thing about friendship- my friend noticed something that I wished for, and couldn't find, and took the time to go and find it for me. It doesn't have to be a concrete object- friends see the confidence you're missing, the joy, the strength, the forgiveness, the peace, and share their own. My friend gave me something I've wanted since childhood, and most of all, she thinks enough of me to think about me.

Happy 2008

toothpastefordinner.com

Just popping on to say that I'm busy crafting away and making some thank you cards and birthday cards to use in 2008. I'm trying to use up some scraps and make more cards that I can send during the year. I've been slacking on card sending since I went back to school- I'm not sure that I'll graduate this year or not, but I've got my fingers crossed! I hope you're having a great year so far!

A Little Happy

I'm in love with this song, I can't help it- it makes me happy. I'm playing it over and over while I'm sitting here wondering why I didn't measure my Christmas cards before spending $11 on envelopes that are just a smidgen too small... Hmmmm, nevermind... I don't think I care about that right now...I'm too busy singing...1234 tell me that you love me more...

Wanna Dance?

I'm sure you've seen this, but have you seen my bird dance? I don't think so! Click here if you want to watch us elf ourselves.

Sock it to Me

I was in an altered stocking swap on a message bord I'm on, and this is what I came up with. I really had a hard time getting it going, but decided to go with a snowflake theme on these baby pink footies. I tucked it into my white Christmas tree to take a photo. I stitched a few ornaments and buttons onto the sock and filled it with goodies. I sent the other sock too so my partner can just snip the threads and hang the ornaments on her tree then wear the footies.

This Birdie Means Business

Olie the bird says to go visit Lisa Renea's blog The Tattered Tiara where he is currently being featured in ornament form. Actually, he only has about twelve phrases, and that's not *really* one of them, but half of his phrases include the word "bite". Such as: Nice birdies don't bite, Ouch! Don't bite me!, and sometimes he shortens it to a simple "bite me". So, if the promise of cuteness won't get you to click the link, how about a little encouragement from birdie, after all- he bites!

Happy Birthday Jeff!

Just a little happy birthday wish to my husband Jeff who turns 34 today. He always wants snow for his birthday, and today we woke up to a couple inches of beautiful snow. The flakes were fluffy and falling softly, it looked like our little house was inside a snow-globe. Here he is setting up the train around the Christmas tree- wearing his circa 1973 shirt. Fitting since Jeff made his debut in 1973 as well.



These are a couple photo ornaments of our trip to Rhode Island this summer. Our tree has several photo ornaments of me as a little girl, and he gets a kick out of those, but there are none of him- so I fixed that! Mine has some shell beads hanging on the bottom, but I left Jeff's plain. I had a hard time choosing a picture of me, so I chose a laughing one. It's easy to pick one of Jeff since he is handsome and photogenic, doesn't he have a baby face? These ornaments are his birthday gift, and we'll go out to dinner if the roads are clear.


I made a quickie card for him using Basic Grey paper and Purple Onion Designs stamps, the center circle was rubbed with distress ink for color and raised on a pop dot. Happy Birthday Jeff!

Band-Aid Boxes

These were made a while ago for a swap- they're little band-aid tins with handles on the top. They're just the right size for ATCs, but mine will house little bits and pieces of crafty goodness. These started off white, I colored them with alcohol inks, stamped on them, and added some torn dictionary pages with mod-podge. I tied some ribbon and charms and/or beads so they had a little more decoration.

I tried for about 30 minutes to put each box into one front/back image so I'd have three instead of six... but I just couldn't figure it out! Maybe I need to get photoshop instead of paint shop pro. The backs follow the fronts, that's the best I can do for now.

An Ornament Preview

I've been making some ornaments with microscope slides in several different shapes and sizes. I learned to solder with lead, but being that ornaments can last a long time I decided to use lead-free solder on these. This way if they are handled often, or heaven forbid are chewed on by children, there will be no harm done. Well... besides the usual harm that chewing glass would cause- I mean there would be no lead poisioning! I ate more than one ornament as a child, so I'm looking out for the health of other ornament eaters out there, but that is a story for another day! I've made several of these for gifts, so I won't show those to you, but this little one is for my tree. More to come! Thanks for stopping by :)

Bird Fight!!!

