Questions About the Clock

Hi all!

I had a question about the clock & figured I'd post in case anyone else was wondering :)

To make the clock, I followed these steps:

1. Stretch canvas fabric over embroidery hoop.
2. Sew buttons (I sewed in this order to help with the placement - 12, 6, 3, 9, 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11)
3. Cut a circle from a piece of cardboard to fit inside the back of the hoop. I used a recycled priority mail box.
4. Place the circle in the back and cut an X in the center of the canvas & through the cardboard. This is where the clock mechanism will go.
5. Insert the clock mechanism and hands according to package directions. I used the kit pictured below (even though I didn't need the numbers). I found that some of the material started to fray where I cut, so I applied a bit of clear nail polish and let it dry before attaching the clock.
6. After trimming the fabric around the edges of the embroidery hoop, I added some more clear nail polish to minimize any fraying.

If you flip the clock around to the back you would just see the cardboard with the clock mechanism box thingy (that holds the battery). You could cover this, but I kept it open since there's a hook for hanging on the mechanism.

Hope this clarifies it a bit. Sorry that I don't have any photos....the clock is now with the birthday girl :)

Time for a Birthday

Thursday is my good friend Mandy's birthday. I met Mandy through SCS a few years ago when she invited me to a local get-together with a small group of stampers. We've been friends ever since, and I'm so glad!

Recently Mandy hooked me up with an invite to Pinterest (so if I'm not working on my grad course, you can take a guess what I'm doin'). I'm totally addicted! Right now, I've been pinning a ton of stuff for my classroom. (Check it out here...& let me know if you need an invite) After seeing one of Mandy's pins a few weeks ago, I knew that I had to make this for her:

a button clock!! She loved it (and so did I....guess who may be making another)

Here's the card that I sent with it. Don't ya just love buttons?

Ho-Ho-Holey Smokes!!!

I'm crazy busy with a graduate course right now, but I had to pop in to share some EXCITING NEWS!!!

The A·Muse Studio Holiday Catalog & Inspiration guide is here for viewing!!! Products will be available starting August 22nd, but you can get your wish lists starting by browsing the catalog in .pdf form. I can email any the file - so let me know (stephaniestamps@comcast.net).

And let me just say.....HO, HO, HOLEY SMOKES!!!! The holiday catalog is 44 pages of pure papercrafting goodness!! There are 32 new holiday sets - I'm talking Christmas, Halloween, Thanksgiving, winter, fall, and Valentines. We have 2 new colors - wasabi & pebble - offered in our fabulous cardstock, ink, and satin ribbons. MY FAVORITES in the catalog have to be all of the dies - oh mylanta!!! There's new patterned cardstock, felt, baker's twine, fun embellishments, and much more. You've gotta check it out!

and the good news keeps on coming because....

sales for the catalog start just in time for A-Muse-A-Palooza. I'll have more details on this in the upcoming weeks, but I will tell you now that there's a ton incentives (yep, that means FREE STUFF). Keep in mind - we can make a workshop happen even if you're not local. Email me and we'll work out the details :)

Pillow Fight

I've been searching for fabrics for my sun porch for a few months (enter semi-grumpy sigh here) - I have an amazing talent for envisioning things (typically home decor related) that do not exist. In this case, it was fabric. Ugh!!! I wanted an orchid purple in a Sunbrella-type fabric. My only other condition was that it needed to go with browns because I wanted to keep the same rug on the porch. I thought I toss in some orange accents to make it real fun & funky.....yeah, keep dreamin' when you can't find anything!!

So this week I rethought my search and decided to forego the Sunbrella-type fabric. Yes maybe it will fade faster, but at least I had some choices. Even though I switched from orange accents to chartreuse when I found this fun chartreuse print, I couldn't be happier with the results. I was even able to use some of my Simply Chartreuse ribbon from PTI as an accent on the chair throws.

I'm really happy with the results and I hope my mailman appreciates it tomorrow when he drops off my mail. I keep my margarita machine out there & I always wonder if he ever eyes it up :)

In case you're wondering, the fabrics came from JoAnn's. My chairs are from IKEA - I've had them for 3 years now and I love them more each year!! The bench was a clearance find from Marshalls - it has a funky fabric covering it, so I recovered it with a solid brown. My rug is also 3 years old and from Target and the wicker ottoman between the chairs is from TJ Maxx & More.

Won't You Be My Neighbor?

You probably don't know this, but I live in a town of with some notoriety. It's home of the first banana split, the original home of Rolling Rock beer, and the first professional football game was played here. Natives include champion golfer Arnold Palmer (who still lives here) and Mr. Rogers. And training camp for the Pittsburgh Steelers is held here every summer. (well, maybe...depending on the lockout)

It's a great place to live and to go for walks. I have a standard 'beat' that covers 4 miles and takes about a little over an hour to walk. I love the older homes and beautiful landscaping. As well as the quirky tidbits here and there like seeing a toddler's sand and water table directly in front of a statue of the virgin Mary or a fenced-in area for a group of 6 shih tzu's that also had a large laundry basket inside. Definitely gives me plenty to think about :)

I made this card late last night to submit for the Gallery Idol contest (scroll to my previous post to see my other entry) & thought my observations would be perfect to share along with it in this post.