Shabby w/ burlap wedding/engagement cards.

In my last post, I was trying to catch up sharing a few things I've made over the last few months. I succeeded in getting only two things posted. I'm just too wordy! I had to quit with those two as my post was already too long!

So here is another share - an engagement card and wedding card that I made for my nephew and his fiance (now married!).  The engagement card was made over a year ago, and I just finished the wedding card in time for their May 15th wedding. I tried to match the wedding card fairly closely to the engagement card, as my "niece in law" said she wanted to display them both in a frame!

Here they are, posted side by side:

I wasn't sure what their style was, so used some burlap to make the card look a little shabby and grungy.. who doesn't like that? Their wedding colors were purple and gray as my niece in law said that's the only two colors they could agree on! 

The insides had verses I found on the internet, and I printed them out in the same font and used a lot of brown ink disressing on both cards. I used more burlap inside, and little strings from the burlap under the buttons. I managed to find a couple more of those pretty vintage buttons with purple gems in the middle, that I had used on the engagement card. I really wasn't thinking ahead when I made the engagement card, as to saving things to use on their wedding card. It was just pure luck.

 I love making handmade envelopes and used the WRMK Envelope Punch Board for both. The cards were both 5x7 so I made the envelopes big enough to hold the thickness of the card. I used some goldy beige glitter paper for the engagement envelope, some gray satin ribbon and one of my shabby paper flowers that I made using matching scrapbook papers. The tabs with names I printed on my computer and then cut them out with fancy edge scissors and distressed the edges. Here's a close-up of the engagement envelope. I sure love how it turned out.

For the wedding card envelope, I used white glitter paper. It wasn't as fancy as I was on a rushed time frame to get it done! I made a tag so that it was similar to the engagement card envelope and used the same purple ribbon (though it looks blue in the photo), and at the last minute found a bunch of white tulle to tie around it.

Here are a couple of more close-ups of the cards. I really do love how they turned out and love the look of all the burlap. See those vintage buttons on the top? They were so perfect for this card!

 I used vintage images I found on Pinterest that were free for personal use. I tried to keep them similar. I had decided on the "dance" theme for the wedding card, as my sister told me they had taken dance lessons together just so they could dance at their wedding.......... so I wanted a vintage image of a couple dancing. Do you know how hard it was to find a good vintage image of a couple dancing, in the same era as the couple sitting on the moon?? Very hard! 

 And here's Jacob and Julie dancing at their wedding!

Until next time.............. stay cool! Was 105 here today..... in Oregon.... on June 5th?  Crazy!

Saturday Serenity - June 11, 2016

I haven't felt too serene lately and thus haven't posted on my "serenity" series. Life has just been too busy! When I made a trip up to Portland, OR for my nephew's wedding in mid-May, and then went the next day to my former home in the mountains (where my son now lives), I realized how much I had been missing GREEN! I've been blue because I miss the greens of nature.

And I mean I like green all around me! Yes, I have a green lawn (finally) and some plants with green leaves, but I grew up with lush greens of every hue, everywhere, all the time, year-round. And I miss it living here in the dry climate of central Oregon.

West of the mountains, there is lush, wet, dewy grasses, moss hanging from the tree limbs, shades of bright and shades of dark, and in between. I feel most serene when I'm surrounded by those greens, and I guess I'm feeling a touch homesick for my "home" west of the mountains, where green lives.

And the needles of the pine trees, 

freshly washed

to a deep rich green.....

shimmered with droplets

that blinked...

like clear crystals.

~Billie Letts, Shoot the Moon~

And I recall those Johnny Rivers lyrics:

"And I sing:

Green green, it's green they say

On the far side of the hill.

Green green, I'm going away

To where the grass is greener still."

Can you hear the music?

I'm most serene when I'm surrounded by green. I'm homesick, but I'm sure it will pass.

Is it green where you live? 

Catching up on things I've made.......

The time has sped by so fast since February it seems, and I wanted to do separate posts on each of the things I've made since then, but today I think I'll just combine a few things I've made in the last few months. I've been so busy in our yard and garden and attending a wedding 4 hours away, and making gifts, that I've kind of fallen behind in my tutorials and crafty blog posts!

