I HAD to share this!

Two posts in two days... what's the deal, right?  I had to share the coolest EASY dessert idea I found on Pintrest:

Individual 1-2-3 cake!

Can't wait to make one!


As long as I'm here, I did a little more sewing last night and finished the valances I all-but-finished in November.  It's so nice to have them DONE!  Of course I had to hang one of them immediately and take a picture, so here is one small part of one of the valances:

I still need to buy the blinds for the window directly to the right of this one (they meet in the corner of the rear entry to our house), then I can hang the valance.  I like it!

Hello, my VERY patient friends!

I've been lazy and not blogging.  If it makes you feel any better I've ALWAYS been awful at keeping a journal.  Even as a young girl my diary had a lot of blank pages.  But I keep trying!

Let me catch you up...

January - not much to talk about.  Minnesota.  Winter.  Cold.

My husband and I celebrated our six-year anniversary.  No... wait... SEVEN year anniversary.  I think.  Now it's going to drive me nuts until I go check.  BRB.   Yep, seven years. The day after that was my birthday so we usually celebrate both at the same time.  Dinner at Red Lobster.  YUM!

I did some sewing, finished my fleece jacket and will post a picture as soon as my model comes over.  I was quite happy with how it turned out, but would make the sleeves an inch or so longer next time.  Then I took a quilting class and made a quilt square:

I took the picture with my Xoom so it's not the greatest.  The dark purple is beautious! You'll just have to take my word for it.

After that class I took another quilting class, to make a lap quilt and matching pillow.  This one I finished in February so let's move on...


February -   More sewing!  Starla and I went on a crafting retreat.  My wonderful brother-in-law, Tom, and his fabulous fiancee, Mary, let us use their farm for 4 days and it was PERFECT!  My friend Kathleen came with us, but had to leave early because she wasn't feeling well.  It had nothing to do with the roast I made the night before, I SWEAR!  =D  Here is me with Kathleen:

 And me with Starla:

Posting these took courage... you have NO idea!

Anyway, I finished the quilt and pillow I mentioned earlier while at the retreat, and here they are!

 This picture lets you see the purple fabric a bit better.  I love the Kokopelli design!

Here are a couple of shots showing my work area, and the caftan I've been working on and JUST FINISHED TODAY!!:

 and my sewing machine (the one I got in November wasn't working right so I returned it and got this one.)

Starla was working at the table you see in the background at the right edge of the picture.

We left some gifts from the heart for our hosts:

Starla and I got them a candle display, Kathleen made quilted coasters, and I made them a card.  We added some Hershey's kisses too, just because.

The retreat was a BLAST and we hope to be able to do it again.

On Valentines Day my sweet husband brought me some flowers, so I had to get a picture of them:

Pretty, no?  I took these pictures a week after he brought them home, I wanted the roses to have opened. They are STILL looking good, almost a month later.

Also, my Silhouette group on Yahoo is having a swap.  Only seven of us signed up, and after making my swap item I'm SO GLAD there weren't more!  LOL!  I underestimated how long it would take to cut and assemble the cards I made.  There were a TON of teeny pieces!  This is my project:

Isn't he just the cutest thing?

Okay, that's all I have for this installment of CRAFTING WITH VICKI.  Tune in next time for pictures of the finished fleece jacket and caftan!

Some pictures

I made the Thank You cards, they'll go out in the mail tomorrow.  Here's a picture, although they're better in person...

 The ribbon at the bottom was made with a StampinUp! punch, the paisley embellishments were made with a Creative Memories punch.  Cute, right?  The paper is a beautiful blue and I sprayed it with Perfect Pearls.  I love that stuff!!  The stamp and the scallop punch are both from StampinUp!  I colored the butterfly with Spica markers.

There was some frustration while I was making this card...  We all have and love our Xyron sticker makers, right?  The ones that look like an "X" and the larger ones as well.  So I was fairly confident when I bought Xyron's Mega Runner tape dispenser.  I despise this thing.  The tape doesn't dispense properly, a lot of it ends up wasted.  It's one of the few products I can't WAIT to use up.  I just hope I didn't get too many refills while it was on sale.

Okay, back to the fun stuff!

This was the card I made for my husband.  The front says Merry Christmas to the one I love

 This is the interior.  LOL! 

The sentiments were created in Word and printed out.  The snowflakes were cut on my Silhouette.  I don't remember who made the paper, but it was perfect!

