Crochet Edges Curtain Panels

Hello,
I needed 4 curtain panels.  Each panels was 80" x 80".  I didn't know why but I just love the curtain with the crochet edges.  I finished two panels.  I couldn't take a picture of the entire panel.  So here is a picture of the crochet edges that I did.

I did this design around the curtain except the top part of the curtain.  The first panel I finished in two days.  The second panel took a lot longer than that because I was bored crocheting the same design. Now that I am finished with them I didn't really like the design. I still need two more panels but I am not going to need them until April so I will wait to finish the other two with different design.

I don't have a pattern.  If you google "crochet edges", you will fine many.

Also, I am delighted to receive this award from Monica at Handmade cards with love

Monica created very unique cards for charity. She is very good with using natural material such as coffee beans, herb plants, leaves and many more on her cards.  Thank you Monica for sharing this award with me.

Thank you so much for looking.


Helen

Fellow blogger Blog Candy

Good Afternoon,

If you haven't check out my friend Barbara Diane blog yet, do check it out now.  Barbara has some yummy candy to give to one lucky crafter.

Aren't these one great candy!

Helen

Water, Water every where

Good Morning,
I have a few pictures, none card related, to share today.  The rain started last Sunday and continued on until Tuesday.  We got a little break on Wednesday.  By Wednesday late afternoon, it started to rain again and it rain until Friday morning.
Here are the aftermath:

Look at the street in front of this guy! and the street in front of the white door!  The streets were under water.  And what happen to the basement around there?  There is a house behind the guy.

Here is a picture of the basement.  The water in this basement was about 4 feet high.  Repeat: 4 feet high!

Stay dry where ever you are!

Helen

Sunshine Award & Summer Garden Share

Hello,
No craft today.  But I do have a few things to share.  I'd like to thanks Barbara at
Barbara's World of Whimcees for this Sunshine Award.

 Barbara is very creative and talented in many ways. I couldn't sew a straight line and Barbara sewed one doll after another.  And lately, Barbara added  written stories to her creations.  So creative!  Thank you again Barbara for sharing this award with me.

Next, I wanted to share my mother-in-law's  garden.  From late Spring to mid Fall, this is what my mother-in-law back yard looks like.

She grew two rows ( 25 feet long each row) of SUPER LONG string beans.

Each string beans grew up to over 24 inches long.  That was my kitchen floor tiles.  Each tiles measure 12" x 12" and that string bean was longer than two tiles.  I showed it to my neighbors and they suggested that I should send it to the Guiness World Book of record.  May be I should consider sending it.

Two rows (at least 15 feet) of bitter melons.

Here is a picture of the bitter melon fruit.  We cooked them when they were still green.  Yes, they were  bitter but we love them. I ate them both raw or cooked.

More vegetable, the empty spot was for different Greens.  Her favorite was Bok choy.

Two apple trees.  This one is my favorite.

There were more: different kinds of tomatoes and winter melon.  All Summer long and into Fall, they would just eat vegetables from their back yard.    Everything that she grew was organic.  Enviromentally friendly and amazingly healthy to have!

Thanks for taking a peak!

Helen

Chinese Knot

Hello,

I was browsing through the web the other day and was very excited to find this blog.  It was the blog that I am following but somehow I never saw the blog post when the blog owner updated.  She did tutorials on Chinese Knots!  I can't wait to try them.  Here is the link for those who wanted to try something different.

Twelve Basic Chinese Knots Tutorial


Have a wonderful weekend and stay cool.  We are expecting 100 degrees in the Delaware Valley.  A perfect excuse to stay indoor and learn how to do these Chinese Knots.


Helen

Unmounted wooden stamps

Hello Everyone!
I did this a while ago but never got a chance to share.  It was all started when Stampin' Up! started to sell clear stamps but even then I still wasn't going to unmount my wooden stamp sets. I don't own much stamp sets.  Then one day  I asked my husband to help me put two more shelves (about 2 feet long each) on the empty wall.  I took out all my stamp sets and placed them on the new shelves.  I was surprised how much stamp sets I owned. I had almost 60 sets.  It's a lot since I am not much of a stamper. My husband also noticed my stamps collection so he asked "how many sets did I have, two hundred?"  That was when the unmounting wooden stamps started.  I had seen people unmounted their wooden stamp sets but I didn't feel the need to do it.  But since my husband made that comment, I thought if I wanted to buy some more stamps I better do something about my stamp sets.  That was when I started to unmount most of my stamp sets.  I unmounted the sets that I knew I will be keeping.  Most of my holiday sets I left them the same.  They are seasonal and one day I might want to sell them and they worth more if they are in their original form.

