Photos of things I have made this fall and winter . . .

This is a lot to look at, I know! But now that I am caught up, I will be able to post things as they happen! Thanks for stopping by . . . scroll down to see lots of pictures!

IF YOU HOVER OVER THE PHOTO, YOU CAN CLICK ON IT TO ENLARGE IT . . . .in case you want a closer view! :-)

Steampunk Tag made as a challenge in online group 

A couple shabby chic flowers made from fabric that matches some of my Graphic 45 scrapbook paper!

Wreath for the North Carolina Hartwicks . . . with things that represent NC . . Notice the little lantern lights up!

A greeting card made with Graphic 45 scrapbooking paper

A couple of ribbon "flowers" for a mini album (shown in the album below)

Cover of  Tag Mini Album made for a swap. I tried to make it look like a castle door.

Back of the mini (I tried to make it look like a garden)

The mini has 5 tags and inside are pockets that hold smaller tags that are calendar tags for photos and journaling.

I used wired ribbon  for the pockets.

Each of the smaller tags was spray misted and embossed.

The person I made this for can use the smaller tags to record things that happen each month, add a photo & journaling.

The papers are very pretty so I just added some flatback pearls to this page.

Cover of box that holds a Christmas mini album.

Front cover of mini album.

Back cover of mini album

Pages have pockets and tags. I painted, and stamped the tags.

The page on the right has a little photo album tied with a bow. It holds 9 photos.

I die cut the mittens.

There is a little booklet tucked behind the snowflake that I cut out with my diecut machine.

Tags and photo mats.

Bottom of box.

I had this little book box on hand . . .

Decided to decorate it and put a little mini album inside.

I painted the box with acrylic paint and adhered scrapbook paper inside and outside.

The little mini album inside the box. I die cut the deer for the cover of the mini.

Tiny tags that I cut with a punch and cute little brads I could not wait to use!

Altered Domino Book

Inside of Altered Domino Book

Keepsake Snow Globe Christmas Gift Tag

Keepsake Christmas Gift Tags (front)

Keepsake Christmas Gift Tags (back)

Keepsake Christmas Tag (front)

January card I made for my husband to commemorate the 2014 Blizzard

Keepsake Valentine Gift Tags (front)

 If you made it this far,  you have seen just about everything I made since October!

I will be making more tags during the rest of this week. I will be switching gears next week and will put the paper crafting aside and work on some quilts. I love staying inside during the winter months and working in my studio.

Wishing you a happy day. Thank you for stopping by.

Emmy

Have you missed me? I have been away from blogging for a bit . . . but I am back!

DEAR READER, 

I will publish this blog now . . . and photos later. I have just waited too long to put the photos into the parts where they should be . . . so, what I will do is a blog later on, maybe tonight, that shows just pix . . .
 LONG STORY SHORT: I lost a lot of my pix . . . so now I am kind of starting over in the picture department . . . read below, if you wish. Or wait for the pix!

:-)
Emmy


I started the draft of this post on Black Friday . . .But because I was waiting for news on the photos that were on my phone's micro sd card . . . with more than 2 years of photos on them . . . including some I wanted to post here, I waited. 

I got the news later that day from the tech guy who looked at my micro sd card. It has suffered what he called catostraphic damage. What that translates to me is some heart ache because I do not have access to some of my most precious photos. Darn it. The ease of picture taking in the digital age comes with a cost to those of us who do not print or send our photos to the cloud. Guess it is time for me to learn to use the cloud . . . 1200 photos too late. :-(  I thought my phone uploaded them w/ the backup of my contacts. D U H . . . )

Since my last post, I finished some projects. One is a pineapple block that I made from batik fabrics as a housewarming gift for one of the women who was in the Art C Girlz group. I don't have a photo to share. :-( Then everyone in the group signed one of the "logs" that make up the block and I sent it to her at her new home. She is missed and was such a great addition to our little group. I am hoping she can come and visit us sometime in the future when she comes back this way.

I have made a few Christmas mini albums and matching boxes. I took this to the local shop where I sell some of my things. Since I began this post, they were both sold!

