Category Archives: craftiness

Art cards are awesome!

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Art card sample
(this one’s for Sean as he is a ‘good egg’)
I was telling you about art cards in my previous post. At 2 pm today I gathered my materials and got to work. It took me a while just to get the cards the right size! I used pretty heavy duty ‘homemade’ paper with gold flecks in it. I also utilized one of my old picture books and cut neat ‘things’ from it. I’ve made 6 already! The first five had the same theme and I will reveal them to you after I share them with my pals. #6 is an old photo of my mom as the central theme. I’m still working on it. I’ll probably give it to her.
My creativity faded after a few hours, but I am excited to make more!

On an interesting note, I had posted names of people from my past and actually heard from a woman who I use to babysit in the 70s. She didn’t remember me. Actually her sister must have googled her own name and my post came up. Brian said what did I expect, the last time they saw me they were like 7 and 4. ; )

So sorry to hear about Anna Nicole Smith. I’m curious to see what happened and hope it wasn’t drug related. We stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel in Orlando almost 2 yrs ago and just can’t think of anyone going there to do themselves in. I feel bad for the little 5 month of girl she left behind.

Oh my mama

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To me you are so wonderful and confusing. My mom is a really lovely woman, but the way she is living right now is very upsetting to me. She loses things like crazy. Early last year it was her cellphone. She swore she left it in my car. Jim, her boarder found it this week under the sofa in the living room. He looked there because my mom misplaced a big bundle of money-and I mean a big bundle! It was my uncle’s stash moola that he told her to get out of his house when he was in the hospital during the summer. Well mom would borrow from it, put money back and now can’t find it. She had a miserable cold to begin with and now she is making herself mentally frustrated. She is definitely bi-polar either really up or really down. I asked if she wanted me to come clean and she said no as she was up until 4 am looking for it. I think she put it somewhere else and forget where she put it. Her vacuum has been broken for almost a month and so that means her house needs attention that way. I have to get her a new one. I can’t live her life, I do what I can to help, when I can, but it’s hard to clean her kitchen for 3 hours and go back a few weeks later and see it in bad shape again. She’ll be 77 in September, so I don’t know if she is able to stay in her big house too much longer. She can’t part with her ‘stuff’ and there is a lot of it.

On to more calming things-my pals over at tribe are artsy folks. We are going to do a few more projects together. The next one will be an Art card trade. These little cards are 2.5″ x 3.5″. They’re rather small, but you have to think in a ‘big’ way I guess. I was reading up on them. I have to make 3 and then I will get three back that are total surprises. I won’t say much about what I’m thinking of doing in case anyone on tribe reads my blog, but I have some neat old books I’ll probably be utilizing for this project. We still have to make a St. Paddy’s day poem (original) to hang up. We all get our turns to chose what to do. My choice was for Valentine’s Day. I found 4-5″ foam letters for the letter of each gals first name (one was wooden as I forgot her the day I was buying them & found the wooden one at Target) and decorated them with ribbon and 3D items. Each recipient got a handmade Valentine that the original poem was glued to. We have one male in the group and he got a decorated card. My verse for him said that may his true love be standing before him on this day without him knowing until this very day. Like meeting your true love on Valentine’s Day. What could be more romantic?

It’s still windy and bitter cold. I am running down to Big Lots for a few things that I need and forgot to get at the store. I’m hoping they still have the string or better yet hemp!

Cold doesn’t describe our weather

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Worry wart!It’s just brutal outside. I am a worry wart when it comes to my guys dressing warmly, especially since Sean has to walk around a college campus and Bri is in and out of his car a lot for his job. I worry about the heat or electric going out, the pipes freezing, the cars not starting. Bri went out and started my 11 yr old van tonight and it started on the first try. Glad we had it worked on this past year.

Not much new. A different thing I did was to crochet a string shopping bag last night from a ball of $1.00 heavy weight string. Unfortunately I ran out of string and it’s only half completed or I’d have finished it to share with you. You are suppose to use hemp, but where do I get that? People think you are talking about something you smoke, if you get my drift. I’ll share a photo of it when I am finished. (My inspiration-Ed Begley, Jr the actor has a HGtv ‘reality’ program that I caught last night and he doesn’t like to use paper or plastic and has canvas bags for his groceries). I have the crochet pattern a day calendars from the last few years and that was one of the days. I was making slippers, but tore them out as I wanted to make them for Tori my niece, not me.

I enjoyed the InStyle celebrity wedding show tonight. I love to see the gowns and the flowers of those with big pocketbooks.

Wish me luck at the dentist tomorrow. : ) I’ll probably mail things also as I spent some time getting about 4 things ready to mail.

Stay warm!

From a quiz I just took:

As a worry wart, feeling anxious about the future is “second nature” to you.

Worrying is not always bad. To a certain degree, it is healthy to fret about things to come…

But worrying has to be put into perspective. Too much is anti-productive…and unnecessary.

How to quit this habit? Live in the present moment. Set aside time to meditate. Strengthen your personal faith. Develop a few strategies for peace of mind.

A scavenger hunt

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It was frigid on Saturday with just a wee bit of snow, but nothing like it’s suppose to get in the next few days. Rats-I still have to go to the dentist on Tuesday to get my crown fitted.I’ve been occupying my ‘free time’ this weekend with trying some of the paper collaging techniques I’ve been admiring on the artsy blogs I’ve been visiting. I made something today that I can’t share until the recipient gets it. I had so much fun making it. I did use some new papers that I found at Big Lots on Friday. Gotta love a variety of pretty scraps in a sack for 80¢! My pal on tribe is into paper crafting and I sent her a package of paper goodies. A few other pals will eventually get some ‘stuff’ too. I do love sending packages! So the Scavenger hunt is all taken care of-I have the seven things that I will send my bloggy partner.Here’s what they are and I won’t say exactly what they are until my partner gets the package:

1-a local newspaper

2-seeds or a plant

3-a photo of my yard facing east (I actually had one from last spring) and in a frame

4-a recipe with 3 eggs

5-a spoon

6-something yellow or with yellow in it

7-something 3″ but no bigger than 8″.

