Charm Exchange/Bracelet

Has it really been this long since I posted? I've been busy, but I'm going to try to post more regularly. So as busy as I've felt I couldn't pass up this charm exchange with an online group I belong to. We had to make charms using blue, white, or crystal beads or findings. There we 36 in our group, sounds like alot of charms to make but once you get going it goes pretty fast. I got my package of all the charms Monday and immediately made a charm bracelet. Lots of rattling charms! Love it! Can't wait for the next exchange!

Baby Norah

I joined a colored pencil drawing class last year. I had seen this teacher at art shows and saw that she offered classes, but her work was so wonderful and I can't draw too well, so I thought it was something I wouldn't be able to do. My friend signed up for a class and was enjoying it so I thought I'd give it a try. I decided to draw my granddaughter, Norah, from a picture I had taken that summer at the beach. It took awhile to finish it, and ALOT of help from the teacher, but I finally finished it and love it!

Hearts Nature Made

I have a strawberry plant that produces only a few straw-berries. If the squirrels don't get them first I've tasted them and they are very tender and sweet. I collect things in heart shape made by nature like last month I collected rocks along Lake Michigan shore in the shape of hearts. Much to my surprise this little stawberr bush grew a little heart shaped strawberry! Cute!

Every year our family spends a long weekend in Michigan on the beach at my daughter's house. For the last couple of years I have brought a craft of some type for my nine grandchildren to do. It's great when the weather isn't desirable to go to the beach. This year I wasn't sure if what I chose as the craft would be something they would want to do. I kept it a secret until the moment I brought the supplies out and told them we would be painting on rocks. They loved the idea! I had planned they would maybe paint two, but they wanted to keep going and later at the beach picked up more rocks for them to paint on. They had a wonderful time and I was so impressed with their creations! It was such a fun time!

Marth Stewart I'm not. Grandma I am!

I recently went to Michigan where the whole family gets together at my daughter's house a long weekend in July. I thought my nine grandchildren would get a kick out of a rainbow cake I saw on Martha Stewart. You can get the recipe on her website and I highly recommend following her instructions that I did not. I think they made a buttercreme frosting and I thought I'd save time and trouble by using canned frosting. Well, it wasn't stiff enough and the six layers kept sliding. We finally put a straw down the middle of it and left for an afternoon at the beach. When we came back several hours later there was a stress fracture from the middle of the cake and who knows how long before the whole thing would topple. So, like the saying, "Life's short, eat dessert first", we did! It took three of us to cut and hold the sides together with big spoons, knives, but once it was on the plate it tasted wonderful and everyone did enjoy the rainbow colors!

Journal Pages

A Start of Another Journal

So I'm in a journal making kick phase now and even tho they're not great-they're fun to make! For this one I cut the cover off an old book. I pasted on torn scraps of wrapping paper, coated it with clear gesso, then added acrylic paint scraping over leaving paper showing thru. I pasted more wrapping paper on the inside of the covers. Then I taped the front and back together with colored duct tape about 1/4" or so apart. I cut a long strip of poster board the height of the cover, folded it the width, and then folded back and forth to make a zig-zag of paper and glued one page to the back cover. I then took different sizes of scrapbook paper and covered each page. I really need to start writing in them!

Baby Doves

June 27th in my post called "Birds of a Feather," I posted a picture of a dove nesting on our roof support. A robin built a nest right next to her but was very nervous and would fly away when you drove up the driveway each time. I guess that got old for her because she flew the coop! It seemed like the dove was nesting FOREVER and I was beginning to wonder if the eggs died and she couldn't come to terms with it and just kept nesting and waiting. Well, today I saw two babies (mom must have been food hunting) and they're adorable! Aren't they?

A Fun Journal I Made

While I was laid up with foot surgery, I watch "how tos" videos from Teesha Moore (you can find her on Youtube.com)on how to make some fun journals. So I tried my hand at it. I've not made a journal before so this was all new to me. And it was so fun! You make the border with pieces of patterns from magazines and whatever you can find, add pictures of people, etc. that you alter into something quite different. Teesha has a journal retreat that I would love to attend to become better at this. It was quite a fun time cutting and pasting while I recouped. Now for the writing....

Picture of Journal Pages

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Last month I posted a couple of pictures of my broccoli and zucchini plants. I started container gardening on my deck because I had ankle surgery and wouldn't be able to go down to the yard to maintain them. I was so excited when I got broccoli buds and zucchini flowers! Here are pictures of how they are today. I have two zucchinis! They're so cute, only 4 inches long and probably won't grow to be big, but they're a snack size! And the broccoli, well it started growing and then went right into flowers. But pretty flowers! I'm liking them!

Empty Nest Syndrome?

Seems like just yesterday they were so tiny and naked stretching their neck for food from mama. Now they're waiting patiently for mama's nudge to take their first flight. It was so fun to watch the nest being built, then encased in loose straw covering and soon hearing little peeps. Soon the nest will be empty again and I feel a little sad...am I having "empty nest syndrome"?

