RED WHITE AND BLUE, Mo's Digital Pencil Challenge

Happy Thursday to everyone! Can you believe it?  May is half way through, ALREADY!

  Already we experiencing beautiful HOT weather here in my little corner of the world. Oh, for those wonderful cool and windy days of the cruise...

 

I have finally made a new card using one of Mo's Digital Images (I can't find her name - sheesh!) and am entering her in this week's challenge of Red White and Blue.

I feel so rusty still, but have completely enjoyed putting some time aside to practice my coloring skills. So without further ado, here is my card...

A closer look at the image and my coloring - ooooooh, don't look too close please!

I always like to include a slanted view of my cards...kind of artsy don't you think"

Finally, here is how I finished out the inside. Very plain and simple, not too much fru-fru...

Thanks for taking the time to stop by my blog and see what I'm up to.

Your visits always make me smile and add sunshine to my day.

Hugs and blessings, Barb

I have a good reason for being MIA......

Hello my blogging friends!   It has been AGES since I last posted but I have many good reasons.  I don't have any pictures to share with you, no cards made, no smocking completed...but a perfectly good explanation... you see, my wonderful DH and I have just returned from a 33 day trip to Europe! Yes!!  We sailed across the Atlantic on April 6th and being at sea for 10 days arrived at the Azores.  Breathtaking to say the least.  We journeyed from there to Toulon France, Livorno Italy and then Rome.  We continued on the same ship to Sicily,  Corinth, Athens, Ephesus (Turkey), Crete and finally back to Rome.  We flew from Rome to London and found our way to South Hampton and boarded Norwegian Cruise Lines newest ship, Breakaway, on her inaugural  sailing to New York. 

 

We met wonderful people everywhere we went, on board and off and have a camera jam packed with photos.  Those will take a while to sort and catalogue, but I will have them ready to post soon.

 

We arrived home to a still not completed remodel which was a huge disappointment, but we're making the adjustment to a house in chaos, and are still basking in the thrill of our extended vacation.  We're looking forward to a very busy summer with friends and family, and who knows, perhaps another cruise in the fall.

 

Hugs to all,

Barb

Hello blog friends.  I'm back with a rather lengthy post today.  So many things are going on in my life right now I hardly know where to start.

Lets start with a couple of pictures of the kids we cared for (a combined time on 29 months).  They are now living in Georgia and we recently made a trip to visit them.  They are doing wonderfully, so happy and adjusted.  Life for them is now pretty hectic having to rise before the sun so that the parents can partake of Physical Training each work day.  I'd never survive their pace, and I guess that's why God gives little children to young people!  We had a wonderful visit and were able to do several delightful activities with them.

Here are Josslyn and Brielle.  They are so incredably alike!

Learning to ride bikes took an entire afternoon and in the end only Jordan was able to shed the training wheels.

Some of the fun things we did were to visit a local park and there were lots of things the kids could do there.  Not just swings and slides but tons of other fun things too.

Then we took them to an arcade place where they received tons of tokens and played all the fun games they could.

On our last day we took them out to brunch and over to Monkey Joe's where they played in the inflatable warehouse for 4 hours. 

My Darlin' Boy, Jordan.  He will soon be 7 and is doing well at school

This is Nya.  She is the elder step sister and our newest Grandchild.

We stayed at a motel, but were over every morning to enjoy meals together and planning the various activities.  Such a fun time...
Here is Nya enjoying some kids games I loaded onto my Tablet.  We almost had to pry her hands off it she enjoyed the games so much

As you know I've picked up the art of Smocking and have joined not only a local Guild but also SAGA which is an international group whose focus is to keep this special art alive and by doing so blessing NICU babies with special gowns through the WEE CARE program.  I'm loving this form of creativity.  Since I'm no longer a foster parent to tiny babies, I still feel connected by making special garments for just them.  Here are a few hospital gowns and a saque all with matching bonnets.

This little saque will fit a 4-5 pound baby.  The sleeves on all our gowns are rather large so that there is room for any wires or tubes to stay in place and not make the baby uncomfortable.  All the fabric used is Batiste and the lace is from Belgium.  It's soft against the little one's skin.  Also the back are not seamed but tie closed with ribbon so that the staff can dress up the baby without disturbing wires and tubes.

This little dress is on my baby doll.  She is about the size of a 4 pound baby.  I smocked this one in Olive green and Cream.

This dress is stitched in shades of soft peach.  You never know but any of the dresses we send to the NICU could be a bereavement gown.  So sad :-(

Now, thank you for sticking with me all the way to the end of my post.  Here is the card I've just finished today.  I used an image from hAngler which I colored over two years ago.  So I figured it was definitely time to put it onto a card.  I didn't start out making this a Valentine Card, but I loved the key hole shape and the papers I found in my stash which just seemed to work together beautifully. 

