Paper Posies

I have been listening to documentaries and minimalist organization inspiration videos on the internet. Yep, I am filling my ears with knowledge on a variety of subjects (because we are to never stop learning!) and motivation (through other people with a whole lot of great ideas and even more energy levels!) as I sort through in effort of downsizing my craft supplies that I will never live long enough to use. Anyone planning to live 110 years like me to get everything done? On the list: letting my craft containers breath a little more with more empty space, which involves weeding out my one of a kind Paper Posie creations. 

 I admit I have also done some watching (or listening mostly)  of favorite Twilight Zone episodes and other things that make you fall down the rabbit hole of TV nostalgia on the Nflix arena.

The cheery flowers are in the Etsy shop (click over in the side margin where you see them to get to the listings). I have so many to group into fun lots and then photograph their unique character close up, and write listings so that they can go to nice new lovely owners! Each flower reveals its one of a kind traits. They bloom into my hands and no two repeat exactly, just like when nature blooms the color and shape into a garden.

Full bloom

The summer time heat is in full swing. The humidity is thick. The rain has been plentiful. We have not used the hose so far this season for anything growing related. No need. 

The vegetables are thriving. Baby sized tomatoes, green peppers, and zucchini on the vine so far.  The gourds and the watermelon doing their thing and loving the rainy weather. The weeds are doing their best to show their motivation for growth also. 

The flowers are making the hummingbirds, dragonflies, bees, and butterflies very happy. So fun to see them visit daily. Marigolds, purple Cone Flower, Tickseed, and wild orange Tiger Lilies are in full bloom. The Bleeding Hearts are still blooming though they are usually done by this far into the summertime. Their plants have become as big as bushes, I have not ever seen them be so exuberant in their size. The blooms were amazing and the abundant quantity of beautiful delicate little hearts were memorable for about 8 weeks' time span.

                                                            (Simple bright cheerfulness)

 This is an item I painted for relaxation therapy and have enjoyed owning, but I need to move things out to someone else to enjoy. I am downsizing a lot of my vintage treasures and things I have painted over the years. The paint brush has returned to my hand and the art supplies have come out of hiding. Far too long without doing fun creative things for relaxing me time, that have long been ideas tumbling through my brain. If you are an artist of any sort you will know this hurdle- that ideas are only half of the urge and to make them come to life is the other half. Inspiration cannot be forced, it has to just flow. Starting out with one or two projects and following them through to completion is like oiling the far too long resting Tin Man. It feels good! It feels alive and new.

                                                         inspiring vintage botanical book pages 

I have found some really great things to let go of in the downsizing quest. So much variety. Living in a three generational home there is always more to let go of to allow it to find a new loving home!! Great vintage stationery, unused vintage greeting cards and used vintage greeting cards so very beautiful and whimsical for display or as creative supplies, unique old postage stamps, crafting and art supplies, vintage book page papers to frame, sewing and yarn work patterns, some vintage decor pretties.  I am filling the photography store also. So much fun to offer both original photos and vintage photography too to go from my home to yours and let my foundation lift a bit from decluttering the treasures.



What have I been up to?
1. Being creative every chance I can.
2. Being motivated to not just start but to finish.
3. Enjoying the air-conditioning whenever I can!

What do I want to do?
1. Go on a day trip as an escape.
2. Explore a place that is all new to me.
3. Discover wonderful places far enough away from the same old pot hole roads I encounter each day!

What do I need to do?
1. This week's knee surgery so both knees are healthier for adventures.
2. Clean the three seasons room. Where does that stuff come from that everyone sets down in there?
3. Drop off the box of donation items, and then start filling another box.

altered vintage book pages

I have a love affair with vintage books and if they are falling apart I still love them. What to do with a great book that is not whole anymore? Alter the pages! This page is from a vintage French book and it needed a smashing fashion image print to make it live on, reinvented, to be loved for years to come. What caught my eye was how she is clutching her gloves. I always clutch my fashion gloves like that when I am rushing into the grocery for a gallon of milk--- well, don't you?



These next few pages are from a vintage Honey Bunch book. Have you ever read Honey Bunch? The covers of these books usually are simply adorable themselves. The text on this page is about how Honey Bunch is in a department store with her mother and aunt where there are beautiful fur scarves and muffs. The print turned out better than I expected as the word muff is just under the image of the muff. So cool.


This book page talks about a sweet little dress and describes it in detail. This dress print is not identical to the one described but is sweet none the less, yes?

This page talks about a rag doll...thus I used a Raggedy Andy print. These altered book pages were so fun to make and they are one of a kind due to the fact that they are the original book pages and not copies. I had them in frames displayed and now it is time to change things out from my own decor and pass them on in my effort to downsize the household.

On the page below, the story tells about snow and a snow plow "running up and down the trolley tracks". A very precious red snow suit fits this page well. Don't you love the bonnet style hat and the spats style leggings?

