Front door Spring decor...vintage umbrella floral arrangement

Happy Spring everyone!  I so look forward to this time of year.  Charlie and I were just out in the flower beds, digging to see if we could find new little plant sightings.  Sure enough there are lots of new, green sprouts peeking out.  

With Spring comes a time of renewal, a change to change things up and start fresh.  Ever since I saw this umbrella floral arrangement on the cover of a Midwest Living magazine I've wanted to find an old umbrella and do the same.  I believe this is the cover photo but I'm not exactly sure...pretty close if not.  This photo is pinned on my March Inspiration Board: Going Green. 

Pinterest source

One day while out junking I found a vintage umbrella with a beautiful ivory looking handle.  I knew it had to come home with me and I knew exactly what I wanted to make with it.  A trip to Michael's for some fake florals and I was good to go.  The girls helped me select these flowers.  I love that they selected colors that just happen to coordinate with my color kit that I've recently been using for my Color Studio class assignments.  Large peonies are always a favorite flower of mine and these look pretty realistic. 

Here's my finished umbrella on my front door.  Pretty simple in nature and I added in my old chippy chair, suitcase and watering tins for a fun photo shoot.  

Such pretty colors and a fun welcome to our guests.

I just tucked in the florals, using a few grocery sacks for stuffing here and there.

My tried and true favorites, my watering cans are like old friends to me.  The suitcase?  I jokingly tell friends that I keep it packed with a few of Eric's things....just in case.

I'll be filling these up soon to water those first pretty flowers of the season.

Bright and sunny and so welcoming.  Bring on Spring...I'm so ready for you.  

Now.....I must go dig in my flower beds a bit more.  The girls made their first big outing in their new truck today with a friend.  They ventured into town for some Orange Leaf yogurt.  I worry.  Like all mamas do.  I worry more now.  I know they'll be okay.  But I worry....

Creating a color kit from inspiration photo...

Hello friends.  I want to thank you all for your kind messages to me about the girls.  They are doing great and are enjoying the start of Spring Break today.  The girls are healing physically although we found out that Josey tore some tendons in her shoulder.  They both are quite impressed with their own doctoring skills...Josey removed her stitches by herself and Jordan dug a piece of glass out of her head yesterday.  Me...I'm a little scatter brained lately.  My attention span is pretty short and I can cry at the drop of a hat.  Time will help us all though and getting back to "normal" is our goal. 

In the crafty world, I did take some time to treat myself to a fun class over at Studio Calico called Color Studio.  Lisa Truesdell is doing a fabulous job of teaching the class and I'm finding the refresher/reminders about the color wheel to be very inspiring.  One of the first class assignments was to find an inspiration photo full of color.  I chose this photo from my March Pinterest Inspiration Board: Going Green. Happy St. Patrick's Day, by the way!

Pinterest Source

Another class assignment was to create a color kit inspired by our chosen inspiration photo.  This was right up my alley as you all know I love to assemble little kits.  A goal of mine is to revisit some of my older supplies so I made sure to do some rifling through my older stash of items.  I started with some wonderful patterned papers that reflected the patterns in the pillows.  I love the cottage-like colors and patterns. 

Next I went to work on fitting some crafty items into a vintage green utensil drawer.  I thought the green was so fitting for my Going Green Pinterest board theme.  When assembling little kits like this to work with I like to limit myself to a particular sized container.  Otherwise I could pile my whole craft room into a kit. 

I chose little bits & pieces from some Gossamer Blue kits....my vintage green typewriter Instagrams...and some die cuts from leftover kits.

Next I chose some spools of thread...Washi tapes....dimensional flowers....and jars of buttons.

I had some ideas for painting some clothespins so I grabbed some of those along with some acrylic paints.  I spy two of my new watercolor brushes tucked in there too.  I'll be sharing my favorite watercolor supplies in a new post soon. I also purchased the new Studio Calico Color Theory inks.  I'm impressed so far and am looking forward to inking those up more soon.

I've been dabbling a bit with some cards and I need quite a few thank you cards....so I'll be posting some creations made from my color kit items soon.  

Thank you so much for visiting.  It feels good to be in touch again.  

Green typewriter cards....inspired by Going Green Inspiration Board

Today I'm jumping right into using my March Going Green Pinterest Inspiration Board as inspiration for some cards.  You can view the Going Green board here.  For inspiration I created a collage using the Pic Collage app on my iPhone.  I then printed my collage onto a sheet of 8.5 x 11 glossy photo paper.  I also created a smaller collage of some of my cards that I've created that I like to use for card sketches.  I was inspired by the cell phone cover with the typewriter sitting in the grass.  I took a photo of my typewriter, changed the color to green and printed a mini Instagram sheet.  These will be available in my online shop soon. 

