A Little Bit Of Leather

A little bit of leather crafting! I must be making up for the day I missed when all the kids were stitching leather wallets on craft day at the local park! That was eons ago! A PDF pattern for the little stitched coin purse can be found over on YouTube at Happy Snail_DIY

 

These are simple no sew leather card cases crafted using leather scraps, snaps and hitch fasteners or otherwise called button screw studs. The patterns for the no-sew card cases can be found over at JTStudioDesign and Woolenpaw.

No...not a typo. My nickname is Ola. On occasion folks would ask 'who made that?' olamade it! 

Origami Paper Folding

Went wild paper folding! The card holder style with note paper inserts which fold and tuck in on themselves are a design called Diagonal Pocket by Hedi Kyle.

It includes an outer tuck slot and two interior pockets. Her book ‘THE ART OF
THE FOLD’ is filled with innovative books and paper structures. Complete with
photos, diagrams, instructions and dimensions. 

The folding card holder wallet on the right has 6 compartments, 2 outside sleeves, 2 interior pockets and 2 side inserts. You can find an easy tutorial on Rob’s World.  He made a modified version of a design by origami artist Humiaki Huzita

Secret Boxes

These were fun to make! 

Easy to follow origami tutorial on ‘Paper Kawaii’ to create these hinged secret stepper boxes. 

Great to store your tiny treasures and even give as gifts!

 

Earth Day ~ Wrapping Paper

Using some brown kraft paper, (actually painters craft masking paper which is very inexpensive) an ink pad and some rubber stamps I created some fun wrapping paper for Earth Day gift packages.
 

Common House Gecko

 

This fellow (or gal) I believe may also be known as a Moon Lizard. Prefers a habitat of dense forest or woodland but has been known to be an urban dweller. Can live up to 7 years.

 Dueling Geckos ready for a showdown? The green lizard may be what is known as a Green Anole? Maybe they're both Green Anoles? Green or brown depending on environmental conditions. Generally live in trees but can be found anywhere. Common to our area. Both about 5- 8 inches long. 
 

They are often active by day in warm weather and often bask in vegetation. Spotted this one basking in the sun on our back deck.

Tree Hollow

Woodland Habitat ...

The Root Of It All

 

There is always something to be thankful for... 

Wild Orange Azalea Bush

The woods are bursting with color!

This is a gorgeous wild Orange Azalea Bush. Also know as Mountain Azalea, Wild Azalea and Honeysuckle Azalea. It has showy fragrant flowers.

 

They are woody shrubs that thrive in semi-shade and their twigs are reddish-brown in the winter. They usually grow 8-10 feet high and bloom during March,  April and May. Wooded bluffs and woodland streams are their native habitat

 

 

 

 

 

  

Hummingbirds, bees, and butterflies are attracted to the sweet smelling clusters of flowers.

Make A Wish

Make a wish! For the magic to be at its best you must blow all the seeds off with one breath!

Each time you wish upon a dandelion you are sending anywhere from 54 to 172 seeds into the air.

It is said that the 3 phases of a dandelion represent the sun, moon and stars. The yellow flower represents the sun, the white puff ball represents the moon and the dispersing seeds represent the stars.

  May all your wishes come true!

Off My Bookshelf

Tiny Woodland Flowers

Needle Pointed Blue-Eyed Grass (Sisyrinchium Mucronatum) - 
Contrary to its common name, it is not a grass, The low growing, narrow leaves do have a grass-like appearance, thus the common name. The dainty, deep blue to violet flowers open one at a time.  The star shaped blooms are under 3/4" across. At the tip of each rounded petal or sepal is a needle like tip, thus its common name of Needle-tip Blue-eyed grass. Flowers close in the late afternoon to evening and open again in the morning.  Its native habitat includes forests, woodlands, fields, meadows, and along ponds and streams.

Spreading Fleabane (Erigeron Diverens) - Is a flowering plant in the daisy and sunflower  family. It has small, attractive daisy like flowers with up to 150 ray flowers, giving the round flower head a frilly look. The plump yellow or greenish-yellow centers are made up of tiny disk flowers.
It is a plant of many habitats from desert to low-elevation mountains.

Creeping Buttercup - The common buttercup found in damp places on grassland, along woodland and field edges. Its long, rooting runners helping it to spread across lawns. This golden-cupped flower is a childhood favorite: if a yellow reflection appears when it is held up to the chin, it is considered as a sign
that the person likes butter.

Rose Trillium

Sometimes called the Nodding Trillium. The flowers nod beneath the petals with a hue of pastel pink or rose. Trilliums, as the name implies have everything in 3's-three leaves, three petals. It is one of the wildflowers whose seeds are distributed by ants. The Trilliums are now recognized as precious and special although they are not officially endangered. In many areas Trilliums are still very common. The Trillium is very slow growing, it takes decades to establish a healthy colony. If left undisturbed it will spread by creeping rootstocks to create a carpet of early spring flowers on the forest floor. It can also propagate by seed but this is even slower.

Wild Blackberry Bush

A wonderful time to be exploring outdoors! So much new growth! In our backyard we have a wild blackberry bush blooming. The blackberries have showy flowers that range in color from pink to white and occur singly or in clusters at the end of shoots.

 

 

Each flower is about 1 inch across with 5 petals. The fruits are red to black in color, edible, and tasty when ripe if you can get there before the birds and the deer! Beware the stems are thorny!

Mountain Laurel

Mountain laurel was first recorded growing in the wild in 1624 and can be found on rocky ridges and mountainous forest area.

