Signs of spring-Flickr Photo of the Week.

Welcome, originally uploaded by blockpartypress.

We were complaining this week because Spring keeps tempting us then disappointing us. We have a reasonably nice day, followed by a day of cold, snow, or rain. Even here in Idaho there are definitely some signs of Spring, little green shoots promising Spring flowers and grass (when the snow is gone and you can see it) that is slowly turning from brown to brownish-green. I haven't noticed buds on any of my trees like the ones in this great photo from Blockpartypress. Blockpartypress is one of my Flickr contacts who also has a blog and an Etsy shop .
Here are some excerpts from her profile on Etsy:

"As with many artists, I have been drawing and making things for as long as I can remember. Sometimes my brain overflows with more ideas than my hands and my
wallet can keep up with. I love texture, patterns, contrast, color (especially red, white & black and any pastel color paired with chocolate brown). For fun, I love creating art with recycled items(trash). I am
self-taught through much trial and error and a SAHM of 2 boys, although I guess I am a WAHM now. I hope you enjoy my creations, as much as I enjoyed creating
them!"
"I finally found a way to combine many of my creative interests into one area. I love to use hand carved stamps (blocks, hence the Block Party title) to create amazing
texture with polymer clay. I then further bring out the
texture with acrylic paints. You will find many things in my shop, from jewelry to magnets and ACEO's. In 2008 you can look for more home decor and wall art."

I've dabbled in polymer clay and I have to say I didn't create anything that even closely resembled her beautiful work. The textures and colors are amazing and I encourage you to take a look.

As far as my own crafting, I gave the little orange and beige patchwork bag to a friend today and she seemed thrilled. I'm plugging away at the Moderne Baby Blanket (in spite of some reverse progress when I had to frog about 4" a few days ago).
This project does seem to go on forever, although I really only work on it about an hour a day at this point. Finally, I've cut pieces to make a couple of zippered wristlets, one of which is destined for my swap partner for the Bag Ladies Swap (Flickr group).