Black and White Letters

I originally bought these letters to spell the work "BANK" for a prop sign in a high school play that I directed for my students. When finished, I decided to dress them up, and add them to my etsy shop, Springtime Flowers.
That's right, these adorable black-and-white, turquoise rosette monograms are available in my etsy shop.

They turned out really lovely, I think.

Simple, yet beautiful.

Linked up to DIY Project Parade.

Student Gifts

I decided to make simple gifts for my 9th and 10th graders. There were only eight of them. The funny thing was that today was the last day of school, but I forgot to give the students their gifts...which = me making a mad dash for the parking lot after school was out. Fortunately I got all of them except one (and I'll make sure it gets to her).
These are the ones I did for the girls (there were only four of them). I did some for the guys (also four of them...told you it was a tiny school), but in my hurry to get to school this morning I forgot to get pictures of them.
All of the students liked them, and it was nice to give a personalized gift.


All I did was trace the letters onto paper, cut them out of the paper, and podge them onto the the wooden letters, add a little distress ink around the edges, and podge over the top. I wanted to paint the wooden letters before I put the paper on, but I ran out of time. Oh well, I still think they turned out really cute.

I'm linked up to Sassy Sites, and Tatertots and Jello.

Paper Corsages and Boutonnieres

Hello! I'm back. Today was the last day of school, so I should have a little more time for crafting and blogging now. Anyway, the project I'm sharing is one that I did for school. The eighth grade teacher asked me to make corsages and boutonnieres for the students to give to their parents during the parent tribute at eighth grade graduation. I was happy to do it. It was a LOT of work to make all of them, but I love how they turned out.
Their class colors were silver and emerald green, hence the green flowers, and silver ribbon.
I'm linked up to Designer Garden, 36th Avenue, Thirty Handmade Days, and Sassy Sites, and Tatertots and Jello.

Emerald Rosettes

I'm sorry that I'm a little behind in posting crafty things. This coming week is the last week of my school year, and I've been running like crazy to wind things down. I'm physically and mentally exhausted. I actually have been crafting and decorating, but all for school events...and I'm not finished yet. I will get back to regular crafting posts, but it may be several days.

For now I leave you with these shimmery green rosettes. They're for a lovely school project that I'm excited to reveal in the next couple of days. I love it when work and crafting coincide.

Sirens, Tornadoes, Students, and Small Spaces

Admittedly this post has nothing to do with crafting; I just had such an "interesting" day yesterday that I thought it was worth sharing.

I was at school, supervising a period of 7th and 8th grade study hall, when the school secretary came into the room. She whispered into my ear, "A tornado was spotted in a nearby town, we may need to evacuate to the church."

Not five minutes later, the city sirens started going off, and the principal poked his head in to say that we needed to head to the church basement immediately. I calmly, but sternly, told the students that they had to stay calm since we would be sharing the shelter with with pre-k, all the way on up to 6th grade. (I teach at a tiny, 10 grade Christian church school).

When we walked outside to cross the parking lot to the church, I noticed that the wind certainly had picked up, and the sky was indeed very dark. I wasn't that worried, though. My main concern was keeping the students calm and safe.

We packed into the church basement, students kneeling down and facing the wall, teachers walking up and down the hallway in an effort to keep the kids from going too crazy. The hall began to get stuffy and stinky.

Soon we started getting reports that hail was hitting hard around us, and that it was coming our way. Thinking of our cars (mine very recently purchased), several of the teachers decided that it was safe enough for us to run out and get our vehicles parked underneath the church overhang. Afterward we went back down to the basement to wait it out. Fortunately all hail never broke loose, and finally we got word that it was safe to return to the school.

A half hour later I was teaching 5th and 6th grade reading when the sirens started blaring again. This time when the secretary came in she told us that there wasn't time to go back to the church. Instead, we put most of the students in the main hallway. I was told to take my class (9 boys and 2 girls) into the boys' bathroom. Ugh. It was smelly! So my job for the next half hour was to quiet a girl who was freaking out, and keep the boys from wasting all the paper towels.

