On my walk today

"It's not what you look at that matters," said Henry David Thoreau, "it's what you see."

Some of us open our eyes to the beauty of the everyday

and find it miraculous.

Here's what I saw on my walk and errands today. 

What can you see where you live and love?

City or country, frozen still or springing to life, there is something wonderful wherever we are.

There is sky for us all everyday- what a miracle! 

And people and smells and weather wherever we are.

Just outside the studio door are the flowers I planted in late fall. 

Reasons for gratitude, something to enjoy.

Be kind & blog giveaway announcement...

I'm often asked how I come up with my images, and I usually say, "the whole world is overflowing with inspiration, but this one I literally dreamed up.

As in woke up with a picture in my head, then scissored it out in the morning.

Ladene, who commented on my post about a crafty art purse using Spellbinders dies, 

I've been trying unsuccessfully to reach you. If you will contact me right away, I'll tell you how to redeem your prize. Congrats!

Spring yellow

I know everyone thinks of spring color being green.

And it's true. Leaves in spring are an amazing chartreuse but for me the color that heralds spring is yellow.

As in daffodils.

My garden, my neighborhood rejoice in yellow every March.

It's like a signal for everyone saying "COME OUTSIDE! The garden is calling you!"

Yellow shows up in birdhouses and moss,

in the middle of flowers as an attraction for the bees.

Yellow as in the dreaded dandelion (which I kind of can't resist loving when they're this cheerful!)

Spring, I'm so glad to see you.

Winter felt like it was going to linger forever and then suddenly here you are and we are all awash in that happiest of spring colors:

YELLOW!

Little portraits

I've always loved to snip little portraits. 

So when I was cutting a friend's children out I couldn't resist the extra fun of 

adding their silhouettes to this tiny Spellbinders shadow box. 

The die that cuts the box is super fast and easy and comes with all the tiny flowers shown.

I had so much fun cutting them out in England last June, sheep grazing beside me as my little scissors snipped out the little wildflowers. And now they're available as a crafting die to cut lickety split.

Outside the studio windows the garden is coming to life and daffodils are blooming down the road. Springtime!

It feels like the perfect time to make fun little things like these tiny boxes with portraits tucked alongside the flowers.

Blog hop - Make a Child's Art Purse

One of the pleasures of being an artist is having the most imaginative friends. 

And one of mine is Tammy Tutterow, who designed this sweet die produced by Spellbinders Paper Arts, the company who makes my crafting dies, too. (And yippee, you can order my new Flower Garden collection here- it's shipping out, too!)

Today I'm sharing a blog hop to celebrate Tammy's new spring die collection.

I couldn't resist using it to make a child's art supply purse. It was fast and easy, simply cutting out the pieces from felt and arranging them to please me. I cut extra pieces for a gusset on the sides and bottom and stitched it all up on my little Singer Featherweight sewing machine.

Layering bits over top of bits, embellishing with whimsical embroidery just because it's fun...

I stitched little pockets into the middle to hold stickers, glue stick, and other crafty goodies to delight my favorite four year old. On the back I added little pockets for crayons and markers and decorated with ribbon and more embroidered felt flowers.

I filled it with coloring sheets, stickers and glue sticks, glitter glue, washi tape and markers.

I think my sweet little friend will love this.

Wouldn't you love to win a $25 gift certificate to spend on Spellbinders' crafting dies? It's easy!
Just leave a comment for me here by Sunday, March 18. I'll announce the winner Monday morning.
Fingers crossed it's YOU!!!

For more Spellbinders die cutting crafty fun, hop over here to read the next blog in the hop or here for all the posts on Spellbinders Paper Arts blog.

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A drumroll for the winner!

Drumroll, please!!!

The winner of the Spellbinders Blog Hop giveaway this month is Bee Jay!

Bee Jay, please contact me or Spellbinders right away. Please email socialmedia@spellbinders.us by 02/18/18 with the subject line Spellbinders February 2018 Blog Hop winner from Sharyn Sowell's blog.

Congratulations, Bee Jay!

Living valentine

Last year Mr. Wonderful and I took a romantic trip to England. And you know I had scissors and paper in my pocket!

Some of my cut paper became Spellbinders crafting dies- a new collection called Sharyn Sowell Flower Garden (click here to see the collection)

The Flower Garden collection is about to ship, and we're celebrating with a blog hop today...

so I thought I'd give you the inside scoop and show you a valentine made from some of the dies.

The Cotswolds are like the best old storybooks come to life.

Endlessly inspirational.

And it was so much fun to bring those flowers to life as hand cut paper, then watch Spellbinders turn them into crafting dies for paper, fabric and more.

I used the bird topiary die and the swallow and heart die from Spellbinders Joyous Celebrations collection for the birds and florals and lettered a bit with a dip pen and liquid watercolor.

Crafting dies make it easy to reproduce the hand cut paper and make romantic pieces of your own...

Maybe wedding or valentine or party decorations, cards or felted crafts...

Ready to hop to my friend Debi Adams' blog? Click here!

Time for Swedish fika (and scissors!)

Winter is my favorite time to cosy up and create. There's a lot of sipping and snacking involved these days. My grandma, a beautiful Swedish artist with a gift for baking called this "fika."

Long quiet hours with the soft sound of scissors snipping and rain beating on the window panes are the hallmark of the winter months. Tiny bits of black paper pepper the floor and half-finished work covers every surface. 

But that's not all. 

I celebrate the joy of winter by snuggling in with paper and scissors and endless cups of tea... 

and that's been about all I've wanted to do for months.

True to my Scandinavian roots, candles and that most delightful of all Swedish rituals, fika is a daily must. We stop for coffee or tea and a snack of muffins or fruit or crackers and cheese every afternoon... because this is how we turn the long dark days of a wet northern winter into the season of comfortable delight.

Spring is just around the corner, friends. But for now, pour yourself a cup of something delicious and get the creative mojo flowing. 

Celebrate winter the Scandinavian way!

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