I joined an online group in facebook and have entered a few challenges and swaps. It is a great way to meet other crafters, exchange ideas and items, and grow by trying new things. I entered a Steampunk Tag Challenge. We had to video tape our progress as we made the tag, so I did mine in what turned out to be 5 videos! They are on my YouTube channel. 

I made a snowglobe as part of a challenge in the online group I am in. It is a group on FaceBook called The Craft Hole, and I made some Christmas tags to swap in the on line group, and some to sell.

What I won't be posting a photo of is my torn-apart studio! It needed to be cleaned out, reorganized, and the work stations needed to be set up better, so I tore it apart and it is currently a big mess! I took all the sewing-related items out and cleaned one end of the room to use for sewing. I have my stash (well, some of it!) in the corner and a work table with my sewing machine and cutting mat. It is near a north window and I really like the light to sew by . . . especially when it has snowed and the clean snow right outside my window makes the whole room brighter!

Now . . for the other 3/4 of the room. . . that is devoted to paper crafting and that is a work in progress that needs to get finished by Sunday night. I have a lot of stuff and getting it sorted out, labeled, and within easy reach is very important. If you are a crafter, you know what I am talking about! If you aren't, I am sure you can understand. Having a messy studio is like trying to find something in the junk drawer in the kitchen. I know you have one of those! 

I plan to be back soon and post more photos. In the meanwhile, you can check to see if I have posted any new videos on my YouTube channel!

www.youtube.com/user/studioemmy

THIS POST may seem a bit scattered . . no, maybe a lot scattered. I am getting it finished and sent and then I will start a new for 2014!

So, since it is too late to wish  you a Merry Christmas . . I WISH YOU AND THOSE YOU LOVE A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Emmy

Self Portrait Collage

Last night at the monthly meeting of ArtCGirlz, we worked on self-portraits that we made from pages from magazines. The meeting is only 2 hours long and the first hour was spent catching up with each other, some of our projects, and tearing out pages from the magazines we brought. I don't save magazines, so I ended up bringing travel brochures from places we have been. Gettysburg, North Carolina, and so forth. I borrowed images from another person in the group for my eyes and lips. Thanks Mary Ellen C.!

The hour we all spent putting our collages on paper went fast. I tried to get mine done so I would not take an unfinished project home. I have enough of those around my studio!

You can view the portraits on the ArtCGirlz blogsite at:

http://artcgirlz.blogspot.com/


Mine came out like this:

I can't wait to do this with my grand daughters. I think they will really like making self portraits this way.

A short post today. It is an absolutely gorgeous fall morning. I will be going out to show some lake property in about an hour. It will be beautiful there and I hope to get some fall foliage shots along the way. If I get some good pix, I will post them sometime soon.

Rows for the Row by Row Round Robin

I waited to post photos of the rows I made for the Row by Row Round Robin (RRRR) that I participated in with my quilt guild, The Museum Quilt Guild, because I didn't want to spoil the surprise for any of the participants by showing them here before they received them. Everyone has their rows now, so I can show you the rows I made and also the photos of the rows next to each other. I described in an earlier post how the RRRR was arranged. (See February 27, 2013).

The first row that I worked on was Carol M's.

 

I paper pieced the 8-inch star blocks while I was on a mini vacation on Chincoteague Island. I thought I had brought enough fabric from my stash for the colors I needed, but as it turned out, I needed to shop for just a little bit more fabric, so we made a trip to a little quilt shop in Pokomoke City, Maryland.

  

This photo shows the row of 12-inch Maple Leaf blocks I received from Carol beneath the row I made.

 

This second row I worked on was Kathy B's

 

I made a row of traditional Court House Steps 8-inch blocks.
I bought beautiful batiks to make these blocks.

 

 This photo shows Kathy's 12-inch Snail Trail block at the bottom.
 





The row above it is a pinwheel block made by Carol M.

My row of Court House Steps is at the top.

  

The third row I worked on was Jeri M's.

 

I  made a row of 8-inch paper-pieced blocks that are supposed to be tulips. 
Because Jeri's theme was Desert Southwest/Native American, I renamed the blocks to Thunderbirds, to keep with the theme.

 

This photo shows Jeri's row of 12-inch blocks at the bottom, with Carol and Kathy's rows above. 



