Paper Pleasures

I have never been a big scrapbooker.  I have, in fact, completed three scrapbook pages ever.  But, I do like paper crafts on occasion.  It really is amazing what you can do with paper.  For instance, have you seen the things in the gallery at Anthropologie.com lately? My aspiration are much lower.

It really started when I bought a paper wreath at an antique store on my birthday.  

Then I saw a picture of a wreath like the one in my last post and I decided to make it.

Yesterday I attempted to recreate the one I bought.  It didn't really turn out the same. . .

But I sort of like mine better!

I started with a foam wreath again.

Then I rolled pages out of an old yellowed dictionary.

First one row all lined up around the ring, attached at the back.

Then two more rows glued down over the top.

Then I felt like it really needed something.  So I added some tissue paper rosettes.  Just like the fabric ones I made for Hannah's friend's birthday necklace.  It's all a matter of twisting and twirling and periodic/strategic gluing.  

I have to say I quite like it.  

Who knew books were so much fun without actually reading them!

Incremental Decorating

You know those home decor blogs that constantly post pictures of makeovers--room makeovers, furniture makeovers etc., all in one post. . . this isn't one of those.  My makeovers take eons to complete and if I waited to show pictures until the projects were complete I would still not have posted anything on this blog.

But I can give details as they come.  Last year (or was it the year before? I loose track during the process of project hopping!) we started Hannah's room makeover.  I had intended to do something fun above her bed other than hang a picture, but it took me forever to get around to it. Well, it is finally complete:

I actually started this wreath months ago and then put it in a cupboard and forgot about it.

I pulled it out last week and made Hannah finish it!  It was for her room, after all.

I even took pictures of the process. . . of course those pictures where numbered among the poor deceased thousands that weren't backed up when my hard drive died (Though I am still holding out hope that some will be miraculously retrieved here soon).

So all you get is the lovely after.

I bought the frame at the Goodwill, painted it white and distressed it a little.

The wreath is made with a foam wreath bought at Joann's.  The brown part is a gagillion paper sacks punched out with a scalloped circle punch--2", I think is what I used.  I would have preferred a 3" but there wasn't one at the store I was shopping at.

Remember in grade school when you made tissue paper wreaths by taking a square of tissue paper and folding it over a pencil eraser and then gluing it to a wreath?  That's how you make it, only you use hot glue.

The butterflies are cut out of various blue scrap papers and pages from an old dictionary.  I found a butterfly shape online and used it as a template in three sizes to cut them out.

Easy peasy and only like four months to make! But I think it was worth the wait.

The Fruits of My Labor

I am a firm believer in working for one's rewards.  Fruit does taste better after you have worked and weeded, watered and sweat over the plants that produce them.  Nothing is sweeter than waking up on a cool summer morning, strolling out the garden and picking breakfast.  The only thing that beat me to the berries this morning was a bunny--trying to snatch a few blueberries from under the netting.  He quickly fled upon my arrival.

This is not the first year I have grown strawberries, but it is the first year I have gotten more than an handful of little berries for my efforts. But this year my efforts are indeed being rewarded.  I may have had to build raised beds to contain them, transplant them and weed them--and most importantly, construct a protective net covering for them to keep out the birds, bunnies, and deer--but it is all paying off.

Added to a little Greek style yogurt with a handful of granola, the fruits of my labor are indeed very sweet!

Sew Much Fun

When school let out I had an uncontrollable urge to be crafty.  This translated in large part into a sewing frenzy which hasn't entirely abated.  I try to take advantage of the urge to sew and whip out as many projects on my to do list as possible before the urge passes, because once it dies down, nothing can induce me to sew, even if I happen to stop mid project.  Ask my daughter, I still have a half sewn apron from the last go round.

Here are few things I have been working on in the last few weeks:

Aprons

These started a couple years ago when I saw a super cute apron on someone else's blog and thought "I can SOO make that."  So I did, then I made a dozen more!  I gave them to my family and friends and kids and a lot of them to the graduating senior girls from church--sort of a "Congratulations on graduating and growing up--good luck cooking for yourself.  But hey, look cute while you do it!"

Plus they are reversible.

Here are a few I have made:

Head Bands


I first made a couple of these for a friend of Hannah's for her birthday.  Along with a fun rosette necklace that I have yet to make more of.

These are pretty easy and super cute.

 The flower is actually made of satin ribbon and is a pin, so it can be removed and pinned other places--like on a sweater. . .OR a . . .

Purse

I decided that in my old age carrying a purse is quite handy.  It holds LOTS of stuff.

I like being able have lots of stuff and still have my hands free.  But mostly, I like being able to take my camera (and an extra lens or two) with me without looking like a tourist.

