Put some "Passion" in your life!

Yes, it is the first little Passion bloom in my garden......again!  I have a lot more blooms on this plant than I did the day I took this picture.  They are so beautiful and the bloom will only be out for 3 days before it dries up and turns into a pod.

As I shared the other day, these are my favorite flowers because there is a little bit of a mystery about them....at least there is to me!  So...being inspired by Nature here, I created some rubber stamp designs that I will share with you today. I observed that after the bloom dies and turns into a dry pod, when you open the pod, it reveals a "fairy like" interior.  I loved it so much, that I wanted to create a rubber stamp that I could use over and over.  Here are the other two designs:

I colored in the rubber stamp image with watercolor pencils.  If you have never used them, they are easy to control and it is fun to see how the color spreads when you apply water to the pencil mark.  Since I have been going through my archives of past designs, I also came across a few more designs using memory papers that might inspire you a little.

The "base" supplies I used for these projects are very inexpensive and easy to find in your local craft store.  For about One Dollar each, I purchased a wooden bag, a 5x7" wooden frame, wooden cut-out butterfly, dragonfly and flower.

As you see, the wooden bag was given a coat of Yellow Acrylic paint with a little shading around the edges.  The butterfly was given a base coat of Black paint.  The next step was to trace the butterfly and cut the wings from the memory paper.  I like to use Modge Podge or a similar medium to adhere the paper to the wood.  I embellished with a little bit of 22 gauge wire for some more depth and interest.  The following is the frame:

Again, apply a base coat of acrylic paint to the frame and let dry.  Repeat with the flower and the dragonfly.  Then, trace around the frame onto the wrong side of the memory paper.  Cut it out, then adhere to the front of the frame as shown.  Embellish the flower and dragonfly, adhere to the frame as shown.

Presto!  You have some very inexpensive home decor or gift items that were lots of fun to make!

Check out my past Blog Posts to see the projects that I have shared.  I will be bringing lots more from my archives that I hope will spark your creativity. 

Let me know if I can help you with your success.  Just leave me a note!

Have you heard of "Christmas in July?"  We in the Wide World of Crafting start planning 6 months in advance.  I will be bringing some fun Christmas ideas this month.  Stay tuned, and please share this Blog with any friends that like to craft!

Happy Crafting!

Marilyn

www.marilyngossett.com

www.crazytackz.com