I love sharing what I've made, so here goes:

1.  My attempts at Zentangle:
I copied pictures from a coloring book my sister had when I went to the coast in March (Florence, Oregon) and had so much fun! I ran across an art supply store that had Gelly Roll pens by Sakura and I bought a bunch of the metalic colors and they are so smooth and go on thick and creamy. Look at the 3rd photo down to see how well they cover.

My attempt at an alpaca - I think there was one in the coloring book, and I added the different zentangles from various other pages in the book.

This was a freehand square, and I used the different zentangle designs in the coloring book. It's alot of fun doodling, but zentangle really does have specific named designs for each type of doodle. I should have written down the name of the coloring book but I didn't.

Colored in using the Gelly Roll metalic (Sakura) pens. So pretty! I could sit and do this for hours.

Trying out the white Gelly Roll pen on black paper. Such fun.

2.  Quilted pillows for my nephew's wedding gift:
I am so rusty on my quilting! Papercrafting has taken over I'm afraid. It took me forever to make these... some ripping out, some cutting over again, some cutting the wrong size (how can I measure to cut a 15x20 rectangle and end up with an 11x 20 rectangle?), some scrounging for different fabric since I cut a piece the wrong size, and spending 2 hours looking for my "walking foot", and then not needing it! But in the end, they turned out pretty nice.

I tried an "easy method" that I saw on YouTube, where you make two 4 patches for each pillow, and the center 4 patch is smaller, and then you just iron it on with steam a seam, and zig zag around the edges. There is really hardly any piecing. But even though it's supposed to be "easy", it really still took alot of time.

I made these to match a gorgeous king sized quilt that my sister made for my nephew and his bride. They were married on May 15th. She sent me the fabric scraps so I could make matching pillows. Here is the quilt still on her quilting frame:

I loved these fabrics and she did such a gorgeous job on the quilting design. They are so rich and warm and yummy. I thought the square 4 patches would kind of match the theme of her quilt, and as an afterthought, added in the cream colored sashing (strips) around the center 4 patch in my pillows (see below).

Above is my attempt at "stippling" which is a random meandering line of stitching.. but it scares me to do this because it's so "final"!!!! and I couldn't find my quilting foot (but finally did) and I couldn't see the stitches very well because the thread matched too well!

I used a plain zig zag stitch around the edges of each 4 patch (above).

Here is the back of the pillow (above). I had cut the original linen beige backing the wrong size... so had to dig through my fabrics to see what else I had to match! I live 25 miles from the nearest fabric store and it was a day before I was supposed to get these done, so opted to try to use what I already had! I found this kind of westerny fabric, and surprisingly, it matched really well. (So long vest that I had planned to make! but have had this fabric for probably 20 years so I doubt the vest was ever going to get done). I had to piece one of the pillow backs, but it's hardly noticeable. I overlapped the pieces in the back so that the cover can be taken off and washed (and of course I had to prewash and iron all the fabrics!)

I was pretty happy how these turned out and the bride and groom loved them!

Well, I think that's about all I'll show today. More to come!
Stay cool!

Tiny wonky houses......

May was a SUPER busy month, but I managed to slip in a fun class creating a canvas board mixed media artwork piece! Mixed media is not my 'forte", but I've made a few little 5x7 canvas boards that are in my ETSY SHOP HERE.  Most of my canvas art is fairly simple... I painted a piece of canvas and glued stuff on top using mod podge! This class, given by a new "friend" I've met here in Madras, was so much fun and I learned some new techniques. 

I took the class mainly to meet other "crafty ladies" in Madras. I NEED some like-minded gals to craft with and it was my fortune to get this gal's name, who taught the class, from another gal in a shop I walked into a few months ago, asking about classes. 

This class was the day before my nephew's wedding up in Portland, Oregon, and I wasn't going to go at first, as I had so much to do and was making him and his fiance some quilted pillows and a special wedding card (to be shown on a later post) and I felt really pressed for time! But I really really wanted to go, so I pushed myself and got the wedding gifts done by Friday and most of my stuff packed for our trip, just so I could go to the (all day) class. I'm so glad I did. I learned some really fun and new techniques (to me anyway) for mixed media (and met some new friends to boot!)

Here are a few techniques I learned:

Texturing (above)....... using stencil and texture paste and a little palet knife, you stencil designs onto the canvas which are raised... then paint over them with one or two colors. See the little dots in the sky?  

