Burlap flowers and cups

Busy busy busy...

A few months ago, my daughter-in-law to be came to me and asked me if I could possibly make flowers out of newsprint. I did a little research and made a trial flower that I thought was OK, but it didn't move me at all. I sent her a picture and she liked it, so I had set out to find the right newsprint. Not too light, no color ink, not too gray, and in my search I found NOTHING. Then one day, she sent me a new idea: She wanted burlap. Now, I hate burlap, but my experience was skewed. My mom bought potatoes in Montana in burlap bags. They were dirty, smelly, and really, really rough. But, I went to a fabric store and found some on a bolt and found a whole new experience. It was softer, and didn't stink, and I made a few trial flowers.

I was really impressed at the softer hand and the rose came together rather easily. The loopy flower was a combination of rolling and pulling threads to make a bare spot. I think that is my favorite. the flower on the left is jsut and experiment of what happens if you put a string in the middle of the strip. It's not complete as I feel it is missing the center, but I haven't decided what to put there. The muslin flower in the bottom is another trial and I think we will be adding some of these to change the texture. I will also be trying some leaves out of something see through. I will be making her wedding bouquet, and probably the bouquets for her wedding party, and maybe some decorations for the reception. It should be very cool, very country, and very unique...

My second project to come up was the new double walled metal tumblers. If you haven't seen these, they are great. They can keep your ice from melting for like a day, very nice. I have heard that they can keep a cup of coffee hot for several hours (not a coffee drinker, so I'll take their word on that). Many vinyl crafters are adding vinyl to these to personalize, so I thought I would try my hand at it. Mine (the big blue one) of course will probably have a design for my website onovastudios.com.

The medium one is my dauthers. Not sure what she is going to want, but I am sure there will be a monogram there somewhere. The smallest one is a can koozie she got for a coworker. We are going to put his name on it and maybe something about dough (he works at a pizza place). I'll post pics as I get them done.

On another note, the contest is slowly taking off, keep posting and asking your friends to join the fun. If you missed it, you can catch the contest here.We haven't reached the 500 mark yet, but on my next post maybe I will reveal the next prize to be given away.

Have a great day and be good to yourself and one another!!!