Finished :)

Howdy!!

Carissa and I went down to the hospital today and she wanted to see her also as she doesn't want to miss the opportunity to spend as much time as she can with her too.   Missed another day of work which hurts as I have no PTO time left but there isn't anything that can replace Mom and her needs so its all good.  Mom looked so much better today!  She had a very rough night on the CPAP machine and it was going off every 15 minutes so they have changed her to a different breathing machine which seems to be working much better.  The Dr. came in and said yesterday's xrays were showing pneumonia in the left lung so they are watching that very closely.  Her oxygen level keeps dipping down so they have her confined to bed which is a good thing.  If you knew my Mom at all, she doesn't like having to stay in one place lol.  It was good to see her feeling a little better and she was having us all laughing as she is quiet the character.  She said hey, you might as well make the best of things and laugh right?  Yup, that's Mom :)

Tomorrow I will go back into work and just stay in touch with the Dr. and her via the phone.  I can't miss anymore work this week.  Man....where is that lucky Lotto ticket???  :D

I finished one of the projects tonight and loved how it turned out.  Here is a picture frame we've had up for 9 years and as you can see it was even missing a picture or two here and there.  I just never did anything with it.  How boring huh!!!

Well here is my frame now and I love it!!!!  A little vinyl and a few embelishments and ta da!!    Now how is this for country :)  Aw, much better huh!!  I think I'm going to do one up like this for special cards like birthdays and Christmas too.  I have a new passion...chicken wire lol :)

Still working on the other one that I posted about on Monday.  It will be a gift so I'm taking extra special care with it lol.

Have a wonderful evening and happy crafting!!

xo ~ Laura

Very long day today....

Well today I went down to the hospital to visit my Mom and on my way down, about 10 minutes from the hospital, my cell phone rang and it was the hospital.  Let me tell you my heart just sank before answering it.  Funny how your mind just races when family members are ill.  She is having a very difficult time breathing right now as she has pneumonia in both lungs so the Dr. put her on a CPAP to see if that would help and she's been on it all day and all evening so far.  It has helped her but my heart just broke when I got in there.  They had given her a sedative and she was resting and when she heard my voice, she looked and just grabbed my hand and the look in her eyes just about made me lose it.  She looked so scared :(  I calmed her down and said it's OK, just rest and let the machine help you breath.  I'll be back down at the hospital tomorrow to talk to the Dr. to see what the results were from the tests and xrays today.

Whenever Dad was sick and in the hospital, he always had his teddy bear (Ole Gus) that Carissa had given him.  I've posted pictures of him, which Carissa now has in her position after Dad's passing.  So what did I get Mom for this hospital stay?  This is LuLu.  Her eyes just lit up :)

So after a long day at the hospital and an hour drive both ways, I came home and made some homemade mac & cheese which is in the oven waiting for my hubs and started to work on a few crafts.  It is amazing how theraputic it is for me.  It makes me happy and keeps my mind occupied.  Here are a few sneak peaks of what I'm working on tonight and will finish up tomorrow, at least with one of them.

Hope you are all having a wonderful evening.  Big hugss!!!!!!!!!

xo ~ Laura

Fit for a princess :)

While some of my other projects are drying so I can finish them, I decided to make a few things for my sweet little princess granddaughter for Christmas as I also have gotten her some tutu's.  She loves dressing up so I figured a princess needs a wand and a crown right?  I might even make her a few more in different colors :)

The glitter glue is still wet but it will be nice and shiney for her when she opens them :)  So fun!!

I also got in a baking mode tonight and decided to start making some cookies for Christmas.  Tonight is peanut butter chocolate chips with white chocolate chips too :)  Yummmmmm!!!  Guess I'll be going back on my diet but after Christmas lol.

Have a wonderful evening and happy crafting!!

Today's quote:  "All of life is a journey; which paths we take, what we look back on, and what we look forward to is up to us. We determine our destination, what kind of road we will take to get there, and how happy we are when we get there"

xo ~ Laura

Pretty Plate

Happy Wednesday!

