Pysanky and Thank You Cards

I know it may seem like I’ve stopped creating, but I really haven’t.  It has slowed down quite a bit.  Life has thrown some unexpected hurdles in my way – but in doing so has inspired a new project I’ll be working on. 

Years ago my Aunt gave me a nice Creative Memories Album that she had started for my Dad.  She had done a number of pages already which included some pictures of him when he was younger and also some treasures like pictures of my great-grandparents.  The intention was that I would pick up where it left off and put together pages of his later life, grandkids, his horses, etc.  I never got around to doing that.  Now that his time here has come to a close I’m feeling inspired to get moving with that project.  I’m still in the organizing phase of it all, but it is moving along.

I also worked on some more Pysanky!  I used patterns for these 3 new eggs.  I’m getting a better feel for the colors and applying the wax.  This is such a relaxing hobby.  So here are the latest 3 eggs.  Maybe I’ll get brave again for the next one and work on an original design again.  We’ll see.

 

 

Next Tuesday marks the end of the school year for my kids.   We had an extended year due to lots of snow days that needed to be made up.  With everything that’s been going on, I didn’t get as much time to work on their Teacher’s cards as I’d have liked, but I think they turned out well in spite of  it.  I put these all together last night using only things I had in stash already.

 

View Full Album

 

The papers used are from Basil (the card itself), My Mind’s Eye, DCWV, and Making Memories.

Embelishments include flowers from Prima and Petaloo, ribbon, Making Memories brads and charms, Me and My Big Ideas icons sticker, and Basic Grey chipboard letters ink’d with Tsukikek pigment ink in Coffee Bean.

I dug out one of my old D.O.T.S. stamps for the “just for you sentiment” and because I’m such a great stamper (laugh) I went over the image again with a matching pen.  Maybe one day I can enlist one of my stamping friends to tutor me. :)

And Then I Cracked It

A good friend of mine has been making Ukrainian Easter Eggs known as Pysanky.  I have always loved these eggs.  My Grandparents had a few over the years that they had brought back from various vacations.  I’ve never known anyone who has made these beauties and so the thought never occurred to me to attempt to make any myself.  The art form itself is over 2000 years old and has been passed down from generation to generation.  After a bit of information gathering from Jennifer, a bit of browsing around, and getting more inspiration from Jennifer’s sister Melissa’s eggs - I ordered a kit from Ukrainian Gift Shop.  It arrived about 3 days later – talk about fast, and I didn’t even expedite the shipping!  I sat down the next day, sketched out a design and gave it a shot. 

After dipping the egg into the second color dye I dropped it while applying the next layer of wax… oops.   It’s a pretty good crack, actually, but it managed to hold together while I finished it.  I’m not sure how long it will last in the long run though.  When I mentioned this to Jen, she let me know she had cracked her first too! I guess dropping your first egg is some kind of rite-of-passage or something.

So here it is.  My first attempt at making one of these eggs.

It’s not great, but I call it a good first attempt.  The design only barely resembles the one I sketched out and the colors aren’t what I’d pick if I did it again, but I learned a lot!  I think I’ll be sticking to the designs that came with my kit for the next couple of eggs to get more comfortable with it.