Friday, March 16, 2012

Things Not Made By Me

So one thing I have not yet learned to do, now that I can sew, is learn how to quilt.  Why?  Well, I keep getting distracted by new crafting projects (see also: card making) but we already have a superior quilter in the family - my mother-in-law.  Just late last week we got a package in the mail with a note that said, "I felt like making something," and she made us two of these:


I put them out on the table immediately:



Last year we got equally beautiful heart-shaped placemats for Valentine's Day, which I put out this year with our other decorations.  We do not use these placemats for fear of ruining them.

My mother-in-law is not the only creative one in that family.  My husband took up working with stained glass a few years ago (although he's really into gardening now, as anyone familiar with our other blog is well aware) and occasionally gets a project idea in his head and goes out and does it.  This February, my beloved New England Patriots made the Superbowl, and my husband decided to make a countertop decoration for the party:



It took up the whoooooole countertop, and we put all the food out on it for the game.  He used indoor-outdoor carpeting, white duct tape for the lines, stick-on numbers, and PVC pipe for the goalposts.  Those goalposts fold down for easy storage, I'll have you know.  It's currently hanging out in our basement, waiting for next year's Superbowl party.

Hopefully the Patriots won't break my heart next year.

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Just what I need....more hobbies

A couple of weeks ago I took a card making class.  It was really fun (I went with a friend of mine who makes the most amazing cards for people) but a lot of work.  The cards came out great:


Of course, the woman who leads the class provides all the materials and a mock up for you to work from, which is good, because I couldn't be nearly so creative on my own. 

This hasn't stopped me from going out and purchasing supplies to make my own, although at the moment I'm short on ideas for fantastic cards and will just have to make mediocre ones for the time being.   I mean, look at the detail on this one:



Ok, so it's a little blurry - but it's individual stamps, punches, ribbon, half seed pearls and some shading using an ink pad and a dry piece of sponge.  I bought some magazines dedicated to paper crafting so hopefully I'll get some good ideas.  I've also bought some new.......crafting supplies, such as this:


I like it because it looks like a purse, and was actually less than many of the other embossing/die cutting machines that were on the market.  You slip a piece of cardstock, or part of a card into an embossing press, like this:



......and it embosses the paper.  It's pretty hard to get a good photo of the piece I did.  I justify this new hobby by noting that I already scrapbook (vacations mostly), so I already own many of the products I need to do this.  And I'm sure, like scrapbooking, it will be one of those things I wish I had more time to do. 

Really, what I need are four-day weekends every weekend.