He Could Not tell a Lie, and neither Can I

When George Washington's father asked, "Who dunnit?"  He couldn't fib, he cut down the prettiest tree in the yard!  I first saw cherry blossoms on my second trip to Seoul, Korea.  They were blossoming on the Han River banks.  I thought they were pretty but didn't take that many photos; maybe it was jet lag!

The last time I saw the blooms was in April 2008 when I took my first trip to Washington D.C. for the Cherry Blossom Festival.  As the brochure instructed, we headed 'straight to the blossoms' after checking in at the hotel at the end of the Blue line on the Metro.  "Downtown" as they refer to D.C. was a site to behold; there were gorgeous trees up the mall, around the buildings, everywhere your eye landed you saw pink and white flowers!

We strolled through the gorgeous Grand Central Station and took the Monuments by Moonlight Tour our first night in Washington.  I was in love.

If the trees weren't enough, as a history lover, the Smithsonians, the monuments and tours of the buildings are free!  Oh how I regretted taking the kids to Di$ney World more than once and not bringing them to Washington D.C.

On Sunday afternoon the weather was clear and we mentioned going to see the cherry trees to the locals.  "Oh don't go downtown!!" we were told.  They thought it was too crowded.  Those people have never seen our State Fair where 125,000 people are milling about the grounds and FOOD building!  We went downtown and this is my favorite photo of the entire trip.  

It was four years ago this week that I took the trip to see the blossoms, I'd go again in a heartbeat!

Tammy's in Love...you might be too!  Go 'straight to the blossoms' and you won't regret it.

Happy as a Clam and Stuff Like That!

Love is in the air in the spring; or maybe it's pollen!  Whatever it is, pairs start pairing at this time of year.  I met Mr. Wonderful in the spring semester several lifetimes ago.  We fell in love at the "college in the Northwoods" where he rowed the canoe in the lake, singing songs of admiration.  Well actually, he did row the canoe but sang The Bear in Tennis Shoes while walking me home.  He's really quite lucky I gave him a second date, he's no Frank Sinatra.

Spring Crafting:

Pastel colors replace the red and bright blues in the craft room as Easter approached.  My banner of silly phrase tags made an appearance.  I love the old adages and think these little sweeties really are 'the bee's knees' when we put cuteness on a scale of ten.

The graphics for this set all came from the same book so you see repeat characters in the tags.  I like to carry the same theme along with the tags.  If you look you'll see that the scrapbook papers are coordinated and the color of the next tag is always in an accent on the previous one on the garland, or in this case, on the peg.

Lest I spend more money than I make buying garnishes (embellishments), I cut my own trims and use lots of my scraps.  Straight edged stickers with phrases also get trimmed with the scrapping scissors, cute counts!

Raising images off the tag using foamies  that I cut in strips and glue stick on or dots with stickum on each side gives a fun effect.

In this tag I used the background flower and cut it to put in the little girl's hand, an easy way to carry the theme on.

You can see that the tree is off the top; I do this frequently when placing the graphics.  The boy and girl are running off the sides too.  If you see a graphic that you like, angle it, use the top corners, it isn't a rule that it must fit on the tag.  Take a look at the You've Got Mail post for more tag making ideas.

I pin tags on measuring tape swagged on the wall, hang them from doorknobs, link them on pegs, and use them  for a wide range of decorating themes.  My Route 66 tags hung down a ribbon of musical notes in a three foot vertical banner on the side of my filing cabinet.  Tags are still one of my favorite things to make.

The Rest of the Story

Back in the day, Paul Harvey, a radio broadcaster used to do a show and the last line of the program was, "and that's the rest of the story."  I am sharing the rest of the window box along with my story today.  Those Ball canning jars on each end of the box have served an interesting purpose.  They collect rain!  Who knew?  I created a colorful rain gauge just by placing a bunch of found items in the window!

The real flowers aren't usually blooming at this time of the year, the Dollar Store provided the ones you see in the galvanized watering can.  Spring came early and most of the Scandinavians in this part of the country are still pessimistically shaking our heads thinking it's not gonna last!  If you have listened to Garrison Keillor's Tales from Lake Wobegone, you know the reputation Norwegians get.  Let me tell you though, WE DO NOT TALK LIKE THE MOVIE FARGO!  I do eat Lefse however not lutefisk!

Several comments have come about the paper crafts I make. I play with lots of paper in my craft room, rick-rack, buttons, silk flowers; I cut scrapbook paper with scalloping scissors to make my own borders.   There are graphics on my Flickr link collected from all over the web.  

I have confessed before that I'm a crafting putzer; I finish a project, hang it up and then take it down and add another garnish (embellishment) when I think of something else later.  If you haven't had the opportunity to 'play' as a grown up, it's very enjoyable!  Try it.

And that, my friends, "is the rest of the story!"