This Month's Give Away Winner

Judy from Pennsylvania was the winner of last week's Mid Month Going Green paper making kit Give Away. She writes:

Dear Elizabeth,

What a nice surprise your email was this morning.  Thank you so much!  I've never tried making paper before but it looks like something I'll enjoy learning.  I have several grandchildren who love crafting and I think this will be a fun project to try with them.

Gardening is my favorite pastime.  I garden on 3/4 of an acre in zone 6 in a mostly sunny yard.  This past summer I dried flowers from my garden for the first time and so my hope is to learn to use them with my own homemade paper.

I really enjoy reading your blog and visiting your websites.  Your beautiful artwork and cards are what inspired me to try drying flowers.  I'm sure that your generosity in offering free tips and information is very much appreciated by all of your readers.

I know you'll enjoy using the kit with your garden flowers Judy! If you every have any questions, just let me know.

Give me a hand...

 This is a handmade paper imprint of my youngest son's hand - we did these for a Mother's day project a few years ago in his first grade class.  This was made with the 5 x 7" mold and deckle from the Wooden Deckle Paper Making kit - which just happens to be this month's Mid Month Give Away, which ends at noon today (central time).

Directions for making handmade paper hand imprints (try to say that ten times fast) are available on my leaf petals site.

There's still (a little) time to win a free Going Green paper making kit for the Mid Month Give Away.

Fireworks!

While scouring through the pile of seed and plant catalogs I've been getting, this immediately caught my eye.  What a fun little flower!  This is "Fireworks," an exclusive globe amaranth gomphrena from Burpee.  I can't wait to try pressing it, and if that doesn't work out, it's supposed to be a great cut flower, and even dries well too!
What are looking forward to pressing this year?

By the way, don't forget about the Mid Month Give Away drawing this week for a free paper making kit! 

Mid Month Monday Give Away - Free Paper Making Kit

Here we are slogging through the middle of January, and it's a Monday. We're not exactly on track for a stellar day.  So, I've decided to shake things up a bit.... you have stumbled upon the first monthly Elizabeth's Flowers Mid Month Monday Give Away.  On a Monday somewhere in the middle of every month, we will be  giving away something of interest to the readers of this blog - something that celebrates the beauty and simplicity of plants, and the Creator who made them.

This month's give away is one free Going Green Paper Making Kit. With this kit it's easy to make beautiful handmade paper by recycling the used paper in your home and office.  It includes our standard 5 x 7" mold and deckle, an instruction booklet with lots of paper making recipes, and fun inclusions to add to your paper such as flower petals, lavender buds, shredded currency, etc. This kit was developed to use in my handmade paper making classes, and the method used is the exact one I use for all of my pressed flower art.

To be included in the drawing, fill out the information below. Please only enter one time per month.  The drawing closes this Friday at noon Central time. The winner will be notified by Email.

If you have an item of interest to Elizabeth's Flowers readers, and would like to be considered for our Mid Month Monday Drawing, please email me.

A different kind of exercise...

It's a quiet Saturday around here and after an extended time away from my Elizabeth's Flowers and leaf petals work (other than filling orders as they came in) I'm happy to pick up from where I left off.

I absolutely love the beginning of the New Year.  I'm not that into "ringing in" the new year, but I love the opportunity to pause and reflect on where I've been, and where I'm headed.  This year I took an extra long time in doing this, and just now finished evaluating how I did with the goals I made last year, and what I want to focus on for the new year. 

Because my mom has Alzheimer's (as did her mom) one of my foremost goals is to exercise  my brain as well as my body.  So not only am I going to keep on getting my regular dose of Sudoku, I am also doing the Revive our Hearts scripture memory program.  Memorizing was always a breeze for me in school, but I've been shocked to see how much repetition it takes for me to memorize now that I'm in my mid-forties. Yikes! But, I'm getting a ton out of doing this so far, and greatly recommend it.  Spiritual growth and brain exercise all in one shot - that's hard to beat. And, it's time well spent.