Pay It Forward Part Two

YEAH!! Congratulations to Jo, Katie and Stephanie who will be treated to a handmade item from me as part of my Pay It Forward paticipation:):)

Our three days in Durango were awesome! I'll post some photos soon...right now I'm too tired to get the camera out of my purse in the car:)

Me...

My awesome friend, Lain, mentioned a new scrapbook challenge blog and I totally had to jump on the band wagon. I was so excited about the challenges I did last week that I am jonesin for more...and it's great motiviation to get some scrapbooking done finally:)

Here is my entry for the current challenge - "all about me"...it's kind of random musings on my life and who I am right now. I think if you click on the picture you can read the journaling.

I know the pics a little dark...but I was so excited that I could not wait until morning to take a picture!

Holy Sweet Goodness and I got me a Doll Quilt!

I love the Sweet Goodness Swaps....this round was a Summer Fun Swap - we had to make or decorate a "container" and fill it up with all sorts of fun yellow and orange goodness. My partner was Miss Katie and I love everything she sent me! She decorated a basket with cool ribbon and added a fun lining inside.

Here's what was inside! Handmade picnic placemat sets...one for each of us:) Notions, bingo game, funky retro tablecloth, a Nancy Drew for some summer reading and a covered pyrex dish filled with candy...what fun...I have been coveting those cute pyrex dishes!! I love it all - thank you so much Katie:) My package is still in route to her so I won't show any of the goodies I sent her yet:)


And my doll quilt swap arrived for the Doll Quilt Swap II - thank you Sarah! I love love love it. She used vintage fabrics from her aunt and it is SO COOL!!! I have it hanging at the end of our hallway under our engagement picture:)

I've had the day mostly to myself. Miss S is at her last day of Campfire for the summer, Hubby is off taking his final for his summer class and the house is eerily quiet. I have a to do list a mile long but I can't quite get started on anything. I've puttered at my desk, puttered on the computer, stared at the various messes that need to be put away... but instead I just feel blah...I have a nagging headache so I feel like doing nothing. We are going to have dinner tonight with my brother, Shay, and his family so I hope that will help me feel better.

Art Journal Tutorial

Thanks for the great comment, Susan:)!! Here's the direct link to the tutorial for the art journal I posted yesterday. It was super easy and took me less than an hour. Have fun with it and for anyone that makes one please leave a comment so we can all go see yours and "oh and ah" over it:)

This Week's Goodies

While Miss S was at her party yesterday, I enjoyed a wonderfully relaxing hour at Goodwill all by myself:) Here are some of the goodies I found - a grab bag of sewing goodies, Japanese activity book, ME poster book and a couple kids books for upcoming packages that I am putting together.

An awesome little orange pyrex bowl, two Japanese sake glasses (I think these will become pincushions), loads of cool fabric...


And my favorite fabric find of the day...this very 70's pink gingham with this adorable girl on it. I think this would make some great bags as the fabric is about home decor weight.

I finished up these atcs for a swap on flickr - the theme is "Asian" - I layered origami paper with text on how to learn Japanese. I think they turned out really cool:)

This week will be busy...Monday is hockey for hubby, Tuesday is Primary activity for Miss S, Wednesday is game night for me.. but starting Thursday I have 6 days off of work. We'll hang around the house for a few days and then we are going camping in Durango for a few days. I can't wait. It will be so nice to relax a little bit. I think we probably will not even take the laptop to Durango with us even though the campground has free wireless. It will be fun to be "unplugged" for a few days:)

A Productive Day

Holy cow....I need a break!!
Today I:
Took Miss S to ballet
Stopped at three garage sales - my only purchase was volumes 1-3 and 7-8 of the Anne of Green Gables series. (I already have 4-6) I never even knew there was a volume 7 and 8!
Went to Big Lots with my buddy, Carla
Did 3 loads of laundry
Put away 5 loads of laundry that have sitting on my dresser for 2 weeks
Cleaned Miss S's room (she helped too) - we even changed the bed skirt and the sheets on her bed.
Quick lunch at McDonalds
Took Miss S to a Fantasy Fun party (through parks and rec)
Went to the breadstore
Went to Goodwill (found lots of cool goodies)
Made 6 zippered pouches
Halfway finished the binding on a doll quilt (it just needs the hand sewing)
Made a fabric covered notebook
Completed one 6 x 6 layout
Made my first art journal
Collapsed on my bed in utter exhaustaion...you would THINK! Instead, I am wide awake and ready for more!

