Sally's Angelworks

{Happy 6th Birthday, Oscraps! bloghop, freebie, and giveaway!!}

Happy 6th Birthday to you, Oscraps!!!

Oscraps is a digital scrapbooking community of which I have been a part of since near the beginning~I have many sweet and wonderful (and WILD!) memories of the last 6 years with these fabulous girlies that have joined in all of the digi fun!!

I'm super excited to be a part of the festivities at the O this coming week! And it all starts with this fun Birthday hop!!

So, welcome to my blog - Sally's Angelworks!! (hope you like exclamation points!!)

If this is the first time you are visiting, you are in for a treat! I tend to dabble in all kinds of art, including digital scrapbooking. You won't be bored when tooling though posts here!

Today, though, I am going to give you a little treat for coming by. I also have a giveaway, so be sure to read to the end of the post!

but first, some layouts for your inspiration...

This is a fun use of different kits...O's Collab-Cozy (flowers), Kitty Designs' A Special Today (frame, doodle), J. Brisebois' Artist Photo Masks, Kitty's Sprinkles Magic and freebie word art by me!

And another compilation...Danielle Young's Sweet Tweets (paper), OCollab-Soiree (flower), Kitty's Sprinkles Magic, and free word art by me!!

What about that word art???

Would you love it???

Well, here it is...

DOWNLOAD IT HERE!!

Happy Birthday, Oscraps!!

and in honor of Oscraps' 6th birthday, I am giving away a 10$ GC to the O store!

In order to be entered into this drawing, please just leave a comment here in this post. For a second chance, "Like" my FB page!! Be sure and leave an extra comment for the "like"!!

Don't forget to hippity hop all the way back to the OBirthday Forums to participate in all of the daily challenges we have, the games, freebies, and excitement!!

If you just popped by here because you are naturally awesome in that way, check out the other hoppers here:

Clara
Kitty Designs
Trista
Maya de Groot
Eva
Lydia Designs
Diane de Groot
Cinzia Loosemore
Amber
Joanne Brisebois
Charlize Creations
Leora Sandford Designs
Elisa
Anna Aspnes
Sandrine
Fei Fei's Stuff
DianeW
Dido Designs
                                                          Sally  <----------------you are HERE!!

Can't wait to see all of the fun memories that will be captured during this week's festivities!! And thanks for visiting!

blessings on you today!! ♥

 

{my baby + such an adventure!!}

I'm super excited about my sweet baby girl and her summer plans...

{pic from the Library of Congress}

She is going to Ireland and London! what??? without me, you ask??

Well, I have a way you can "go" with her!!

Cora is traveling with a ministry called Global Expeditions, whose mission statement says this:

"Our heartbeat is to provoke a young generation to passionately pursue Jesus Christ and to take His life giving message to the ends of the earth!"

We are thrilled she is embarking on this month-long mission trip. But she needs help. She needs, first and foremost, your prayers. Second, she needs financial support.

Cora has a new travel blog with a direct link to Global Expeditions' donation site that specifically directs the money to her trip. She needs to raise at least 2100$ by April 19th to reach her first deadline. Because they will be ministering during the Olympics and travel to and from London right now for those dates are at a premium, we have to secure our place early!

Check out Cora's travel blog with more information RIGHT HERE...

...OR Donate RIGHT HERE!

And most coveted are your prayers! We thank you so much for making this trip with Cora!!

{all pictures of Cora taken by Megan Rogers Photography!}

{fun fridays - ohhhh it's art, it's quilting...it's art quilting!}

Happy Friday! 

As my health mends and I spend more time in that sweet craft studio, I am reminded how every moment is here to savor! Don't you agree??

This is one of the things that I am loving about my art class that I am taking online. The Art of Wild Abandonment has been such a wonderful journey so far! Even though I haven't been working every day on the lessons, even though I just lately have felt good enough to get into the craft studio, even though I'm still a newbie at all of this sketching stuff, I love it!

And one of my favorite things to do is to grab a beloved quote and sketch and create based on that quote...

...like this...

It's my choice! "Today I will be happier than a bird with a french fry!"

love that quote!! love that philosophy!!

 

Well, today for fun fridays, I have a mini quilt tutorial for you!

First, the finished project...

isn't it adorable???

well, there are a few caveats...