I placed each unmounted set on a sheet of printing paper and put it in a transparency sleeve in a 3 rings binder.   And label it alphabetically.
 Here are a few samples.  I used double side tape to hold the stamp in place.  On the lower right corner is the stamp set name, the amount in each set, and what type of set it was, (SAB, hostess).

 I cleared out lots of spaces.  I had at least 40 stamp sets in the 3 rings binder. When I needed to use the image, I mounted it on the clear block.  I got my clear blocks from the local craft store.  I like them a lot because there are lines on the block which help me line up the image and stamp it straight especially the sentiments.

Thanks for looking.

Helen

Mini Treats Update

Good Morning Everyone,

Yipee! I finally finished all the mini treats.  I took several pictures and tried to load them last night.  I couldn't load any picture because my USB finally had given up on me.  That thing had been fallen apart so many times but I kept putting it back together and it work fine until last night.  I never bought the spare one so the pictures will have to wait.

Now on to the 12 place cards.  It is not a usual card.  Remmie wanted to use scripture verses from the bible.  Some verses were long and some verses were short so I have to create cards to fit the verses. If you are my regular visitors, you knew I don't do well with card.  So this is a challenge for me.  Wish me luck!



Have a wonderful day and stay cool!  It's going to be another hot day today.


Helen

Kids Mother's Day gifts

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers!

Just wanted to share my children mother's day presents for me.  They made these from art class at school.  This one was from Ray last year.  I remembered he woke up extra early on Mother's Day and place this on my craft counter top.  Of course I heard him but I waited until he was done.  Then I woke up to open my present.

I was really surprised to see this.

See  the "Stampin' Up!"  phrase! he even wrote it the Stampin' Up! way.  And those squares blocks are the stamps.  It was a really nice gift too bad I no longer have this gift.  Several months ago Faye broke it and I must had been in a really bad mood.  I threw the broken pieces away. I felt so bad when I got my sane back.   I was so glad I had this picture.

Here is this year mother's day gifts from Jay.  He made the flower and he wrapped the gift.

Look at the happy face on the sun! I love it!  I am glad that he wrote the year on it too.  So I will always remember this day.  It's hard to forget this day but who's guarantee old age memories!

Here is another one from his homeroom class.  This one is for the garden.

It's a very special day indeed.  I hope your Mother's Day is just as special and happy.

Hugs,

Helen

Finally I got some quilling paper strips

Hello Everyone,

Look at what I got,  quilling strips!  On Saturday, I went to a place called Flowers and Crafts Warehouse.  I found out about this place from a blogger friend, Judi.  You can check out Judi's  blog here.  As soon as I read about this place on Judi's blog, I wanted to go.  So yesterday I went.  My husband told me not to go since our GPS wasn't working at the moment.  I never been to that area.  It was only a little bit over an hour from where we live.  I was nervous to go there but I put on my brave face and went by myself.  My husband printed out the map plus the written direction.  I couldn't read while I was driving so I followed the map.  After about half an hour of driving, I got lost. I got lost for about an hour.  I didn't know where I was so I decided to give up and tried to find a way to come back home.  And guess what? I found the place! I spent two hours walking around in there.  The place was HUGE! Lots of flowers, scrap booking papers, and beads.  I have never seen so many beads.  Isles and isles and isles of beads.  But it didn't carry the things that I was looking for.  After two hours in there I was done and ready to come back home.  Then on my way out I found these quilling strips!  I was OMG! Quilling supplies!  Everything that I needed for quilling was there.  I got every pack of each color that they had there.  Plus the quilling circle sizer and a flower sampler kit. Yay! no more hand cutting 1/8" paper strips.

 

I couldn't walk a way from these ribbons.  These are 3/8" double face polyestersatin ribbon.  Each spool has 20 yards and it's only $2.75!  Look at the colors!  These three colors matched Stampin' Up! Pretty in Pink, Orchid Opulence, and Bashful Blue.  They had more colors but I only bought these three.  I thought I also saw the 5/8" satin ribbon just like the ones that Stampin' Up! carries.  Have to check that out next time.

  

Any way, thank you so much for stopping by!

Helen

A Card for a Boy, Please!

Hello,

I visited my blogger friend's blog, Barbara Diane, from her blog it led me to this blog and another blog.  Anyway all these lovely ladies are asking people to help a little boy to reach is goal.  Here is his story:  Evan is the grandson who is autistic and he has just been mainstreamed into the regular class.  He is trying very hard to blend in and make friends.  Although, I am not autism but I knew how Evan feel because I was once tried to fit in.
There is a contest in Evan's class to see how many cards from different states and countries can Evan get.  The more from different area the better.
If possible you could send postcards from the area you live. Just mention on the cards that you are a friend of his Grandma Froggy.  If he gets the most cards on the map he will win a prize.  Spread the word to anyone you know in other states or countries. Let's help this little guy win this and fit into his new school.

