in the right season

Margaret of Splendid Little Stars came up with the April BBA Challenge: Spring is in the air!  This is what she wrote about the challenge: "Create a project that calls to mind how one or all the senses respond to this new beginning time of year."

I have been doing well staying ahead with creating jewelry for upcoming seasons and holidays but not so much with cards.  I haven't been sweating it because I feel like I'm still getting back into the craft and will be prepared for the 2012 holiday season and beyond, which is fine.  However, I wanted to have some seasonal cards ready for my upcoming show.  This challenge was the perfect opportunity to make this happen. 

 
Do you remember the flowers that I put together in the winter?

I used some of them for A7 Mother's Day cards a while back and have now put the rest of them to use for mini spring, Mother's Day, and graduation cards.

I had fun experimenting with a lot of different bright colors and spring prints.  Most of the flowers are so multicolored that I could pair almost anything with them.


As I've mentioned before, I also got inspired to make some turquoise and red birthday cards.  There are over 20 of them in the photo of the stack of cards at the beginning of this post.

I will be packaging a few sets of turquoise/red cards and will save the rest until I have some other color combinations available and will then make mixed birthday packs.


I don't have any of these new mini cards in the shop yet, but as always, if you're interested before I get them up, let me know.

Have you been making new seasonal projects for spring?

My newest articles:

Junk Mail Crafts: How to Make Unique Projects With Recycled Paper
10 Homemade Teacher Appreciation Gifts: Personalized Unique Ideas

Looking for older articles?  Click here!

I included this post in Michelle's Delicately Constructed Friday - 4/27/2012.

some usual happenings

Here are just a few of the things that have been going on with me the past couple weeks.

food

One of my personal goals when we moved to Milwaukee was to continue to try new recipes on a regular basis.  I've been doing pretty well with that.  Does anyone else sometimes find a recipe that you feel a need make right away?  That happened to me last week when I came across the recipe for baked avocado fries.

I baked some mushrooms, too, because I figured it couldn't go too wrong.  It didn't.  I paired them with a simple lettuce salad with honey mustard dressing and sliced ham and chicken.  I know that it doesn't look like a huge plate of food, but it was very filling.  If I make this again, I'll spice up the breading mix a bit.  Some garlic powder, salt, and pepper would go a long way.  Otherwise I was happy with it.

I printed out Natalie's Sesame Soy Tahini Sauce recipe a couple weeks ago with no specific plan for what I was going to make with it.  Jake got tired of what I normally put in stir fry so I've been switching it up lately and decided to give this a try.

I substituted a couple ingredients for what we had on hand.  I marinated shrimp in this sauce and then paired it with sugar snap peas, water chestnuts, sweet orange pepper, onions, mushrooms, and egg noodles.  So good!  Jake liked it, too.  If you like any kind of sesame and/or nut marinade/dressing, you will really enjoy this.

Angel

Those of you who have cats know that what did not cross their minds one day suddenly becomes an obsession the next day.  That's how going outside has been with Angel.  She never expressed an interest until last month and now she asks to go out in the back yard at least a few times a week.  She only likes to step out a couple feet so we normally let her (unless it's really early or late).

buttons

Also as I mentioned on Monday, I've been working on a new button tree, this time with a fall theme.  I have all of the buttons on now.  I'm going to add some felt leaves and then attach a felt base.  I have a spiky gold ornament as the topper for my Christmas tree.  Any good ideas on a topper for a fall tree?  It's not essential that it has one, but it would be a neat touch.

cards

I have been going crazy with the mini cards lately (they're about an A2 size).  There are over 20 birthday cards here as well as a handful of spring and Mother's Day cards.  I have a bunch more of both, as well as some graduation cards, in the works, too.

More on that soon.

I also made a new birthday card design for one of Jake's fellow interns/will be fellow PM&R residents.  He and his wife got Jake a birthday present last summer when we'd only known them for a month so we really wanted to do something for his birthday.  When his wife sent out the invite e-mail, she said something about how he had just celebrated his ?? birthday and that they were having a party that weekend in honor of it.  I may flesh this design out to an A7 size card and include an inside message about how birthdays are always worth celebrating, regardless of age.

coasters

I had a lot of fun making my coasters last month that I was fired up to make another set already.  I decided to make some for the previously mentioned birthday.  It was kind of a random present choice for a guy, but I figured it would be something practical that he and his wife could use, which it definitely was.  We put them to good use before the party was over.  I am really happy with this geometric design and will be making more similar to this in the future.

Stay tuned next week for an update on some unusual happenings, including getting new living room furniture and doing some major organization overhaul.

What have you been up to lately?  Any interesting cooking or crafting endeavors?

Going Nautical

The May 2012 Etsy Beadweavers theme is Nautical Inspired.  This is a pretty straight forward theme, but you can read more about it here.  While April's Seed Beads Only challenge was a lot more fun than originally anticipated, I am glad that this challenge and the next one are much more open ended.

