Pinterest, Instagram and Easter

I missed the entire month of March...I blinked and it was gone. It must have been the insanity of January and February that did me in. Here we are heading into Easter.

We can break out all the spring decorations and add a few more to our collection...

Pinterest is full of creative ways to celebrate Easter...even if you never make any of the projects  you can still feel fulfilled having a board full of new Easter ideas.

While you are on the go check out Instagram...you know it will satisfy you craving for what's new and wonderful in DIY Easter/Spring decor.

As an added bonus, when the holiday is over you get to figure out where you are going to store your new decorations until next year...

Chocolate Birthday Cake

The focus of this "Fall" Birthday Card is CAKE...not just any cake, a chocolate birthday cake. Decorated with creamy frosting and loaded with candles...

Seriously how can you celebrate a Birthday with out a cake? Cupcakes would work...they're small so you can get a way with eating a couple...after all its a Birthday, go for it!

And if it's your Birthday you are celebrating with a cake is even better...

you get to have any of the cake that's leftover for a late night snack...maybe with a big glass of milk!

Lily of the Valley, Mr. Selfridge and black dresses...

I worked on this card while "Mr. Selfridge" was airing on PBS. The program had more story lines then a Soap Opera. The first couple of weeks I was having a hard time of keeping track of who was who at Selfridge's store...every one dressed in black...very professional. 

 The logo for the perfume line that Mr Selfridge had created for the store...that "anyone could afford" was Lily of the Valley. Probable a very abundant flower in the English country side...

Those delicate little white fragrant bell shaped flowers have a marvelous vintage look.

I wonder if you can still find the Lily of the Valley cologne at Selfridges in London...or do they only carry the modern designer brands?

Yellow Daffodils

After an "egg-citing" Easter Egg Hunt, what child wouldn't want to go frolicking through the meadow with the Easter Bunny...

gathering  glittery yellow daffodils along the way.

That's what it's all about...

Valentines Day is all about glittered  hearts, bouquets flowers and white dove. Exchanging Valentine cards with friends and love ones and that very special someone. Getting all dressed up for a night out with a romantic dinner and some dancing. A gift of jewelry is always nice a nice touch

Oh yes...and chocolate, lots of chocolate!

Spring Time in Arizona

In Arizona we plant the "spring flowers" in October so they will bloom early and beat the heat (we expect it to be in the high 90s by the end of this week). The Sweet Peas I planted in the Fall have been bloomed and have a wonderful fragrance:

I have a vase that was given to my by a dear friend that is perfect for a bouquet of Sweet Peas...the neck of the vase has a small opening  that flairs out ...that way the flowers don't flop about in the vase.

The flowers may only last a few days, but the memory of their fragrance last forever.

Shamrocks, Glitter and Faeries

Here we are  already into March...have you gotten use to writing 2012 yet?

It is rapidly approaching "WEARING O' THE GREEN" day...yes you may decorate your house with shamrocks, Irish lace and leprechauns and pour green food coloring into all your baking.   

In honor of St. Patrick's Day  I have created three new tags:

Talk about "bling"... this GLITTER LACE tag is  covered entirely  with extra fine glitter using a resist technique. Embellished with a large glitter covered shamrock, green Stickles and green rhinestones.

 The background of this tag is patterned paper that has the appearance of Celtic Knots.The vintage image of this little Irish Lass is embellished with flowers, distress ink and green Stickles to give her a bit of sparkle.

Ireland folklore is full of faeries of all kinds. The faerie on this tag has butterfly wings, embellished with black, crystal and blue Stickles,  green rhinestones, gold braid and flowers.

You want to come play "tags" with me? I will be teaching these St. Patrick's Day tags this week at Scrapbook Barn. Friday March 9th  10:30am to 12:00 noon and  5:00pm to 6:30pm. You can call the store and sign up for either class.

HOT PINK with ZEBRA STRIPES

Did you know that HOT PINK with a ZEBRA print is the "in" thing right now?

I had no clue!

I needed to make a card for my neighbor's daughter...I asked  her mom what kind of things she liked..."HOT PINK with ZEBRA print."  So I went off looking for something  HOT PINK with ZEBRA  print. The first few places I looked I had zero luck. Then I found the mother load. I found HOT PINK with ZEBRA, patterned paper, 1 1/2 inch ribbon and  some flower embellishments...so many choices! I decided using all three would be overkill. I selected one and headed off to play.

I printed off a cool vintage image, added some polka dot ribbon  (I didn't want to over do the HOT PINK with ZEBRA print), some fairy wings...If you are going to be using HOT PINK with ZEBRA stripes you have to do a over the top card...and that always calls for Fairy Wings!

I added a bit of Stickle and of course Hot Pink Zebra stripe flower embellishments...

With a large hot pink rhinestone in the center of the flower. (trust me, in real life the flower is HOT PINK)

I was having so much fun playing, I made a few extra. My Tucson Sister took one to give to her youngest daughter that just passed her cosmetology boards...Way to go Maddie!!!

Victorian Scraps, butterfly wings and Stickles...

I had planned to use flower Victorian Scrap (die cut) images in my tag class. I printed off a collage sheet of the flowers, cut them out with finger nail scissors to get in all the little nooks and crannies and tried to come up with a design idea. In the end I went a whole other way with the tags. Which left me the Victorian flower scraps to use in making cards. The Victorian Scarps are resting on this young girl wearing a bonnet, along with a punched tissue paper flower with a beaded center, purple Stickles, butterfly wings and a few paper flowers in her bonnet.

Decorative or Useful

At Scrapbook Barn we have be playing with canvas. We each received a Donna Downey canvas apron, butterfly and flower iron-ons plus some canvas flowers. We painted the canvas flowers and apron using Claudine Hellmuth Studio paints...created fabric flowers, added ruffles and ribbon...each apron showed off the different style of the designer. My apron was displayed in the store on this lovely dress form.

