Easter Walk

Wow, what a gorgeous day. So my sister and I went on a walk in the hills behind my mom's house after our huge (and delicious) Easter dinner. I was on the hunt for wild pasque flowers. Not every year, but occasionally we will see some in the hills behind my mom's house. They look like this:

I think that they are my favorite wildflower. So soft and delicate, often hidden, and such a short bloom---makes it so special to see them. So, we went on our walk and this is what we saw:

Along with a much fresher carcass of a deer and a dead cat. Not really the experience I was going for. Kind of a lot of dead things instead of the whole celebrating new life with tiny beautiful flowers blooming for the first time. But the day was saved. When I got home the first of my crocuses were blooming :)

Happy Easter everyone! Hope your day was filled with new life!

"Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." Romans 6:4Tweet

April Newsletter

Sorry if this is a little redundant to those of you that read the blog, get the newsletter, and have liked us on facebook!

Welcome to Cherry Blossom Paperie’s April Newsletter!

Spring is finally here! I’m spending as much time outside as possible, can’t wait to get the chance to take photos of baby animals and all the exciting changes that spring always brings. I’m also looking forward to the wonderful Easter holiday. I hope you are too, because we have some great Easter project ideas! And lots of exciting things going on at the shop! But first, thanks to everyone that made our Grand Opening such a wonderful day and for the great classes we’ve had. You guys are awesome! We really appreciate you and are inspired by your creativity.

Here is our calendar of events:

April 16^th: Free Crop Party! 3:00-6:00pm. Come use our tools and machines and be inspired by other paper crafters as you work on your project. There are still some spaces available. Also, if you’ve never seen Tim Holtz’s Vagabond die cutting and embossing machine in action, now is the perfect opportunity!

April 18^th: Mother’s Day and Graduation Sale begins!

May 10^th: Embossing Techniques Class! 7:00-9:00pm.We will make an altered art clipboard and tags using different kinds of embossing techniques. $25.00 (Includes a clipboard, 2 tags, one bottle of embossing powder, and 2 papers of your choice)

May 21^st: Free Crop Party! 3:00-6:00pm.

So, if you read my blog or Cherry Blossom Paperie’s facebook page, you already know that I’ve become pretty impressed with the Webster’s Pages company. I was so surprised that the sister of the main designer and owner was the person that emailed me back when I opened an account with them. It’s become pretty rare to see large companies have a small family-run feel. In reading their blog and dealing with them business-wise, I’ve seen nothing but absolute kindness. And I love their products, so it’s a win-win! They also have a great place on their website to post your own photos of projects you’ve created using their products. It’s an awesome place to go to be inspired or to inspire others. Check it out here. Here are a few of the Webster’s Pages products available in our store:

About those Easter ideas… I know I linked to Paper Crave last month, but they have some great ideas again this month! I love the Easter egg garland made out of paint chips! So, to see all the great ideas they’ve found, click here. Another idea I love is to use natural dyes for Easter eggs. You’d be surprised what a little vinegar and beet juice can do to an egg (or maybe I’m just discovering something you’ve known about for years!). Anyway, here are some natural dye recipes (boil eggs in dye with a teaspoon of vinegar):

Natural Easter Egg Dyes

Color	Ingredients
Lavender	Small Quantity of Purple Grape Juice Violet Blossoms plus 2 tsp Lemon Juice Red Zinger Tea
Violet Blue	Violet Blossoms Small Quantity of Red Onions Skins (boiled) Hibiscus Tea Red Wine
Blue	Canned Blueberries Red Cabbage Leaves (boiled) Purple Grape Juice
Green	Spinach Leaves (boiled) Liquid Chlorophyll
Greenish Yellow	Yellow Delicious Apple Peels (boiled)
Yellow	Orange or Lemon Peels (boiled) Carrot Tops (boiled) Celery Seed (boiled) Ground Cumin (boiled) Ground Turmeric (boiled) Chamomile Tea Green Tea
Golden Brown	Dill Seeds
Brown	Strong Coffee Instant Coffee Black Walnut Shells (boiled) Black Tea
Orange	Yellow Onion Skins (boiled) Cooked Carrots Chili Powder Paprika
Pink	Beets Cranberries or Juice Raspberries Red Grape Juice Juice from Pickled Beets
Red	Lots of Red Onions Skins (boiled) Canned Cherries with Juice Pomegranate Juice Raspberries

Happy Easter!

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Trendsetter Papers

So this is kind of dorky (scrapbooking about a blog), but I love the Trendsetter papers from Webster's Pages and needed to do a sample scrapbook page for a class we were having, so I decided to do a page about my blog. The cool thing is I found this awesome place on Webster's Pages website where you can blog about and share photos of projects you've made with Webster's Pages. So if you are a fan of Webster's Pages paper, sign up for InspireMe here.

I also made a little sign out of the scraps :)

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The Ordinary is Inspiring

Um, is it weird to be inspired by the back of a semi truck? Driving to work today, I was behind a semi with ochre colored boards bolted onto two stacked industrial gray trailers. The clean lines, color combo, and industrial look just worked together. Makes me want to paint a modern industrial piece with ochre and gray. There is also the end of work bench down in the basement of the shop that is pretty inspiring. I love the rustic orangey wood with the aqua colored fan.

So, not exactly sure how I will use these inspirations yet, but they are definitely getting filed away in my little brain for future use. :)Tweet