Spring Leaves

Last spring I found this simple crochet pattern on Easy Makes Me Happy. I made tons of these little leaves. Then, using the hot glue gun, adhered them to some twigs and branches and gave some to my mom to decorate for spring and kept some for my house. I had forgotten how darling they were until I discovered them again tucked away with all my Easter boxes. My youngest, who is the kung fu champion of the world, helped me decorate this weekend.

We've been having some very warm weather in Wisconsin for the middle of March. I mean....ask anyone, 75 degrees is just unheard of for this time of year! It's been wonderful. So we put away the snowmen decor and brought out the pastels. Spring has sprung.

I brought this batch to my church office. It needs brightening up. As you can see the walls are painted puke brown and they are very dull. So these colorful leaves help add a little cheerfulness in the drab office. The photos aren't the best because I didn't use my nicer camera, but you get the idea.

Paper Scrolling secret photos

So, I can't show you all of this project as it is a gift for someone special.

I have taken photo snipets of just a few parts, hopefully none that are too recognizable.

I will post the entire photo of the project after the gift is given away. It turned out just beautifully and I am happy with it, so happy that I wanted to share a few photos, even if it's not the entire work of art!

I have a few other paper scrolling images on this website, way back in the first months that I had started posting. The photos aren't the greatest, but you can see the gist of what I did.

Hopefully the person who is receiving this gift won't go on my blog site for a very long time and won't see this at all. I think I'm mysterious, but I'm probably not as clever as I think.

Moxie Art Snowman

March might be coming in like a lion, and everything outside looks very brown and dead! So to get over this miserable scenery, I created a little happy art in my studio. I purchased these ever-so-tiny canvases at the craft store (they are 2.5"x3.5" and 3"x3"). I know it's difficult to get the idea of their size just from these photos, but think Christmas tree ornament size (for the bottom of the tree where there might be a large hole to cover up).

That's the general idea for these little cuties. To hang as ornaments on your tree, tie on a gift with the to/from tag, use as a little table decoration when you all sit down for the big holiday meal, or use them as gifts to give to co-workers as a secret santa present, or to a teacher or neighbor.

They all look so cheerful sitting on my messy work area. They are almost done, but I wanted to put something fresh on my blog for March. The only other thing they will need screw eye pins at the top to attach a pretty satin ribbon from so they can hang.

Making these has gotten me in the mood for Christy Tomlinson's three week online class "The Art of Wild Abandonment." I signed up way back in early Jan. and it seems like it has taken forever for March to get here, but it starts next week and I'm so excited.

It's funny, now that I've uploaded all these photos, I realize I chose a lot of my snowman in the warmer colors. I did make lots of them in cool colors too, but my brain must be focused on

the warm weather we are having today and hoping it will stay!

Little Crocheted Purses

I found the most adorable little purse idea here: SparklePetal, and the crochet pattern for the purse here: Attic24. I wanted to make my youngest daughter a little coin purse for her to take on our trip this summer. She has lots of dress up purses and bags and an assortment of other types of containers that she keeps little vacuum loving trinkets in. (I'm sure every mother knows what I'm talking about!) But none of them are perfect for stashing a few bills and some coins in. 

She picked out her colors and an hour later the crocheted circle was done. Next came the more difficult part for me....sewing the lining. I'm not a very good sewer but the directions and photos that accompanied the instructions on Sparkle Petal were so perfect, I made it with ease. I added a braided loop on one end and a metal clip on the other so that my daughter could choose between hanging it off her wrist or off her belt loop.

Then my oldest daughter caught sight of this darling little coin purse and asked if I'd make her one too. I didn't really want to because once I make one of something, the joy kind of goes out of it doing it over and over again. Don't get me wrong, I was floored that my 12 year old wanted me to make her something I thought she'd think was dumb! It's just that I love a challenge the first time around...by the second or third time it gets to be a chore. But I agreed and had her pick out her fave colors.

Her zipper is metal, for a young woman approach. (I used a plastic zipper for my 7 yr. old.) And she asked to not have any clip or braided loop because she would be carrying hers in her purse. (News to me, she doesn't even have a "real purse"!)

All in all, they both turned out so cute. Now, let's hope neither of them loose them before our 

trip to Niagra Falls!