Granny Square

My grandmother has tried to teach me how to knit - many times. For some reason I just can't get it.  My mother taught me to crochet many, many moons ago. This I can handle. 

I am right handed. My grandmother is right handed. My mother is LEFT handed. Somehow watching and replicating exactly what my grandmother's hands were doing hasn't worked. Watching my mother struggle to show me with her right hand, I was able to grasp the initial concept. 

My mind wants to believe that we sat opposite each other and I mirrored her as she worked with her left hand, and I worked with my right. Honestly, I have no idea if that's what we actually did. I do know that we sat and crocheted together when I was little.

Lately I've pulled out the crochet hook and took advantage of some sales to pick up some yarn.  I'm ready to play and make some more afghans.  My dad, and my sweet spouse are the recipients of my earlier afghans.  Below is my husband's, it's not granny squares, but it was a simple pattern [sorry for the un-interesting picture, I should probably stage better for any other inside the house pictures I plan to share].

I have come to the conclusion, that granny squares are perfect for me. I have bits of time in the evening to play, and it's nearly impossible to lose count while working on a granny square - though it's rare that I pull out the yarn and don't finish the full square before it's time to put it all away!

The project also makes me feel like I'm actually accomplishing something while sitting in front of the television in the evening. I can look up from the work and not totally lose my place, and for now, it's still cool enough to have a lap full of afghan and be comfortable. This summer I may have to resort to making the squares and not connecting them, but for now I can assemble as I go.

Here is my progress on a red, white and blue afghan that will be destined for someone serving in our armed forces, stationed overseas this fall:

Next up will be an afghan from the cream, green and peach squares to head to a base in Germany, and eventually I will finish this sunflower pattern for myself (with a different shade of green though {smile}).

While I'm relaxing here in my family room, the project helps me reflect on those who volunteer to serve and protect.  When the blanket is complete, I can send a little piece of home and a reminder that they're not forgotten.

With Memorial Day coming up, feel free to visit some of my favorite troop support sites and consider sending a hello from the home front:

          Any Soldier  -  you select a point of contact and send letters / packages

          Operation Write Home - hand make blank cards for the troops to send home, or send in "any hero" notes to troops for them to include with the blank cards 

          Soldiers' Angels - has a variety of programs to support active and retired members of the military

If you'd prefer, put a note in the comments and I will include it in one of my next packages.

With each stitch, I'm re-finding some of my country roots here in my suburban home...
Sending Sunshine your way~
~Kathy

Re-vamping my blog...

OK - so really it's more of a re-start to my blog since I have neglected it for ages!  Lots of people make a fresh start on January first.  Apparently I'm more in tune with Mother Nature  - Spring with all it's new beginnings inspires me as color returns to our yard.

I initially started this blog in my zest for card making, but have come to the conclusion that I am eclectic like my mother, and flit from one type of project to another and back again. By limiting what I thought should be posted on my blog, I was stifling my creative side, both in blog land and in real life. 

So - from here on out, I plan to post whatever strikes me at the moment, with a focus on things that bring sunshine into my life. I love following Ashley at Under the Sycamore, and her posts have motivated me to explore what inspires me and what makes me smile.  

Today it happens to be a quick little card.

I tend to lurk in the cyber world, regularly visiting one of my near neighbors, Carol at Our Little Inspirations.  Her card - here - brought to mind the Operation Write Home Starburst Tutorial.  So I pulled out a My Mind's Eye 6x6 paper pad with bright and happy yellows and oranges to create this Hello Sunshine card:

Thank you! to my 10 existing followers for your patience. I hope that you will continue to follow me as I experiment with expanding my posts.

Sending Sunshine your way today~
~Kathy

Christmas card collection...

As the holiday cards began to fill the mailbox, I wanted to find a new way to display them.  Placing them all on the half wall between our breakfast nook and the family room just wasn't going to cut it (especially with the large number of cards that are a single pice of cardstock, and not a traditional folded card).
I have been following a blog Under the Sycamore and find Ashley's use of items on hand and thrift store treasures very inspiring; and so I began my hunt around the house for my card display.  I decided that the open wall space next to our television would work perfectly for the space needed (especially since it would keep the cards high enough to be out of reach of our overly curious, and potentially destructive malamute, Drakko).