As many of you know, I frequently find inspiration from color.  I did a little nautical color palette hunting online to help me figure out where I was going with this theme.

Nautical Colors of Port Jefferson, Long Island

This post has several great palettes, but I've always liked light houses, so I went right for the one with the rich red.

I went for blues and grays that were a little lighter than the original palette, but I didn't add any other colors.

I loved adding the lampwork discs to my skinny wrapped design for my nest piece and decided to use this technique again for my nautical piece.  They don't represent anything nautical in a literal sense, but the colors tied together so well.

I got these beads from Jen of blueseraphim a while back during a big pre-holiday sale.  I try not to purchase in one of a kind beads like this without a project in mind, but Jen's beads are so versatile that I always find a use for them pretty quickly.

I love this embellished addition to my wrapped bracelets and will most likely make more in the future.  As always, if there are any color combinations that you're like to see, let me know.

This piece is available for sale in my Etsy shop right here.  Voting will take place on the EBW blog in early May.  Check back on my blog the week of May 9 for all of the voting details.  To get a sneak peek at the other entries already up and running, search EBWC on Etsy.

Has anyone else created nautical items?  Share your listings and blog posts!

Newest articles:

Get a head start with 2012 graduation cards, gift making, and/or gift purchasing!

10 Gift Ideas for High School Graduation

10 Gift Ideas for College Graduation

Graduation Card Ideas for High School and College: Sayings, Messages, Printables, and More

Looking for older articles?  Click here!

Where I Linked Up Today:

Scavenger Hunt and I Heart Macro on Monday (4/23/12)

Welcome to another edition of the photo Scavenger Hunt and I Heart Macro!  Enjoy!

1) Yellow

One of our next door neighbors already has lots of beautiful flowers blooming in her yard.

2) Something That Makes Or Made You Smile

I've been taking a break from making jewelry this week and tackling one of my UFOs.   I will have it done way before fall of 2012 so we'll be able to enjoy it this year.  (And nope, I obviously did not get that unfinished pattern published in Feb or March.  It's still on my list.)

3) Ancient or Antique

Remember our back door project?  We still have the old door in our garage.  Does it drive anyone else crazy when people paint beautiful wood ugly colors?  And no, the color was not why we got rid of the door, but we don't miss it either.

4) Splash

We got some new furniture this week, which inspired me to do a lot of cleaning and organizing throughout the house.  This included hanging some pictures.  Aren't those batik ducks super sweet?  You can see some more pictures of our blue duck bathroom in this house organization post.

5) In the Sun

Lately Angel's been spending a lot of time in the sun both indoors and outdoors.  Normally she never has any interest in going outside, but lately almost every time someone goes in or out the back door, she wants to go out for a bit.

Check out Ashley's blog to see what other people submitted for the themes this week.




Here's my shot for I Heart Macro.

This is a peek at some of my new spring mini cards.  I'll have more about that later this month.

 

Where else I linked up today:

Treasury Round Up - 4/22/12

I am always excited when I see a treasury feature in my activity feed!  Please help me thank the curators who featured my work this past week by visiting their shops and checking out their treasuries.

Georgia (GeorgiaCollection) included my Beaded Cuff Bracelet - Strawberry Fields Forever in her For my sweet Mom treasury.  There is a great mix of items here, making it easy to pick out a great gift for many moms.  Check out Georgia's Sterling Silver Necklace or Ornament - The Ship.

Mary (TouchingThePast) included my Beaded Pendant - Peyote Triangle - Tri-Color with Pearl Pink Border in her Happiness comes in many shapes and colors treasury.  This is such a colorful whimsical collection.  Check out Mary's Charm bracelet - resin hearts with dried flowers - turquoise yellow red russet.

Kaili (clockworkgh0st) included my Button Bracelet - Double Yellow in her A Touch of Sun treasury.  This is such a bright collection with a great mix of items.  Check out Kaili's Sausalito Sunset California Photography Print Matte 8.x10.

Jenny (ABirdInTheHandArt) included my Beaded Cuff Bracelet - Winding Road with Checked Border in her I Love My Mom treasury.  I love the green/turquoise blue color combination here!  Check out Jenny's Green Bird Charm Bracelet - Green Beads and Green Pigeon Charm.

Thanks to those who linked up with me last week!  Here are a few of the items that they featured last week.  Click on the photos to check out the product listings.

I am really touched by all the people who I have inspired to start their own treasury round ups with awesome shop features and write ups!  Please link up with me and grab a button for your own post.  I know that not everyone posts these rounds ups on Sundays, which is fine.  I will leave this link up open all week.

If you link up, take the time to visit and comment on at least one other post.  No one benefits from linking up if we don't all support each other.  Thanks!






<center><a href="http://www.randomcreativeart.com/search?q=treasury+round+up"><img border="0" src="http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/392355_10150514291984025_55178044024_8628267_1848447503_n.jpg"/></a></center>