More texturing (above)......... I painted, then textured, then painted on top, and then used a brown waxy paste to make it look antiqued. I also learned to use little tiny words which are kind of embedded into the paint and outlined them with black pen. I swiped silver "Inka Gold" metal gloss paste over the words with my finger. The words are Tim Holtz cut-out words that I mod podged on over the paint.

Drawing around things with a pen (above)...... I pasted all of the shapes on using scrapbook paper that I tore, and then mod podged it down. After it was dry, I drew around most everything with a Pigma Micron pen to make things "pop". (I love things that pop, don't you?)!!  I had so much fun drawing little dotted lines and scallops and swirly bobs.

Using "Zendangle"...... see the little dangly things I drew above? Zendangle is a new technique I've just head about, a form of Zentangle, but you draw hanging hearts, stars, circles and shapes from a rod (in this case, the piece of back and pink scrapbook paper). I love how this looks on the little pink and blue house.

This is an 8x10 canvas and I put "texture" on it first (which I've never done before), using old tissue sewing patterns. The texture made the board kind of bumpy and old looking. I adhered it using mod podge.  After it was dry, I then painted the lower 2/3 with green and the upper third with blue for the sky. Then I did the stenciling with a circle stencil and texture paste, and some swirls (which you can't really see), to give it some raised areas.  

Then I did some stamping with black Staz On ink (see the right upper corner?) and in other areas using decorative music stamps and scrolls.  I tore scrapbook papers to build the little houses with their roofs and doors and chimneys. The gal who gave the class had all of the supplies so I had a blast picking through her scrapbook papers, paints, stencils and pastes, etc. I tried to be really spontaneous and not take too much time to pick out colors. All I knew was that I was making this for ME for my pink bedroom, wanted it mostly pink and green and whimsical!

Using Inka Gold Metal Gloss paint (silver)...... I had seen this used on YouTube alot.. and have always wanted to try it!

Wow is it gorgeous... I just smeared it on the edges of the canvas using my finger, and here and there on top of the texture, and over the little words at the bottom. I love it!  It comes in 18 colors and I want them all!

This butterfly was white chipboard and I found it in a pile of stuff and as an afterthought, stamped some black on it, but some lines and dots around the edge and smeared the Inka Gold silver paste on it. I really like how it looks fluttering above the house, although it IS kind of a giant compared to the house!

Can you see the greenery in between the houses and to the right? There is a little birdhouse on a post and on the right a tree with a blue window? Those were things I just tore out of a garden magazine I took with me to the class, and they were mod podged onto the canvas at some point. The pink door with asparagus I cut from a piece of scrapbook paper... who wouldn't want an asparagus door with a little green heart shaped doorknob?? Me!

I'm very happy with my little canvas and it's now hanging proudly on my pink bedroom wall. I do so love little quaint houses and some day want to make a quilt full of these whimsical and wonky houses.

Until next time.... stay cool! (Was 102 degrees here today).

Progress in our yard.... little by little....

It's been awhile since I looked around our new (old) house that we purchased last October, so see what we've accomplished... so today I took a little walk around our yard and inside the house, and compared what I saw to the photos I've posted.  Just as a reminder, here's a "before" picture of our front yard!

My "future rock garden" below the dead tree!

There actually ARE a few changes, additions, etc. that I thought I'd show you. I guess I've been busier than I thought! Here's a little (quick?) tour: 

First let's look outside. I finally did a little cleaning up and landscaping cleaning up old bark and rocks and weeds, etc. to the area by our front "stoop" that I thought would make a pretty little rock garden. 

"After" digging out a flower bed about 12" out from the rocks, moving rocks around, planting some vine flowers (not sure what they are - got them from my son's place up in Washougal, WA), and cleaning up all of the twigs and branches that fell down from the tall dead tree (one day have to have it removed I'm sure).

 The above picture is the "after".... had it all clean and spiffy until a wind kicked up that night and littered the lawn once again with all the little twigs that come off of the dead tree.

Pretty proud of myself - now have a real "flower bed" to plant a few things. I think I'll go with some pansies here.

These vines have pretty lavender flowers all over them (well they did before I dug them up).. so hope they will survive until next spring.... although my kitten seems to like using them for her bed under the shade of the lilac bush.

  

Can  you tell I'm proud? Lots of pictures..... I put some bark mulch on top of the dirt.. it looks so pretty (for now anyway... until the cats use it for their litter box).!!

