Just went you think it's safe...

...that you'd heard all you had to about my front porch, well sorry. I went to the shop (The Pink Cabbage) to take things to, you know, sell and sitting there on the porch was this little devil tempting me. I just don't have that kind of strength; once a piece "speaks" to me that's it.

Even with my current combo platter of a cold, strep, and a migraine, I managed to drag out the step ladder and pop that puppy up there and get some flowers in it. Dare I say that there is plenty going on out there now? Who knew that just spackling and repainting the floor of the porch would make me so head over heels again for it?, not me. I still lay some blame on this late spring.

This is one of my drop-offs to sell. I know it's grainy but the best I could do in the light. I could have used any old photo or illustration for this ditty but nooooooooooooooo, I used a picture of my mom as a little girl. It's just that I fooled with it so much it's hard to get any recognition but really cute. It says, "eat cup cakes often", and is hung by a sweet pink and green stretchy necklace.

The cute little lamp that Mellie passed on to me and I dressed up a new shade for...

...not that I can lay claim to many original ideas and this one is no exception. I saw a photo idea of this somewhere recently and came upon these antique lamps today. I can rewire lamps easily but I loved the idea of using them as candlesticks instead. And I've had these Ana's Candles candles left over for a while and been wanting to use them, so, great marriage I think.

Another of my collage necklaces, this one a Paris theme with a little Fleur De Li's attached. That's it for now other than pondering what I can get away with on Mother's Day and looking forward to going to Philly for the first time with Matt's fifth grade class on Friday...stay tuned!

Hi, My name is Stephanie and I am an...

...art wuss. I guess it was after I posted the photo of the journal I made for Michelle next to the one she made for me. Not that I wasn't happy with it. I'm so glad that I tried something that I had been wanting to and I want to make more of these. But I had also been inspired by a journal that Teresa McFayden had made and had been wanting to try my hand at that also. So I went with the one "similar" (even the paint can handle is attached to be carried) to Teresa's and it seems more in keeping with the kind and quality of Michelle's. I did go into the fetal position but once I uncurled I realized that there was a lot of validity to what I was feeling so I started fresh this morning and I feel really good about this one. I've made and sold a lot of journals in the past but it's safer and usually better to stay within a venue you're used to especially when it's a gift for someone. Here I come USPS!

Ahead and Behind Schedule

Hubby left town this afternoon for a few days which means I can dispense with my usual little to no cooking and not much laundry or cleaning...which means I can camp out in my workroom. Matt was outside all day in the beautiful weather playing his heart out with the neighbor kids, just as a boy should do. My behind is that I signed up for a journal swap. The journals were to be mailed out by April 27th. Above is the beautiful journal I received from Michelle Geller last week. Ain't it fab? I LOVE it. That's what I get for procrastinating-I could just curl up into the fetal position if I allowed myself to try to match her talent...

...fortunately I already had something in mind that I wanted to use this swap as a chance to try for a long time. I took off the front and back covers of an antique book and embellished/collaged the front. I forgot to photograph the inside but I used some antique papers that Hope gave me recently as the journal pages. They are very old company invoice pages that have turned a nice shade of sepia. I bound all with ribbons and used my new Crop-O-Dial to help. I hope she likes it, it's on the petite size, but size is not everything, right?

My ahead was that while I had all this almost limitless time in my workroom I tried another new project. This week is teacher/staff appreciation week at Matt's school. Last year I spent way too much money on...I can't even remember what. Last week Hope went took a class at the cottage in Leesburg given by Amy of Inspire Co. where she made three different kinds of May Day flower holders. I took detailed photos and copied one of the ideas for the teachers' gifts. This is the one that uses baby food jars. Not to waste the food I got blueberry apple sauce because I knew one of us would eat that. The others were made with tin cans and water bottle bottoms-genius all of them.

They were fun and easy to make and each has the (dur, as you can see) the teachers', principals', and administrative assistants' initials. I got the cutest little bags in great colors at Target today and will pop each one into a bag and make a fun tag to go on. I used all materials that I already had except the jars and the bags but I think it's a cute, sweet treat that I hope they like. And they aren't even due 'til Tuesday! I've got glitter and glue all over me which reminds me of Mellie. I don't have a recent update as I haven't seen her since Friday night. I heard that her dad might be coming to town this weekend plus other relatives so I thought I'd not interfer with family time. I hope to see her tomorrow and then I can do some updating. You are always on my mind sweet Mellie...

Walking With Dinosaurs

We went through many years of dino obsession with Matt starting at about age two. He got over playing with them a few years ago but does like to watch the Walking With Dinosaurs series on T.V. So when we saw this advertised we thought he'd like to see it. And he sure enough wanted to.

So Friday night we went and he loved it. He and Paul loved it. I stayed awake through the whole thing. It was fine. Remember they are the science wizards and I'm the artsy fartsy one.

Below was my favorite though, when the blew up all the colorful, strange-looking flowers and plants. The colors were wonderful.

Still, all told, it's good family fun.

Obsession with Spring Continues

I guess having spring come so late has left me obsessed with the new growth. Also the fact that I finally spackled the crack on the porch, then painted it, and painted the door a new color has gotten me inspired to add as much color as possible everywhere. So I'm loving my new door mat from Wisteria. The vinca is going crazy. I took these photos just a couple days ago and it has already just about doubled in size and is blooming like mad...

...as you can see again here.

And the cherry blossoms are gone but replaced by wonderful, fresh green leaves. I love spring!