Postcards Inspired By The Lake {Give-Away}

{Comments are now closed. Thank you all for your kind words and your interest! I'll be back in a day or two to announce the winners.}

When I came home from Squam, I wanted to send out a few thank-you notes. (I am a big fan of thank-you notes.) It seemed obvious that I'd make them. I wish I had photos of the process, but it's more like these grew, not that I created them, and I just never thought to photograph anything. I worked on them in bits and pieces, first cutting up some cereal boxes, then applying gesso to cover the pre-existing design, and then a coat of white acrylic paint. Then I began to play. I made eight total; here's five of them before I mailed them out.

I mixed some green, for the green of the lake. I added some texture with bubble wrap and a few circle prints in darker blue. Then I selected some of the photos I took and layered them with a painted frame. Finally, I used the birch leaf stamp I'd carved. The woods were full of birches, and while I do see them around here, I don't see that many of them, and I wanted to capture their presence on these cards. (You can click to make the photo bigger.)

I liked these so much, I wanted more of them. So I scanned three of them in and ordered some Moo postcards. Scanning them in allowed for the texture to really come through, but I wonder if using a photograph wouldn't have worked better in some ways. But I'm not sure my camera is good enough to capture a full-screen image for this purpose, without shadows getting in the way. Obviously, some more experimentation might be in order. But still, I love these postcards, too. Here's a close-up of one of them:

I wanted to send something along to my cabin mates as a souvenir of Squam and our cabin (in the top postcard's photograph, below). One woman in our cabin had made up little treat bags for all of us, with a notebook and pen and buttons (buttons!!). I wanted to reciprocate and to bookend that, in a way, so I made up a set of postcards for everyone. (The brown with the leaf print is the envelope to hold them.)

And here's the give-away part...I have two sets left over. Whether you've been to Squam, want to go to Squam, have admired it from afar, or just like to have pretty postcards (hopefully you think they're pretty) to send to your friends, leave a comment for a chance to win (two people will receive one set each). You can live anywhere in the world, as long as you have a mailing address, and you need to either make sure your contact email is in your profile, or leave it in your comment. I'll close comments in a week, 7 pm EST on Tuesday, July 3, and choose via the good old "pull a name out of a hat" method. Each set contains six postcards, two of each design.

I would love it if you'd also tell me...who was the last person you sent honest-to-goodness fun snail mail to? Besides mailing out these packages of postcards, my last fun mail was sent to my sister--I sent her one of the remaining original postcards.

Poem In Your Pocket Day + Give-away

**Thank you for playing along! Naomi, commenter #9, came up on random. org. Congrats, Naomi! Check your inbox for an email.**









Happy Poem in Your Pocket Day! But first, a little offering from me to you, to mark one year of blogging in this space: a 5x7" embroidery piece.

My first thought was to sneaky-like enter everyone who's commented this month and then just announce who won, but then I thought, Probably not everybody would want this, especially considering the blue shape looks more like a dagger or an icicle because I did it first, before I got better at keeping my diagonals going in the right direction (harder than you'd think, against that fabric). So instead, if you would like a piece of original embroidery, by me, just leave a comment on this post and let me know. It's wrapped around a piece of bookbinding board; here's a back view.

I think you could probably slip it into a frame without glass, or just prop it up on a shelf--if the blue icicle doesn't bother you, that is. (I should just be quiet and say I meant to do it that way, maybe?) Since it's Poem in Your Pocket day, if you'd like to mention a favorite poem in  your comment, or link to a post with a poem, or tell me what you're doing to celebrate, I'd love to hear it. But you don't have to. You can just leave a regular old "hope you pick me" comment. I'll use random.org to pick someone, you need to make sure there's a way to contact you (ie, leave your email address in your comment if it's not going to show up in the profile), and I will mail to anywhere in the whole wide world. Leave your comment by 8 pm EST on Thursday, May 3, which is a week from today. I think I covered everything?

