Quilted bags for Mother's Day

Each year on Mother's Day I like to have a little something to hand out to all of my senior adult ladies at church.  This year I came across this idea for a quilted bag.  The original idea was from a blog called Pink Penguin.  Here is the link to her awesome tutorial for making the bag!  I made mine smaller but used the same technique.  My smaller bags are done with 9 - 2" squares.  I was making 70 of them and decided that making both sides quilted was more than I could tackle so I did coordinating fabric on the back and created a label to stitch on. 

 Awhile back I shared with you the idea/instructions for printing on fabric with your computer.  Here is the link to those instructions. 

 The initial idea was to put a small sewing kit in each bag but the more I thought about it the more I wondered how practical that would be for a senior adult.  For most of the ones I know just threading a needle is a challenge.  Ended up designing candy wrappers using old fashioned sewing graphics.  Wording on the sides and back of the candy have the date and Happy Mother's Day written.  The candy I used was Hershey Nuggets.  They are easy to make wrappers for because a basic address label (Avery 8160) fits perfectly around them.

 The bags were really easy to make but about half way through the project I found myself wondering.......WHAT WAS I THINKING! 

Looking forward to Mother's Day when I can hand out treats and hug a lot of necks!

Tiffany Blue Theme

I never know where inspiration is going to come from! 

This year for Christmas my daughters bought me my first Tiffany's gift.  (Ooo la la!) Now I don't know about you but if I get anything in one of those pretty blue boxes the box must be saved! It has been sitting around in my bedroom since Christmas.  Makes me smile just to see the box!  On top of that, I keep seeing that commercial where the senior adult man orders Breakfast at Tiffany's for his wife for their anniversary.  Anyway, when it came time to plan "Senior Appreciation Day" at church I had Tiffany on the brain!  My variation of the Tiffany theme is "Breakfast at Trinity".  I started by looking for Tiffany blue paper.  I found a great resource for all types of Tiffany paper at Paper and More online.  They had really fast service.  I had my order in 2 or 3 days.

 My first project was this candy folder.  I came across the idea on Pinterest. (Where all wonderful ideas come from, right?)  You can find the instructions to make this at Kerry's Craft Blog where she even has a great video tutorial on how to put it together.

 This silverware bag is probably my favorite part of this project.  Embossing the bag was also found on Pinterest but their idea was on a paper bag.  I used an embossing folder with tiny dots and ran each bag through my Cuttlebug.  The blue strap and wording squares were made from scraps!  Love finding a way to use scraps!  I had printed the squares for the candy holder and later decided the size was too small.  They were perfect for the silverware bag!

 Invitations were relatively easy to set up.  I downloaded a couple of Tiffany style fonts to use and the chandelier was a die that I have, also with my Cuttlebug.  If you wanted to do it without the die cut, I think it would be fine with just the words in the middle of the invite.  That would be just like a real Tiffany box.  :) The 2 fonts I downloaded are TiffanyTwoLight and TiffanyTwoSmc.  The second one is all capitols and most closely resembles the Tiffany box.

 I ordered 8.5x11 paper from the same place to use as placemats.  Just printed in the center of them.  We will have white tablecloths and candles in the center of the tables.

Like a lot of things I do, it seemed like an easy project until I started making 100 of everything! 

I think this theme would be wonderful for a wedding shower! 

Yee Haw!

One of my favorite themes is Western.  The food and decorations are easy and easy is my favorite kind of party!  Today I want to share a simple idea to go with that theme. 

Got any old jeans????

Messed up jeans are the best.  Gives this project personality.

Lay 'em out on the table.  You're going to need a pair of good sewing scissors and some pinking shears. 

Cut the bottom of the leg off from about the knee.  I save this part to use as a gift bag.  Just turn it inside out, sew the raw edges closed and turn it back.  It is great for a number of things.  Do you have door prizes for your party?  Use these as a gift bag.  They are just the right size to hold a bottle of your favorite beverage.  Use raffia to tie the top shut.  OR slide a vase into them and again, tie it on with raffia.  Fill it with sunflowers and you have a great centerpiece for your western table.

Now take your sewing scissors and do a rough cut around the pockets. 

Use your pinking shears to cut around the pocket close to the edges.  You can start with the pinking shears if you like but I have found that that they are hard to use over the thicker seams.

Use these pockets to hold the silverware and napkin for your table settings.

A friend got me started collecting pockets when she loaned me hers for a Cowboy Christmas party I hosted at church.  I've been collecting ever since.  Picture a red check table cloth and red napkins in the pocket.

Boy Making Cards For 180,000 Troops

Original story by Amy B. Wang, writer for The Arizona Republic

Ten-year-old Stephen Goodman, a fifth-grader in Surprise, Arizona, wants to send a thank you card to military personnel. Not to one platoon, or to just one division, but to every actively deployed service member in the U.S. military. Stephen said he thought of the idea while spending the summer with his grandparents in Phoenix. “My grandpa went to Vietnam and didn’t get any cards, and he felt forgotten,” he said.

