My “Cabbage” Flower Garden…

 Each month, Jim and I have elected to decorate the tables for our monthly church pot luck. Coming up with ideas is both exciting and sometimes challenging. Some months are easy and simply done. Others, well we really do need pull our imagines together. (Wait till I show you the June project…)

For our May gathering, I wanted something way out of my usual silk flower arrangements (May is always a Mother’s Day theme). Several weeks ago, I noticed David Tutera’s Big Flower demonstration on YT and was fascinated by the flower sizes (8.5” to 12” across).  If you take a look at my April 13^th article, you will see my first Big Rose Flower.  

Well, last week my last three dies arrived. Since then, I have been rather busy. If you look at the videos, you will notice how smooth and elegant the flowers look. Since I really wanted to use a variety of the Indian Batik papers from USArtQuest, I just knew smooth was going to be out of the question. So, being me, I decided to crinkle those lovely large petals.  If you have ever crumpled a piece of paper to throw away, then you have mastered my strange technique for these flowers. I used hot glue to secure the petal layers. Let me warn you to use caution as to not burn fingers. (Experience speaking here!)

When I finished and covered my table with large flowers, Jim was ever so kind as to call them “Cabbage Flowers”!

This was really fun! If you want something exciting for those upcoming summer-time gatherings, you may want to give these oversized flowers a go.

Now that we finally have spring like temperatures, I think I will close for now and go outside!

May God Bless You and Yours

That Lacquerware Look…

Thank you for stopping by today.  For the first morning in more than a week, there was no new snow on the ground. There might be hope for a real Michigan spring yet.

Currently, I’m in need of a few Thank You and Thinking of You cards. Had sort of a direction in mind until I watched a Gina K Designs video entitled “Lacquerware Inspired” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WzF7RorNTg) and that changed my mind. I really love Gina’s videos. I’ve learned a great deal from that talented lady. If you have not discovered her yet, please look her up.

If you watched the video, you can see what products I used with the exception of using this beautiful cherry blossom from Stampin’ Up’s retired Indescribable Gift collection.

If you try this oriental lacquer look, let our followers see your work.

Till next time,

May God Bless

My First Big Rose…

Thank you for dropping in today. I just poured a cup of coffee and hoping you will visit as I share with you, my latest “practice piece” creation.

Design artist, David Tutera, has introduced a series of large flower dies for Sizzix. As I watched a quick video showing the ease of creating these larger than life flowers, I found myself clicking on the Order button.

Since I love beautiful roses, it is logical for me to start my practice and collection pieces there.

There is a unique feature with these dies that allow you to cut 2 petals at once which creates a connecting short tab. For this flower, cut 4 sets of each size. Since this was to be a practice piece, no accent coloring would be added.

Selecting the type of paper was also easy. USArtQuest is only a few miles from here. I have a collected a stash of Indian Batik papers in various colors from there. For the flower, I selected an off white with a metallic gold thread. For the leaves and stamen, I used a soft green marbled.

Now for the fun. Lightly mist the petals with water. Using your hand, crinkle the petals to form life-like shapes. Use a heat-gun to “set” or dry that crinkliness in place. You can use a ball-stylist or your fingers to create additional character.

Use hot glue to attach each petal layer. My preference is to not overlap the same sized petals. Continue adding petals till you achieve the look you want. With the ball-stylist, cup the layers of stamen and glue into place.

This flower measures almost 8 ½” across and almost 3” in height.

Hope you will give these big flowers a try – they really are fun.

Till next time,

May God Bless You and Yours

Just a Note...

At some point this April, maybe Spring, Not Winter, will begin to unveil its beauty to those of us in the northern states. We had snow on the ground yesterday! (April 10th).


Those of you who love the exciting stamps offered by Stampin' Up, you may remember this classic tulip. This was a practice project using my new Stamparatus and had was so pleased with the results that I decided to send it to my mother.

Last week we learned that my mother is having some more aging difficulties. She spent 5 days in ICU with breathing and swallowing difficulties. The hospital discovered other health issues we had not been aware of.  She was returned to her residents at the memory care facilitary. She is now receiving pre-Hospice (Palliative) care along with the additional assisted care at the home. If you would be so kind as to add her to your pray list, it would be appreciated.

Thank you for stopping by today. I hope you have a wonderful day.

May God Bless You and Yours.