For my cards, once I have an idea of what I want to create I select papers and embellishments to create somewhat of a mini kit to use.  I like to have this little messy pile of goodies all fanned out.  The creativity just starts to flow once I see color and patterns and unique embellishments.  For my mini typewriter Instagrams, I trimmed four of them down to little squares. The patterned papers are from the March Gossamer Blue 6 x 6 paper pad in the Bits & Pieces Kit.  On the right side of the photo below you'll see that I stitched with green thread down the side of some Basics Journaling Cards.  I absolutely must have these in my stash to use for card fronts.  Love them to pieces.  

In my inspiration collage there's a photo of a butterfly on ledger paper (you can see all the photos better on my Going Green Inspiration Board).  I dug out one of my old ledger books and tore out a sheet to cut up for a bottom layer of my cards.  

Here are my finished cards.  I love the office supply feel that the typewriter Instagrams, lined journaling cards and ledger paper lends to these cards.  The color definitely says green too. 

Here's a nice shot of all the layers the cards have.  I just love stitching and stapling pieces of paper together.  

I found plenty of embellishments and twine from the March Gossamer Blue kits this month. Those little daisy brads...oh, I could use full packs of them.  If you're liking the gold and silver twines, I do carry some in my shop.  Silver is here.  Gold is here.  

The little typewriter Instagrams.  I keep adding these to my stash/shop because they just come in so handy for cards and little packaging items.  For the sentiments, I used the "just my type" stamp from a previous Life Pages stamp set from Gossamer Blue.  For the other sentiment I typed those out with my vintage typewriter.  You can also get a glimpse of my favorite product from this month's Gossamer Blue kits.  It's the wood tape from the March Life Pages Themed Add-On.  You can stitch on it, trim it with scissors or a trimmer, die cut it....you really will love this.  And this kit is one of the few remaining over at the Gossamer Blue store. You'll also really love the My Mind's Eye wood dots in this kit too.  Oh and then there's gold shimmer paper, a Brilliance ink pad and the most beautiful journaling cards.  Just a fun, fun kit. 

I wanted to share a fun tip for you to try the next time you work with 6 x6 paper pads.  Lots of times the 6 x 6 sheet will have a border at the top with a perforated line for tearing the sheets out.  When I tore out my sheets, the whole page ripped out.  So I just rolled with it and used the torn edge + the cream border with the hole as the bottom of my patterned paper layer.  And I love it so much.  It just adds texture and a little something unexpected to the card design. 

Thank you so much for stopping by today & I hope you enjoyed my cards.  I really am getting so much inspiration from my Pinterest boards.  I'd love for you to link up your creations in the comments section if you are inspired to create something from my Going Green board.  I'll be back with more projects all month long and be sure to check the shop soon for some new green items + fun kits, etc.  As always, thank you for leaving a nice comment.  They do mean so much to me. :)

March Pinterest Inspiration Board....Going Green

It's time for my next monthly Pinterest inspiration board and for March it's all about Going Green.  You can find the new board here + all of my previous monthly boards for 2014 are available too.  Green is my favorite color and right about now when we have sub-zero temperatures and snow on the ground, it seems I dream of green.  It was certainly easy to browse through my other Pinterest boards to find inspiration with the color green.  I hope you'll give my Going Green Pinterest board a look and hopefully find some fun inspiration for the month.  

Here's a few sample photos from my Going Green Pinterest board.  These lovely crayons, paint chips and a scruffy paint brush all make me want to dive into my art supplies.  

(Pinterest link)

Some day.  Ahhh, I will own an old green pickup truck.  

(Pinterest link )

Jadeite colored vintage dishes and vases.  Be still my heart.  Maybe my Going Green board will prompt a color change with some of your home decor. 

(Pinterest source)

Quotes and lettering.  White ink on a green background would go so well in my home.  

(Pinterest source)

Vintage illustrations of botanicals, birds and butterflies.  Maybe I'll give watercoloring a stamped butterfly a try this month on some cards.  

(Pinterest source)

So many beautiful shades of green.  There are so many fun pairings of greens with other colors in my Going Green Pinterest board photos.  The inspiration really gets to flowing when I visit this board.  

(Pinterest source)

Thanks for joining me today and I hope that you're inspired to Go Green.  I'll be back this month with lots of green creations and some new green shop items.  Stay tuned...

February Inspiration Board...Wood You Be Mine?

This year I started a monthly series of inspiration boards over at my Pinterest site.  Each month I'll select a group of images that I've collected from my various Pinterest boards and use them as inspiration on a whole new board.  February's inspiration board is called Wood You Be Mine?  

I was inspired to create this board after seeing this image below.  It reminded me of all the Aspen trees we saw in Colorado last Summer while riding our Gator on some mountain trails.  We'd see carvings on trees just like this.  Although we wouldn't let the girls carve their initials on any trees, I did find the carvings endearing.  So fast forward to February and I thought that hearts and woodgrain would make a perfect pairing.  

(source from Pinterest)

Since so many of us pin a lot of inspiring photos from Pinterest I wanted to share how I actually use the photos to jump start an actual project.  I know....actually creating something from a Pinterest pin...novel idea, right?  