The layout and the journal are for challenges at the SIStv website - if you are a scrapper at all you have GOT to check out this site! It is awesome and so inspiring.

Here's pics of my layout:
The "challenge" for this layout was to use only patterned paper - I used three different ones, used a heart for the punch and my own handwriting for the monograms. I'm sorry the picture is really dark - Miss S and Hubby are already asleep so I couldn't turn anymore lights one.

And my art journal:
The "challenge" for this was to use an inspirational quote and buttons. Any of you parents of Disney channel addicts will recognize the lyrics from a Hannah Montana song - totally cheesy I know, but I love these lyrics from "Make Some Noise". I used a tutorial that the challenge hostess posted and I love it. And for all you inquiring minds...rdd are my intials:)

Paying It Forward

Ann-Margret posted this and I totally want to play!!

“PAY IT FORWARD. The first three people that leave a comment and pledge to pay it forward to three others on their blog will receive a handmade gift from me within one year (July 20, 2008) of this posting. I will read your blog and get the essence of who you are to come up with an idea.”

Won't this be fun??!!!!

Family Ties

This week has brought tremendous happiness to my life...oh my, I'm getting teary eyed already. 15 years ago almost exactly - really - it was July of 1992 - my entire family moved from Albuquerque, NM to Ridgecrest, CA leaving me here all alone. I was already dating Hubby, had a good job and was going to the local community college so I chose not to move with my family. Going overnight from a family of 8 to a family of 1 was a huge change for me. I miss my family tremendously. SO....what happened this week??? My brother, Shay, and his family moved back to Albuquerque!! That's him and his wife on the far right, and two of their kiddos in the front of them. They have one more son that wasn't there the day this picture was taken. Miss S is so excited to have real live cousins here in town and I am ecstatic to finally have some of my family back here with me.


The rest of the cuties in this picture with us are my sweet sister Ryalin and her Hubby and three of their 7 kids. Hopefully one day they'll live near us too. Right now they are stationed in 29 Palms, CA and then probably Wichita Falls, TX after that, but who knows after they retire from the Navy.

I haven't done any crafting in days, haven't turned my sewing machine on since Saturday, I'm getting behind in my swaps, but I am lovin my time with Shay and his family:)

My Thrifting Treasures

and finally...here are the rest of the treasures I found on Tuesday when I went thrifting. A beautiful gold and green bracelet - it is a bunch of little flowers and the stems circle around to connect them to the next flower. Very cute!! ($4.00) (my most expensive purchase that day)

An old February 04 issue of MSL ($.25) , MSL Crafing for the Holidays book ($2.50) vintage ribbon ($1.00 each) old buttons (.25 each) and a handful of vintage cards (.10-.25 each)
Two of the aprons (1.00 each) - I love the little guy taking a siesta under his big orange sombrero.

Oops and this one is sideways - sorry - these are the two children aprons. One is a half apron and one is a bib apron. They are both really delicate. The other bib apron is really a pale pink (it looks white here) and it was made by the Japan Apron Association and designed by Giovanni Garavani. I've done a little research on that one and apparantly Giovanni is a big wig Italian designer. Cool!! I found a website for the Japan Apron Assocation but it was all in Japanese so I didn't learn anything there:) But it is a tremendously awesome apron for $3.00. It has pin tucks and little tiny lace details on the bodice and the hem. I love it.

I was so pleased with my little shopping trip - I think my grand total was $21.00. It looked too like they were expanding in to the storefront next door too so I'll be going back next week to see if they really did!

I had big plans for today, but I promptly got home from church and took a 2 hour nap. Now I'm still kind of groggy. We just had a roaring thunderstorm that lasted all of 3 minutes. UMMM I think I hear the Dr. Pepper in the fridge calling my name - maybe that will wake me up and I can actually get a few things accomplished today: )

Don't Hate Me...

because I'm lucky:) Maybe it was all that good karma I saved up with my fun birthday and blogaversary giveaways, maybe it was that I needed a little cheering up this week....either way I was super lucky, not once, not twice, but three times this week.

