Almost gone

We are in the process of closing our stamp business. Our stamps are almost all sold out, so get them while you still can!

Last night's rainbow - Free Download

 

The photo below is what the download will look like.

 

The rainbow & sky last night was amazing. I couldn't resist running up the hill to get a shot of the rainbow next to the Oquirrh Mountain LDS temple. CLICK HERE to download a high resolution copy FREE! Be sure to right click (PC) or command click (MAC) to save to desktop. You can upload the file to places like Wal-Marts photo center and have it printed on a 12" x 18" poster for pretty inexpensive.

Please note: you are welcome to post about this & use the photo on your blog and other social media, but please link to my blog. Thank you! Photo ©2013 Holly Brooke Jones. For personal use only. Not for re-sale.

If you are interested in some of my temple illustrations, please visit my Etsy shop.

Memorial Day

This is the first memorial day without my sister. I'm missing her lots today!

 

Camping in San Diego

We headed down to San Diego for a few days with my mom, my sister, and her family.

We've never been camping on the beach and thought it would be fun to try. It was fun. The campground we stayed at had some nice swimming pools and hot tubs. It also had a playground. Plus it was right on the San Diego Bay.

There was a wild bachelor party with lots of drunk guys in attendance that happened 2 feet from our tent. It went on until 3:30 AM Sunday morning. then we listened to what seemed like a synchronized chorus of loud snoring the rest of the night. Other than that incident, I'd highly recommend camping on the beach.

 

During the day, the girls had fun exploring Balboa park with their cousins.

Old Town San Diego was one of my favorite spots. I just loved these stairs.

We played at the beach.

Lily loved the street performers.

 

It ended up being a really fun road trip!

Happy Mother's Day

Lily: Mom, I'm going to make you a dress and a sweater for Mother's day.
Me: Fun! What are you going to make them out of?
Lily: Plastic sacks. But... uhhh... you might want to wear clothes under them, because they might kick you out of church if you don't.

So, for obvious reasons I won't be sharing a picture of the dress my youngest daughter made for me, but here's a picture of the hot pad my oldest daughter made for me. 

Happy Mother's Day!

 

Flower Flakes on Utah's Studio 5

Thank you to Studio 5 for letting me share my flower flakes tutorial with their viewers today. If you missed it, you can find a step by step tutorial below.

Instructions for making Paper Flower-Flakes

 

I'm headed to Studio 5 tomorrow to show how to make these 3-D paper Flower-flakes. They would look lovely as a surprise on your Mother's front door for Mother's Day. They would also make fabulous party decorations. If you can make a traditional six sided snowflake, you can easily make these flowers. Just follow the steps below.

Step 1- Start with an 8.5" x 11" sheet of paper (non-card-stock). Fold one corner of the piece of paper down. Cut off the bottom portion to make a triangle. When using larger butcher paper, start by cutting it into a square, then fold it in half.

Step 2- Temporarily bring the two corners of the base of the triangle together to find the center point of the longest side. Make a small crease at the center point.

Step 3- Use the center point to divide the triangle into three equal parts. Fold the right corner in at a 60° angle. Then fold the left corner in back at a 60° angle.

Step 4- Fold the paper in half.

Step 5- Cut the upper portion along the horizontal line. Round the edges as shown below for a floral look.

Step 6- Use scissors to cut some designs into your flower. See below for some ideas.

Step 7- Carefully unfold your flower and flatten it out with your fingers. Use an iron for base flowers. Leave the smaller flowers for layering with folds in it for more dimension.

Step 8- Use a glue gun to adhere the smaller flower to the larger base flower.


Step 9- With a round circle punch, punch some centers for the flowers. You can cut circles if you don’t have a circle punch. Adhere them to the center of the flower using a hot glue gun.


Step 10- Make leaves by folding a piece of paper in half, and cutting out a half leaf.

Step 11- Use tacky putty to adhere flowers to doors, walls, & etc.

Have fun experimenting with different designs and see what you come up with.  Use jewels, glitter, & sequins to make the centers pop. Play with color combinations & sizes. The possibilities are endless.



Tips-
• Using hot glue, layer smaller flowers on top of larger flowers to add dimension.
• Use a roll of butcher paper to make a larger flower.
• Add glitter or patterned paper to add pizzazz in the center of the flowers.
• Iron the flowers or leave them folded for different effects.
• Use thin paper. Cardstock is too thick to cut when folded many times.
• Use tacky putty to safely adhere flowers to your Mother’s door to brighten her day.
• Flowers also make great decorations for birthday parties and photo-shoot backdrops.

Pretty Cardigan

I have a few left over clothes from my boutique last night. Including the leggins ($14 shipping included) and cardigan ($16 shipping included) shown below. Head over to Instagram if you are interested in making a purchase. All clothing is New with Tags.

 

Mother's Day Flower Flakes

My kids and I had fun making these paper flowers (flower flakes) for mother's day. We made them the same way you make a six sided snowflake. Instead of pointed edges we rounded them to make them more flower like. We also layered smaller ones on top of the bigger flowers to give them some dimension. My daughter couldn't wait until Mother's Day to hang them on my mom's front door, so we did it tonight.

 

Who knew that my daughter's dress matched? She thought it was a fun coincidence.

These were so fun to make. Such an easy, cute, & inexpensive way to celebrate Mother's Day!

Snow in May

 

It has been the coldest winter ever. It's a good thing I think snow is pretty.