Go Forth and Renew!

     This is my forte! Before the word "Maker" came into play in the crafting and arting world, the best way to name what I love to do most is "transmuting," because "altering" just wasn't enough to describe it.
     During the last few days of March and the first few of April I started making some gift tags.  Too often, the holdup on someone's gift is the creation of the perfect tag.  I knew I needed to make several to have on hand.  I found this great Dutch regional doll calendar at a thrift shop for a dollar, and its pages were the most wonderful heavy (about 120lb) cardstock.  My husband teases me about suffering from PTSD whenever he hears the sound of my tag punch from the nights I spent sitting on the bed punching scads of  tag bases while he slept next to me.

 Soon after I finished this project I checked the Swapper Spot and saw that I had inadvertently met this month's challenge! Of course though, in my mind it really didn't count, so I knew I had to create something else to officially be my April submission.

     I knew this was going to be especially difficult, as I have been spending the month preparing and coordinating long-distance with my sisters for the celebration of our parents' 50th wedding anniversary.  Throw in all the logistics involved with being a mother of 5, spring gardening, and baby chick raising, and I was not sure I would be able to accomplish this.  Probably not the most necessary, but a good excuse, was creating a dress for my daughter -- the only child accompanying me on my trip, to wear to the reception.  Dressing a 5'5" 11-yr old in age appropriate, modest clothing is a special challenge.  I could sew from scratch, but why do that when there is a wealth of resources waiting for me at the thrift shop?  She has a unique sense of style among the kids at school and wears my finds and creations proudly.  The green dress on the left fits her perfectly, but is a little too mature and a tad dated.  The dress on the right, modern, girly (not to mention the original $100 tag still on it), but definitely not Dad Approved (even with a little t-shirt under it, still way too short and bust enhancing). The finished product is not quite finished yet, but I still have 29 hours until I leave.

      The real accomplishment this month, and the most important...I have in my stash the remnants of the fabric from which my mother's prom dress was made.  It was there that she first saw my father. She had never seen him at school before and at first assumed that he was from the local prep school and was attending as someone's guest. At their wedding she carried a bouquet of yellow roses -- rather unconventional at the time as they symbolized jealousy (now they also mean friendship) but those were her favorite, so there!  It just made sense to create a rose from the fabric for her to wear this weekend.  The center is a stray ArtMode earring from the collection of costume jewelry I acquired from my mother-in-law.  I know that this touch is extra special, because my mom loved my MIL very much, and the letters and cards that she sent to her in the last years of her life brought my MIL much comfort and joy at a time when she suffered silently and kept her terminal condition to herself.

I wish you all a Happy Spring. Go forth and make something new again.