Potted Plant Collection

My mom taught me to love plants.  She had quite a collection as I was growing up.  Now, I too have a collection.  I love all kinds, but I am partial to succulents and irises.  I am also really enjoying getting into herbs.

It has been several years since I have kept plants.  It got to be too much with a house full of wee babies.  

But, now my babies have graduated to helpers and I look forward to sharing my love of plants with them.

I would like to chronicle my collection here on the blog.  Here is my collection as it appears now.  Over the next few weeks, watch it grow with me to a wall of green and blooms.  

Emma Purse

Emma had just turned two when I made this purse.  It is one of those alterable wooden purses you find at a craft store.  I painted it and embellished it with butterflies...painted ones and sticker ones.

The pic is of Emma in her flower outfit she wore at her garden themed second birthday party.  

I used this purse for the longest time.  You can see a few nicks and scratches here and there, but I think it held up amazingly well for the treatment it got.  

I have put the purse up now.  I have some writings I did when I was pregnant with her that I will bind and put in the purse and give to her for a future birthday.  I think it will make a special gift.

Mayhaw Jelly Magic

One of our favorite jellies is some Mayhaw jelly made by a local gent.  We always keep some in stock, as I cannot fathom what sort of chaos would occur if we ever ran out.

Joseph was making the kids PB and J sandwiches the other day.  Emma noticed right away that there was almost no jelly left in the jar.  Panic started stirring at the dinner table.

The kids were discussing the nearing tragedy when Joseph pulled another jar from the cabinet and put behind his back.  He waved his free hand over the empty jar several times with much flair and uttered a magical encantation.  

Then, he switched the jars.  The kids were semi-distracted and did not see the actual switch.  They were amazed when they realized the jar sitting before them was now full.

Joseph was very proud of himself, as was I.  The kids are convinced that their dad knows enough magic to summon a full jelly jar.  They may take him on tour.  

Create and Share Journal:  Simple Background

I was going to make a project on a piece of plain yellow paper.  But, I wanted the background a little busier.  So, I found some similar themed flower acrylic stamps and inked them in coordinating colors.  I randomly stamped them over the paper with some of the images overlapping. (Due to my poor scan, you cannot see the light peach flower in the "blank" spots.)

Sure, this is simple.  But, it occurred to me that I was going to put this in my Create and Share Journal because I often don't think about this technique when I want a little going on in the background of a scrapbook page or card.  I often overlook this simple technique to add pizazz to a paper.  This went from a yellow page to something with interest and depth.  

Consider doing a simple random stamp background on some of your plain cardstock to design your own background paper.  It will be fun!

Kay

Letter Books

I have been making something I call letter books for about a year now.  I love to write letters!  When I do, I am verbose.  In the past, I have made something akin to a signature for a book...just a few pages folded in the center and bound together to a cardstock cover with some twine.  Of course, I spend a little time decorating that cardstock cover. 

I recently got the book, How to Make Books by Esther K. Smith.  Reading it has inspired me to take my letter books to the next level and try something new.  Here is my first letter book since the reformation.  I still have a decorated cardstock cover, but when you open it up, you find an accordian style enclosure which is part of the book.

Create and Share Journal:  Black and White Envie Deco

I love black and white imagery.  It is quick and fun to do.  The high contrast is very appealing to the eye.

I often decorate my envelopes with this style.  It is fun to juxtapose different style stamps together.  Even if they are very different in style, they will tie together in the monochromatic color scheme.

I am sure you could have a lot of fun making your own black and white rubber stamped collage.  I have done this with red ink on white/manilla paper.  Any color your prefer will do.

Just imagine the face of someone who receives your artsy envelop.  How could they not open it!

Kay

Create and Share Journal:  Golden Blossoms

I love acrylic stamps.  There is no better way to place an image than by seeing where it is going.  I used a single stem stamp to stamp the vine image several times in dye based ink to make it seem to meander across the page.  I used a small blossom stamp to stamp the flowers in red pigment ink along the vine.  I further heat embossed the blossoms with red embossing powder to give them dimension.  My final touch was coming back with some champagne gold acrylic paint and painting in the negative spaces on the blossoms.  I was really happy with how this experiment turned out.  Can't you see this across the front of an envelope or on some stationary?

Kay