 

 I forgot to take a photo with my row in the picture!

 

  

The final row I made was for Mary L.

 

I made a row of paper-pieced fans. I went shopping again for more batiks!

 

This photo shows Mary's row of 12-inch blocks at the bottom with Kathy's, Carol's and my rows above.
 



 

 One more row was given to Mary at the guild meeting. I didn't get a photo of it.
It is a very cool row of paper pieced blocks that resemble Japanese lanterns.

 

This is a photo of my row that I passed on to Mary L.

 





I made four 12-inch Star Blocks.

When they are next to each other, the star kind of recedes and the central squares on point seem to emerge.

 

The rows I got  back are pictured below, with my row at the bottom.

  

 

 

I love all the rows that everyone made for me! The bottom row is mine, the next is Mary's, on top of that is Jeri's, Kathy's, and the top row is Carol's. Now I need to decide on how I will assemble the quilt top!

 

 

I had never made anything in a Desert Southwest/Native American or an Oriental motif. I was very challenged at first. But, some of the reasons I joined in on the RRRR in the first place were to learn new things, challenge my creative self a bit, and get to know a few other quilters in the guild better by working on their rows, and having them work on mine. It was a lot of fun and I can't wait to do it again! A big Thank You to Kathi Everett, who arranged it.

 

 

I have been working in my studio on a couple new mini albums and boxes. I will get them finished soon and post them here and on YouTube. I wish there were more  hours in the day, because I have sooooo many things I want to make and could be crafting 24 hours! I joined an on-line craft group today and I am excited to start chatting with the other members of the group and join in on challenges and swaps of all kinds. I will be posting a greater variety of handmade things here on my blog in the future. Stay tuned!

 

 



What I have learned:
I really really REALLY like using batik quilting fabrics!

 What I want to learn:
 I can work outside of my quilting comfort zone and enjoy myself and the results!

What I appreciate:
The chance to get to know others through our shared love of quilting.

What I want:
World Peace. Amen.

Follow your dreams, even if you have to chase them.

Today is September 11th. A day to reflect, observe, honor and remember those who lost their lives on this date 12 years ago, and to support those who lost loved ones and colleagues in the terrorist attacks on our nation, and give thanks to those who served in the aftermath.

The title of my post is the result of my thoughts about my life and how I live it. I can't take credit for the idea. I saw it recently on the internet and I have not been able to get it out of my mind. To go about my days without direction or purpose is an insult to the memory of those who have gone before me --  my parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, teachers, pastors, friends, and colleagues. They laid a foundation for me to build on.

This is not to say, I do things at every minute of my day with this in mind; however I am making a conscientious effort to keep an awareness of this as a daily habit. As my mother used to say, when she got into her 70's and 80's, "I have a lot more days behind me than I have ahead of me." It makes a whole lot more sense to me now that I am on the "other side" of 60.

Life is fragile. Life is unpredictable. I attended calling hours yesterday for a woman who I had known since I was in third grade. We went to school and church together. We were in several classes together until we were seniors. We played at each other's houses. Her parents and my parents were brave enough to host annual pajama parties for a lot of little girls from the time we were about 12 years old until we were 16 or so. Together, she and I ruined her mother's washing machine when we tried to die yards and yards of fabric to use as a backdrop for our Junior prom decorations. After our college years, we eventually lost touch with each other and that is something I regret.

I discovered yesterday that she was a quilter, like me. I never knew that. About a half dozen of her beautiful quilts were displayed around the room where calling hours were held. Having them in view must have been a comfort to her family while they greeted people in the long line that extended out the door. She made a quilt for each of her siblings, her children and her grandchildren. While making them, she could never have known that the day would come this soon in her life when they would be a lasting sign of her love and caring for each of them. She made the time, took the time, to create something lasting and beautiful for them.

Seeing the quilts around the room and hearing the stories about them from her family was a reminder to me that it is important to get to it, do the things I say I will do, make the things I say I will make, visit the people I say I will visit. The opportunities to do those things can change in the blink of an eye, which reminds me of another of my mother's often-made remarks. "The dishes can wait." She would say this when I asked her to take a ride with me after dinner. I am glad she would let the dishes wait to spend time with me. That is a memory I treasure. My mother valued time spent with me more than she did washing the supper dishes. Those times we spent together is the fabric,  our laughter and tears are the threads of the quilt she made for me.

