Grandmothers Flower Garden

This little card  is made in the true spirit of Quilting, it recycles paper though, rather than fabric.

As everyone is having to trim their budgets I thought it was an excellent way to use what comes to us free; the insides of the envelopes that hold household bills. You may not have noticed but their patterns are all different!

Of course there is nothing to stop you from using your favourite expensive designer papers to make this charming project, as it uses very little. A really good way to use up some of the small pieces that you have saved. Crafter's do not like to throw anything away!

Blue card works best for this as almost all household bills come in blue-pattern-lined envelopes, or you might like to use yellow for contrast. Size to fit your envelope and hexagons.

Tools:

Hexagon Template and pencil

Glue

Cuttlebug machine and embossing folders-Paisley and Buttons & Dots borders

0.1mm Drawing pen or other fine pen

Scissors

Fancy Border Punch or Decorative Scissors

Accessories:

Old Button, Garden Twine, Raffia, or Ribbon

Here's how:

1) Save up a pile of blue-patterned-lined envelopes, or use up your designer paper scraps.

2) Make a strong cardboard template in the shape of a perfect hexagon;  or use a ready made quilting one, they come in clear perspex or metal.

3) Draw round the template lightly in pencil and cut out your shapes. You will need 7 different patterns of paper for each flower.

4) Using copier paper, or clean waste paper such as a magazine page, stick the first shape down and then all the others around it to form a flower. If using a wet glue work neatly to the edges, but this is the best glue to use; as it adheres well and they do not lift up when embossed later.

5) Now using a 0.1mm black drawing pen, put in all the little X 'stitches' to make it look as if each patch has been sewn to its neighbour, including around the outside edge.

6) Carefully trim away the unwanted magazine paper you stuck your flower down on to.

7) Place inside a Cuttlebug Paisley embossing folder and run through the machine.

8) Take a piece of contrasting card and using Dots border run through Cuttlebug machine, then punch border design below, or cut one with decorative scissors-off white paper shown here.

9) Check position of flower on the card front and then place Cuttlebug Buttons embossing folder around card at that point and run through the machine.

10) Glue border paper in position below the embossed Buttons border towards the base of the card.

11) Glue quilted flower in position on card front above the embossed Buttons border,

12) Thread Raffia or Ribbon through an Old Button, form a bow, and stick in position on front of card.

13) Add a sentiment or other embellishment as desired.

Rebel in the Snow

In this chaos that is the snow, there is one, that is a rebel.

As people slip and slide, their cars entoumbed in ice and snow, there is one-who does not see it all as trouble.

The snow that causes trains, and buses and then cars to stop, brings hidden joys.

I sit drawn to its falling flakes as surely as my feet will freeze and circulation fail; were I to venture out.

My wheels will not move in its softness, I am captive, yes captive to its beauty; I am a rebel!

I will always love it.

Here, from within my prison, I watch it; seeing how it lights up the ceiling, brightly reflecting the sunshine.

The walls are lit with a lacy pattern; the nets are as a grey shadow, veiling it to me.

A myriad eyes peer out to watch it falling; softly its duvet settles on the bushes, covering the ground.

Winter’s harsh chilling winds, do not reach springs tender shoots now they have a blanket to protect them.

Children play and their voices hold delight! snowball fights abound as their fingers grow numb.

And the The Snowmen begin their silent invasion upon the land.

The smell of snow in the air, delights my nostrils! Yet pinches the noses of the toddlers, turning them red.

I love the way it deadens all sounds, making the world still and calm; as if all war had ceased.

By night it crackles; not by frost, nor train, or bus, or car, but the footfall of The Snowmen on the march.

The warming air rushes away in the night; but they live under the sparkle of the stars, unaffected.

Their path well illuminated for their eerie purpose; to silently and swiftly take over the land.

Every day it lingers; their ranks swell, and some in Calvin & Hobbes style, make me smile.

The news brings more disasters, power outages and tales of sprains and broken bones, I feel for you.

You walk upon its velvet, scooping it up, packing it in between your mittens, hurling it laughing.

While others curse it for the carefully crafted disruption that it brings, I secretly rejoice.

Salt, grit, shovels, ploughs, are no match for it. Its tiny form so small, built round a single speck of dust.

Glass cannot be crafted to match it, no two alike, it’s picture hard to take.

Ah yes photgraph its masses, the downy duvet it creates, but not its single portrait!

I am a Rebel! I delight in its arrival, and when The Snowmen march in their invasion I rejoice.

Despite all its tribulations, I enjoy its lacy form, its coating widespread on the land.

Too soon its gone, take time to see it, smell it, craft it, share in the invasion,

And Rebel in the Snow!

(Copyright first posted 2009)

A Quick Thaw

As you grow older, and you will; you will begin to notice that you can't remember every little detail of your life.

My Blog is about some of those details you might have missed, or have yet to discover.

Here you will find preserved in the Deep-Freeze, little delights; some will be like juicy refreshing ice lollies, others will be the Fish Fingers of life - handy essentials, still others will be those tastes you haven't yet explored!

Come back often and see what you have missed in life...