Look Deep into Nature Birthday Card

 Coffee/Tea of the Day - Maple Walnut coffee

Hello and Happy Weekend! :) I hope you have something fabulous planned, even if it's hanging out and relaxing.

I am sorry that I haven't shared much recently. working very diligently on hubby's journal for our anniversary at the end of this month, and I am extremely slow. :/  but I am oh, so thankful for the moments when I feel well enough to craft. isn't this such a wonderful activity that can bring so much joy and be therapeutic as well?

the card for today has been picked by my family as one of their all time favorites that I have made. I created it for our son's birthday. as much as I am a tree hugger, Mick is even more so! he loves nature with a passion. he has asked me to make him a gardening journal, so that will be next month's project. ;)

I used the amazing papers from the Simple Stories Simple Vintage Great Escape collection. I have purchased so many sheets from this collection. it is definitely a favorite. I am also using quite a few of these papers in hubby's journal. this is a fairly large card so that it could accommodate the journaling card. in case you can't read it very well, it says, "Look deep into nature and you will understand everything better." isn't that so lovely?

green twine is from Really Reasonable Ribbon, burlap ribbon is a stash item as are the vintage buttons, and little flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts. I think the wooden mushroom came from World Market. I bought the pack quite a while ago. everyone in our family laughs because I am forever picking up little tidbits when out on walks. the mini pinecone came from Camp, as did the little seed pod portion. I covered that in distress crackle paint. love the way it turned out! the piece of bark is just a smidgen I found. isn't that bit of moss on it so precious? makes my heart swoon. :)

I didn't get a photo of it, but I stamped a mushroom on the inside and then stamped again with water rather than ink. it created a gorgeous watercolor look. I think I added the word 'explore' as well as a birthday sentiment. my memory is just not the same these days.

Thank you so much for stopping by! Take care and know that you are deeply loved! :)  Jennifer

Challenges:

1.  Creative Fingers - anything goes
2.  Craft Rocket - birthday
3.  DL Art - birthday
4.  Crafty Creations - anything goes
5.  Paper Funday - anything goes w/back to school option
6.  TTCRD - anything goes
7.  Crafter's Castle - anything goes
8.  Crafty Calendar - anything goes
9.  Crafts Galore Encore - anything goes
10.  Classic Design - anything goes

Altered Gift Basket and Tag for Baby Girl

Woooo Hoooo! It's the weekend! (this is the 2nd post today. scroll down, please, for my Bugaboo guest post)

I am excited to be the Guest Designer over at My Sheri Crafts! the theme for this fortnight is "Let's Go 3D". I am combining this project with my post for Really Reasonable Ribbon, especially since I use Really Reasonable Ribbons on almost every project I make. ;) thank you, Sheri, for asking me to be a guest with your fun blog! :)

Here in the United States we are celebrating Mother's Day tomorrow, so I thought it would be fun to share a little project I made for our neighbor who is expecting her second little girl anytime in the next week.

I started with an old fruit basket that hubby & I found on one of our adventures antiquing. a coat of acrylic paint, sponging with a few more, then several squirts of different shades of glimmer mist, and I was ready to decorate!

The edges were trimmed with a ruffled crepe paper border topped with Priscilla white crochet lace and  wild rose grosgrain ribbon. the same wild rose grosgrain also formed the bow, when combined with  pink burlap string. you can see that I also used the grosgrain and burlap string on the tag to continue the theme.

the flower cluster is formed with a pink chrysanthemum, pink aster daisies, and sweetheart blossoms, a mini sweetheart blossom decorates the tag.

The tag was also sprayed with glimmer mists. the adorable baby image is from Free Pretty Things For You and papers are from the Authentique Crush collection. (I made it all to match the card from back at this post.)

the basket is filled with diaper bag sized essentials every new mom will need. and she loved it when I delivered it several days ago! :)

Happy Mother's Day to all of you moms out there! :)

don't forget Really Reasonable Ribbon's current challenge going on, too!

Challenges:
Crafting With Friends - anything goes
Creative Fingers - anything goes
PDE linky party - anything goes
Simply Papercraft - anything goes
Crafting With an Attitude - anything goes
In the Pink - for a child/baby
Crafting By Designs - anything goes
Little Red Wagon - anything but a card
The Crafty Addicts - anything goes/use ribbon
Classic DT Open Ch - any project made for a DT goes
Sisters of Craft - anything goes

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Winner at A Bit More Time to Craft
Best Technique Winner at Champion of Champions Worldwide Challenge

Coffee of the Day - Irish Creme

I would like to say Happy St. Patrick's Day to each of you! I hope you have your green on today. :) if not, grab a smidgen of green ribbon you picked up in the Really Reasonable Ribbon store, pin it to your lapel, and you'll be good to go!

To get you in the mood for festivities later in the day, I'm sharing with you an altered project I made for one of my sons. He saw it while it was a 'work in progress' in my craft room, so  he actually thinks it was made for his brother. what a sneaky mom I can be when I need to be! grins!

I started with a wooden shamrock wall hanging I found on the JoAnn's website. I did quite a bit of work on it to get it ready to alter. I sanded off all of the glitter and added many coats of paint of different shades of green with some browns in between.

papers are from the Authentique Charmed collection, with a ripped piece of a paper bag thrown in for good measure! felt shamrock was from Michael's a few years ago, little applique is vintage as are the buttons, and flair buttons were found at the dollar store. fun vintage dog image is from an Etsy store called Vintage by Me. I actually burned the edges before adding it to the collage. beer stein die is from Find It Media.

plain cotton blend ribbon was tied and added to the shamrock face, green burlap string was tied in a bow around the stem, and 5/8" emerald green gingham plaid ribbon is used for the hanger. I did add some kraft ink to the gingham to age it a bit.

Thank you so much for stopping by today! have fun celebrating!

Challenges:
Champion of Champions - anything goes if a previous winner
Craft Rocket - anything goes
Crafty Ribbons - green with ribbon
A Bit More Time To Craft - anything goes
Craft for the Craic - St. Patrick's Day