It has been fun being part of the Sizzix Scoreboard TM Blog Hop using new dies designed by the talented Eileen Hull. This is not my area of expertise so I have enjoyed bringing my love of fabric and trims to my designs with the dies. Seeing what other very talented designers and artists create with the same dies is truly amazing! The creative input from each one turns the same die into a totally unique project. This is the final challenge in the Blog Hop. Thanks to Eileen for putting this hop together!

This week's die challenge, the bow die. You can see the actual bow you can create with it at Sizzix complete with all the instructions. You can check out all the talented designers involved at blog hop headquarters, Eileen's blog!

I love dresses and since I am enjoying many date nights these days, dresses are a big part of my wardrobe. This is a whimsical take on the little back dress incorporating some daisy buttons and ribbon I had in my scrapbox. The picture below my design shows the actual die cut. Eileen sent samples already cut and I just used all the white ones in my project, the Bow & Beribboned Dress Up!

More from Spring Quilt Market tomorrow! Follow the JOY! Debra, CEO!

I returned from Spring Quilt Market in Minneapolis today. I almost missed my third and final plane of the day due to delay with second flight! My thanks to the Air Canada personnel for getting me there and the nice gentleman who let me go ahead. My luggage made it too, first off the plane!

Not only did I come back inspired from the show but I got to visit Creative Homearts magazine and club headquarters and stay with club Executive Director and Editor Julie Stephani. Carol Zengraff and Vivian Peritts also stayed and we had a great time ending each night with something I have never played, Hollywood Dominoes. (I did win :) Getting out the door in the morning was a challenge with all the chatter and wardrobe consultation but it was very fun!

The show as always is filled with crisp color, a fresh vibe of retro and flowery prints. New interesting products, fountains of fabrics and wonderful books. Vivian has a new book out with Suzanne McNeil and Design Originals. Her new book incorporates the Accu Quilt Go machine in fabulous wearable designs.

C&T Publishing has a new imprint Stash, smaller books with fresh and whimsical titles, Little Birds is adorable! The Sock animal books is too cute and the City Quilts contemporary and fresh. More from the show this week! Holiday tomorrow so taking the day off. Follow the JOY! Debra, CEO!

This week there is an abundance of travel going on, many artist and designer friends are in New York attending or exhibiting at the Surtex and National Stationery Shows. The end of the week is the Spring International Quilt Market tradeshow in Minneapolis which is also home of Creative Homearts Club and magazine that I write my Make it Green column for. I am so looking forward to visiting and seeing everyone! Exciting plans are in the works! Homearts goes live with 30 hour crafting extravaganzas in three cities in the fall. Editor Julie Stephani plus the columnists and crafting celebrities Drew, the Crochet Dude and Kathy Caron-Marillo, the Crafty Chica will be hosting the events. Open to Homearts members the weekends will be filled crafting fun, classes and goodies!

When I return I will have pics from both Quilt Market and my visit to Homearts!
Follow the JOY! Debra, CEO!

Fowl Friday! Freda & Fran here! Well there is feathery fallout on the homefront! The nest is on the market and the traffic coming through has all hands, wings on deck. Clean, clean, clean! Debra has us dusting, mopping & wearing our already very bony feet to the bare... We are slightly suspicious as the feather duster somewhat resembles the feathers of a close friend, Debra assures us they are synthetic, however I am skeptical, they look quite real to me. I am definitely more of a feather expert than she is! So everyday we clean, hoping someone takes pity on our plight and buys this place. We are not cut out for hard labor! Follow the Fowl! Fran & Freda!

It is another round of the Sizzix Scoreboard Blog Hop! These dies are the design of designer friend Eileen Hull! This week's new die is the cake, it is so cute and in the hands of several talented designer friends the ideas for this project are endless! Being a sewer and always looking for storage, I made mine a cute little sewing basket with a spool of thread for a cake stand.

To make my cake!
You will need:
6" fabric scrap for top
Double adhesive sheet
Double sided tape
3 yds of two co-ordinating ribbons
1/2 yd flower ribbon
18 flower appliques
3 pink, 3 black buttons
1 white spool of thread
1 quilter's pin
Beacon's Fabri-tac Glue
Scissors charm

1. Cake Top: Affix fabric to cake top with adhesive sheet. Trim scallops. Bend scallops down. Glue buttons together alternating colors and lining up holes. Glue to top of cake, insert charm over pin and pin into buttons.
2. Cake Sides: Cut strips of both ribbons 1" longer than cake sides. Overlap ribbon 1/2" at bottom and top of each section and glue in place alternating patterns. Score and bend sections. Affix three sections together into a circle. Affix to cake bottom.
3. Finishing cake: Glue flower ribbon around center of cake. Glue appliques on ribbon alternating sections. Put cake top on. Place on cake stand and enjoy!

Check out all of the talented designers in the blog hop! Eileen has all their links listed on her blog! Follow the JOY! Debra, CEO!

Last week got side tracked with a couple things, new roof and putting the house up for sale with an Open House yesterday. It was a different but fun kind of Mother's Day heading out in the morning with my youngest daughter and three cats in the back seat. The cats spent much of the day sleeping, the oldest Merin climbed under his blanket with just his head sticking out. Looks like moving will be sooner than expected. Life is moving along very quickly!

The latest issue of Creative Homearts is out. I had fun designing a little girl's tea party complete with dresses, purses, table runner, chair covers and napkin rings. The adorable fabrics and applique line featured are from the Bazooples line designed by the talented Vicki Schreiner and are available online at ATreasure Nest.

Photo courtesy of Creative Homearts

Coming up this week is another Sizzix Scoreboard  blog hop on Wednesday. Follow the JOY! Debra, CEO!

