Fun with Flowers

Yesterday was our third paper flower making workshop and it was another highly successful event.

The best part?  The laughter and friendship.  And the joy of watching our newbies discover that they have a talent they had never explored.

My friend Tanya's smile says it all.

That was her second flower.  She was a "natural" at this and took supplies home to make them with her friend, Faye, whom she had brought to the workshop with her.

Faye had never made these flowers before and she took to it readily.  Her red roses turned out beautifully.  To the left of her is Jane who had never made them before either.  Hers all turned out well and she really had fun. (I know because she told me so!)  That's Gay in the foreground.  She is amazing.

This isn't the best picture of these lovely ladies:  Sandra (l) and Claire (r). But the flowers these newbies created were gorgeous!

Sherry (r) is Gay's sister.  Claire is still concentrating on another fantastic bloom.  A talented artist who had not done this before, Sherry, too, was a "natural."  Her pink and coral creations were breathtakingly lovely. Sherry and Gay will be recruiting a few more people and doing small parties on their own:

We are very fortunate to have a library with a conference room that is perfect for workshops like ours.  There were 10 of us.

Ten more ladies making flowers for our March 14 fashion show at Safety Harbor spa's gorgeous ballroom.  The enjoyment increases with each workshop.

Live. Love. Laugh.

We're doing it.

Every.

Day.

I love my husband

and his garage....

Remember my paper flower project?  Actually it is "our" project -- meaning I and over 20 of my crafty lady friends who are doing fun stuff getting ready for the fashion show in March.

BTW, a big shout out to St. Mark's Village for becoming a our first big sponsor for "Celebrate Spring."  And huge thank you to Dee Isguzar who made it happen.

Back to my subject.

My favorite tool right now is my cordless, battery operated, glue gun.  (I can see my daughter, Chele, rolling her eyes.)  Yes, it's a gadget.  Yes, it is PINK, Chele.  And this is how I have been using it.

On an old dish towel.  So the glue won't drip and damage table or cutting mat, etc.  When the "Flower Girls" met a couple of weeks ago

my friend, Sandy, pulled her heavy duty, super duper , big mama glue gun out of her craft satchel.

But it wasn't the glue gun that attracted my attention -- remember I am very attached to my little pink, light weight, super cute, dainty little gun -- no, sirree, it was what she pulled out with it!  The BLOCK.  No folded towel for her.  She had a wooden block.  Now why hadn't I thought of that. I asked myself.  I may have even said it out loud.

I set aside some time today to work on my flowers.  Not bad, if I do say so myself.

This is some origami rice paper I had hanging around the place -- it is embellished with some metallic gold thread.  I used a combination of pale green and white and it turned out nicely.

BUT...before I began working on it, I walked out into my hubby's garage with my little pink gun and asked him if he had a block I could use.  And, of course, he did.  And, he was willing to share it.  Even give it.

So now my little pink, super cute, glue gun has it's own parking spot!

Almost as though, it was specially made for it!

I might even paint some little pink flowers on it.

Sometime.

One day.

Later.

Right now, I'm making flowers.

Gotta get back to it!

Just wanted to 'splain why I love my hubby and his garage.  He can pull anything out of it when I need it!

The Book Thief

by Marcus Zusak

It was hard getting into but then I realized how it is set up as Death introduces himself as the narrator, it got a lot easier to read and I LOVED this book.

I loved Liesel, the protagonist of the story. And I wonder how she would have turned out had she not had Hans as her foster father.  He is so patient and loving -- very different from her foster mother, Rosa.

Books and writing figure prominently throughout this novel  Liesel's fascination with the written work is a major theme throughout the book. The development of her character is very much involved with her "Book Thief" title character.

I have not seen the movie, but hope to see it on Amazon Prime soon.  And I am looking forward to discussing the book at our "Books & Beyond" book group at the library on Thursday.  I hope others enjoyed it as much as I have.