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Roses

I have a reoccurring dream where I am taking the most fabulous photographs for my blog. I cannot even believe my own skill and the luck I am having and I can hardly wait to get on line and start posting.

Night before last I dreamed I was taking pictures of my parent’s living room. It had bowers of pink roses growing inside and it was just beautiful.

This morning, since I don’t have pictures of a glorious, rose hued interior to show you, I worked on a little, super easy project. I took the little print of roses I bought earlier in the week and gave it a faux oil painting texture.

I’ve tried doing this with regular Mod Podge with limited success. Now Mod Podge has a product made specifically for this use. It couldn’t be easier to use. Using spray adhesive I mounted the print on a stiff piece of cardstock. This keeps the paper from wrinkling when it meets the moisture in the Mod Podge. Then I just used a cheap paint brush and dabbed on the Mod Podge. The consistency of the Mod Podge is very thick – not quite as thick as the jar paste we used to eat in elementary school – more like puddingish Elmer’s glue. I did a few practice strokes on a different piece of paper before trying my hand on the rose print. Dab dab dab. Done.

After it dried I took an inexpensive frame and took out the glass. Using spray adhesive again I mounted a piece of scrolly looking green paper on the front of the glass and then mounted the print on top of it.

Now I just have to figure out where to put it.

Oh – the box at the top of the post came with a candle in it. I bought the candle because I liked the box so much. I’m using it to store all the extra buttons that come with new clothes. I got the idea from Nicki who has saved EVERY SINGLE extra button from her clothing since she was a teenager! She has it in a pretty little tin. First of all it’s brilliant to keep them all in one place (mine usually get pulled off with the hang tag and tossed, either in the trash or in some random drawer) but more so what fun to look back and recognize a button from a cherished coat or sweater. I could have sworn Nicki has a post about it but I couldn’t find it on her blog.

And finally – in a bit of news that absolutely made my day – one of my very favorite bloggers (and person) – has started up her blog again, after a brief hiatus. A fabulous start to the weekend.

Goose girl

I hit up a little antique store yesterday and found a collection of paper goods. I love paper second only to shiny, sparkly things. I can’t resist.

This particular vendor had a number of postcards, promotional pictures/advertisements, prints taken out of old books, etc. There were a number that caught my eye and except for one all were just a little, well, weird.

Take the picture above – I’ve cropped it but it had a number on the bottom, 70, so I assume it is an illustration from a children’s book. Page 70 to be exact. Only what kind of children’s story has a small child dancing around wearing the pelt of a skinned rabbit while surrounded by other rabbits? Are they enthralled? Planning to overpower the dancing rabbit impostor? And what happened to the kid’s shoe?

This next scrap was originally included with a loaf of bread. I gather from the back of the picture that one could collect the series and even send away for a scrap book to store them in. I’m hoping that this wasn’t intended for children because if I saw this when I was little I think I would be terrified.

Actually it reminds me of a story – when I was about nine years old my family was traveling through Europe. I forget where we were but we were staying at an inn that had a little working farm. There was a young girl about my younger sister Trish and my age. While she was showing us around her grandmother sent her on an errand. She looked at us and said "Whatever you do – do NOT go into the goose pen. They will get out." So of course we went into the goose pen and the geese all escaped. Trish and I ran all over the place, fruitlessly trying to round them up. The girl was very cross with us when she got back and the next day I woke up with my eyes swollen shut because unbeknownst to me I was chasing them through a nettle patch.

So I can actually kind of identify with the little girl in the picture.

I’m not sure where this next picture came from. There is something vaguely sinister about the whole scene. A cat playing the harp for giant rats? And are the rats dancing or just steadying each other? And what is with the little cranky cat sitting on top of the harp?

I thought at first it was a prayer card because of the back:

But then I thought maybe these are testimonials from people that were cured of their ailments by some product rather than prayer. What exactly is dyspepsia anyway?

Here’s the not weird one:

It’s smaller than shown here. I bought a Mod Podge product that you brush onto prints that gives them a brush stroke appearance. I think I’ll find a little frame for it and it will look like a teeny oil painting.

Embroidery

1. small embroidery book, 2. Untitled, 3. Bunny Onesie, 4. Cherry Tree, 5. Embroidery lesson 3, 6. CupcakeGuru detail, 7. growing close up, 8. Tea Towel Swap, 9. cupcake embroidery, 10. little dear and ghost birds, 11. japanese embroidery book, 12. Embroidery lesson 2, 13. Bundt Cake embroidery, 14. sweet bird!, 15. embroidered bird onesie wip, 16. Girl With Bird Embroidered Pouch

I haven’t made much (any) progress on my runner so far this week. Probably because I’ve been so busy hanging out at flickr looking at embroidery examples. I’m feeling the urge to get out my embroidery hoop again.

I seem to be drawn to the simple, sweet designs. I saw several pictures that were from a Japanese embroidery book. After a bit of sleuthing (okay not so much – other bloggers are very intrepid and quicker than I am to find these things) I see I can buy it from Superbuzzy.

While searching I went down a rabbit hole of Japanese crafting and I now I NEED some Japanese craft magazines. So cute. I’m going to head over to our local Asian shopping center and see what I can find.

600 buttons

My button envy has been well documented on this blog. So it was with some excitement that I won three 200 button lots on eBay. 600 beautiful mother of pearl buttons to be used in all kinds of decorating and craft projects.

I was, however, a bit underwhelmed when I received them. 600 buttons doesn’t take up as much room as you think it would. I was envisioning a coffee can’s worth.

More like a cup’s worth. They smell kind of funky too. I’m thinking my button lust isn’t going to be one of those instant gratification things – more like a long, ongoing acquisition.

I felt the same kind of disappointment when my sister ordered and received one of those Sea Monkey kits when we were little. The advert in the back of the comic book depicted frolicking little sea creatures all dressed up in various outfits and looking adorable. The reality was brine shrimp which you cannot dress up no matter how hard you try.

I didn’t get much progress done on my runner yesterday. I did finish cutting out the leaves and I’m now whip stitching the vine in place. Once I do that getting the flowers attached will go very quickly. I hope to work on it this evening and have some progress to show tomorrow.

I also signed up for a blogging challenge. My first! It involves using a wedding image and incorporating it into some sort of artwork. I already know what I am going to do and the results will be posted here on January 29th.

If anyone else wants to join go over to Beachy’s Cape Cod Cupboard for the details.

My poor bench

We’ve been having a bit of weather here in Northern California the past few days. I was sitting in my nice, cozy kitchen cutting out felt flowers when I noticed a movement and light out of the corner of my eye. I turned and looked out the window and a big oak tree was laying across our driveway.

It spared my car (by about a foot and a half) but it took out my green garden bench. At first it looked like the bench might be saved but when Rick was cutting the branches the trunk resting on the bench shifted and there it went.

We have a lot of big trees on our property and usually lose one each winter to a storm. This was closer to the house than I like. Why couldn’t it be one of the ugly, scrubby pine trees?

Since I was essentially trapped at home (car was blocked) I spent the day cheerfully cutting out felt flowers for my runner. I do love a project with a lot of hand work.

I don’t know what genius discovered that you could use freezer paper for tracing and cutting out but I would like to meet you and give you a big hug. You just trace out your design on the matte side and iron it to your fabric. The shiny side sticks to your fabric and you just cut out the design and then peel off the paper. And I discovered you can use the template more than once. After about the third time you iron it the paper loses it’s stick.

My flowers are all cut out and I need to go run over to Jo-Anns to see if they have light green wool felt and also pick up some embroidery floss. I need to cut out the leaves and then I can start assembling. I’m hoping to finish today or tomorrow.

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