Bits of cork add texture to your cards!

Here I stamped the pears on designer series paper and cut them out. . .no coloring required. The cork adds nice texture, and the brads provide the balance of color.



This was easy with the beautiful felt flowers in this current catalog. And my new Smarty-Pants saying set. . .perfect for me!!



And this one stamped on cork, colored with markers and white gel pen, with a punched circle of designer paper in the middle. Great texture and easy to do!!

Knitted wool scarf

Okay, I live in the tropics and I made a wool scarf. . .I'm sure I'll find a use for it. I love this yarn. This was the first project I made after I took my lesson at the yarn store in Dennis, Massachusetts. Isn't Amy a cute little model?!

Did I tell you I learned to knit??!!

Omigoodness. . .I took a knitting class on Cape Cod when I was home this past November. I've crocheted since I was practically in kindergarten but never could get the knitting to be loose and straight. The gal that taught me was fabulous and made it so easy. This scarf was the first project I blocked (since the knit got kind of curly). I used Patons SWS wool/soy yarn which is so lovely to work with. This one is going to my mom, who loves this color palette and hopefully loves me too.

Coordinating matchbook and candle for Sylvia's birthday!

My dear friend Sylvia's birthday was February 2nd. I had a Yankee Candle in Lotus Blossom scent (dontcha love Yankee Candles?!) and used Stampin' Up! Designer Paper (Bali Breeze) to decorate both the glass jar and the matchbooks to go with it! The large flower is cut from the design on the paper, and then we added some of the new felt flowers from the catalog. I'm pretty happy with our design. Amy and I made it together for the very special Sylvia!!
(Sylvia, I hope you have lots more birthdays in store with us!)

Gift from Elly

My wonderful downline Elly gave me this adorably decorated box. It's made from regular drink coasters covered with Designer Papers. The cropadile tool easily punches holes in the coasters (and many other items) to wind ribbons and keep the box in place.

This is SO darned cute! Thanks, my dear friend.

Gifts from Maria

My friend Maria in Guam sent me these lovely items. The top photo shows a note card holder and four coordinating note cards. It's really a wonderful gift! I'm hoping she remembers to send me the pattern so I can make some for myself.



This shows the note card holder closed with the note cards inside.




And this is those cute pencil holders that I've made. They can also be done in an asian theme and used for chopsticks. . .perfect for that dinner party you've been planning. Well, Maria took it further and used them for gifting candy (umm, what are they called? the sugar in a paper tube?? , well they're yummy, and totally a blast from the past.) Thank you to Maria!!!

Visiting on Cape Cod with Rebecca!

Rebecca lived on Saipan a few years back but has since moved to my home state of Massachusetts. While I was back for a short visit in November 2007, Becca was kind enough to drive the two hours to visit me on the Cape. We didn't "do" much, just chatted and ate at my favorite restaurant (Sam Diegos) but it was wonderful to see her. Good friends are those that you can see once in a great while and yet feel like no time has passed. Thanks, Becca, for travelling to see me!