So I whipped up this little number one day and I LOVE it.  I even gave it a magnet snap and interior pockets.  I may make another. . .


This next one was really out of necessity, though I have been wanting to make one for while.  Every Sunday when my kids drag out their coloring books and crayons in church and the inevitable CRASH of the spilled crayon bin makes me cringe I think, "I really should make that. . . ."

Crayon Roll

It is super easy and so neat and quiet in the car and at church and anywhere we go.  Plus it tucks into my purse or church bag real slick.  Plus I made one for each girl so no fighting!

I still have loads of things to sew on my list.  Like the chair covers I started last October! I got ONE done.

Unfortunately, this chair has seven siblings I must cover.

But it sure is cute with the pillow I bought off Etsy:

Add to that a bench cushion for a friend, a skirt for my daughter, some curtains for my daughter, and a new cover for a foot stool for my other daughter. . .  the list goes on.  I hope the urge to sew lasts as long as the list--I have a feeling it won't, particularly since the list keeps growing!

I shouldn't ask (for the sake of keeping my list short), but :

What have you sewn lately? Or at least, what have you wanted to sew lately?

Forward Thinking Sedum

I have always been under the impression that sedum was a lover of heat and dry locations.

They are acclaimed for their drought tolerance. . .

I took that to mean that they would not do well in very wet weather. . .

I live in wet and cloudy Washington.

So when I made these hypertufa pots last year and planted sedum in them I thought they might drown over the winter.

Last month we got 200% of our average rainfall for the month.

Apparently these plants are storing up for the future.

Sidetracked. . . As Usual

Necessity is the mother of invention. . . or rather, of construction in our case.  At least that's what I call it when a washing machine goes out and it spurs a laundry room makeover.  A deadline helps to.  Of course, that deadline has passed, as has the over zealous gusto with which we started the project.

"We have three days to make over the room before the new washer and dryer get here." got us really going on the project. . . then reality set in and we made sure the floor was done so the washer and dryer would have something to sit on.  Here is where the dilemma of the walls (and the sink/cabinets/shelf) brought this project to a screeching halt.  In typical fashion, we abandoned the project midstream.  Or at least set it aside, missing baseboards and all, while we figured out what to do with it and got on with life.

And by got on with life, I mean we jumped ship onto another project, of course.  I am having flashbacks of working on the garden, deciding the west side yard needed done, which is tied to the east lane gate area project (trust me on that one) so we worked on that area for, oh about an hour, before changing gears and focusing on the tree house for the entire weekend.

Clearly we have issues.

And one of them happened to be an overflowing non-functional under-the-stairs-closet-catchall-black-whole-where-winter-coats-go-in-but-don't-come-out. . . among other things (a couple sewing machines, a couple tubs of fabric, several jackets and backpacks--oh, and the vacuum. . . and carpet cleaner).  I bet you didn't realize a four by four space could hold so much.  My argument was that it really could be holding so much more--if we did something about making the space a little more vertical.  I was thrilled to find my daughter's coat we all took for lost last December.  Though it is less urgent now that it is June. . . or at least it would be if the weather would remember that it IS June.

And since we dove into this project with very little forethought, I have no actual before picture.  So just picture this room without the partially installed shelving and with the aforementioned crap stacked half way up and making a fairly successful attempt to spew out into the hallway. . . or don't, because that probably says something about me as a person.

We installed four 12" shelves, painted the room the same color as the hallway, and the shelves white.

We attempted to move the hooks off the door and onto the wall inside the closet, but of course we only succeeded in making several holes I will now have to repair.

In the meantime, we ran to The Container Store and stocked up on divided organizable storage totes that would fit our shelves and I began sorting.  I started with the sewing stuff, but will likely add some other craft supplies which are currently in my office.

I may need more space. . .

But in the end it looks so much neater. . . and I actually know what is in there.

Plus, as a bonus, I no longer have to shove the door hard and fast to keep the vacuum from bursting back out from lack of floor space.

Now the question is, will our next project be the rest of the laundry room?

Sunshine in My Soul. . . And My Garden

I couldn't ask for a more beautiful day.  The sun is shining, the birds are singing, my house is clean and quiet and my windows are open.  My dog is even snoring softly in the other room.

So I wandered outside to bask in the sunshine and discovered my flowers were basking as well.  It makes my insides smile see such loveliness.

Something about the patterns made by the arbor and the ethereal pinkness of the rhodies next to the spring green of my chocolate vine makes me a little giddy.

I could spend hours out here on days like this.

I just need some great loungy furniture to lie upon and while away the hours. . .

Well, it was a nice fantasy and a few moments of pure relaxation.

Now I am off to my graduation rehearsal.  Funny how life seems so much calmer now that school is over.  I am finding time to sit back and enjoy the roses, er rhodies.