Mustache March and Manly Cards

I have come to dread March every single year. Why? Mustache March. Have you heard of it? Well, starting March 1st with a clean shaven face, men grow their 'staches out through the end of the month. In my husband's case, the guys from his shop are holding a contest with categories like "Burt Reynolds", "creepiest", etc. Personally, I don't think any man is attractive with a mustache. Unless you're this guy:

And even then, Tom's bad-assery might have something to do with it.
So, for a full month, I get to kiss a hairy face (I might be spoiled- my husband has to shave every day being in the military) and witness all sorts of guys think they're Tom Selleck when really they look like peeping Toms.
Anyway, I made a few cards last night in honor of this event. Okay, really I was just trying to come up with some cards for guys and it happened to work. =)

Same for each, except one has the textured woodgrain pattern- which gives it a lumberjack feel. And that makes me think of the Brawny man. Which is strange because the Brawny man with the mustache doesn't wear plaid... And what the heck is up with them getting rid of the 'stach for the new guy??

He just doesn't seem as manly.
Okay, back to cards.
Here's a really easy-to-put-together boy card using Echo Park's Little Boy collection. Seriously love this card because it took 3 minutes.

  

And have you seen this card by Nichole Heady? It is GENIUS. Seriously. One of those cards that make you say, "AH! Why didn't I think of that?!" As soon as I pulled out the plaid paper from above I knew I wanted to try it out with a more "relaxed dad" feel to it.

Please, if you pin this photo, be sure to credit Nichole Heady for the original idea, found here: http://nicholeheady.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341c64e753ef016302abd97f970d-pi

I added some Pebbles candy dots for "buttons" and scored the pocket for a seam. My favorite card ever. Thanks Nichole!

And that's all for today- I might be back later in the week with some more cards... I'll surprise you.

Spring Fever

Are you guys getting that little tease of warm weather like we are?! It was about 70 degrees last Friday and oh man, I couldn't help but picture myself in shorts and t-shirt drinking lemonade on the porch! It ended up getting colder and a little rainy over the weekend but the sun is shine shinin' now so I'm hoping it stays this way. Anyway, this week we're featuring the Country Picnic line over at the Pebbles blog and this is my contribution. I LOVE these colors- especially that green! And have you seen the corrugated alphas in the line? Hands down, my favorite!

I used my Silhouette to cut the window and then backed it with some of my favorite papers from this line. I also played with tone on tone a little bit just for some dimension.

See that corrugated goodness? Ahhh.
Alright friends, just a quick post today but come back tomorrow- I have a slew of manly-men cards to share with you!

In progress quilts and a finish

Today is GORGEOUS outside! One of those days that makes you want to open all the windows, turn on some music, and get the house clean! Actually, my house was already clean (thanks to my husband woohoo!) so I decided that Luke and I would take a walk to enjoy the day. I brought some of my work-in-progress quilts to see if we could find a good spot to hang them for some pictures.
Unfortunately, there weren't any hanging spots, so we had to come up with some other ways to show them.
Exhibit A: A bench.

Unfortunately, the bench method doesn't allow for much of the quilt to be seen, but at least you get an idea of scale.
I finished this quilt up last weekend (I'm calling it the "zen lattice" quilt) and love how it came out. The batting is on the thinner side so this blanket is nice and airy but still warm. I straight line quilted it along the patterned blocks and it has just the right amount of crinkle.

Exhibit B: Draped over a fence.

Again, you can't see the full quilt. And, there was a shadow. Weak sauce.

Exhibit C: On the grass.

Well, at least you can see the full quilt this way, although the angle is funny. This is how we settled on photographing the rest of them- at least until my husband gets home to hold them up! =)
This is the back of the zen lattice quilt. I used one of the prints from this same line and added some solid stripes. I think the stripes give it a fun, retro look! It is bound in a solid kona aqua color- love how even the binding is crinkly!
And here are the other fabric lovelies I'm working on.

A Swoon block. I love this pattern so much! Before I bought it, I decided I wanted to try it out but on a smaller scale. I just drew it out and came up with my own measurements- this block is 12.5" (they come out at 16" in the pattern, I think). I'll be doing the full sized quilt as soon as I get the rest of my fabrics chosen.

A Castle Peeps Plus quilt. I had the whole line of Lizzy House's Castle Peeps line just sitting on a shelf for the longest time. I knew I wanted to use them in a quilt that really showed off the cute prints but I just couldn't find one I really loved. Then I found Jeni's tutorial and I knew it was perfect. This measures out a little larger than her quilt and I will be backing it with the yellow castle print and binding it with an orange stripe.