Here we have a story line about a baby carriage and it matched an image with that theme in my ephemera scraps.

Then I got this idea to print some of my original colored pencil bird art on some vintage French grammaire book pages. They are actually antique pages as they are 100 years old! So fun to have these displayed in frames at my place, enjoying them for years, but alas they will be happy finding new homes where they will be loved.

These are avaiable in my Etsy and you can enter though my right sidebar link to the shop. Happy Browsing!

mailbox

This is my painted mailbox. Each side is different. It has been many themes over the years. I've painted ivy vines and sunflowers and pine trees and Tulips and stars and stripes and holly leaves.

I think we have the biggest and oldest metal mailbox on the street. I had to wire brush it this last summer as there were just too many layers accumulating. It still has the layered look that is so fashionable among painted mailboxes- well at least that's the fashion that my mailbox prefers. My mail lady even tells me when it is time to paint something new. She tells me when she begins to grow bored of one design. I am not offended just inspired at that!

Back....finally!

[ love this photo I took of my daughter and a surprising gourd from our garden ]

My computer, it seems, is somewhat of a senior citizen in the technology world. I could no longer blog as I once did. I could not install the needed updates that Blogger required to play on my own blog. Sad, really.

I had a lot to say. I wasn't sure what to do. When in doubt, and you are of a certain middle age, what should you do?....Ask the advice of a teenage offspring, that's what!!

Now it is all fixed and well, and now I am back. With a lot to say.

[ my stack of antiques travel cases filled with special keepsakes, I have since this photo ditched the one in the middle with no handle. ]

Things I have Been Up To:

* I lost 50 lbs in 5 months, my first goal, and so far a total of 54lbs

* loving my new job of about 7 months!!

* not getting much of anything done around the house

* learning to say "no" to things and people

* severing the umbilical cords to my children so they can become more independent

* surviving somehow on less than 5 hours of sleep every 24

* enjoying my new car

* trying to enjoy every minute of every day, as life seems to be racing past

* reading an interesting book

* celebrating another birthday

* feeding a bit of shoe lust with some purchases, I was very long overdue for a turn (life of a mom)...usually the kids get all the new shoes!

Things I want To Do:

* work in my gardens

* rearrange the furniture in my bedroom

* paint in watercolors

* draw my favorite birds in colored pencils

* achieve my next weight loss goal by August

* get rid of "material things" around the house with emotional guilt attachments

Things I Need To Do:

* sort through stuff around the house

* redo my filing cabinet

* detail the inside of my cars

* clean out my closet, lots of things are WAY too big to fit anymore!

* take stuff to the Goodwill

* take donations of books and videos to school

Paper Posies for Springtime

This is a project I completed with some of the hand made, one of a kind, Paper Posies I made. It is a canvas covered, magnet backed photo frame. I laid out and glued down a free form pattern of randomly squiggled lines of vintage cotton rick-rack and clustered a grouping of blue shades of Paper Posie flowers in the bottom corner and flowing outward. A very fun project.

Here I took a sweet little tossed aside vintage oil painting and rescued it out of a very ugly frame by adding twisty wire and a vintage ribbon tied in a bow. Paper Posies were added to the painted flowers to give it a 3-D effect. You could do this with just about any picture, painting or card for a bit of "pop"!

This was a past project that I sold but I have also done this same thing to keep for myself. It is fun to glue Paper Posies onto vintage (or new) rick-rack. It can be used as a garland (you could even glue the Posies back to back so they show no matter how the garland twists!) or to attach onto a lamp shade for trim (you don't even have to glue it on permanently--just wrap it around and glue the ends together... if you are like me and you like to change things often!) or to dress up a boring or thrifted/painted up photo frame or to drape over the top of a mirror in a powder room or maybe over a little girl's vanity. It would also be great to add to a wreath! I'm sure there are oodles of other ideas if you let you imagination run free.

I used some to make a cute little last minute tag for a gift and also a birthday card that you can see and read about HERE.

You can see some projects done by my friends using my Paper Posies HERE on an ATC and HERE on a faux cupcake, of all things. Really, you have to see how cute!!

I once had an order for 100 custom made Paper Posies flowers for a shop owner to use in her glass display cases as props. That was hard work, but fun!! I took them "on the road" as a work in progress while my car was getting "road worthy"...a very funny story indeed. You can see them HERE, and WOW!! they look pretty cool photographed all in a big group!!

The below photo shows examples of my bouquets of one of a kind Paper Posies.

