Feline Friday: Waking Up with Lily!

Every morning -- and often in the middle of the night -- Lily wakes me up asking for food. I know that I've enabled this naughty behavior by responding to her various tactics. In that sense, I'm very well trained. We won't go into that in this post! Today I want to share with you her current -- and impossible to ignore - strategy for waking me up. Mind you, I'm the only one in the house who gets this very special treatment.

Oh, please forgive the poor quality of these photos! It was around 5:30 am when she woke me up on this particular day. I grabbed my phone and tried to document the action while my eyes were still pretty much closed!

#1 -- The Approach: 

Lily jumps up on my nightstand and walks onto my pillow. Yep, that's my pillow in the corner of the photo.

 #2 - The Stare: 

My eyes barely open to see THIS staring down at me, purring full-throttle. :) If The Stare doesn't yield the desired response, Lily moves on to her final -- and always effective -- tactic....

 #3 - The LICK: 

She LICKS my hair! It can't possibly taste good and believe me, it doesn't feel great to have your hair licked at 5:30 in the morning! But to Lily's credit, this strategy ALWAYS works. I haul myself out of bed and put her in the basement with a tiny bit of food (yeah, I know, I know!), then stumble back to bed for a little while.

Of course, I can sleep a little later because my hair is already styled for the day! HA!
jp

New Classes and a New Toy!

We've started planning out our next couple of months of classes at Memory Bound, taking us through September. Hard to believe we're already thinking about fall! Soon we will be planning Christmas card classes. In fact, my friend Katie and I will be teaching a Christmas card class NEXT MONTH!

Earlier this week I took the plunge and bought a new tool which I think will be a huge help as I create class projects and kits: The Silhouette Cameo. I've always been (and always will be!) a huge Big Shot fan and have never had a desire to purchase a cartridge-based die-cutting machine like the Cricut. I've been holding out for a machine that would work with the fonts and images I already have on my computer, and when Memory Bound announced that we would be carrying the Cameo, I knew the time was right!

So in addition to my Big Shot, I will be using this new machine to download and cut a few shapes for classes. Because I can set it to cut several of the same shape, it should save me a bit of time over cranking all of those shapes through the Big Shot. And of course the design options are endless!

I still love you, Big Shot! I will always, always prefer the slightly rolled or rounded edges of a hand-cut versus a digitally-cut die. Nope, I will never give up my Big Shot!

Before I bought the Cameo, I had just finished putting together a recipe album class. I've done several albums over the years and have found a few tricks that work well for a class like this. Of course, if you were making the album for yourself, you might do a few things differently than you would for a class. But when you're planning a class, you have to be concerned with cost and efficient utilization of materials. In order to use my materials as completely as possible, I always plan out the entire album before I get started. That way I know that every piece of paper -- and almost every scrap! -- will be used in the project.

This particular project has 20 8x8 pages. I chose 5 colors of cardstock and placed them in a repeating order throughout the album. (I know, I know..but I cannot help myself when it comes to order and pattern!) Once I figured out the order and 2-page spreads, I cut some scrap patterned paper to represent the patterns I had chosen for my project. Using scraps allows me to be sure I like the result before I cut my real paper.

Then I started substituting the real paper and cardstock for my scrap pieces, and the album quickly came together.

Finally I added the various embellishments I planned to use for the album.

We will be using an American Crafts binder for this project. I love the album! It's very roomy so students will be able to purchase additional sleeves to add more pages. When finished, the cover will have a wide checkered ribbon tied around the left side.

This type of project makes a great gift, especially when filled with special family recipes, photos, and stories.

Now, back to crafting...and trying out that new Cameo!

jp

Old Project Made New

As I was sorting through stuff in our house recently (seems like that's all I've been doing lately!), I ran across this piece of embroidery made by Bailey many years ago. It was folded and quite wrinkled after many years.

Apparently she didn't quite finish whatever she intended to do with it at the time. But it looked finished enough to me, and I thought it might be fun to frame it to hang in her future apartment. 

Bailey had an even better, simpler idea: Put it back into an embroidery hoop and hang it. So that's what we did! We positioned it in an old plastic hoop which belonged to my grandma. She cut around it with pinking sheers, then we strung a ribbon for hanging through the top.

She took this little piece to camp to hang in her cabin this summer. This was a new good use for an old project. You just never know what you'll find when you're cleaning out closets!

jp

Summer's Already Over!

