Scrappin' Saturday XX

Welcome to Scrappin' Saturday - take a peek into the pages of my scrapbooks.

Picking up from where I left off with this series, this is my second page of tatting. The upper right design is from Glass Christmas Balls by JoAnn Stearns. It is the top half of design #4. After that, I went with a few motifs and edgings so the ornaments would be done in time for Christmas. I used satin covered balls from Handy Hands and straight pins to hold the pieces on. The square medallion on the green ball in the center is a pattern I got from freepatterns.com. They credit it as being from Old Time Crochet Magazine, Summer 1998. The pattern for the green ball on the middle left is from Handy Hands Fall 2004 newsletter. The upper left ornament has the Trefoil Edging from the Big Book of Tatting . I'm not sure why I included the ornament in the middle on the right side - that was made with my Mom's embroidery machine. The two bottom pictures are of some other ornaments I've tatted. The green one is from the Big Book of Tatting, Christmas Tree Motif. I used DMC #5 pearl cotton in a medium dark green color. The round motif is from Tatting for Today, Motif #25.

How I Made It

Background:  Decorative Scrapbook Paper by Paper Pizazz. "Holly on Green" HOTP-20222
Borders: Cream colored cardstock and Spellbinders Grand 12" Classic Lace Border.
Photos: The photos were cut using Spellbinders Nestabilities Classic Scalloped Ovals Die Template , and were mounted on cardstock shaped with Spellbinders Nestabilities Classic Ovals Die Template .
Journaling: Sizzix Tags, Scallop Combo #2, with bits of thread through the holes. 
Other Embellishment: Snowflakes were punched with a Hyglo 6-in-1 craft punch. I used glitter glue to add sparkle, and scattered them around the page. 

December Ramblings

After my last post, my life got really crazy! But that's not really anything new, is it? I spent most of December frantically finishing gifts, many of which had been planned since March, and should have been completed by August. Several times, I wanted to sit down and write a blog post, but something else was always more important. The day of my last post (Dec. 11), we learned that Callie, our Calico cat had a tumor and would have to be put to sleep. The day after she was put to sleep, and friend of my Dad's was struck by a car as he tried to help someone caught in a snowdrift. I had only met him once, but members of his family have helped us with yard work since my Dad's cancer diagnosis. I was unaware of his injuries until the next day when I heard on the radio that he had passed away. Yet, through this tragedy, God was glorified. A local radio personality saw the accident, and stopped to see if he could help. He found tracks and a Bible in the man's pocket. He was also greatly moved when the man's wife arrived, and instead of praying for his life to be spared, as one might expect, she prayed that God's will be done. He was so moved that he talked about it on his radio program. I have been amazed at the number of people I've encountered who heard about the accident.

After all that, I really had no interest in blogging, and was really scurrying to finish up gifts. Now that I have had a few days to decompress from Christmas, my thoughts have returned to blogging, and all the things I wanted to blog about before the end of this year. Although they won't be published this year, I will try and get all the posts written today, and set them to auto publish during the coming weeks.

We have adopted a new kitty from our local animal shelter, Lollipop Farm. Her name is Cassie, she is approximately 2 years old, and part Russian Blue. She is full of energy and loves to play. She also loves petting and napping next to me while I'm reading. She has so much energy that we sometimes call her Crazy Cassie. This past week, she decided that walking across my keyboard was pretty cool, so I've been calling her Miss Computer Kitty. I will always miss Callie, but Cassie has helped fill the hole left by Callie's absence.

I hope you all had a merry, Blessed Christmas, and enjoy your New Year Celebrations!

Belated Gifts

Because of a death in the family, we did not celebrate Christmas with my grandparents until late January. I made this beach tote for my Grandma, since she likes mine so much. The pattern is 'Girlfriends Beach Tote from Mary Mulari's book Accessories with Style. The best thing about this tote is that there is a layer of vinyl between the top lace and bottom tapestry sections. You can put your wet stuff in the top, and everything in the bottom will stay dry. The one problem I have is that the tapestry fabric ravels like crazy. I serged most of the seams this time, but there were a couple I couldn't quite get to.

