A LITTLE CHANGE

Here is a fun new meme to join in. Click on the badge to join in. 

We can put up a link for any project we have done in the past for this weeks meme but going forward it will need to be a new project. I did this one a year ago.

I had put these words up in my dining room a while ago and knew that I was going to paint around them at some point. I finally got going and added a branch of roses. Here you see just the branch painted above.

They are not exactly roses but just a soft little hint of rose buds that are strangely enough coming down from our ceiling.

 Please ignore the ugly light fixture in my kitchen. Maybe one day there will be a metamorphosis there too.

METAMORPHOSIS AT THE RIVERS EDGE

We were quite surprised to find these guys at the side of the river in a little channel. 

First we saw a few. 

 

Then we noticed an area where there were a lot. 

 On closer inspection we saw they were piling up about an inch thick. It was amazing. 

 A few had their little legs but most were still not at that point.  Soon there will be a bunch of little frogs in the forest edge.

I am linking with Metamorphosis Monday. Hop on over and see what is happening over there. Ha, ha... I said "hop on" over...do you get the pun? Oh I crack myself up. 

A CAKE LIKE NO OTHER

Who doesn't love cake? Well you are going to love this one. As part of our annual coffee group barbecue we were also congratulating the coffee shop owners who are expecting their third baby soon. I had so much fun making this diaper cake....yes a cake made out of diapers. It has been a lot of years since I have bought diapers. 

Here is what you need:
100 diapers (or more) 
cake tray or some sort of base 
2 chopsticks (optional) 
string 
double sided tape 
your choice of decorations for your theme

Start with 40-42 diapers and fan them around a large jar or container on your base.  Don't fuss yet as this is just start point. Just get them around the jar. 

I switched out the pickles for a peanut butter jar as it was a better size. When you get them all around there take some string and tie them quite tightly. A second pair of hands will come in handy a few times in this project

 Now you can start to adjust the diapers and space them out evenly. Round and round you go to get it looking nice. Now remove the container from the middle.

Take about 8 more diapers and roll them together and fit into the center of the first layer.

Take a piece of ribbon and tie it around the layer
covering the string. You can either tie it in a bow or use the double
sided tape to affix the ends together. Now for the next layer use about 28 diapers and fill the middle with 4 more diapers. The top row will take about 14 diapers for the round and fill it with 2 more. I put a chopstick in the center between the first and second layer and the another one between the second and third layer to help keep it all together. 

Wrap each layer in your various ribbons. Tuck in some pretty washcloths and some flowers or what ever you are using. Use double sided tape to attach the decorations and to close the ribbons if not tied. Make sure you don't stick anything to the diapers themselves or you will be ruining them. 

 Insert items evenly from side to side to keep the layers level. See how crooked the layers are here. Straighten out the ribbon layers too. It is now ready to serve.

 I am joining in to the following memes this week:
Metamorphosis Monday
 

Three or More Tuesday

 

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METAMORPHOSIS MONDAY-RACOONS-6 LORI-0

Metamorphosis Monday is hosted by Susan at Between Naps on the Porch. Stop in and see all the changes and metamorphosis taking place over there. 

 Well once again I came out to the deck in the morning to find this. This is my little water feature that is in an old laundry tub. There is only about 3 inches of water in it there. There were 6 little goldfish in there two weeks ago and then I was down to 4 of them. Friday morning there were none. ZERO. NADA, ZIP. 
The water spout had been pulled back enough so that the water poured out of the watering can instead of back into the tub. Sigh. 
The raccoons ate all my little fishies but luckily the pump is still working even though it ran all night without any water. I give up. No more goldfish.

Time for a metamorphosis.

I pulled out all the stuff that was in there. Some reddish water grass, a pot with a little pond lily in it. Some quartz pieces and some water hyacinths. 

I made a shelf with the flat quartz pieces resting on overturned pots and covered it with river rock that I already had.  

The wooden duck is a fun piece. There is a man who fashions these out of pieces of driftwood and leaves them on picnic tables in campgrounds throughout B.C. for people to take home. We "found" ours many years ago.
No more fish for me. The plants will grow in a bit more and the lovely sound of trickling water will run through the summer. 

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WEDDING INVITATIONS - METAMORPHOSIS MONDAY

I have decided to join in with Jan at Bobbypins Boardwalk for her Bragfest because honestly I think I should be bragging about the great invitations that I got to help with. It was such a treat to work on them and the bride, Leah deserves a big pat on the back for these.


I am joining in for Metamorphosis Monday over at Between Naps on the Porch with Susan. Please join us and see all the creative ideas out there. You will be amazed at what they all come up with. 






A few months ago I received an email from one of my son's friends, Leah. She asked me if I could help her with her wedding invitations. She wanted to make them herself. 

Could I? Oh my gosh yes!!! I was so pleased to be asked. What an honour. 

I have two sons and never get to do the girlie stuff with anyone. I was excited. 

She had some ideas to start with and we emailed back and forth for a while before we went out to the stores. We went first to Essential Packaging. I have posted about them before HERE and HERE. I won a great prize from them last year.

As often happens when shopping for ideas you end up with your brain spinning and full. We went to a couple other places that day and came up with a game plan and a decision on colors and style. Black Onyx which has a bit of sparkle to it, off white and fuchsia pink. The design is called a pocket fold and a pocket on the right side for holding directions, r.s.v.p. cards etc.
Leah and I met a couple times to go over details and then it came time for the ladies in the wedding party to come over and help with the assembly.  We spent quite a few hours working on these.

We decided to put a beautiful little bird on one side and we embossed it with a silver sparkle to match the sparkle in the black paper.Leah ordered the bird stamp and also a stamp made with their names on it. She got the embossing powder and stamping ink. The pink card stock is the background piece for the off white page with the wording on it. It is also sparkly. It will create a narrow pink frame around the white.

First we stamped the birds on the pocket and then sprinkled it with the embossing powder. Next we used a heat gun to activate the embossing powder which is basically a powdered glass that melts under the heat of the gun to created a raised, glossy image.

One woman stamped all the cards that were cut out while another cut out the strips of pink ribbon needed to wrap around the cards. It was really a challenge to get the stamps straight and even.

Don't worry we ironed all strips of ribbons straight and pretty.She had to make sure there were no stray strands from the cut ends.

So with the ribbon wrapped right around the outside of the pocket fold we finished off the end with the little cards. The ribbon matched the pink card stock perfectly.

We did lots of them. Quite a production line we had going. You would not believe the amount of glue tape we went through. That stuff is not cheap.

Now time to add the actual invitation to the pocket fold and the little cards into the pocket. 

Aren't those little birds cute? I know. You wouldn't believe how hard it was to find a nice bird stamp in the right size. Sorry, I whited out the names to protect the privacy of those involved. It was done in the Paint program on the computer. I didn't destroy an actual invitation.

The camera makes the black look way more sparkly than it is. Actually it is really subtle and elegant.

This is the finished invitation. This was so much fun for me and I truly was honoured to be asked to help with this special project. Leah was so easy to work with. She went with the flow and adapted to the changes as they needed to be made.  No Bridezilla here!!!!

Leah came by with a lovely card and some Australian wines (where the groom's family is from) to thank me for helping. What a sweetheart. Isn't that card cute? It says " a little note to say thanks" and there is a tiny little note on the card. Love it. 

Think I am going to love these too.