Fun! I’m putting the things together in such a way to make them ‘interconnect’. You’ll understand when you see a photo-promise!

Keep my pal P in your thoughts, she lost her estranged dad on Friday. My mom has a dreadful cold. I wish she would at least take vitamins to boost herself up. Bri’s dad had a tooth extraction last Monday which left him feverish and not feeling well. My uncle continues to rest in the nursing home after having his hip surgery going on 3 weeks ago. He gets to see his wife more ofen as she’s in the same facility!

I’m making Rachael Ray’s winter chicken stew for dinner tonight. The topping-Italian parsley, toasted pine nuts and grated lemon peel. You give the stew a splash of lemon juice when you serve it. It was really tasty! Rachael Ray’s Chicken Winter Stew

I may do the package bread mix for sourdough to go with it. We’ve been eating a lot of yeasty stuff-I went through Dunkin’ Donuts yesterday. Didn’t break any rules-just wanted a few donuts which I haven’t had in ages. I pretend I live in Alaska where it’s okay to pack on a few pounds in the winter for warmth. Seems the right thing to do in this kind of weather. 😉

Ann-I did change the font and color and we have the same template! The print is a little small-this is a test post.

Sharing heARTS

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Inspired by Pea/Carole (over on the side bar)  and Sandy I decided to join the Valentine’s Day giveaway contest that so many artsy bloggers are participating in. I found this cute little accordian-pleated ‘brag book’ (about 4″ x 7″ with 12 sides) and a little porcelain angel as my giveaway. I made a new cover for the book using nice paper and stickers. There is a pink ribbon with some charms strung through the side there-that will be your surprise! I will also burn you a CD of a variety of my collages that you can make into cards or use as computer wallpaper. I’ll share my Valentine’s Day one tomorrow. The Harrison Ford design is a collage. So here’s what you do-I hope to get more than 3 comments-say something sweet-with Valentine’s Day in mind in my comments. I’ll give you until midnight SUNDAY (changed in hopes that more people will sign  my comments) and announce the winner Monday morning. You have to of course feel comfortable giving me your address. That’s it! Good luck!
Your goodies if you win!

Definitely cabin fever…

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…and hormones. It truly stinks to be my age, I’ll tell you. My weekend is a waste as I’m not up to par from lack of sleep. That happens a lot and it’s not unusual for us older chicks. I’m trying to get crafting on my mind. There’s something that is on my Kirigami calendar that I want to make, but do you think I can find my stash of watercolor paper? Do you believe in praying to St. Anthony to help you find something?

Brian was telling Sean he’s going to miss him when he goes to State College. It’s something I don’t want to think about until a month or so before it actually happens. If he keeps it up for 8 months, he’ll drive us both crazy.

Got a goodie in the mail-a camera case for our new camera from an eBay seller (good price). It’s a Samsonite and really nice-everything fits but it’s a bit weighty. Now I can go ‘walk it off’, whatever it is, at Longwood Gardens and other places around here. I don’t mind going alone sometimes. I figure if I go enough, I’ll get to know people at the gardens.
Darn-I forgot all about Photo Hunt this week. I may surprise ya later after my nap.
Back to looking…or sleeping.

St Anthony

St. Anthony of Padua
Patron Saint of Lost Items

Dianne, Dianne look around.
Something’s lost and must be found.
I’m praying that you find what you’re looking for.

Stitching WIP

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I’m long overdue showing you some stitching projects. I’ve only worked on the little boy making a snow angel  (Giggles in the Snow by Mirabilia) and the pink  flower blossom (for a charity quilt). The other things are the finished half of an ornament featured in the JCS Ornie magazine and Cape May by Valentine Stitchery. I plan to work on the later tomorrow. Hope to get the house round robin project soon from Rachael to work on and then it will be that and the bee and pink flower for the next few months. I just added the legs to the bee that is on the blossom as I needed a break from the pink.
Not much new-just cold and windy. I did make 6 Valentines today for my pals over at tribe.net. I forgot to take photos of them. We’ve been sending each other mailart since October ’06.  We have a new particpant-a guy. I had a little trouble with his Valentine as I don’t usually do cards like that for other guys. : )
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Sitting here anxious

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I’ve heard nothing about my uncle’s operation. The poor man (he’ll be 84 in June) has been through so much this past year. He’s got a lot of spunk like his mom did.

~Update-My uncle had his operation about 2 this afternoon. Looks like he’ll have to go in the rehab home again which cost him so much. Mom said he sounded ok, but groggy.

I did take a photo of my acquired JoAnn goodies:
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I especially like the trees with the button and spools for bases. They aren’t straight up and down, but that adds to the cuteness of them. The other things are basically natural looking ornaments.

Sean went back to classes today. He only has to get up early 3 days out of 5-smart thinking. His first class is at 1. He’s a little nervous, but he’ll get back in the groove again.

Photo Hunt-Technology

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PSHunt
Grab the Scavenger Hunt code.Photo Theme. Join the blogroll. Visit participants.

 


Snowflake tech
So what am I saying here? Well you can go to that neat snowflake website and make them electronically or you can get a Origami book and paper (or a day to day calendar-that’s where the purple designs came from) and get the tactile pleasure of cutting out your own snowflakes! Each has their advantages and disadvantages and I like them both but I have more memories of non-tech snowflakes especially making some lately with my 7.5 yr old niece.