bacon and eggs

Here's the bacon. And eggs. I just stinkin' adore them!!!!  I kind of winged it to make them but have written it down if you want to play too.

Egg yolk:

1. ch 2, 6sc in 2nd ch, slst tog, ch1
2. 2sc in each stitch, slst tog, ch1
3. *sc, 2sc* around, slst and tie off leaving a long enough tail to sew to egg white

Egg white:

1. ch 2, 6sc in 2nd ch, slst tog, ch 1
2. 2sc in each stitch, slst tog, ch 1 (12)
3. *sc in 2 stitches, 2sc in next stitch* around, slst tog, ch1 (18)
4. *sc in 2 stitches, 2sc in next 2 stitches* around, sc in last 2 stitches, slst tog, ch1 (26)
5. *sc in 2 stitches, 2sc in next stitch* around, sc in last 2 stitches, slst tog, weave in ends (34)

Stuff and sew the yolk to the white.

Now the bacon! I chained 20, then did three rows of 3sc+inc, 3sc+dec. Then I wove a light thread through the stitches. 

Then serve them up on a plate! Pancakes - needs pancakes...

BLT needs bacon...

I made a couple "sandwiches" to add to Max's playfood. I've done the bread, lettuce and tomato... still need to make the bacon. That'll be on tomorrow's list along with eggs and waffles. Yes, this is too much fun! I hope he likes it all as much as I've enjoyed making it.  The pattern for these came from a book called Yummi 'Gurumi. I modified the bread to make it smaller, starting with 15 stitches instead of 19. Also used two crocheted layers with a layer of Timtex interfacing in between to make my slices thinner for little hands.

Play food play time

My grandson Max will be two at the end of April, and I'm working on a play market for his birthday. I made cupcakes - they are sooo cute, I'm thrilled with them. The tops come out from the cups so he can pretend he's making them. Here is the pattern I used. Lots of fun!

And then, to celebrate my creativity, I gave myself bright red toes

(or "Elmo Toes" as my grandson calls them!)

Beads for a cause

A good friend of mine asked for donations for a silent auction. I made her a beaded lanyard for her work i.d. that she loves, so made a couple of those and other goodies. The one good thing about being a hoarder of all things artsy means you always have supplies to help out in a pinch...

First, a couple hoop  necklaces, nice and simple

Brass and pearl charm bracelet

Lanyard #1 - green and brown

Lanyard #2 - rainbow

Card Buffet for March

Monthly card buffet with my fave Stampin Up Demonstrator Eryn of Sew Much Scrap was, as always, a bunch of fun --- and a bit of productivity. We had a couple new faces this month - friends of mine that were so impressed they said they will definitely be back.

Here's what I accomplished:

 I'm all about butterflies lately and I love this B&W card. It's spring fever I'm sure. this card is a black base, double matted with whisper white and black. I use this Beautiful Wings Embosslit Die a whole lot. Tie ribbon around the black matt before gluing all down, put white pearls down the bodies of the butterflies, and pop up the greeting with Stampin Dimensionals

 Another view just because I love it! <3

 Working on Christmas cards now (one or two a month) means ready for Christmas without the rush. How smart is Eryn adding these to her Card Buffet? The moose is a cutout from my Cricut.

 Another Christmas card - ornaments heat embossed in gold and silver, then punched and popped.

And finally - a shot of my favourite little person.  I love this shot of my grandson playing on the same feltboard that was his Mommy's feltboard at the same age <3

Happy Monday, everyone!

Playing with yarn

I've done very little crocheting this winter. Most of my playing has been with paper and vinyl. So - I decided to pick up the hook and yarn. First, a hooded scarf (or scoodie) for my dear daughter. I used this rose-purple Homespun I've had kicking around for awhile and based it loosely on this pattern. Next I will make one for my mother. She's adjusting to our cold Alberta winters after spending 30+ years in the Okanagan!

Currently I'm working on an order for a pair of textured vertical scarves for a friend of mine. I think over the past few years I've outfitted every female in her family with a scarf! I finished this wonderful soft pink one with a touch of purple, and now I'm working on the blue for my Tuesday deadline.

Since I never seem to work on just one item, here is the start of a project for myself. My friend Eryn loves sewing with reclaimed denim. Purses, wallets, quilts, you name it. This is a spin on that. I'm making a denim striped afghan. Here are the yarns I've got to work with - a number of shades and textures, looking forward to seeing it come together.

 

 

Card Buffet - yes please!

My friend Eryn of Sew Much Scrap - who is also a Stampin Up demo in the Airdrie/Crossfield area - is now hosting monthly Card Buffets. The next one is Tuesday March 13th - let me know if you're interested. Here are a couple of the cards I made last month. 

background = layered red & blue CS on white, then embossed in the Big Shot 

Beautiful sympathy card using the new SU labels framelits dies

Inspired By Nature

I love the cone flower stamp in Stampin Up's Inspired By Nature set. I wanted to play with a technique I saw on the Stamp N Design site here (love everything Lynn Pratt does).

I put a 1/2 inch grid on white CS. On this first card I stamped the cone flowers in black and then used a blending sponge to work in three shades of ink (crumb cake, Cajun craze and chocolate chip). Then I covered the whole piece with Versamark and clear embossing powder to create the tile effect.

I did the same 1/2 inch grid here and inked the cone flowers in black. I used a postcard background stamp and inked the edges in crumb cake ink. I used the same Versamark and clear embossing powder to create the tile effect.

Oh sweet Valentine...

 I bought a bag of Valentine hearts and made a few cards for my family. All were very simple. The adorable truck (with me driving) is from SU's Loads of Love stamp set. Colour is off, but the card bases are SU's crumb cake and basic grey cardstock.

Mojo came back

My pal Eryn  of Sew Much Scrap came over yesterday to "play".  Eryn's my Stampin Up demo, and she's hosting a card buffet here tomorrow. She spent the day prepping some awesome cards for some wonderful women to make, and I got my mojo back and made a pile of cards while we hung out. Apparently I use a bunch of SU products - cuz 90% of what I used is SU!!!

 This set uses Stampin Up's "D is for Dog" stamp set and the materials are all random bits I've had forever! This is for someone who lost her grandfather and her dog within days, poor young woman.

 This I love - a paper quilted card! The paper is SU's Domestic Goddess DSP on Basic Grey. I cut a dozen 1 1/4" squares, glued them to a backing sheet, then cut with SU's Top Note die.

Happy Birthday card on crumb cake cs. Pennants are cut from SU's DSP Patterns stack with the Petite Pennants punch.

Revamp of Creative Zone - Part I

It's been a loooong time coming, but finally I'm making some changes to my little Creative Zone to make it an inviting place to play. I've done some rearranging of furniture and just finishing up organization. Here's what's been going on...

First you take a tiny room 7.5 x 10 feet that has lots of funky angles and has too much stuff everywhere:

Next you use a floor planner program to see if there is any way to make this room work better:

Next - you start moving said furniture around only to realize the accuracy on the floorplan is off. Not that I would have measured anything wrong. I blame it on the angles. 

Now start dragging furniture around, then tell your daughter and friends this is what you're doing so they can all give you hell for moving stuff yourself (I emptied the shelves first, girls - here's proof).

Christmas cards

Since I went to the effort of making these cards, they really should get mailed, shouldn't they???

I must admit, I love living alone. Even though I have my own craft space upstairs, there's nobody to be annoyed when I do this with the living room....