It's Summer!

Why does this son look soooo happy?

It was the last day of 4th grade, and I pulled him out early to go have lunch with his grandparents! He will enjoy only a week off until his 2-week science camp starts on June 14.

While I usually only craft with yarn, every once in a while, I venture into paper crafting. I wish I could say I was particularly good at it. For a teacher gift, my friends and I (we have children in the same class, and we are the Class Moms) made a pot with paper flowers that held gift cards and notes from the students.



The idea came from Disney's Family Fun website, but we took it a step further. We used a longer pot to allow for more flowers. We also used styrofoam covered with moss instead of including a real plant. One thing I would have done differently is to make the spirals on the stems a little larger and a little 'looser' to allow for the double thickness of card stock.

Ms. A really enjoyed reading all of the notes!

Attn: Scrapbookers!

Back in March, I received an Alchemy request from Pam, the owner of a cool site called Kraft Girl Kits. She requested orange and yellow flowers from The Lavender Ladybug to add to her May scrapbooking kit.

Needless to say, I was soooo excited!

Well, May is here and so is the kit! Here's a photo of the items included in the kit:


I really like the Gallery at Kraft Girl Kits, where designers take the current kit and each create scrapbook pages or cards. Be sure to check out the projects -- you will be inspired, no doubt. For a sneak peak at the Gallery, here is my favorite project (it's titled Proof You Are Mine, and it was designed by Danielle Holsapple):


It's so sweet, and I'm reminded of the 4 baby boy bracelets I still have. See, they really are all mine.

So if you scrapbook or paper craft, please check out Kraft Girl Kits! Monthly subscriptions are available as are some previous month's kits, and the 2008 kits are now 40% off.

Thanks, Pam! I'm so happy to be a part of the May kit!

So What Do You Do With Those Little Flowers Anyway?

I get that question a lot -- it's in reference to the flower, star, fruit, veggie and other motifs I have listed at The Lavender Ladybug.

Thankfully, I can show you what two different buyers chose to make!

The first buyer is an ETC teammate and friend of mine, Tricia of Handmade Whimzy and Pink Pear Designs. Turns out she sews also. She requested aqua flowers and leaves and a chocolate brown bird for a pillow she was planning to make. Here's how it turned out:

Gorgeous! To read about how Tricia crafted her pillow and see more photos, check out her blog!

The second buyer is Marnie from AdornWithAandM, an Etsy shop she co-owns with Amy. Marnie recently moved, and her new kitchen is decorated with peppers. Amy saw some of my motifs and asked if I could design peppers for Marnie's kitchen. Marnie took the peppers and added them to a decorative plate:

And another set (in custom colors) was made into magnets:

Finally, one pepper was added to Marnie's business card holder for craft shows:

I think all of these projects turned out great! Thanks to Tricia, Amy and Marnie, for their wonderful inspiration! And thanks for sharing these projects with me!

P.S. Next up at The Lavender Ladybug -- paisley motifs! Stay tuned!