Today, I'll be passing out copies of my favorite e.e. cummings poem as I go about my day. (I love the beach, you know.)

maggie and milly and molly and may
by e.e. cummings

maggie and milly and molly and may
went down to the beach(to play one day)

and maggie discovered a shell that sang
so sweetly she couldn't remember her troubles,and

milly befriended a stranded star
whose rays five languid fingers were;

and molly was chased by a horrible thing
which raced sideways while blowing bubbles:and

may came home with a smooth round stone
as small as a world and as large as alone.

For whatever we lose(like a you or a me)
it's always ourselves we find in the sea

Copyright © 1956, 1984, 1991 by the Trustees for the E. E. Cummings Trust from The Complete Poems: 1904-1962 by E. E. Cummings, Edited by George J. Firmage.

...linking up with the folks at our creative spaces...

Giveaway Winner: Embroidery Supplies

Random.org says...

...the winner is number 11, Here and There, who said:

I'm new to embroidery and really getting a kick out of it. Your snakes are beautiful, and thx for the chance to win the giveaway!

You're welcome! I've sent you an email, so look for it. Thanks to everyone who left a comment--I just love to enable new crafting adventures! (And as a reminder, if you liked Sara's snakes pattern, it's available in her shop here.)

Finished Snakes and a Giveaway

(ETA: You can find the pattern for all these snakes in Sara's shop here.)

Sara is wrapping up her "Stitching Angels" series tomorrow, but I'm showing you all four finished snakes here today--plus I'm hosting a little giveaway to celebrate. First up, the Emerald Tree Boa, properly ironed and everything!

I think this guy would look great as an applique or stitched onto some green fabric. Since I was using natural muslin, I lightly shaded the snake with a green colored pencil. Those white patches were my first ever attempts at satin stitch. I learned I don't like doing it much!

Next is, I think, my favorite--the rattlesnake.

For this one, I used seed stitch as the fill stitch, and I really think it was worth it! I was worried for a bit there that the browns weren't going to contrast enough, but they did (whew!) and I'm pretty impressed with the end result. Also, if you don't embroider, I'll let you in on a secret--all this takes is patience. It's not hard at all.

For the next two snakes, I departed from reality and let my kids pick the colors. My seven-year-old chose the colors for the striped snake. I limited him to five, plus one more for the head.

Isn't he colorful!

The final pattern I stitched was a cobra, and I chose to do the small size, mainly to try to show the variation in sizes for the patterns (although you can't really see that in the photos anyway), and I did struggle with it a bit.

I let my two-year-old choose the colors for this one, by the way. I'm pleased with the basket. I wanted to find a stitch to use in there that would look basket-like but not be overwhelming for me to learn in this rather short time period. I looked through my copy of Mary Thomas’s Dictionary of Embroidery Stitches and chose spaced buttonhole filling. The directions have you work buttonhole stitch from left to right—which is the way I’m used to doing it—and then, on the row below, from right to left. You just work it back and forth until you’re done. Working buttonhole stitch in the opposite direction like that was a little trickier than I thought it would be—our hands gets so used to doing the same things in the same ways! I very much like the effect, though, even if it's a bit wonky in places.

Sara drew little ovals down the side of the cobra's flared neck, and they seemed to want to be chain stitches. But at that size, everything got close together and this is where I really struggled on the stitching. I wish I could say I like this one better, but mainly I was glad he was done. I feel I didn't quite do the drawing justice.

So what are we going to do with these snakes?! Alas, if you were hoping, I'm not giving any of them away. My kids would never forgive me. I'm not sure what they'll become--patches on a kid's totebag? A wall hanging? I'm sure we'll know it when we see it. Meanwhile, I hope to encourage anybody out there who is considering trying embroidery--or who knows somebody who could benefit from some starter supplies (a child? a neighbor?)--by giving away some basics that are enough to get you started, assuming you have some fabric scraps at your disposal.

