Texture Tuesdays-orchids & cactus

http://www.kimklassencafe.com/thecafe/.html
Linking up with Kim today, stop over and take a peek at all the inspiration. Today's theme was to use any of Kim's textures and the word "simplicity".

Orchids and cactus...two contrasts of beauty, one colorful soft curves, the other bold hard lines, each with its own beauty.

Hard, soft, colorful, geometric, bold, delicate, curvy, lack of hue, bright, dark....the list goes on.

Do you have a preference of one or the other, or do you appreicate it all?  Have a teriffic tuesday. 

 Hugs, Michelle

Pink Saturday-Winter "Pinks"

Winter Blues...no not this girl...we are celebrating Winter Pinks of course.
Please stop over to our hostess sweet  Beverly and check out all the other linked blogs
http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/my_weblog

"Sound of Music"...some of my faviorite things...here's three:  tea in pretty cup, books gardening, and rose pink with baby breath.  Painted this chair white this summer.

Scene that greets visitors into my home...the pink roses have dried beauifully now, for a nice craft project

Did I mention that it's still only January and I have spring fever...this is a photo of my lupins and rhodendrum from last summer.

I made this adorable little rainbow zigzag quilt using Kaffe Fassett fabrics, nice for a wall hanging or baby...its for sale in my etsy shop.

Last winter I went to the local botanical gardens to photograph the orchid display and that was very enjoyable...

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.  Hugs, Michelle

1000 Gifts-Birthday Wrappings

Linking up with Ann over at http://www.aholyexperience.com/.  Stop over and feel encouraged.

Birthdays, last Thursday was my birthday and Friday was my youngest sister's {by 15 years, I might add}.  I add a lot of fun this year spending time on making her packages look extra special, I purchased some dollar store books to use for craft art.  Then I used a variety of punches, dies, glitter glue lace, ribbon, bling and even some dried baby's breath to add to the effect.

She loved it, said she was going to save each piece and then put them in her scrapbook when she does the photos. 

We went to a lovely little bakery/bistro for lunch, and the third sister. 

We split this lovely desert, a tiramsu, which yes was delicious.

It was a very hard choice to make, there were so many that looked fabulous.

Yesterday, the three of us went cross country skiing, a perfect winter day and condition, warm like 37, no wind or precip, sunny and packed down just enough....not too many days like that.  First time I've been out in years...note to self stretch first and lose a few pounds and then it would be more enjoyable without so much huffing and puffing...but it was lovely to be outside doing something different for a change.  I really had a great weekend.  Another post, I'll share my couple of presents from my two sister's and daughter, so stay tuned.   Hugs, Michelle

1000 Gifts and Counting.....
Birthdays
Lunch with Sisters
"You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body, and knit them together in my mother's womb.  Psalms 139:13
Birthday desert, tirimasu
Birthday Presents
"Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!  It is amazing to think about.  Your workmanship is marvelous-and how well I know it."  Psalms 139:14
Birthday cards, texts, facebook comments, emails, and phone calls
Birthday hugs
"You were there while I was being formed in utter seculsion!.  You saw me before I was born and scheduled each day of my life before I began to breathe.  Every day was recorded in your Book!".  Psalms 139:15-16
Birthday cake with co-workers
Birthday childhood memories
"How precious it is, Lord, to realize that you are thinking about me constantly!  I can't even count how many times a day your thoughts turn towards me.  And when I waken in the morning, you are still thinking of me!

Blessings, peace, hope and joy to all of your!

Hope-Garden Seeds

The Lord's...compassions never fail.  They are new every morning...The Lord is good to those whose HOPE is in Him.--Lamentations 3:22,23,25 NIV

Hope....I collected these flower seeds this summer from last year's garden with Hope for this summer's garden.  Hope of re-birth/re-growth/re-newal, revival, these are not just hope's for my flower garden this year, but also hope's for my personal life.  Hope for new, fresh, colorful, beauty, tranquility...I'd like all of these in my life this year, how about you?  What kinds of hopes do you have for this year?

I'm trying  to get organized and so I thought I'd start with this pile of seeds in platistic baggies.

Here's some lupine seeds, I think these were just pinks.

I punched these circles, then a small hole and used some twine to label these oh so neatly, sweet, I'm really getting there, oh what saturday night fun on a winter nite.

I was in "Michael's" craft store when I spotted these adorable little mini mason jars...I believe they are supposed to be for wedding favors for putting mints in them, but I thought they would do just fine for my seeds and so I'm even keeping them in this nifty holder they came in and have put them in my dark closet until I'm ready to use. 

Blessings, Michelle

Mug Rugs-Pink Saturday

Please stop over to our hostess sweet Beverly and check out all the other linked blogs
http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/my_weblog

Mug rugs, yes I found out they are addicting to make, here's two more.

This is the zig zag  pattern...now if someone would just make me a scone with some devonshire cream and jam, I'd be all set, I can put a pot on.

This was with Joel Dewberry's fabric.  I had a bunch of half square triangles left over from a quilt I'd made.

The next one is a photograph I took in my garden of a monarch landed on my coneflower and I printed it on fabric, isn't that cool.

Amy Butler binding, don't you just love those dots.

I happen to put this tiny quilt on the long arm, just for fun and quilted one of Anne Bright's fill patterns.

I thought the colors and detail were really amazing for a digital photograph and then printed to fabric.  My daugther mentioned see loves butterflys when I showed her, so this may end up being a birthday gift for February's girl....shhh don't tell her.

