Tiptoe Through National Tulip Day

I saw online today that it was 

National Tulip Day.

(Don't you wonder who gets to make up the occasions for these days?)

 But since I love all things tulips, I am playing along. The tulips I am going to focus on are the tulip wreaths I like to create. I wrote about creating this one last year. You can find it here. It is one of those tutorials, that is almost embarrassing to make into a tutorial. It is that easy. 

 I have created about ten of these now. Many times I use the foam wreath (that I purchase with a coupon at Hobby Lobby). Sometimes I use just a simple grapevine wreath. The grapevine wreaths are usually a little smaller. Keep that in mind. 

 But always, yes always, I use tulips from Dollar General. That means that each bunch costs me $1. You can't beat that for tulips! 

 If you look at that $1 bunch of tulips, you might think it looks a little cheapola. Or the green a little plasticy. Let me assure you that enmasse it is not more cheapola or plasticy, but actually quite cute. 

 Here is one I made with yellow tulips. I added some small tulip buds as well. I also added some white flower that has a yellow and black center. It needed something to break up all that yellow. 

 As you can see I used a twig wreath for this base. I just glued the flowers directly to the twig wreath. Between the hot glue and poking the stems in the twig wreath, I don't expect the flowers to be going anywhere. (And remember, I am in WINDY Oklahoma where the "wind comes sweeping down the plains"!) 

 You can see the three different types of flowers I used in this wreath. The basis for the wreath though are the tulips, glued down in a circle, all facing the same way. Theoretically, there are no tops or bottoms to the wreaths. Even with the bows. It is however you like it to look. 

I gave this one to someone, and I included a green shamrock for St. Patty's Day, this Pier 1 bunny for Easter, and a cute little bluebird for spring. These are all Iphone pics, and I did not get any with the other add-ins. 

 I put the bow on the side and slipped the bunny down into the wreath. Here you see it with and without. You get the idea of what you can do! 

 This is a different red tulip wreath than the one I made for my front door. This one has regular tulips and others that are very wide open. I had to buy both to have enough for the wreath, but I really like the look of it besides. Again, it is an Iphone pic and the only one I took. 

 The biggest problem I find in making these wreaths are finding enough tulips at Dollar General. I don't know if they just get a certain amount in, or if everyone is creating these. I do drive to two or three different locations to get enough at times. In the case of this wreath, I never did find enough of one color, so I made the wreath hot pink, yellow and orange. 

 It ended up being one of my favorites. When I was looking for more tulips, I found these butterfly "picks" at Dollar General. They came in bunches just like the tulips. I cut the bunch(es) up and glued them all over the colorful wreath. It was very cute. (Go back up one picture and look at all the butterflies.) 

 During summer last year I kept the wreath up clear till August. I simply added flags to the bow area, to "summer" it up. This is the only wreath I have kept of all the ones I have made. They make wonderful gifts to give-away and can be personalized easily. 

If you use a coupon to buy the wreath, you are only out about $20 when you are finished.....That is even after buying massive amounts of tulips!  I have seen these on Etsy for $100. (Don't forget to factor in hot-glue burns as well. OUCH!!) 

Despite the fact I used mainly Iphone pics, I hope you enjoyed our little tiptoe through the tulips. Happy National Tulip Day!

Linking with:

Metamorphosis Monday

Thrifty Treasures 
The Scoop

tcerroC sI sdrawkcaB gnitirW nehW

 ˙pǝʇɐʌɐɹbbɐ ǝq oʇ puǝʇǝɹd oʇ ǝʞıן ʎǝɥʇ ɥbnoɥʇןɐ 'ʇı ǝʌoן ʎǝɥʇ ˙ʇxǝʇ dıןɟ buısn sʇuǝpnʇs ʎɯ oʇ buıɥʇǝɯos ʇuǝsǝɹd ı ɹɐǝʎ ʎɹǝʌǝ ˙ʎɐp sןooɟ ןıɹdɐ ʎddɐɥ

Don't worry. I won''t write the entire post that way. But there are fun things you can do on this April Fool's Day with text! When I was writing the questions for my students, it occurred to me that a post about my letterpress table would be a good one for today. After all, the words on it are all written backwards. 

