Mother's Day Banner Craft

     Do you have more time then money? Here’s a fun Mother’s Day gift you can make for just pennies.

Mother's Day Banner Craft 

Supplies you’ll need:

Two pieces of card stock in your chosen color (I used cream) printed with my templates.If you print out my templates you don't need stamps.

Sheets of old music or newspaper (I used old music)

Glue stick

Soft twine

A large needle so twine can fit though it.

1) Cut templates out you’ll need                           

Two M’s

One O

Two hearts

Five backs

And one of each of the pattern pieces.

2) Cut out as many petals as you need.  I used 16 to 18 for each flower.

3) Fold a small pleat into the bottom of each petal to give them some dimension then glue each petal into place. Repeat for each flower.

4) Then glue backs on to secure petals and make your banner look nicer from the back.

5) Now stitch through each flower and secure in place with knots in the back, make sure the distance is the same between each flower.

6) Now trace around the tiny flower patterns and cut out as many tiny flowers as you’d like to use.  (You can extend your banner as long as you’d like just by adding more tiny flowers.)

7) Glue tiny flowers together in any combination you’d like and curl up the petals a bit so the look 3D.

8) Thread each flower onto your twine and knot into place see photo for example.

9) Knot end of twine so it won’t unravel.

                                                

Dress to Feel Good!

I love these women's style and attitude.  I hope I can follow in their fabulous shoes. 

Here's their Blog link

                                                 http://idiosyncraticfashionistas.blogspot.com/

Make this Quick and Easy Craft for a Fun Mother's Day Gift

My Mom loves to read so I thought it would be fun to make her some book marks for Mother’s day. She loves Non Fiction and History. So I decided to make book marks that look like they walked out of the pages of the books she reads.

 

Marie Antoinette and Friend Book Mark Craft

Marie Antoinette Book Mark Craft

You can use any theme from animals to characters from a novel. To find your figures just Google the subject of your book and look through the images then print the ones you like on matte premium photo paper. It’s thicker and will take glue. (I used white glue) 

If it fits your subject embellish the top of your book mark with glitter, rhinestones or pearls.

 

 If these embellishments don’t work for your subject try using felt pens, colored pencils or ribbon. With these book marks you’re sure to get a smile every time she opens her book.

                                                          Happy Mother's Day!

Tea With LaVera (Why the name?)

 The name for my blog developed years ago when I started having tea each day with my two boys when they returned home from elementary school. The three of us, and my husband if he was home, used tea time as a way to talk about our days. I’d make fresh cookies, sliced fruit, and tea or juice. It didn’t really matter what I served, what really mattered was the tradition and our time together. We’d sit at the kitchen table warmed by sweet smelling cookies baking in the oven surrounded by our strawberry wall paper and fairytale rug sharing our worries, experiences, and most importantly things that make us happy.

As the years passed our tea tradition grew and changed. My kid’s friends would join us when they came over to play, family was always invited, and soon the mothers, too, would join us. I started volunteering as an art teacher every Friday in my kid’s classrooms so Friday became a giant tea with lots of their classmates, parent volunteers and sometimes a teacher or two.

As my kids grew older our teas changed yet again. In middle school adults and kids would show up separately but we’d still all sit around the table together. We had all ages, girls and boys, sisters and brothers, moms and friends. Some days our teas would last until dinner and others just an hour. What was constant, however, was that we would talk and laugh together.

When my boys started high school I thought the tradition would surely end. But no, the boys would arrive home with car loads of very large and hungry boys. Even on rare occasion they would bring girls with them! The girls always seemed a bit surprised but soon they would be joining in sharing their days like we had since elementary school.

Now my boys are off at college. They are still great communicators and can sit with anyone and talk for hours. It has made them both very successful at interviews and in front of crowds. So much of the art of conversation has been lost in this computer based generation. They have also learned to be present in the moment, not always in a rush. A gift many of us take a lifetime to learn.

I really look forward to the teas I have with my boys when they come home from college. I still have teas with my friends even with my boys at college; it has become a tradition I am truly thankful for.

Teatime for me is a time to be with others and share our worlds. This sharing is what I’m trying to cultivate with my blog and website. I love to find beautiful, interesting, inspiring, and funny things to share. I also love to make and teach arts and crafts. I hope you will enjoy what I have to present and will share some of your life through your comments on my blog.

Mending A Broken Heart Making Dolls out of used T shirts

I started a page on my website called Mending a Broken Heart.

Click on image to get instructions.

As we travel through life we are destined to lose people we love. There are numerous aspects of loss that are hard for many to move through.  One aspect I have chosen to address on my website page: “Mending a Broken heart” deals with the physical materials left behind like clothing and possessions. When I’m grieving I’m really helped by keeping my hands busy and my mind quiet.

 Often it is hard to know what to do with the clothing left behind by loved ones.  In this project I used two tee shirts.  With one I made the doll’s body and used the other for the dress.  I then gave these dolls to family and friends instead of just packing the tee shirts away.

Best Game Ever by Improv Everywhere

If you have ever been at a child's game of any sort you will know how much fun this would have been for all involved!

                                           I hope something wonderful happens for you today.

Time for some Tea Parties

Here are some fun Tea Party Ideas to inspire.

Click on the images and go to the sites.

                                                        Tea  Parties are about Friends

                                                                             Fun

The Experience

                                                                        Beauty

 Attitude

                                                                       Love

                                                                           Sharing

                                                                    Being Present

Women as Icons

The Dolce and Gabbana Icon Dresses from their fall /winter 2013/2014 fashion show inspired me to share some of the Icons I’ve painted.

I did a show at The Lucia Douglas Gallery in Bellingham with the theme; Women From Around the World as Icons.

My Artist statement read:

Society often dictates what we are to look like externally, but we are capable of conceiving whom we are inside. Using our intuition, wisdom and love we have the power to nurture our inner beauty in order to achieve our full potential. Every one of us is beautiful in our own way and until we realize this, we give our strength away. We are all Icons in our own right.

Swedish Icon 

African Icon

Butterfly Icon

Eagle Icon

Bee Icon

 You can buy these images in a set of 5 cards for 17.50.

 Free shipping in the US.

Each card is 4 1/4" X 5 1/2" and comes with an evelope.

The cards are blank inside with the artist statement on the back.

Just click on the image below to purchase.

Icon Inspiration

The Museu Nacional d’Art De Catalunya is in Barcelona, Spain it is one of my favorite Museums. MNAC has wonderful collections of Romanesque and Gothic art. They allow you to take pictures so these are a few I took to save and inspire me. If you click on the image right below you can go to the Museum website and see their online show.