On the jewelry front:

A few weeks before Christmas a friend contacted me and asked me to make a necklace and earrings for his wife.  I made a couple of sets so he would have a choice, and this is what I came up with:

 The beads on this one are acrylic, and they feel wonderful.  I love how they almost glow!  I added a heart toggle clasp because it seemed appropriate.

This set was made with glass black beads and AB crystal and deep red Swarovski crystals.  It's a shorter length necklace, and dainty, so I used a smaller toggle clasp with a bamboo style.  The photo does not do the set justice, it's VERY sparkly!

When Gordy came to make his choice he ended up buying both sets.  One for his wife, one for his daughter.  I hope they enjoy them!

That's about it for today, time to have a bite and relax a bit.

Happy New Year once again!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

I hope everyone has a safe and happy year.  If you're out driving tonight please be careful.  On NYE I just assume every other driver on the roads is drunk and out to kill me!  LOL!

Jim and I are spending the evening at home, probably watching a movie.  We got a Blue Ray player for Christmas, as well as the movie The Help so maybe we'll watch that one.  I read the book and can only hope the movie is as good.  =D

Tomorrow I'm going to make thank you cards for the generous gifts I was blessed with this Christmas.  I'll post a picture when they're done.

As if the Christmas gifts weren't enough, my mother gave me my birthday present a couple of weeks early...  a FoodSaver!  I've been wanting one for years, but since I got my pressure cooker it's been something I've been REALLY WANTING.  Being able to freeze some of what I make, in proper portions, will be great for lunches at work.  It'll save money, too.  Do any of you have a FoodSaver?  What do you use it for?

Sunday the 8th I have my first quilting class.  I'm so very excited!  Today I picked out the fabrics.  It is a simple quilt, and very small.  It will be the perfect beginner project!

Did you have a fabulous holiday?

I hope so, I did!  Great food, family, AND presents!  It was wonderful.

Here are some of the cards I made:

What do you think?

A bigger post to come later this week. 

Blessings for the New Year!

http://www.partyblog.mygrafico.com/silhouette_giveaway/

They are giving away a Silhouette Cameo at this blog! What an amazing prize!!

I will be back later to fill in the blanks since my last post.  I hope everyone had a marvelous Thanksgiving.  :D

What I've been up to.

I've been busy, but not blogging.  Bad, I know, but hopefully this will catch you up!

I got a different vehicle and don't remember if I blogged about it before or not, so forgive me if I'm repeating myself.  There was a recall on my Isuzu Rodeo, which I loved, that they couldn't fix on my specific vechicle.  LONG story short, Isuzu bought it back from me for about $1000 less than I had paid for it 2 1/2 years previously.  I added more $$ to that and got THIS:

Yes, I'm driving a Prius these days!  I am very happy with it, and you can't beat the mileage!!  I might miss the 4WD this winter, and I do sometimes miss the cargo capacity of the Rodeo but you would be surprised how much you can cram into a Prius!  LOL!

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Also, because I don't have enough hobbies (insert eye-rolling emoticon here), I decided to take sewing lessons!  When I went to the basic class I dug out my old Brother sewing machine and took it with me.  At the class I couldn't get the stupid thing to go into reverse.  BAH.  Got it home, got it to reverse stitch, then it wouldn't go forward!  I really wanted to throw it across the room, but with my luck it would have hit the TV and Jim would never forgive me if I hurt that thing.  He did a little research on the internet and discovered that the "getting stuck in reverse" problem is common with the machine I had, so I went to Costco and got THIS:

Ain't it PURTY?  LOL!  It was on sale and I'm thrilled.  I took my second class on Tuesday and made a pretty pillow.  On December 1 I'm taking a class to make a valance for the back entry area window, then later in December I have a couple of classes to make a fleece jacket.  This one:

 

The lower right hand corner view.  Cute, right?! 

 

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We had a craft sale at the local high school on the Saturday before Halloween.  I sold some jewlery, Star sold some cards, but it wasn't a big money maker.  This used to be a good show for us, but the last couple of years have been harsh.  Stupid economy.  When I barely make enough to cover the cost of the booth it's time to hang it up.  Made me sad to say goodbye to the show, and to know I don't have any on the horizon, but it will allow me to focus on other hobbies for a while.  I'm not forsaking jewelry forever, just taking a bit of a break!

 

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And I'm getting my Christmas cards made.

 

 

That's about it for me.  What have YOU been up to?