I had bought this plate for 59 cents at Goodwill quiet awhile ago and finally decided to do something with it.  I was going to put vinyl on it but the texture is bumpy so didn't think that would work too well.  I think it is a beautiful plate and had a vision so I started thinking.

I am still playing with my Cricut and finding out different things you can do with it so I decided to use the pens to write something instead.  Once I got it on the paper, I trimmed the edges with decorative scissors and distressed the edges. I can't figure out why the font spaces some things the way it does but oh well.  I then weaved the ribbon and Tada!!  I love it!!

Not bad for under a buck huh :)

I also had found this at Goodwill and when I saw it I wanted to redo it for my Mom for her apartment as she has a tendency to scatter papers everywhere lol. 

So I chose one of her favorite colors which is purple and went to town.

This is one of the flowers I made out of card stock so it is a little extra special for her :)

Then I was able to play with my felt to make a flower out of it. I want to put it on one of the totes that I'm doing.  I decided to put a few feathers on it also to complete all the colors being used so here it is :)

Linky Parties I'm doing today:


 Giveaways I've entered today:Tracie over at Life and Times of a 12x12 Addict

Have a great day!!  Happy Crafting :)

xo ~ Laura

Coffee Filter Flowers

Happy Tuesday!

I just loved how the topiary turned out so I wanted to try to dye some of the coffee filters to see how they would do making flowers.  I have seen a few ways to dye them on the web but I just mixed up a few drops of food coloring and water and let them soak for awhile to pick up the color.

I have a few things in mind for them but since I was just trying them out, we'll see :)  lol  I distressed the edges a little to give it some more character.  I know that I've seen people who paint these too which are also pretty.   I tried to get a close up shot but these pictures don't do it justice.  They actually do look like real flowers which is pretty cool :)

Here is a small arrangement that I did with the other 2 that I let soak a little longer which gave it more color.  I like them both ways.  What do you think??

Have you ever gotten something in the past and totally forgot about it and you just smiled when you found it?  Well 2 years ago we went to Cabo and Carissa and I went down to the cabana area where there was a vendor where you could paint something yourself.  I thought that would be fun as it was a trip that I will remember always.  It was for Carissa's H.S. graduation present and also my birthday so I did up this cute little shell.  If you notice the red petals, it has the initials L T in it.  That is both my husband and my initials so I put that and in the upper part of it I put "08" to signify when we were there.  I found it today and it made me smile :)

Linky Parties that I'm following today:

 Giveaways I'm doing:Claire at Craftyc's Crafting Library 
So that's all for now and I hope that you all have a fantastic day!  Happy crafting :)

xo ~ Laura

Topiary Dry Run

Happy Saturday!!

I was checking all the blogs that I follow and I was so excited and honored that I was featured over at Hannah's site Young and Crafty.  She has an adoreable site so if you haven't checked her out, hop on over and tell her that Laura sent you.  She is hosting a linky party which is always a good way to check out all the other fantastic ideas out there :)  Thank you Hannah!!

 

I was working yesterday on a dry run for some ideas I had for the reception so I decided to put together a topiary for a few of the decorations.  Not exactly where they will all go but I have an idea so we'll see.  Like I said this isn't detailed out the way the final ones will be but you get the idea lol.  Here is all I used:

Floral Foam (but will use styrofoam with the real one)

Wrapping Tissue

Tuelle

Ribbon

Wooden Dowle

Ceramic Pot

Spanish Moss

All I did was start ripping the tissue paper and took a pen and wrapped it around the end and stuck it in the foam.  Easy :)

I also was playing with fabric ribbon and these were my first 2.  I have watched a few videos on Youtube.  I still have more fine tuning to do but I'm getting the hang of it I think lol

This is a new blog I found and hop on over for this great giveaway :)  Kristen has some awesome things on her website.  Hop on over :)


Linky Parties I'm doing:















Well that's it for now.  Have a great weekend!!

xo ~ Laura

Exploding Box :)

Happy Monday!!

