New items and a giveaway!

IN WITH THE NEW - OUT WITH THE OLD

I have two new items in my Etsy shop that I'd like to introduce and then, in order to make room for more new creations, I'd like to offer a giveaway.

The New

The first is a wall basket decorated with mixed pink dried flowers and seashells.

Wall Basket with Dried Flowers and Seashells

It is decorated with fragrant eucalyptus velvety pink celosia and delicate pink larkspur.  It measures approximately 8" across so if you need something to decorate a small spot this would be perfect.

The second one is a bow shaped grapevine wall hanging with a spray of mixed dried flowers.

Bow Shaped Grapevine Spray

Celosia, pink larkspur and lavender along with silver tones make this a very pleasing wall piece.  This is also perfect for a small wall - it measures 15" tall by 9" wide.  A bow could be added upon request.

Now for the giveaway

I'm going to try to keep this simple - 

 Do all three of the following: (or do what you can if you don't have accts for all)

        Like my facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/AngelsNEverlastings

        Follow me on twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/judyrussi 

        Follow this blog.

Choose one of the three pieces below that you would like to win -- leave a comment stating that you followed and which one you would like to win.  If you already follow me I thank you -- just leave that in the message.  Please also leave an e-mail address so I will be able to contact you if you win. 

If you would like to leave a comment but arn't interested in the giveaway - just let me know when you comment.

Swag with Dried Flowers and Seashells

Heart Twig Wreath

Garden Trellis with Angel and Dried Flowers

Entry deadline is 7/30 at midnight.  I will use Random.org to select the winner.  Winner will be selected on 7/31.

Making a front door wreath

http://www.etsy.com/listing/77541944/silk-grapevine-door-wreath

Here is my latest wreath which is available in my etsy shop.   Kindly visit my shop at AngelsNEverlastings and check out my other wreaths and wall hangings.  If you like this wreath or something in my shop but would like something different, just send me a convo and tell me what you would like and I will design something for you.

Here are some tips if you would like to create a pleasing wreath of your own:

1.  Carefully choose colors that complement one another.  Two or three colors works well.  Light and dark shades of the same color family work well and look harmonious together.

2.  Choose one or three larger focal flowers.  Not two or four - odd numbers work best

3. Choose two or three stems of smaller accent flowers depending on how generous the stems are.   Repeat the focal flower color and add another color.

4. You will need something long to create structure.  I have used eucaluptus here staggering the lengths-some shorter and some longer.  Anything long and stemmy will work.   Pussy willows, sprigs of wheat, any long straight branches.

5. A good wreath looks balanced.  In other words one side doesn't look like it wants to fall over.  You can see that I added a small cluster of flowers across from the main floral cluster.  While this is optional it gives the wreath a balanced appearance.  

6.  You want to mirror nature where some flowers are placed so that they look straight at you and some are seen from the side.  

7.  Use all of the greenery that comes with the silk flower stems -- separate them and work them individually around and under the flowers.  

8.  Now, one last tip,  before you begin take a small amount of spanish moss and glue it to the wreath where you plan to attach the flowers.  This acts as a filler and provides a more secure surface to glue the flowers to.   (see picture below)

Start with the focal flowers in the center, then clip the accent flowers to separate so that you can attach each flower separately around the focal flowers at staggered lengths.  Glue the accent flowers, to each side with hot glue, then fill in around all flowers with the silk greenery and long stems.


I hope this is clear enough to follow, please let me know if you have any questions or plan to make your own wreath. 

My Greeting Card Organizer

I have had an Etsy on-line shop for almost two years selling my handmade floral home decor called Angelsneverlastings. While it's a thrill to be able to list and sell your handmade items on the internet, another great thing about having a Etsy shop is that there are such interesting handmade items to discover and buy.  If you are looking for something unusual or unique head over to Etsy.com and search through the many talented artists and shop owners.  If you find something you like, you can contact the creative shop owner and ask for something made to order.  Usually they are happy to accommodate.

I recently wanted to find a greeting card organizer to be used at church.  I wanted to have everything organized on Sundays so it would be easy to send cards each Sunday to those in need.  I couldn't really find what I was looking for but Angel from Bamcraftymommas volunteered to create one for me.  Her specialty is scrapbooks, party banners, & chalkboard mats for kids.  This is what she came up with.

I told her exactly what I wanted which was a booklet type organizer with pages for encouragement, special events and get well.

As you can see the pages are decorated beautifully with decorative scrapbook paper.

  I chose scriptures that I wanted used on the pages and each page had a pocket to hold greeting cards.

I then needed to stock my organizer with cards so I purchased these beautiful cards on Etsy.

This beautiful photo card is from  Mysavior on Etsy.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/MYSAVIOR

http://www.etsy.com/shop/NewCreatioNZ?ref=ss_profile

These are from nzcreations from New Zealand. 

http://www.etsy.com/shop/NewCreatioNZ?ref=ss_profile

    So when you have a few minutes -- check out these shops and others on Etsy.  You'll be glad you did.