Ahhhhh…

I had a spa day today! I used my rad gift card from the in-laws…the head to toe package at Jackson Massage and Day Spa. Let me just give you the itinerary for the day:

• Relaxing 1 hour full body massage
• Rejuvenating facial
• Pretty pedicure and manicure
• Brow wax (not included in package)
• Wash, cut and style (not included in the package)

The workers at the spa were all: “Are you comfortable?” “Are you relaxed?” “Can I get you anything?” “It’s all about you today.” (how NICE!) Also, got to listen to beach noises and relaxing music all day long (gladly no new age mumbo jumbo though). They did the massage and facial first and I seriously though I wasn’t going to be able to finish out the rest of the day I was SO freekin’ relaxed (can you really be freekin’ relaxed??? ….anyway). Wanna see the toes?

Sorry if toes gross you out!

On to a card….I’ll post down a little so you can scroll past the toes, but still look at the card in case you’re squeamish (I know feet gross some people out)

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That Happy Birthday image is Stampin’ Up! Everything else is non-SU!. I think I’m enjoying stamping again even though I’m not a SU! demo anymore. I can use other products on my projects and not feel like I “need” to be selling only the stuff I’m using. So I’ll probably get lax about posting recipes for cards, but I think people mostly just look at the pics anywayz….Ok so maybe only I do that. Still reading??? Yes? In that case I’ll ramble on a little more.

Knitting: I’m knitting a Booga Bag. I’m a little late on the bandwagon with this project, but it’s so darn cute I don’t care.I’m about halfway completed. No pic…maybe tomorrow. It’s so bright and colorful and easy to knit! Can’t wait to finish.

Employment: Starting my new job at the hospital Monday…no longer a “lady of leisure” as my grandmother put it…yeah right…a nursing student isn’t “leisure” anything. Wish me luck.

Bye for now.

The Purse

So I finished my purse. This was a pretty quick knit – easy for beginners I thought. The only thing was the pattern kinda left you hangin’ in some spots. I had to figure things out for myself at times, but it all turned ok after felting. Felting is pretty forgiving!

And here’s the pic:

Maggie Mae made a nice place to prop the purse up against. You can almost see her rolling her eyes. I think my next project will be the pair of socks from the One Skein book. That should be an adventure.

We have a purse…sort of

Here’s my progress on my knitted purse. It looks pretty good compared to the smallish rectangle I had the other day. However, I wouldn’t carry around my wallet in it…yet. ha! Man, it’s gonna be CUTE after felting. I’ve decided that this will be my official winter purse! I believe that I will have enough yarn left over to make a matching coin purse. YAY! Yarn!

Also, here’s Maggie Mae with the emerging purse:

She looks overjoyed that I’m taking YET ANOTHER PICTURE of her. I think she’s more mad that I disturbed her nap by shoving my WIP under her chin. After the picture she totally rolled all over the purse. Doggie fur makes it warmer!

This & That

Only odds and ends to report today – no productive stamping…sorry

I went to Graceland (Elvis Presley’s home in Memphis) with my Mom on Thursday.

It was pretty fun. I’ve never been, which is a sin if you live in West TN. Elvis had some awesome 70’s style. I thought it was cool, but I can see now why everyone is like, “Elvis’s house is SO tacky!” Well they left it the way it was when he died. And that was what was “in” then. I thought it was a great preservation of the period style. He had a TV in every room! even the dining room. We got to see some of his psychadellic jumpsuits – I was like “I wonder if that smell is Elvis’s BO?” So, if you are ever in Memphis, don’t miss Graceland! haha

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When we went to Memphis Thursday I got to go to a REAL yarn store. Yarniverse is awesome…I think I petted every skein in the whole place. I bought some yarn and here’s what I’ve got so far:

Here’s my current crafty project. It’s a purse – more of a rectangle right now. I’m knitting it with Cascade 220. It will be felted and I’m planning to make the straps longer than what the pattern calls for.

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We also went to an AWESOME stamping/scrapbook store in Memphis called Eclectica. Here’s the only thing I got. Man, I was good!

Elsie is my fav paper scrapper. Her book has 52 challenges. I’m thinking of doing all the challenges and making a special blog about it. hmmmm…. that sounds like a lot of work – especially for a nursing student taking 21 hours this semester. Maybe if I cut out studying….ok I’ll keep ya posted.

My 4th of July goings on.

^Here’s my contribution to my family’s 4th cookout. It’s a mini cupcake rendition of Old Glory…in all it’s…ummm…glory! (sorry i couldn’t resist!)

After the festivities:

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I’ve been knitting lately as well….here’s a day in the life of my most recent WIP (work in progress). It’s another felted clutch like the one I made a while back.

^ We started the day with a visit to my brother and his wife’s apartment.

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^ A Quick ride in my Mom’s car. WIP pictured above with seat belt secured (safety first).

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^ My bro’s house is coming along quite nicely. WIP is jealous of the huge 2.5 car garage.

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^ Lunch at Wendy’s.

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^ We soaked up some direct TV at my Mom’s house. Of course WIP hogged the remote. WIP can’t get enough Animal Planet…go figure.

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^ The banquet at my aunt’s house. Is your mouth watering??? Oh it was delicious! WIP skipped seconds due to a recent elevated LDL cholesterol reading, but I saw WIP sneaking extra potato salad afterwards when everyone was digesting by the pool…tsk tsk

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^ WIP relaxing on a raft in the pool.

After the cookout we came back home and did some studying. Sorry no pics…that would be ridiculous to take a pic of “studying in action.”

ANOTHER completed knitting project.

I am so excited by how fast my little felted clutch knitted up. I used a pattern from One Skein (get this book immediately) by Leigh Radford. I used Lion Brand Bolero 100% wool in Tutti Frutti.

Here’s the bag being knitted: Use size 15, 24″ Circular needles (I used 16″)

The bag knitted but not felted:

After felting:

FABULOUS!!!!!

WOW!

I actually FINISHED a project!!!!! Here is my knitted clutch before finishing and assembly:

Here’s the completed clutch:

And here’s the clutch in ACTION! Holding my essentials.

You can see by comparing the size to my cell phone that it is not a very big item, but that’s why I got it done so quickly. Also, I think I will add some velcro to keep it closed. I tried felting…yeah it didn’t work. There’s just not enough wool in this particular yarn to achieve a really good felt. All I accomplished was some really gnarly fuzz.

I’m working on the matching coin purse right now. I may also add a wrist strap to the finished clutch…we’ll see though.

A bit ‘o knit

By the way I can knit (kind of). I was making a sweater…that was taking too long soooooo…here’s a new project.

It’s going to be a clutch with a rosette. I’m using el cheapo Hobby Lobby yarn (it’s the only kind they had that contained even a smudge of REAL wool…maybe it will felt).

I may even make the little coin purse too….but that DOES involve decreasing! We’ll see.