Monarch Post

Happy Easter, happy Spring!

 
Never lose an opportunity to see anything that is beautiful.    
 
It is God's handwriting- a wayside sacrament.

 
Welcome it in every fair face, every fair sky, every fair flower.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson~

 

lots of flowers and words... catching up.

 
Anybody still out there? It's the long lost blogger here again. After the last long ago post, Jesse and I caught the flu. Influenza B and two weeks of everyday feeling just like the previous pitiful day. It was awful. Poor Jess has never been so sick, and I haven't had the flu since high school. Kinda like the movie Groundhog Day-- where everything is the same eveeerry day.

Having taken it's cue from us, our computer decided a serious virus would be just the thing to catch so it could laze about the house and complain. It was in the shop for nearly two weeks getting de-bugged.... I think I finally feel caught up now. Wow. My advice is don't catch anything for two weeks-- unless it's a wave in Maui :)

So I've been flower-making here for the last while. I just finished up making piles and piles of flowers for two very charmingly designed children's room. (It was  good to at least see spring somewhere, even if only in fabric flowers on the table, because apparently, Utah doesn't know how to do a nice spring anymore. It snowed most of the days I worked on flowers.) The photo above shows a few of the hundred or so (I'm serious!) flowers I made. Kanzashi flowers are my current new love affair-- otherwise known as Asian flower folding. (If you really dig folding fabric napkins; making these babies will just send you over the moon. I weirdly happen to like folding fabric napkins: It brings back memories of my high school and college waitressing days. I'm pretty sure that even stranger than liking to fold fabric napkins is liking waitressing. Who knew? It must have been the big bucks, and the thrill of the odd five-dollar tip ;) I wonder how many fabric napkins I've folded in a lifetime.... I'll bet thousands. Wow, this is an interesting post... hey, it's what happens when you haven't written forever and you think you need to compensate. If you've got something better to do right now, I totally understand :) 

One last item: Amazon has a great book I've been using: Kanzashi in Bloom.

Moving on...

I think I made around fifty flowers for garlands for the second little girls's room.

 
Here's one of the finished garlands.

 

 

I took my flower cues from the amazing wool rug.
 

How darling is this room-- pretty chic for a three-year old. Love love love it.

 
Here's the wall just above the chair in the previous picture. (Isn't this cool?!) Noelle Wright of Noelle Wirght Interiors is the designer of the rooms, and as you can she, she is incredibly talented... And such a joy to work with... It was great. You shoulda seen the rest of the house-- Utah Homes magazine material for sure.

 
Fun stuff. I don't have photos of the nursery room yet, but I'm hoping I'll have some soon to pass along. It was quite different from this room, but reall equally fabulous.

 

 

In other crafting news...

    Last week I finished loads of pink and white Easter baskets again this year for All Tucked In. A few zillion more flowers cut, stitched, glued... if only our real garden outside looked so good.

 
Sweet though, huh?

 
And aren't these butterlies the sweetest things? I found laser-cut wood butterflies at Michaels in the spring decor aisle. Tied with ribbons and hung ornament-style from budding branches (also Michaels) made for a quick new Easter decoration this year. (I try and usually resist the ready-made from China stuff, but I just couldn't pass up the those lacey butterflies!)

 

And last but not least in the long catch up post... The kids. I love it when they slip upstairs to my studio for a couple of  hours.

 It's great to see the smiles and creations that come out of the studio.

 
Here's the shoebox diarama book report Jesse made for the Iliad and the Odyssey. The Trojans are in the red helmets... this kills me. Sculpey clay, you are awesome.

And lately when Sophey has a girlfriend over, she's giving them a sewing class. Her girlfriends think my studio is awesome :)

 
Dance class tote bag classes were what the instructor offered last time.

 
It's great to see all my ex bits and pieces of cast-off projects put to new use.

 

The kid craft projects reminded me of a new Somerset magazine coming out this summer. A friend of mine told me it's a complete magazine devoted to crafting with kids, Create With Me. Can't wait to see it.

And on that note, I'll love you and leave you. Thanks for hanging through all my show and tells ;)

Do you have special plans for Easter weekend?

XOKelly