Greetings

Merry Christmas!

May all of your

gifts be ones

that  bring you

happiness.

Love,

Amelia

Paper Piecing

Reading this title  you will probably think I am referring to a quilting term.

 

The words “paper piecing” can be applied to quilting – but today I am using it in another aspect.

In addition to quilting I enjoy scrapbooking – and have now ventured off in to the making of greeting cards. As with any hobby, the expense can go on and on as you want new items. The amount of money I have spent on cartridges for the Cricut machine is a fair chunk of change…even with getting them on sale. Often, it turns out there are only a couple or so of the images that I will want to use. On that note, perhaps my mind can not come up with an idea that uses them.

 

I said all that to say this…I have come across paper piecing…patterns are available from several sources on the web. A few I have made copies and filed away for future reference. Some I have used  - and others I have made up on my own…or modified the ones I found.

 

If you don’t know what paper piecing is – well, it is specially cut pieces of paper and stacked in a particular order to achieve the desired item. Some things I cut out with scissors and others I use my paper punches. Let me show you what I mean…Using the largest circle punch I cut the green for the rind…next size punch cut the white, and then using a smaller punch cut the red. Then cut these circles almost in half…stacked them in order to  get this watermelon. For the black seeds I have a cat’s paw punch…using the toes to get the oval shapes which then became the seeds.  This picture makes it look large – but actually it is about 3 inches across and 2 inches from top to bottom. This is one of the items I plan on using for the 4th of July scrapbooking pages.

 

We had a cook out celebrating Independence Day…hot dogs and hamburgers wore top billing. I found a very plain hamburger pattern…so just enhanced it some. The hot dog was my own pattern…granted it was a simple one. On the hamburger used the largest circle punch I have…cut 1/4 of it off for the bottom of the bun…then cut a straight line across…like the bottom side of a bun. For the top of bun, took the 3/4ths circle – rounded it a bit. The veggies and meat were just strips of paper cut with my fancy cutting scissors. Pickles and onions were created using the circle punches. Sesame seeds were made by using the cat’s paw again.

With all the hot weather ice cream came to mind…so created this one….  and this one. I will be using these on birthday cards.

 

This owl was probably the most fun to create…some paper cutting with scissors…but also used the punches in various ways. Mr. Owl will be one I plan on using for both get well and birthday cards.

 

I used various folders on the Cuttlebug machine to give the embossed surface..this adds still another dimension to the item.

 

I enjoy making the cards…and am getting better. If the recipient wants to keep the card…fine…if not throw it away. I had the fun of creating it.

 

 

This is sort of like “playing paper dolls” we enjoyed during our kid years….well this kid is older but I still enjoy playing with paper and scissors.

 

Ya’ll take care . . . nap time here for me.

 

♥Amelia♥

Answered Prayer

We know that God does answer

our prayers.

We have been praying for rain – and today

it happened.  We got over one

inch of that wonderful wet moisture.

The temps are still going to be

over 100 according to the

predictions of the

weathermen.

Just thought I would share the

news of the rain with

you.

Hot, Hot, Hot

Staying cool

has been the foremost thought

in my mind for several weeks now.

 

With the thermometer being

over 100 for many, many days

in a row…my desire to do

much of anything has gone away.

 

We are watering our garden,

and flowers. We planted seed

for a new lawn in the very front

this spring – so watering it also.

Otherwise, everything would be

dead and brown.

 

Even with it being cool in

the house, I am not really in

the mood to do much of anything.

Oh, yes, I still cook, do laundry, clean house…those

type of mundane jobs. Did a bit of decorating

for the 4th of July…but it came down before I got any

pictures to post.

 

One thing we have done is host three parties.

Outdoor ones, evening time…with a breeze blowing the

deck is tolerable with good food and excellent conversation.

The first two were church related. First one, was the men’s group

invited  their wife and children for a cookout. Normally, the men meet

for a breakfast at the church. Second one,

was a Sunday School Class get together.

Third one was  family and friends

celebrating the 4th.  Average attendance

was about 30 to 35.

 

This past week Grandson Max stayed with us.

Being seven years old means talk and motion

constantly…just wears us out. Also, with

the heat he could not go outside much – which

disappointed him as that cut down on the fishing and bike riding.

 

With the heat being so hot, we have not had any rain

to speak of in months…ponds are drying up. The ranchers

are having to feed their cattle now in the summer months.

The grass for the hay is not growing much because of the

heat and drought…so bales of hay will be expensive

this fall.

 

I know – yes, say it – I have moaned and groaned through

out this posting…but wanted you to know what was happening

here to us (me).

 

Love ya,

 

Amelia

Mistreated!

