Grandma's Attic Matchbox Swap

I was lucky enough to get a spot in this fabulous swap hosted by Vintage Dragonfly.  We used the larger matchboxes, decorated them, and filled them with yummy vintagey goodness.

I received my matchbox from ArtsyMarty ... and look at how beautiful it is!

 Not only did I receive a fabulous matchbox, she sent me the cutest little bucket and a card.  Seriously the packaging is so gorgeous i almost didn't want to open it, but hey ...  you know me ... i just tore right in!!!

 Marti wrote a beautiful note, and look at the delightful goodies in the bucket!  look at the butterfly and there is even a tiny tiara!  It's almost as if she knew of my "Empress Jo" alias

 The burlap rose ... to die for!!!

 and look at all of those gorgeous bits!  I love them, I was indeed a lucky swapper.

I sent my matchbox off to the wonderful Lesley of Harmony Road.  Here is what I sent!

The entire matchbox was covered in vintage music paper, and then i adhered a layer of 7Gypsies tissue paper to the music paper, so there was a wonderful collage effect.   On the top of the box was an envelope with a vintage card, a 7Gypsies tag, and the entire package was covered with a beautiful vintage doily!

This is the front view ... i really loved adding the little drawer pull

 I managed to fit all of this into the matchbox

 Almost everything i sent was vintage ... the buttons were from my generations old button jar, the beige crocheted lace was from my grandmothers collection ... she made it over 50 decades ago ... even the string was vintage.  I found it in an old tin film canister ...  I had a blast putting this together for the swap!  It is much fun to send little surprises off into the world for others to enjoy!

Thanks all for stopping by! peace, love & paper y'all!

Summer in the City ...

in the summer, in the city .... remember that song ... i'm humming it now ... This city just shines in the summer ... here's just a few quick pics of the beauty, taken from the a boat ...

an old paddlewheel boat, it is still in use today for harbour tours

ah, the heart of coal harbour, brilliant use of greenspace in the city

There is always a floatplane taking off or landing 

The Vancouver Trade and Convention centre, what a magnificent green roof.

Across Coal Harbour, a view of the local mountains

The City from the north side of the harbour

Of course there are harbour seals sunning themselves ... 

I just love this incredible "pixal" whale!

A bench to rest upon ... after a full day of boating and walking around in the sun, and hey, they match my purse!

Thanks all for stopping by, hope you are all enjoying your summer!

Saturday Centus - The Stick

This week Jenny had no tricks up her sleeves.  We are back to our standard 100 words plus the 3 word prompt, which this week is "Surprise, I'm pregnant" ...  my little offering has clocked in at 101 words.  I hope you enjoy it!

She stared at the stick in horror, “surprise, I’m pregnant,” she thought to herself.  This wouldn’t be so utterly horrifying if she hadn’t just ended her 2-year engagement.  Oh god, this is going to tie me to the cheating liar for the next 18 years … no for a lifetime … oh geez, I will never be free of him … my poor baby is going to be saddled with this loser as a dad, wait, my baby … my baby!!!  I’m having a baby!!!   Don’t worry sweetie, she said talking to her fetus, we are going to be just fine!

Now scamper off and read some other wonderful & amusing stories by the many talented people that play Saturday Centus ... just click on the Jenny button below to find these tales!

Variations on a theme ...

i just have not been my creative self lately ... but i did make some cards that i really loved ... they were quick, simple and pretty, which seems to be the direction i am going lately ...

and sometimes, i just want to create some girly cards ...
thanks so much for stopping by, peace, love & paper y'all!

SOOC Saturday - bunting

loved capturing this bunting ...

click on the photo to make it larger

Enjoy your weekend ....
peace love & paper y'all

linking to 

Saturday Centus - The Threat

Jenny gave us 154 words today, including the prompt which is "If I die young"   Sadly i needed about 250 words to tell this properly so you will have to pardon my abruptness.  I have broken one of Jenny's golden rules this week "no pictures allowed"   I wanted to finish the story so i had to throw in the photo ... oh i hope Jenny will not be mad ... and i hope the other Centaurians are not angered ... but at least i am admitting to my wrong doing, can forgiving myself and correcting my behaviour be far behind?