 

 On May 7, we packed up the SUV (actually TWO SUV's) and moved Bailey home from Indiana University for a short stay. I'd say we packed a lot into that fleeting time, which even included a trip to Michigan for her. Now she's back in Michigan until the end of August to work as a Unit Director for Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp. Of course, her summer is just beginning, but now that she is gone, I feel like my summer is already over! :( Of course, summer is NOT over, but it's not nearly as fun around here with her gone!

Her boyfriend visited for the last week she was home. We had a great time with him, and it was nice to have him along on the trip back east. I get very nervous when she has to drive alone. It's a MOM THING!

In addition to my classes, I do have lots of things going on to occupy my time this summer. First is the re-design of my flower beds. Awhile back I met with a landscape designer who is re-drawing my backyard flower gardens. I'm anxiously awaiting the new designs so I can get to work! In the meantime, I've been enjoying the current crop of blooms. If you're a flower in my garden, prepare to be picked! There are few things I enjoy more than a bouquet of just-picked flowers.

 

  Second, I've decided to explore genealogy. Over this past weekend, I attended a beginning genealogy class. I learned a lot in a few short hours but holy cow...there is a lot to learn. I'm not even sure if I want to learn it all, but I'll admit that I am intrigued. The great thing is that I'm the keeper of my grandma's genealogy books, which gives me a big head start on two sides of my family tree, as she has researched her own family and that of my grandpa.  I spent some time with the instructor after class taking a look at her work and it appears that Grandma's documentation is formatted correctly, but her binders need to be re-organized and tabbed with archival materials. As they are now, I have trouble navigating through them.

This is a Pedigree Chart. You put yourself in position #1 and work your way backwards, with your parents in positions 2 and 3, your grandparents in the next 4 positions, and so on.

 

 

Grandma has a pedigree chart in her binder which traces my grandpa's family back to the early 1600's in Alsace, France! This is super interesting to me, as I was a French major in college. While living in France, I visited the cemetery where some of my relatives are buried. So you can see that I've had an interest in genealogy for a long time!

 Third, I opened a diplay case at the Brass Armadillo on June 1. I've added lots more to the case so hopefully some things will start selling! I counted over 200 more beer cans we need to sell, in addition to those in the case right now! YIKES. That number is sobering. (Sorry, could not help myself!)

 

  Here are just a few of the fine wares I added to the case over the weekend. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'll be able to cover my rental fee each month! :)

Even though it seems like summer is already over, I know it's not. I will be busy with all kinds of things for the next few weeks...and anxiously looking forward to visiting Bailey in Michigan in July!

jp

Feline Friday: Fun with Book Covers

 Happy Feline Friday, friends! 

I'm starting today's Feline Friday post with a mega-collage of sheep in spandex, one of my favorite blog topics. Why sheep? Well, sheep in spandex were the inspiration for a project Bailey and I tried back in 2008, in which we fashioned a stretchy book cover into a figure-hugging cat suit.

Bailey recently ran across a pile of old book covers and decided to make a new suit for Lily. With just a few snips for the head, tail, and legs, she fashioned a modern, form-fitting cat suit. This is upcycling at its finest, friends.

You can see that Lily was very pleased with her new look. :)

The slit in the center of the book cover provides a handy (and oh, so comfortable) opening for Lily's ample belly. 

Close-up of rear stylings...

 

I have to admit she looks a little like a sausage in this photo. A cute sausage.

  

 For some reason, this particular fabric and the pointy shoulders...

 

 ...make me think of the Jetsons.:)

  Of course, Bailey had to see how Tinsel looked in the book cover cat suit. After it became clear that the back legs were absolutely NOT going in, Tinsel wore it as a tunic. This demonstrates that you can get two distinct looks from one book cover.

 Well, THREE...if you count the scowl. :)

 

Sometime during the long, hot days of summer, I hope you'll be inspired to make a book cover cat suit! It's "fun on a budget", as my mom used to say.

Enjoy!

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday

 A number of craft bloggers have been posting photos of their current craft projects under the heading of "What's on Your Workdesk? Wednesday". There is usually something happening on my work tables...but I usually forget to share on Wednesdays! Technically you're supposed to link to other blogs but I'm skipping that step today. Click here to visit the blog of the crafter who started this fun weekly challenge!

This week I've been working on kits for two upcoming card classes. This particular card set necessitated a crazy amount of die cutting. And I do mean crazy. Here are just a few of the pieces for three of the six cards. Merciful me.

I cut these window cards just by eyeballing them. The good (but kind of scary!) thing was that when I stacked them, they all lined up perfectly. Whew!

With my kits assembled, I cleaned off my tables and now they're ready for the next set of projects! 
jp

Sort of Obsessed: Embroidered Dishtowels

For some reason, I've found myself becoming sort of obsessed with embroidered dishtowels. I know, I could have worse vices. But still...how many embroidered dishtowels does one need?