You must stick with an exact seam allowance for each itty bitty block, or your mini quilt will turn out a little wonky like mine! My lack of matching seams didn't really bother me as my itty bitty quilt was for a little work of art...

This sweet project is my response to the zigzag challenge over at Project Quilting, and Junelle's "spring line-up" project from the class. 

Here are some close-ups...

{click to see the text bigger!}

Here is a quick tutorial on how to put one of these cutie patootie little mini quilts together yourself!

You don't need much material...just scraps...

Cut 6 1"squares of three different light prints each.

Cut 18 1"squares of a coordinating dark fabric.

TIP: heavily starch your fabric before you cut it! It will help a LOT!

Place a light fabric and a dark fabric squares right sides together.

Draw a diagonal line down the middle...

Sew a scant 1/8" seam on either side of the line you've drawn.

You can sew these faster by chain piecing...

If you want your squares to all be the same size, make sure your seams are even with the line! (not like my pic above...LOL!)

Cut on the drawn line!

Press them all with the seam going the same way. I tried it both ways (with them alternating and with them the same) and the same went together smoother.

Set your half square little mini triangles up in a zigzag pattern like the pic above.

Sew the squares together in rows... 

...and then sew the rows together, matching the seams (better than I did, please! LOL!!).

Do this for all three light color squares and put all three sets of rows together...

You can keep it a rectangle (i did mine this way for the clothesline effect...).

Add a little piece of batting and a little piece of fabric for the backing and quilt that little sucker! I used wild horizontal lines...i like it!!

Also, cut your backing about 1/2"bigger than your quilt. Fold it 1/4" in iron, and fold it over the front of your quilt to create your binding!

And Voila! you are done! so cute, huh? would be a really cute mini mug rug!

Let me know if you create one of these cuties!

So this was the last of our challenges for Project Quilting. It has been sooo fun!! I may have to join in their off-season challenges! And I'm totally excited to be a sponsor for the grand prize! (If I win it, I'm so going to give myself that free apron! LOL!!)

What have you been savoring?

creating?

loving?

Be sure and check here on Sunday for a fun blog hop freebie and the list of blogs to hop around and get a BUNCH of cool digiscrapping tools!!! :)

blessings!

{a preview + a winner!}

ohhhh I'm back! amidst all of my computer mess, I came down with a nasty bug this weekend. I went to bed at 5pm on Friday and didn't really get up except for a few meals the whole weekend. Today (yes, it's glorious Monday!), I got up and took a shower and plopped onto the couch with my newly fixed laptop. And I played with digital toys all day! ie...digital scrapbooking tools! 

But before I get all into that, let me say that I've been remiss (you know my excuses!) to pick a winner from Lillian's birthday!!

and the winner is...

Lisa!!! Yay! You've won a 10$ GC to the Intrepid Thread Store! yay!!!

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so anyway, back to digital scrapbooking...

I started creating digitally back about 6years ago when my kids and I got sick. We had the same mess I have right now. I wanted to scrapbook and create, but I was just too worn out to get all of my supplies out and expend that much energy.

At that time, I was already a member at Two Peas in a Bucket, and they had just started to introduce their members to digital scrapbooking. I actually took an online class with Rhonna Farrer on the actual how-tos to scrapping digitally. I did an online search of digiscrapping sites and I found...

Oscraps!!

It was just a forum at that time with freebie downloads. There was no store. But it wasn't long before Vicki had that site up and running as wonderfully as it is now...well, actually it's even more exciting now!!!

Here is the O's latest designer collab kit...

and here's a layout using this kit!

Sooooo check this out...

if you want to learn how to do this, too, Oscraps is throwing a bash...

Join us over at the O starting this Sunday, March 25th for gifties, freebies, fun, creativity, and memories galore!!!

yOU kNOW yOU'LL HAVE fUN!!!

{the ART of life...}

just when you thought I was hooked on fabric (which, of course, I am!!!), I'm about to admit to another addiction!!! 

yep, it's art...

especially this class from Christy Tomlinson's Art Workshop Series...

Check it out here!!!

