School begins and so does my new job

School starts early here in Mississippi. My girls started school one week ago, and I had my usual 2 days of missing them like crazy. Then, I started a new job, and I haven't had time to miss them as much, until I get home at the end of the day and it swamps me. Late last fall I got a taste of full-time, outside the home, employment when I taught school for 6 weeks. I couldn't accept a full-time position because of my commitments/contract to finish my second book, and several other considerations. All this spring and summer I searched for a teaching position with no luck. I say "luck" because it truly seems that you need a good dose of it to even get a returned phone call, much less an interview, lol. So a few weeks ago I began applying for general IT or office work. Those jobs are really difficult to find, too, especially in my rural area, and I dreaded facing two hours each day driving to and from a job in a bigger town. I had faith that God had a plan for me, and that I simply needed to try my very best, and chase down every lead, and pray. So I did. And last week I was called in for an interview - smack dab in the middle of my little town :) I started their on Monday. I'm 3 minutes from my house and 3 minutes from the school where my girls go, and 1 minute from my mom's house. I like the people a lot, and I'm enjoying the work - learning a comprehensive manufacturing software package from the ground up, so I can implement it there. It's a new phase, and I admit to taking a nap this afternoon before church! But, it is going well, and I'm happy to finally be contributing to my family budget.

details make the difference

I just found out that my book "Playing With Paper" will be made available as an e-book on mycraftivity.com! To celebrate this great news, I decided to share some "up close and personal" shots of some of my layouts in the book. I know I've said it before but this book has some of my MOST FAVORITE layouts ever. And, if you've ever taken one of my downloadable classes you'll know I love detail shots....little details on a scrapbook page can make the difference between a ho-hum page and a love-it page. If you already own the book, I hope these photos increase your enjoyment of the book. If you don't own it yet, what are you waiting for?!
Remember to click on each one for a larger view.

Scrapping, me?

Yes, me. A friend of mine asked if I would help her assemble some layouts (she has one of those "terrified to commit" syndromes...just too many OPTIONS ;) lol) I worked on some of her stuff this weekend and I'm posting some peeks of it. They still need her personal journaling, and some little touches, but I'm hoping she'll like what she sees!

time well spent

I was able to get together with a dear friend this week. She's just the sweetest, most genuine person you could ever meet. She's battling a difficult disease, but you wouldn't know it by the huge smile she shares with everyone around her. Some friends and I created a mini album for her, and just as we knew, she LOVED IT!

Thank you, Debbie (my sister), Maedean (my mom), Audrea, and Janet for your contributions to the album. Please keep my friend, JoAnn, and her family in your prayers. I continue to ask God for her complete recovery, and long life in His service.

And the WINNER is

Using the random number generator at random.org.........................

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

51
Timestamp: 2009-06-26 05:00:19 UTC

And #51 is Parker and Emma's Mom!
Please email your address to kitclub@mygreentangerines.com so they can ship you your winning kit!

Green Tangerines GIVEAWAY!

Welcome to the Green Tangerines Kit Club Blog Party!! Green Tangerines has a brand new kit club that you need to check out!!

They are hosting a fabulous blog party all the way to July 1st! In addition to the inspiration and ideas they are showcasing on their blog throughout the party, they are GIVING AWAY the stuff! $1000 worth of HOT scrapbooking products!

I had the pleasure of working with one of their super fun kits, and let me tell you - it had TONS of my favorite scrappy thing. I don't have to tell you what that is. Come on, you KNOW it was the paper, baby!


My nephew is a sweetie, but he's always on the move, so I don't often get good photos of him. I love these shots I took last week, and when I opened up the kit, I was happy to see all these great papers that would work great for boys or girls, and many different occasions. AND they were double-sided, giving me even more options.





My favorite embellishment in the kit - the velvet brads! But, I also loved the little journaling cards (I left mine blank so my sister can add in Brody's favorite playtime activities.)


I loved the paint stick in the kit with all the trims wrapped around it. I unwrapped this fabric strip and created a sweet card for a friend of mine who lives a few states away. The black fabric and yellow scalloped edge paper worked perfectly to create a spicy card for her :)

Now the GIVEAWAY info - Leave me a comment on this post!! Deadline is 5pm PST tomorrow. At that time, I'll use random.org to choose a winner for A GREEN TANGERINES KIT! For your second chance to win a FREE KIT, go to the kit club blog and post a comment there. Easy as pie! So go!

a new quilting blog for me!

Because I know I have a lot of readers who could care less about my pinwheel construction or my first attempts at machine quilting :D For anyone interested in my new hobby, please join me at
http://thequiltingkind.blogspot.com/

I've not forgotten

Yes, I know. I hinted at a new downloadable class that I was developing for Got Crafts?, and then I didn't say anything for a while....kids got out of school, and summer swooped in :) But, I'm putting the finishing touches on the text for my EIGHT layouts, and almost ready to pass it over to Janna and Valerie at Got Crafts? Did I say eight layouts? Yes, I did, AND you are going to love this - FOUR of them are double page spreads! This downloadable will be packed with good stuff. To prove it, I'm giving you one more little peek.