I won Tami's giveaway for a beautiful mini quilt she made for a Whip Up competition - It is already hanging above my sewing machine. Tami was one of the very first swap partners I had on Swap-Bot and I've been in love with her beautiful blog ever since:)



Then I won this beauty of a gift tag from Amy Elise - it is so cool! And BIG too:):) I think I'm going to use it as a design element on a scrapbook page. She works wonders with paper! Check out her blog and her awesome etsy shop too.


Then look at this gorgeous quilt that was delivered to me on Sunday. It was made for me by Nicole, Moki's sister, who is an excellent quilter. We had a service auction at Enrichment (kind of like a ladies night) at church a few months ago. We all earned points for various things like reading your scriptures, saying your prayers, holding Family Home Evening, making dinner....then we got to use the points like money to bid on a different service that each sister put up for auction. My service was making a boy and a girl baby blanket, Moki's service was a photo shoot....you get the picture. I bid pretty much my whole kit and caboodle of points on Nicole's service which was to make a lap quilt. I took her a package of Asian fat quarters that I had bought in Durango, she added a few fabrics of her own, and made this quilt for me. It is going to hang above our bed in the master bedroom. We have a little bit of an Asian theme going on in there.

Check out the COOL kimono detailing on the front.


Oh and I almost forgot:) I hit one of my favorite thrift stores on Tuesday and I scored big time!! I found three vintage aprons - one has a tag from the "Japan Apron Association" - I'm going to have to research that, and also two vintage children's aprons. You will not believe how tiny they are. Vintage ribbon, buttons, an old wooden spool, a few other little bits and baubles and this cool pair of shoes also came home with me.

They are Aerosoles, and a brown and red kind of velvety texture - I think they had not even been worn. Shoes were half price this week so these beauties were $2.50. I wore them to work today and my feet did not hurt at all when I got home! (That's a rarity for me:)) I'll take pictures of my other goodies this weekend for you all to see.

Good Mail and Sneak Peeks

We had a rip roaring thunderstorm pass through town last night...the kind where the thunder and lightning are pretty much simultaneous. After two blips to the power we shut off the two computers and just went to bed early:) I did not sleep very well though and have been very crabby most of today. Hubby has told me to lighten up probably 5 times.

SO..instead of dwelling on my crappy mood...here are some good parts of my week. I received a fabulous good mail package from Jennifer - thanks so much!! I also received a postcard from another good mail girl, Catherine, a while ago that I completely forgot to thank her for - thank you!!!

Here's a sneak peek of my doll quilt for the Doll Quilt Swap - all that's left to do is the binding and the fabric for that is in the washer right now:)
Here are my finished buttons for Jess's swap - I think they turned out adorable!!
And lastly, here's a sneak peek of something I made for Katie for her Sweet Goodness Swap package:)

Yes, I'm Here

It has been a long week....my brother's (that's in Iraq) unit has had some really hard times and lost several soldiers and then he did not post to his blog for 8 long days or reply to my recent emails to him....8 long days during which I had nightmares of all sorts of horrible things and almost incessant worrying about him....then a huge sigh of relief when he posted on the 4th.

Hubby's brother and his wife were here visiting this week and we did all sorts of fun touristy things with them. They brought their little dog, Chico, with them - a cute little guy, with incredibly bad behaviour that growled and snapped everytime Miss S even walked past him. Nevermind that this brother's last dog bit Miss S in the face requiring an overnight trip to the ER and 40 stitches in her face when she was 2 1/2. Sweet Hubby tried all week to help them learn how to control their little guy and we made them watch a few episodes of The Dog Whisperer with us. They're trying to have a baby and there is no way I would trust that little guy around an infant.