Finally it was safe again. Sort of. By the time school let out, thunder crashed, lightning flashed, and rain came pelting down in torrents. I had to run from the 5th and 6th room, back to my office. I prepared myself for getting drenched, and headed out. I was about half way there when I saw an incredibly bright flash of lighting, I barely had time to think, "Crap, it really isn't safe out here" before the loudest thunder I've ever heard cracked overhead. I felt it vibrate through my body. I made it to the other building, and later found out that a younger girl had gone out to get her jacket during that same slap of thunder and lighting, and had gotten shocked. When she came back in her shirt was torn, nose bleeding, and lots of tears. Poor thing, I would have cried too!

Thankfully no tornado touched down near us, and the biggest "injury" was to all the teachers who were exhausted after an afternoon of wrangling lots of kids in small spaces.

What's Blooming? IV

On Sunday, even though it was chilly and overcast, Husband and I decided to make a trip to the Botanic Gardens. We were so glad we did! It was a gorgeous day, and there were so many more flowers blooming this time.

Lots of tulips blooming...

And it's been raining a lot in Denver over the passed week,

so everything was covered with ethereal droplets of water.

The lilacs were completely delightful in their profusion...

And I'm not sure what this is, but I love it!

There were irises everywhere!
(Be thankful I'm not posting all my iris pictures)

And lastly, I was intrigued by all the "black" flowers.
I'd never seen so many different kinds in one place.

And of course, there were lots of these guys honking around...

Springtime Flowers

Hello! I just wanted to announce that I opened my Etsy shop, Springtime Flowers, this weekend. I'm pretty excited about it. Here are some things that are up for sale.

I'd be honored if you'd go take a look.

Inspired by a Student

Confession, I am not a bright colors kind of girl. It's not that I don't like them; I just don't wear them often or decorate with them. A little while ago I realized I don't even craft with them, but I also realized that I like it when other people do.

I have a student who's full of sweetness, and sunshine. She loves bright colors, particularly orange. It was she who (unknowingly) inspired me to break out of my mold and make this set of cards. Teachers would do well to remember to take a few lessons from their students more often. I adore the way these turned out, and will definitely use more bold colors in the future.
I'm linking up to Tatertots and Jello, Designer Garden, Sassy Sites, and Thirty Days.

New Dress for an Old Jar

Pansies are my favorite flower (along with about 5 others).
If I had a yard, they would be everywhere.
Instead, we have two pots of them sitting on the table on our deck.
They've finally started blooming profusely
(much to my heart's delight)
so I picked a few.

I didn't have a vase small enough for their short stems,
so I dressed up a glass spice jar using paper and twine.
It was still a little too large,
so I filled it with decorative stones before adding the flowers.

Now it's a dainty center piece for our small table.
Incidentally, I always keep our table partially set.
Otherwise it turns into an out of control catchall.

Here's a close-up of what I did with paper and twine.

And a couple of gratuitous pansy pictures,
because they're just so pretty.

I hope your day is filled with beauty.

This post is linked up to Sassy Site's Trash to Treasure Tuesday.

Sunshine Bouquet

Happy Mother's Day to mothers everywhere!

I myself am not a mom,
but I know plenty of women who are,
and I have great love and respect for them.

In honor of Mother's Day,
I want to share this sunny bouquet
made from my newest flowers.

If I may be so bold as to say, it's lovely.


It would make a bright and unique bridal bouquet,
a sunny gift for a friend,
or the perfect summer accent for a table.

And it (minus the vase) will be available for purchase within the next few days.

This post is linked up to the DIY Project Parade.

Oranges and Lemons Bouquet

This darling little bouquet will also be for sale
as soon as I open my etsy shop.

Two New Flower Designs

I'm presumptuous enough to say
that I'm pretty good at making paper flowers,
and I have been for a while now.
However, I've always used someone else's patterns.
At least sort of...some of them I've adapted,
or made out of paper instead of fabric.

Finally, yesterday morning, I woke up and
had two ideas of my very own for flower designs.*
It really was that simple.
The first one was inspired by another pattern, but isn't the same.

The second just popped into my head. And I knew I had to try it.

I love them all, and will be making all of these into pins.

I hope you like them too.
And if you LOVE them, they'll be for sale in my
soon-coming etsy shop!

This post is linked up to Tatertots and Jello. And, Thirty Handmade Days. And Sassy Sites.

*I realize that hardly anything is new in diy blogland anymore...I guess I'm just saying that I didn't knowingly copy any other idea, and similarities are coincidental.