THIS WEEK'S POST ON OUTSIDE THE BOX FOR MEMORY BOX

Winter Wonderland

I'm living in a winter wonderland--the ice storm last weekend left everything coated in almost an inch of ice. When the sun is out, it is absolutely spectacular! The downside of all of this: tens of thousands of power outages experienced here in Maine last week. We lost our power first for six hours on Sunday. It went off again Monday at 1 PM and didn't come back on until Thursday morning (the temperature in my apartment was in the 30s by then). My cat Olive and I moved into the main house with my parents on Tuesday morning for winter camping, hauling wood from the shed and water from the brook, and keeping a fire going in the tiny wood cookstove. I'm writing this on Sunday morning in anticipation of losing power again--so much ice already on the trees and power lines and we're expecting a Nor'easter tonight which is forecast to dump 7-11 inches of snow on us.

So what to do when the weather outside is frightful? Create some cards celebrating the beauty of all that ice and snow!  

Materials used on all of the cards

• Memory Box white notecards
• Hero Arts Shadow Ink Mid-Tone Cup O' Joe
• Frosted Lace Stickles for the ice and snow
• Memory Box stamp B1960/CS1960B  walking in a winter wonderland

Memory Box stamp E1326 Tree Frame (oriented so the branches are bending down from the weight of the ice)

Memory Box stamp E1419  Snowy Branches

Prismacolor pencil Dark Brown to color the tree

Memory Box stamps

• F1890  Berry Tree
• D1962/CS1962D  Deer Family

 These cards really glisten from the Stickles on the top of each branch!

Happy New Year!  Happy Crafting!

This week's post on Outside the Box: Quilt Appliques

Quilt Appliques using Dies

After playing with paper for a number of years, I recently began to experiment with fabric.  This fall I joined the Tacoma Lakes Quilters, a local chapter of the Maine Pine Tree Quilters Guild.  The first week in December the group held a cutting party.  Four women brought their Accuquilt Go-Cutters and dies and I brought my Big Kick with a bunch of Memory Box and Poppy Stamps dies.  What a blast we had!  We spent several hours cutting out numerous shapes from a variety of fabrics and felt for TLQ members to use for appliques on their quilt projects.  Unfortunately I was sooo busy that I didn't take one picture!  And the women took most of the pieces home, so I have only a few samples left to show which were cut from felt.

These are some of the dies we used from MEMORY BOX:

• 98394  Lady Dancing
• 98525  Thread Spools
• 98344  Marshmallow Clouds
• 98172  Puffy Clouds
• 98689  Mini Clouds
• 98296  Petite Umbrella
• 98427  Secret Squirrel
• 98491  Honey Bee Skep
• 98392  Classic Pear
• 98160  Perched Reed Bird
• 98340  Forest Bird
• 98339  Meadow Bird
• 98166  Deer Trio
• 98425  Flying Goose
• 98594  Village House
• 98313  Tender Leaves
• 98406  Fresh Leaves
• 98511  Fabulous Phlox
• 98149  Primula Blooms
• 98510  Lovely Aster
• 98254  Grand Heart
• 98281  Cupid Heart
• 98668  Frosted Christmas Tree
• 98664  Toasty Mitten
• 98416  Eyelet Stocking
• 98211  Classic Ornament

These are some of the dies we used from Poppystamps:

• 815  Grand Madison Window
• 816  Small Madison Window
• 861  Blooming Poinsettia
• 841  Serene Bird
• 879  Labrador
• 860  Sitting Cat
• 872  Curious Cat
• 859  Walking Cat
• 874  Large Curious Cat
• 871  Large Sitting Cat
• 876  Pouncing Cat
• 875  Large Pouncing Cat
• 873  Large Walking Cat

I couldn't believe how beautifully these dies cut felt and fabric!  I did use a metal adapter plate with my regular "sandwich" which produced really crisp cuts.  Some of the women had pre-treated their fabrics with Heat and Bond or some other fusible material for a stiffer fabric which they could then iron on to their projects.  The most popular dies?  98166 Deer Trio; 98668 Frosted Christmas Tree; 98664 Toasty Mitten; and all of the Memory Box and Poppystamp birds.  Some of these are going to end up on fabric Christmas cards.  Some are going into this year's challenge quilts.  For others, I'll just have to wait and see where they pop up.  I can't wait to see the finished projects!!!

Happy Crafting!

Cards for the Winter Solstice

These were the cards I posted on Outside the Box Monday.  I think the top one is my favorite.  I'm making a lot more clean and simple cards lately--fewer layers and embellishments.  This Snowy Pine Landscape stamp from Memory Box is one of my newest favorites.

Double Irish Chain Quilt

This is the center of the Double Irish Chain Quilt I made.  The center squares are fussy cut images of birds with sunflowers.  The center of the quilt is hand-tied.  The side panels are machine quilted using a wavy stencil pattern.  It fits a queen-size bed.  I shared this quilt at the Tacoma Lakes Quilters meeting on Wednesday.  I'm pretty pleased how it came out for my first bed-sized quilt.

No More Port in the Storm

The storm is over.  My oncologist okayed my request to have my port removed, so I had my port removed today!  That is a very good sign.  And I now have two of them.  Bracelets?  Earrings?--they're kinda heavy.  Pendants?  Christmas tree ornaments?  I'll have to make something creative out of them.  They kind of look like bugs to me--there's a tube (antennae?) at the top by two indentations where eyes could go and the big blue bump in the middle could be replaced by a gemstone, too.  I'll post pix once I get them converted into something wearable on the outside of my body!!!

medi-port

My Last "SPA DAY", November 15, 2013!!!

This is the last time (I hope) that I'll post this image!  Thanks to all of you who have supported me throughout my lengthy cancer journey through surgery, chemo, radiation, the double mastectomy surgery, and more chemo.  It has been a long hard-fought battle since my first diagnosis in 2010 and my recurrence in 2012.  I couldn't have done this with as much grace and humor without all of you!  Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Follow-up?  I'll meet with my breast surgeon in December and then every six months for a clinical breast exam.  I'll meet with my oncologist every six months starting in April.  I'll get my port taken out soon--then I'll have two of them.  I guess if they match I might have to have earrings made from them!

I'm meeting with a counselor next week to set up a post-treatment plan which will include some physical therapy to heal the scar area, regular massage, and monthly acupuncture.  I'm hoping that periodic real spa days will replace the not-so-real-ones at the oncology center.

I'm also setting creative time aside--time to paint, collage, sew and quilt.  I have so many ideas buzzing around in my brain!  As the days get shorter and colder, I look forward to time in my workroom.

Monday's Cards

This is the card I taught the Monday morning stamping group at Your Maine Stamper.  I used an old Cuttlebug embossing folder to create the background.  "Wallpaper" (3 X 3 1/2) and a "carpet" (1 X 3) were cut to fit the larger rectangle.  The PoppyStamps Large Chair was stamped in Hero Arts Cup O' Joe ink on Memory Box dot paper.  I cut it out and colored the pillow with a marker.  I added a Small Sitting Cat, a PoppyStamps die cut from black sticky-back paper, and pop-dotted the finished chair on the paper background.  I also rounded all four corners of the finished card to echo the corners in the embossed paper.  The sentiment is a stamp from DRS.  Each person in the group made a similar but different card using other papers and chairs that were stamped and cut from either yellow, pink, or blue distressed dots papers.  Cute!

This is the card I posted Monday morning on the Outside the Box blog for Memory Box.  Details for how to make this card can be found on the blog at http://davebrethauer.typepad.com/outsidethebox/.  Just scroll down until you come to "Spooky Halloween at the Manor House".

Happy Crafting!