Sakura

Attic Gal Alysa says:

Cherry Blossoms outside of the National Cathedral

(Picture compliments of my dear friend, Doreen Wallace)

As I've been teaching my 4th grade Japanese class this month, we've been discussing Sakura -- Cherry Blossoms. If you have ever been to Washington DC during this time of the year, you've hopefully experienced the National Cherry Blossom Festival. It is a two-week festival that celebrates springtime. Back in 1912, Japan presented Washington DC with more than 3,000 Cherry Blossom trees representing the two countries' friendship. Check out thewashingtonpost.com for some amazing pictures.

I was visiting Attic Gal Rachelle the other night and saw that she made a faux-cherry blossom tree. Since I'm homesick for DC and we don't have many cherry blossoms in the desert, it was the perfect craft to make my homesickness go away. I had to do one for myself. Easy peasy craft -- I love those.

1. Find a branch. I found this on the ground while I was out running.

2. Have dark pink tissue paper and light pink tissue paper. Cut a messy circular shape. Make the smaller ones with the dark pink and the large shapes with the light pink.

3. Wrap the dark pink smaller shape around the eraser part of a pencil. Attic Girl Rachelle used the point of her pencil. Either way. (Sorry for the fuzzy picture. It's hard to take your own pictures when you are the crafter.)


4. Wrap it around the end of the pencil. (Ahh, much clearer. My daughter helped.)


5. Put a drop of elmer's glue on top.



6. Put the large light pink shape on top of the glue.


7. Wrap this one of the pencil and on top of the dark pink.


8. Add another drop of elmer's glue.

9. Place the blossom somewhere on the branch.

10. Let it sit there for a bit to dry.

You can add a few blossoms like I did,

or add a lot of blossoms like Rachelle did. Fun craft to do even with children.

Enjoy bringing a little Japan and a little DC into your home.

My Little Flock

Attic Gal Rachelle says:

As much as I love Christmas, I really think that Easter is my favorite holiday because of the significance of what it celebrates.  It has been said that "Without Easter there would be no Christmas."  I believe that.  I really try hard to celebrate the holiday in such a way that my children can understand what Easter really celebrates.  I am also a strong believer in  teaching through the environment.  I want my children to be surrounded by things that teach them important truths, often just by looking at them.  For this reason, instead of decorating with the typical Easter bunnies (I do have a few), I prefer to decorate with lambs, because of their symbolism - the Lamb of God, the Good Shepherd.  Christ was the flawless pastoral lamb who was sacrificed for all of us, after all.

I always decorate these niches in my entryway for every season, and at Easter this is where I display my flock of lambs that I have collected over the years.

Of course, the sheep congregate around the feet of the shepherd, the Christus statue, and a couple other figurines of Christ.

I borrowed my mom's Cricut machine last week and easily cut out papers to make this little sign that says "Behold the Lamb" so that when people see the sheep they might understand the significance.  I love that the "behold the" is subtle, because yo have to get a little closer to see it.  It still needed a little something, so I just snipped up a strip of green paper to make the grass.  

That was the first time I had used the Cricut.  What a cool thing that is.  ANYBODY could make some pretty fantastic stuff with that machine.  Now I've got all sorts of ideas.

Here are a few of the sweet lambs in my flock:

Found this darling blue and white lamb with a big satin ribbon at a church rummage sale last month.

I made this sheep years ago.  Gave her a collar of ric rac and vintage lace and made her "wool" out of old buttons.

I just found this sweet little lamb at a garage sale THIS weekend!  It is a milk glass Avon perfume bottle.  Since I collect both milk glass and lambs, it was my favorite find of the day at only 50 cents.

This regal looking sheep is one of my favorites. His wool is made out of hemp rope, and he wears a crown of lavander and roses, which I find very symbolic.

I just picked up his three little friends at JoAnn's.  Their wool is made out of silk flower petals.

These unique sheep have wool made from birchbark.

I picked up this glittery little planter at Marshall's.  He makes me happy.

Found these little guys in Utah.  Aren't they just precious?

Garage sale find.  Love the bell and curly horns.

I found this reproduction door stop at Homegoods.  He was just begging me to bring him home.

I added a little bird with a long curly tail to the scene, just for fun.

And then I discovered this little guy at Tai Pan.  I snatched him out of the window display because he was the last one left.  I HAD to have him.

Thanks for tending my little flock of lambs with me.  Please let me know if you find any other darling stray lambs out there that need a good home.

May you and you family remember the true and glorious meaning of Easter this year!

Favorite Things - A Giveaway

Attic Gal Rachelle says:

Relief Society, our church's woman's organization was having a party, and the theme was "Favorite Things."  We were supposed to bring a wrapped gift that represented one of our favorite things.  Well, I have a LOT of favorite things.  I didn't even know where to start.

Here is what I came up with...

* I love, love, love milk glass!  I have hundreds of pieces, all garage sale finds, and all so pretty together. (I'll show you my collection at another time. Promise.)

* I love stamping!  

* I love my Big Shot die cut/embossing machine from Stampin' Up!  Everything, except for the bird was popped out of my Big Shot.  So easy.

* I love birds.

*I love ribbon.

*I love springtime... and pastels... and Cheer too- Why not?

And even the wrapping was one of my favorite things:

* I love toile! But you might have already guessed that.

My sweet friend, and brand new mom, Kendall, won my gift.  I hope she enjoys it.

Speaking of favorite things...

* I love flowers, and this time of year, I especially love tulips.

* I also love my new camera.