It really is true that tomorrow never comes, because I STILL haven't bugged DH to load my pictures, and I also haven't played with the new camera yet. It's a Christmas gift for me, but he'll be wrapping an empty box because I am not going to wait. Patience is not my strong suit. So... I bring you more cell phone pics of my rotten little bird when I introduced him to my knit and felted owl.


Here we have Owlie, a darling little bird I knit up in one night thanks to a very clear and easy pattern I bought from CraftyAlien on Etsy. I love birds, I have one of my very own, and decide to introduce him to the newest member of our flock. Olie meets Owlie... it ain't pretty folks...



Dang! Look at him go straight for the EYE! He means business- this house is not big enough for the two of them- goodness me! I have always said that this bird is 2.4 ounces of evil covered in perty feathers- do you believe me now?? Owlie suffered little damage, but won't be making nice with any other birdies any time soon. Once bitten twice shy.

My Lamp

Yes, I made this my very own self! I am a crazy person, so when I only registered for two courses this past quarter (and I'm used to three) I decided to take a stained glass class at the craft shop. Well, I don't regret it, because I love my lamp. I still haven't gotten the pics off my real camera, so this is a phone pic, but you get the idea. I used a creamy vanilla color for the center panel, and a toffee color for the thin strips, then a chocolate for the outside. Mmmmm, vanilla, toffee, chocolate- can you tell I'm always on a diet? I made another piece in the class as well, and I've been soldering some christmas ornaments with microscope slides, but those I will save for another day and for *real* pictures. The lamp has been banished to the guest bedroom for the holidays since it lives in the same place as my nativity set. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, so I await the day the lamp and I can be together again ;)

I have lovely treasures to show...

If I could only figure out how to work the camera! I'll have DH download for me tonight- I have forgotten how to hook up the cords, and it's just as well since we just bought a new camera. Why remember how to use the old one now that I have to learn the new one... right?

I wanna show you my stained and fused glass work, and my new ornaments, my new table and chairs which almost sent me to the looney bin, and my beeeeeeeautiful Christmas tree- I have been making stuff. But for now all I have to show is a scan of some glass earrings I made for my mom's birthday back in October.



Mom is seldom impressed with my crafting ventures, and repeatedly tells me not to make anything for her because she doesn't want it. Well, I just see that as a challenge, and I shower her with unwanted gifts because I was born to annoy her as much as possible. These are mirror images of each other, and I let Mom choose which end was up before I glued the backs to them. They aren't as heavy as you'd think, and Mom wears clips- so she can take it! ;)

More Needle-Felted Stuff

Well, I go in spurts, and haven't updated here in a long time. But if you think this was long, these pics have been on my digital camera for nearly six months... so I'm slow at everything. Anyway, here are some fuzzy cute things if anyone still checks in ;) Needle-felted purse that I knit for a friend's birthday- the daisy on the front, and a little ladybug on a leaf in the back. The white bunny is a bit washed out in the first pic, but has a little pink puffy tail, where the "wild" brown bunny has a super-soft angora tail. These guys are tiny- each one could sit on a quarter.

Felted ATCs

I've been needle-felting lately, and have made some ATCs just for fun. Some of them are gone already, but I'm just getting around to posting. They are tough to scan because of the thickness, but the colors are much nicer IRL- this gives you an idea though- I've been up to something :)

Blog under construction

Well, here is another inchie ATC for you to look at while my blog is under a bit of construction. I upgraded my template to the easier to use kind, and I lost my links in the process. I am too tired to go putting them all back now, so it will have to wait a bit. I'll post some inchie art as I inch along in getting the blog back in shape. This one is a bit blurry due to the flowers, but it's up for trade- any ATC traders out in blog-land want to swap for some buzzing bees?? Thanks for stopping by!

All you need is love

I love this Beatles song, and I must be in a lovey-dovey mood I guess. A simple card for a simple sentiment- just some black paper, white ink, and heart stickers. Muchas smooches ;)

A daisy a day

I had made a bunch of distress ink backgrounds, and was in the coloring mood. I colored dozens of these daisy faces by Catslife Press to use in future projects, this is one of my favorite stamps. I'm going to make a whole garden of these cuties, and a baby card or two :)

Summertime

I do not like summer...not one bit. If you are a fan of the heat you can have my share any day- I'll trade you for your snow. This June hit us with a dry spell and a heat wave, and I'm such a summer scrooge that I didn't even get a couple pots of petunias. This ATC is the most love I've ever shown to this season!

