By His Grace

Just wanted to share about an awesome event I attended this weekend at Elim Gospel Church in Lima, NY
It was this year's spring conference presented by byGrace Ministries. What a blessing of teaching, fellowship & worship. Please do check out the byGrace web-site to see what Sherrie and the team have in store and sign up to receive their e-mail updates-you won't be dissapointed. I have attended several of her events and am always impressed with how well organized they are and how relevant the teaching is.
Many of you know that I love to see women together, whether it be crafting, going to conferences, whatever. I believe that the comunity of women is what binds our cultures and societies together. Isn't it awesome that we are able to take time out of our lives to spend time in the Word and to be encouraged by one another. So many times this weekend I heard.."yes, that's exactly what i was thinking" or "I'm so glad we talked about this". What a blessing we can be to each other! This weekend's theme was "Revive" and how we all, women, church, nation & world need to be revived. How we need the very breath of life so that we can be resusitated! Ezekiel 37:1-11 was Sherrie's inroduction to our weekend.
My bones were dry when I arrived, but not when I left!

I have been praying on some issues over the last few weeks, some are new, some long standing, but the Lord gave me a scripture that I have taken to heart. I would like to share it with you.
Jeremiah 17: 7-8
7 But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him.
8 He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out it's roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes: it's leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.
There will be times of drought, of dry bones, but if we stay close to the source of life, can draw from that and continue to florish. I think the optimal word here is IF.

Dolly Make Over

I'm still making the Comfort Dolls but have been trying different styles of body, dress & hair. Here is new one that I just finished. Her dress is actually closed at the bottom and lightly stuffed. I'm think about adding a little Lavender to these. Also, her hair was trimmed and "styled" although once in a while I imagine I will create one of my original "wild girls" These dolls do not have legs which to be honest makes them much easier to stuff/turn and I believe are finshed better. The original ones had a slit cut in the back to turn them right side out and once stuffed you would sew up the slit but it looked like they'd had major back surgery.! And perhaps I will add a little buton where her dress gathers at the front.
Hope you like her.

Crafty Update (lots to talk about!)

Lots of things to share with you! I have been busy.
I particpated in 3 swaps over the winter. I try not to over schedule the swaps and typically do not sign up for one until the previous one is done and mailed out.
Here is a picture of some of the Scripture rolodex cards that I received. These are fun to make because of their size and I invested in the "address card" die from Stampin' Up. Made it much easier.
These are pictures of the altered dominos that I made into pins for another swap. These took me about 2 months to make and although I love altered dominoes, they were a real challenge. Not sure if I will do that one again!

Back at the end of November I participated in an Advent Journaling challenge. Each day we had an advent devotional and "thoughts to ponder" I was able to keep up with the devotional but am still embellishing the pages! I created my journal using manila folders. The devotional/study is on the left page and then my notes, prayers etc are on the right page that is embellished.

Here is the Advent cover

My latest (and greatest!) craze is Junque Journals. Google that one and tell me you can't get addicted! Crunchy, chunky, touchy, feely journals. This one is made from a composition notebook and what fun these are. I have used junk mail, envelopes, postcards, gift wrap, candy wrappers (not mine of course!) Water color crayons, stamps, stickers, you name it.

And I made a "trinket" out of found items.
And here is my first piece of mail art. No reason why mail has to be boring.....

This piece has a tea bag holder, calendar page, old sheet music, stickers,and a Suzi Blu stamp.


Hm, let's see..... Oh, books read this year so far:

Girl With The Dragon Tattoo-Steig Larrson very good story, just a bit "gritty"
Tried to read the second one but found it again too rough.

Shadows on the Coast Of Maine. Lea Wait. Easy mystery with an "antique hunting" theme

Labyrinth-Kate Mosse. Interesting twist on the Grail theme.

Fall Of Giants-Ken Follett. His first book in a trilogy. Cannot wait for books 2 & 3!


The Help-Kathryn Stockett- Gotta read it! Couldn't put it down!

So, now you know why you haven't seen me in a while!
Happy Crafting!

Patchwork Purse

Just finished a patchwork purse, It is quite big so more like an over size purse/tote. I pieced the front & back and used a pattern for the construction. The special button came with me from the UK last year and I finally found a use for it!

