Sriracha Almonds

Today is my Daddy’s birthday. I cooked him a gift.

I etched a jar from the HobLob to contain his gift.I made him laugh with the way I worded the etching.My job here is done!

Some heroes wear NG tubes & cannulas…

Once upon a time a beautiful princess found her handsome prince. They were married in a splendid wedding.

But the prince had to travel for long months at a time. He carried with him a little sock monkey to pose for pictures in ports of call to send to the princess when he could. After a time his travels were ended and he was home to stay.

On the day it was announced the princess was having a baby, I knew exactly the quilt I would make to celebrate the child. Julie had an adorable appliqué set of a sock-monkey alphabet. I bought it! Instead of using both the boys & the girls, I wanted to make the quilt according to the gender of the baby. In the meantime, the search was on for fabric with small figures for each of the letters.

Finally it was revealed that the princess was carrying a man-child. Oh! the excitement! Now my big rush was on to find just the right “boy” fabrics to complete the quilt.But then the heart-rending news came that all was not well with the baby, he was found to have a congenital heart issue that would require extreme measures to correct immediately after birth and for years after.

At this juncture I could tell the quilt-making was going to extend beyond Teddy’s baby shower & birth; so my goal was to finish by the time he was able to leave the hospital.

From the very start of his life on the outside, this plucky little guy was a fighter. He bravely jousted with every procedure his condition required of his caregivers. His Grandma would keep us updated on facebook. Every morning/evening we’d look for news of Teddy’s latest victory. She’d relate to us his conversations with the world he was about to conquer.

Then one day came the wretched news that the villain CHD had overpowered our hero Teddy. We. were. crushed.

I was roughly halfway through embroidering the blocks. But in a conversation with his bereft mommy, we decided I’d go ahead & finish the quilt to honor his memory.

It was tough! I’d cry over the fabrics I’d chosen for appliqué because I would remember this one was picked up for Dad’s favorite sport, or that one because Grandma loves gingerbread men…

But with a little help from a friend(actually, very little help…)I got to the point where I could piece it all together.

THAT was fun

but not as fun as binding.

There was just SOOOOOOOO much “help” to be had!

After all was stitched, bound, clipped & laundered, I even got some assistance removing all the lint…

Anyhow, here is my tribute to a brave lad. Stitched with love & prayers for his mom & dad - his grandmas & grandpa - his aunt & uncle - his extended (extensive!) family…

If you know a “heart baby”, pray for him/her & the family.Sometimes they almost live at the hospital. Sometimes they live separately because there are ones to care for at home. Thank you Teddy, for reminding us to live life with our whole heart.

Faux Zinc Stencils

I “needed” a few galvanized metal-looking stencils to complete a little tableaux atop my kitchen cupboards.

A stroke of frugality genius compelled me to cut my letters out of 5 layers of cardstock with my #Silhouette and then glue them together for desired thickness. A little black/grey/blue/silver paint dabbed here & there gave the appearance of aged zinc stencils.

My dad had given me the perfect slab of wood a couple years back -- all I had to do was dust it of & then run a light wash of grey over it.Fortunately in the garage I found some small silver-toned nails that looked just right hammered into the corners of the stencils.(I think I only bent one nail…)Ta-da!

 

 

House of Cards…

Although this home houses extreme Red-Bird fans, that’s not what this post is about. (Just know we are very disappointed to be living in the city hosting the Super Bowl & not have our team show up…)

But I did want to share a few paper projects I’ve done the past few months:

A dear man turned 90 today.That’s a whole lotta-lotta candles!

And December 17th a sweet woman celebrated her 90th birthday.(This is a beautiful card cover from Bird’s Cards.)

Here are December 2014’s biscotti tags.

Nothing better than birthday bunting!

Needless to say, I put my heart into the cards I make. But it’s the sympathy cards that require heart, soul & many tears during creation.

I even tried my hand at making seeded paper. Next time I’ll make the paper thinner so I can cut it. (No kitchen shears or box cutters were injured in the shaping of these letters -- but almost!)

I’d have to say on of my favorites was this Scrabble card:(Sorry I’ve had to blur some letters to protect the innocent.)

I’ve some more cards in the works for Valentine’s Day, so keep watching this web space…