Butterfly Garden ...

oh i wish i had a butterfly garden ... a sanctuary for those winged beauties ... living in a townhouse i have very little garden space, but i do back onto forest, with a pretty bit of natural wildflowers at its edge, so i do see the occasional winged beauty.

When Pink Paislee came out with their "butterfly garden" line, i just had to buy it ... it is full of butterflies and faeries and beautiful colours.  It almost makes up for the fact that i don't have my own butterfly garden.

I have made several projects with it that i have posted previously and i finally finished off my stash of these papers by making some pretty projects ... this line is so pretty, i might need more ... the papers are kind of timeless!!!

 ahhh ... yes ... yours truly ... This was my favourite piece of paper ...

I created a fan ... every Royal needs a fan ... and if your Prince Andrew .....  I'll let you fill in the blanks

There are also some beautiful B sides of the papers ... i love all of these soft colours

The soft colours look great edged in white paint ... kind of gives your projects a shabby chic feel

A little cigar box to store sweet things ... i made this for a friend ... she picked the papers and wanted it simple!

just a tiny bit of bling and a few rosettes to sweeten the inside.  this is lined with felt.

A tiny little box ... the flower on the box is coloured with inks and i added some sugar type glitter

Inside the box, a tiny photo album ... this one is going to a blog buddy, sometime soon!

I had loads of fun working with these so so pretty papers ... and thanks so much for stopping by to take a peek!

Peace, love & paper ~Jo

Saturday Centus ~ The Letter

Saturday morning ... err afternoon  ... time for another round of Saturday Centus!!!  hosted by Jenny Matlock!  This week's prompt is "Dear John" ... and because this is the 60th week of the Centus, we are celebrating by using only 60 words plus the two prompt words.  Here is my take ...

She opens email and types “Dear John” 

Hmmmm, she thinks, this is going to be awkward.

“Dearest John”   …  no, he’s not so dearest after last night.  This is seriously the last time I date someone named John, it’s impossible to break up without sounding like a parody.

She closes email and opens Facebook and changes her status to “single” ... done!

Thanks for stopping by and make sure you click on Jenny's button below to visit some amazing 60 word stories!

Saturday Centus ~ The Beast

I had a huge garage sale on Saturday ... sadly it poured buckets of rain, so it wasn't that successful, and after sitting in a cold damp garage all day, i seem to have come down with a very nasty cold ...  So that's the reason my Saturday Centus is happening on a monday, and seriously, this excuse is way better than the whole "my dog ate my homework" excuse that I was originally going for ...

We are back down to using only 100 words plus the prompt, so here is my take on the prompt, "within the stone".  And this week we had a guest prompter ... (yeah that does sound weird) Jeff, of Tennessee Mudbug.   This story started out with an angel ... but about 300 words later i decided it was going to be way too long, and i have shelved it as a work in progress ... so here is my take ...

Within the stone lies the mythical beast.  A creature capable of inciting fear and awe in to so many …  yet it lies in wait patiently, neither rearing its head or pacing …it rests unmoving, unheard and unseen.  Days go by and then years and yet still more years.  Decades come and go and and beast remains silent and still. Finally, centuries later,  with the crack of a mallet onto a carbide chisel it is awakened within the eyes of its creator.  

thanks so much for stopping by and thank you even more for leaving a comment!!!

Now just click on Jenny's button below to read other and quite fabulous, shorts ... you will be glad that you did!

Le Cirque ...

Remember way back in January when I said that i had to have the new Graphic 45 line "Le Cirque"???  well it's okay if you don't remember ... but it is here if you are so inclined to reread it ... but take my word for it ... you don't have to go back ...

So, I was lucky enough to get my hands on the paper ... omg, it is so yummy and even though i have clown fear it has all but disappeared when using this beautiful paper!  I picked up my paper at Tiny Seed, the best little vancouver based online shop around.

So here is what i have done so far and omg, i think i will need to pick up a few more pieces cuz it is just so much fun!

full size layout ... remember you can always click on the photo to enlarge it ... i loved using the zipper with it, and i also used and old prima lollipop flower, i just took it apart and used some paper as additional layers and a free button my daughter picked up.

just some close up detail

I used glossy accents and a bit of glitter to my hand cut bunting.

I just wanted to neutralize some of the background yet still give it a circusy mayhemish feeling ... yes that is my daughter on a teeny tiny kids bike ...

