Friday, February 28, 2014

What to do when you buy the wrong ribbon.

We got a 'prayerline' email the other day from our church, and one of the people to pray for was a dear lady who was in the hospital.  I thought I'd send her a little card and let her know how special she was to me, but I had no cards.  Sigh.  So today I made some.  And she'll get one of them asap!

I've been having fun making bookmarks lately, (and have a bunch listed in my shop here), so I stocked up on ribbon at Michael's a couple of weeks ago. 


I didn't realize till I got home, though, that one package (the biggest bunch that I got, of course) was adhesive backed.  They wouldn't work for the bookmarks, but I decided to keep them for other projects.  Like this one.

I pulled out my box of blank cards (you can get these sets at Walmart, Michaels, Chapters), the adhesive ribbon, my flower stash, and a couple packages of self adhesive gems.  The flowers all had gem centers already.




It was super simple - I picked a card base that went with flowers I had, picked the best ribbon to go with it, and added a few gems on some of them.



Why it works: Any design is more satisfying to the eye when you follow the rule of thirds.  Slap that ribbon down with one third of the card on top and two thirds on the bottom and you're halfway there.  Then remember that things groups in threes are often more visually appealing, and it practically makes itself.

Once again, nothing fancy, but nice to have around when you want to send a little note:


Thursday, February 20, 2014

Currently...

Cheering
Yes, for Canada in the Olympics of course (Bobsleigh and Hockey and Curling, oh my!), but we haven't actually watched as much as last time around.  Maybe the hosting and local time events and no toddler...? Our TV is more likely to be showing Tangled or SuperWhy.

What did make me get a sore throat was cheering for Madeline's soccer team - we were away at a tournament in Saskatoon all weekend.  They didn't make it to the final few, but did play some of their best games, and Madeline even scored a goal and got player of the game for one of them.  Woo Hoo!!  So proud of her, and she had a great time playing and hanging out with her soccer friends.  We enjoy some of the other parents that we've gotten to know over the year or so and had a good time visiting with them, too.

Dating
We found a new place we like in town called Birminghams - we've heard they have good nachos but keep ending up there on wings night so haven't tried yet.  When Sean mentioned to his business partner one time that we were going out, he asked what the occasion was, and was surprised when Sean told him we go out every week or two.  I sure appreciate that my husband sees that as important.

Playing
...in the snow!  All four of us had a great time playing out in the snow in the backyard last night - many laughs, and I think good for all of us!

On the Calendar
Having M home this week for her winter break has been good (and the break from all the practices and games, too!), and she's looking forward to leaving again tomorrow for a youth trip to Edmonton.  One last event for our youth pastor who is leaving at the end of the month.  I wonder what will be next for our church in that area?

Wearing
Short hair.  I went in last week and got a good chop.  Photos to come maybe if I ever get on the other side of the camera.  So don't hold your breath.  I've always done either short or long - this time it's just in between my shoulders and ears, so right in the middle.  I'm liking it a lot.

Wednesday, February 05, 2014

By Special Request...

In January I had two sales through Etsy plus one custom order that I'm still working on, one sale through Used Regina, and one custom order coming from that, I had one "Can you make this?" from a friend, and some little things that I made for Madeline.  So it was not too busy, but all over the map as far as what I was doing.



Bows for M - Madeline asked if I could take her shopping because she wanted new bows.  I had a look at one of hers, told her I could probably make them for her, and let her have a look through my stash.  The backings came in a package of four, so this is what she got.

Custom size magic bags - (forgot to take a picture...) The fellow who bought three magic bags emailed the next week saying a coworker saw him using one at work, and wondered could I make them twice as wide?  I was happily in between buying fabric and cutting it all up, so it worked out fine.  I've made one extra long, a couple of squares for a lady who was happy with the old size she had, but needed new ones, some small 'across the forehead for migraines' bags, and a handful of half size 'kid-sized' bags, but this is the first time I've done ones so big.  At $25 each, I'd do them again.


Boot shapers - a lady from church who has bought a number of things from me in the past sent me a link from another Etsy shop wondering if I could make 'something like this.'  It was a pair of boot shapers - have you ever seen these before?  I don't think I have, but I also keep my one pair of tall boots laying flat, so haven't thought of the need for something like that.  I played around with some stuff I had and came up with something that worked for her, and who knows?  It might be something that would sell well at a winter craft sale - one to keep in mind, anyway, especially when I see fabric on sale...


Zip pouch with dividers - The request for this was from a girl who wanted separate compartments for her quarters, dimes, nickels and pennies.  Obviously American - we would need one more compartment.  Add Toonies and Loonies and take away the pennies!  The first attempt at this was a learning experience - a little stiff.  This is the second try, but the dividers are still too loose fitting for my liking.  She can take it or leave it, but I'm not spending any more time on something that won't make me much.

What are you making these days??

Tuesday, February 04, 2014

Weekend Tournaments - Our Athlete in Action!

Madeline's soccer team has had bad luck getting into soccer tournaments this year - not enough teams their age in their division to make it work, mostly.  This weekend was their first of the year - (we get to go to Saskatoon soon for another, though, and are looking forward to that!) - and it was also the weekend of her only basketball tournament...  We are happy that there are only a few overlaps between those two schedules; it seemed almost comical that these tournaments ended up on the same weekend.

Happily missing one quarter of one basketball game was the extent of the overlap this weekend.  I got to run her around Friday night while Sean stayed home and put Nolan to bed, and I thankfully remembered to take advantage of the kid-less games to take my camera along.

KT tape for the shin splints.

Warm ups.

Notice all 10 of them have the same hairstyle??

She shoots...

I love how much fun she has with these girls.

Right in the action.

This tournament was on 1/2 size fields, so they split into two teams.

Saturday, February 01, 2014

Mother and Daughter

 Just having a little fun before Nolan's birthday party last week.  :)