I came across a blog that totally caught my eye for a few reasons.  First off Laura over at The Paper Trail lives here in the PNW very close to me.  She has an awesome blog and teaches some classes at one of the local scrapbook store.  She is fabulous!!  I decided to try the exploding box to see how it would come out.  I can warn you that it is time consuming but it is SO worth it in the end!!  I am very pleased on how it turned out.  I'm going to try a few of her other techniques and we may be making some as gifts for the girls for the wedding :)

I will warn you this has a lot of pictures so grab some coffee and enjoy!

This is a picture of how it looks all put together.

Next these are the different pages that I put together.  There are so many little cubbies in these where you can put notes, add pictures or whatever is special to you.  I am pretty proud of myself as I even did the lid and on the first try!!

This is one of the side outside pockets.

This is the backside of the outside pocket.

This is a shot of the side outside.  I didn't put a pocket on either of these but made them the same.

Now get ready.... when you take off the lid this happens~~ getting the name "Exploding Box"

These are just the shots of the different pages.

And there you have it!  It isn't perfect but it looks great.  It takes a little while to figure things out but I'm sure now the next one will go a little smoother :)

Then remember I gave you a tease of a flower and that I was in the process of doing a prototype up? 

Well here it is!!

I have a little more work to do on it as the chalkboard decided to crack on me in a few places.  I've never had it do that before but I will fix it!  The picture doesn't even show how country and worn it is.  I painted it, distressed it and then put a copper finish over it.

Giveaways that I'm linking too this week are:
Kimberly at Briar Ridge Farmhouse
Frenchy over at Le Chateau des fleurs
Mrs Sassy Crafter
I hope that you have a fabulous day!!

xo ~ Laura

Paper, prototypes and more!!

Happy Sunday!!

First things first!!  I got an email yesterday from Gail at My Repurposed Life with some awesome news for me!!  Gail had a giveaway and I won!!  Now for the extra fun news, Gail had her Monday Post for these Cute Totes, which of course I thought to myself would be awesome to do each one up on a personal note for all of Carissa's bridesmaid, MOB and others in the wedding party and it was my lucky day I guess!!  One less thing for me to go out and buy :)  Hop on over to Gail's blog and check her out.  I just love her blog, and Gail.....THANK YOU!!!!!

Now onto this interesting weekend I've had.  The hubby had to work on Saturday, my oldest granddaughter had to go to the ER as she had been sick for 4 days and was having severe pain on her right side.  Well the good thing is it wasn't her appendix :)  It was however a bad bladder/kidney infection but she's on antibiotics so she'll be better soon.  Since my oldest daughter has 4 kids, guess what Nana got to do... yup watch the other 3.  The boys kept themselves entertained playing with cars and watching cartoons and my other granddaughter wanted to do crafts with Nana :)  My granddaughters are so much fun!!  This is what little Miss Bailey did all by herself :)

Yes lil Miss Bailey loves polka dots just like Nana does :)

I have been playing with different flowers so I was having fun with a few twigs.  Yes, I decided to see what it would look like.  What a fun way to put some color in a room and think of the possibilities to be able to change it out with the different holidays!  Love this idea.

Then I did a prototype of something that we will be using at the wedding reception.  This is just a mock one but it will give you the idea of what we're going to do on the gift/favor tables :)  And of course had to put one of my flowers on it too. Thank goodness this was the prototype as my glue stuck to the paint and I had it upside down!  lol  Oh well, it will be fixed when I get the buy off from the bride :)

Here is a tease on what to look for from tomorrow's post :)

Oh and one more thing :)  What an awesome giveaway going on over at the Dollar Store Crafts!  Check this out...just think of all the possibilities you could do with this! 

Hope that you have a fabulous day!!

xo ~ Laura