Flowers, ATCs, and Gifts

Yesterday it occurred to me that I haven't even started making end of the year teacher gifts.  My kids have 2 weeks left of school.  Yes I know its late, but they say that its because of the snow that we get here.  I need to make 3 in total, one for a male teacher and 2 for female teachers.  The male teacher's wife is having a baby soon, so I'll be making an amigurumi item for him for the baby.

For the 2 female teachers I made flowers pens that go in a terra-cotta pot.  Six pens each.  To make them you need fake flowers, scissors, pens, and floral tape.  Next I want to make some egg carton tulip flowers with a lollipop center, and then I'll tie a nice bow around the pot.  This is something that they can keep on their desk.

I've been working on these artist trading cards recently.  I found some super cute fish stickers that look like playing cards.  I put them on the pre-cut cards that a friend sent to me.  Then I found some ocean themed haikus and watercolor painted over them.  The picture above is of me adding some glitter glue to them to spice them up a bit.

I have the best online friends.  Yesterday I received 2 packages from 2 people in my ravelry group.  This was from my friend Gekko who lives in Australia.  Gekko and I were Christmas swap partners, and we are Doctor Who lovers.  

It is AWESOME!!!  She did not make it, but she thought that I could use it as a template.  You bet I can!  She also packed it full of tea and buttons.  I am floored by this gift.  Thank you so much Gekko!

My 2nd package was from LadyKatka who lives in Canada.  She was another angel who sent me blue items for the Crayon swap.  Angel = someone who sends something out of the goodness in their heart and wanting nothing (but maybe a thank you) in return. 

She went through my ravelry queue and found the pattern for a knitted globe that I had wanted to make but was to intimidated to make.  It is fantastic!  Then she made me some blue paper bead stitch markers and a crochet beaded bracelet.  Just lovely!

Then she took the first artist trading card that I had made and made a needle felted version of it.  OMG!  I literally had tears in my eyes when I saw it.  This image, unknown to her, is the wallpaper on my cell phone.  I can't believe she did this for me.  It is AMAZING!  I want to frame them together.  It is incredible!  Thank you soooooooooooo much LadyKatka!  I am just blown away by your package and kindness.

I just wanted to share some pictures that I took yesterday from my back yard.  This spider just would not get out of my seat.

Here is the roadrunner sculpture that my uncle made for me out of railroad spikes.  He camouflages well in my flower garden.

I did finish a crochet projects yesterday that I LOVE, however it is for a swap so I can't show it off just yet.  I can't wait to share it with all of you.  I consider it a work of art and not a crafty item.

Having Fun with Artist Trading Cards

Summer Elegance

Today I had some fun making these artist trading cards (ATCs) using stickers and, with the exception of the first two, pre-cut cards that a friend sent me.  The first two cards are from a paper that I watercolor painted on.  These were just for fun and I needed to make a bunch for an ATC swap that I recently joined.  I do want to add some of my hand drawn ones to the swap as well.

Nature Haiku

Nature Haiku

Tink's Home

Making Magic

Pixie Dust Diva

Fiddle & Fix

Mom's Shirt

Sunshine

Artist Trading Cards - 2nd Set

Floral Snow

I drew all of these artist trading cards yesterday on the paper that I watercolor painted on.  To achieve a certain look on some of them, I sprinkled salt on the paper while it was still wet with paint.  When dry, then I scraped the salt off.  Its been fun to experiment on these 2.5" x 3.5" pieces of paper.  My husband wants me to keep it up.  Maybe I can get him to make a few to.  I love his character doodles.  You can see some of his characters here.  Its also been fun naming them.  Some I won't trade.  Thoughts of how to display them (framed) are dancing through my mind.

Releasing Steam 

And the Darkness Comes

Solar Flares

Eclipse

Do Snails Dream of...?

April Holidays

It is Keep America Beautiful month.  So as part of that, I planted some flowers.

You can also pick up some litter in celebration of this and for Earth Day (April 22nd).

It is also National Garden Month.  Here is a close up of my son's new garden / terrarium.  We bought him 3 venus flytraps and planted them in a 10 gallon tank (which we already had).  He has been doing research on how to take care of them, thus we bought peat moss, meal worms, and crickets for them.  I also filled up a spray bottle with rain water from my rain barrel for them.  It makes me proud that he has researched how to take care of them.  Its also cool to plant a "boy" garden for National Garden Month.  He put some lego skeletons in the terrarium to add a deadly look, lol.