When I was a kid, I was always making something out of bits and pieces of cardboard, paper, string, and cloth. My mother was so busy trying to keep house and make daily meals for our hired men on the farm, that she never had the time to create things, except beautiful floral bouquets from her gardens. I used to use up all the ink in my father's ball-point pens when I needed to borrow them from his desk drawer to decorate something. That is why a new PapeMate pen hung on the tree for me every year at Christmas!

I have not changed a lot over the years in regard to making things out of cardboard, paper, string and cloth! I made a harvest-theme mini album and covered box this past week. Below are some photo of it. I will be putting a video if it on YouTube later tonight. Tomorrow I will take it to the little shop where my things are sold.

 Painted and Covered Box

 



 Handmade Mini Album (Cover)

 

 Handmade Photo Mats, Tags, Booklets



 

I didn't know where this post would go when I sat down to write. I am feeling a little melancholy today. I am missing the simpler times of my childhood when we

• didn't type on our phones, we talked on them.
• went to visit someone face to face instead of facebooking them.
• didn't shop on Sundays because the stores were closed and; instead, we spent time at home with our families. 
• sat around the table for home-cooked meals instead of lounging in front of the TV with a take-out dinner.
• wrote a letter to someone, instead of blogging to everyone.

Our lives are faster paced and full of activities these days. I like all the technology we have available to us. We all benefit from it in many ways. Yet, for me, it sometimes steals me away from my plans. I get drawn to email, the Internet, online shopping at any hour I choose, text messages, facebook, faxes and voice messages. I need to walk away from it and remember what I want to accomplish every day so I can follow my dreams . . . and chase them when I need to.


What I have learned:
How I choose to spend my days does make a difference, not only in my world, but in THE world.

What I want to learn:
How to find the balance I need to do the things on my To Do List

What I appreciate:
Today.Right Now.

What I want:
World Peace. Amen.

Labor Day Weekend 2013

I am having a home day, in fact, I have had pretty much a home weekend . . . and I am loving it! Fall is really on the way. A lot of leaves have fallen off our trees and by tomorrow it will be cooler and this humidity will go away. Whew! That will be a very good thing!

I have been in the studio off and on the past few days. I go in and paint something, leave and let it dry, then go back and do the next step a few hours later. I am kind of liking having that schedule. I have always admired people who did things in stages. I usually end up getting so absorbed that I can't pull myself away and end up doing a marathon. So, for me, this is growth!

Tomorrow will be a day to work in the cooler temps on the yard. My husband and I will be cutting back some of the overgrown bushes around the house. It was too hot most days we planned to do it this past week! Now we won't have that for an excuse.

I put a couple slide shows up on YouTube today. They are photos of the projects that I already posted videos on. I like the still photos a lot and maybe I will start adding those for all my projects. You can see each page a lot better in a photo. And, you don't have to listen to me talk! :-)  My videos do tend to get long, even when I try to make them short!

Here are a couple photos that I used in the video slide shows. They show the boxes, mini albums and some of the components inside.

This one is ABC Primer.

I used Graphic 45 specialty papers.

I am on the look out for more boxes like this.

If you know where I can get some, please let me know!

I made the mini album from scratch.

I cut the chipboard for the pages,

made the pocket pages,

and fussy cut the papers to fit the box & album pages.

I made the inserts, photo books,

little journaling booklets and tags

that I stained with various techniques.

 

You can view the little slide show at:

 

http://youtu.be/l9bbrbYewWQ

 

on my Studio Emmy YouTube channel.

 

 

 

There is another slide show there, too, that I posted today.

It is a Halloween mini album and gift box.

I used some really cool specialty scrap booking paper that is like kraft paper.

Here are a couple photos of it from the slide show:

 

 

The mini album and gift box.

 

 

 

The components inside the mini that are the embellishments.

 

 

 

The interior of the covered gift box and the mini inside.

I put some orange tissue paper underneath the mini album.

