Happy Halloween

Everything's ready ... just waiting for the little trick or treaters to arrive at the door!

Enjoy your Halloween evening!

Wendy

psst! want to read a ghost story?

Five on Friday

Joining up with Amy of Love Made My Home and her famous Five on Friday!!!

I've been spending every spare minute I have this week with sewing and knitting for a couple of swaps I'm involved in. Christmas is looming if we like it or not, but I do love creating gifts for Christmas! I think it makes the whole holiday that much more pleasant and "real". 

My five this week, however, is not about the things I've sewn and knit (since my partners would see them here and that would give away all the surprise!). It's probably the last post this year for my garden. Our weather has been up and down this autumn. High of 20C one day, the next day a high of 5C. Coats on ... coats off. Yesterday I actually wore mittens!! for my morning walk with Cody, and they were most welcome with the cold settling in again. With the uncertain weather, some flowers in my garden have started blooming again, while most of them are being killed off with progressively harsher frosts. So ...

... onto the five ...

One

My miniature yellow rose bush. I love this little flower, and it's so happy to bloom and bloom right from spring to fall. All I have to do is give it as much sunshine as possible. I've moved it a couple of times, and it suffered. This summer it has sat right up against the wall around my patio and it is still blooming. These photos were taken last weekend, but the flowers are still on the bush this morning. The blooms are so compact and perfect every time, and the little rosebuds are just as sweet :)

Two

My lavender plants have started flowering again! I've been trying to get this small area of garden full of lavender to make a lavender hedge. It was looking pretty sad last year, but this year, the plants have really filled in. I have two types of lavender here, and was a bit annoyed at my mistake, but they both do well, so I'll probably just let them be. The lavender bloomed in early summer, and I thought that was it. But in the last month, new buds came out and this is what they looked like last weekend. It even attracted a late pollen gatherer :)

Three

My burning bush is on fire!! right now. I love this bush and always intend to pick up a few more in the springtime, but never do! When I see the bush come into its own in the autumn however, I'm kicking myself for not having planted a whole row of these amazing bushes. The red is so intense and complete ... love it!

Four

I have a few balloon flowers in my gardens, and love the unusual flower buds they produce. I don't see them like this in the gardening store anymore. The balloon flowers I find now have closed flowers that burst open as they mature. My balloon flowers stay closed right to the end (which I prefer).  In the autumn, the leaves turn to this beautiful mix of colours.

oooooph!

Five

Mom's iris have finally been moved into my front yard. In August I scrounged around in the back garden and dug up every single corm I could find ... there didn't seem to be many. A lot of the corms were damaged by bugs, and the iris were barely surviving. In the last month, I've noticed the leaves are sprouting up all healthy again in their new home! It gives me great pleasure to see them surviving, and hopefully they will still be here in the spring. I have no idea which type of iris were saved. I'm sure I lost a few of Mom's favourites, but nothing to do about it now except wait patiently.

And that's my Five! I didn't think I'd get this post put together until late this afternoon, but was happy to find these photos and join in :)

Now off to visit Dad, and hopefully the rain will hold off so I can take him out for a spin around along the trail!

Thanks for stopping by!

Wendy

Leaf Prints Tutorial

I recently made up some cards for autumn to send out in my card exchange group. As I was making them, I thought the printing process would make a good topic for a crafting post!

This is such a simple craft. All you need are:

- acrylic paints

- a small piece of muslin cotton

- green leaves. I used maple leaves, but any kind of leaf will do. It works best if the leaf is still green and pliable. Don't use the brittle leaves that have already turned colour and fallen to the ground as they will crumble if you use them for printing.

- muslin cotton (or other white fabric, or you can print directly onto paper)

- paper towels (important!)

First cut the muslin cotton to a size to accommodate the size of leaf you are using. 

You can use the same leaf several times.

Have a work space set up and all ready as you have to work quickly ... acrylic paints dry fast. I use laminated place mats for my work surface. I picked one up at the thrift store for a dollar.

Paint the back of the leaf with the paints using a small sponge. You can use a wide soft paint brush instead of the sponge. I just find the sponge doesn't show the brush marks as much. Cover the back of the leaf well with an even coat, but don't have the paint too thick, or the details of the leaf will be lost.

Quickly turn the leaf paint side down onto the muslin cotton. 

Next place a piece of paper towel over the leaf and press down on paper towel with your fingers. Hold the leaf in place with one hand, and rub your fingers across the leaf's surface with your other. You want to wipe the leaf from the centre outwards in one direction only. Don't rub the surface back and forth as you will risk moving the leaf and ripping it. Work at this quickly as the paint dries fast and you want to have it absorb into the cotton before it dries.

The paper towel is key in this project. The paint bleeds out from underneath the leaf, but the paper towel immediately absorbs the extra paint and leaves you with a very crisp outline of the leaf on the cotton.

Paper towel laid over the leaf and ready for printing.

Now lift off the paper towel ...

... and carefully peel up the leaf ...

You should have a fairly clear print of the leaf showing the veins. You can use a few different colours on the leaf if you like. I used red, orange and yellow and didn't worry about how the paints mixed together on the leaf.

Once the paint is dry, you can use this print for cards or bunting, or whatever else you can think of. For the cards I made, I stitched the printed cotton directly onto a blank card with my sewing machine. You can print the leaves onto paper or cardstock as well using the same method. Just don't forget the paper towel! I also printed some maple keys the same way, and they turned out great too.

Enjoy!

Wendy