2024 holiday cards

 

This month I played in the craft room for the first time since April. We lost Dad this year and nearly every weekend has included a day taking care of estate business and preparing his house for sale. It's been a sad journey but we had an endless supply of good memories to pull us through. Changing my work hours from 40 to 20 last month certainly helped lighten my load. I LOVE part time status and am so very grateful for the gift. Anyways...  this month I made 24 of these cards to send to friends and family. It was therapeutic to play again. The paper is gift wrap that caught my eye. 

Wishing you happy holidays, whatever your faith, and a healthy, prosperous 2025!  

Believe,

Di

2023 holiday cards

Finally made it back into the craft room this past week! It's the first time since February (sad face). It felt awesome playing again, and I made some simple cards to send this year. Will drop them in the mail tomorrow. 

Believe,

Di

 

This month's projects were a 12" x 16" throw pillow and a summer nightgown. The pillow was the first time I've ever done piping. The nightgown was my own design after realizing the pattern I'd purchased was going to be far more complicated and time consuming than expected. I've got to say I'm pleasantly surprised and pleased with the results of both projects.

Believe,

Di

disappearing 9 patch quilt

After finishing my first quilt (link) last February, I decided to try something more challenging yet still fairly easy. I landed on a disappearing 9 patch design with fabrics to match the decor in our TV room where I planned to use the quilt to keep warm on winter movie nights. Rather than use a single fabric for the back, I chose to make the top large enough it could fold over and be the back as well. Here are a few photos of my journey: 

 

At this point it was early April and I wanted to be doing things outside so I put the project on hold, finally picking it up again last weekend. Saturday I added batting and quilted using the stitch in the ditch method. This worked great on the side I could see while sewing but the pattern didn't line up the same way on the back and thus the stitching there is a little more obvious. Sunday I made and attached the binding for a finished quilt measuring 4.5' x 6'. 

It has mistakes but that's ok - I learned a lot that I can apply to future projects. I enjoyed every step of the process and am pleased with the results. Two of our four boys gave it their approval as well - LOL. 

   

Fabric, batting + thread = $127.39 

Hours = 45 excluding shopping

 

Believe,

Di

lightweight friendly plastic earrings

 

 

I made these in November but didn't want to post them until after gifting the red pair. No idea if she'll ever wear them, but I had fun making them. The other pair are for me and I've already worn them a few times.

Nothing else has been made since -- just too brain dead after work to be creative so instead, have escaped watching Christmas movies and snuggling with our new dog. I'm hoping to do a better job of dealing with work stress in 2023 so I can get my life back. 

Believe,

Di

fall alcohol ink card

 

After my last post I started a large disappearing 9-patch quilt, then spring arrived and all my time shifted to being outside. It's now turned cold here so today I FINALLY got back in the craft room. A dear friend has a birthday this coming week and since we both love nature, I decided on a fall theme. First I embossed photo paper and then applied alcohol ink. I like the that it's simple and unique. Inside is a simple "happy birthday" stamped in dark orange. 

Believe,

Di

 

my first quilt

 

 

The end of January I started my first quilt, intentionally starting small and simple.  My research lead me to try a jelly roll style quilt-as-you-go approach. This is a 3' x 4' lap quilt of my own design, using scraps, clearance pieces and some fat quarters I couldn't resist. The entire process (well, except the iron burn on my finger the last 15 minutes before I finished - lol!) was so much fun! I can't wait to make another one!  

Believe,

Di

shaving cream card

 

Today's creation was a simple shaving cream card. I embossed the words and then went over them with marker. The diamonds along the sides were made using a Sparkle Pop pen. It's a simple design that took far longer to make than it looks, but it was fun none-the-less. 

Believe,

Di

2022 theme

I was able to use a few hours of PTO last week to begin dreaming about and planning for 2022. After reviewing 2021 and searching inside myself for what I want in 2022, I landed on my theme, areas of focus, rough game plan, affirmations and vision board. It feels good to have this all done already so I'm starting the year with direction. Without direction or a plan, I flounder. 

In follow-up to my 01/31/21 post, I'm listing my new and old themes together in one place: 

2012 – physical
2013 – do
2014 – you always regret what you didn’t do
2015 – action
2016 – give
2017 – energy
2018 – perspective
2019 – practice
2020 – balance
2021 – accept
2022 – what are you waiting for?

Believe,

Di

desktop calendars

 

Tried something new and made some desktop calendars. I started by embossing metal foil which I then painted with alcohol inks. Once dry I cut and scored card stock and assembled the pieces. Shout out to Debbie Simko at graciousbeegreetings.etsy.com for the printed calendars - quality product, good service and reasonable pricing. 

Believe,
Di

2021 holiday cards

 

This year's holiday cards are done and in the mail. I made 28 using 6 different designs. Yes, they could have been decorated much more elaborately, but that's time consuming and I'm rather pleased with the clean, simple look they have without all the extras. Next up, finish making the mini calendars I started before shifting gears to these cards. 

Believe,
Di

crocheted neck warmer

 

A few of my friends expressed interest in a private Facebook group if I started one so I did. I thoroughly enjoy encouraging and supporting others, and receiving the same in return is icing on the cake! These ladies inspired me to pull out my yarn bag which I hadn't touched in 3-8 years. In it I found an item I'd played around with in order to get used to crochet again. I had no idea what to do with it when I realized by adding more to it, it could be a neck warmer. Surprisingly, I remembered what to do and immediately started back up, finishing the scarf while listening to an audio book yesterday morning. I'm so tickled by this, and hope that others are finding the group as beneficial as I am! 

Believe,
Di

gifting and potential new venture

Yesterday I pulled together a few things I've made this year to share as gifts for friends. This makes me happy. 

