A Wonderful World of Elves

Hello!

If you want to see a wonderful world of elves - character dolls created by this fantastic artist - you must go to visit her blog at http://terradeduendes.blogspot.com/ I am in love with all of her elves and their families!

The young elf Ferrucio - the one with the great head of orange red hair - is my favorite! But now there is the Moonlight Artist post of last Friday and I can't tell you how this little person speaks to me! :<)

If you want a smile and a happy feeling - do check out this blog! See you next week - take care!

Hugs, Barbara Diane

I Will Be Gone Until July 6th

Hello!

I will be leaving early tomorrow morning to go out to dog sit with my best dog friend Brandy and will return posting on Tuesday July 6th. It will be so wonderful to leave this small apartment for a big house in the country - with windows all around, a deck, a huge back yard with a flower garden and bird feeders, etc. And central air! It has been so humid and hot here in this part of WI and like a sauna in my apartment - so much rain and many thunderstorms. I can't wait to sit in cool air inside and work on projects during the day and outside on the deck enjoying the early mornings and the evenings.

And best of all - I get to spend time with Brandy. Love that dog. I am taking Jim with me and he and Brandy will be joined at the hip and having those long conversations while sitting together out in the shade of the trees in the back yard. The past few months are all a blur, as life issues have been very difficult and are still ongoing - so this will be a very welcome break for both of us.

A little card to share. I love this pinwheel paper punch as it makes great flowers!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Wishing you a wonderful week! I will be back to post on Tuesday, July 6th for a couple of days and then back to stay with Brandy again for another short stay and then home again. See you on the 6th! I have finished a stationary box set but will save it for when I return and hopefully many more new projects that I will be making while out in the country!

Barbara Diane

Card Using The Same Beautiful Paper

Hello!

I am happy that you like the updated teapot! :<) I really love this paper design!

This is the card I then made using the same paper, but with different colored CS. The flowers are made from the same scrap paper as those on the teapot, but instead of two layers, the bottom layer is from one of the colored CS. Isn't it so amazing how the variations change?

So they don't really match as a set, but yet they do. :<)

Thanks for stopping by today!

I love hearing from you! I am trying to get to all of your wonderful blogs to leave a comment!

Barbara Diane

Remember This Teapot?

Hello!

Some time ago, I made this teapot. I loved how it turned out but it lacked something. I recently saw this beautiful paper at Archiver's when I was out and about and although I did not have a specific project in mind to use it for, I had to purchase it! You understand. :<)

After putting the paper away in a paper drawer, I turned and there was my teapot on the shelf and I thought, perfect! So, I took the paper back out of the drawer, the teapot down off the shelf and here is my revised and updated teapot. I hope you like it!

Before.

After. Isn't this paper beautiful? I used another paper from my scraps to make the flowers.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Tomorrow I have a card created using what was left of this paper and a different color CS. It took quite a bit of the 12 x 12 sheet to cut out the individual pattern groups I needed for the sides of the teapot so I did not have much left to work with.

Wishing you a great day! We are to have SUNSHINE and less humidity! :<)

Barbara Diane

Card to Accompany Silly Bird & His Birdhouse

Hello!

Here is the card of the many re-created flowers to accompany the Silly Bird and his Milk Carton birdhouse. I hope that you like it! :<)

I had such fun making these flowers and at times like this I am so glad to have all of the paper punches that I do have. It makes it so less stressful to just be able to pick whatever punch shape that fits what you want to create and you can just make flowers to your hearts content! :<) I have collected the punches for many years now and will continue to do so.

The front.

The inside.

The pair.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Here in this part of WI we had severe storms all night and into the morning hours, with more expected today. Wishing you sunshine where you are! :<)

Barbara Diane

Milk Carton Birdhouse & Little Bird

Hello!

Isn't this the cutest little bird! :<) You can find the tutorial for "Silly Bird" on the wonderfully creative blog Paper Punch Addiction at http://www.paperpunchaddiction.com/ When I saw this crazy little bird, I knew that I had to make one for myself immediately! :<) I loved how he turned out, but now he needed a birdhouse! I had recently put together my first Milk Carton Box using a tutorial - I don't have the die - and it was sitting on my work table until I could think of something to use it for. My Silly Bird needed a birdhouse. Perfect! You can find the tutorial that I used to make this box at http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/milk_carton_box/

In my last post I said that I had re-created some flowers from the pattern on this paper I loved, using paper punches. So here is the Silly Bird, the Milk Carton Box and my re-created flowers from the BoBunny paper. I hope that you enjoy! He makes me smile everytime I look at him sitting there and I am sure he is only the first of many I will make! :<)

Thanks for stopping by today!

