What came first - the chicken or the egg?

Genesis 1:24 And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds - livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. 25 And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

I wanted to share a little shabby vignette I have put together
for Easter, in the hopes it may give you some pastel inspiration...

 I painted some shabby roses on a boiled

egg to coordinate with the pretty dishes...

 I have never been able to paint this style
of shabby roses very well, but I'm learning...

I made this little gosling out of Styrofoam balls and some feathers.  He has huge 'pinchability' factor (that's my way of saying 'sooo cute').  The kids also made some little chicks and I will share the pictures and how to on a later post.

  Hubby thinks his feet are too realistic
looking and a little freaky (you think?)

Looks delish, no?  This is one of my faux cupcakes I've shown before here.  I made several a few months back when I was experimenting with the technique.  I have always wanted to open an etsy shop and this is one of the items I think I would like to offer.

  I did not have coordinating egg cups so I painted
these two liquor glasses and glued some little dots

 A closer look...

My favourite tools....

I painted some other eggs with various motifs...

The answer is the chicken... 

the chicken came before the egg.

(but only after he crossed the road) 

much love,

Lucy

I'm sharing at these lovely parties, thank you for having us.

Looking for some 'eggspiration'....not to be confused with expiration.

Do you remember my embroidery thread wrapped eggs?  I've had a few requests for a tutorial and hope to have one prepared in the next couple of days.

In the meantime, I've been working on some egg art...

In search of 'eggspiration', I ran into these.  Are you kidding me?  How in the world does this person do this?  I have not been able to find any information on this art, other than it originated in Ukraine.

You can see from the front egg that they're emptied out and while I know how to empty an egg, I can't for the life of me figure out the cross-stitching on these eggs (how does one learn to empty out an egg?  I have my dad to thank for that).

But of course I had to try.  And well, let's just say my success rate has been pretty low thus far and we won't be having eggs for breakfast the rest of this week. 

So if anyone out there has any ideas, I would love to know.  Any clue?

I also found these, but she is not disclosing any secrets.  I think they might use a little drill or special tool as I remember seeing a show on egg carving some time back (please don't judge...nothing else was on tv, ok well maybe there was, but I found it interesting).

So until I figure it out, I'm going to continue working with tools I'm familiar with...

Food colouring and a paint brush...

I hope your week is off to a good start!

much love,

Lucy

Finding the words...

image

Have you ever sat down to write a post, only to stare at the blank screen as you struggle to find the right words?  While you know what you want to say, the "right" words escape you.  And when you do finally begin typing, you find yourself deleting them just as quickly as they don't quite seem to convey your feelings.

So as I sit here having read over the sweet and kind words many of you have taken the time to share, I have been looking for the right words to express my gratefulness to all of you.

I feel so fortunate to be a part of this community; a community of talented, creative and supportive women; a community that has overwhelmed and humbled me with so much love.

So please accept my simple, yet heartfelt words....thank you!

much love,

Lucy

Vintage Wire Milk Basket....a behind the scenes.

Thank you for stopping by - I hope you all had a good week.

Please accept my sincere thanks for your sweet messages from my previous post.  You took the time to let me know that you appreciate the little Craftberry Bush and that made my heart smile.  Sometimes we just need a little pat on the back and a word or two to encourage and keep us going.  So I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

And if you read my previous post, this is what I
meant when I say there are many colours of me...

So today I'm skipping the colourful side...

and showing you this...

A beautiful old wire milk basket.

Look at that patina...ahhh

 Can you hear the stories this little basket tells?

(although "Milkman" stories don't always end too well, do they?)

Are you tired of those jars yet?

Rusty and perfectly imperfect, but I can't for the life of me remember where we picked it up.  Was in that little village in the South of France...or that quaint town in Spain?  It may have been during our summer in Tuscany?

In my dreams.

I actually picked it up at the Dollar Store. Yup!  My faithful ol' dollar store.  Let me show you how it all started.

I've been wanting to make a wire basket for some time and while I knew I was going to make it from chicken wire and wire hangers, I just wasn't sure how I was going to make the frame. 

I was originally going to cut and glue together wooden dowels, but then I spotted this...

Not exactly French country, but remember how I often write about thinking outside the box?  Well in this case, let's look outside the basket.  Notice the frame?

