Archive for December, 2009:
Happy Holidays
Happy Holidays for the Sunflowers and Dragonflies Creative Designs design team.
We will be back in the New Year with more fun challenges.
Subscribe to the comments for this postFifth Avenue Floral Retirement Wishes
A long-time employee in my department is retiring this month, so I made her a card on behalf of my department. Barb is so well-loved, we managed to collect enough money to buy her a computer. I can’t wait to see her face when she opens up her present.
Watercoloured Rose.
Watercoloured day lily.
Stamps:Â SU Fifth Avenue Floral; Sentiment, Stampendous; Embellishments:Â clear glass beads and butterfly found in the wedding section at Hobby Lobby; leaves punched from Martha Stewart punch; Designer Paper, BasicGrey Porcelain
How the Poinsettia Became the Christmas Flower
Poinsettias are widely recognized as a Christmas flower. Although a modern tradition, the history of the Poinsettia dates back to the birth of Jesus, and to a little girl named Pepita.
Pepita was overjoyed with the news about the birth of Jesus. She was even happier when she was the one chosen from her village to present a gift to the newborn baby. Coming from a very poor home, Pepita was unable to present a gift of monetary value, so she picked a handful of weeds and carefully arranged them into a bouquet. Once she arrived to present her gift, her smile turned into sadness and tears, as she became embarrassed that all she had to offer was a simple bouquet of weeds. Her tears of sadness disappeared when she saw the bouquet turn a bright red once the weeds were lain on the ground. Another miracle from heaven.
When Joel Roberts Poinsett, spotted poinsettias growing in Mexico, he did not realize that he was looking at a plant that would be named after him. Joel Poinsett was the United State’s first ambassador to Mexico, and on his visit to Mexico, he saw the poinsettias in bloom during December. As a botanist and Southern plantation owner, he was intrigued with these beautiful flowers and brought them back to grow in his greenhouse.
The poinsettias flourished in his South Carolina so he decided to give his plants and seeds to his friends and family.
Although discovered by Joel Poinsett, the Poinsettia was not a Christmas tradition until Paul Ecke cultivated the plant in 1902. Albert Ecke and his family emigrated to Southern California from Germany, where they grew a variety of crops, including flowers. Albert Ecke and his family saw the Poinsettia growing wild in California and decided to raise them as fresh cut flowers.
After Albert Ecke’s death in 1920, his son, Paul Ecke Sr., assumed management of the company. Paul Ecke would look for interesting species and began to cross-breed to develop new species. In 1923, Paul Ecke Sr. relocated his business to Encinitas, California.
After relocating the Poinsettia became known as a Christmas flower, after the hard work that Paul Ecke did in introducing and advertising the flower. Paul Ecke Sr worked over 70 years breeding, growing and distributing his plants to nurseries.
Today, the tradition of the Poinsettia has caught on around the world. 75% of Poinsettias grown in the United States, and 50% of those in the entire world, came from the Paul Ecke Ranch.
Resources:
http://gardenofeaden.blogspot.com
SD Challenge 22: Spotlight Technique
Welcome to our 22nd challenge: Spotlight Technique. Today I used Lily and Milo.
This will be the last challenge for 2009, and we hope that you’ll play along for your chance to win the new fairy line of stamps.
Let’s see what Beth and Jennifer have for you today…
Beth used the Garland Fairy
Jennifer used the Garland Fairy
To be eligible for this weeks prize drawing, please post a direct link to your challenge project from either your blog or an online gallery to the Sunflowers and Dragonflies Blog, specifically on the Challenge #22 Blog Post, so we can view it. If you upload to an online gallery, please use the keyword SD22.
Have a happy holiday season!
Christmas Elf
Good morning. Here is another watercolour card I sold to a coworker.
Watercoloured with SU and Tombow markers.
Happy Holidays
Christmas in Frankenmuth
Once upon a time there was a teeny tiny dog who was lying in bed daydreaming about her mommy, Beth, and daddy, Donnie. She was dreaming that they travelled to Frankenmuth, Michigan with their dear friends, Vera and Chester.
Upon their arrival to the outlet mall, they stopped at Tony’s where the portions were fair, large, Paul Bunyon sized, where one waffel order would feed a family, and the omlets were made with alot one dozen (12) eggs. This made Donnie and Chester very sad because they had to finish everything off their plate or there wouldn’t be any dessert. Or so, mommy said anyways.
Vera was delighted to show the “side” of bacon that consisted of one pound of the stuff. Or was she delighted that the side of bacon was only $5 because a side of bacon in Canada consists of 3 strips of bacon for $5?
Snow started to miss her mommy and wished she could have travelled with her to the land…
where the Nutcrackers stood guard and watched
the polar bears roam free and…
the penguins dance and play in the snow
where they made snowmen all day.
Santa had his workshop
where all the elves were kept busy.
The magic of Christmas was starting to come alive.
The magic was a BIG thing for some 
The day was becoming long, and some of the penguins and other animals wanted to party. Everyone was allowed to bring one cup for beverages. Poor, Chester penguin, got very upset when his friend thought of something he didn’t…
and that was to bring one gigantic mug where few trips were needed to refill the spiked eggnog.
Snow then thought that her mommy and daddy had enough fun and play and needed her home. So in her dream she only let them make more stop–the famous Zehnder’s chicken dinner.
The end.
Tutorial Tuesdays will resume in January.
Christmas Fairy
Good Tuesday morning!
This Christmas fairy card was made for a girl at the office who asked me to make her an elegant Christmas card to send to Holland. This Stamps Happen image was watercoloured with SU and Tombow markers.
So, tell me, how are you handling the stress of the holiday season this year? Maybe your holidays are not stressful. I’d sure love to hear your tales.
I’ll share one of my tales with you. Before I wrote my post called Belsnickles and Mummers, Oh My! I never heard of a Belsnickle. Imagine my surprise when I look at my behind-the-scenes stats and found that many people are coming to my blog because they are googling “Belsnickles”. Go figure. Hopefully there are some stampers who will keep coming back.
Thoughts? Got holiday tales to share?
Snowflake hugs,
Beth
Merry Christmas Challenge Winner
congratulations
Dragonlady
please e-mail me your mailing address
scrapbook4ever@yahoo.ca
SD Challenge 21: Baby It’s Cold Outside
Baby it’s Cold Outside! One of my favourite Christmas songs, and is the theme for this week’s challenge. Think snowflakes, snowmen, Santa and his sleigh. Anything that you see outside in the cold is what we’d like to see this week. You can use any product you like. Of course, we would love to see Sunflowers and Dragonflies’ images, but if you don’t have one, use what you do have.
My card uses the Garland Fairy. Don’t you just love all that sparkle? Stickles were used to add glitter throughout my image. The fairy and lights were coloured with Prismacolor coloured pencil and painted with Twinkling H2O’s.
Let’s see what the team has for you this week:
Jennifer used the Christmas Fairy
Beth used the Christmas Fairy. We had trouble uploading her project so please take a look on Beth’s blog for the most adorable project. It involves a shovel.
Kim used the Christmas Fairy
This week’s prize
Christmas Fairy and Garland Fairy
For your chance to win our two new fairy images simply create a card or project with this week’s theme, talk about our challenge on your blog and link us to your project.
Winners of SD challenges are picked by Random.Org
Have a great week!
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