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My girlfriend Nancy called the other day and said “My camellias are blooming and they’re the perfect color pink…they’re YOUR color pink. Please come over and cut all you want” Well, she didn’t have to ask me twice!
She had hundreds of flowers…
She’s right, they are the perfect pink…good friends know that about you!
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a conversation between my daughter and I in the grocery store yesterday:
look at that cupcake!
it’s perfect!
we should get it.
it’s too fattening.
yeah, but we worked out this morning…
that was a pretty hard workout, we could split it
we could, and you could photograph it
oh my gosh, it would look so cute on that new Liberty of London tray…
you could blog it…
and so it goes…we can justify almost anything with those 4 little words…you could blog it…
ps. it was filled with vanilla buttercream…sooo delicious :)
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My flea market shopping can be summed up as this: same stuff, different day. I am always on the lookout for the same things, same colors, same textures. Is this boring, or have I finally figured out what I like? Here’s what I found…a few hats…I'm loving this one with the pale pink flowers and buds and the brown satin bows…
Two doll dresses, a creamware platter, celluloid hand mirror, and a shabby frame.
I thought this hat was kind of perfect…
I love cards of buttons…
and I really love it when someone has made their own card…
That’s MY style and I’m sticking to it!
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The kids and I spent a gorgeous day on Saturday at my cousins house in the country. My cousin and I grew up living next door to each other, he is a year older than me and was my very first friend. At some point our parents bought new homes and I moved to the city and he to the country. Both in Atlanta, but worlds apart. The city mouse and the country mouse. He now lives on over 300 acres, with a huge lake and every kind of boy-toy you can imagine. My son was in heaven! We rode 4 wheelers…
Explored abandoned homes and barns and chicken houses…
Dug for treasures by the creek near a beaver dam…
{my sink is currently filled with old bottles, soaking in soapy water!}
We found bird’s nests and hornets nests , a wasp nest and a turtle shell. We saw lots of animal tracks, and we stopped to smell the daffodils…
all in all what I would call a perfect day…one I will treasure forever!
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I didn’t stitch this past weekend, so I’m a few squares behind, but here’s the progress so far. Squares 10 and 11 (above) and 12 & 13 below…
This sampler is like a calendar for me, because we started on the 1st of March, each day corresponds to the date. Square 12 was March 12th, and I spent the day with my Aunt. She gave me the little yo-yo that she made out of vintage fabric, and I sewed it onto our day together. Day 14 is a little nest with 2 freshwater pearls to represent my children…
Day 15 and 16 below…
March 15th was my son’s 20th birthday. I stamped his initials onto a piece of seam binding and stitched XX for Roman numeral “20”. Day 17 and 18 below (17 was St. Patricks Day)…
Day 19 was this past Friday and I went to the flea market. I bought this dyed ribbon and twill tape from my friend JoAnn, so it reminds me of a nice day…
I’m enjoying this little project and liking the way the different textures are coming together.
I’m even starting to like my mistakes!
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My friend Karla has done it again. On Wednesday I received my book from the Alice tag swap and it was AMAZING! Every tag is a work of art, and I am really thrilled because I know so many of these women, having met them at Art events over the years. First is the cover, by Karla herself, with a tiny glass bottle filled with glitter labeled “drink me”.
Next is a tag by the adorable Gabrielle Messina. I met Gabrielle this past year at Silver Bella, and just love her. She’s only a few years older than my daughter, so I could almost be her mom!!!
The next tag is by Karlas sister Samara---The back is just as pretty as the front…talent sure runs in this family!
This tag is by Kitty Custer---and once again, the back is just as gorgeous as the front…gorgeous details! Kitty just happens to be the mom of my sweet friend Heather!
This tag was done by Beth Leintz…she’s a fellow Bella and all around talented gal. I love this image of Alice…
The next tag was done by Danielle Muller…I’ve known Danielle for 3 years and her work is amazing…feminine, romantic…perfect!
This next tag was done by Karla, and I gasped when I saw it. I had seen Karla’s photo of this tag posted on Flickr and thought it was so beautiful…
Imagine my surprise when it was in MY book!!! Thanks to all the women who made my lovely tags, and to Karla for being her amazing self :) I will cherish this book forever!
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Now for the fun part…assembling the flowers. I like to sort my circles by size, small to large, and then put the flowers together in assembly line fashion. As you can see by my ruler below, there is about a 1” gap between the different sizes of papers we dyed yesterday. I use my other papers (ledger/music/tissue etc.) to cut circles to fill in these gaps. I usually just trace a circle on the back of the paper, using a glass or plate or a lid to something, and then cut out the circle using decorative scissors.
To assemble the flower I use about 12” of thin wire and fold it in half and loop it through your bead or button, or whatever you are going to use for your center. Twist the wire a few times to secure. You will now thread all of your papers (smallest to largest) onto both pieces of this wire. Use a toothpick or a needle to poke a hole in the center of each piece of paper.
