Surprise Package and Spring Arrives

I  found a surprise in my mailbox!

Inside was a beautifully embossed card with added bling and a figure.

See the goodies inside the card? An ATC, a ribbon with metallic leaves, a large, lush ribbon festooned with sequins, beads and metallic thread, and 3 blinged leaf motifs.            Beautiful!

The ATC has glass beads, threads, a metallic stamped leaf on a background fabric that shimmers and changes colour

Another shot, showing the colour variation. So pretty and well done for a first ATC!

The smaller motifs are embroidered, multi-leaf stems.  Each is outlined with gold thread, and has a gold trimmed, tiny mirror.

Aren't they pretty?

Deepa sent all these lovely embellishments to me!  Such a wonderful surprise!  Thank you so much Deepa! 

I am blessed with a lovely and generous friend.

How have you been blessed today?

~~~~~

Spring arrives tonight. It's not soon enough for me! Now, if the snow would just melt, and the temperatures warm up, I'd be happy.

~~~~~

A little note:  I'll be taking a 2 week break from blogging.  A few things going on right now will be claiming most of my time, so, although I may be able to blog hop now and again, I probably won't be posting. Have a great 2 weeks!

~~~~~

Thanks for visiting.

Hugs from Suz

Flower Power and a Fundraiser for Sendai

I was inspired by Jillayne's tutorial for ruched flowers, and these were the result:

 Not having large enough pieces of material to cut on the bias, I thought I would see what happened with just a piece cut along the grain.......

Though not as pretty or delicate as Jillayne's, I was fairly happy with the results

I used a beaded square for the center



Mine is a little wonky

  a smaller flower with a button center




a little better result

 my technique needs a little finessing
 
















Here I made a layered flower, singeing the edges of each layer of organza.
I tatted a fancy picot flower center and popped in some tawny-coloured beads












Flower Trio

Another, smaller ruched flower added. Thanks Jillayne!















Many of you may have heard of a CQ International project to help the people of Japan with a fundraiser.  A small donation and a quilt square will go to raise funds. It's called Hearts and Hands for Sendai.
The information has been posted on several blogs, but if you are interested in learning more, you can read all about it here.
I'll be participating in this project. Won't you join me?

Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz

White Piece Progress

Progress and changes in my white piece:

I went a little quirky. What do you think of the woven picot leaves on this 'branch?

Too quirky and weird even for me so I removed all but one and added 'pearl' seed beads instead

.  

              I auditioned a green shell heart.

Too green, I think. Off with it!                                                               

                                              blinged a white shell heart

 I love the 'sugar crystal' and the mother-of-pearl buttons. If you follow the line of buttons to the right, they end in a faceted donut crystal that blings all the pastel colours in the block.

Buttons and beads and crystal 

Seed 'pearls' added to the lazy daisy leaves 

C'est fini!!!

I love my White CQ!

I shall roll it in tissue paper until I can get to the framer.

What have you been creating?

Thanks for visiting.

Hugs from Suz

Sketchbook Challenge-- March

I joined the Sketchbook Challenge ( button on the right) and the theme for March is
Spilling Over
Since my art room is in the process of being painted, and most of my art supplies are packed away, Inspiration Sunday is postponed.
Instead, here is my first March Sketchbook Challenge:

a little bit quirky, perhaps, and simply executed with three pens and one pencil, but this is one idea I had when I heard the theme.
Hope you have a relaxed Sunday.
Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz

Hearts and Laces

I wanted to use a piece of my tea-stained lace to make a little gift for a special someone.

rusty bits cotton, cheesecloth, and some old flannelette

gathering embellishments
hmmm, which shall I use?

 flannelette base, rusty bits cotton, FME with gold thread, a brown fiber topper with FME'd gold thread

covered with rusty cheesecloth, and then some tea-stained lace

rusty bits cotton bottom

 add a tawny-colored shell heart and a tea-stained lace heart









an acorn button to attach once the wrist size is known







a cheesecloth flower with a two-thread tatted center and a bead cluster sits atop the hearts








 tawny gold and brown seed beads dance along the lace

and Voila!  a bracelet for a special lady with a chain and button closure

Hmmm, maybe I should run some brown ribbon through the gold chain.

What do you think?

Well, I decided against the chain: it didn't seem to match the shabby-vintage feel of the fabrics.

I removed it and used a piece of chocolate ribbon. Then, I added a second acorn button for a smoother closure. I'll attach the backing once the bracelet has been sized and the buttons secured.

I sure hope the recipient likes this bracelet!

I hope you've had a creative day.

Thanks for visiting.

Hugs from Suz