Happy Easter!

We lost my mother in January 2015. She died peacefully with family surrounding her and her ashes joined those of my father in Wichita, Kansas.

 

 

Soon afterwards we lost my husband's step-father, also of Wichita. It was nice to be able to stay with my mother-in-law during the week of planning my Mom's funeral so I could provide some comfort as her husband got weaker and weaker under the care of Hospice at home.

Life continues to grow for us as we've been graced with two grandsons, one in December 2012 and another in August 2015. They live close and we get to see them often. Here's a few pictures:

 

 

Ollie loves the quilt I made for him.

Still being a bit crafty with the pumpkins for Halloween.

Ollie didn't like Santa.

Wall hanging I made.

Slippers I made out of my step-father-in-law's old sweater.

Leland on the quilt I made for him.

Star Wars was popular this year.

And Ninja Turtles remain popular.

Pictures taken by my daughter, a quite talented photographer.

 

 

 

 

That's all for today folks! I've got tons more pictures, but this post should bring you up to date if you've been wondering what's been going on with my life. Hopefully I'll post more often in the future.

 

Ta ta for now!

Sharon

 

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Celebrating veterans and watching airplanes fly

Today I had the pleasure of meeting some amazing WWII veterans and watching some of the airplanes that they used during WWII fly. I even got in free because I'm a veteran! Can't beat that for a good deal! I gave my husband the camera and let him capture the memories and found this picture below of my backside. I always wonder why we don't hand the camera to someone and ask them to capture the two of us standing in front of whatever it is we're there to see, but alas! I'm usually too mesmerized by the awesomeness of the attractions to think about the memory shot. Or maybe it's that I NEED a memory shot to help me remember to do that!

Before the air show I got a big stack of Halloween cards made for Operation Write Home. I need to cut the white paper to glue inside all the black cards, then get envelopes ready for them, finish using up the scraps and then move on to non-Halloween cards to fill a box and ship off before the end of August. It's nice spending time in my craft room again!

Tell me, what have YOU been up to lately?

Happy New Year!

Today is usually a day of reflecting on the events of the past year and I must say this day is no different except that I haven't been watching all those shows on television. You know, the ones that rehash all the news and events and deaths and tragedies the world has experienced during a 12 month time period

So what did I do today? Well back up a couple of days, or better yet how about 4 weeks to be exact... to that awesome day when this little guy was born. Yup, he's one month old today!

Isn't he the most precious thing you've ever seen? Yeah, I think so too! I feel so lucky to have my daughter and son-in-law living here so I can help pitch in with grandma time and watch him grow. Can you believe they still ask me if I want to hold him? Silly kids! Speaking of kids, here they are in our joint multi-purpose craft and hobby room. Emily and I were cutting out paper snowflakes for Sandy Hook (see below). I just found out today that they received so many they don't want more sent, so guess these will be used to decorate something else next year. Maybe Oliver's nursery?

Matt said he finally has the incentive to get his train layout completed so Oliver can play with it. What fun to be able to all work on our crafts together. Oh yeah, we installed a small flat screen tv on the wall above Emily's area so we can all see it. This week we began watching Downton Abbey which is proving to be all they say it is and quite entertaining.

There are sooooooo many projects already floating around on my to do list for 2013, but for starters and for tonight I need to make a few "necessaries" for Emily. What would those be? Well if I tell you that she's breast feeding would that be enough? I found some tutorials for making breast pads out of flannel and either fleece or wool, so will make a couple of prototypes to have her try out, then will make a week's supply when we know what works best. I also unassembled a soft navy blue leather purse that I could never get rid of because I love the feel of the leather and paid far too much for it to give away. It just isn't made to suit my ever-growing space needs for an every day purse. Now that I have one of those keyboard case things for my iPad it leaves both sides of it unprotected, so I want to use the leather to make a slipcover/envelope-type case for it. Then I need to make a cover for the Kindle that Emily won recently. We have some ideas to use felted wool sweaters in a patchwork pattern to make a cover. I'll be sure to post pics of all of these projects after they're done. For now, enjoy the snowflakes!

 

 

 

 

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The last time I cried

Thursday, November 22, 2012

When was the last time that you cried? Why?

This is usually a tough question to answer, but this time it's a little easier. As I reflect on all that I have to be thankful for over the past year I have to say that the announcement of my daughter's pregnancy has to top them all! I'd like to say that it was what made me cry, but actually it was what prompted it, so that counts. The last outburst of tears was while reading my wishes for my niece and nephew's new baby at her shower. I was sitting next to my daughter who also broke down crying. It was a very special moment for the two of us as we got a brief glimpse in to our future. Here I am with my two sisters, niece and baby.

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Another prize from Ella Publishing!

I was so excited when I found out that my entry for Ella Publishing's Take 12 Project was randomly chosen for the May prize!!! I haven't received it yet because the book is still fresh off the press, but you can go to the author's web site to read all about it. The book is called Everyday Storyteller by Jennifer Wilson and promises to fill the reader with oodles of ideas about scrapbooking as a way to tell your life stories. Let me tell you, if ANYONE needs a book like this it's ME! Last night I found not one, but TWO journals on my nightstand from 2009, the year my daughter got married. One had exactly ONE entry and the other just a few! SHEESH! So maybe formal, written journals are not my thing you say? You're probably absolutely correct-o-mondo! Here's the site with all the scoop on her book and guess what? You can order it online! Yup, either download it or order the print and download version at Everyday Storyteller. Oh and did I mention that her baby girl is named after my daughter Emily? Well she doesn't know me from Eve, but she obviously has good taste in baby girl names! I can't wait to go look at all the blogs listed on the contributors page and soak up all their awesome talent! If only I had my dream iPad so I could do the reading in the car (as a passenger of course!) while headed down to Wichita to visit our parents. Please keep my dad in your prayers as he recovers from a bad infection (cellulitis) in both lower legs. He's been in the hospital for a week on IV antibiotics, so is in very good hands. Have a beautiful Sunday (or whichever day of the week you're reading this!)

