Summer Time

It sure is summer here -birds are singing, flowers are blooming, butterflies are fluttering, and I am getting ready for Easter. Easter falls in our early Autumn but Easter display colours tend to be summery or spring-like, pastel eggs and bunnies hopping everywhere, green grass and fluffy chicks. So I have decided to make things for my Easter Open House (date still to be finalised) in both gentle colours and others in more earthy shades.
Above is a lovely summery-spring basket, decoupaged in colourful pansies and decorated with 3D pansies, butterflies and bows, a perfect small basket to gather those easter eggs.

Easter

With Easter open house now over, I have started to sort out my things to display around the house. One of the things I love to put up is my collection of old cards. I have collected greeting cards since I was a little girl, and each time I take the boxes out, it gives me such pleasure looking through them once again.
I have selected a few of the ones I call 'My Easter collection' to share with you.
The ducks and rabbits are from the Paint Box Forget-Me-Not collection, around 1993.




The sheep is "A Riverside Pasture with Sheep" William Sidney Cooper



This one is one of my favourites, why donkeys for Easter? -well I can't explain, it just looks like an Easter card to me!
This one is "Far from the Madding Crowd" William Weekes.

I hope you enjoy them as much as I always do.

Bowl of Eggs

Well I have started on my bowl of eggs, made four so far! I want to make at least twice as many by Saturday, not a difficult task but just trying to fit everything else in. I love the colours I have chosen for this Easters events, they look olde worlde and the off white spot on pink adds a touch of retro, well that's what I think anyhow.

Something from nothing

I love to create something from nothing, nothing in the sense that it is something you would normally throw away. Something that no longer has its use, empty jars, tubs, a broken piece, empty cardboard rolls, broken globes, bits of fabric, selvage ends of fabric, old pieces that have rusted, bottle caps and so on. I have a collection of "nothings", pieces that will suddenly inspire me as to what they want to become. It gives me such satisfaction to put them back into use, to create a make-do.
Are you a "nothing" collector/creator too? Care to share some of your creation?
Here is my latest something from nothing.
Easter pincushion from an empty body butter tub.

Easter Display

I was inspired by a friend to make this Easter centre peice for my table. It all sits in a huge wonderful old wooden bowl. I lined the base of the bowl with coir, put in some real blown eggs that have been speckle painted, two sitting feathered hens, my lovely mohair prim bunny and added some of my dries from last winter. Just thought it may inspire you too.