We were stopped at our  favourite rural burger stand, just off the highway, surrounded by scenery and picnic tables.

I picked up my order, a hot chorizo and of course a handful of napkins.

The trees were lined with birds. Unbeknownst to me, the crows conspired with the wind to create a gust of wind that sent my napkins across the park.  As I chased the napkins, my daughter started waving to me from the stand.  I turned back to the table to notice that the crows had carried away my meal.

Two weeks ago while driving, a crow flew up from the road straight at my car.  My daughter burst in to tears as the bird hit the windshield with a thud.

Okay, I am calling this even, until this morning when I looked out the window to the deck and saw this …

If I die young you  know who is responsible.

now hop along to Jenny's (click the button below) and read some much wittier, funnier and even happier 154 word tales.  Thanks for stopping by, peace, love & paper y'all!

More from the baby shower ...

Introducing little Miss Chelsea ... one week old, the cause of much celebration

This little girl has the longest fingers & toes ... a piano player in the making!

I love this shot, look at the generations reflected in the hands

Easy peasy decorations ... candy baby wash cloths ... it took about 10 minutes to make these ... i found the idea on Pinterest at Cute as a Fox

And these super easy noms ... just a cherry tomato, cube of mozza, piece of basil and we drizzled the plate with a strawberry fig balsamic reduction ... yummy!  I also found this on Pinterest but I didn't pin it ... so i can't credit the originator.

The desserts ... yummy ... even though Miss Chelsea could not indulge, her guests certainly did ... the cake was make by the new mommy's brother ... aka my other cousin, and it had the best buttercream frosting ever, i must get the recipe ...

cousins .... so there is a few years between them, but that will never matter ...

Thanks so much for stopping by ... oh i just love babies ....

Saurday Centus - the leader

Jenny's challenge this week is to use a total of 53 words, including the prompt which is "laugh out loud".  I immediately though of my daughter, who loves to laugh and find the humour in everyday life, and came up with this imaginary conversation.

“You want to be a what?”

“A CLL , a Certified Laugh Leader”

“And how do you do that”

“Mom, it’s simple 2 day program”

“So after 4 years of university, you’re going to chuck it away just to teach people to laugh out loud?”

“yeah!”

“I am so not laughing right now.”

Now to read some other humorous takes on the prompt, click on the Jenny button below.

SOOC Saturday - shells

Joining up with Amy of Marvelous Mommy for Straight Out of the Camera Saturday... here is my straight out of the camera shot, my daughter standing on a bed of clam shells and barnacles on the beach.

(you can click on the image to enlarge it)

I don't know if i will edit or not ... i'm kind of stuck as to how to edit.

Make sure you click on the button below to see some other wonderful SOOC shots!

And the winner is .....

omg, i am so bad a copying those images from random interger .... i cant get it to work so you will have to take my word for it .... and the winner is .... number 14 .... Ames!!!

Ames, please email me your information so i can get your goodies to you!!!

And a big thank you to everyone who participated!!!  Peace, love and paper y'all!

The easiest homemade "candy" ever!!!!

I made these little "candy" treats for my cousin's baby shower.  Talk about easy ... and they look cute on a table as well ... picture them at a kids birthday, showers and celebrations, on a dessert or candy table at a wedding ... quick, cute & totally enjoyable!

Here is what you do ...

1.  insert lollipop sticks into a regular sized marshmallow

2.  melt some "candy melts" or chocolate (in this case i used yellow vanilla flavoured candy melts by Wilton)

3.  swirl your marshmallow through the melted liquid

4.  toss on a few sprinkles or embellish with other candies like smarties, tiny gummy candies etc

5.  place them in a glass os shallow bowl to firm up

6.  serve

These took me less than 10 minutes to make ... the kids loved them and so did the adults!  And the possibilities are endless ... think red forChristmas, pastel colours for easter ... pink for a bridal shower ... black & white for a grad tea, or orange and black for halloween!