I used some gesso along with various inks and glimmer mists to give the background a sort of whitewashed yet rusted feel.

I cut out several of the page elements from a second sheet and raised them using pop dots.

So here is what i have done so far and omg, i think i will need to pick up a few more pieces cuz it is just so much fun!

Thanks so much for stopping by ... peace, love & paper, Jo

a tiny trade ...

well that bit of sunshine we had seems to have done me a world of good ... oddly, on the first day of full sun, i broke my sunglasses and i had to do a lot of substantial driving ... with the sun in my eyes, my body sucked up a ton of that vitamin d ... and now, the grey that has been the last couple of days, isn't so bad ... Now if only i can get my doctor to prescribe weekly flights to someplace sunny, i will be in a great place ... some how i don't think i'm going to get that prescription.

So, I am scrapping with my scrapping group today ... and i am in a swap  ... a little 4x4 canvas swap ... so here's what i did for the swap ...

Four little canvas's ready to be swapped ... well actually only 3  will be swapped, i will be keeping one for me.

I realize that i have a much different point of view than most paper artists do ... (dare i refer to my self as an artist?)  i mean who does such colourful buttons with a somewhat monotone canvas?

There is actually loads of colour ... it's just all in the same tones ... but the colours are different textures ... some are matte, some are glossy, some are outright glimmery!

I used 7Gypsies tissue paper as the base for each little canvas ... i did numerous colour washes over it so that the pattern is still visible.

I really like the way these turned out ... they are indicative of my own point of view.  I recently saw a sign  on Pinterest (I'm here if you are interested) "I just want to make beautiful things, even if nobody cares" and i think that for now i am holding that as my mantra ... and beauty ...  hey it's in the eye of the beholder ....

Saturday Centus ~ The Wall

Well i just loved this weeks prompt ... there were just so many ways to go with it ... so i just sat and wrote whatever the keyboard told my fingers to write ... we had up to 200  words plus the prompts words.  I clocked in at 205 total. Oh, the prompt was "the wall was built long ago" ... here's my take!

The wall was built long ago …not all at once; it was built truly brick by brick.  The actual construction was a long and painful process.  Bricks were brought in by the barrel, lost bricks were found, others were stumbled upon and more were found by the sea … ancient bricks covered in barnacles and seaweed, showing their age and wear … bits of them smoothed by an eternity of exposure to the sun, sea, wind and all of earths elements.  The wall followed the landscape, winding around the curves, dipping in the valleys and crevices, rising on the occasional hill.  The landscape so complex at times that the wall gave birth to many mazes, walls within walls, traps and blind alleys. At times, when construction slowed, and there were no bricks to be found they were created … by nothing … or perhaps something … loneliness, bitterness, unheard whispers and ghosts, rising on the wind. 

The wall remains there still, although the building has slowed, it still continues, brick by brick … it stands on it’s lonely terrain guarded by no one, visited by no one and guarded by one gull, calling to no one as it rides the gusts of wind and time.

If you want some good reading make sure you visit the other skilled Cenutusians ... just click Jenny's button below.

the little unicorn ...

well not really a unicorn, but that is what i thought when i first saw this dreamy little mini horse sleeping in the straw ... i just had to scrap her in Pink Paislee butterfly collection ... i imagined the fairies and birds protecting her while she slumbered ...    so sweet ... so precious in her slumber ...

sorry for the glare on the photo ... this picture was taken outside to catch the daylight ... isn't she just the dreamiest little horse!

I cut up a vintage crochet doily that i picked up at an antique store for a buck ... it was stained in one corner so i didn't mind cutting it up

and of course every birdie needs to perch on bling while rocking a top hat!

I love the way the wood frame turned out ... i inked it and coated it with Utee, using several coats and several inks ... the colours swirl in the heat and layer to give it a real vintagey wood look ... imagine that wood looking like ... wood!

thanks for taking the time to stop by!

Saturday Centus ~ The End

Ha!  Miss Jenny is back to her old tricks ... she wants us to use a measly 25 words, and include the prompt "the end" .... mission accomplished!  and i know that we are not allowed to use photos or pictures but i just couldn't resist! 

It’s Kessler on the breakaway, he shoots, he scores!!!! The clock runs out and the crowd erupts!!! That is the end of Boston’s Stanley cup dreams.

Go Canucks!!!!!   hey, i live in a hockey city and as a Canadian, hockey is in my dna!  Now click on the button below to read some uber short and totally entertaining stories.