The card below took a long time but the results were worth it. The leaf paper is photo paper I embossed with my Wizard, painted with alcohol inks then outlined with white gel pen. Truly one of a kind for my one of a kind friend.

I've been in the craft room a handful of times since my last post but it continues to be tough getting back into the swing of things. The scanner in me wants to play in so many mediums, making it difficult to pick one at any time and stick with it long enough to grow. I get frustrated, reorganize the work space and start the cycle over. Ugh. Yesterday I decided doing this on my own hasn't been working out so well for me so I grabbed my laptop, checked out a few Skillshare classes on the general topic of creativity and asked my Facebook friends if anyone would be interested in joining a private group to support and hold each other accountable if I started one. I'm nervous about how much time the group would require, but I won't know until I try, we shall see what transpires. 

Believe,
Di

slowly returning

 

It's been seven months since my last post. Work has kept my plate full and when I haven't been working, I've been gardening, doing yardwork and helping take care of family members. Now that fall is here, I've been able to start getting back in the craft room a wee bit. It's tough to get into things again, so I started with making a few cards. The plan was to make more today, but my hard drive crashed recently and I've had a dickens of a time dealing with that. If only I could function on less sleep I could craft more - hahaha. Oh well, it's all good. 

Believe,
Di

clay creations

 Trinket bowls, pendants and earrings...

In my last post I indicated I planned to dust off my polymer clay supplies and play with the medium a bit to determine if I want to pursue this art form or donate my stuff. Decision? Being a tactile medium, I had a blast and am not about to let go of my supplies! I have much to learn but hey, that's half the fun.

Believe,
Di

Valentine's cards were completed last weekend and mailed. As I was working on them I realized I gravitate to simple, clean designs. New (to me) techniques utilized include: 

• Washi tape. It's been around for years and lots of people love it. I bought a variety pack and found it just ok. I'll use it in the future but doubt I'll buy any more. 
• Weaving. I had leftover strips of patterned paper from another project and decided to see how they looked woven together. SUCCESS! 
• Brayer rolling. The solid red card stock was just too plain but I didn't want to stamp anything on it because it would complete with the paper paper underneath. I looked up, noticed the brayer rollers on the pegboard and used one to roll ink onto the card stock. The roller I chose had some imperfections which created a textured/ sketchy effect to the inking. Yes, others have been doing this for years but this was my first time. Love the effect! 
• Blending brush. Having seen this tip on one of the Facebook groups I'm in, I bought a make-up brush from Dollar Tree, tapped it on an ink pad and used it to highlight the embossing so it stands out. Definite thumbs up! 

All in all, I had fun, learned some things and made a few friends and family members smile when they received their cards and realized someone was thinking of them. Life is good! 

Next up: I'm dusting off the polymer clay supplies to play around with that medium for awhile. It's been 10 years and the clay might be dried out. If it is, I'll buy just enough to play a bit so I can decide if I want to get active with this medium or let go of the supplies to free up space. At this point I have no clue how things will play out - LOL. 

Believe,
Di
 

new bedding

I'm mesmerized by the cosmos and hubby is a fan too, so when I came across this colorful sheet set I instantly ordered it. When we switched from a queen bed to a king I looked for a bed cover I liked, but didn't find anything. That's when I decided to convert the queen sheet set to a king bed cover with pillow shams. I found a navy king quilt, cut the flat sheet so the quilt border was the same size all around and attached it to the quilt. Next up were the pillow shams. The project took most of January, fitting in a few hours each weekend, but it's done and we're both pleased with the results. Oh! And here's a 'before' photo of the sheets piled on the new folding sewing table hubby built for me. Love it and him! ♥ 

Believe,
Di

"believe" in theme words

Late in 2010 I started ending each blog post with "Believe." For some reason I didn't continue this practice when I returned to blogging mid-2019 after a 4 year break. As I was thinking about this today, I wondered if "believe" had been my theme word for that year, but skimming through my journal, I see I didn't start establishing theme words until 2012. Interesting.

To help me keep track going forward, I'm listing my annual theme words here. They've all helped me grow in some way.

2012 – physical
2013 – do
2014 – you always regret what you didn’t do
2015 – action
2016 – give
2017 – energy
2018 – perspective
2019 – practice
2020 – balance
2021 – accept

Believe,

Di

2020 holiday cards

One of the reasons I blog about what I create is to remind me how much fun it all is so I don’t get side-tracked or lost again.  

This year felt like a good year to start sending holiday cards again, not having done so since 2013 when I started my organizing business. I pretty much stopped doing anything creative and put all my energy into my business. Fast forward nearly 5 years and I closed the business - one of the reasons was because I really missed this part of my life.

Last year and early this year, I focused on learning watercolor. The past few months I've gone back to my roots - card making. I'm woefully out of practice but damn am I having fun getting back in the saddle again. I've always made our holiday cards, whether paper crafting or printing one of my photos onto card stock. Sending cards this year meant getting back into production mode. I got out a couple tools I haven't used in eons - my original Wizard and my original Silhouette. I'd purchased both back in 2007 and was concerned they, especially the Silhouette, might not function anymore. Thankfully the Wizard worked like a charm. The Silhouette on the other hand, needed new software to function in Windows 10. Luckily, after going down a few wrong paths, I found what I needed. A big shout out to Silhouette America, Inc. for making a product that holds up over time, an online system that retained all my old purchases and making thousands of new designs available that function even on their first machine. I’m a happy customer! Oh, and shout out to Spellbinders too - the makers of the Wizard. These tools were financial investments for me back then, but buying quality paid off (as usual - lol).

So, without further ado, here are this year’s creations…