A City Weekend quilt. This pattern is adorable- it's all paper pieced, which is a bit of a process, but it came together quickly once I was able to get everything cut and batched. I love the springy colors in it, makes me happy! Unfortunately, the border strips are a bit too long so the quilt has a hard time laying flat- which will make it a pain to quilt. I'll be picking those stitches out and trying the border again sometime. (Just not anytime soon, I HATE picking out stitching.)

Sorry, I guess I should have ironed it a bit first...

And here's my little helper. In just a few more years, he'll be able to hold my quilts up for me!

And one more for good measure- this is the view from the walking path by my house. This is my little village, Jettenbach. It's gorgeous. We get to hear the church bells chime every 15 minutes from that church in the center. Luke always says, "Hear that Mommy?! DING DING DING!!" haha

Thanks for coming by today!

Yep, I've Done It

I have made it really easy to follow me on Pinterest or Twitter with those cute little buttons on the left- if you want to keep up with what I'm doing, where I'm finding inspiration, etc. click those!
I'm new to Twitter so I'm going to need to study up on my hash tag usage, bear with me. If you're on Twitter, give me your username so I can follow you too!
And just a quick note about Pinterest- I don't mind my images being pinned (well duh, I've made it really easy for you to do!) but please make sure to credit my images, use them fairly, and let me know if you plan on posting them to your blog. I post my images online in the hopes that they will inspire someone and I have a lot of trust in my fellow crafters that they won't try to pass off my pages as their own. =)

Well hello...

I'm back! Where did I go, you ask? Well, into the land of fabric which seemed to have no return. But, I finished up a quilt yesterday and tried my hand at paper again and I'd say it was a success...

If there ever was a page that screamed "me", this would be that page. I am in love with it. The colors of Crate's Storyteller line are perfectly vintage and yet bold at the same time. I'm going to need to buy a few collection packs to get me through the next few months. =)
I pulled a few bits from my stash here that needed some love- the red label is from Etsy (I have 29839827923 in every color you can think of but never seem to remember to pull them out), the stamps are all Studio Calico, the badge is October Afternoon from a Studio Calico kit last summer I think? My favorite piece, though, is the set of vintage tabs on the photo. I got them after doing a massive cleaning at my old military job as an accountant- they were buried in a filing cabinet, doomed to be thrown away. Luckily, I had the foresight to save these babies.

I'm not sure exactly how old they are but the font on them makes me think they've been around a while. I'm going to leave these out for a little bit and see if I can find a few more projects to stick them on.
And, last week I had few cards go up on the Pebbles blog but I forgot to post them here.

With just a few patterned papers and some dimensional stickers, I put together a coordinating set of cards to give away to a friend. These colors are so spring-time, it makes me so happy that winter is finally leaving us!

I also made this quick and easy bag to store them. First I used a die to trace the window opening and carefully cut it away with my scissors. Then I backed it with clear acetate. I cut the shape again out of cardstock- this time I used the negative shape, cut around it and had the border left. I glued that right on top, made the label and voila!
Luke really loved carrying it around saying, "bye bye mommy!" so I let him play with it. Now, it looks like he was searching in it, on it, and around it, for hidden candy. Cute while it lasted!
Thanks for stopping by, have as good a Monday as you can!

Ugh.

Since I've been working on my stack of unfinished quilting projects, I haven't really done much scrapbooking. Last night I decided to take a fabric break and get some scrapbooking done, but man, it was sooooooooooooo hard. I feel like I won't be able to make really great pages until those quilts are finished. They sit in the corner, staring at me... Then to top that off, my 2 year old just can't stand to let me get anything done. He's really good at getting into things like embossing powder and ribbon rolls when you're not looking- which means I'm spending more time cleaning up after him then actually putting anything together. =)
I'm not totally happy with it (you know how some things just look better in your head?), but I do really love that background shape I cut with my Sil. I'll likely be trying that again!

That's all for now- Luke is about done being in here, better go before something gets broken!
Have a great Monday!

Eeep!

I received some exciting news today; I will be a part of Simple Stories' 2012 Design Team! I usually check my emails as soon as I wake up in the morning (it helps me wake up instead of falling back asleep like my body begs me to do) and there was the email! I don't think I've gotten out of bed that fast in a long time! I'm so excited to be a part of this team and can't wait to work with their great new releases, the Awesome line especially.
And can I make a confession? I think I still need to be pinched over the fact that, along with the really great list of designers who made this call, I get to work with Emily Pitts. She has been one of my scrapping idols for a really long time. Actually, I'm pretty sure she's the reason I became a Studio Calico subscriber and am so sad (still) to not see her gallery every month.
For a list of all the other talented ladies that are on the team, head on over to the Simple Stories blog!