I hope I have provided some inspiration. These flowers work great for crafting of all sorts- altered art, collage, ATCs, card making, scrapbooking, etc...
As well as for decorating- add them to lampshades, photo frames, mirrors, window shade hems, baskets...the possibilities are only limited by your imagination!!

hanging in there

I'm still hanging in there...kinda like the spider in my watercolor and ink art shown here. My special mentor in all things "special needs adult child" is like the lady bug, all balanced and poised. The door is like the unknown that lies beyond today. I am hopeful the door will open to wonderful opportunities.

Yesterday went well with meetings and paperwork and such. 3 days crossed off the calendar for this busy week. I am still smiling, that's a good thing. Today should be ok. Tomorrow...well let's just say tomorrow will take care of itself and I will be glad to have come out the other side!

I might just have a treat this weekend to celebrate wading through it all. My treat, you ask? Nope- not an alcoholic beverage , I am not a drinker. Nope- not ice cream or candy. My treat is Greek food. Yup! I really like Greek food. It is my comfort food. 

flake frames

I found some small wooden frames to make over for gifties for my friends for Happy New Year packages I put together. I am not ever organized enough to get things all done before Christmas so why not a Happy New Year gift??

First I started by painting them black.



Next I put some crackle medium on them and then painted them white.
I put some of my miniature (about 2") hand cut snowflakes in them, matted on scraps of black cardstock. It's always good to use up scrap sizes of your paper stash!

I thought I would like them on the metal easels that I had painted white (in the photo above), but I opted for just using the fold out easel stand that comes on the backs of the frames instead. The metal easels will be used for another project I'm sure!!

Then I decided the frames needed something else, so out came the sanding block and I gave them a more weathered and distressed look.

I put them inside some cello bags all wrapped up in some tissue paper and tied with raffia, along with some other hand cut snowflakes kept nicely flat for packaging in the cutest little zip lock bags I found at the dollar store- they had little blue snowflakes printed on them. I just love finding goodies like that when I am not even looking for them. Sometimes the dollar store can be quite a bit of crap, but then every now and again you hit the jackpot!

I am considering making up some of these frames with miniature hand cut flakes to offer in the shop. As soon as I find some time... 'cuz remember, my friends got Happy NEW YEAR gifts and NOT Christmas gifts. *Ugh*

By the way, this is the tag I put on the outside of the cello bag where it was tied with raffia.

free label

A label I invented-

would be fun to use one

to decorate an old recycled bottle

for your very own Halloween apothecary.

a giftie for you

Calling all you altered art people...

I took these photos on two separate fun days. I am giving them to you to use for backgrounds. All I ask is that you promise to play nice and do not sell them until you have altered them in some way to make them your own creation. Now copy them and go get busy!! And you're welcome !!

Let me know what you think and what you want to do with them. I'd love to hear about it.

Time

I am a wife, a mother, an advocate, a helper, a speaker, a friend, a volunteer, a caregiver, and other titles which do not come with a full benefit package, and all mean I spend a lot of my days and time doing for others.

I will continue to do all those things. It is what I am made of.

Lately however, I find I am feeling somewhat resentful of time slipping away and the feeling that I am not able to do the things I want to do and the things I need to do for me. Sometimes I even want to have a block of time to do nothing. I never get that.

I have tried going on strike but I am a cog in a lot of wheels- some that come to a complete halt in my absence.

I do not mean this is a vain way only that there are people in need who need me. I find my brain does not shut off and as a result I do not rest even if I do sleep.

Do you ever feel starved for time to yourself? Some days I am not able to breathe a sigh of being "done" until 19 hours have passed by.


I know, I know...I just blogged about a vacation not long ago. But you mothers will agree that sometimes a vacation can be tougher than staying home and you need a vacation from vacation. I always say that I wish I could just get in a car with that "and away we go" attitude. There is so much little detail stuff, endless in fact, that needs to go into packing 5 people into a small car to travel almost 30 hours and be away for a week. Then there is the getting caught back up when you return. Whoa! That is even worse. I am still trying to get caught up.
I think I am just TIRED!!

birds

More of my birdie doodles

in colored pencils.

They really are doodles,

as I never plan them,

they just happen.

100 flowers

In the past few weeks I was not very focused on my blogging posts. Why? I was busy with making 100 flowers. Yes! 100 of my Paper Posies were requested for a store in Georgia to use for their display props for springtime. So what does a bouquet of 100 Paper Posie flowers look like? Like this....

40 pastels:

40 brights:

And 20 whites:

It was the first request I had for the flowers to be big (2-3 inches), usually they are about 1-2 1/4 inches with some as tiny as 1/2 inch. It was fun and such a conversation starter as I took them and all my supplies "on the road" to work on them every chance I could get. I even worked on them in the waiting area of the local tire shop as my car got an alignment and tires balanced. People would first look but pretend they were not looking. Then they would look and not say anything. Then they got brave and asked about them. These Paper Posies seem to amaze and entertain the general public. I guess that's not such a stretch in the waiting room of a tire shop...not the sight you expect to see!!