Smoochie Inchie ATCs

Well, I was in a 3:3 swap where the theme was inchies on ATCs- I made this set of kissy-face and huggy-bear cards. I had printed these pictures of a couple kissing on the subway, and had planned to use them on Valentines the year. They either got lost or I scrapped the idea all together, but they worked out well here. The scan is a bit blurry due to the dimensional hearts- but the definition on the first card is "glow" and the definition on the third card is "make-out" I love cutting up this old dictionary! XOXOXO

Seven Things About Me

Ok, make that old western movie sound where the tumble-weeds blow across the screen... I'm back baby! ;) Tracy tagged me on her blog ages and ages ago- and I'm just getting this posted now. Drum roll please... here are seven things about me! (ps- this started out more light-hearted and took a bit of a turn- I'll post some fun crafty stuff to look at soon, I promise! :) )

1. I love to play cards and I’m always up for a friendly game. I didn’t have regular games as a child- no Chutes and Ladders and Candy Land for me- I played gin rummy. My parents showed no mercy either- they kicked my butt again and again. I would have liked to have won more, but Mom and Dad being hard on me made me a better card player.

2. I go in spurts- I would like to follow a daily or weekly routine, but I tend to get motivated to do a certain thing and stick to it until the motivation runs out. Like this blog for example- I go from daily updates to a weeks of silence. I do the same with my school work- two weeks of study and research, then two weeks of slacking off… usually the slacking off leads to blog updates- funny how that works…

3. I seldom sit down to craft something and finish it in the same day. When I get in the mood to make backgrounds I sit down and make dozens of sheets. I may make embellishments, whip out the knitting, paint like crazy, and then I come to a screeching halt. Later, when I’m in the mood to actually finish something, I have all the pieces ready. I wish I could get an idea and see it through from start to finish, but that’s just not me I guess.

4. I have to make things- I have no choice. I’m compelled to make stuff (for lack of a better word) and I don’t need a reason why. Even when I was a broke college student- every extra penny went toward craft supplies. Part of the problem with making so much stuff is that you can get buried under all of it very easily. I think this is partly the reason I started making greeting cards- they are easy to get rid of! So these creations need to leave my home in the form of cards or gifts- or something! Once I have given something away it is the recipient’s choice what happens to it from then on- give it away, throw it away, keep it forever- whatever! I need to room to make more stuff!!

5. I’m terrible about responding to email- I read the email… then I ponder my reply…but I may never type and send a reply. My family teases me and one other brother about our lack of electronic communication, they nearly faint dead away when a message from either of us graces the old in-box. BUT, I do send actual paper letters and cards by snail-mail, and I like those better anyhow. So there!

6. I don’t like to borrow trouble, but I have to remind myself that worry gets you nowhere, I could spend all day playing “what-if…” and that is a waste of time. I work every day not to be a worry-wart. I’ll deal with what actually happens when it happens, I have wasted enough hours in worry and wonder, and I’m done with that. I don’t watch sad movies, I don’t read tear-jerker books- or even the short little email stories. I don’t watch the news or read the paper- not even for the weather- I’d rather be surprised by a rainstorm than depressed over some bad news I have no control over.

7. I loooooooove Christmas- it is my favorite season. I love the smell of the winter air, the snow, the cold- to heck with summer. I like the time of giving and reflecting on the year, and the way people behave when they are thinking of others instead of themselves. I wish that feeling lasted all year long. The funny thing about the golden rule is that we rarely truly follow it. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you- the DOING must come first. It is not “Do unto others as they have done to you.” There is no tit for tat, was it Gandhi who said that an eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind? I guess what I’m saying is that I want to always be the kind of person I am when I have that Christmas feeling in my heart. I try to keep it all year long.

THE END!!

Now do I still get to tag other people even if I took soooo long to do mine?? I tag Kerilou and Sue! :)