We made a visit to Old Town:

and a visit to the Albuquerque Museum of Art and History:

While at the Museum we saw the Billy the Kid exhibit - here I am as Raesha the Kid:

We also went and saw "Wild Hogs" at the dollar theatre - very funny!!! It was fun to see all the New Mexico scenes in the movie. (Madrid is about 45 minutes from Albuquerque)

Yesterday I spent a lovely day with Moki, her sister, and Nikki. The kiddos played while we worked on various projects and Nikki got a haircut courtesy of Moki's sister. I worked on my buttons for Miss Jess's swap and I finished the hand quilting on my doll quilt for the Doll Quilt Swap. Here's a peek at the beginning of my buttons:


I also booked us a weekend at a KOA cabin in Durango the end of the month...I can't wait!!! I worked on a couple more swaps, took some more pictures, and hope to treat you to another post a little later today. Right now I'm supposed to be getting ready for church...looks like we'll be late again:)

Happy 4th of July!!!

More Birthday Goodness

I told you....I was REALLY spoiled this year for my birthday:) I'd be lying if I said I didn't love every minute of it:) (have I already said that? - I think I have:)) I am really tired tonight so please forgive me if these pictures are a little out of order. My keyboard is acting up too....and it's NOT making me happy:):)

My sweet Moki surprised me with a wonderful bag of goodness for my birthday. Up first - my very own Pug Princess!! The detail is amazing and I still can't believe Moki made her!! I haven't named her yet - I'm toying with Penelope or Priscilla - any suggestions??
A beautiful charm with the words "believe" and "love" -two of my favorite words - I hope to make/buy a wonderful chain to put this on this week.

And some lovely vintage metal cookie cutters - she remembered that I had mentioned that I loved metal cookie cutters but didn't have any that had the handles. She gave me to awesome fabric in the background too. I think it will be perfect for a new bag:) Thank you Moki!!!
I received my Three Favorite Things swap from Cristina - she sent some beautiful stationery that I can't wait to use, Philosophy eye and lip cream (YUM!) and a very cool Beatles book. Thank you!!!

I received some good mail from Brandie this week: ) There are 50 of us in the Good Mail Girls club and we randomly send out treats in the mail to each other. She sent me a cool ME notebook and grape soda lip balm. Have I mentioned I am a lip balm freak? I have over 8 lip balms at my desk at work alone...not to mention all the ones I have in my purse and around the house:)
Mary Ann made me this BEAUTIFUL lunch box...the outside is gorgeous! Just wait until you see what was inside!
My two friends from college - John and Julie bought me a gift card to my favorite bookstore and a new Willow Creek figurine - this one is "friendship" - John, Julie and I have been friends for about 12 years and we get together each year for lunch for Christmas and for each of our birthdays. We've been with each other through marriage, births, deaths, court battles and lots more!!!
Em spoiled me this year too!!! This is only part of the package - awesome Beatles magnets, purple and silver earrings, an anklet with awesome charms on it (I've hardly taken it off:)), socks and a little birthday token charm. She sent a FABULOUS bag and a Yellow Submarine poster too. I can't wait to get a little frame for the poster and hang it up in my office.
My Scrappy Swap hosted by Melly & Me arrived from Susan - all sorts of lovely scraps that are so unlike any of my scraps. Her family just moved back to the states from Jordan and she sent me a bar of soap from Jordan - too cool!! Susan is currently blogless ( you should start one!!!):)

And here's the bag Em sent - isn't it AWESOME!! My two favorite colors and it has lots of fun pockets. It is the perfect size too for all my essentials and my planner. Thank you so much Em! I treasure your friendship and pray for you everyday.
One of my oldest friends, Susan, sent me these goodies. We have known each other since we were about 3 years old. A cool at home spa kit and Porn for Women - if you have not seen this book you have GOT to check it out!! It is so awesome! (it's not nasty at all!!! - truly my kind of porn:))

And here are the contents of the lunch box from Mary Ann - my own set of mini buttons:):), a birthday mini crown, and little crown art set and a beautiful tag. The inside of the box was decorated too!! Thank you so much my sweet blogger sista!!!!

I'm reluctant to let June end - I just wish I was spoiled every month like this:):) I've been in lots of swaps lately too and I'm wrapping those up and taking a little break in July so that I can get caught up. I'm happy to report that my house is cleaner than it has been in months:) I'm slowly wading through my in bin and am now down to 198 emails that I need to respond do, or do something with. That's better than the 402 that I started with this morning.