Joey's BD Party, Motif No. 8 - Jolly Sun Paper Clip and Some Giveaways

We planned a simple birthday party for Joey over the public holiday on 21 Sep, inviting a few of her friends, classmates and little cousin. They did 2 stained glass (or rather plastic) pieces each, had some finger food and a few games, and ended off with the cake cutting.

Kristine did this card on her own, using marker pens for the butterfly and some leftover of the embellishments from the scrapbooking party she attended earlier. It is so colourful that I'm thinking how to take a photo of it to print into an ATC perhaps!

The 2 girls always like to doodle in the afternoon, instead of studying, sigh. Well, at least that's better than playing computer games or watching TV. It's their combined effort to come up with this drawing, fully coloured using colour pencils. (And again, I have problem uploading this the photo in the right orientation!)

I almost panic coming up with the paper clip pattern for this month, but luckily, inspiration came just barely a few days before the deadline. This will be Motif No. 8 for my 25 Motif Challenge and for Georgia's Online Tatting Class this month. It's rather hot this month here in Singapore, made me think of the sun. Well, these are my first attempt working Catherine Wheel joins! I think normal shuttle joins or onion rings would work too. To make it more adorable, add a pair of eyes and a pair of glasses to it. I have so much fun with this pattern, hope you will too! Only simple instructions given since it is more of a free-form design, the stitch count really depends on your tension.

Had to mention some fabulous giveaways. Over at Aileen’s Wicked Tats, she has a Hallowversary Mystery Giveaway. A very special and apt way to do a giveaway for the festival! Then, the Lady Shuttlemaker, Sherry, is having an on-going weekly giveaway while prizes last. And last but not least, here's something for the Breast Cancer Campaign, the Charming Exchange Breast Cancer Auction, with a giveaway and a preview of the auction for a great cause.

Lots of ATCs and Motif No. 6 and 7 "Dream Garden"

We had our monthly ATC session in Bishan Library on Thu. This month, we tried our hand at paper glazing (liquid embossing), as demonstrated by Jasper. Our ATC sessions are now an officially endorsed activity by the National Library Board!

ATCs done by everyone, finished with glazed.

Our theme for the month was "A Way with Words". These were what Kristine and myself did.

Terence gave Kristine a piece of what he did in zentangle that was inspired by her Kitty. He did it with such details!

So far, Kristine has traded her cards for these:
I did more ATCs with flower petals in a series - The Little Petal L Missy Series, with their names starting from A to Z.

And a cover for my ATC file:

These were what I traded recently.

Finally, I tatted these 2 motifs based on a base motif from Sharon for the Design-Tat group. These will be Motif No. 6 and 7 for my 25 Motif Challenge. The first motif was intended to be joined up to more of the same motif to form a bigger piece, while the second motif was intended to be on its own. Both were designed on a flower garden theme, so I'll call them "Dream Garden"; these will be Motif No. 6 and 7 for my 25 Motif Challenge.

Straw Animals and Jon's New Book

Last Sat, the KBCC had a session on making animals from drinking straw. Something new to me and my 2 children who tagged along. Betsy followed a book to show us how to weave the straw. Turned out it was similar to weaving a grasshopper using palm leave, as my boy discovered. Ivan grasped the concept pretty fast, and he completed the goldfish much in style. Joey and myself were struggling, but we consoled ourselves we explored something new :)

Ivan did these 2 fishes himself and I'm so proud of him!

Look what I received in the mail - Jon's giveaway of her new book! I sure didn't notice the specifications of the book, and was so surprised at the size of the book - a petite and handy size to carry around. I have seen Jon's fabulous snowflakes that everyone was tatting but alas, I'm not too keen to tat snowflakes; on the other hand, this book on tatted cabone rings and with lots of beads appeals to me. Let's see what I'll turn them into!

Joey was pleading me to tat 2 "A" for her classmate, who loves her tatted "J" bookmark used in her school diary so much, so here they are: Teri Dusenbury's pattern tatted with Flora 20 threads. They chose the colours, I said they were pretty good choices.