Ah, Wisteria!
I love how it tumbles over the fences in our neighborhood
Close
Closer
Closest
Mmmmmmmmmmm
Earlier this month Dale and I traveled back to Idaho for our granddaughter Annalee's birthday. We stayed in my old college town, Lewiston. To get in a little exercise after the long car ride, we took a short walk on the Lewiston Levee Parkway Trail along the Clearwater River. We walked from the downtown area down to the confluence of the Clearwater River with the Snake River.
Looking west at the confluence. The Snake River is on the left; the Clearwater River on the right. From here, the Snake River flows west through the valley. |
We sat on a bench facing the sculpture ... and found a geocache.
It's odd how many old stories and memories and emotions bubble to the surface when I'm back in Lewiston. I've not lived there for 42 years!
... aka it's time to abandon this wreath idea.
Plan A
What I planned on doing in March 2024 was to make a Spring wreath featuring butterflies. I figured it would be a quick little project using supplies on hand. I gathered:
Flowers
The inspiration was:
I set to work:
First I spray-painted the wreath form silver.
So I mulled the project over.
Plan B
I purchased 4 packages (4 designs) of iridescent butterflies in early April 2024.
:: play Jeopardy music here ::
With Jodie's help last week (over a year later), I decided to try sandwiching pop dots between the clothespins and the butterflies. We clipped 3 different sizes of butterflies in 4 different designs to the wreath form in an "artistic" formation.
Man, that just didn't work.
My frustration was real. I didn't even bother to take a picture.
Time to mull this project over again.
Plan C
This morning I decided life is too short to bang my head against this particular wall. BUT!
Maybe the butterflies will be a sweet addition to my bedroom wall:
My brain weighs less now that the butterflies are off my mind.
The trip to see our Idaho grandchildren weakened me, then I got sick. I'm somewhat better, but still not fully healed.
Over the last year I made hundreds of bookmarks for the charitable organization I work with. All of them have been made of fabric and ribbon sewn together. I wanted to experiment with bookmarks made of paper and cardstock. I had a vision ...
I started with scrapbook paper from my stash and coordinating cardstock cut from facial tissue boxes.
I bought a couple packets of dies to cut into various bookmark shapes. This is what I used to cut the cardstock.
After cutting the scrapbook paper to size, I used embossing folders to add texture to the paper. (Those little hearts are adorable!)
Then I used a specialized paper punch to round the corners of the embossed paper.
I've wanted an excuse to purchase this tool for quite some years. Now I can add grommets to my projects.
I stacked the cardstock and embossed paper, punched a hole, then squeezed in the grommet.
The last step was to add a coordinating ribbon. I have lots of colors to choose from!
My vision came to life!
So far, I've made 16 bookmarks of various sizes. They are fairly time-intensive to make. So though I am extremely pleased with the finished product, I'm not sure this is the most efficient use of my bookmark-making time. I might return to the fabric bookmarks for that organization since they sew up fairly quickly.