Stop back by on Wednesday as I've got a special surprise and a chance to win some scrappy good stuff!!

Pinwheel Fancy

After piecing my first quilt top this month, I began looking for another project to play with. Several years ago, when the quilting bug bit me, I bought some 30s reproduction fabric fat quarter bundles. After falling in love with this quilt I decided to do a full size pinwheel quilt with my 30s fabrics. I started with a stack of these:


These are 3 3/4" squares that I'm using to create 6 1/2" pinwheels like this:


Still planning some scrappy content this week!

Sew giving

Tomorrow I've organized a day of sewing for charity. Our church is assembling/packing Christmas boxes for children in Panama. I had the idea to include small drawstring purses in the boxes for the girls (8-12 years old). I've cut out a bunch, so they are all ready to be sewn together. We are using Amy Butler's In Town Drawstring Purse pattern, with 2 fabrics. I put one together to have as a sample for all my sewers.

I hope the children will love them!

What have I been up to?

It's been a few days since I posted. Summer is in full swing! Softball season for Michaela is now over, with a wrap up party this week.


We celebrated her March birthday with a June swim party at a local state park last night, and these were our visitors (told you we live in the boonies!)


And last week we played with the cousins, swimming and doing tennis camp and Vacation Bible School. (This is swimming attire and not VBS attire, lol.)


I've got some scrappy good stuff coming up later this week, so stay tuned!

SEWN giveaway winner!!

I want to thank each of you that left comments, or just peeked into my blog. In the near future, I hope to have some more quilting projects to show, as well as scrapbooking class stuff :)

And now to the WINNER!

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:

51
Timestamp: 2009-06-08 15:27:50 UTC

And the 51st comment belongs to:

vada0427 said...
I so love give-aways! Your prizes are awesome - I'm keeping my fingers crossed that your randon number generator likes me!

Karen G.

1:22 PM

And Karen G., the random number generator did indeed like you! Please email me at momtwoangels(at)yahoo(dot)com to claim your prize :D

Last 2 days before the GIVEAWAY!!

This is for scrapbookers and sewers, too! You don't want to miss out. I'll be drawing on Monday, so get those comments in to this post for your chance at the beautiful fabric and a FREE "Playing With Scraps" downloadable class.

On a side note, my hubby and I celebrated 21 years of marriage this week. Chinese food and some errands at Hobby Lobby and Books A Million....not real exciting, huh? lol But, we are happy to be together, and it was a good evening.

One quilt top - DONE

While laying out my quilt blocks, I realized that THIS IS MY FIRST QUILT. Why in the world would I tackle machine quilting a full/queen size quilt on my very first attempt? lol I saw that I could make two twin quilts with my blocks. Quilting a smaller quilt for my first just seems like a smart thing to do. So, here it is, all sewn up. Next step - making the quilt sandwich and pinning. Or, I think that is the next step!

You are going to love this!

As a beginner quilter, I've been looking at projects on Flickr, etsy, and on blogs. I ran across this 2 awesome giveaways this morning, and thought you'd want to know.

turning*turning is giving way a mini quilt in celebration of her 100th blog post. I wouldn't mind winning this quilt!

The Fabric Shopper is giving away 30 Katie Jump Rope FQs....oh, wouldn't I love to have those!

Hop over to their blogs to enter :D

Woman on a mission

Kids are at camp, so 4 hours more and I've got blocks!

I'm sew crazy

Between church services I continued working on my quilt along project. Thanks to Michaela, I've got pics to prove it :D


Before I slept, I finished sewing all the strips together. Today, I tackle cutting the blocks!

Remember my GIVEAWAY

Anyone can enter! Just leave a comment on the GIVEAWAY post down below. There is a free class and a nice bundle of fabric going to one lucky person!

All caught up

So I joined the quilt along, and needed to boogie to catch up to the rest of the group. I pressed my fabrics and began cutting my strips - all while watching the Women's College Softball World Series on tv (I'm rooting for Alabama, Florida, or Georgia!)
And before you know it, I was done! Strips cut and ready for Week 3 instructions on Monday.

I'm joining the Old Red Barn Quilt Along

Yes, yes, I'm really doing it. I'm joining a quilt along and I WILL complete a quilt this summer. Old Red Barn Co. is sponsoring a 6 week sew along, and she will post instructions for all of us quilting gals each week. I just joined them in Week 2, but I'm cutting my fabrics today, so I'll be caught up and ready for Week 3 sewing instructions on Monday. Dana is sharing her own pattern and will be available to help and give advice and tips along the way. There is a Flickr group where we'll be sharing our progress. It's already full of wonderful fabrics that I can't wait to see turn into quilts! I'm really excited, and I haven't even mentioned the GIVEAWAYS!! Each week, Dana is giving away great prizes, with the final prize being a Janome sewing machine. Oh MY, now that is some prize! If she gets enough players in the quilt along, she'll also give away the quilt she is making. So, if you are looking for a fun sewing project, and want to play along, it's not too late. You can still catch up and join the fun! Just check out Dana's blog and get ready for some summer sewing fun!