I apologize for not making my rounds of blogs recently to see what you are all doing and to leave a comment, but real life has been chaotic here for the past many weeks and then came to a crisis and I am now still dealing with issues. I am mentally and physically exhausted by it all but so grateful that I have my blog and my projects and my dolls to keep my mind occupied with something other than these concerns and reading your lovely comments and e-mails just makes my day and keeps me going! :<) So thank you again for your kindness and I will be back to visiting your blogs soon! Wishing you a good day today!

Tomorrow I have photos of the card that accompanies the bird/birdhouse.

Barbara Diane

Love These Papers!

Hello!

I love these papers - this is such a happy design! :<)

I combined them with some others I had to make this large 5 1/4" x 7 1/2" card. A bit busy I guess, but I like it! :<)

Thanks for stopping by today!

Tomorrow I have photos of a sweet little bird/birdhouse and a matching card for which I re-created these flowers with paper punches. :<)

Wishing you a great day today! We have rain again in this part of WI. Sigh.

Barbara Diane

Creative Writer Award

Hello!

In all the chaos of this past week I had almost forgotten to post this wonderful award I received from my friend Helen! Thank you Helen for thinking of me!!!

This award requires one to:

1. Thank and link the person who gave you the award.
2. Display the award on your blog.
3. Tell 6 lies and 1 truth about yourself.
4. Nominate 7 others and notify them of the award.

The 6 lies and 1 truth:

1. My house looks out on a view of the lake.
2. This year my garden is quite large and growing well.
3. I have been to Paris and London.
4. The living room in my house has a fireplace.
5. My computer system components are all blue.
6. I have 6 bird feeders in my yard.

I send this award to the following 7 bloggers:

Amber at http://stayingcrafty.blogspot.com/
Carol at http://chocolatecraftsandbearsohmy.blogspot.com/
Dorothy at http://dorothypatricia.blogspot.com/
Linda at http://lindascraftycreations.blogspot.com/
Rhonda athttp://bluepoohbear753.blogspot.com/
Ryn at http://rynscraps.blogspot.com/
Sherrill at http://latenightstamper1.blogspot.com/

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope that you have a nice Sunday!

Number 3 was the only truth. :<)

Barbara Diane

Two Happy Harrys - The Final Photos

Hello!

The final photos of the two Happy Harrys. I hope that you enjoyed this process! :<)

HH #1

HH #2

Friends together! :<)

Thanks again for stopping by!

Wishing you a wonderful weekend!

Barbara Diane

Hello!

So there they were - the two Happy Harrys - one completed, one still not assembled, one with hair, one bald.

The pattern called for the hair to be made using fake fur - which I did not have as I dislike working with it. So I decided to use yarn I had on hand and the only black I had was a large braided yarn - and creating the hair using this was 'by the seat of my pants' all the way! :<) That is why no photos of the HH #1 during this process as I was so busy trying to figure this out by trial and error that I didn't think of stopping to take photos until his hair was completed. So here is how I created the hair - using HH #2 as the model.

First the yarn is attached to the head in sections. Thank goodness I attached the ruffle around his neck BEFORE starting the hair - wasn't so smart with HH #1. :<)

All the sections have now been attached. This is a bulky yarn with the large braid - so now I have to start to unravel each length of yarn to create more of an illusion of hair. Took a LONG time to do this and lots of excess yarn came loose - which pretty much stuck to everything, including me and my clothes, the table, the doll, etc. You get the picture. But I kept going! :<)

Am I looking good yet?

Now I start to trim the yarn to give him his 'hair cut' - HH #2 has a bit thicker hair style. That is what is fun about hand made items - no two are exactly alike. I prefer to think of it as each doll has their own personality - no matter what the creator does. :<)

Thanks for stopping by today! I will post the photos of the two completed Happy Harrys later today as family issues have interrupted my life and so the photos were not taken yesterday and I cannot do it until later today.

Until then, have a happy day. We have had thunder storms and severe weather here and it is to continue into today.

Barbara Diane