If you have read my blog before, perhaps you have seen this table. It started out a little forlorn. I had been looking for a good table with a lip around the edge. I knew that I wanted to make a letterpress table and the lip would help keep the blocks in order. 

These are the letterpress blocks. They come in all shapes and sizes and fonts. Just like our many fonts today, there are also many sizes and fonts for letterpress blocks. The different colors on the block are from the ink that has been rolled over them. A lot of times, the red is there to stay (which is fine with me!). To clean these blocks, the printers (back in the day) had a little jug filled with gasoline. It had a mesh circle on top that would press down and a small amount of gasoline would come up through the mesh. The printer would soak his rag with the gasoline and use it on the blocks to keep them clean and gunk free. 

 My family has been in the newspaper and publishing business for almost a hundred years. (There IS a difference between newspapers and publishing by the way.) As a young girl I would see these letterpress blocks used all the time. I began collecting them at antique shows, long before Ebay. Then I collected them off Ebay. I used them for decorating fun, but I was just waiting on the perfect table. Finally, I had it and I poured out my bag(s) of letters one night and had fun. If you will notice, the letters are backwards. They are supposed to be. The word is laid out, the ink rolled on, the paper (or other) set on top and the weight rolled over the paper. Then when you pick up the print, your words are correct. Get it?  

You know the old idiom, "Mind your p's and q's"? Well now you understand what they meant. When building your words or lines, it is easy to naturally put the letter down as we know and see it. (I am the WORST at that!) Therefore the p's and q's could not be mixed!

 As you can see in the pictures, I set up names, places and things that are special to our family. I also put in special numbers. I laid them out and sat them on the table then gathered the extra letterpress blocks around them. There is TAYLOR3 (her birthday day) above. 

 Tim & Lori (above). Yes, I interchanged the fonts frequently. I had to because of the blocks I had. Plus it just makes it more fun. 

 Kelly.

 The SON from Ferguson. Sooners and Wucas. (Well I did Wucas for two reasons: 1. I was out of L's. 2. When my youngest son was little, he said his L's and W's. Therefore that made him Wuke Wucas. :)  Since I had the other letters for Lucas, I figured why not make it Wucas? 

 Yes, I even included our beloved pets. Howie. (We've got them ALL on the table!) 

I flipped the picture, so the words/letters were facing the camera. The arrows are just a sampling of the words and dates that are on there. I did not "arrow" them all. See what you can pick out! (Don't forget...dog is really God!!)

The same picture without the arrows. See how seamlessly the words and dates all blend together?  It's a great puzzle and conversation piece! 

 Notice the really big blocks, like the L and 1?  Aren't the fractions fun? 

 I also have every single type of punctuation in the big size. An ode to the English teacher in me! This could be a comma or an apostrophe, depending on how it was used. Notice I did not put all the filler letters and numbers in the same direction either. I just filled to fill! 

In this picture (in the lower left corner) and the big block in the middle, are advertising blocks. I have lots of old advertising blocks as well. Many of the advertising blocks are brass and can be shined up beautifully.

Believe it or not, I need to start another table. Since I did this one, we had two grandbabies, Leightyn and Behr. One of my sons is engaged as well, so we need to add Tiffani. I thought it would be fun to begin another table, instead of trying to redo the original. I have already begun to store up more letters, numbers and advertising. If you plan on collecting them, be aware, the letterpress blocks are on wood. There are some metal pieces as well, but those were used in linotype machines. I have a few of those as well, but they are the tiny filler pieces.  

Now you know everything you ever (or never!!) wanted to know about letterpress blocks and why the letters are always backwards. Don't you agree it was a great April Fools Day lesson? 

Here is the ugly little table that I got for $10 (along with another one).  

Here it is after I cleaned it up, painted it and made a cute little chalkboard table out of it. It would have been great to keep it just like that. 

But I had all these blocks that needed a permanent home.....

I added some very small casters. Mainly for the effect! 