Send a postcard or Valentine to:  Evan Rupp c/o Mrs. Parvizi First Grade, Frederick Douglas Elem School, 100 Cedarmeade Ave, Winchester, VA 22601

Thank you!!!

Helen

A Nice Surprise and A Blogger Friend Blog Candy

Good Morning,

I woke up this morning to a nice surprise.  It was snowing last night.  It didn't accumulate much just enough to cover the ground.  Then my elder son told me that there was a two hours school delay.  I was just as excited as them.

Are you a doll collector? My blogger friend Barbara Diane at Barbara's World of Whimcees made this adorable doll and she is giving her away.

 

Head over to Barbara's blog  here.    You won't be disappointed.

Until next time.

Helen

Some Pictures to Share

Good Morning!

Today I just wanted to share some pictures that I took while I was at Florida.  No, we didn't visit Disney World. We were there to just visited family.   While I was there, my sister took me to a garden.  It was a five acres garden own and operated by husband and wife and a part time helper.  We were really impressed with the work that they both did.  There were quite a few green houses.  Each green house was at least 8 feet tall, 20 feet wide and 50 feet long.  Every winter both of them would unroll the plastic themselves to cover the green houses and during spring they would roll the plastic sheet up.  What a work!!

There were many different kinds of vegetables, herbs, and fruit plants.  Here are the star fruits.  I have never seen a star fruit plant so I don't know how tall they grow.  This one here is about 5 feet tall and still in a pot.

This is called Tamarine.  There are many kinds.  But we only think of them as the sweet kind and the sour kind.  If you had tasted this fruit, looking at them could make you salivating.  This fruit plant could grow as tall as three stories building. This one here is about 6 feet tall and still in a pot.  The owner said this is the sweet kind.  How can he tell?  He must had tasted the fruit that was the only way to tell.

 

 Look at this palmalow (didn't have spell check for this fruit) tree!  Some people think it's grapefruit but palmalows are much bigger than grapefruit and taste better too.

 

 Papaya plant.  Papaya plant doesn't have branches and there leaves are big!

 

 These fruits here are called Jackfruits. I don't know why it's "Jack" and not "Sam" or "Joy" or something else (smile).   These fruits can grow up to be as big as 15 to 25 pounds.  When ripe, it has a really sweet fragrant.

 

I don't know what this fruit plant call in English.  The tree had so many fruits here that the branch broke.

 

 Beside visiting the garden, I was busy making these roses.  I punched out all the pieces that I needed and just took the ink pad and a sponge with me.  There were 76 roses.  There's a great tutorial here.  I will share the project next month.

 

When I finished with the roses, I cut these dragonflies.  Again, I stamped all the dragonflies and colored them at home.  There were about 140 dragonflies.

 

 Here is a picture of the individual dragonfly.  I colored each dragonfly with three different colors.

 

 There are more.  These were the palm tree leaves from Prehistoric Pals set (retired).  I cut them before I went to Florida.  There were about 140 leaves. I thought I needed them but turned out I don't need them. I supposed to cut over 200 of these leaves but I was glad the project got canceled.  It was very difficult to cut the leaves. The dragonflies were a lot easier to cut.  Want to try? (lol)  I know, I've made enough cutting for this life time (lol).

 

Thank you for stopping!!!

Have a great day!!!

Helen

Pop up cards tutorial is coming

Good afternoon,
Just a quick note.  I have quite a few people email me  regarding my pop up cards.  I had been thinking and now I have made my decision.  I am going to do the tutorial on the pop up card sometime next week.  So make sure to check back next week.

Thanks for stopping by.

Helen

Orchid

Hello,
No craft today. However, I wanted to share this orchid that my sister bought for me three years ago when we moved to this house. It was the best house warming gift. It bloom every year around the same time between March and April. And every time it bloom it lasted 3 to 4 months. This year it is very unusual. It has been blooming for 5 months even the color is fading (since the end of March) and it's still blooming.
So if you're thinking of buying a house plant, I would recommend buying an orchid. Your money will be well spend.

I planted it in a clay pot and I used Spanish moss. And I placed it in a place that has indirect sun light. I never used any orchid food. I just spray water on the leaves every once in a while and took out any dead leaves.

That's it for today. Have a wonderful weekend.

Helen