These mug rugs remind me of a potholder or journal art quilt or a miniture doll quilt...another fun way to use of scraps and try new techniques and fantastic for those who want a little "instant" gratification!!
Hugs, Michelle

Stamped Tag Art

Tag art, soo much fun to create in so many different mediums, just having an amazing January creating so far.

I was surfing the web and was inspired by Heather over at Post Road Vintage, here's a link to her post she used the dried roses on.  http://postroadvintage.com/2012/01/a-lil-pre-valentines-romance.html  If you've never been over to her blog, go visit, you won't be disspointed, I am so inspired looking at her creativity.

I have some of these tags with the wallet photos in my etsy shop for anyone interesteded.

Not sure if you can tell but these smaller floral tags have a sprayed shimmer effect to them, which is really pretty.  Hugs, Michelle

Texture Tuesday-Hope

http://www.kimklassencafe.com/thecafe/farewell-12-days-of-textures.html

Linking up with Kim today, stop over and take a peek at all the inspiration. Today's theme was to use any of Kim's  textures and the word "open".

OPEN, open your heart up to and receive God's gift...love and eternal life

"For God so Loved the world, he gave his only begotten son, whosoever shall believith in Him shall have everlasting lift."  --John 3:16

Hugs, Michelle

The Meaning of the Snowman-1000 Gifts

Linking up with Ann over at http://www.aholyexperience.com/.  Stop over and feel encouraged.  Her post is absolutely wonderful today...answer to Anxiety!  Read and be lifted from stresses today my friends.

Since we have snow here outside, I thought I'd share some snowman I made indoors, hand stamped cards, along with a cute little poem.

The Meaning of the Snowman

The white snow stands for the purity of souls filled with God's grace. The circular snowballs represent God's everlasting love.
The pieces of coal used to make the eyes, mouth and buttons symbolize God's Almighty power.
The carrot nose reminds us that God gives us everything we need to live and grow.
The scarf suggests the warmth of God's tender care.
The top hat reminds us always to keep faith our top priority.
The arms are outstretched to us, as God's always are.
The broom made of starw and wood signifies that Jesus was born and died to cleanse us of sin.
May your heart be ever warmed by the good news of God's great love for you!
Author Unknown

1000 Gifts and Counting
Healthy and able to clean my house
Privilege of being in Christ's family and being called by his wonderful name-1st Peter 4:16
son  who snowblows driveway
Special abilities God has given me-1st Peter 4:10
daughter who is compassionate
Partner with Christ in his suffering...wonderful joy of sharing his glory...1st Peter 4:13
sister who is kind and thoughtful
...God will never fail me-1st Peter 4:19
girlfriend who takes me to lunch for my birthday
Let him have all your worries and cares, for he is always thinking about you and watching everything that concerns you.-1st Peter 5:7
flower seeds collected from my garden
...give me his eternal glory...He personally will come and pick me up...and make me strong than ever...-1st Peter 5:10

This music video is Vicki Beeching sing "Cativated"-hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

I have one of Vicki's albums and I just love listening to her sing.
 Blessings, hope, joy and peace to you, Michelle

Pink Saturday

Please stop over to our hostess sweet Beverly and check out all the other linked blogs

http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/my_weblog/

January and we have had a nice little snow storm with some lake effect.  So, I am refusing to look at it, instead I'm browsing spring flower catalogs, and have just ordered myself a little pre-birthday gift, flower seeds.  To be exact, I have on the way sunflowers, snapdragaons, zinnias, morning glorys and sweetpeas.  I am ordering for the first time from http://www.rareseeds.com/ .   I'm dreaming of blooming blooms upon blooms of color.  What do you do this time of year to get rid of any wintery blues?  Look at lots of pretty "Pinks", I presume.  Happy Pink Saturday, Hugs, Michelle

Snowflake Quilt

Snowflake Quilt finished, very quickly.  I needed a quick little gift so this is just a cute little snowflake panto, that I really like how well it quilted, I think I will use it again.  Maybe white thread on red kona next.  Size is a small lap about one and half yards.  For this one I used blue thread on white Kona cotton and back it with a blue solid fabric.  I machine stitched the binding on...I never have time to hand sew them I want projects that are actually completed.

This went to my Aunt last Saturday, she is at an assisted living facility right now and this will add a little personal touch for her space and hopefully cheer her up a bit.  I stitched down a little patch of a kitty in the corner and then wrote in some permanent marker, thought it would be good to have her name on it to personalize it a bit, she always had a cute kitty cat at her house.  I know it's not any kind of an award winning quilt with fancy piecing, but sometimes there are awards of another kind that need to be.

Have a great week in creating whatever you do, hugs Michelle

Texture Tuesdays-Embrace

http://www.kimklassencafe.com/thecafe/farewell-12-days-of-textures.html
Linking up with Kim today, stop over and take a peek at all the inspiration.  Today's theme was to use the texture "Embrace".

One of my favorite violet teacups and some great reading.

Just did some redecorating in my bedroom, this had about 20 books and 15 magazines piled on top, so I moved them and replaced with my 5 generation grandmother's flower garden quilt and a pair of wings that I used to use as a photo prop and a beautiful crocheted trim hanki with a cross in it.  Cheap decorating...just move things around that you already have for a fresh new look.

I love roses and pink are my favorite, just painted this chair white this summer and picked up this little reproduction bottle.

Happy tuesday, Hugs Michelle