This beautiful flowering plant can be deadly to humans and animals. Bark, flowers, seeds, leaves, roots, stems, and sap are all poisonous. Even the honey made from bees that forage exclusively on Mountain Laurel is toxic. It is called ‘Mad Honey’. Lovely to look at but beware...

Some plants can be poisonous if ingested.

Others can hurt you if you get them on your skin. For some plants, all parts of
the plant are poisonous.

 Important to educate yourself on plants and any
possible toxic properties.

One Page Wonder Mini Album

This is an interactive mini album. It's a One Page Wonder created from a 12 x 12 inch piece of black cardstock as its base. The papers used to decorate and create the little inserts for the pockets were from a Graphics45 collection. The finished size for the mini album is a 3 inch square. 

   Other paper collections used were from Stamperia and Ciao Bella.

A tutorial for this One Sheet Mini Album can be found on YouTube at Curio By B-Spoke Designs.

Another variation can be found at Einat Kessler's channel. She offers a free printable guide for cutting and folding instructions as well as a video tutorial on her channel.

These are fun to make! I couldn't stop!

Make little boxes for them and they make thoughtful little gifts!

Eastern Hemlock

The Eastern Hemlock fooled me. I waited for the little pine cones to mature expecting them to get larger. After researching I learned this is their mature size! They’re tiny! The tree has a loose,irregular, feathery silhouette, with fine, lacy twigs whose tips tend to droop gracefully. The needles are ½ inch in length and flat.

The tree is also known as Hemlock Spruce. The common name "hemlock" was reportedly given because the crushed foliage smells a little like that of the poisonous herb hemlock. The cones gradually grow to about about ¾ inch long and remain soft and flexible until the seeds are released in the fall. The drooping cones persist through winter.

Loblolly Pine Tree

The Loblolly Pine Tree is abundant here. I love the amazing look and feel of the bark.  It  is so texturally interesting. In the South, the name loblolly means a depression.  The tree was originally observed growing in river bottoms, and that is where it acquired its principal common name, but these trees are not limited to that specific habitat.

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

               The seed cones are ¾” to 1 ¼” broad when closed but open to 1 ¾” to 2 ½” wide. They remain on the trees for several seasons. It was once an important lumber tree due to its abundance.

Our Ginkgo Tree is Blooming!

 

The gingko biloba's uniquely fan-shaped leaves start out green but change to golden-yellow in the fall before dropping like brilliant golden snowflakes, carpeting the ground underneath. 

It's a beautiful sight to see!

The Woodland Floor

The Wild Violets  are tiny flowers hidden amongst the foliage on the forest floor. 

 

 

 

 

 

An appropriate passage I read from today’s "A Cherokee Feast of Days"...

“April is the color of jonquils, the fragrance of hyacinths, and the dewiness of violets. The sunlit meadows are carpeted with tiny blue flowers, and along the ravines wild strawberries are as sweet and tart as April air. We forget that while the earth sleeps, life goes on, growing, developing, spreading, until at the right moment it reveals itself in glorious colors and shapes. A few short weeks ago everything was brown and somber. Now the colors are radiant and the very air is tinted the color of new leaves. A new aura outlines the distant hills and only human beings have to see and taste and stir themselves to new life.”

                                                                 

Another delightful surprise I came across on my walk this morning was this sweet little box turtle.




 

More Treasures From The Garden Center !

 

Visit To The Garden Center

 

 

 

 

 

Among the treasures I brought home were Geraniums, Superbells, Cyclamen, Petunias, Verbena, Lobella, Begonias and gorgeous Sunrise Dahlias!

Shades of Green

Trees are filling in with beautiful shades of green. This time of year everything looks so fresh and bright ! Very spring green ! Springtime in the woodlands.

 

Spring! Glorious Spring!

Lovely time of year when everything is blooming, birds are chirping and new growth is emerging in these lush green colors!
 

Free Motion Sewing Note Cards

A few years ago I tried my hand at a technique called Free Motion Sewing using my regular sewing machine and created these simple note cards.

Use your sewing needle  as your 'pen'. The needle remains stationary and you move your fabric around in any direction to 'draw' your design. 

Drop your feed dogs! Dropping them gives you full control of the movement of the fabric. Sewing machine feed dogs are metal teeth-like ridges that emerge from a hole in the throat plate of a sewing machine. They move as you sew, gently gripping the bottom fabric to help it pass through the sewing machine.

 I've also read that leaving the feed dogs up works  just as well when Free Motion Sewing. You'll have to test for yourself to see what works for you. Plenty free tutorials online.

 ( old photos, excuse the poor image resolution )

More Blooms And & 'Shrooms

 

A Walk In The Woods ~ Buds, Blooms and & 'Shrooms

 

I Took A Walk In The Woods ...

"I took a walk in the woods 

       and came out taller 

         than the trees."  

    ~ Henry David Thoreau
 

Dogwoods Are Blooming!

Dogwood trees are more than pretty fragrant blossoms to Native Americans who consider these trees as symbols of protection and safety in southeastern Native American tribes. In some Mohawk communities, the primeval Tree of Life in the Sky World is said to be
a giant dogwood tree. 

 The tree usually blossoms in April. An interesting fact is that the blossoms of this tree are not actually flowers but a type of leaf known as bracts. The blossoms last for three or four weeks, and the scarlet berries that follow them can linger into the early winter months.

 

In the summer the dogwood's beautiful green leaves give way to beautiful scarlet fall foliage.  

We have an abundance of the beautiful Dogwoods throughout our property. What a lovely sight when they're all blossoming! Truly a sign of spring and new life.