68 Card Pick-Up

stamps, ink, scissors, tape

crafting, planning, creating

art adorns greetings

Haiku & Rubber Stamped Cards

by Angie Quantrell

Fun Friday

Hey, all. It's Friday!

Regardless of work schedules, deadlines, piles of laundry, dirty dishes, abundant garden produce that needs attending, I have decided to make it Fun Friday.

Even if I only have a small amount of space in my schedule, I choose to do something fun today.

Our paper birch trees in the front yard provide plenty of peeling paper. I've been experimenting (I shall have to change my middle name to Experimenting). The super thin - paper thin - bark is perfect for stamping! I am so excited to find a use for these sheets of beautiful white.

Sneaking in a little stamping today for my Fun Friday. How about you?

Here is a new way to dry cards if you are short on counter (and kitty-free) space. This works very well.


What to do with all those cards you make (talking to myself here, I have a stash going)?

bundle and give as gifts
send as actual greeting cards - people love real mail
give a set to your child's teacher as a welcome-back-to-school gift
donate a bunch for a charity auction
build a collection for your husband to use in his work
send to neighbors, friends, and family as notes of encouragement or invitation
trade a few with another stamping buddy to build variety
pin favorites to Pinterest (mine are all on a Rubber Stamping board under Angie Quantrell)
make new friends by swapping technique ideas and visiting stamping stores
mail cards to missionaries, family, and friends who are living overseas
display favorites as little works of art
if your coffers overflow (mine have not made it there yet - I enjoy giving them away too much I guess) rent a table at a bazaar and sell a few
sell cards at a charity event and give the proceeds towards a special project

Yes, I do love hobbies with a purpose. Happy Fun Friday!


You are welcome to share this blog post and ideas. Thanks for sharing!

A Month of Thanks - November 28 - Rubber Stamps (& Hobbies)

Today, November 28, I am thankful for rubber stamps. And all things hobby.

I have several favorites when it comes to crafting and hobbies. Rubber stamping is at or near the top of the list. But I also enjoy

crocheting
water color painting
reading
decorating
baking
cooking
making pottery
photography
blogging
writing
sewing
eating (hey - that can count as a hobby, right?)
looking at Pinterest (yes, now I have to count this, since I spend so much time doing it)
thrifting
walking (I really need to move this one to the top of the list)

oh, I could go on and on,
but not enough hours in any given day
or year
for me to enjoy all of the
things I love to do

So, let's just say, hobbies are an excellent outlet for creativity.

And at Thanksgiving dinner, rubber stamps and a create station occupied three very energetic children after the eating-of-the-turkey was complete.

Quiltin' Nana

Have scraps. Will quilt.

This nana loves to quilt. Let me clarify that. I love to make BABY quilts. I've tried bigger ones, and the rows go all weird. I love sleeping with big, beautiful quilts that others have created. But the ones I make are for babies - les bebes. There is no way of telling how many quilts I have pieced over the years. The reports from new mommies confirm that babies love cotton, colorful, washable quilts. While I don't have time to do intricate, age-old quilt designs, I've found that patchwork patterns thrill new parents and their precious ones just as much. At least, that's what I tell myself as I give them as gifts. :)

This Quantrell nana's quest to quilt for queues of bebes began when the quantrell babies were very young (trying to see how many times I can use 'qu' in a sentence). I discovered a delightful patchwork quilt, with no less, and I am not exaggerating, close to two hundred tiny squares. The quilt was sized for a baby. Wise choice on the part of the seamstress, or she could well be still sewing on that quilt. Each quilt piece is about 1" x 2" long. I still have the quilt, but it is lost in storage with all of my other quilts. I loved how my babies stared intently at the colorful pieces as they lay on the quilt. I draped it over the back of the couch, the car seat, the crib...focal point deluxe. I especially enjoyed that I could throw the soiled (now honestly, babies never make a mess, do they, of one kind or another?) quilt in the wash. It always came out softer and more comfortable than before the soaking. It is easy to choose a theme and colors based on the sex of the baby or parents' interest or a large collection of a certain fabric color (justification to save every piece of fabric that passes through my fingers).

So, determined to recreate this piece of wonder, I made quilts for both of my babies. And then I started making quilts for other babies of friends, relatives, acquaintances, door prizes, shower gifts, auction pieces...I really would like to know how many I have made in all. My baby-baby is 18 1/2. Making quilts since she was 1 or 2, several, if not over a dozen, a year...that adds up to quite a few. My list this year is getting longer all the time. Quilting my way through it piece by piece.

I recently added embroidery to my grandbaby's quilt. We will never forget his birthday, weight, time and year of birth, or his name. With love, bebe, from the Quiltin' Quantrell.