Most of my towels were made by my mom or one of my grandmas, so naturally I'm a little bit sentimental about them. For many years, I've kept some in the kitchen. I've used a few until they were ragged. 

Until last week, that is, when I came to my senses and realized that if I kept up this madness, I'd eventually have no dishtowels left. So I gathered them all up and amassed them in a dresser drawer. After I sort and count them all, I may decide to part with a few, although that remains to be seen. Dishtowel hoarding? Possibly.

As I've been thinking about embroidered dishtowels, I remembered this embroidery suitcase from my childhood. I brought it home from my parents' house but hadn't looked inside it until just a few days ago. When I was a little girl, my dear grandma decided I needed a place to stash my embroidery supplies, so she found an old suitcase, painted it brown, and lined it with Disney paper.

The suitcase held everything I needed for my (brief) childhood career in dishtowel embroidery. It appears that I made towels for Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday before hanging it up.

The paper has pulled away from the sides of the suitcase, but you can see how Grandma used elastic and thumbtacks to make little loops for each spool of thread.

I even found a teeny tiny pair of scissors, a plastic tube of needles, and the world's smallest pin cushion, complete with an elastic band to wear around my wrist. Priceless.

So maybe my obsession with embroidery is coming a little later in life. I may even pick up a needle and try my hand at it again. Grandma would be pleased.

jp

A New Venture

Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right? 
That's what I was thinking a couple of weeks ago when I registered to be a vendor at Brass Armadillo. My goal is a modest one: Just sell enough to cover the monthly rental fee. But hopefully I'll do a little better than that!

Yesterday was "move in" day. Spouse and Bailey went along to help set up the case, and I'm glad they did because there were a couple of minor bumps in the road before we even got started! First, management had accidentally assigned my reserved case to another vendor just before we arrived. That problem was easily resolved, and he ended up taking the empty case next to mine. He is an experienced vendor and offered some good advice, so everything turned out fine. Now I've met my "neighbor"! :)

The next problem was completely of my own doing. (What's new, right?) Bailey and I had decided to put a cloth backdrop in the case so we measured it, picked out the fabric, and then Bailey hemmed the edges. Assuming the back of the case was made of particleboard, we had planned to tack the backdrop to it. But when we arrived yesterday, we discovered it was plastic and tacks would not work! (How did we MEASURE THE CASE without noticing it was plastic? Good grief!) So Spouse ran to the hardware store and purchased a small dowel and some Command hooks so we could run the dowel through the hem and hang it like a curtain. Bailey and I had considered using a curtain rod in the first place...guess we should have thought that through a little bit more! But the problem was solved quickly and the backdrop looks great. Having a colored background makes the items stand out a little bit more.

FINALLY we could start putting our treasures in the case! Turns out that Bailey is a very good merchandiser of vintage beer cans. If this teaching thing doesn't work out, maybe she could get a job at Big Red Liquors in Bloomington! HA! :)

 

Here's the completed case! It's sort of an odd assortment of things from my life, but hey...that's what I have! For instance, we have 200 beer cans to sell, so I will be replenishing stock as needed. I also have 30+ vintage candy heart boxes. I'll take more as time progresses, reserving some for Valentine's Day. These candy boxes have been very difficult for me to deal with, as they were given to my mom by my dad over the years. I've saved a couple of special ones but would like to see the others go to good homes. They're very hard for me to keep in my house. :(

For now, the bottom two shelves have an assortment of porcelain items, some old books (Partridge Family and Bobby Sherman!), an old tobacco tin, and a coconut bra that our neighbor once gave to my mom as a joke. Mom and I had a lot of laughs over that thing...but it needs to go to a new home!

The chalk ware fruit belonged to my grandma but has never been used. I've had it for many years hoping I'd eventually be able to hang it, but it seems that idea has been vetoed. I did keep three pieces for myself with the dream that I'll hang it SOMEPLACE, possibly in the closet. :)

 

So we'll see how this new venture goes! If you're in the Des Moines area, stop by Case #311 to see all of these fine wares. And check back frequently because I'll be taking new items...as I unearth them from my basement! :)

jp

Signs of Progress

Friends, I am on a serious mission to clear stuff out of this house. Since last summer, I have felt the heavy burden of too much STUFF and have been going through a slow and tedious process of sorting and making decisions about what to keep and what to let go.

For the past several months, my basement has looked like this:

I cannot overemphasize how completely NUTS it makes me to have a mess like this in my house. This is all stuff I brought here from my childhood home before our estate sale. Stuff that held emotional baggage of one sort or another. Stuff that has been very, very hard to even see.

