One of Those Days

I had one of those days yesterday, I wouldn't say it was a bad day, just one of those days that I won't forget anytime soon. I spent a good portion of the day at the property painting, taking care of the animals, pulling weeds and just piddling around. It was so beautiful, almost 70 degrees and the sun was shining so I decided to do a little extra cleaning in the girl dogs kennel. I keep pine shavings down on the ground just to keep it clean and it's easier to pick up their messes. Every month or so I go in with a wheelbarrow and a shovel and scoop up all the old shavings and put new ones in. I had taken two full wheelbarrows out already and decided to lift up one side of the tarp to let the sun in to help dry it out because for some reason, it keeps getting wet in one spot and I could never figure out where the water was coming from as the kennel is covered with a large tarp at the top and most of three sides. The sun was shining perfectly in the one area which was particularly damp and I went and did some other stuff. I came back to check on the wet spot and it was drying nicely. I noticed a big dip in the tarp right above it and saw that it was filled with a bunch of water so I thought I would push up on it and the water would run off the other side. I'm standing on my almost dry area and pushed up on the dip (knowing it would go down the other side) and this big gush of water came down right on top of me, my whole bottom half was completely drenched like I just jumped in a swimming pool, shoes, socks, pants and the front half of my shirt got soaked too. I know I was a little stinky but really wanted to take a shower when I got home, not in the dog kennel with my clothes on. At least I knew how the water was getting in the kennel and where that puddle was coming from everytime it rained. Luckily I had brought a beach towel a few months ago and left it the shop so I used that to dry off as much as I could. Dry clothes were 25 miles away at home and I wasn't ready to leave yet so I thought I would air dry, no problem seeing the sun was shining! I brought the wheelbarrow back in the dog kennel hoping to scoop up some of the mud I had made and got most of it up, put the shovel in the wheelbarrow and went to turn it around so I could get it out of the gate and then stepped in a nice big pile of fresh doggie poo, which squished nicely all over my shoe. Yep, it was just one of those days! By this time, I was ready to go home. I did fix the tarp though before I left so that the water will run down the other side and not into the dog kennel anymore so hopefully there won't be anymore damp spots when it rains. Onto crafty things....
It seems like I have had a theme lately with my cards, pink, lace and butterflies. I made this card with Anna Griffin paper, eyelet lace, glitter, chipboard and trim. On the card, I painted a Maya Road chipboard swirl pink, then used a glue gun and covered it with little mini flowers. I used a Tattered Angels frame on the tag using the same process.

I used another Maya Road swirl on this card, painted it warm white and then ran it through my sewing machine with no thread to make holes. I hand sewed little pearl beads in the holes, then used chunky glitter around the edges, which doesn't show up very good in the photo. The paper is Brenda Walton Madeline collection, which I just love. Oh and I got the dainty lace across the bottom from the antique store.

On this card I used a crochet doily from the antique store and cut it in half and put it with crochet lace that had the trim already attached, then I sewed a decorative scallop stitch on my machine to hold it all together. I cut the ruffle part off of the lace so it would lay flat. Paper is Anna Griffin, die cuts are Brenda Walton and roses are from the craft store.

And, staying in my pink theme, I made a set of tags. The background of the tags is fabric, which I love to use instead of paper sometimes. I cut a strip of eyelet lace and did a running stitch and pulled tight to make the circle behind the chipboard. I added some little flowers, a seam binding bow, a butterfly, some trim and a lace tie at the top.

I'm off to the property today and I will be watching where I step this time!
Thanks for stopping by, I hope you have a wonderful weekend and beautiful spring weather!
Annette

Got Lace?

I have the sweetest guy ever! A few days ago he came home and said he got me something and handed me a plastic grocery bag. He is really good when it comes to surprises! I opened up the bag and it was full of beautiful crochet lace, yards and yards of all different kinds! He got it at a church sale from a sweet lady that had it for years so I know some of it is really old. More stuff for my stash, I just love it!
I made this card with My Minds Eye Laundry line, Maya Road chipboard, a Crafty Secrets sticker, crochet lace and Prima paper roses.

I found some die cuts that I had bought years ago tucked away in a drawer. I have no idea who the manufacturer is as I had taken them out of the original packaging and put them in a ziploc. I used a background and rose die cut from the set on this card. I stamped the butterfly image on Melissa Frances paper, then cut out and glittered, the lace and crochet lace are from my local antique store. The little strip of crochet lace was handmade, I can image the work that someone put into it. I wish I knew how to crochet but I have tried and it wasn't happening, I would love to learn and make my own doilies and trim, maybe one of these days I'll learn, I just need to find a good teacher!

I made these tags with some butterfly chipboard. I used mostly Brenda Walton Madeline collection on them, some Prima roses, along with Tattered Angels and Maya Road chipboard. I also used glimmer mist, acrylic paint, Martha Stewart crystal fine glitter and paper roses from Etsy. On one of the butterflys I made the antennas from a glittery pipe cleaner, then curled the ends. On the other butterfly I folded a piece of shiny netting and added a button. I also sewed little pearl beads on the crochet lace before I attached it, I wanted to make the lace part of the wings.



And I did an Easter decoration for my Custom Crops project this week. The bunnies were my project, you can find the supplies and instructions here.

This is how I displayed them, I got the speckled eggs and adorable shabby fence basket from my local craft store.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week!
Thanks for stopping by!
Annette

Cold and Rainy

That's the forecast today, cold and rainy with wet snow later. I am glad warmer weather is just around the corner! We went to the property on Sunday and my crocus's were all blooming, sweet little yellow flowers everywhere. And, more of the tulips and daffodils came up this past week and they really have spread so much. Where I planted one bulb, there are now 5-6!
I have a few crafty things to share. The die cut and butterfly is Brenda Waltons' Madeline line, it is so beautiful! The paper on the left is Anna Griffin.

This card was made with all My Mind's Eye papers and die cuts. I tea-dyed the rose, which I got from the fabric store and of course, glittered everything with Martha Stewart Crystal Fine glitter.

I made some more of my little chick tags, I just changed them up a bit from last year.


And lastly, my Custom Crops project this week. I got these cute little birdhouses at Michaels and I just love them, they were alot of fun to decorate. You can find the instructions and supplies for the pink house
here and the instructions and supplies for the blue house
here.

I have been a fan of Martha Stewart crafts since she started coming out with all her products, they just seem to get better and better. One of my favorites has been her seam binding. I love using it for bows because they lay flat which is good for cards, especially when you are mailing them. You only get 5 yards for about $3 so it doesn't last very long. Having an Etsy store myself, I try and support my fellow Etsians and purchase supplies from Etsy whenever I find a good deal. I have purchased seam binding in the past off of Etsy but it was still a little pricey. Recently, I found an awesome store on Etsy that sells several beautiful colors of seam binding in 100 yard rolls for $7.95, it comes out to about 13 cents a yard! I have snagged up six pretty pastel colors and have 3 more on the way and have plans to get some fall and winter colors end of the summer. This seam binding is alot softer than the Martha Stewart seam binding and the bows seem to tie better and fall softer. You can distress it and age it with just about anything, including ink, glimmer mist and all kinds of things. You can find some here, just click on the seam binding and ribbon link on the right in his shop sections and it will bring up all the beautiful colors, and the shipping is really fast!

I hope everyone has a wonderful week, thanks for stopping by!
Annette