I have been yanked, tugged, pulled, and smashed almost to the point of screaming.

 

Reason: Mammogram

Having had cancer in both breasts in the past I always dread having the mammogram. However, I faithfully go through this pain and torment each year…pain from the machine and the torment in not knowing if they will find something.

 

I will find out tomorrow – after some lab work…sure hope the nurse is able to find the vein easily. My veins oft times will roll and they are punching wildly. After lab. will see my cancer doctor…she is a sweetie!

 

When did you get your last mammogram? They are a must for us ladies!

Red and Yellow

Not normally two colors used together

in decorating.

 

But in a bouquet – why not?

We received these from our Sunday School Class.

They were delivered by one of the ladies

from our class on Sunday who had just received the

news about our health issues along with trips to

the hospital. She went to either Wal-Mart or the

local grocery and selected these beauties.

The colors were playing well with each other

so just arranged them in a vase.  I happened

to remember I had picked up a pair of yellow candle

sticks recently (Goodwill) that would go along

with the red/yellow theme.

As you can  tell there are still some red and white items

left from Valentine’s Day decor.

♥Amelia

Love Day

 

Today is Valentine’s Day!

 

May each of those who read this post love and be loved.

Remember the Bible verse of

“God so LOVED the world he gave his only son…”

We need to demonstrate that depth of love.

If the hair were blonde this picture could be me…

the chunky part at least…

plus with age my height is shrinking.

 

May this day be filled with many wonderful happenings!

 

Love you all,

Amelia ♥

February – Hearts, candles, and Flowers

The month of February not only has my birthday but Valentine’s day. I am too old to do much celebrating for either. I know I am loved all thru the year – so don’t need a big celebration on either day to tell me. I am spoiled – that is Leon’s fault – he tells me if we can afford it (what ever I want at the moment)  to buy it.

 

I still have the mantel done in silver, white, and cobalt blue…for a snowy look. Same way with the coffee table. I posted some pictures back at the first of January. Yes, I have made some changes along the way.

 

But this is a new month – a new look for part of the house.

 

Here are some pictures depicting the “Love” look. Some of the items are new, some are old, some have been painted to give a new look.

Made special for my honey…he counted up the points and thought he was worth more than 14 points!  He is worth his weight in gold!

This  tree was Christmas decoration I got at Hancock’s last year for $2.00. It does not look Christmassy to me – with the addition of the hearts it looks great as a Valentine item. Painted the Dollar  Tree birds white and added Cricut swirled cutouts for the candles – place on a red linen  cloth on a white tray completes this setting.

   

Added white paper lace doilies to soften the look…looks more romantic this way.

The bears and sign have been around for several years now.

 

Added some white milk glass and red salad plates to give this area a completed look. Some how the cobalt blue just did not look right at this time….but it will return…you can be sure of that.

 

Another repainted bird…Dollar Tree item. I like the birds better white than the original tan color…at least for this month. 

Found this vase last week at Good Will for 50 cents…I knew it would fit perfect with the Valentine theme. Added the white roses and red sparkly heart picks…great look I think. These  scalloped vases were clear…painted them red. I think they originally were candles but can not remember for sure.

 

That completes the Valentine tour.

 

Amelia♥

Furry Friends

Our home has two of these friends. Each one has their own personality.This is Stormy…she loves to be on the shelf above my computer.

There is a lamp  up there so she gets the added warmth.

I kept trying to put some decorative items there…but she would nose them 

around to make a place to lie down.

Of course, I was afraid something would come

crashing down. Tramp

Caught him  in the  tray the other day…of all the places he could sleep. 

 

Just a big baby!

 

Do we spoil our furry friends? Yes, yes, yes.

 

 

Amelia ♥

New Year ~ New Looks

All the red, green and gold Christmas decorations are down. They have been packed in the totes and carried to the shed to remain until the end of November.

 

Not wanting to go to earth tones and springy items I have opted to have a winter look. I have been planning this for several months – even back during yard sale shopping…looking for items that would fall into this category. Did not find a lot – but a few items. Also made up a couple of decorated candles for the mantel a couple of months ago. Here is the link to those:

http://decoratingmystyle.blogspot.com/2010/11/still-creating.html

 

Went through my collections of white and cobalt blue  - added some silver  - some bling-bling looking items…arrived at the look I was aiming for. Also got out my snowmen to add to the winter look. Just heard from one of the local weathermen cold cold weather with snow is predicted starting Sunday. If that is the case there will be snow on the outside and winter snowy items in the house.

 

Here are some pictures showing my winter wonderland!

The dining room table has this new tapestry table runner.

Silver and white – on the dining room table.

