Oil Diffusers - Travel Case - Set 2

 This is the next set of One of a Kind Oil Diffusers in a travel case.

Just Bee - I made a bee by appliqueing 3 yellow pieces onto a black base piece of felt. I added a circle for the head which I stitched to the body. I used a piece of thin gauzy polyester fabric and cut out the wings. I satin stitched all the way around the outer edge of the wings then put some texture stitching in the wings. I stitched the wings to the body. I then stitched the bee to a piece of turquoise felt which measured about 4x4 inches.  

The back is a piece of cotton fabric which looks marbled.  I added my loop for the hanger and the yellow drop.  The 2 layers were stitched together with blanket stitch all the way around.

Follow your Heart - I cut 3 hearts in different sizes getting smaller as I went. I stitched these together with running stitch then added the 3 flowers at the top of the white one. I then stitched the whole heart to the front of a white background piece of felt measuring approximately 4x4 inches. I stitch the follow stitching in pink around the heart.

The back piece of this diffuser is cotton in a bright fuchsia color with a hanging loop and a pink drop. I chose white thread for the blanket stitch all the way around.  It comes with a travel case.

Note: The background fabric should have been a light color so it would not have darkened the white felt on the front.

Tea Time - This oil diffuser features a yellow teappot ( my favorite) which I drew then cut out of yellow felt. I place a strip of white lace along the edge of the front layer to serve as a tablecloth. I stitched the teapot onto the navy layer over the lace adding accents to it as I went.

The back of this diffuser is white felt with a navy loop and drop.  It comes with the hanger in a travel case.

Just One More Chapter - I created a small book to put on the front of this diffuser.  I chose a patterned piece of cotton and a white cotton for the inside.  I hand stitched these together, trimmed the corners and turned the piece inside out.  The book is stitched to the green backer along the spine of the book so that it opens. I put a little quote on the inside. 

The backer is yellow felt with a loop and drop.  I blanket stitched all the way around with green thread.  It comes with a hanger and a travel case.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

I found this bee on a cornflower in a neighbour's front yard.

It is an Orange Belted Bumble Bee.  This is a first for me.

I am grateful for those who have wonderful flowers in their front yards. I am happy to show from the sidewalk on my morning walks.

I found a bag full of empty gold David's Tea tins at ReUse Center this week.  I was not supposed to be bringing anything home with the renovations but I just had to.

I have a David's Tea Advent Calendar which had it's tin's missing so I filled it with solid lid ones.

I needed to clear lid ones to finish.

I am not sure what I am going to do with it yet.  Christmas is a ways away.

The Girl from the Train by Irma Joubert.  What a great story.  Another WWII story which starts out in Poland near the end of the war. Jakob Kowalski is part of the Polish resistance and his group plan to bomb a bridge to destroy a German Troop transport.  Gretl Schmidt is a 6 year old German Jew on a train headed to Auschwitz. 

The bomb destroys the train headed to the death camp and Gretl is the only survivor. Jakob finds her and feels responsible and she comes to live with his Catholic family.  She must hid her German Jew history to live in Poland.  Over the next 3 years they share the secret and develop a close bond.  When the time comes for Grelt to move on she is sent to South Africa as a part of a program to relocate German Jew orphans. It is unlikely they will ever meet again but she will be safe.

Through unseen circumstances Jakob is offered a job with an international company who has position in South Africa.  While there, he makes inquiries to see if he can contact her, hoping she has had a good life.  Wonderful read.

The clearing of the dining room and living room of furniture has begun.  

The black shelving unit filled with those drawers was unpacked then moved to the bedroom and the drawers wer all put back in their place.

Of course, the process will be reversed when the new floor has been put in.

Old Gift Card Holders - Added to my card box

More cards found during the clean up.  These cards were designed as tri-fold gift card holders.  I was able to cut off the gift card flap and make them into regular cards.

This is Stampin Up supplies.  The textured card stock is Groovy Guava. I have not been able to determine the name of the designer paper.

I created a flower accent by cutting scallop circles in various size with the Spell Binder Nestabilities. All held together with a blue brad in the center.  The leaves were hand cut and placed behind the flower.

I color printed greeting in the bottom right hand corner layered with blue.  Adhered to the card front with 3D foam tape.

This bumble bee card is made with a circle of seed paper.  I made a lot of handmade paper in those days.  Love the deep yellow color which was formed with a round cookie cutter. I added the bands of black with a marker.

I designed the wings in a drawing software package and printed several onto a clear transparency.  They were cut out by hand with scissors and adhered to the body of the bee with 2 black brads.

A 1.25 inch circle punchie in black forms the head and I added the antennae and tail with the same black marker.

I color printed the flower layer and adhered it to a white spattered red card base.  The bee was adhered to the flower layer along with a Stampin Up Word Window punchie greeting in deep yellow in the top right hand corner.

This was designed as a wedding card. 

I started with a Sundance ivory card stock layer for the card base.  It has a felt finish and was my favorite card stock for years! 

I added a layer of ivory card stock which was embossed with the Cuttlebug d'Vine Swirls folder.  It was trimmed to leave a medium border.

I wrapped a length of gold organza ribbon to the layer before adhering it the card front. 

I then pinned a small gold charm to the knot in the ribbon.

It was great to find these cards and add them to my card box.

Recent Photos

On one of my recent walks I saw this huge Bumble Bee.    It almost as big as the clover blossom it is feeding on.

It is good to see bees and butterflies around but not as many as in other years.

I found this beautiful art glass vase at the thrift shop recently.  It was signed so I thought I would at least be able to research it.  I paid my few dollars and brought it home.

After some research I found that it is by an glass blowing artist named Robert Held.   He is located in Parksville BC and has returned to glass blowing in his retirement.

The name of the collection is Blue Poppy and it is the small Classic Vase.   I have placed grasses in it for this photo but it would look great with white daisies.

It was a great find.  I have another piece of his work which is a heart paper weight.

I have been looking for a salt cellar for use near the stove as noted in this post. Especially when salting water for pasta a good amount is needed and trying to get what I need from a shaker was challenging.

This one appeared a little while ago.  It is very cute in the shape of an acorn.

The spoon holds 1/2 tsp of salt that makes measuring easy!

As you can see in the last photo there it is sitting next to the stove ready to serve.

I am finding the clover plentiful and very pretty this year.

I captured this one this morning. I love the color and it was dewy and sparkly as the sun touched it. When reviewing my photos I discovered that there was a grasshopper sitting in the shade.

We had some flooding in my building on Thursday last week.  The source was discovered on Friday, July 19th and this big blue air mover was my companion over the weekend.   The tape indicates the wet areas and the demolition starts this week.

No doubt it will be weeks before my hall and bedroom closet is back to normal.

Photograph Framed - Bumblee on Globe Thistle

I managed to get a couple of photos framed for the sale today.

I captured the Bumble Bee on the the Blue Globe Thistle at the Muttart Conservatory. 

It is matted in a steel blue and black mat into a steel blue metal frame.  It is a 5x7 photo framed to and 8x10 size.