Stephen started locally, creating and hand-delivering 218 Fourth of July cards for patients at the Carl T. Hayden VA Medical Center in Phoenix. The feedback was so thrilling and positive that Stephen started thinking: Why not send one to everyone deployed? He began paying attention to news reports. Somewhere, he gleaned the number of overseas troops to be 180,000. “I was really taken aback when he said he wanted to do one for all the troops,” said Stephen’s father, Steven Goodman. “I explained to him it was a big project, and because of what his intentions were, he would have to carry it out.”

Each thank you card is handmade, using “construction paper and scissor designs and markers and stickers and my imagination and that’s it.” according to Stephen. The entire family pitches in. So far, they’ve made about 15,000 cards. Vice President Joe Biden happened to catch Stephen’s story while traveling through Phoenix last August. Stephen got his own thank you in the mail. “It just said thank you for what I’m doing, the soldiers will appreciate it,” he remembered. The letter made Stephen’s summer. “It made me feel very excited to know that the vice president sent me something,” he said.

When all 180,000 cards are done, the Goodmans plan to take them to Luke Air Force Base where they will be delivered overseas all at once to make sure no soldier is over looked.

This month at our regular Spark a Smile card get together (Wednesday, May 11th, 5pm, at the Yang and Horsley Dental office) we will be making thank you cards to help Stephen with his project. Card supplies are pre-cut and ready for you to glue or tape together this time around. (Easy peasy!) .

Senior Adult Appreciation Day

My photography skills leave a lot to be desired!  Here is a peek at the day yesterday.
Cute but not perfect.  It's hard to 125 of anything!  I think they enjoyed the cuteness.  :)

Simple tables.

Some of my very able, very tired helpers!

He cooked 150 burgers in an hour!

Recap of the day:  The cupcakes were a hit! They were, however VERY time consuming.  I'm not sure I would do them again in this kind of quantity.  I did as much as I could ahead but the brightly colored frosting really needs to wait until you are ready to put them out.  If you frost them ahead and they touch each other, it looks like a mess instead of ketchup and mustard.  5 of us worked assembly line style to get them frosted and it worked well.  Do you suppose "Bakerella" has staff for this kind of stuff?  :)

What was I thinking?????

I LOVE reading blogs!

I especially love finding new ideas for crafty things!

I also enjoy planning events.

Right now I'm working on a Senior Appreciation Sunday at church.  We will serve lunch to our senior adults March 20th.  Sunday events are a challenge because we can't do any of the set up until Sunday School is over at 10:30.  We expect to serve about 125 people around noon.  This year we will cook hamburgers on the grill.  A fairly easy menu with lots of prep work being done ahead. 

I found the cutest idea for dessert!  Bakerella made hamburger cupcakes and sugar cookie french fries! She even provides a pdf of the packaging! 

So much cuteness!

What was I thinking?

125 of these?

Oh my!

Guess I better get busy.....

Senior Christmas Luncheon 2010

 Decorations

 Food

 Visiting

 Helpers :-)

 Entertainment-Jo the Storyteller

Clean up

I was "reminded" last night by my daughter Katy that it has been a LONG time since I've done a new blog post.  This from the child that isn't even a "follower" of my blog.  LOL.  SO I thought I would post some pictures of what has been keeping me busy lately. 

  36 goodie bags ready to be handed out at the children's department Christmas party.

100 bags filled and ready to hand out to all the children at the Christmas Eve service at church.

60 Christmas cards.  Hand made.  Addressed.  Almost ready to mail.  I'm especially grateful for a husband that doesn't mind writing a fun family "letter".  From time to time that journalism degree he has comes in handy at home!

"Treats" to hand out at the family get together this weekend.  We don't really exchange gifts per se but I love to send a little something fun (and not too expensive) home with each family and each kiddo.  These are probably my favorite things to shop for.  I guess you could say they are a fancy party favor. 

So you see.....lots of detail work filling my time this month.  (And yes, I am occasionally bogged down by the quantities!)

Next event?  The senior adult luncheon this Thursday.  More pictures to come then! 

Worth it All.....

Remember the Teddy Bears??? The party I made them for was last night.  I was at my sister in law's wedding last night but got the following Facebook message today:

"Ian liked the bear you made. He says it has a green ribbon bow on with a heart on its body. He named it Beary because it is a bear. He says it does not talk because it is not real. It is a toy. All your hard work made one very happy Ian. Thank you!"

Nothing better than making a child happy!  :-)

Spark a Smile Turns One!

A year ago I began attending a monthly card making group. We call ourselves "Spark a Smile". The cards we make are donated to a number of organizations. This month we celebrated with a birthday party! We had carrot cake. :-)
We also made birthday cards to donate. It was our biggest turn out ever and a lot of fun.

The Bears.....In Pictures

The End

(Finally!)