I think God is trying to tell me something...

If you're new to my blog and haven't seen last year's slide show about my father, a 21 year veteran of the U.S. Army, please take some time after reading this to view it on this post. Something I just now noticed while watching it for the umpteenth time is that in the picture of him peeking his head up over the top of the dining room table if you look directly over the top of his head you'll see a picture of me from my Army days. Yes, I also served in the Army as a WAC and was honored to serve on the same base with him in Germany in the early 70's!

Ok, so what's all this got to do with God and craft rooms and scrapbooking? Well, on Veteran's Day in 1991 the condo that I lived in with my young daughter blew up from a gas explosion, killing the neighbor boy and severely burning his older brother. My daughter and I escaped the burning building from the 3rd floor apartment and lost almost all of our belongings. My scrapbook from those Army days was tucked in the back of a huge walk-in closet situated right next to my waterbed and against an outside wall not exposed to the heat. Let me show you what my albums look like today. Now friends, when I say scrapbook please keep in mind that we're not talking about the elaborate one-picture-per-page full of embellishments that we do these days. We're talking plain cover, black pages full of pictures with some writing (who ever heard of journaling back then? Wasn't that for teenagers with diaries locked up and tucked under the mattress?) The first picture shows where the albums landed during recovery efforts and where they have remained to this day. Yes I've had them out a couple of times, but I guess the memories of that day have been too painful to want to actually DO anything with these albums. One I didn't photograph is from my year in California when I went out to attend LIFE Bible College, so it needs a whole album to itself.

The next two show the front my two albums from right before and during my 3 years in the army.

Miraculously none of the pictures appear to be damaged even after 20 years in that bag! *knocking on wood here at my desk!* The page edges are singed like the covers, but the pictures are fine as you'll see in the next picture. You'll be able to see a pic of me and my dad (I'm the one with the dark shorts on) with my Drill Sergeant. Yes I even got my hair cut and frosted just like her! Oh and pay no attention to those girls fooling around in the bottom picture. Things got a little wild and crazy around the barracks every now and then.

OK, moving on.... why do I bring up the past like this??? Well today I found out that I won a prize from a great gal over at Above Rubies Studio. It was graciously donated by a new company called Uniformed Scrapbooks of America and I get my choice of albums. Well for me it's a no-brainer and that link takes you to my choice.... ARMY!!! They'll even custom embroider the name and insignia rank. Since my dad and I had the same last name during that time period it will be just perfect. I've asked if they can do two insignias, one for each of our ranks, but even if they can just to one I'll be happy. What an awesome gentle reminder from God that it's high time I got busy re-doing these precious memories!!! My niece has recently uncovered a few boxes of Dad's military memorabilia that I've already laid claim to for a memory album. Hmmm, looks like I might need more than one, huh? lol! I also have every intention to do an oral history with him and now that they have all these recordable books it seems the time is right for that too. Oh so much to do with sooooo little time!

While you're over at Megan's studio you MUST watch her videos and find out about her new exciting product that I can't wait to try out! She does some awesome tutorials that you'll want to subscribe to on YouTube so you won't miss any of them.

Luscious Heavenly Fabric Goodies!

Look what came in today's mail. Oh before I show you let me encourage you to head right over to SuziQu's Threadworks after you're done drooling over the contents of my package. The pictures she takes are much better than mine, plus you can see all her other beauties!

I knew the package was from her because, well, I currently don't have any relatives or friends living in Australia. New Zealand, yes, but the aunt who used to be a missionary for Wycliffe Bible Translators in Australia has long since retired and returned to her roots in Wisconsin. Ok, I digress and I know you're chompin at the bit to see my surprises, so here they are:

So what will I do with this lovely fabric journal? Well for now I'm just going to admire it, pet it and soak up it's yumminess. Then I think I'll let IT tell ME what it wants to become! Maybe something to house some of my favorite fabric swatches. Or how about swatches from clothing my daughter wore growing up? Or pictures printed on fabric and sewn to the pages? Oh there are so many possibilities! I'd love to hear what YOU would do with one of these!

Mom's Memory Album

For my mom's over 80 Birthday I made her a memory album and want to share it with you here. The front and back covers are chipboard covered with quilt batting and fabric. The rest of the pages are made out of cereal or other food product boxes. I made copies of a bunch of old pictures and tried to cover the span of years from the time her and Dad got married up through their 60th anniversary this past year. Here's a peek inside some of the pages:

 The layers below are made out of an upcycled junk mail envelope.

 The tags are upcycled manilla folders.

 That's me in the Army uniform with my mom, grandma and grandpa (her parents).

Isn't this the cutest picture below of my daughter at my college graduation in the WSU Shocker outfit I sewed and then there she is as a graduate. How time flies!