 

Snow flakes  - ignore the bright spot on the glass…the flash

from the camera caused it.

Layered look on this arrangement.

Started with a silver charger (was gold and then spray painted to silver).

Added the white milk glass plate that is scalloped with the inside of the scallop

cut out.

Next came the cobalt blue salad plate.

Added the candle and the silver picks.

I went ahead and left these two winter white St. Nicks out.

 

This cute snowman was one of my yard sale finds…doesn’t he have

a happy look!

Mr.  and Mrs.  Snowman

Gave them a deep blue background as they were lost against

the white wall. These are rather old – had them for several years

Used silver tinsel with snowflakes.

The small candles would look better if they were a white white instead

of an off white…but these where what I had…so just

used them! Mantel – can not really see anything real clear

but you get the idea.

We are kicking around the idea of painting the fireplace – any experience in this dept?

Love the color combination!

Some more of the “winter “ look in the living room.The candle is one of those battery flame kind.

It was a gift this Christmas.

When not turned on it has a  silver and glittery look.

Turn it on   - then the lower part turns a pretty blue.

 

As you can tell from the date of the pictures – they were taken yesterday. When in Wal-Mart today I found some blue velvet  poinsettias – have not decided where I will use them.

 

I suppose I will leave my winter scenes out for several weeks – or at least until I decide what will take it’s place. When in the shed the other day and looking at the items stored there – not many of them looked interesting. Seems like they have been around forever.

 

Where ever you live – stay warm and safe!

 

~ Amelia  ~

Snapshot Question

For the last several years I have used Snapfish for the processing of all my pictures – the ones that I use for scrapbooking and the ones for the picture album.

Snapfish has changed their website  format - making ordering pictures more difficult – you have to move along at  a fast pace or it assumes you are through..and will take you almost to the “check out” area….then you have to go back and repeat part of the process to get where you were. This has taken what should be a few minute order session to a hour one.

 So my question is: What company do you use? Would you recommend them? Is the pricing per picture economical? Are the shipping charges reasonable?

Not that my pictures are that perfect by any means but I would like them to be the best they can be when developed….so I am looking into changing companies.

So – let me know whom you would suggest.

~ Amelia ~

2011 – A New Start

 

A new year,

we should  strive to make the

best of what happens each day.

Enjoy all the people in your life!

 

My Wishes

As this year comes to a close I want to wish all my friends a very “Merry Christmas” .

 

May the Lord bless you in many ways.

 

 

~ Amelia ~

Tested!

This past Saturday Leon and I wondered around the country checking out some estate and yard sales.  The pickings were rather poor…that does not mean we did not buy anything – it just means we bought less.

 

At one location the money from the sales were to help with the building of a new fellowship hall for a local country church. The selection was real meager but I was determined to find something to help with the money raising. I found a blue table runner, 4 blue water tumbler type glasses and some plastic type stuff used for lining drawers or kitchen cabinets – there were one complete roll and three partly used ones. The total of these items came to $3.00. I gave the woman a twenty – and told her to keep the balance to be used toward their goal. Explained to her I was a member of another church just up the road from them. They knew one of our retired ministers as he had been their substitute preacher for a period of time. Also told them I would like to donate more but I was retired and I would prefer my tithing go to my own church.

 

Went around the corner to another yard sale – this was one being held to sell off the items of a 97 year old woman who had recently passed away. There was a box sitting right in front of the building where most everything was located that was being sold. On the top of the box was a pair of white kid leather gloves…they looked real small and I was excited as I have such short fingers it is hard for me to get gloves to fit. I picked up one and tried it on – fit was almost perfect…glanced at the other glove…so what looked like money was there…I thought it was play money! But upon further inspection by looking inside the glove more I could tell it was real money. The gloves were not priced so I asked the woman what the price was…she said $1.50…so I walked over close to her and said “what about the contents of the glove”. She looked at me rather strangely. I opened up the glove and showed her. She took them from me – said you can have the gloves – but I offered to pay – but she insisted I could just have them. The amount of money was $28.00. The time was around 11:00 – no telling how many people had walked by that box.

 

I believe the “Test” was would I keep something that was not mine – especially since I had just given away money and made that public at the previous location. I could have kept that money – no human would have known.

 

The Lord knows what I do all the time –  but I must always behave like a Christian when I am out in the world.

 

♥Amelia♥

Flowers

You probably think that  flowers are the only thing on my pea sized brain…well not the number one thing – but close.

 

Remember the tote/bag I showed made from the old red wool coat. After making the first flower – I wanted to make more and more and more. I know there is no way I can wear all these flowers – but the fun in creating them is worth lots in satisfaction.