I also knitted this washcloth and soap sack. The washcloth was not exactly square, and my attempt at knitting the edging from the book looked awful. My Mom kindly helped me out by crocheting an edging for me. The patterns are from the Spa Set in 100 One-Skein Wonders. The yarn is Naturally Caron Spa Yarn, an acrylic/bamboo mix.
~Sarah

Christmas & Birthday Presents

This is one of several posts that has been running around my head since Christmastime. Here are pictures of the the craft-related things I received for Christmas and my birthday.

This gorgeous yarn was a gift from my employer. She also gave me some Aida cloth and a stamped cross stitch for my birthday. The yarn is Manos del Uruguay. I will be making Julia's Shawl from the book Wrapped in Comfort.

My Mom gave me these pretty scissors, and she made the scissor fobs. Thanks Mom!

This thimble is from my Grandparents. They bought it on their trip to Hawaii for my thimble collection.

I was hoping for some wooden sock blockers from the Loopy Ewe, but I'll just have to start a Loopy Ewe fund.
~Sarah

Knitted Backpacks

I knit these for my cousins in California. It made more sense to knit the same item three times rather than racking my brain for individual gifts. The pattern is from AnnyPurls; the main reason I chose it was the number of ways the bag could be varied. They were very easy to knit. I used Vanna's Choice yarn for the bags and a combination of Vanna's Choice and Wool-Ease for the pockets and puppets. Overall it was a very easy pattern to follow, and I would definitely knit it again. I saw an idea on Ravelry to needle felt an initial instead of making the pockets, so I might wind up making one for myself. For some reason my bags turned out larger than they were supposed to, so if you make the pattern, measure your bag before you cut the lining fabric!

This was the first one I made, and I misread the pattern, making the stripes wider than called for. I think it makes the bag a little more grown-up.

The pocket on this one was the most difficult part of the pattern. It was a cabled piece and it took me a few tries to get it right.









The only trouble I had with this was that the sails seemed out of proportion with the boat, but it turned out just fine.








Here's a closeup of the finger puppets. They were easy enough to knit, but embroidering the features nearly drove me batty. If I made the pattern again, I would either substitute something for the puppets, or find an easier puppet pattern.

~Sarah

The Reason for the Season

I've chosen a white ribbon for this month because the fifth candle in an advent wreath is white - the Christ candle. Christ is what Christmas is about for me and my family.

The reason we celebrate Christmas and give gifts is to help us remember the greatest gift of all. That gift was a baby. But not just any baby. This baby was God's only Son. God sent Him to earth to pay the penalty for our sins.

Why must we pay a penalty for our sin, you might ask? Because God is perfect, and sin cannot exist in His presence. The penalty for sin is death. But, God wants to have a relationship with us. He wants us to be His sons and daughters. So, He sent His Son - the one perfect sacrifice to die for our sins, so that we could experience eternal life. You see, Jesus didn't simply die for our sins; he returned to life three days later, proving that He has power over death. Now He wants to give us the gift of eternal life.

How is the promise of eternal life obtained? It's simple. Turn from your sinful ways, 'believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.' (Acts 16:30-31) 'For God so loved the world, that He sent His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.' (John 3:16)
To learn more about God's gift of salvation, visit this site.

God bless you this Christmas season,
Sarah

Ruth 1:16 Cross Stitch

Just wanted to let everyone know I'm still here! I've been knitting, sewing, knitting, tatting, knitting..... in general, keeping very busy. Since I don't know if any of my extended family frequents this blog, you'll have to wait 'til after Christmas for pictures.
However, since you can't have a blog post with no pictures, here's a cross stitch I recently finished. I need to soak it to get the sweat stains out, and then I'm going to take it to The Great Frame-Up and get a really fancy frame for it.
Sarah

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone! I probably won't post until next year, so enjoy your holiday, and don't lose sight of the 'Reason for the Season'.
John 3:16 - For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

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Large Dronkle Finished!

I'm not going to divulge how late I was up finishing this one. Just that I finished watching The Phantom of the Opera, watched all of Fiddler on the Roof, and nearly half of the special features. Anyway, now that they're done I'm going to (try) turning my attention to Christmas presents. So far I have not finished anything.
Without giving too much away, I have (at least) two knitting projects, one or more beading projects, several tatted items, and two to three sewing projects. I will take pictures and post them sometime between 12/26 and 12/31.

Happy Crafting!
~Sarah
PS~ For a picture of my Sister's animal, click here.