Hey, I gotta show you my fabrics. I'll admit, money has been tight this year, and I could never have done this EXCEPT I've had these fabrics on my shelf since May of 2007. That was when the quilting bug bit. I didn't do anything with them for 2 years (writing my books took all my time). So, I'm even more excited that I can create something beautiful, and not have to spend anything to do it. These are from the super delicious Heather Bailey Freshcut line, with a few Amy Butler Lotus thrown in. The stripe shown on top of the stack will be my binding, and the pink on the very top will be on the backside.

Won't you join us?!

Giveaway!!!

As most of you already know, I've been wanting to pull out the sewing machine and work on some handmade fabric projects, as opposed to my usual paper projects. Earlier this spring I started a quilt and worked with my daughters on some purses, but I took a break to complete 2 downloadable classes for Got Crafts?, and I'm just now finding the time to get back to my quilting :) I've been reading quilting/sewing blogs for a while now, and ran across an exciting new website that is about to launch.

The website SEWN will have just about everything you can think of that you would want online as a sewer. There are forums, online advice from industry experts, conversion charts, colour wheels, free patterns and class listings.

There will be interviews with all your favourite designers, quilters, patterns makers and authors. There will be tutorials, podcasts and coverage from shows and articles about all maner of exciting things.

Best of all, there are great unique gadgets - Fabricmatcher, which is an online tool which lets you match patterns to fabrics and see what your project will look like without sewing a stitch, and Find Fabric, which is the niftiest thing that will find the fabric you are looking for without you having to search for it for hours on the internet.

Plus there will be an online buy and sell area called SEWiNg, which is where you can sell the stuff you sew to the people out there who don't sew - and some of the ones who do :)

Now to the GIVEAWAYS!!!! In conjunction with the launch of SEWN, they are having a blog launch party! Not only is SEWN giving away prizes, but bloggers like me are also joining the fun with our giveaways. I'll be giving away 2 items to one lucky winner. All you have to do is leave a comment on this post, and on June 8th (launch day), I'll use the handy dandy random number generator to select a winner! What are the prizes?? :) I'll be giving away 2 1/4 yards of a yummy 100% cotton floral fabric that I purchased a while back....I had planned to do a smocked dress for my little girl, but she got big before I made the dress, lol. In addition, I'll be giving away one free pass to my downloadable class "Playing With Scraps". If you are a sewer and not interested in the free class, you can always pass it along to a scrapbooking friend! Vice versa on the fabric.



So, be sure to leave a comment on this post by June 7th, and check back June 8th for the winner (I'll need your contact info at that time). CHECK OUT all the other blogs participating in the SEWN party.

Playing With Paper - the details

If you haven't seen Playing With Paper yet, you might not know that the book contains ideas for all sorts of design elements, in addition to the patterned paper ideas and tips. There are also examples and inspiration for unique titles, accents, borders, and journaling. This is the same kind of attention to detail that I try to incorporate into my Got Crafts? classes. Here are some peeks at the book. If you've seen the book in a store, could you post a comment and let me know. I have yet to find it IRL :) I know Amazon has it at a great price, but it would be nice to actually SEE it in a store.

Who loves a challenge?

Scrappy challenges can often get us scrapping after an unmotivated period of time, or get us out of a slump (an uncreative period). Scrapsupply.com is celebrating their anniversary by playing some games and issuing some challenges, and I am playing along. For this particular challenge we were put into groups, and each member of the group chose a scrapbooking item or technique. Then, all members of the group (I'm on Team Purple) must create a layout with those items or techniques. My team list included 1)ribbon 2)journaling spot/die cut 3)flat embellishment 4)something pink (now WHO would choose pink?) and 5)something with polka dots (I didn't think of this one, but I love it).

My layout is posted in the gallery there, along with the layouts created by my team members (some are still working, as the deadline isn't until the 26th) and other teams' work as well. Be sure to check them out for inspiration!

I'm posting my layout here, too, with some detail shots. If you've never taken one of my classes at Got Crafts?, these kinds of detail shots are included for each layout, as well as detailed instructions. But, that's not all. The design process, as well as any techniques used, are also explained.

For instance, do you notice the 3 pink elements on this layout (pink ribbon, pink chipboard alphas, and pink paper)? Using pink in 3 places creates a visual triangle that leads the eye thru the layout and creates a pleasing balance.

Notice the "heavier" boat shot I placed on the left side with the "big" title above? The 3 flower and button embellishments anchor the right side of the layout, balancing those left side elements.

And although this layout is soft and pretty, look past the colors and patterns I used to the "bare bones"/basic sketch of the layout. Substitute your own papers, and use other circular embellishments in place of the flowers, and you can create a completely different "feel" for your page.



Lastly, do you love the look of scallops, but struggle using decorative scissors or don't own a scallop border punch? One trick is to use a circle punch (one of THE best basic tools). Punch circles and slip them up under the edge of your photos or paper to create a great border treatment!