 

You can view it at:

 

http://youtu.be/rxIXr7BUECQ

 

 

I have more photos of another mini and gift box to make a video slide show on YouTube, but will do that another day. It is time to get on with a few other things before the day is over.

 

 

What I have learned:

I can work on projects in sections and not exhaust myself by working on something from beginning to end in one day or weekend!

 

What I want to learn:

How to divide my time up evenly between my studio, my home, and my real estate career . . . or at least how to balance them better!

 

What I appreciate:

All the people who support me in the various aspects of my life.

 

What I want:

World Peace. Amen



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back to School . . .

It is time for the new school year to begin. I always liked this time of year when I was a child. I liked school for social reasons; and, truth be told, probably a lot more than I liked it for academic reasons! Summer time at home on the farm was quiet and seemed to last a very long time. I filled the days of summer with helping my mother a little in the kitchen by setting the table for dinner (what we called our noon-time meal) and by washing the sink, putting out clean towels and making sure there was a bar of lava soap for them to scrub up with before they came to the dinner table. We ate dinner at exactly noon Monday through Saturday and there was usually 5-6 of us gathered around the table. My mother prepared a huge meal every day. I spent the rest of my days riding my bike around on bumpy dirt roads, and I would often go swimming at the local swimming hole, Call's Pond in Morganville. After supper, I sometimes would ride with my father in his pick-up truck to a field to cover up a wagon or implement with canvas because it was going to rain, or to pick up bales of hay or straw that fell off the wagon during the day when it was being loaded and we would cart them to the barn. Cousins and friends would occasionally come out to visit and stay over night and that was always a blast. We found all kinds of ways to have fun and get into trouble! But, even though summer was fun; when September rolled around, I was more than ready to get back on the bus and go to school.

As a teenager I poured over the pages of the big Fall issue of Seventeen magazine and marked all the pages in the Sears & Roebuck catalog where I found things I hoped my parents would order for me. Of course, I marked practically every page! One of the reasons I started sewing garments was due to the influence of looking at all those clothes on those pages. I knew if I wanted lots of clothes, I would have to find a way to buy them or make them. My babysitting money went toward additional pieces at the Bette Shoppe, or the Town Shop in LeRoy or Scott & Bean, Alexander's, C L Carr's, or Marlee's in Batavia; or toward fabric ordered from Sears from little black and white photographs of the cloth! Not quite the same as it is now with Internet shopping! In fact, the nice people at the stores would often allow me to take clothes home, with a small deposit, for my parent's approval. I don't think that would happen today!

Even now, as an adult, I think I still consider September 1st to be more of a "new year" than January 1st! There was a whole lot more preparation and excitement in my childhood days for school than there was for the new year. Although, my parents used to have a family gathering on New Years Day, with a big meal, which meant, at least for my mother, there was a lot of preparation! But for me, getting ready for school and narrowing down my choices to couple new dresses from the catalog and buying new notebooks, pens and pencils and getting a new pair of canvas sneakers was a fantastic feeling. :-)

But . . . getting back to September 2013, . . . I have just finished making a couple mini albums and matching covered boxes that are school themed.  I have put videos up on my YouTube channel. They can be found at the following links:

http://youtu.be/E7xP_rPM3HY

 

and

 

http://youtu.be/LiM3mpdmqrI

 

The mini albums and boxes were fun to make and I am now making a Halloween theme mini album and covered box. I hope to finish that by tomorrow so I can move on to Autumn and Harvest and then to Christmas mini albums! There was a big scrap booking trade show in Buffalo this past weekend, and I planned to go, but re-thought that idea because I know I would probably come home with even more paper crafting things . . . and I need to use all the beautiful things that I already have in my studio stash!

 

It is a rainy day today. Not what I expected. I can cross yard work off my list and do some things inside instead. There is always more than enough to do inside and outside!

 

What I have learned:

I can practice self control and not go to every scrap booking event to check out the newest items.

 

What I want to learn:

How to organize my paper crafting stash in a way that makes sense so I know what  I have on hand and where it is!

 

What I appreciate:

A rainy day that seems to settle me down a bit.

 

What I want:

World Peace. Amen.