The chrysanthenums along our front rock wall have gone crazy! they are HUGE... awfully soon for them to be so huge so early in the year, as they don't bloom until the Fall. I'm going to have to pinch them Back.  I also put/am putting some bark mulch along this flower bed, but ran out.  This rock flower bed runs along our walkway to the house from the driveway.

Our lilac bush bloomed a little bit... I pruned it down like crazy last October... didn't even know what it was!  Our next door neighbor has a wonderful fragrant white lilac that has some new shoots coming up that he said we can have. Oh joy!

I just discovered was told by our neighbors that our front and back lawns are totally COVERED with the much hated goat weed (such pretty little lavender flowers) that everyone around here hates. After they bloom, they turn into horrid tiny little hard balls with stickers on them.. that get dragged into the house on  your shoes. We must take action now (we were told)..... and definitely plan to get some weed and feed on the lawn forthwith.

I planted 15 gladiola bulbs along a front (new) flower bed that I dug up in the front yard, and my hubby planted 35 more along the back rock wall flower bed.

The "lawn" in front has alot of weeds in it! darn.... there's my gladiola bed where the little rocks are placed.. so I know where to look for them when if they break through the dirt. 

 

Here's the back yard rock wall flower bed.. these are "wild" grape hyacinths there were growing in our front lawn by our mailbox.. so I dug them up and transplanted them all along the back fenceline... also put some in the front by our huge mums.... and the gladiola bulbs will (hopefully) come up behind the hyacinths along the fenceline. The glads haven't come up yet... hum.m.m.m.m.  I'm wondering if we put them in too early?

"Before" picture last Fall, of our back fence and rock flower bed! Ugly............

I've been really good at scavanging flowers and plants, etc. from neighbors or my son's place up in Washougal, WA. Haven't bought one plant or shrub yet, and the flower beds are starting to fill in. Well I correct myself.. I did buy the gladiola bulbs.

Rhododendron from our neighbors.. don't know  how hardy it is but it's been in his yard for 4 years.. but he said never any blooms on it. In the little green planter, are some sort of Daisys from another neighbor's yard. She had a huge wheelbarrow full of them to give away!

My beloved vine maple tree that we brought from Washougal, WA from my son's property. These are one of my all time favorites for Fall color! I'm so happy it has leafed out. We have 4 more that are on the verge of leafing out. They will grow huge if we don't keep them pruned.

Another plant from my son's place in Washougal... we call it the "helicopter plant"... it has gorgeous purple flowers on it in the summertime, but I have no idea what it is. does anyone know?

A close-up of the Daisy.. I tried looking it up in my garden book, but the pictures hardly ever show the leaves, so I'll know when it blooms I guess. We planted a ton of them all over.

More Daisys along the side fence. 

My beloved raspberries that I brought from our own house in Washougal, WA almost 4 years ago. They've weathered the La Pine climate of 32 below zero 3 years ago, and another move to a different house, 20 below temperatures there, and zero temps here in Madras this last winter. They've been living in a plastic tub and we just transplanted them to the ground along the south facing fence. I've left room for about 4 more raspberry plants that I'll probably have to buy.

We got two free sheds shipping crates from my sister and husband that were used to ship heads over from Africa from their hunting trip to Africa a year ago! We are going to use them for outdoor storage for now.... until we can afford a real shed. Free is good right? The bigger one is the size of a closet... they both have doors that we need to install with some big hinges.. and want to paint the roofs with some sort of roof tar to keep them waterproof.. then paint them, etc. They are sure better than nothing!

Now if we were handy at all, I'd want us to hook them together and then add a little peaked roof on them so it would look like a little house.... but.... I have no idea how to go about it, neither does hubby.  We dragged those across the yard ourselves and they were HEAVY! Set them up and leveled them ourselves.. that's about as "handy" as we are.

Right above the sheds, our neighbor's gorgeous apple tree was blooming just a couple of weeks ago. 

And here's the "side yard" mess that we've done nothing to (above), other than try to keep the weeds down. It has also kind of been our outdoor storage area! It has a layer of gravel on it (under the weeds) and we want to build some sort of patio/deck there. For now, it's just a fight to keep the weeds mowed/down/killed, etc. And neither of us are handy at all... so how is that going to work?

So far, we've done everything in the yard with very little money and lots of elbow grease! (and lots of scrounging).

We've done a few things to the inside of the house too, but I'll leave that for another post. 

Have a great week!