When you are finished assembling all the papers, you need to secure them on the back, so they don’t all fall apart. I cut a small circle of cardboard/chipboard, or in this case I cut a circle from a heavy Chinet paper plate. Poke 2 holes in the circle, so that it looks like a button. Separate the 2 pieces of wire and put one wire through each hole, and twist to secure. You can leave the wires long if you want to wire this to something like a branch or garland, or clip them if you want to use this to decorate a package or gift. If you think someone will see the back, clip the wires and glue a decorative piece of paper over the cardboard to finish it off.
Just like a real flower, no two are alike. You can make these as large or as small as you want…just keep adding papers. This one has a button (I like to use a button with a shank back), and a gathered ruffle of seam binding…
this one has stamens and a gathered crepe paper ruffle…
a rhinestone button and gathered lace…
a vintage earring and a swirl of netting…
dress pattern paper and paper shreds…
I hope this was helpful to those of you with questions. As you can imagine, the possibilities are endless. I really like to use these on top of a present, but you could pin one to a lampshade or mirror, or make a whole wreath! If you make some, let me know what you do with yours!
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Last month I showed a few pictures of a mannequin I decorated for a display in my sisters store. She says that people always comment when they see it and want to know how to make these. I have had a few requests for a tutorial as well. At the risk of being OBVIOUS, and telling you things you already know…I will show you how I made these. I NEVER mind explaining things, I have no secrets, it’s just that I figure everyone already knows this stuff, and honestly (as you will see), I have no idea what I’m doing :)
So here goes…basically, I made these flowers by layering assorted papers of various sizes, small to large, securing them in the middle with a bead. I started with this: coffee filters and muffin/candy paper liners of different sizes. I used natural and white coffee filters (and they come in different sizes, 4-6 cups, 8-12 cups), and white and pink muffin liners. The muffin liners usually come in an assorted package that also includes yellow and blue…I just picked out the pink ones. I bought all of this at the grocery store, but a craft store like Michaels sells tiny papers for candy as well.
You will also need a jelly jar filled with vintage pearl beads. It is important to always purchase jams & jelly based on the cuteness of the jar. OK, I am kidding (but I’m not), but you will need something to secure the middle…buttons or beads, old or new, anything will do.
You will also need some other assorted papers…sheet music, ledger paper, book pages (I whitewashed mine with a bit of watered down acrylic paint), tissue paper (it’s fine to use wrinkled recycled paper), crepe paper, bits of ribbon. When I made the flowers at my sisters house, we were snowed in the house in a huge snowstorm, so I literally went through her recycle bin and pulled out anything that would work.
Little bits of fabric and crochet would work nicely as a center. I bought this huge crochet runner at a flea market a few years ago for $1.00. It had holes in it, but I cut it apart to use the little circles on sewing and paper projects. There are enough circles here to last the rest of my life!
The first thing I do is dye some of my new papers to give them an aged look. I use coffee and tea to dye with. I take SOME of each of the papers and divide them into two stacks…one for coffee, one for tea. I leave some papers the original pink and white colors.
I take 2 glass dishes and put several tea bags in one, and instant coffee in the other. I pour boiling water into the bowls, but not a lot. You want this to be a strong solution.
Add your papers-it’s OK to bend and fold them, just get them all covered…
Let them soak for 5-10 minutes, depending on how dark you want them. Or take half out sooner, and leave some longer. Take them out of the tea/coffee and place them on a cookie sheet covered in paper towels. Let them dry. You can then use the coffee and tea to dye some other things…like shipping tags, and the cute tags from the tea bags (I used Red Rose tea)…
and of course the stamps that you saved from yesterdays mail…
Tomorrow I will put all this mess together for you!
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Twenty years ago this chubby delicious boy was born and the adventure of being his mom began. TWENTY years. Two DECADES. Best years of my life. This was a picture I took of him on his first birthday. He crawled out the front door to find me. I was taking pictures of the flowers in the front yard. He was so cranky with me…how dare I leave his sight! (Elizabeth was supposed to be watching him). He was wearing a pin that said “Birthday Boy”. I used to put it on him every year. I keep it in my jewelry box. I forgot to put it on him this morning when I drove him to the airport at 6:00am. He and Katie flew to Florida to spend a week with my parents at the beach. He just sent me a text that said “landed”. I called my dad and he is at baggage claim waiting. My mom is home cooking his favorite things. They were there on the day he was born, and they get him today, 20 years later. I hope he always knows how much he is loved. Happy birthday, Birthday Boy!
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Her are a few more of my 39 squares…square 6 is a little flower and 2 leaves that I made out of gathered rick rack.
Square 7 is a tiny piece of vintage fabric with a pink rose on it, and square 8 is a flower appliqué.
Square 9 is a little piece of tatting. I am practicing my embroidery skills, and have a LONG way to go…so for now I am sewing on bits and pieces and making this more of a fabric collage than a sampler of my own stitching. If you want to see some beautiful stitching, view our Flickr group HERE. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend…my son & girlfriend arrived home last night for Spring Break. We have a busy weekend ahead, including his 20th birthday…YIKES…no more teenagers!
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