Here's a few photos that I pulled from my February board and how I might use them on a project.  I loved this handmade bag photo and have admired it for some time.  To convert the idea to a paper project I like the idea of using the design for a card front.  I could use woodgrain paper and maybe a few other patterned papers to create a striped background layer.  Then I could use layers of other papers, maybe a ledger paper, and some stitching to finish off my card.  I like the idea of the neutral backgrounds and maybe I could create a whole stack of those to use on cards anytime. 

(source from Pinterest)

From this photo I was simply inspired to use more ribbons on a project.  I'm giving ribbons a comeback this year on my projects and this is a fun reminder that there are lots of fun ribbons just waiting for me in my stash.  The neutral background could easily be switched out with a woodgrain pattern.  Love the color inspiration from this photo also....minty greens, salmon and the neutrals.  

(source from Pinterest)

From this photo, I'm combining two recent loves....hand lettering and floral clusters.  I'd love to just print this photo off for inspiration then get to work on practicing my hand lettering.  Then I'd love to make some hand lettered card fronts then stamp on some little floral clusters...maybe adding some hand painted floral elements into the mix.  Sometimes I  really like the idea of the stationery look with flat layers as a contrast to heavily layered cards. 

(source from Pinterest)

I hope I've inspired you today to select a photo from my Wood You Be Mine? Pinterest inspiration board and create something special. The inspiration is plentiful, we just need to put it into action.  I'll be keeping all of my monthly inspiration boards active so they'll be at my Pinterest site from month to month for 2014. 

Happy Valentine's Day to you all!  Hope your day is lovely.  We celebrated with a wonderful dinner and little gifts last night....tonight we'll be watching the girls play basketball and will have hotdogs from the concession stand.  :) Looking forward to a relaxing weekend with warmer temperatures after tonight.  

Note: I will be still be posting my December Memories remaining pages.  Please don't let my last few unseen pages stop you from working on your album though.  I'm not quite sure when I'll get to posting all of the remaining pages but they'll trickle in here on the blog sooner or later.  :)

A few favorites on my birthday..

Hi friends. I've taken a few days after the Papertrey release this month just to re-group and wind down after a whirl wind of a month. The girls' last day of school is tomorrow...so today I'm soaking in the last few days of a quiet house. After that I am looking forward to having my girls at home for the summer. I LOVE having them at home all day.

I don't have anything crafty to show that I've made recently but I thought since it's my birthday today I have to post something, right? I thought a few of my favorite photos would be nice to share today, in random order:

My favorite redheads. Josey and Jordan at Josey's 8th grade graduation last week. I am so proud to be their mother. No short shorts or heavy eye liner needed to show their outer beauty. Only an *I love you, Mom* needed for me to see their inner beauty.

Now a few favorites from my Pinterest site........so many to choose from. All photo credits are linked on my pins at my Pinterest site.

From my organization board.......a wonderful framed corkboard for visual inspiration.
From my vintage finds board......a pretty Jadeite green cart filled with pretty papers. I am hoping to make a liner for a few of mine soon and fill with vintage wallpaper rolls that I've been collecting.
From my airstream love board....oh how I would love an airstream camper, complete with vintage finds, cute table settings, old quits...and a dog. :) To fit in that bikini would be nice too!
From my crafty spaces board.....a lovely crafty studio with soft lighting....and uncluttered.
From my paper crafting board........this wonderful display with vintage ruler, milk glass vases, that to die for truck, and a garland made from old postage marks.
From my blog board.....a softy and shabby card complete with lined envelope + small note with clothespin. I need to send more cards, how about you?
From my tablescapes board.....an old wooden table table covered with lace linens, mixy match chairs, flowers and garlands of vintage handkerchiefs. Wouldn't you love your fresh squeezed orange juice to come from here?
From my food finds board....pink lemonade with all the fixin's.
From my simply sewing board....quilts and more quilts. Definitely on my list of to do items for the summer.
From my quotes and sayings board....I've been going back to this one a lot. Seems there are people everywhere that like to knock others down. From work, from the girls' school, from life in general. I guess it takes all kinds to make the world go round.

From my scrapbooking board.....wonderful page layouts from the most creative people ever. I'm loving these page starters from Sassafras lately.

From my Project Life board.....still going strong, still loving it. This simple little sucker wrapper from Lisa Truesdell's pages just melted my heart. Wouldn't you love to be able to touch a sucker wrapper from when you were a kid?
From my pretty little places board...... to walk through the woods and find this?!! Makes me want to build something out of nothing with the girls in the back timber this summer. Maybe a cute fairy house would be more our scale.
And lastly my favorite thing said to me today...Eric called to ask what I was doing for my special day. I told him I was working on my Project Life album. He replied something like this...."You know, that's pretty special what you do. To see all the scrapbooks you had laid out for Josey's graduation party was really neat." And that is why I scrapbook, friends.

I hope you all have a great day and an AWESOME summer. I'll be back into my crafty goodness really soon so stay tuned to some fun projects, new Etsy items and some fun new features on the blog.