I started by cutting the straps, only to feel guilty as I imagined someone having used their own hands to make this basket (which is well made by the way).  I hate to think that these items are made by people who get taken advantage of and work so hard for pennies (way to put a damper on my excitement) :o(

So I kept the straps and will think of some use for them.  At least that way, their hard work will not ALL go to waste.

The frame had a black coating on it  that didn't say 'I'm old', so I used some sand paper to sand it off.  I then used a wire coat hanger to make two triangles, which will be placed at either side of the frame to hold the handle.  Make two little loops at the bottom as pictured.

Attach the triangle at either side of the frame and close the loop tightly with your pliers.  For the handle, I was lucky enough to have had one from an old wooden lantern, but I was originally going to use a drilled dowel.

I even thought of using a carton tube from tin foil paper roll.  It's very sturdy and by painting it, you would never know it was made of cardboard.  Feed another piece of wire through the handle, make two loops at either end and attach to the top of  the triangles.

I then wrapped the chicken wire around the frame (sorry forgot to take pictures) but 

please, please, please...if you want to avoid multiple pricks and blood, use gloves!!!  While the gloves were sitting right beside me, I refused to use them as they were too big and were just getting in the way.  So I took one for the team, but you don't have to!  I used my favourite paint, a mixture of green, brown and orange and with a brush gave the wire some rusty personality.
I also used a piece of wire to make a partition in the middle (not pictured in the tutorial but you can see it on some of the other pictures)

And that was that...

I'm very happy with how it turned out.

I purchased some fresh herbs from the super market and
placed them in clear jars. She will sit pretty in my kitchen.

But before then, I had to capture some photos to show her off a little...

Thanks again for being here, I love your company.

Wishing you a beautiful weekend!

much love,

Lucy

 Basket $1.25

Chicken wire $2.00 (brand new item from the dollar store, and I used less than 1/4 of it)

Total = $3.25

I am sharing at

and

at these wonderful parties

and also joining the Centsational Girl fair weather forum

The many colours of me....

When I first started this blog, I don't believe I appreciated just how important it would become to me.  I love everything to do with it and find myself immersed in this world on a daily basis, deriving a crazy rush whenever a new idea pops into my head.

But every once and a while, I worry about this blog. 

Am I not delivering enough...or am I delivering too much? 

Perhaps I don't have enough crafts for parents who are looking for ideas for their children...or 'hammer and nail' projects for the DIY crowd.  And what about sewing projects, which I've never attempted before?  Will the absence of these cause some to stop coming by?

I worry that even though I have a passion for French country and shabby decor, I'm still an artist who ADORES colour.

So here's the dilemna.  Do I post these colourful eggs, which I LOVE, or do I stick to my simple neutral palettes, so to not dissapoint some?

Do I openly talk about having been contacted by the Martha Stewart show a few months ago, or do I keep it to myself and hint at my disappointment when things didn't quite work out because my craft was deemed to have had too much of an "artistic know how"? 

I worry that me sharing this information for the first time, even though it's months after the fact, might lead some to believe I'm bragging.

Do I ask you what you want to see more of?  Do I pay for a blog critique to make my blog better?  Do I compare myself to other blogs and follow in their footsteps to try and be like them?  Or....

Do I just be myself, continuing to write this blog for the love of creating and inspiring and taking whatever good comes out of it as an amazing blessing?

Like the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words.

And so I'll continue to be myself.  Will show you these beautiful craft thread eggs even though they are colourful, bright and don't necessarily go with my decor.  But they're ME.

They were born out of the love to create...

 ...from an idea in my head, to a sketch, to life. 
The colours make me feel happy.

They make me feel like a real artist.

And when I accept that I am an artist, I feel like I can do anything.

I can show you simplicity and calmness ...

...but I can also show you rainbows and exuberance.

Because there are many colours of me....

...and they are what makes me unique.

So I give you these non traditional colourful eggs I

had made by gluing craft thread on a styrofoam egg.

And I also give you these classic styrofoam

eggs coloured in 11 different shades of blue.

Besides, there are so many other things in this world worth worrying about.  Remember Japan? Libya? Haiti? And the list goes on and on....

So thank you for accepting me the Craftberry Bush just the way I am it is.

much love,

Lucy

Linking to

Nesting Place

and here

also joining the Centsational Girl fair weather forum