Spellbinding........

Spoiler Alert --- JenV do not read this if you don't want a peek at what's on the way........






I was flat of my back recovering when Jen up and had some big events in her life. She married the love of her life, and turned 40 all around those same few days.

I should have been ready ahead of time to send her something but, in normal fashion, I procrastinated. Then the "Surprise you have kidney cancer" thing happened. Well I have struggled with going back to work and needing lots of extra rest and .......

Well FINALLY - her gift is ready to go and I have a full blown post to go with it.

Thanks to all those who emailed me to see if I was alright. This has just really been frustrating to me. I am used to going full speed ahead and that just ain't happening right now.

Anyway --- show and tell.

I gathered various scraps of paper. My three favorite Spellbinders dies. The Classic Scalloped Rectangles, Flying Beauties, and Ribbon Tag Trio.

Then I punched and punched and punched. I laid them all out and kinda matched the tags and butterflies and backgrounds.

I wrote words and quotes on each tag. (In all honesty, I started stamping these and then decided to handwrite the tags. Two reasons - time and I love the look of someone's handwriting. It just seems more personal.)

Then I went to dig through stuff. I embellished these with buttons, beads, chipboards, trims. Each one is different. I actually used some very special favorite bits. Trying hard to overcome the hoarding part of myself.

Thread tags on seam binding. Glue to embellished cards. My high tech measuring device for even spacing ---- a plain old index card.

Look at the left end of the top string in the picture above. Some of these are 10 cards long, some are 5 cards. I made them so you could attach them and rearrange them easily. More info on that later.

These will be divided into little packets with full explanations of what the words/quotes are meant for. Example - the ponder pose package includes phrases just designed to make you think.

The image above is a favorite.

Another of my favorites.

This one is College Girl's favorite.

The attachment points. Plastic rings held in the seam binding with snaps.

I didn't have enough snaps, but my mama did in her stash. And she gifted me with them.

There you have a completely stash generated birthday gift. It seemed to take forever to finish. It is full of heartfelt good wishes for my friend. I love her and I am so sorry I missed her wedding and her birthday.

I do have to say thanks to college girl for helping me string this up in my oak tree out front. When we got them all up, they looked so happy, colorful, hell just plain fun. We both giggled and really enjoyed how they looked. I'll be making some for the front porch out of fabric. Just for "happy energy" feelings.

I am doing well. I am back to work. I have one more little procedure in the early fall to make sure everything is working like it should. (I have a large stone in my remaining kidney that has to be dealt with) Thank you all for everything.

Guess what? I have a beautiful life.