I am full fledged entrenched in it!! It's a three week class that is teaching me that processing life using my fingertips is OKAY!!! I mean, I've always processed life through music and other means of creativity (talking, blogging, shouting...etc!!); but this type of art is sorta new for me. Watercoloring? Sketching? Acrylic paints? eeep!! 

...and I am loving every minute of it!!

Junelle Jacobson is phenomenal at teaching and sharing her heart! And she's addicted to sheep, too! (she actually works on a sheep farm!!! and it's lambing season right now, so RUN to her blog to see the newest lambs!!!) Kindred spirits, right?? I thought so, too! 

I hope to share often what I'm creating...including the journey I'm on. And I'm going to start right now. 

First of all, we were taught to sketch radishes...teehee...yep, radishes...

the assignment?

draw them in at least 10 different scenes...

The radishes with the sheep are in headband form!! teeheee....

I like to be a little silly, too! 

This was my very first work this week. I am getting better...I promise!

I also have learned that I really love to recreate what Junelle is drawing, maybe changing a couple of little things, but mimicking so that I can learn every technique. Once I've gotten the techniques down, I will jump out into the wild and come up with my own ideas...

That being said, the next assignment was to do owls...

I LOVE these!! I'm going to let my fam pic which ones they are!! I wrote the words "love, joy, life on the top branch, and "hope, peace, adventure" on the bottom branch. These guys are so fun!!

Then I did (3 times changing my type of paper each time!) these cupcakes! 

The words I put under the cupcakes are "sweet, sublime, bliss"!

This is so fun!! Do you think we can just say that school is finished this year??? I think I'm going to be busy in the craft studio for a while!!!

You'd be inspire to create with a little friend like this in your craft studio.

Speaking of sheep, Junelle has a video showing how to sketch sheep over on this fun blog here! (Wasn't this post written just for me????)

So, I took the challenge...again with the copying, but you have to learn somehow, right???

cutest.sheep.ever!

My goal with this class really is to be able to create better quality art. All around. 

As a matter of fact, in the middle of practicing all of this sketching, I, with my darling friend, Brooke, created this fun little quilt for Julie's newsletter (which will be out tomorrow!!!! eeeek! Quick! Sign up for it so you don't miss this FREE PATTERN!!!) over at the Intrepid Thread! 

Brooke sent me the beginnings of the table topper, and I designed the little applique pattern and text and finished it up. So fun!!! Don't forget to get that newsletter so you can make one, too!!

BTW, have you seen Julie's new shop???? whoa! So purely awesome!! I had to check out her shopping cart process, of course, and I got this with fun pressies, too!!

It's awesome to have more confidence to create. Not losing sight from where my creativity comes from, I long to share hope with others! What better way than through art?

Another example of my wild abandoment was that on Monday, while sketching all day, I was completely inspired to finish writing two songs!! I hope to be able to share them soon! (I love it when the band collaborates and tweaks my creations!! LOL!) 

I have a lot more to share with you, but I'll keep it for another day. My computer is back at the doctor's (ie, geek squad at best buy...sigh), so my posting is a little haphazard. 

Sometimes it's good to just really live in the moment and document later! 

blessings to you and yours tonight!!! ♥♥♥

 

 

{fabric, fabric, and more fabric!!}

Yep...

it's official...I'm addicted!!

...to fabric, of course!!!!

Isn't this combo above just wonderful???

Well, today, I put it into action...& created this...

I used Randi's tutorial over here! (Can't wait to do March's sew-along!) 

btw, did you see my ironing board before????

*shiver*

and yesterday, my darling 17yo ironed crayons on it...thank goodness I was already planning on changing it out!

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Last night, I went crazy and made a whole purse for me!!! (stayed up a little late, too...yay, caffeine! LOL!)

I decided to not use Peltex on this one. I'm hoping I'm okay with that! LOL!!

This fabric just makes me happy!!! :) yep, I'm addicted!

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And you'll never believe that I got more wonderful yummy fabric in the mail yesterday!!!

Okay, you believe it, i know!! LOL!!!

And you want to see it, don't you????

So, I had to have this bundle from Julie's store, the Intrepid Thread!!!!!!! There's just something in the name "From Cream to Curry" that drew me in!! (probably my mother-in-law's curry chicken recipe!) So wonderfully yummmmmmmy!!

