SOS136: cabin fever

i fully realize that compared to northern canada-- or, for that matter, even new england and parts of upstate new york-- a new jersey winter is not especially harsh. even this year's higher-than-usual ratio of snow days has been quite mild, compared to more northerly climes. additionally, we are lucky enough to live in a fairly populous suburban area, where the roads are plowed quite quickly, and weather-based inconvenience is definitely at the lower end of the scale. having said all of that, and with complete cognizance of what a spoiled brat i am, i still have to tell you, in confidence,

holy moly 

i am SOOOOOOO 

flippin' OVER winter, 

already!!!!!

thank you for listening. 

i feel better now. :) 

if you are similarly beaten down by the cares and heartaches of not having been outside to play in far too long, why not join us this week at shopping our stash for a little challenge we like to call, "cabin fever" for which we'd like to see you make anything with an outdoorsy vibe. you can do snowy trees and frozen lakes*, of course, if you're into it. or indulge your warm weather fantasies, with beaches, gardens, meadows... whatever you like! i decided to branch out (ok, sorry, worst pun ever!) by re-creating one of my favorite sights of spring: lovely birds in a tree full of leaves and flowers!

(vintage: book paper and oriole illustration; very very old pale green patterned paper: crate; copper metallic cardstock: the paper cobrads: oriental trading; dogwood flowers: off a silk-flower branch from michaels; spray inks: tattered angels, mister huey's mist, smooch spritz; leaf mask: heidi swapp; adhesives: scotch gluestick, staples brand gluetape runner, 3m foam tape, sewing machine)

i only realized as i sat down to type this how few commercial products i've used here, but i've definitely tapped plenty of vintage-based stash! i spent a pleasant half hour over the weekend playing with masks and inks on vintage dictionary pages; i fussy cut a pair of baltimore orioles; i did a little machine stitching; and then i called it a night.

each and every week, olympic gold-medal-winning levels of usin'-up stuff is being performed by my lovely SOS dt-mates. why not cruise over to shopping our stash and observe this phenomenon? ciao for now, darlings! ♥

*afterall, BY FAR the best place for that sort of thing is ON CARDS, am i right?!!