Roses and Forget-me-nots mandala to color

Sorry I didn't take the time to color in an example. I do hope you enjoy this simple mandala to color for Valentine's Day!

The image above is the small jpg version, the one below is the larger transparent PNG. Click on the images for larger versions to print and color.

June Birthstone and Flower Mandala

Happy Birthday to people born in June!
The birthstone for June is pearls, and the flower is the rose. I think it's safe to say that most people, even if their birthday is not in June would be happy with pearls and roses! June is the only month with a birthstone that isn't actually a stone, and there are a lot of kinds of roses. It was a hard choice what kind of rose to draw, but I'm pretty happy with this one. It was June which inspired the birthstone and flower series of mandalas after I drew this one last year.

The Birthstone and Flower series of Mandalas

Click the images for larger versions of the mandala to print and color.

Small JPG version-

Large transparent PNG version:

Wild Rose Simple Syrup

Remember 10 Rose Recipes I Want to Try?

The thing I wanted to try most was making a rose flavored simple syrup to mix into carbonated water to make rose soda. Yes. Rose soda. Roses have a lovely flavor and scent, and with summer, it seemed like a nice variation.

My son and daughter went out and picked rose petals for me. You will need to have roses that don't have disgusting chemicals on them. I know the ones they picked are not sprayed with anything and don't have fertilizers used on them (my own garden, I use organic fertilizer and compost on.)

They could only get a cup and a half of petals. Which is just enough for 16 oz of rose flavored simple syrup.

Isn't that gorgeous?  No artificial coloring.

You will need:

• 1 part rose petals- firmly packed
• 1 part water
• 1 part sugar- white sugar maintains the color best
• lemon juice
• pan
• potato masher or large spoon
• bowl
• strainer (small enough to fit in the bowl)
• warm, clean, sterile jar
• canning funnel

I used 1.5 cups of rose petals, water and sugar and 2 Tablespoons of lemon juice to make 16 oz of syrup.

Put the rose petals in a pan and bruise them with a spoon or potato masher. Pour the water over the rose petals and bring to a boil. Turn down and cover the pan and simmer for an hour. Take it off the heat and let it set overnight.

Put the strainer over the bowl and strain out the petals. Squeeze out the mass of petals to get as much of the floral water out of them as you can. The petals will be translucent and white, they would probably be wonderful to use in a paper pulp for casting and are still lightly scented.

Pour the liquid back into the pan, and add the sugar. I used C&H Baker's Sugar which is a cane sugar that's very fine. Heat up, but don't boil! You want to heat it gently so you don't destroy the delicate flavor oils. Dissolve the sugar completely in the mixture.

I kept my jar in the water I sterilized it in to keep it warm. Pour the sugar rose water in the jar. It's still just light brown. So now it's time for the fun "seems like magic" part.
Stir in the lemon juice.
The light, pale, barely brewed tea color changes as you mix in the lemon juice to the gorgeous rose color shown above.
I didn't seal the jar, just let it cool and put it in the fridge for immediate use.

To make rose flavored soda- put 2 Tablespoons of simple rose syrup into a tall glass. Pour 12 oz of carbonated water over the syrup and stir gently. Add ice and rose petals to serve.

My daughter wants to try it over vanilla ice cream and over lemon sherbet, the delicate rose flavor is just lovely.

10 Rose Recipes I Want to Try

I love the delicate floral flavor of roses, and fortunately, the wooded area right by my house has lots of wild roses that haven't been touched with pesticides or fertilizers. My husband and son keep saying they will plant some in front of the house. Hopefully soon!
Prickly roses grow very well here and are used in all sorts of recipes.

University of Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service has this PDF available for free download- Wild Roses- in that, you'll find recipes for:

Rose Petal Jelly- which is used as an ingredient in another recipe I want to try
Rose Petal Tisane (herbal drink)
Rose Hip Jelly- where rose petals have a floral taste, much like how roses smell, rose hips are tart and super high in various vitamins.
It also explains how to extract the juice to freeze for future cooking.


Storybook Woods has this recipe for rose syrup. A rose syrup can be used much the same way as simple syrups in recipes to add a great rose flavor. I also want to try it as a caffeinated soda.


Desert Candy has this rose jam tartlet with cream topping for finished rose petal jam or jelly. Yum!


The Nerdy Farmwife has a recipe for hard candy/throat drops - Rose-Petal Peppermint Drops - I probably would use something other than peppermint so the rose flavor would take center stage.


Boulder Locavore has a recipe for Rose Vanilla Ice Cream with Candied Rose Petals

Only Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini has a recipe for rose Turkish Delight (lokum)

Weekend Bakery has a recipe for Rose Tea Shortbread

Casa Dragones has a recipe for rose meringues with summer berries, goat yogurt rose mousse and raspberry sorbet (age verification required, but the recipe doesn't call for tequila)

I've posted lots of photos of that wooded lot in the winter, all snowy. This is what part of it looks like in the summer. Birch, spruce and cottonwood mostly in there. We do nearly all our grilling with locally sourced birchwood. Meaning trees our neighbors get permission from the city to cut down. Everything tastes so good cooked that way!

