my weekend - part 4

Are you still with me? :) I know it's a little crazy that it's taken me almost 2 weeks to post about this event! Also, I forgot something on my milagro, so here's an updated photo with the addition of a rusted tin strip with "mending" stamped on it.


The third and final project, heirloom house vignettes, was taught by Amy Hanna. We live not far from the beach so I chose a seaside theme and added shells and beach glass. I used mica to protect the photos and there's also writing on the four sides. Here are the sayings I chose:

-May our home always be too small to hold all of our friends
-Home, the spot of earth supremely blest; a dearer, sweeter spot than all the rest
-A house is made of walls and beams; a home is built with love and dreams
-Every house where love abides and friendship is a guest; is surely home, and home sweet home, for there the heart can rest

And now, onto my purchases! I got some handcut MDF pieces from Kim Hesson. Here's a sampling:




A baker's dozen of faux birds from Amy:


And here are all the vintage lovelies from Pam - a nature bag of goodies, beautiful blue wallpaper, glass jewelry box, pink floral curtain hooks (I think that's what they are!), and a cool hinged rack:

my weekend - part 3

The three talented and generous teachers got us started on some great projects (well, I didn't finish that day anyway!) Pam Garrison demonstrated how to make these fun Anthropologie-inspired garlands. I switched out the string she gave us and used seam binding I had at home and also added some fun polka-dotted tissue paper that French General used to wrap my purchases last month.



Teresa McFayden showed us how to make tin milagros.  I didn't want to cut up the cute tin she put the supply kit in, so I used an empty soda can but in the end decided it was too thin.  When I returned home, I cut up a galvanized step plate instead and aged it with Staz-On inkpads - I got that idea from people who were having trouble aging their pieces with liver of sulfur during the event.  The Staz-On doesn't cut down on the shine of the metal as well but it was good enough for this project.

One final post with the remaining class project and my purchases coming soon!

my weekend - part 2

I had signed up to participate in some swaps (you can see what I made here, here, and here) and here's the rundown on what I received. In the mini house canvas swap, I got this cute piece complete with gorgeous easel from Catherine:


Lesley made me this fun Parisian shadowbox à la Punch & Judy. The top opens up and has a Josephine Baker quote which translates as "I have two loves - my country and Paris."






Also, the swap hostess, Jenny, generously gave us these thank you gifts with yummy cookies, chocolate, and a cute Eiffel Tower charm:



And then Gina gave me this wonderful crown:


The swap hostess, Bryanna, gave us these cute faux cupcakes with a soldered charm:



Aren't all these fabulous? I'm so glad I decided to participate. I've had several bummer swap experiences in the past, but these have made me feel positive about them again!

my weekend...

...started with a reception Friday night at Paris to the Moon, complete with yummy snacks, punch (which unfortunately I could not have since I was driving, but it looked great!), and shopping of course. The sweet and patient Candace Carpenter braved the cold outside for hours while hosting a make-and-take where we made these lovely cards:

On Saturday, I had a fabulous time at the main event hosted by Kim Caldwell. She did a phenomenal job putting together a wonderful day for us. I was in such a hurry when I left our house that I completely forgot to bring a camera. The cell phone pics in my previous posts really don't do the place justice - you'll just have to believe me when I say the affair was lovely and lovingly decorated. If you look closely, you can even see cream-colored M & M's on the table. There were many other extras throughout the day including afternoon tea served in real china teacups. Needless to say, I felt very pampered and definitely plan to attend more of Kim's events in the future!

Here are photos of all the other treasures from Kim:

embellishment box

goody bag

goody bag contents

another gift!

cute little felt house

but wait...there's more!

favorite songs of instructors past & present

Stay tuned...there's more to come about swaps, classes, and loot!

la petite maison blanc

Below are some phone pics from the fab event. More to come this week!

Sent from my iPhone

giveaway

photo courtesy of Paris Hotel Boutique

Head over to Paris Boutique Hotel and enter to win these beautiful giveaway items!

one down

Here's one completed Bacchus sock in all its unblocked glory. As you can see, it's a little big...I probably should have gone down to a #1 needle but I'm OK with it as is (i.e. there's no way I'm going to reknit all those bobbles!)

swap #3

And here's the final piece, Spring Maiden Crown. All three of these swaps were lots of fun to make. I hope the recipients enjoy them, too!