The scavenger hunt resulted in a variety of ribbons, a picture hook, an old metal coat hanger, left-over spray paint from a summer project, and reserve paint from painting the wall color (saved in case it would be needed for touch-ups). 

The steps:

1. Spray the metal hanger with the speckled brown  paint, and let dry.  (Fortunately we've had a pretty warm November and December!).  Note I only painted one side of the metal hanger since it would be laying flat against the wall.
2. Hang the picture hook as desired on the wall - I waited until the paint had dried, so I could use the metal hanger as a guide. 
3. Paint the silver picture hook with some of the reserve wall color paint to help it blend in, and let dry.
4. Cut various lengths of blue and brown ribbon, and tie them to the metal hanger.  (I hung the metal hanger on the wall and guaged ribbon lengths from there to make sure they would be high enough, then took it down to tie on the ribbons.)
5. Hang the metal hanger and wait for the cards to come in!

Of course as I'm working on the project my husband is watching and giving me weird looks.  Finally, I can't take the quizzical look on his face any longer and ask "What??!!".  His reply:  "You're hanging a coat hanger on the wall as decoration?"  I rolled my eyes and smiled,  "Yes, just wait and see..."

I have to admit that with only one or two cards on my creation it looked a little bare and out of place, but the abundance of cards on there now makes me wonder if I'll need to add more (or longer) ribbons soon.

Thanks for visiting~
~Kathy

Girlie Pink Hearts...

I've been supporting troops stationed overseas for several years now through various organizations.  In the middle of October I learned that one of "my guys" would get to come home early - woo hoo!  He had one request - would I mind writing to one of his buddies who would still be in Afghanistan.  Umm - of course! 

So I start writing to my new soldier.  Nothing special, just tales of our crazy dogs, and our adventures in learning how to ride mountain bikes.  A letter each week - nothing elaborate, or all that exciting...  then early in December I open my mailbox to find "free mail" (a letter from Afghanistan).  Lo and behold my new soldier is a chatty, writer type (even more surprising as he's 23 years old!)  {smile}

So, I thought I might surprise him with a little set of note cards that he can send home to his wife and young kids... 

I saw this swirly sheet of loose paper at A.C. Moore and thought it would be perfect for some hearts and love cards for part of the set.  Here are the two I've created so far...

The first one lets the swirly paper shine, and makes use of a new Sissix die.  The heart is popped up on foam tape.  Yes, this is pink paper and anyone who knows me is likely wondering who took over and is writing this.  But, I picked up a variety pack of cardstock, and it came with several shades of pink.  This seemed like a nice fit to use up some of the pale shade for the base of the card. 

The second one is basic and simple, and makes me think of love budding and flowering over time.  The Sissix flourish die is also new to my collection.  The small hearts were punched from scraps after I hand cut all of the larger hearts free hand.

Even though these aren't specifically Valentine's cards, I think they still qualify for the OWH Valentine challenge - pink hearts always make me think of Valentine's Day anyway... 

Thanks for visiting!
~Kathy

Tim Holtz Inspired Tag...

It's been ages since I've posted...  and nearly as long since I've played with my crafting supplies.

Last year I stumbled upon Tim Holtz's blog, and his 12 days of Christmas Tags, and I've been following along again this year.  I've been inspired to play with what I've got (mostly because I only have one pad of distress ink, and two distress stain dabbers). 

It's taken me about 4 days to create my tag, but it's done, and I'm happy with it!

Since I've only got a few dies and embossing folders I had to get a little creative.  To create the greenery for the mistle toe I did a bit of fussy cutting the scrap pieces of the green embossed piece at the base of the card.

The tag needed a bit of sparkle, so I adhered a piece of aluminum foil to some card stock using spray adhesive and then punched out several snowflakes.  Using some rhinestone stickers (purchased during a rare "girlie glitz" moment at the store), I added the red centers to the snowflakes for a bit more pop.  I love how Tim isn't afraid to go out past the edges - seeing his finished products provided the freedom to let parts of my design go outside the "box" formed by the tag edges.

I liked Tim's gift card idea from day two, so I created a pocket on the back to tuck a gift card into.  I think it'll look cute hanging on the tree, as a disguised package!

Oh, and I used the ribbon technique from one of Operation Write Home's Stars and Stamps tutorials (found here) - it adds a little pop to the back of the card and a little extra stability to hold the gift card in place.

~Kathy