Art Journaling

As if there are not enough ways to create, I have now stumbled upon the world of Art Journals & Junque Journals.Don't go there unless you want to see the most amazing expressions of art in all it's forms & of journaling! Trust me, just Google it, YouTube it, get comfortable and enjoy.
Here is my very first Art Journal page. (Using materials that I already had on hand no less!)
This is a very different act of creating, not as structured as my sewing or my crochet & knitting and a new process for me.
If I don't draw or paint ("realistically") am I still an artist?
Absolutely!
There are many types of books you can use as your journal. I'm using a composition note-book. I found that idea when looking at Junque Journals. Large sketchbooks seem to be the fave but i like the sturdiness of the comp. so am good with that for my first book. I've gone through and gesso's many pages prior to creating a page, other pages have scrapbook papers adhered to them. This adds some weight to the pages. This particular page has a cut up Manila folder with a tab on it.That is the base. (Oh, and that "doodle thingy" in the middle? That's a Zentangle.(Google that one too!) Another page has a paper bag on it. No idea how that one will evolve but I have no doubt that inspiration will hit! (probably at 2 in the morning!)

Fall Catch Up

Nope, didn't fall off the face of the earth, busy making a mess in the Pink Room! (AKA Creative mayhem!) So, here are a just a few pix to show you what's been goin' on. (Oh, and this is just a fraction)

Finally finished an afghan for The Linus Project-took me ages because I seem to get distracted by other projects-imagine that.

Quickie weekend project, book bag for a friend. So much prettier than a zip-loc don't you think!

Sweet book written by my friend Chris. Knowing the author added something special to this read for me. It can be found HERE

Altered tags for the Comfort Dolls using tea dyed paper. (Below)

Look what a difference a couple of hours drowning in tea will do for you!

ROLODEX SWAP at Splitcoast. These are the ones I sent, can't wait to get the swapper's back!

Playing with dolls (paper that is)

I recently completed a paper doll swap on Splitcoast. A new craft for me and although I enjoyed it, not sure if I will do another paper doll swap. Here is one of four that I made. I used the same template for all four, just changed the colors and embellishments.What I did find interesting was the wide variety of dolls, each crafter interpreted the "product" very differently.

Here are the dolls I received. The one one the left is actually a little tin that slides open...very clever.

Springfest 2010 Stampin' Extravaganza! (Lots of pix)

On May 1st my friend Kim & I attended the 3rd annual WNY Springfest event in Amherst organized through SplitCoast Stampers. What an awesome day. We signed up waaay back in February and spent the next couple of months putting all our projects together. As this was my first event I was very conservative with how many swaps I signed up for and am glad I did that. It would have been easy to over-extend and then not enjoy the projects and that just defeats the whole purpose. But....next year I think will be a different story.
It was mandatory that you sign up for a showbox project: design a card that you could make it 10-15 minutes. Compile 20 kits to make that card (that you can bring in a showbox) At the event you sit at a table with 9 other's. You each describe the card and then we make them all. We did this in the morning and afternoon, so you get to make 20 different cards which was fun. Here are the shoebox cards that I made. (The first picture is the card I designed)












I signed up for just 1 swap, a 3D one as the group number was smaller. Here are pictures of the items that I came home with. The last few pictures are of the project that I made. I didn't think just one of these magnets would be enought so I made 4 for everyone. (Total made-40 sheesh!)











And just a few more pictures for good measure.



This is the name tag I created for the event.

Kim, I know I said I wouldn't do this, but next year I'm going to sign up to do recipe swap, ATC swap and NVR card front. I figure if I start now, I should be done just in time.

Paper Dolls

Amongst all the other things I'm doing, I just signed up for a Paper Doll swap on SplitCoast. This is fun! I'm going to be making 4 dolls but here is the first just so you an take a peak. She stands about 10 inches tall and yes, she is articulated and her dress is removable. I'm pleased with my first attempt.

Unmounting rubber stamps.

If you are a stamper then you know this is a hot topic on the forums right now, especially since SU introduced unmounted stamps and DVD storage cases. I do not have a huge collection of wood mounted stamps but enough to know that they take up a lot of precious room. Soooo, after much research, I took the plunge. There are a few different techniques out there but this is what I have done and so far I am happy with the results. I hope this will inspire you to take the plunge! (I know, a video would be cool but I'm not technically quite there yet.!)
1) Set your wood mounted block wood side down in the microwave and micro on high for 10 seconds.
2) Quickly peel off the stamp and foam together. (A thin metal spatuala works well for this)
3) Peel off the clear image sticker & ahere to the (still sticky) foam.
4) Trim the clear sticker around the foam

5) Apply a thin coat of Aileens Tack It Over & Over to the image & let it dry for 30 minutes.

6) Stamp it once on the back of your hand and you are ready to store the stamp in one of the new SU DVD case and to use on your acrylic block. You will most likely want to use a Stamp-A-Ma-Jig as the SU rubber is not clear. I made case inserts using Publisher. The one on the left is from SU and the one on the right is one I created (with a little help from a stampin' friend:))

Takes up much less room on the shelf....TA-Da!