Wednesday the 10th is the last day of my giveaway ... if you have not had a chance to join in, please do, just click here

Thanks for stopping by!!!

Saturday Centus - The Sunshine

Well, Miss Jenny has made it very easy on us this week ... the prompt is a very timely "You are my sunshine" and we get an additional 50 words plus the prompt words ... so that's 154 words!  I clocked in at 153.  We can also use a picture this week but i thought this story worked best without one ... I hope you can paint the picture in your mind...

“Gramma, Gramma,  listen to my new song” said the little girl …

“So young” she thought as she smiled down at the child.

“You are my sunshine ...”

As the song from the tiny child began, the scene in her sterile room seemed to fad away and she remembers …

Sitting on the floor, watching her momma sew her “sunshine” dress  humming the all too familiar refrain while she stitched …  bright yellow cotton with fancy white buttons, carefully picked out from the big button jar on the shelf, two rows of carefully sewn white rick rack along the bottom  She can feel the warm stickiness of the freshly oiled dirt road outside her home, hair in braids and the sun smiling on her skin.  Happy in her sunshine dress she stops to pick dandelions and wild daisies … and she journeys to the light … finding her way home.

I hope you enjoyed my little offering and please stop by my giveaway ... so easy to enter and the prize is quite fab if I do say so myself!

Want to read more short shorts?  Just click on the Jenny button below to visit her Linky to other participants!

Peace, love & paper everyone!

PS  ... I cheated ... well not really, i thought we had an extra 50 words ... you know, on top of the 100 we usually get ... so my entry really doesn't quite count ... sorry peeps!

Tissue paper flowers tutorial ... (and a giveaway)

That is great big tissue paper posies!  I got busy with my mom and dad a couple of days ago, making tissue paper flowers ... some are in big vases, some in mason jars, and even some for little vases ... and still more giant ones, to be hung from the ceiling ...

These are super fun and easy to make ... we did them in bright colours and colour combinations ... My mother is hosting a baby shower for her niece (my cousin) this weekend.  My cousin has finally had her dreams come true and her and her hubby were finally able to adopt a precious baby girl ... i can't wait to meet her!

My cousin has decorated a nursery in a colourful "jungle" theme so we thought we would carry the colour theme forward into the shower, hence the great big tissue paper "jungle" flowers!

 this one looks so zen ... if you can call tissue paper zen ... but it does remind me of a lotus flower ...

These are little ones in a vase ... we made lots of little ones and used the extras as centres for the larger flowers.

Step 1,  Fold the tissue layers diagonal so that they will form a square when unfolded

 Step 2,  cut  off excess paper (the excess can be used to make smaller squares and smaller flower centres)

 Step 3,  accordian fold all of the layers of tissue at the same time.  For giant (hang from the ceiling flowers we used 10 layers, the medium and small flowers we used 4 - 5 layers of tissue)

 Step 4  Tie off at the center (we used ribbon for hanging flowers and pipe cleaners for the smaller flowers)  Also trim the ends of the layers ... we used various edges (see below)

 Step 5, make sure your layers are spread open

 Step 6, start lifting up and fluffing the layers one by one ... be careful, tissue tears easily ... most of these flowers have at least 1 tear in it, but you tend not to notice once they are done

 For pointy edged flowers, (like my "lotus") simply cut a triangle shape ... for spiky flowers like the spiky green blue & white flower, cut the triangle shape, then cut a slit from the tip of the point ... the longer the slit, the more spiky the flower will be, however it will also be a bit more difficult to pull apart the layers.

 for blossom style petals, cut a rounded edge

These are the giant flowers hanging from the ceiling!

Hope you try this, they are super easy and oh, they do look wonderful in pastel colours as well ... suitable for all kinds of celebrations!

I also have a wonderful giveaway happening ... all you have to do to enter is to leave a comment on this blog post.

GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED




peace, love & paper y'all ...