SHOW ME SOMETHING SATURDAY #3

I've been working on a small project that ended up taking WAY more time that I'd expected, but it's a first try at a new thing, so maybe that's to be expected.

You see, I joined a Yahoo! group, Decorative Envies, that's for people who like to send not just real, paper, mail, but real paper mail that's pretty. Hence, the "Envies" part of the name, short for "Envelopes".

Anyway, part of what they do is swap decorative envelopes, and I've just finished up my first set, ready to pop in the mail. That's what I'm showing you!



Okay, so the deal is you send a decorated envelope your swap partner can use inside a decorated envelope. Above is the larger, outside envelope, front and back, and below is the smaller, inside envelope:



That last picture is what you see when you lift the envelope flap.

I'm eagerly watching my mailbox, 'cuz my partner says she's already sent mine. I just hope she likes what I'm sending her way!

So how about you? What are you showing the world this Saturday (or any Saturday)? Leave a comment with a link, so I can come see!

PURSES, PURSES, PURSES

Just a quick post to show off the purses I've been making from the little oval cigar boxes. They are so much fun to do, and I love how they each have their own distinctive personalities.




I love this last one, and had to shake my head in amaze and wonder when I saw what MizMollye had done with hers. You cannot, I mean absolutely Can Not tell me we aren't twins separated at birth!




Had to show the interior, too, on this one. Mary Pickford is the woman on the outside. You can read her film credits on the inside! (Did you know that she played both Little Lord Fauntleroy and his mother in the film of that name?! Me, neither.)

I'm having such fun going through the Blogerette Sisters' Rush posts--what an amazing and creative bunch of women (so far they're all women, but then I guess Sisters would be). I'm wanting to go see more, but it's after eleven, and I'll need to be at tomorrow's show no later than 7:30 tomorrow morning. (*yawn*)

Oh! If you live in the Portland/Vancouver area come visit me at the Vancouver Recycled Arts Festival this weekend! Lots and LOTS of recycled art, live music, the farmer's market a stroll away, playground for the kiddies, fountain to wade in--it's a great way to spend the day!

A MEMORABLE BIRTHDAY

Portrait at the White Rat, by The Nebulous Kingdom

It's Blog Carnival time, and we have two choices--to relate a special birthday, or to tell our own birthday and zodiac sign. Not an easy choice; in fact, it's so hard to decide between them that I'm going to do both!

One very memorable birthday was my husband's 65th. We decided to have a party at our home, and that it would be dinner, ice cream, and cake.

The birthday boy said he didn't like the idea of a pot luck, that it seemed somehow wrong to invite people to dinner and then make them bring their own. I didn't have a problem with that. I'd cooked for twenty-five or thirty before, and figured I'd invite a hundred guests, good friends and relatives, and probably about half would be able to make it, if not fewer.

I sent out the invitations, which I'd designed and made:




The RSVPs started coming in. When the Yes responses topped fifty, I began to have second thoughts, but if you've told the first fifty people it isn't potluck, you can't very well tell anyone else that it is.

In the end, we had ninety-five guests. Ninety-five! I cooked and prepared for three days--fruit and vegetable platters, a lovely bouquet of scallions standing head-down in a vase with blooming chives standing amongst the stems, baked tofu in spiced peanut sauce, tossed salads, a taco bar, cake (which was store-bought!), and ice cream. There was more, and I'm sure I've got the menu written down somewhere. The important thing was there was plenty for everyone. In fact, we had left-overs for well over a week!

The children ran and played, people ate and talked, and dinner was followed by song after song led by the guests, with everyone who could joining in on the chorus. Several groups of children performed for us all. There was so much laughter, love, and fun. It stands as one of the sweetest evenings of my life, and of Bob's too, I think.

PS The photo on the front of the invitation is of Bob, aged 2. The one on the back is him, too, over six decades later.

Now for the other blog carnival choice, to give our birthday and zodiac sign. I was born on January 14th, which makes me a Capricorn. I pretty much fit the profile for a Capricorn, except that I'm rather more unconventional and flamboyant than most Caps tend to be. Maybe that's the Chinese Year of the Rat at work, huh?

I decided to see what Etsy had to offer in the way of goats (Capricorn) and rats. Here are a few of the things I found:

Man with a Gold Earring, by Studio Rayyan

This gets my goat, by Local Gringos

Quirky Goat in a Truck, by Quirky Critters

Sleek White Mice, by Cute and Fun

Ricky Rat, by Bitty Blue Eyes

Now I ask you. Who knew rats and goats could be so fun, beautiful, and/or unusual?

A HAPPY "MISTAKE" & HOW YOU CAN MAKE IT, TOO

I've been working on cuff bracelets lately, and are mostly pleased with them, but because I work with recycled fabric samples, some of the faux leather and suede I have is rather blah, nondescript beiges, to be precise. I've been wondering how to dress up those less lovely shades.

The thought I had was to do simple collages, and then laminate them, and sew them to the cuffs. Fun. So I did the collages, and then the laminating.

Well, bummer. Once the collages were laminated, they wouldn't bend. If you can't curve a piece around your wrist, it sure ain't gonna work as a bracelet.

But they make great bookmarks!

What I've used are scraps of fabric and lace, and pictures and/or text cut from magazines, with the addition of the occasional piece of ribbon or colorful sticker. Just lightly tack everything together with a dot of glue or short strip of double-sided tape, slip into a lamination envelope, and put it through the laminating machine. (If you don't have one, clear Contac paper works almost as well. Just cover both sides of your collage with it, and you're good to go.)

Because I thought I was making something that woud be sewn to a cuff, I didn't put any backing on the first few I made. Didn't think the back was going to show, you know.

But for bookmarks, you'll want to use a backing of whatever attractive paper you have. I have scads of old music, so that's what I used.

And here are a bunch of the bookmarks. (I plan to put a bit of ribbon and/or cord through a hole at the top of each of them later.) Note: Because the clear laminate didn't really show anyway, in the scan, I've gone ahead and cropped the photos down to the collage itself.