December is certainly dashing along...thankfully not in the snow.  This month has been very disconnected for me as Mr. C has been out of town helping a friend.  The last two weeks I was with him and staying in strange hotels, on the road and eating all the wrong foods in restaurants.  The very first week his computer battery charger died and that was bad as he needed it for the daytime and I was going to use it for the evenings to stay in touch with my blogging friends.  I am here to contest to the fact that Murphy's law has not been repealed!
Fortunately while sitting in my hotel room day after day after day I was able to prepare my Christmas cards and get them mailed.  Luckily I had begun in August and made my little gifties I was mailing.  The top photo is of some fabric I purchased and knew exactly what I would make with it.  Postcards.  I did add some red glitter bling before mailing them. 
This is one way that I like to send a gift.  Attached to a card and then wrapped in tissue for mailing.  I can show these now because I know the recipient received them and really likes the pink hearts. 
 I made a couple more Origami bags out of this fun girly fabric that jumped into my cart one day at the store. 
 I lined one with this fun zebra fabric.
The other one with the cheetah fabric.  Both turned out pretty with the red ribbon and button accents.  Filled with some little items and some moolah my granddaughters each liked them.  They are young adults but still girly after all.
I was feeling very disconnected while gone because I never seemed to accomplish anything...especially creative.  Even shopping can fill a void for only so long.  And believe me the shopping where I was...well let me just be polite and say it lacked a lot! 
No settling in by the fire for me.  Mr. C has come down with a bug and he is trying to share it with me.  There were tons of people sick everywhere we went and I really tried to stay on top of the sleep and pre-meds. 
I am doing my best to stay current with each of you and the beautiful things you are making and decorating your homes with.  I have lots of mail to get through and I feel so fortunate because I can see some really interesting envelopes addressed to me. 
Thank you to each and every one for your patience with me this December.  I can positively say that January 2012 will be a very good beginning to a wonderful new year. 
Jingle Bell Hugs to each and every fabulous friend in blogland...

 These are the same Origami Pouches I have been making and sharing but with new fabrics.  This time in some gorgeous Christmas fabric.  This fabric has some gold sparkles in the threads and the colors are vibrant and elegant. 
I have used buttons in place of the charms on these and really like the look.  I also turned the flap up a bit to show the lining fabric and make it just a wee bit more fun. 
 Here are two of my favorite blue fabrics.  Each bag uses the exact two fabrics...Fairy Frost and a floral fabric my friend Margaret gave me after she finished her project.  It was merely a matter while making these which side I chose to be the feature leaving the other fabric to become the lining.  The floral pouch has beaded dangles while the blue one has buttons for trim. 
This is probably the most fun pouch I have made so far.  It all started with seeing the chocolate covered strawberry fabric at my local Ben Franklin.  I didn't buy it but my girlfriend did.  Then a few days later I was looking for a special bead and came across these glass strawberry "earrings" that my girlfriend had purchased but not done anything with.  Yes, I do have her bead box here in my studio as we almost always bead together and we share and divide most of our beads.  Well...I was obsessed with getting some of the strawberry fabric I had seen and making her this little pouch.  Hmmm...how could I do that without asking her permission to use her "earring" beads?  So I shared my idea with her and she agreed the two had to go together.  Back to Ben's I went and lucky day they had just enough fabric left on the bolt.  I lined this one with a very sweet black with red polka dots fabric.  The gathering ties are just right with the red and white polka dot ribbon.  An entire theme and I super love how it turned out.  So did Saucy Chick Lorraine when I gave it to her. 
I am having so much fun making these.  With my obesssion in fabrics I think I can make them until the world runs out of thread.  :o)
Enjoying my end of summer holiday weekend.  Staying home, visiting with friends, doing some much needed Fall cleaning (I probably missed my Spring cleaning since we never had Spring for all the seven months of winter), weeding which never seems to end and overall enjoying every moment of every day.  I even spent time organizing and putting away tons of stuff in the studio.  Amazing how my 4' x 8' work table can get so cluttered and I find myself working in a space of only inches. 
May you each have a safe and wonderful end of summer weekend and celebrate our Labor Holiday if in the USA. 
I am seeing lots of Halloween goodies...what are you working on these days?

 I recently went into the studio with nothing in mind and this is what was created.  I took some fabric given to me by Sherry of http://sherrysimpleblog.blogspot.com/ and some card and envelope stock and began cutting, gluing, stamping and adding buttons and lace.
Our weather this summer has been so perfect that I just wanted to "squeeze every drop of summer sunshine" possible. 
I made seven sets and then mailed them out to some of my followers as a surprise.  I put the card and envelope into a larger envelope so they were receiving an unused card that they can either send along to someone else or put in their handmade stash of goodies.
I had fun and love spending time in my studio.  It is always extra nice when I have no preset notion and then the end result makes me very happy.  I smile each time I see these photos.  Of course I didn't keep one for myself.  You know how it is...make for everyone else and send them along.   At least I thought to take a photo. 
Very simple, very quick and very Summer!
Hope everyone is enjoying the remaining days of sunshine...For those of you with extreme heat I wish you cooler weather to enjoy.
In true Summer style I made potato salad for dinner tonight along with cold roasted chicken in pure picnic mode.  And of course watermelon for dessert!  What's for dinner at your house?