What should I make out of it??? Something seriously fun!!! I'm thinking a BIG dresden plate quilt! Great fabrics just inspire amazingness! LOL!

oh, but you don't think that's all I got from Julie, do you???

These fabrics are soooooo super fun!! Woodland Tails! I had to have them (of course, because of the lambies!!!). And I got the really fun panel, too!

Ohhhhhh it just makes my heart soar! God made fabric, didn't he??? :) Because fabric makes my soul sing daily! 

Have you been doing something that makes your soul sing???

 

{happy blessed monday filled with fabric inspiration!}

Happy Monday, everyone!!!

Ohhhh last week I had a bunch of inspiration, but I was sort of in a blah mood. I attribute it to new blood pressure meds...but that's another story! LOL!! 

This week I have my wildness back (and I attribute that to the Brighton Players Theater Workshop last Saturday!! LOL!!) and I am ready to start and finish new and old projects this week!! 

Have you made your crafting list for this week? I haven't either, but I'm about to! I did do my meal plan, and I started my grocery list! Ohh life is great here!!

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I'm still on track with at least one quilt a week so far in 2012! yipeeee!! And this week it was close, but I just made it in time for my own deadline (last night!! teehee!!).

{here's what I started with...}

I was planning on submitting this for the Tangerine Tango challenge on Flickr, but I had a 10 year old who needed celebrating all weekend. So I didn't really finish this until last night which was two days late...oh well, no stress!! That's the beauty of this life! You decide your deadlines and your stress level! Mine is going to be low this year!!

and here is the finished quilt...

and some close-ups...

The scripture is a morphed version of Psalm 1:1-3...

¹ Blessed is the one 
   who does not walk in step with the wicked 
or stand in the way that sinners take 
   or sit in the company of mockers, 
² but whose delight is in the law of the LORD, 
   and who meditates on his law day and night. 
³ That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, 
   which yields its fruit in season 
and whose leaf does not wither— 
   whatever they do prospers.

Yep, I morphed it a bit! 

I have to share with you my inspiration...

This quilt here by April two-eighty really spoke to me!!! So I altered it a bit (because some days I just don't want to have to do math that intensely!!) and came up with my own version!!

I also have this book here by Aimee Ray that has a scrapbook cover pattern in it with trees embroidered on it. When I was looking for something to draw in the middle of this quilt and embroider, I could not get these images out of my head...thus the trees scripture!

I did a combination of machine quilting (thread painting) and hand embroidery...

I wanted to accent the words "whose leaf does not wither" on the quilt...what better way than use white! LOL!!

These altered 9-patch blocks were a fun result of my nutty math issues with this quilt. I don't usually have math issues, but I took a long haitus in between doing the different blocks and didn't do the sizing right. I love the result...Serendipity is always fun, isn't it?

I quilted it very simply...diagonal lines all over.

So fun!!! Love that orange and grey combo!!

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So last week, I also did a little shopping...

First of all, there is a local quilt shop by my dentist, and after my partial crown last week, I thought I'd treat myself...

I am in love with Bonnie and Camille's Ruby...

a jelly roll is just what I need to finish up my fat quarter pack of this!! :)

Then on the 29th, my other LQS that is right next to my church had a 29% sale...

I needed a little bit more of the charcoal Kona solid...and I cannot get away from the solids!!!

So yummmmmy!!

Then my middle daughter, Emma had a gift card to the Art Supply store...well, I just could not pass these journals up!! And the pens are soooo scrumptious!!!!

Did I mention I was taking an art class online starting March 12th called "The Art of Wild Abandoment"? Sounds just like me, doesn't it??????

can't wait!!!!

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SO we also had a couple of get togethers two weekends ago. On Saturday, we had 22 high school girlies come over for a spot of tea, a little worship, devotional, and finished off with Pride and Prejudice (the 2-hr Kiera Knightly one...Swoon!). It was delightful to see these girlies all dressed up and take care of everything themselves!! And the food was DELICIOUS!!!
Here are some shots I took...

It was sooo fun!!!

Then on Sunday night, the ladies of our church got together and had a night of learning about finances...but more about the fact that God will take care of us!! Not that we are supposed to just sit around and wait for money to drop from heaven, but that we are to ask Him for wisdom on how to give, get, manage and enjoy money!