Monday morning has arrived, a new work week begins. It feels good to begin the week after a refreshing weekend off. I found a lovely place to move into while away on the weekend, had a great time in the warm May sun and a shopping afternoon with my darling daughters! The three of us have very different tastes but also very similar and we always enjoy road trips together. We had fun!

As artists and designers who work from home, inspiration comes from many sources. It can also feel isolating at times but with the explosion of networking possibilities and shared knowledge online that has all changed. This week I am signed up for an ecourse with artist and designer Laura Bray, Multiple Streams of Income for artists and designers. Suzanne Falter Barns another one of my very favourite people is always giving free teleclasses full of inspiration and information. Business is changing, how we operate as individuals must also carry over to our work, as artists that is inherent, our values, our passion in our business is necessary for true success. Success is not just measured by monetary means but by the value of what we offer to ourselves and others in enriching lives, making a difference and living in a way that feeds our soul. A rich life is one in which we live with respect, honesty and dignity, filled with purpose and meaning surrounded by whom we love and what we love.

Laura Bray also talks about creating your Style Statement, how you live your life through your home, business and way of conduct and dress. She calls her style Creative Nostalgia (TM). Raising the question, what is your style statement? Does the way you live your life in all areas reflect the authentic you? Would you like to live in peaceful, beautiful surroundings and yet live among chaos? Do you want more meaning in your life but find yourself involved in meaningless busyness? Sometimes changing just one thing can make a big difference and just thinking about what you really want, writing it down makes change happen.

Thinking about my own Style Statement, it is creative, joyful and feminine, I live surrounded by soft colors and dress very feminine. I believe the best of everyone and treat others with respect and compassion. I have never spoken even in situations that might warrant it by others in a way that I would regret. We have to live with ourselves. I know that love must be held with an open hand, love remains because it wants to like a butterfly that lights every so softly on a flower drawn by the fragrance and the beauty.

I want to say thank you to all you visit my site and read my blog. My only wish is that it adds to your day, a bright spot that brings a smile. We have only one life, live it well.

Follow the JOY! Debra, CEO!

It is Fowl Friday with Fran & Freda! Big news we are apparently getting ready to fly the coop this summer. Debra is off this weekend checking out some new nests for us to feather. We of course put in a request for certain amenities, a word we have heard often this past couple weeks! I want an ensuite, Freda would like a jacuzzi to soak in. Her legs get tired from all the dancing and she loves her bubbles! A yard with a pool of course or at least a pond for us, ocean view and maid service. Debra has often remarked we have maid service already, her. Don't tell her but as a maid she is not so great, in fact we would fire her but since we don't pay her that is kind of hard to do and she does own the place!

So while Debra is gone we were given instructions to declutter the coop. That is not easy, you never know when one red rubber boot might be needed, bottle caps, shoelaces, shower cap with holes we got some good stuff! We can't part with any of it but Debra is tough and says we better smarten up or we could end up on Hoarders! Sigh so we will try to purge while she is gone! Wish us luck! Fran & Freda

May is almost here! Creativity is blossoming everywhere! I wasn't able to participate in the Sizzix Scoreboard bloghop this week but you can check out all the talented designers and wonderful creations on Eileen Hull's blog! 

In about three weeks I am off to International Quilt Market in Minneapolis. Everything to do with quilting and sewing happens there! The magazine I write for Creative Homearts is also located there and I get to visit the offices plus stay with my dear friend and editor Julie Stephani! Big plans are in the works so exciting.

The show is inspiring and the displays are amazing, alive with color, pattern and texture! Quilting is a true art form! A great place to conduct business, connect with fabric companies and publishers. I am working on another book proposal and pitching a new fabric line so we will see what happens! 

Have a joy filled creative day! Follow the JOY! Debra

Life is constantly changing with each day. Much of it is in ways we do not notice, we age every day, our children grow, the tree outside the window is suddenly towering over the house. Living cells are in constant motion and always changing. Yet change is one of the hardest things in life for us to deal with. Losing people, children move out and go off to school, favorite places close, these types of major changes are often hard to deal with. We focus on the loss at first, mourning what was but then it is time to move on. Becoming stuck is the real loss for with loss comes space for something new to enter.

I find myself at a place of more major change. In the past two years I moved my mother three times before she passed away, my oldest daughter moved in and back out, my youngest is preparing to move out and away for school and I am considering leaving the city I have lived in for thirty three years. I am thinking of moving to a larger city only an hour and a half away to be closer to the special someone now in my life. I love my home and people are already lining up who want to buy it. It is scary and a little sad, my plan saw me here for many years caring for my Mom while my youngest went to school here. My Mom is now gone and my youngest is off to school in another province and I met a wonderful man. It is also exciting and I am very happy. I am taking a chance, luckily my work moves with me easily so that is a big plus!

I realize after losing a dear friend a short time ago that life is indeed a precious gift and we must live each day fully. I could play it safe and stay here or risk it all and follow my heart. I truly believe life is simply a love story and so I am off on an adventure. I do not know if there are fairy tale endings for princesses over fifty with a combined seven children and two grandchildren part of the package but I do believe there are love stories for all of us, anywhere, anytime, any age!

As I prepare to downsize to an apartment for the initial move my daughters and I have been going through everything from Barbies to school pictures, so many memories. There are many more to make and live.

I have found as each item is sold or donated and leaves my space I feel freer. I choose to live more simply with only things I love around me. So much is leaving, it is though much harder to part with things you still like but have no space for and yet seeing them go off to a good home to be enjoyed is very satisfying.

Now it is back to work! Writing about fuzzy snowmen!
Follow the JOY! Debra, CEO!