Lavender... Deep purple, fragrant, beautiful

The beauty of summer gardens is endless.  Bloom after bloom of the many varieties of plants is to be enjoyed and ogled.  Not to be outdone, these vibrant, purple beauties are stunning.  This variety of lavender is so much deeper than my other plants, despite my belief that  I had planted all the same variety.  Perhaps the earth is richer here?  Maybe there is more sunlight?  Maybe I simply bought a different variety and forgot? 

Either way, they are striking both in the garden and as cut flowers.  I'm looking forward to seeing how these beauties hold up once they are dry. 

The fragrance... Oh, such powerful scent from a delicate creature. 

Have a good day. 

Donald Duck Layout

Good day.  

Here's a busy layout with our favourite pal, Donald Duck.  

Although I usually prefer clean, simple layouts, I must admit that I really like this one.  I made it as a shadowbox frame for my son - who is a huge fan of Donald Duck.  The layout depicts each time the two have met. 

Decorating Shelves

Tweaking this...  Moving that...  Changing those...  It's fun to decorate shelves and continually change them up.  There are so many pretty decorative items that I cannot leave the shelves unchanged for too long.

Whether you make changes seasonally; Or perhaps the changes come with a new favourite colour; I find myself moving items, or relocating them or removing them altogether - if only temporarily.

Here are some of my shelves as they look today:

I love white creamers.  Big.  Small.  I love them all.  I like to peruse the thrift stores and garage sales for beautiful ones.  My collection has reached the point where I will only allow myself to buy a "new" one IF it is absolutely beautiful in my eyes.  I must love-love-love it.  No chips allowed.  A little graze cracking is okay.  Some discoloration is tolerable, but I must LOVE it. Even then, I sometimes force myself to donate an older one from my collection that is, well - a little less loved.  :)

The cinnamon sticks are a leftover decoration from Christmas.  I liked how they look year round, adding a bit of rustic charm.  The patina on the silver pieces looks great against the white plates.

Even while I was taking these pictures, I relocated the three little creamers and the piece of coral to opposite sides - it's an never-ending hobby.  

In my craft room, the shelves are decorated with both decorative and functional items.  The jars of buttons are a favourite. Most of these buttons are vintage.  I remember many from when I was a young girl.  My mom could not - or would not - throw out a button.  She'd say "you never know when you might need it!" So now my mom's hoarding habits are a beloved feature on my shelf.  

Although not a shelf, I like the black iron decorative wall hangings.  It adds a nice touch to the empty wall.  I placed some pretty card stock paper and a flower.  

Happy Monday.

Valentine's Day Cards

For Valentine's day this year, I made a few cards for my family.  Here's how they turned out:

More on Flocking

The Christmas holidays are long over, but the cold temperatures outside today remind me of how much I love the look of snow flocked branches.

Here's a look at another flocking project.  There are others, but the pictures don't show very well.  Now that all the decorations are packed away for the season, I will have wait until next year to show better pictures.

I'll post a picture of my newest wreath... A gathered burlap wreath.

Stay tuned and stay warm.

D.

Regenerated, revitalized and resurrected!

Where does the time go?  Holy time wrap, Batman.  :o

It really doesn't seem that long ago since I posted here, but there you have it...  Date stamps don't lie.
I'm hoping to revitalize parts of my crafty side by resurrecting my blog.  Not only the paper crafting crafty side, which I still love - but also my many other crafting projects like painting, gardening and even my culinary side.

This holiday season I was loving the many flocking pictures shown on Pinterest.  I was inspired to create my own.  After reading multiple "how to's" I jumped right in.  I picked up perfectly lovely wreaths from the thrift stores for cheap.  I stripped them of their dated embellishments, dusted and cleaned as needed; Then it was flocking time.

I flocked many wreaths, a small Christmas tree, lots of greenery and garland too.  It's a super fun project.  Easy.  There really is no wrong way.  I really love the final look of the clumpy, frosted snow on the branches.  I'm showing three wreaths.  I added a beautiful sparkly grey ribbon to one; another I added pine cones and berries with a burlap ribbon; yet another I simply added a few white decorations.  All these embellishments are either tucked in or twisted on - nothing glued.  This way, I can change colour scheme or decorating styles next year.    Enjoy!

Hope to be posting again soon!  Have a great day!
D.

Green Hair?

Good morning! It's a beautiful day - and it's Saturday!!  It's time to get outside and enjoy the summer, but first my card for a couple of challenges.

I'm really liking the green hair.  Some days I really believe that I could pull this look quite easily.  lol

I was ready to pull out my hair - green or not - when I decided to cut out this adorable little Perfect Poison image by Kraftin' Kimmie.  The fingers and hair and feet are all so intricate, I had a demon of a time - which ironically coincides with this Halloween theme. 

The first challenge is the Kraftin' Kimmie challenge no. 41 - recipe.   With the latest Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps release, it's hard to identify my favourite image - but Perfect Poison is definitely in my Top 10.

The other challenge that I'm joining this week is the Cute Card Thursday - Tree-mendous!  I really like this little spooky tree, it's a cut from the Cricut Oct. 31 cartridge.

Okay...  That's it for me.  Thanks for checking in!
Donna