Sweet and Sinister 2009 Swap

This morning my package for the Sweet and Sinister 2009 Swap went out in the mail…headed to California for my exchange partner, Lesley … you can check her out on her blog… http://www.lkailani.typepad.com/

The swap was arranged by Kari aka Artsy Mama…this is the third year Kari  has hosted…I was luck enough to have been partnered with Nancy Gail aka My Crafty Little Page last year and we had a ball making things for each other…

This year we swapped Something Sweet, Something Sinister, Something Handmade, and Something for our partner’s Home Decor…

I found these Sinister paper lanterns in Ruidoso, New Mexico and brought them home to be embellished with black feather boas…hope Lesley finds the perfect spot for them…

They don’t look too scary in bright sunlight, but when  Halloween night falls, they’ll be very Sinister!!!

I made her a Lighted Torn and Tattered Garland to drape around her Haunted House…

It also adds a Sweet touch when gathered around a punch bowl or cake plate…

And she is also going to find a couple of Halloween Gift Pockets that were made from  recycled vegetable cans…I added some vintage seam binding for her own creations…

The words and pictures come from catalogs, greeting cards, scrapbook paper and found items…

I added some skull coasters, some treat bags in bright colors, and then I added something Sweet…

A Second-Hand-Rose Corsage…it’s been knocked around and tattered a bit by time… I learned the technique from Mendy Mitrani when she taught a class at the 2009 Paper Cowgirl Art Retreat. Her creations are to die for…mine are more just to die, but it’s fitting for Halloween… and speaking of Halloween, what would a Sweet corsage be without a  little something Sinister?  Along came a Spider…

  Don’t be alarmed… It’s really just a removable hat pin that adds the Sinister element we have such fun with on Halloween.

So when all was packed into the mailer…don’t you just love these flat rate boxes??? it was off to the Post Office and by now it’s on its way to California…and I will start watching the mail for my package from Lesley… It’s so funny, I don’t even know her, but I know her…What a great start to the Fall Holiday Season…time to pull out the pumpkins… 

Pink Saturday Memory Forever

Last Saturday found me in Ruidoso, New Mexico for a fabulous Girls’ Road Trip…check out the adventures as chronicled by Nancy Gail who  has the most computer-blog savvy  http://www.mycraftylittlepage.blogspot.com/

We were excited to have been there for their annual Monarch butterfly release. This memorable event is sponsored by Hospice, an organization that has meant so much to all of us.  Pam hold a sign in anticipation of the flurry of activity getting ready to unfold.

For our donations we each received a sleeping butterfly that we warmed in our hands…

As the sun and our hands warmed them, the butterflies began to flutter slightly in their little boxes.  We had been told they would wake up hungry and so we positioned ourselves near their favorite plants… After pausing to remember and honor those who have battled cancer, we opened the boxes and were amazed at the beauty inside each…

 

They were so large!!!and true to predictions, they went straight for the flowers…

And then, in the sweetest gesture you can imagine, mine came back for a moment and landed on my foot…

I know it sounds corny, but I had a lump in my throat…I’m not the only one to react…the ooohs and aaahs were like Fourth of July fireworks and we were all children together for an hour sharing our excitement with strangers watching those beautiful Monarchs. None of us will forget the beauty of that day.

While shopping, Carol found a poem, “Advice from a Butterfly” on a tee shirt…we took the lines as our mantra for the week and  made paper bag books to commemorate the experience.

Each of us made a cover…each different and each unique… Then we made copies of our individual pages so that we each have copies of the others…

Lots of PINK will be found among the pages…

And lots of good advice…

And lots of found art and recycled tourist pamphlets and newspapers…we literally created books from what was on the table and in our totes…

 

Isn’t it just the coolest Vacation Journal ever?…

a couple of pockets hold additional advice…

And my little butterfly box (along with memories of the PINKEST week ever) gets tucked inside…

Add a beautiful fantasy paper butterfly from Nancy… and it’s done!

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out Beverly’s list of fellow lovers of Pink…http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/my_weblog/

Enjoy the day and have a Pink week. LaVerne

Pink Attitude in a Higher Altitude

This Pink Saturday will find me and NancyGail in the cooler climate of Ruidoso, New Mexico. We’ll be relaxing with five of our life long friends and you can bet we’ll find time to shop and visit the galleries when we finally shed our pajamas around noon-ish. The plan was to pack light and save cargo space for craft supplies…

I was determined that my two Vera Bradleys would be “all I’m taking, no more”…Sounds like a good plan, and , of course, some maps, and visitor guides…but then I saw some cute recycled napkin rings made by Charlotte Lyons. Well, they would be so cute…and they wouldn’t take up that much space, and they weigh practically nothing…so I made them…and packed PINK bandana napkins…

 

I added names  and vintage post card tags…

and so it went…my two bags are now bringing along a pretty wildflower grocery bag…(we’ll need salt and pepper and cinnamon…and fresh basil and garlic for crying out loud and cereal …) and a crafting  satchel full of altered book  supplies. All of a sudden, I’m surrounded by bags! We do this every trip we’ve ever taken together…we pack everything but the kitchen sink and then barely use any of it…oh well, we’ll be thinking of everyone on Pink Saturday even if we can’t visit… don’t know about the Internet in the mountains. Enjoy your Pink Saturday.

Pink Saturday…with an Ole thrown in…

This week I had some fun with an apron…no not using one, silly, making one…The call for submissions from Somerset Studio  appeared in the premier issue of Apronology earlier this year. If you haven’t seen a copy, check it out.  I loved the variety and creativity and ingenuity of the creations.

Then in June at Paper Cowgirl Retreat I met mixed media artist Ann Denise Anderson who had created a crepe paper and tulle apron which was featured on page 17… and I started thinking that I wanted to make one…not a real get-out-in-the-kitchen-and-rattle-those-pots-and-pans  apron…but a fun apron to wear to a party where I would eat someone else’s cooking.   I knew it would be Mexican themed and since I’m a recycler, I knew it would feature reclaimed materials. So I started dragging stuff out…

Just look at all that PINK! and all that YELLOW and all that PURPLE…I love Mexican folk art colors…and I found one of my  vintage tablecloths that had seen better days…

It has a great border print but there was damage to the center…perfect for cutting in half and turning into an apron!…I knew I would use Loteria cards,

and images from vintage Mexican ephemera and tourism flyers…

Sewn back to back  and hung from a rainbow of seam bindings…

and I knew I had a perfect ric rac garland Lisa Laughs had sent me for a swap we did a while back…

and then using thin ribbon, I started tying straw balls and bright wooden beads all along the edge.

It just looks like a pinata exploding…. to make the waistband, I pulled out an old sash I had made in the late 80’s using these cute handmade Mexican folk dolls…they might be worry dolls…remember those? I sewed it all together…

And the it was done!!!

 

Just one last detail remained…

 

Before I mailed it off, I stitched in a little Hail Mary prayer card and sent it on its way. On a wing and a prayer. It was definitely a Pink week project…not just the colors, but the humming and singing Cielito Lindo while I worked. The chances of being accepted for publication are minimal at best, but, hey, you don’t have to be Queen of the Hop to have a great time and at least I danced!!!

Visit Beverly to see whose joining the fun this week…     http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/my_weblog/   Have a great pink week…I’ll make my rounds on Sunday since this is Wimberley Market Day…stop by Booth 375 to say “Hi” if you’re in the neighborhood.