Using these fun fabrics from Bari J's Paris Apartment line, I whipped up some little coin purses altering this pattern here!

 

the front with Baker's Twine! fun!

the back with a VERY inspirational scripture!!

The inside...with chocolate coins our pastor's wife, Pat bought us!!

and she reminded me...even our money says "In God we trust!!" yep, I sure do!!

Closing it back up...so fun!!

It was a wonderful weekend...

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This past weekend, we really celebrated my darling Lillian's birthday! If you want to see the videos with her story in them, go HERE to my YouTube channel!! You'll be able to tell which ones are about her! LOL!! The Part 1 is her telling her wild story, and Part 2 is me telling it to her. It's fun to hear her reactions to different aspects of it! :)


 

Here she is at the Houston Museum of Natural Science enjoying all of the crystal! (I think she was more excited about it than she looks!! LOL!!)

 It was a wonderful weekend filled with Lillian-fest!! ♥

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What other up and coming projects can I give you sneaky peeks of???

My darling friend, Brooke, who has an awesome tutorial up on Riley Blake's Cutting Corners today, sent me the beginnings of two fun projects! Here are a couple of sneaky peeks!

Ohhh you can't get any sneakier, huh???

Be sure you are signed up for Julie's newsletter over at the Intrepid Thread so you can get the patterns to these little projects this month!!

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Here's a little something I am working on this afternoon...it's a super secret project! But I'll tell you, I'm super dee duper excited about it!!!!

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And I know that I've shown you this before, but it's the oxygen thing for me...you know how you have to put the oxygen on yourself before you put the mask on your child if you need it on the plane? Well, this week, I'm going to be making myself a little something out of these fabrics...

...using this book...

Can't wait!!!!!!

I hope your week is filled with lots and lots of wildness and beauty and creativity!!!

I'm off to drive the '70 Mustang Convertible to pick up my oldest from her class...wind through my hair...smell that beautiful air all around me...life is good...

hey, it must be MONDAY!!! :)

{fun fridays - Ohhhhhhh she's ten today + a giveaway!!}

Yep, she's 10 today!!!!! 

A decade since she was born...

and ohhhhhh, what a wild day that was!!!

Short version???? (trust me, this is the short version!) LOL!!

 

While in labor, my uterus ruptured and she was born into my abdomen. So when they pulled her out during an emergency c-section, she was completely dead! No heartbeat, no blood pressure...Apgar of 0!!!

So the neonatologist put a breathing tube in and called for life flight to come and bring her to a hospital that was running a clinical trial...

This is very cool...this trial proved that hypothermia can be used to stop the brain from seizing, thus limiting brain damage after loss of oxygen!! Lil was privileged to be on that trial! (in the pic above, she is on that cooling blanket...her core temp was 92degrees F!! wow!)

After being on that for 3 days, she started to wake up. It took her a week and a half to get off of the ventilator and breathe on her own. But after she could breathe on her own, she didn't have any organ failure problem again! Her heart beat was steady, her breathing, perfect!!

She did have trouble swallowing...(the yellow tube above is a feeding tube!) SO we decided we could take her home and tube feed her. We did that for a year!!! and on her first birthday, she ate her first food! Birthday cake!!! yay!!

 
It didn't take her long to talk...all of my kiddos are early talkers...it did take a her a while to walk, and with the help of PT and OT she did walk on her own at 3.5yrs old. 

Now she does gymnastics, plays A LOT!, and excels in school (even though she told me yesterday that Netflix was her favorite thing ever!!)

At first, it was challenging 10 years ago...but ohhhhh so worth it. I'm thrilled to be able to tell her miraculous story to everyone that will listen!!! (I'm hoping to upload a video of her tonight! so fun!!!) If you want to read more about the miracles, the nitty gritty, our wildness on that day 10 years ago, go to her web site: Lillianclar.com

In honor of Lil's 10th birthday, I'm giving away a 10$ gift certificate to Julie's store, the Intrepid Thread! Yay!!! 

All you need to do is comment here on this post! And for an extra entry, you can follow me on FB and leave another comment! double yay!!! If you are not a fabric-a-holic, like me, we can donate that 10$ to Julie's charity that she supports; Heartline~ I love it!!

Happy birthday, Lil!! I love you, sweet ten year old!!