Two hoops--a 5-inch and a 7-inch, which are the sizes I've been using--a package of embroidery needles, and a whole bunch of floss--thirty-six skeins. All brand new. Take a closer look at the floss...

That will keep you stitching for a while. Just leave a comment here before noon on Monday, August 15, to be eligible, and yup, I'll mail it overseas. Make sure that if I don't already know your email address, it's either in your Blogger profile or you leave it somehow in your comment, because if I don't have an email address to let you know you've won, your comment doesn't count.

And my latest embroidery project? The flowers have it.

Happy stitching!

Shared with our creative spaces. See lots more creative folks here!

Giveaway Day Winner!

What a lot of fun I had participating in Sew, Mama, Sew's May Giveaway Day! I really enjoyed your comments and reading about what inspires folks--everything from autumn leaves to laundry on the line to all the ways people showcase their projects on the Internet. And your enthusiasm for my little book really made me smile. I wish I had a bunch of them to give away, but there's only one, and it will be on its way to Emily from The Handmade Experiment as soon as I can get myself and my toddler to the post office.

I think I'll try my best to participate in the next Giveaway Day, too. I tried to get to as many blogs as possible and was just in awe of the creative people out there and the things they were willing to give away. I was lucky enough to win something, too--Gina's denim bag with the wax crayon-resist turtle patch. When I entered I followed all her links back to see how she'd done it--it's a really neat process, and I'm trying to figure out how I can try it with my kids without burning anyone!

So thank you again for entering, and I hope you won something somewhere, and if not, I hope you found some interesting new blogs to follow (I know I did!) and enjoyed Giveaway Day. And thank you to Sew, Mama, Sew for throwing the party and inviting us all.

Giveaway: Win This Book!

Sew, Mama, Sew's May Giveaway Day is here! Welcome to those of you visiting for the first time!

Here at Salamander Dreams, I'm offering a handmade book--one that can be used over and over. Did you ever get a beautiful blank book and feel like you didn't want to actually use it? I've solved this problem by giving this book pockets instead of pages.

This is an accordion-style book with six pockets. You could put anything you want in those pockets--photos, coupons, receipts--but I admit I've been thinking of it as an inspiration book. Tuck those random things you find into the pockets, so you remember that exact color blue you saw in the magazine when you're standing in front of bolts of fabric at the quilt store. Or tuck a bit of your yarn so you can match buttons. I don't know about you, but I have a few too many notebooks lying around, yet still, I tend to write things down (an idea for a project, yardage needed for a sweater) on random bits of paper. The solution? Pockets. (Well, I suppose the solution for lots of people is an iPhone, but my phone only makes calls, plus I like pretty paper!)

Normally, accordion books open out like, well, an accordion, but I've given this one a delicate ribbon binding, so it opens like a typical book.

And, of course, one ribbon on each side extends so you can tie it shut. The book is made with paper-wrapped book board and bookbinding paste. It's meant to be used, but I don't know how it will survive if it lives in the bottom of your bag. (It wouldn't hold up living the bottom of my bag, but I have three children and my bag is approaching that of Mary Poppins.) The book measures 5 1/4 inches wide by 6 1/4 inches tall, with pages measuring 5 1/2 inches by 5 inches, with 3-inch deep pockets.

I will ship internationally! For a chance to win, leave a comment here by 9 pm EST Wednesday, May 25. If you'd like, tell me something that inspires you. (I love color! Very inspiring.) Make sure you leave a way for me to email you. If your email address isn't part of your sign-in (for instance, your Blogger profile), please leave it in your comment. I'll also announce the winner Thursday so check back in case I have trouble contacting you. The winner will be chosen randomly, and nobody related to me is eligible (but if you're my sister, I'll make you a book anyway!).

If you like what you see, I hope you consider following me here or on Twitter. It's not a requirement to enter this giveway, but when I decide to start making so many books I need to sell some, you'll be the first to know. Good luck! And thanks for visiting.

~amy

**comments are now closed!**