From Garlands to Flowers and Journals

Sorry I haven't been around much. I'm having some health issues and because of it, my energy level is extremely low. I've been spending most of my time this last few weeks resting, but I have managed to get a little bit of creating in, so I thought I would share.

Way back here, I made one of Pam's garlands. I hung it up outside for an Art Party, however, it got rained on before I brought it in after the party. I laid it out to dry later and then it got rained on again. This actually happened several times. A couple of weekends ago I decided to do something with it... turn the puffs into flowers.

The first thing I did, is snipped the string between the puffs. Then I took two or three vintage stamen and poked them through the holes of a button. Next I took a long piece of wire and poked that through the holes of the button and then twisted the short end around the long end. I pushed the wire through all the layers of the puff and knotted the garland string, still hanging through the puff, around the wire.

After that I cut leaves out of burlap and tore strips of muslin. I strung the leaves onto the wire and then wrapped the wire with the muslin, using Fabric-tac to hold it in place. The last thing I did was to tie more strips of muslin into bows around the base of the flower and the leaves.

I'm really happy with how these turned out and they have been a great project for me to work on, while lying on the couch.

The other thing I've worked on, is a journal. This is for a round robin that I'm a part of.

I created it out of a vintage ledger, using the technique that Teresa showed in her latest e-zine. The only difference, is that instead of using a rubber band, I just used seam binding to hold it all together.

The theme for this round robin book is "Seasons" and I had intended to collage/decorate the cover of the book, but I couldn't bring myself to cover up the original design... I think it's lovely as is. So I just added some tea dyed lace, a pearl bauble and a vintage key to the lace covered shish kabob stick. Now I'm working on the sign in page and the first "season" spread.

So, back to my health issue. I may not be around much within the next several weeks. I have to have a couple of surgeries and then life should go back to normal. In the mean time, I'm hoping to get most of the handwork swaps I'm in, done for Silver Bella while I heal and build my strength back up. I told my doctor I HAVE to be a-okay before November... nothing is going to stop me from Silver Bella! LOL

Have a beautilful weekend, everyone!