Spring has sprung… (pt. 3)

And now, we come to the “nesting” part of my story…

(This is where my beloved electronic cutting machine comes into play.)

Since there are 3 chicks in my nest… I removed the holiday berries & left the lovely blue eggs.

The Graphics Fairy is a favorite site of mine! Her vintage images are so perfect for cards & other art projects. Today I used a piece of French sheet music. I set it up to print multiples in my Silhouette software.I printed front & back.The cutter sliced such lovely shredsfor me to weave into the nest.Precious, right?
Every nest needs a loving mama & papa…

(mini family photo shoot)

Now the nest is perched above our entrysymbolizing the love nurtured here.

It's for a Bridal Shower

The pastor's son is getting married this summer. (In Cali, the weekend of our 19th anniversary -- I think the hubs & I will capitalize on that!) On Saturday his auntie is hostessing a shower for the bride-to-be. I scored an invite. (I say "scored," 'cause Sally's parties are legendary!)

hmmmmmmmmmmm -- Guess I'll need a little card for this occasion...

 I crafted the card using some images from Karen's incredible stash. As you can see, I utilized the marriage certificate,

(I created a little sepia-tone man's silhouette to
put in one of the picture frames of the certificate.)

the bride silhouette 

and the antique wire dress form.

 After attaching each piece of lace with gold thread to the front of the card; I adhered a graphic of Wagner's Wedding March to cover the bobbin thread.

(The "big" gift, however, is this monogrammed pillow I designed, appliqued, embroidered, and sewed.

You can get all the details in this post.)

(By the way, the bride-to-be loved the card at the shower this afternoon!)

new "pseudo" card

My inspiration:

I have had a picture of this art piece for months. (Now I can't find where I credited the artist, whoever she is -- MY BAD!) I've wanted to do something like it for friends who are going to Columbia in a couple weeks to finalize the adoption of their children.

Not having readily available canvas or stamps or steady hand for lettering this weekend, I did the next best thing for me: I went digital & went small (as in greeting card small...)

My base was this image of antique torn paper from *the Graphics Fairy*. On it I applied the words "I love you" in a handwritten font called jellyka western princess regular.

On my vellum over-lay I printed parts of Ephesians 1: 4, 5.

After I trimmed the edges, I sewed the vellum & scrap of crochet lace to the card.

In searching for "bling" I came across something I've had for over a dozen years. They are tiny brass personalization letters for a key carrier I bought the hubs.

They fit (with a bit of trimming) onto the heads of the heart-shaped brads I had.



(First initial of each child...)



Aaaaaaaand -- we're finished.

(Planning to link this up with *The Graphics Fairy* 's Brag Monday...)

pseudo card making

I needed a baby card to enclose with a shower gift. I'm not a stamper nor a scrapper. I do internet, Word, & hp printer very well.  (I find most of the graphics I love to use from the incredible generosity of the Graphics Fairy. I've utilized her images in several paper projects. On my computer there are several fabric projects planned for printing graphics to quilt & embelish...)

Anyhow - here's the front of the card:

(I had to hold the little pinafore closed with my finger so it wouldn't pop up in the picture...)

Totally ♥-ing the origami diaper!

The princess crown is the from the Graphics Fairy's blog.

Today I'll be linking to Brag Monday.

(credits: The template for the dress came from here.  The diaper I found here. The font is called "Bleeding Cowboys.")

A "Little" Project

Can you tell the boys weren't online schooling today? Three posts in one day! (Pretty sure that equals the total posts of a couple months...)

Sooooooooo...  Wanted to show my Christmas project for my dear friend Ceekay @ Thinkin' of Home & her ovarian cancer blog My Journey With Teal.

It started with this:

(Yes, I covered the shoe with vintage teal velvet, made it into a pincushion & made the hat pin.

The sequined flower is from some vintage sheer fabric which I also used for the ruffle on the tag & scavenged the beads for various aspects of the project.)

In November I embroidered the tag for Eileen's Blog for a Designs in Machine Embroidery give-away.

Tree of Life with antique beads

(...it says "To Carolyn With Love"...)

While rummaging browsing through the Graphics Fairy's incredible images, I found so many with teal tones to use on the "shoe box".

the lid

(more of the sheer teal...)

All the shoes, of course, are symbolic of her journey. 

The dress forms hark back several years to a church dinner theatre production of "Four Tickets to Christmas" when I helped costume her for the starring role of a 1905 diva!

 She's an incredible woman & a great friend.

Well then, I guess I'm going to link this up to Karen ~ the incredible Graphics Fairy...