Do you sew? Are you passionate about fabrics? Do you adore bags to put things in?
Oh Yeah! I do love to sew and I am passionate about fabrics and yes, I love bags to put things in. This is a fabric called Fairy Frost and has a silvery shimmer to it.

I just can't help myself. I keep making these little lace chickies and they keep flying off to new homes. This little lady is still here as she hasn't decided where she is off to.

Oh My! I do not know what has happened to my scanner but the colors are all wrong on this butterfly card. However, I am showing you a technique that saved my card project.
I had purchased a new Martha Stewart punch with all these wonderful butterflies. I also purchased some premade butterfly cards with envelopes. The stamped butterfly is really gold and embossed on an ecru cardstock. So I took my card and punched the butterflies. Oops...what I didn't realize is that the punch cuts the butterflies completely off of the card. Well that was not attractive. My card front was now very short and my butterfly edge was laying on the table by itself! So I got out the decorative papers and cut a piece to fit the entire front of the card. Then glued on the butterfly border. I also lined the envelope with the same deco paper. Card saved and now usable. I actually like it so well I shall make more like this one using other fun colors.

In lieu of Spring weather I made this altered lace bird. With all the snow and sleet and slush and rain and more snow I just had to feel like I could help Spring arrive.
The base is canvas I cut freehand. Then I layered muslin and various laces which I sewed randomly. A muslin heart and yellow feather for the wing. A small brown button for the eye.
Now I have a lovely Spring Bird to help me await the songs of real birds when the weather permits.
I think I shall make some more altered lace birds. I love how tweet (sweet) they are.
Happy hearing of all the wonderful warm weather most of you are experiencing.
Our local newspaper headline actually said, SNOWPRISE! We usually get snow into May but this winter has been especially harsh. We have had storm after storm after storm.
Happy week ahead my bloggy friends...

This is something I purchased while in La Quinta/Palm Springs recently. It hangs on the wall and has hooks for jewelry or such. The idea is really very simple yet it makes a great statement. The entire piece is approximately 24 inches in length. It would be very easy to create these out of lightweight foam core board or one of those ceiling tiles that can be used for a bulletin board. Cover with some fun fabric and ribbon and netting. Very girlie and I love it.

In the land of blog there are many kind and generous people. I have certainly met some of the nicest through my blog.
One of my previous posts showed something I made using buttons.

Wrapping presents can be quite the chore and take lots of precious time...unless you enjoy wrapping and making each gift look special. My mother was the best at wrapping each and every gift. She would make the paper look extra special and you would never see any tape and every fold was perfection. Then she handmade each and every bow the old fashioned way. I used to take forever to unwrap a gift as I didn't want to ruin her hard work. I would untape and unfold and save every piece of paper with no rips or tears. Her bows got reused for years until they litterally became shabby before shabby was chic.
These gifts I wrapped with paper and ribbons and an ornament and tag. I am quite pleased with them. Then in a very few minutes each was opened and all was tossed in the trash except maybe the ornament and some ribbon.

Here is my wonderful worktable once again. This time I am making some fun and super easy tags out of scraps.
See if you recognize some of the scraps I have used:
Green Hardanger cloth from the local thrift store costing $1 for all 15 tags.
Ecru ribbon from local thrift store 50 cents and most of the roll still left for more projects.
Buttons, thread, paper shapes cut from recycled holiday cards, used holiday postage stamps, fabric scraps, Bounce dryer sheets that tear or cut wonderfully, painted Lysol cleaning cloths, crocheted snowflakes, scrapbook paper scraps and tape transfers.

No two alike. So fun to just put each one together. I sewed most of them on the machine and some just with needle and thread.

While out shopping one day I bought these yummy wool fabric scraps. I fell in love with the colors and the feel of the fabrics. Some of the pieces were rather small but I knew what I wanted to do with them so the size was workable.

Button Bookmarks are very easy to make. I had made some and then discovered them in this button book.

First and foremost I wish to thank my wonderful blog family who all wished us safe and warm during the last storm. We finally got power Monday about 3 pm. Now we are having another storm warning however I am confidently using all the power I need. Computers are on, lights, heaters, vacuum cleaner, washing machine, and we are very content and happy.

Here are a few photos of what was on my work table when the power went out:
The red is a piece of white watercolor paper that I painted red for a project. In doing the two step paint process I used my handy Lysol cleaning cloths and therefore got some extra fun red to work with in future projects. I just let them dry completely which took a while.