Flowers

I have been jonesing for something to bring a little spring into my house, but it just hasn’t been in the budget. Specifically, I wanted to buy a nice silk flower arrangement, but at prices $30 and up for something half-decent looking, it just wasn’t happening.

So I said to myself yesterday, heck, I’m just going to do it myself. Armed with some b’day money, I went to Michael’s and found a sale on their spring silk flowers. I also found a flowerpot on clearance. I spent next to nothing, and I feel like it turned out okay. Certainly worth the savings.

I did work in a floral shop many years ago (1993), but I mostly did things like fill balloons with helium, make gift baskets and the like. I guess I did some simple floral arrangements, but they mostly consisted of a few roses and some sprigs of baby’s breath. Not exactly too complicated.

If I ever had the time/money, I’d like to take a floral arrangement class. I think that would be fun and maybe I could do it on the side to make a little extra $$.

Behold the wonders of Etsy

I am enamored with etsy.com, a site where people can sell the goods they make.

You can find just about any kind of hand-made thing you want there, from pendant necklances to original artwork to embroidered pillows to cute stuffed animals. I especially love some of their little girl items, like this dress and this bow.

I wish I had the time and talents to make things like that!

[FYI, this is NOT a sponsored post. Now that I'm selling advertising, I feel like I need to say that!]

My latest obsession

I’ve started making hairbows to sell. I have a ways to go, but here’s some of what I’ve done so far:

Learning to crochet

I’ve been looking for something to do while waiting for more work to come in. I found an instructional crochet video at Hobby Lobby yesterday and bought it. I’ve watched it over and over and … still can’t figure out how to crochet. It looks like it should be really easy, but I can’t quite make my fingers do what the lady on the video is doing.

Maybe knitting is easier.

The boy gets it

I’m starting to think my collection of craft-making supplies is getting out of control.

I went to Michael’s craft store tonight to look for something on the scrapbooking aisle. While I stood there and perused the items on the shelves, Gabriel pointed to them and said, “Mama’s Toys!”

Twinkle, twinkle, little me

I am covered in glitter. That stuff is really, really hard to get off. It must be catching, because Jay’s sparkly, too.

I’ve been working feverishly on my Christmas cards. They’re coming along, but my craft area is a huge mess. I’ll post new card pix soon. You’d be shocked at how many varied objects and techniques you can use in cardmaking – from stickers and stamps to paper folding and die cuts … the possibilities are endless. It’s always fun to look at the card-making books and magazines for ideas.