Rose and Pearls Mandala

Roses are the birth flower for June and pearls are the birthstone. Today I thought "Wouldn't it be fun to do a mandala for each month that could also be used as an embroidery pattern?" Too bad I didn't think of it in January!  The rose is based in part off of heraldic roses.
I colored it blue because blue is an unnatural color for roses, and has come to mean "Mystery or impossible things" and because blue roses are referred to in Metal Gear Solid 4 and my daughter loves the Metal Gear games. So much so that people were randomly yelling "SNAKE!" in my dreams at one point.

Click on the images for larger versions.
Small JPG version:

Large transparent PNG version:

Fan Boxes

I completely forgot to post the fan boxes! Based on the same art that I drew for these fan coloring pages.

Click for larger versions, print on card stock, cut, score, fold, glue.

Western Shirt Box

Western style shirts, with pearl snaps and smile pockets are just full of awesome aren't they? There isn't a chance in heck that my darling husband will ever wear one, but they are wonderful. I hope you enjoy this box. 3x3x1, click on the image for the larger version. Cut, score, fold, glue!

A couple other western themed printables.

Rose boxes

Boxes to match the rulers I posted yesterday. Click on the images for the full sized versions. Handy for paper clips and other little odds and ends! Print on card stock, cut, score, fold, glue together. 

Spoonflower Fabric Swatches

I recently got swatches of a bunch of fabrics, and I did put them all up for sale after getting the swatches. A couple of these I designed with specific plans for the fabrics. Others were just for fun. Designs can be resized on Spoonflower after they are in your shopping cart. Click edit on the item in the shopping cart to edit the size it prints out at. It needs to be a minimum of 150 ppi, so if a design is at 300 ppi or more you can make it bigger, if it's at 150 ppi, resizing it  to print in a smaller size will mean they print it at a higher and better ppi.

This one was actually not an 8x8 swatch. It's a fat quarter, and 4 dolls are on one fat quarter at 300 ppi, so if you resize it to 150 ppi, you get 4 dolls on one yard. The little medallions I thought could be used on hair clips or with the dot background to make headbands and such. 

Inspired by 50s wall paper. I really like this design for a possible purse. 

This WILL be a purse. I'm planning to order the fabric for the purse next month. I really like this design, my son helped me with the colors on it. 

Bright and cheerful. This is one of my daughter's favorite designs but she hasn't decided what she wants to make with it yet.

This was just for fun. It's circus-y looking isn't it?

Tessellated ice cream cones. I have 2 of these, this is the smaller design and I think I like the curves a little better than the other one.

The larger design. Yum yum!

I already had this design in black and white, but I wanted to see how it looked in pink and white. I prefer the pink and will use this for an apron.

You can find my fabrics at Spoonflower here. 

Rose Embroidery Patterns

These can either be used as coloring pages or embroidery patterns.
Click on the images for the full sized versions. Print at 100 ppi.

Fairy Parties review and Wild Rose printable box

I recently got Fairy Parties by Colleen Mullaney to review.
A lot of girls go through a fairy phase. I'm not sure I ever actually got out of it. This book is all about creating a perfect fairy themed party .The introduction is only a couple of pages, explaining the basics and a bit of the history of fairies. The chapters are separated by fairy types and the instructions and recipes are planned for a party of 6 girls. The range of fairy types should suit any girl who loves fairies.It's not all pink and froth or wild woods, there are some great variations and ideas.
Each chapter has costume instructions including a skirt, a top,decorated shoes and a wand. The chapters also have game suggestions, a craft or two, and recipes to fit the theme.
The first chapter, Fairy Sweet is a confection of pink, froth and so very feminine. The drink is a pink punch decorated with sparkling pink decorator's sugar and the costumes are very flowery.
The second theme is Sugar Plum Fairies, a purple theme with fruity drinks and tarts and a lot of sparkle.
Rainbow Flower Fairies is a multicolor summery party, and where the first two chapters had decorated ballet slippers, this one has decorated sneaker type shoes to suit a garden theme. Fruit kabobs and rainbow parfaits, it's a very colorful party.
Fairies Rock is for the Diva Fairy. Think rhinestones and hot pink, feather boas wands and stylish elastic headbands. If Fairy Sweet would thrill your average 5 year old, this one suits older girls. The foods include pizza purses and a pomegranate punch.
The last theme is Woodland Fairies. This one is my favorite, and I'm going to adapt some of the ideas adult sized for going to this years Renaissance Fair. It's a good party for outdoorsy girls, and like the Fairies Rock theme, appropriate for girls who are in the tween set. Flower crowns and bare feet with ankles wrapped in ribbons and flowers. The foods are pizza, strawberry punch and a trail mix.
The final chapters are a collection of fairy themed crafts and one with more games. Some of the crafts can be done by girls with some adult supervision, but most of them are better done by adults to set up for the party. There are only a few games, but they include instructions for setting up a maypole for little fairies to dance around.
You can get Fairy Parties from Chronicle Books or from Amazon.The Amazon link is an affiliate link and helps pay some of the costs of maintaining this site.

Another 100 ppi 3x3x1" box. I'm playing with a couple effects and really liked the thorny look so I put a couple wild roses on it and put it on a box. I hope you like it too.

Rose and Skull Bracelet

Pattern by request. If anyone makes it up, I'd love to see a picture! Click on the image for the full sized pattern. Tilt head to your right to see it properly.