Nature Abounds

I have a huge clematis bush in my backyard that shows beautiful purple and lavender flowers. This year, because I can't do yard work yet because of my ankle surgery, it's overgrown. But it's all good. I have baby bunnies living under it's protection. They are just a handful of fluff and venture out on their own. Saturday morning one was standing eating my yellow flowers. Wish I had my camer! It was such a cute site! I came in to use the computer and looked out the front window and one was in the front yard. Luckily my camera was close! Shortly after a baby opossum, about the same size as the little bunny came across the street, under my picket fence, and into my yard. He moved quickly, and I don't know where he was going, but he was gone before I could get may camera out again. Can't imagine where his mommy and siblings are!

Birds of a Feather

Every year we have a nest on this support near the roof. It's usually sparrows, but the last couple of years a dove has made this spot her nesting roost. This year was no different. I think she had babies and then she or another dove re-nested. Much to my surprise I saw another nest under construction right next to hers! I finally saw who her neighbor was - a robin! I thought it was so strange to see a robin nest right next to a dove! They must be good friends or something. As strange as this is, I think it's so neat to see them share the support beam and maybe friendly support? It was hard getting a picture because although the dove will sit there forever, as soon as you pull in the driveway the robin takes flight. My daughter, Julia, captured this nice picture tho to capture this unique site!

Beautiful Nature

This morning after a rain I found wonder-ful things on my deck and front porch. A beautiful dove was perched on my front porch railing. It was a smaller dove, but looks larger in the picture. It seemed to enjoy the photo shoot and turned to show all sides and posed different ways with it's wings in different positions. Showoff...but I loved it! I found this beautiful beetle eating my lettuce. The same beetles are eating my trees! But he does shimmer and therefore is worthy of a picture! The way the drops of water beaded up on the outer edges of the strawberry plants were amazing! I wish I had a macro lens to really get close to the drops! And my zucchini bloom was open!

I'm getting a green thumb!

I had wanted to plant an organic garden this year, but because of my ankle surgery and not being able to walk for so long and get into the yard to tend the garden, I had my daughter plant a few things in containers on my deck. We only have a small spot that gets full sun and after some trial and error, my husband built a stand for the pots so they don't take up as much room and aren't getting the deck so full of splashed out dirt from the rains. Today I noticed I have a few things popping up! I have two broccoli crowns (oh, how exciting! I've never planted them before!) and my zucchini plants has blooms! My herb pot is growing great too! I just love fresh basil on my salad! Peas...not so good. I've already decided next year I'm planting my first ground garden and already designing it in my head!

Industrial Chic Assemblage

This "Industrial Chic" necklace was assembled using new charms from Susan Lenart Kazmer that are sold at Michaels Craft stores.

Sea Life Thru Layers

I love the sea and all it's mysteries beneath! This journal was created cutting larger to smaller holes, colored with watercolor crayons, then wetted to blend, with cutouts attached to both sides of the page for interest on both sides. Quite fun to make!

Poetry Spools

These were fun to make! Following the instructions from artist, Kelli Perkins, I tore muslim strips the width of wooden thread spools. I didn't have old ones so I bought them at a craft store. I sprayed fabric paint on them and let them dry. Folded them together and based stitched the edges with embroidery floss in contrasting color. I printed out sayings onto canvas, mine were self-adhesive, but you can glue them onto the fabric. Glued one edge to the spool, sewed button and ribbon on the loose end and wound the ribbon around the botton to close. I glued fancy paper on the bottoms of the spool and stuck a pencil in the hole. These would make nice little gifts of messages instead of a card too!

Wrist Bling

Aren't these fun? They're a easy chain maille braclet using wonderfully colored links and beads. There are alot of design possiblities making these, but I chose to use one color of bead, putting one bead on one ring, two beads on the other and joinging them with a blank link. Take another link with two other links with beads on them, add to the previous link between the beaded links of the previous link. Just keep doing that until it's long enough for your wrist and add a clasp. One of these are for my girlfriends birthday! Hope she likes it!

Sweater? Jacket? Sweater Jacket!

This sweater is the first thing I made while recovering from surgery. I've had the pattern and yarn for a long time and now I had the time to crochet it! I thought I purchased the kind of yarn the pattern called for, but I think I missed something and got some that was heavier. Instead of a loose sweater like on the picture of the pattern, it's a heavy jacket type of sweater, but I'm loving the color! I'd like to make it again with a lighter weight yarn.

The Road to Recovery is Paved with Art!

Had ankle surgery and cannot walk on it for 6-8 weeks! My dog, Jake is my constant bed companion and my cat takes the night shift. This is when I first got home...looks about the same except I'm wearing a big black boot and my toenails are painted! At first it's nice to be able to do not much of anything and have people wait on you hand and foot. Surprisingly there is hardly any pain. I was hooked up to an ice machine 24-7, and there isn't much to do except think about what I wanted to do while I was on my "vacation". I like to make art in any form and am so thankful for this because I can't imagine spending all this time just watching TV or reading. So I crocheted a sweater, made bracelets, made journals, poem spools, read...OK, after 6 weeks I'm needing something else. I get around on a knee scooter so I can get to the computer now, however, it took a bit to get the knack of how to maneuver it and I took a fall and really sprained my thumb. Three weeks later it still hurts and the pain is much worse than the ankle ever was! I can still type tho, so I thought this would be a good time to start a blog and share pictures of things I have made and things I will make in the future. The downside to the limited mobility is not being able to get to all the things I want to in the house which limits some of the art projects I'm anxious to get to. It's still going to be weeks, but I think I see a light at the end of the tunnel!