So when last year's tulips popped up out of the ground to welcome spring, I couldn't help but snap a few shots.

The tulips were a bit unexpected because I thought it didn't get cold enough here for the tulip bulbs to do their thing.  I guess it does.  A happy surprise.

* I love happy surprises!

I feel inspired.  I think I want to paint this flower.

* I love to watercolor!

I'll show you when I'm done, OK?

Oops.  Now I'm committed.  Its been a long time since I picked up a paintbrush, but I will do it this time.

P.S.:

* I love comments!

* I love giveaways.

And since I had such a great garage sale morning, and found another milk glass plate just like the one above, I have decided to make another one and give it away to an attic digger who leaves a comment and  shares their favorite things with us.  How 'bout that?  Leave a comment, tell us few of your favorite things, then check back on April 1st and see if you won.

So, what "favorite things" would you put in your gift bag?

A Little Birdie Told Me...

Attic Gal Rachelle says:

A little birdie told me that spring is here (That little birdie is the mocking bird that belts out his own rendition of car alarms outside my bedroom window - all night long!  Really.)

And springtime always gets my nesting instinct flaring, so this year I put that nesting instinct to good use with what else?  Nests, eggs, and little birdies.

I went on the search for pretties at my favorite stores and around my house and yard, piled it all on the table, then started to fiddle around to see what worked where.

My milk glass cake plates are usually stacked on the dining table, but this time I decided to separate them and top them with bell jars and cake domes that I had around the house.

The rosemary trees I brought in from the backyard.  I like the height they add to the display.

I just love my little resin nest with the happy birdies.  I discovered them at Tai Pan Trading, which is absolutely my most favorite store ever!  It brings me to my happy place!  Scratch that.  It IS my happy place.  Tai Pan is basically a Home Depot for girls - it is the size of Home Depot, but it as all home decor, like your favorite home boutique on steroids.  And the displays are gorgeous!  You can't help but be inspired!  But unlike a fancy boutique, the prices are great!  The bad news is that there are only a few of them - a couple in Utah, and a new one here in So Cal.  Mine is over an hour's drive away, but SO WORTH the trip!  If you don't live in Utah or So Cal, I truly mourn for you.  I do.  But if you ever happen to be anywhere near a Tai Pan be sure to make your way over.  Give yourself a good three hours to really see it all, and make room in your vehicle.

Sorry, I didn't want to sound like an infomercial - but it really is that eye-poppingly fantastic.  I never get bored with that place, and there is always something new.

I also got the pretty little eggs that are in the nest at TPT, and the potted herbs.  TPT specializes in silk flowers, plants, and artificial fruits, etc, that look totally real.

I found the leggy apothecary jar with the eggs at HomeGoods - not nearly as fun as TPT, but close to home and therefore accessible for regular visits.  The little green wire nesty stand with the dome was also from TPT,  (Blow it up to see how stinkin' cute it is) as well as the little nest inside.

Under another dome is simply another pot of herbs and a few tiny pots and eggs.

I love this nest I found at TPT.  It has soft moss and feathers woven into it.  A little bird stands guard over  her eggs.  Tweet tweet.

The cake dome was just $4 at TPT.

Don't you just love this sweet little bird bath ($8), and the happy birdies ($3 ea.) that are enjoying themselves in it.  TPT finds too.

The Home sign with the little birdie was $5 at Marshall's.  I just love it!

Another aviary display in the corner of the living room, with my apothecary jars.  I love the bulb I found at TPT in the tall jar!  And look how the hanging nest I snatched up at TPT just fits in that big jar.  It looks like it is just floating in there.

The sweet quail eggs are also from TPT, and look darling in the rotund jar with the little nest I found for $0.49 at Marshall's.  I might just have to put a pixie in there.

A closer look at that hanging nest, and these delightful pudgy mossy tweeters, again TPT, $3 each!

Thanks for letting me you show you the a few eggs-citing finds around my nest.  It has been a real tweet!

A Spring Thing!

On Wednesday night, Alysa and I locked ourselves in the "pink room" and had one of our midnight crafting sessions (isn't amazing how much you can accomplish when you aren't constantly being interrupted by kids?).  We made these absolutely adorable SPRING pennant banners.  We had found a rare moment to meet at JoAnn's earlier to pick out the perfect spring fabric, and what we found so so stinkin' cute that it gave me the "girlies"(my definition for the aching desire to have a little girl), particularly the sheer pink fabric dotted with little tiny daisies. A-dor-a-ble!

We used my Big Shot from Stampin' Up! and the pennant die to cut the perfect scallopy pennants, two layers each with the sheer flowery fabric in back, and different pink or green patterned fabric in front.

Then we sewed them onto the perfect striped wide ribbon.

We found the letters on clearance at JoAnn.  They matched perfectly and already had eyelets in them.  We punched holes into the banners with the Crop-a-dile, and tied the letters on with sheer white ribbon.

To finish it off we threaded some buttons with pink taffeta ribbon, and used them for centers to out die-cut flowers that we layered over the scallop circles that get cut with the pennants, and stitched them between each pennant.  Sew sweet.

We are thrilled with how darling and springy they turned out!  What do you think?

And for those of you who missed it, here is a peek at my very first fabric pennant banner I created for Valentine's Day.  I made them and surprised Alysa with hers.  I was so excited when I saw my finished project that I was truly giddy!   One of my favorite crafts ever!

I made this banner the same, except I use the leftover scalloped circles to make rosettes  instead, and I used smaller chipboard letters that I glittered.

Which banner do you like better?

Can't wait to make my next one!