Having been a floral designer in a previous life I went wild with the flowers...

I kept adding more and more. You can never have too many flowers!

I have been asked how I plan to wash the apron... I don't cook, so it will never need to be washed.

Somethings are decorative, somethings are useful and somethings are both.

Hearts, Glitter and Lace

While everyone was busy working on Christmas decorations and cards...I was creating Valentines Tags so I could get ahead of the holidays. I displayed the tags at the "Christmas" Heirloom Tags class. I used 8 inch tags so there is a lot of room to create on...The McCall image is from Suzee Que...the combination of black, red and white are "in" colors for Valentines.

This little vintage cherub with glitter paper flourish and Prima flower is more of a juxtaposition Valentine.

I really like this plaid heart with a few poises tucked in a beaded lime green ribbon...aqua and hot pink are a great color combination for Valentines Day.

I will be teaching tag classes at Scrapbook Barn this Thursday and again on Wednesday the 19th.

The next "tag" holiday...St. Patrick's Day!

Cemeteries, Antelope and Flowers

Okay...the votes are in...apparently you're not ready to see another mini album...I knew I was pushing the whole mini album thing. I will wait until you aren't paying attention and slip it in to a post.

How about photos? Earlier this month DH and I made a very fast trip to
Apache Creek, New Mexico...it is a tiny dot on a map. One of the few things in Apache Creek is an old country cemetery. According to Wikipedia the cemetery dates from the 1900s through 1960's...which is incorrect information. There are graves from the 1800s...and the purpose of the trip was to bury DH's uncle. The cemetery is still in use...it is one of those old country cemeteries where the family digs the grave...and buries the family member.

And that story gets us to this post...while the men folk were taking care of the grave, I walked around the cemetery taking pictures...remember, I do genealogy and family history and find old cemeteries fascinating. While taking photos of the family headstones, I also took some "texture" photos...just some pics that have interesting texture...you know "artsy" stuff.
You might be able to make out the old fence amongst the tree trunks...the fences

are around some old graves, and the trees have grown around them. There is sage green moss and lichen growing on the old post...

I love all the textures on this photo...the weathered fence post, the rusted wire and nails and the lichen.

On the way back we found a heard of Antelope that really didn't want to have their picture taken.

We saw 150 miles of yellow flowers...the problem was finding a place to pull of the road to take a picture...

Wish

Now we come to the sun room...or maybe the conservatory part of the Kaisercraft Beyond the Page house.

With fancy lattic work, scrolls and layered flowers...
and one more bird cage.
Follow me and we will take a look at the "back porch"...

Botanical Garden

Thanks to all the rain we had this pass winter and spring, the flower garden has done quite well this year. The lilies are beautiful...

Amaryllis

Calla Lily

Rain Lily

Fini

Alas...all books must come to an end... and this is the last page of the Secret Garden Flower Book.

Hidden among the flowers

The butterflies on this page came from the Websters Pages "Life's Portrait" patterned paper "Light the Way". It has a garden trellis look.
I liked the little butterflies clustered together at the bottom of the page

The tag is hidden in among the flowers and smaller journaling tag.

The "Life's Portrait" frame was cut from the "Love Yourself" patterned paper.

I had completed these pages...and a few days later found the clock in the bottom of the embellishment drawer...it was the perfect finishing touch.

Butterfly, Bird Cage and Bling

I'm sure you can tell by now I did a lot of cutting out of the different images on the Websters Pages "Life's Portrait" patterned paper. The green flower on this page was a piece of Webster's Pages ribbon...they call it "Bloomers"
This time the hidden tag is on a corner...

Soft yellow velvet ribbon... amethyst rhinestones and pearls...

and of course a lot of Stickles!

BUSY...BUSY...BUSY

I'm sure I have annoyed many friends and family members lately...they say they check my blog every day to see if I have posted something new and wonderful..only to find the same thing as the day before. I'm not trying to disappoint them...but I just don't have that exciting of a life to blog about!For the most part, when I blog about the garden, flowers or the cat...it is a sure bet I can't come up with anything more interesting. Please refer back to the posts about how busy I have been...you think I make this stuff up?!?! I haven't had time for exciting or interesting. This past weekend I taught back to back classes at Scrapbook Barn...the Heritage Workshop and a new class, Beginning Scrapbooking...these classes don't just plan themselves! These I want to make interesting and exciting. To make it more of an adventure...my wonderful Canon printer stopped printing the color "BLACK"...I didn't know printers did that! As far as making Mother's Day cards...I don't have a glimmer of an idea...I may have to go buy some. And speaking of Mother's Day...and we were...I've been asked to design at a Flower shop for the holiday. Like I said...BUSY!

Oh by the way...When you order flowers for your mom for Mother's Day...don't order them on the internet...please call a local florist !

Just in time...

Easter cards were made and in the mail...it came down to the last possible moment, but I got it done. I didn't make as many cards this year...because I started them so late.
I used the Karen Foster Easter paper...if you saw the paper you know how cool it was. The image of the girl in the Easter Bonnet is from Suzee Que (Flickr) and I think the chicks are from Dover.

I got a phone call earlier in the week asking me if I could come and help design at a flower shop for the Easter holiday...so I have been playing with flowers.

Have a wonderful Easter!

First of the Season...

Spring comes early to the Valley of the Sun and the garden is loving all this rain we have been getting lately. This is the first Iris of the season...hopefully there will be many more for us to enjoy.
These Violas, planted in the Fall, are spreading out and filling the flower pot...

I call it my Phoenix Suns garden...get it...purple and orange... the "Suns"...