I have used Spellbinders Classic Hearts and Scalloped hearts there and some piece of retired SU Gingham ribbon to set up the accents.  My sentiment is from PrintWorks and is a new acquisition.  I bought several and hope to use them very soon..

It's good to be back to cardmaking again.  I still have some issues with sitting for too long, so I have to break it up over a couple of days.  Then I'm enjoying knitting again and smocking always.

Here is the inside of my card.  I purchased the little peg stamp quite sometime ago, but I love to add it somewhere on all my cards as a kind of signature.

We are having some home improvements done to our house.  We are indeed adding a new bathroom off our bedroom and beside it will be a new screened in porch.  Windows will be removed and new doors added and it's going to be wonderful to have a bathroom that is actually larger than an outhouse.

Well my dear friends, this is a long post and I thank you for sticking it out to the end. Your support and lovely comments are always welcome. 

Blessings,

 Barb

New Year, New Card...

Hello my dear blogging friends. I have completed my first card for this new year and also my first card in more than 7 months. I'm sooooo rusty. I received this image with last months Magnolia Ink magazine, and try as I may I can't find her name. I am calling her Tilda with Puppy in Basket. I received also at Christmas a Drafters Table so that I can color on an incline instead of a flat surface. It's made a huge difference to the stress on my back. I didn't keep track of the Copics I used to color Tilda...as I said I'm really rusty at all of this. The CS and DP's, sentiments, tag and clip are from Stampin Up.  I used Spellbinders Label 14 around the image and behind that is a Martha Stewart punch around the page.

 So here is Miss Tilda.... 

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog for a visit. It feels so good to be crafting again.

 Blessings and hugs, 

 Barb

Hello, good morning! I have another smocking project to share with you. I promise you I'm also working on a card right now and I promise I will post it ASAP. I have been enjoying so many baby smocking projects and today I have for you three month bonnets to show you. These were just a snap to make, using a pattern from a baby hospital gown. If you are interested in purchasing any of my smocking projects please contact me by e-mail. These bonnets are just $12 each. So here we go...this first bonnet is constructed from Batiste. I used Floche for the smocking and silk ribbon for the little flowers.

I love White on White. Cards are so pretty when done White on White with a pop of color. I applied that technique on this little bonnet using silk ribbon for a pop of color.

I used Batiste again and peach Floche but added tiny glass beads to the smocking. This bonnet is very delicate and oh so pretty.

I appreciate your dropping by to see what I'm up to. I'm smiling at you, hope you feel it. Hugs...Barb

A sweet dress in Silk

Well, I have my blog back up and running. I haven't been able to post anything since last July, while I took steps to rectify my aging back. It all culminated with surgery in November and I'm finally getting my life back! While I was down and couldn't bend over my table to color I was able to get quite a few smocking items completed. I have surely found a new passion. The card making will come again shortly as I now have a desktop drafting style 'thingy' so that I can sit more erectly while I color. I know it will take a while to get back up and running. So here is the first of my smocking projects. These are in no particular order I just picked the first out of my list. I made this little dress from silk fabric. I made all the piping for it too! I think I started to smock this dress twice before I finally decided on the colors of floss I wanted to use. This shows the whole dress...

This picture shows a closer view of the top of the dress and smocking...

Here is a really close view of the smocking...

I will have so much more to show you in the coming weeks and hopefully some wonderful cards too. I can't wait to jump in again. Thanks for visiting me today. I hope you enjoy my little projects.

Hugs,

Barb

P.S.  If anyone is interested this dress is a 6-12 month size and for sale for $40.  Just shoot me an email if you are interested...

ABC Challenge - "T is for Two"

Hello friends! Can you believe that it's already July 15th! Before you know it the kids will be back to school and the lazy hazy days of summer will be over.

Today I have my final card for the ABC Challenge as a guest designer. It has been a wonderful journey for the past 3 months and at times a bit of a challenge too!

This week our sponsor is "The Paper Shelter" and the theme is T is for Two! So we want to see two of something on your card. Two embellishments, two images, two flowers, two dp's...just two of something! So I invite you to play along with us.

For my card I chose this delightful digital image called Cute Dress Maker. I have a wooden board that sits up over a window in my studio. My daughter gave it to me years ago and I love it. It is a country style and says "A day hemmed in prayer seldom unravels" and I decided it was the perfect sentiment for this cute image...



Here is a little closer view of my coloring...



The dp's I used are from my stash, the silver corner adorner is from my BFF in SA Paola (actually I think she sent me the paper as well). Thanks so much Paola for sharing your "stuff" with me. The lace and ribbon are also from my stash. The pretty flowers are new from WOC and I'm lovin'em! The Sentiment is on SB Labels two die.

So here is the artistic view of my card. I only did the front and will go back at a later date and fill in the rest of the card.



Thanks for dropping by and leaving your comments...blessings to you all...Barb