Introducing the neighborhood....

cats! Last summer we noticed that there were several feral cats abound in our neighborhood. As the weather got cooler, old softy started feeding them. Old softy is the only resident male in this house just to clear up any misunderstandings this might have caused. Basically this is the core group. 2 pale face Siamese, 1 dark faced Siamese, Bow-tie ( the black cat with a white bowtie on his neck) and Miss Priss. Old Softy began by putting out one bowl of food. Now can you imagine what happens when 5 cats try to get one bowl of food? It's quite interesting and it brings out their personalities - but not always their best traits.
So when Mrs. Logical Thinker got involved (how could she not??), the piles started to appear and of course the bowl still had food in it, so plenty of food for the sweet faces. And Mrs. Logical Thinker decided that once a day was not enough. Especially when they were practically begging in the morning... so twice a day now, they get fed, watered and on special occasions are given milk.
Miss Priss appeared after the others. Very young and Mrs. Logical Thinker had to make sure that the other older cats would actually let her eat. Now she is the cat in residence. Still won't come inside, but doesn't mind if you are outside unless of course you scare her, wear a hat or the other cats skedaddle. Then she thinks she must too. Anyone need a cat?

Color Career Counselor - are you on the right track?

This was fun. Pick your career by color. Click on Color Career Counselor to see if you are actually doing what suits you best. Surprising is that my result only shows the word creative once... and confirms that what I'm presently doing isn't too far off the scope of what they say I'm best at. The teaching part got nailed. It's what I love best. "Not conform to company rules", I think this started as a teenager ;-)!

Your email is not required and you can just say "no thanks" to the ad that pops up.

Here are my results:

Best Occupational Category

You're a RESEARCHER

Keywords

Independent, Self-Motivated, Reserved, Introspective, Analytical, and Curious

Thee investigative types gather information, analyze and interpret data, and inquire to uncover new facts. They have a strong scientific orientation, enjoy academic or research environments and prefer self-reliant jobs. Dislikes are group projects, selling, and repetitive activities.

RESEARCHER OCCUPATIONS
Suggested careers are College Professor, Physician, Psychologist, Pharmacist, Chemist, Marketing Research, Inventor, Sales Forecasting, Project Engineer, Dentist, Identifying Consumer Demand, Chiropractor, Dentist, Medical Technician, Optometrist, Research & Development Manager, Respiratory Therapist, Real Estate Appraiser, Chiropractor, Veterinarian, Geologist, Physicist, Science Teacher, Medical Technologist, and Author of Technical Books.

RESEARCHER WORKPLACES
Task-oriented careers where you can become absorbed in the job, be original and creative, and not conform to rigid company rules will work best for you. Unstructured organizations, for example, that allow you to sail your own ship are vital.

Suggested Researcher workplaces are universities and colleges, home office positions, medical facilities, computer-related industries, scientific foundations and think tanks, research firms, and design laboratories.

2nd Best Occupational Category

You're a SOCIAL MANAGER

Keywords:

Tactful, Cooperative, Generous, Understanding, Insightful, Friendly, and Cheerful

This very social type enjoys working in groups, sharing responsibilities, and being the center of attention. Fields of interest are instructing, helping, nurturing, care giving and instructing-especially young people. They discuss and consider feelings in order to solve problems, lead, direct, persuade, guide, organize and enlighten others.

Try it and find out at what you are best suited... and then if you want share the results with me by clicking email me!

Embroidery Inspiration

Today, I want to share with you some inspiration. Inspiration can come from anywhere and in this day and age, technology offers one of the easiest ways to be inspired. One little word in the browser search box returns hours worth of inspiration. A right click on the image will give you the option to save the picture as a file.
Linens are one of my heart throbs. I love them old and new. I have all of my grandmother's bed linens along with her beautifully embroidered pillow cases. Every time I look at them, yes I actually use them, I can remember how they would come back from the laundry beautifully pressed and folded. The fresh laundry smell even comes back.
I love padded monograms. There is a distinct art to producing this quality of fine stitching. I think this is something I want to learn soon. Although, using a 60wt. cotton embroidery thread in the needle of an embroidery thread produces some wonderful results. Just be sure to iron from the wrong side with the embroidery on a thick terry towel. This preserves the puffy look.
Wouldn't it be a dream to crawl into this bed? I believe that most of these bed sets are from Schweizer Linens. However, I'd need to win a lottery or two to buy every set I would like to own... but oh the sweet dreams these would guarantee!
Sweet dreams, sew something heirloom.

March Calendar page....

March - another calendar page. At the end of the year, these all go into an album. Won't these be a great reminder of all that transpired this year? Of course the accompanying page will have photos from that month on it! A great way to 'write' history!

For detailed instructions go to the January calendar.

Supplies:
1- brown cardstock
5- decorative papers
Flourish stamps
Brown ink pad
ribbon
tag punch
rickrac ribbon - taupe
QK Calendar die set 1
QK Calendar die set 2
QK pop up windows
QK Santa's Workshop
QK 2x2 shamrocks die
t!m Holtz tiny attacher

A bit of sewing machine info

I thought that these videos found on YouTube would provide a bit of information and a bit of laughter to each of you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Jbk1uU_Jkk






And if you want to learn a bit more about Bernina's, just click here.

I hope you enjoyed this bit of humorous history!

Just a few more hearts...for this year anyway

I scraplifted this page. When I saw it on-line, I knew it was the perfect venue to audition the new fringe scissors that I purchased. Now at least I can say I've used them once. Honestly, I think I'll be using these a lot. They are so much easier than cutting each fringe by itself as they cut 5 fringes at a time!
Since this is not my own design, I have provided a link at the bottom of the post so that you will have access to the same instructions I had. Have fun and enjoy!
My latest love is the Frosted Lace Stickles by Ranger. I just love the subtlety that it gives to objects on which it's been placed.
The font is Gazebo by QuicKutz.
I stamped the swirls before I placed the butterflies.
And then I went over the stamped swirls with more Frosted Lace. This is the multi-part butterfly die from QuicKutz.
I also stamped the mini hearts at top using a variety of inks (Distress, Chalk and VersaColor). Added a bit of Frosted Lace for more shimmer and shine.
I also dotted the large heart for the bigger butterfly with Frosted Lace Stickles.
Cut the opening of the large heart with an X-acto knife. Then placed lots of punched heart "tops" behind the opening. When I was pleased with the arrangement, and as a finishing touch, I sewed around the opening.
There is also a zigzag stitch at the bottom of the page over 3 layers of fringe and a strip of coordinating cardstock.
I hope you have fun creating your own page. For the original and the tutorial click here!

February QuicKutz club

As promised you can't see hearts, it's barely a Valentine page, and there's lots of room for journaling and a picture. A bit of lace, ribbon, some snow puff paint, decorative brads, white flowers and a Maya Road journaling tag finish off these pages.
Supplies:

1 - black cardstock
3- Vintage Valentine by Nancie Rowe-Janitz papers
ecru lace
black/cream mini check ribbon
Snow writer pen
Maya Road clear journaling tags
2 - off white flowers or appropriately sized QK die
2- black/white check brads
4 - red or red w/ white polka dot mini brads
MS lattice edge punch
QuicKutz: CC Border 052 - Scroll tree
Speech bubble heart (club die from last yr) QC-0012
Removable tape
adhesives of choice
brad setting tools
Alcohol inks in Butterscotch and Terra Cotta

See you February 16th at 10am!