 

Keep in mind in person these are red – with the flash off they look pink – with the flash on it seems like I get a shiny effect – oh well just think red when you are looking at them.

The ones in the lower part of this last picture were my favorite to make  - as you can tell.  They took longer but was able to cut the petals from small pieces of fabric – and when that is all you have – you work with that.

Amelia ♥

Recycling…

Taking an object and changing it to something else can be fun – sometimes frustrating – seeing a finished item in your head and then making it come to life can lead to a major accomplishment or a headache.  However, I do enjoy the challenge, perhaps learn something as I go along, if it works I am pleased – then if not I figure there is something else down the road for a project.

 

Have you heard about taking wool – washing it in hot water – this process makes it shrink! The finished fabric is a lot like felt – but not as dense. In the back of one of the closets was an old – really old – red wool coat. The moths had visited it in a couple of places so it was not in good enough condition to give to the “Coats for Kids” ministry at church. I was wanting to make a new tote/bag for carrying the news paper, magazine, snack, etc to the beauty shop. With this in mind I proceeded to cut the coat apart, tear out the lining, throw it in the washing machine with hot water. Added soap and fabric softener – when cycles were completed in to the dryer it went for just a short period of time. What started out as a full size coat was now a small piece of fabric.

 

Here is the full picture of the tote.

The color looks pink – but believe me it is a true bright red.  I did the embroidery work in black. No, I did not do the embroidery work by hand – used the embroidery machine.

 

I tried several times to get a picture of this embroidery – but this was the best I could get.

This is on the other side. Each of these embroidered pieces are actually on another piece of fabric and then sewn on to the bag to create a pocket. For the lining I stole this bandana print from my quilting fabric stash.

I have been seeing these rolled flowers on several of the blogs – so wanted to try my hand at making one. It turned out pleasing to my standards – do decided to attach it to the bag – on top of the flower that was just a outline of the flower and leaves.

 

I used hook and loop tape on the inside for closing it.

 

Credit  must be given to my sweet husband for cutting me a piece of real thin wood that I used in the bottom.

 

Probably the tote is longer than most people would want – but for me  - this is the way I wanted it.

 

Recycled a moth eaten coat into a one-of—kind tote.  Fun project and learned some things as I went along.

 

Have a great week – fall time is here. We are enjoying the cool nights and warm days.

 

 

Amelia♥

Did you know?

A blogging friend of mine tagged me in a question and answer game.

Here goes:

1. Do you prefer hand washing dishes or the dishwasher? Dish washer - but certainly not opposed to hand washing...seems like there are always some dishes that have to hand washed anyway.

2. Rainy days or sunny days? Sunny days are best - rainy days tend to make my disposition sour.

3. Do you have a hobby and what is it? I play around with scrapbooking - not very good at it but learning. Quilting is another hobby that I enjoy...also need to add gardening and cooking to my list of hobbies.

4. Are you a shopper? Only at yard sales and the like...you won't catch me in the mall just walking up and down the way looking around...if I have to go to the mall it will be only for one or two stores with a particular purchase in mind.

5. If you could do one thing in your life no matter what it costs, what would you do? Nothing comes to mind - I enjoy my home and like being in my bed each night - so traveling is not on the agenda very often. Money can not buy happiness - so guess there is really no answer to this question.

6. Do you have a certain "wash" day (laundry day) like Granny did? No, not really - usually do a load every day or so

7. Do you have a simple recipe that you love and would you share it with us? Most of my cooking does not require a recipe - but I do have several recipes for dessert items that I would be willing to share.

8. Who are YOU? The real YOU? The one that only YOU know. With me, what you see is what I am - I am a hugger and a toucher - I love the Lord with all my being... and really enjoy being around people.


So, did you find out anything about me that you did not already know?

My God always be in your life.


Amelia♥

Still a weed?

Remember back end of August I had a post about a weed in one of my flower beds. I now believe it is a weed as I have seen several in fields around the country side. Of course, I just spot them from the car - but they look the just like mine. However, all of them appear to be smaller than the one we have.



You can tell how much it has grown in the past month.



Weed or not - still think it adds a lot to the flower bed...perhaps not the favorite place I would have planted it - but still I like it and not cutting it down - until after frost.


Side note - tomorrow I am helping with a funeral dinner at church - loss of a 18 month old child. She had many health issues from the time she was born (two months early at that) until her death...spent most of the time in the hospital. Her parents knew she did not have much of a chance at all from the very beginning - but still it hurts. Keep Paul and Shelly Adams in your prayers...now their precious baby girl Leah is in heaven with our Father feeling no pain at all.


Amelia