Where did I put my Horse?

It's time for me to saddle up as I'll be leaving soon for my long weekend in the BIG STATE OF TEXAS...

I'm headin' to Paper Cowgirl!

Yee Haw!

How did that sound for a "wanna be" Cajun Cowgirl?  :)

Aside from visiting some of the beautiful, and I mean BEAUTIFUL creative spaces out there from the Where Blogger's Create II party (which I'm still not NEARLY finished visiting all of them yet) and reading all of my SWEET comments (which I thank you all VERY much!), I have been very busy creating my swap gift for Paper Cowgirl.

I only joined ONE swap (thank goodness). Those cowgirls really had some great swaps to choose from but I knew that if I joined them all, I'd be biting off more than I can chew right now.

This was a cuff swap hosted by Suzie. She paired me up with Laurie Griffin, (I don't think she has a blog). I'll be meeting her for the first time when we swap cuffs at the Meet & Greet Dinner on Thursday night. (omg...that's tomorrow night! woo hoo)

Laurie's wishes were for me to make a cuff for her in the colors she loves...browns, rusts and creams.

So I started off with a creamy quilted material and layered some hand~dyed lace, stamped muslin and cheese cloth. I attached them with some small hand stitches and clusters of glass pearls. I added a rhinestone belt buckle to the center of the cuff and glued a metal button to the bottom of it. There, I attached dangling glass pearls and glass flowers.

I added a rhinestone clustered ball to the opposite end of the clasp. I love dangling bling on the closures of my jewelry, don't you?

I finished off the edges with a flesh colored seam binding. I'm so thankful that the style of today is "shabby" and "tattered" as I cannot sew a straight line to save my life. When this "style" goes out of style, I'll save my sewing machine in the back of the closet until this "style" comes back again ;)

This is what I my finished cuff  looks like...I hope Laurie likes it.

Sometimes it's hard to make something so personal for someone you don't even know...know what I mean?

(sorry about the lighting)

What should have taken me only a couple of hours to make, this cuff was an all day affair. Not because of the skill as it was fairly easy but because of the distraction of the wonderful movies I've been watching on the Lifetime Channel while I was creating!

I found myself holding the needle and thread for thirty minutes in between each stitch while engrossed in the movies!

Does that ever happen to you?

Please say "yes" so I keep thinking that I'm normal ;)

Thanks for stopping by and I wish you a wonderful week/weekend.

I'll be back on Sunday evening, hopefully with lots to post about (throughout next week) of our fun at Paper Cowgirl.

You know that I love to take you along with me on all of my adventures, don't you?

But...

Don't forget my number ONE (& only) rule...

Don't have fun without me while I'm gone!

;)

oh wait!!!! wait!!!! WAIT!!!!

There IS a FUN thing I want you to do while I'm gone...

I want you to join the soap box challenge hosted by Lisa of Tarnished & Tattered ...

You can click on the image above or click here for more information about it...trust me, it's so easy!

Just decorate a soap box and then show it off on your blog on Monday, June 28th!

If you plan on joining, let Lisa know so that she can put you on her linky list.

come on...

if ya show me your box, I'll show ya mine! 

(I am SO giving you permission to have THIS kind of fun while I'm gone, okay?)

;)

See ya on Monday...

Have a wonderful SOAP BOX FUN FILLED weekend!