Homesick in Texas

I have neglected my Riverside Studios blog for several years...guess it was so easy to just check in to catch what was going on with Facebook. After all, everything was on my phone...pictures, email, Facebook...anyway, I drifted away from my original social media site. Now I have become so impatient with Facebook pop ups and the constant negative political climate and the constant ads that I have grown homesick for the likes of Pink Saturday where loveliness and  pretty things and ladies with manners prevail. I may not always Pink the Color to post, but I always have Pink the Attitude to share. So this Saturday I want to visit with Beverly and see what's blooming.

I'm going to play with layout again and retrain and reteach myself how to use blogspot, but it will be worth reconnecting with my blog friends.

Pink Saturday Surprise in the Mail

Today’s mail arrived with an extra special package! A beautiful little hand made book that our group calls Itty Bitty Books. The first one was made around 2008 and was the creative vision of Mary Ann McKeating. She has been the driving force of our IBB projects for all these years. Together the group has made about twenty of these little treasures.  I’ve shared them in several Pink Saturday posts over the years. The latest IBB was created to cheer Mary Ann as she battled cancer.  The chosen theme was LOVE.

I could hardly wait to open it.

We all used creamy tones with touches of Pink. Most

of the  artistic contributors also included lace.

This was a small group. Some books have 20+ participants.

We make a page for each person who is participating. We had eight contributors and we made two gift books so each person created 10 copies of their pages.

My Love page celebrated Pink and Paris…

LOVE is stamped on creamy muslin. Watercolored Pink clouds float behind the Eiffel tower. The page is embellished with old pearls and snippets of vintage lace. We sign our pages on the back;

Another page is Sarah’s Home is where the heart is…with lots of Pink details and lace.

She did a second page that is so rich with details…

I can’t even count the layers and shades of Pink!

One of our fellow Pink Saturday ladies, Nancy of My Crafty Little page created this beauty. She stamped Dream on twill tape.

She stamped and stitched on antique and vintage envelopes so each page is very different. Even the back is a beautiful creation.

Another page with beautiful Pink details…

This book will always be special because it was created with love. Isn’t that so very Pink? be sure to stop by to visit with Beverly at How Sweet the Sound to see who all is sharing this Saturday.

Happy Anniversary Beverly and Pink Saturday

I was lucky enough to spend the first Saturday of May in France! That’s right FRANCE! It was a Pink Saturday for sure! Now I’m back home and lucky enough to celebrate  this special anniversary with Beverly and my Pink Saturday friends!

This shot was taken on May Day when flower vendors were on every corner selling little bunches of Lily of the Valley and other small bouquets. I purchased a handful from this lovely lady pushing a cart and a colorfully clad doll. May Day is the French Labor Day and it’s very political. She was talking excitedly with great passion, but  my French was sadly lacking and I never figured out her cause or agenda or her message…but her flowers lasted most of the week!

The real Pink of the trip was out at Giverny, Monet’s home and gardens. They are breathtaking.

My little tourist Kodak could not come close to capturing the Pinkness, but his artist’s eye was perfection! It was one of the most beautiful beautiful places I’ve ever been.

The lilies in his ponds were not blooming yet, but you can see the colors in the mix of trees along the banks. He planned and planted the garden himself (along with a staff of gardeners because he, unlike so many painters of the era, was financially successful. in fact, he bought the extra land for the ponds with the sale of TWO Paintings!)

Again, Kodak vs. Monet’s eye…

It still gives me goose bumpy shivers to realize that I was actually there walking in his footsteps and looking out his bedroom  window sharing the view he woke to every morning.

And by the way, our French guide really did say, “Ooh La La” repeatedly…so I guess that’s not just in the movies, unless she was hamming it up for better tips. Well, I’m headed out to visit Beverly and take the weekly Tour de Pink…Happy Anniversary to one and all. http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/my_weblog/

Easter Decorations from Egg Cartons

It’s only right that a holiday so celebrated with eggs should have special decorations made from the empty cartons.

After being cut, sealed with gesso, painted, and embellished with all sorts of fun little vintage Easter elements, these look nothing like cardboard cartons!




Last month when my Ya-Yas got together, we made some real beauties together and now I want to spread my wings and teach a small group.
Here’s the plan: I figure I can easily put together kits of materials for several crafters. The skill level is pretty basic, anyone who knows her way around a glue gun should be able to learn the steps. We will make a couple of the easier round style…

Before taking on the taller Fairy Castle look.

The taller tower looking style isn’t any harder, it just uses different cuts.

The finished ornaments are between six and eight inches tall. They are decorated all around and are pretty when viewed from  any side. Crafters won’t need to bring a thing. We will use my stash of  paints, flowers, lace, and other trims along with vintage Easter  “characters” to create three  very special one of a kind ornaments.
I’ll do the “heavy lifting” by cutting the cartons and  doing the prep work with the coats of gesso. They will be ready and waiting for the fun part. Since we will have to spend some time waiting for paint or glue to dry, the project will take several hours. If we start at 9:00-ish, we can be finished by 1:00-ish. I’ll provide mid-morning tea and a little snack and then at noon, I’ll offer a light lunch.
All tools and materials will be provided along with a take home kit of egg carton cuts and copies of the original 1970’s Woman’s Day magazine article where my mother and I first learned to make these. Once the basic techniques are demonstrated, it’s easy to create these tiny treasures for different seasons.The class fee is $50.00. We will complete three ornaments in class and three more will be included in the Take Home Kit.    …You can message me on Facebook or e-mail me at lbjonriver@satx.rr.com

UPDATED INFORMATION  Check back with me in the fall when I will offer Seasonal Projects using the same techniques.  For now there are no openings on Friday 4-11 or Saturday 4-12.

Everything Old Is New Again.

A couple of years ago I posted pictures of Christmas decorations my mother and I had made during the very late 60’s or very early 70’s. I still even had the original instruction pages  from Woman’s Day. Since then I have shared the instructions with several readers who wanted to make some for themselves.

This February when my Ya-Yas and I were “wintered out”, we needed a Spring Forward project. And so we gathered supplies for  these special ornaments. First, a pink one, of course.

I think Patty made this beauty. With all the lace and beads it’s difficult to tell that underneath is an egg carton. That’s right, an upcycled, reclaimed, recycled cardboard egg carton. We started with sections cut from the formed gray cardboard grocery store cartons!

Here’s another cut from a different style carton…

It had a scrap from an old crocheted doily along with tiny flowers. Mind you, nothing was purchased for these creations. Everything came from our combined crafts supplies!  And another Pink ornament…And a sweet little bunny in her bonnet dangles from another.

Nancy of My Crafty Little Page made this cute basket using only one section of carton .

We loaded them up with vintage Easter grass and wooden miniatures and tiny eggs. I came home and made a couple of my own pinks…

Loads of lace on this one with  baby little vintage flowers and woodland grass.

Don’t they remind you of a jack-in-the-box with the little Easter critters popping out? Most are about 6 or 7 inches tall depending on the way they are cut.This one is one of my favorites…

Or maybe this one is my favorite…

Look at this funny little bird singing his heart out…

I wish I had a picture of them lined up…but I was in a hurry to share them this beautiful Pink Saturday.

They were so much fun to make, I may just offer to teach a class!

While I ponder that decision, let’s head over to Beverly’s always beautiful gathering of everything Pink at How Sweet the Sound.