And I ended up with the table where all the words are backwards! Now you know why! Have a great April Fools Day.  Or as I told my students.....¡ʎɐp sןooɟ ןıɹdɐ ʇɐǝɹb ɐ ǝʌɐɥ

Linking with:
Metamorphosis Monday
Wow Us Wednesday
The Scoop
Furniture Feature Friday

Painting Party

 Are you on Instagram? If so, you when you put up a pic that was not taken within the last day or so, you hashtag it as #latergram. Well this post is a #latergram. It is about a party my daughter Annie (pictured on the right above) and I hosted in December, but you are just now getting the pics! 

 Have you seen, or better yet, been to, one of those painting parties that are all the rage right now? Many of them serve wine while you are painting. Annie and I had gone to one before Thanksgiving and wanted to go back for a Christmas painting. We recruited many of the females in our family to join. But in the meantime, Oklahoma, (and more importantly) our town, had a snow/ice storm and the Christmas painting party (downtown) was canceled. On the date they rescheduled it, many of us could not attend. So we decided to hold our own one Sunday afternoon in December. 

 My Mom, my nieces, my daughters and my middle son's girlfriend and I all got together and had a great time. Annie and I had it all set up when they arrived. I even provided lunch for everyone. We just cleared off the dining room table, put some black plastic down and all gathered around. We had several sizes of canvases and lots of paints and brushes.

 I had run off several Christmas pictures that I found on the internet and  from Graphics Fairy. I then put them on overhead paper and we copied them that way. At the real parties (with the wine), they provide you with a pattern and there is no overhead involved! 

 The overhead, that I purchased more than ten years ago at an auction, continues to come in handy. I think they make nice little home overheads now, but I'l continue to use this as long as it works. 

 We did have one male that crashed the party. That would be my grandson Behr. (I guess he thought he could come, since it was a painting party and his name is Behr!!!) 

 We gabbed and painted, offered advice and actual help on each other's paintings, for several hours on that Sunday afternoon. It was nice to get together and just relax and have fun, when December can be so crazy busy. 

 All the "young girls" managed to paint at least two paintings. We had everything from manager scenes, to snowmen and several different styles of Santa. 

 My daughter Taylor, Behr's mom, painted a picture using Behr's handprint and footprint. That was a little tricky, but it will be cute the older (and bigger) he gets. 

 As you can see, each person put their own unique spin on their painting. You can see my giant Pottery Barn Knockoff Santa in the background on the wall. I made that several years ago and you can read about it here. You'll notice my niece Libby made a green PB knockoff above, and Coulter's girlfriend Tiffani made a similar pink version. 

 My Mother, also known as the Christmas Queen, painted a Santa (of course!) with a little help from Libby. She was quite proud of it and enjoyed her afternoon. 

 We are going to have another "Painting Party" again in the spring. This time we'll probably have a bigger crowd, now that they see all the fun we had. Really, my plan is to invite all my female cousins one day to a giant craft day at my house. I have the most talented family and I think it would be a great day. I am honing my ideas and hope to make it happen this summer. 

 And I just had to show you this. Or at least kind of show you. My son Coulter is a big man with a bigger heart. He was over at our house that day, since his girlfriend participated too. We talked about how at the real painting party (the one with wine) we had individual easels to use. Annie and I had looked at them at Hob Lob, but to get as many as we needed, it was just not in our budget. So we just held our paintings and made-do. But on Christmas morning, Coulter arrived with his present for Annie. He had made her a half dozen easels himself. He made Tiffani (his girlfriend) her own as well. He told Annie he would make more too. 

 I went through all my Christmas pics and I can't believe it, but I did not even take a picture of that great gift. So, I found the easels in some other pics and cropped it down and pointed an arrow towards them. You can (kind of) see about how big they are. Was that not the sweetest, most thoughtful gift? And, that is when the huge cold-front had parked upon Oklahoma. Coulter was out in our extremely cold garage just cutting and nailing away. So, next time we will have easels for each of us to use! 

 While the pictures were fun, it was especially fun to just get together during the busy holiday season and laugh, eat, paint and just enjoy each other's company. 

The older I get the more I understand, "It truly is the little things." You should copy our idea and host a painting party of your own! 

P.S. I went back later and added the words O' Holy Night in script to my painting. Very simple and sweet. 

Link to:
Wow Us Wednesday
The Scoop
Metamorphosis Monday