But as time has passed and my wounds have started to heal, I've been able to look at all of this stuff with a much more objective eye. (It also helps to have my daughter home to give me feedback about what she would eventually like to keep.) I never intended to keep all the stuff I brought home...I just couldn't bear to let it all go back in September. 

And of course, I'm still not letting it all go. But as you can see in the photo below, I have finally made some progress! For the first time in a very long time, I can see most of the carpet! Much, much sorting remains, but I have now consolidated my boxes with similar items which should make the process much easier. I have hauled load after load to our local hospice thrift store, which always makes me feel good.

As part of this process, I had to make space in the basement for my mom's four large dollhouses. While I don't have permanent tables or spots for them YET, at least I have them out of the direct light and in a place where they can be enjoyed.

 We will take the Christmas house upstairs next holiday season. For now, it is safely tucked out of the sunlight, which will rapidly fade paint and wallpaper.

 In addition to the basement stuff, I've been going through closets, drawers, and every nook and cranny in the house, skimming off what we don't need and taking it to donate. I consolidated all of our arts and crafts supplies (crayons, glitter, beads, etc.) onto one shelving unit in the basement storage area. It doesn't look perfect, but everything is in one place and labeled. And it's working: Bailey has been able to easily "shop at home" for all the craft supplies she needs for camp!

In addition to donating lots of things, I've also signed up to be a vendor at a local antique store. I will be setting up my case this coming weekend. I only have five shelves so it won't take much to fill it. I think this will be a perfect way to offload a few treasures...including the 200 cans in Spouse's beer can collection. YIKES!

  

It has been motivating to me knowing that I need to fill a vendor case. That in itself has helped me make progress.

In addition to researching and pricing beer cans, I've been marking a few other treasures, too. I'll be selling a lot of vintage candy boxes and many other treasures. Don't worry...I'm keeping plenty. :)

I still have miles and miles to go, but at least I have a plan and a direction now: A SIMPLIFIED LIFE. Watch for an update on my booth! :)

 jp

Feline Friday: Double Cat Saturday Night!

See this? This almost NEVER happens. 

One cat on the lap? Sure...daily, in fact. The other cat on the lap? Occasionally. 

But BOTH kitties together? It's the BEST THING EVER! 

It's Double Cat Saturday Night! Or Monday night...or whatever.

All the stars have to line up just right in order for this to occur. Tinsel must be on my lap first. Then Lily must sneak up from the side and position herself slightly behind Tinsel's immediate view, with no part of her furry body touching Tinsel's.

Although it's always brief, Double Cat Saturday Night is completely fun while it lasts!

Counselor Gifts: Decorated Clipboards

 We love it when Bailey is home, even briefly. And it's especially enjoyable for me when a craft project is in the works. No matter who initiates it, it's always fun to work on projects with her! This time I barely contributed at all, but I still enjoyed watching the process!

 Bailey will be working at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp again this summer. Last summer she was a cabin counselor, supervising four different groups of middle and high school girls over the course of the summer. This year, she will be supervising up to eight counselors and will be responsible for the activities of all the girls in the unit. It's a big job with lots of responsibility, and it will be a great learning experience for her as she prepares to be a music educator.

Bailey takes after her mom in a few ways, and one of them is planning! She likes to have everything organized and ready to go. So when she decided to make welcome gifts for her counselors, she researched and thought a lot before deciding on a gift. When she landed on decorated clipboards, I was a happy camper...no pun intended!

My only contribution to this big project was helping her choose paper to use on her clipboards. We picked out paper from my stash then made a run to Memory Bound to buy a few additional sheets. Then she set to work with a container of Mod Podge, an old credit card, a brayer, and a template for her paper.

She cut all of her paper first using her template. This made the process of creating nine clipboards much easier.

Most decorated clipboards I've seen have the "decoration" on the front side on the surface below the clip. But Bailey decided to put the main decoration on the back side so that when the clipboard is in use, the "pretty" side will still be visible. I would never have considered doing this, but it turned out to be a great idea!

Here are the fronts of a few clipboards:

 After they dried, she decided to add ribbon trim to the tops. Again, she "shopped" in my extensive ribbon stash. (Why, oh why, do I have soooo much ribbon???)

 

 And here are the completed clipboards! The fronts are shown in the top row, with the backs directly below.

 

 

 At the end of the summer, you could print out a favorite camp photo and place it on the front of the clipboard for fun keepsake.

 I think the clipboards are adorable and will be a perfect (and practical) welcome gift for her new team!

jp