Farewell July...

Farewell July as we end another wonderful Summer month of perfect weather and lots of outdoor activities. Time spent with family and friends enjoying good conversation, fun and food.

This is probably the last thing I made in July. My friend Cindy lost her cell phone and had to get a new one. She was sad because along with her phone she lost her charm I had made for her. So without hesitation I have made her a new one for her new phone. I know it isn't exactly like the previous one but I do think she will like this one even better.

This time I incorporated her favorite...a dragonfly bead. I still had to add a heart charm as that speaks to how dear she is. I shall give it to her this week when we see one another.

As for July...I didn't experience Christmas in July like others celebrated with handmade gifts. I have been thinking ahead to gift making and am always preparing. Maybe I shall celebrate Christmas in August...we shall see.

Mr. C and I have been working in the yard...still cleaning up and repairing from last winter's devastation and of course preparing for this upcoming winter. I shall take some photos and share with you our progress.

May each of you have a fantastic amazing August. I know I will...

Reversible Tote Bag...

I have not been taking time to be creative what with summer weeds to pull, housecleaning before, during and after company and whatever laziness I am enjoying with the warm summer days I love so very much. So several weeks ago I pulled out some fabrics. This red toile is one of my favorites.

With the weight of the toile I chose this sort of bandana fabric to coordinate. Next I cut out the pieces to make a reversible tote bag. I personally can never have too many tote bags.

Here is the bandana side complete with a pocket that I stuck some white envelopes inside of just to show it is there. This side of the tote is not my favorite however I think it works quite well for those times you might be feeling "down home".

Here is the finished tote with the toile side out. I love this scene of the boys playing and just living life. That is what toile fabric is...scenes of life. I made one of my lace flower pins and added it to the red handle. Of course it is removable if you want to wear it on your lapel or your hair or whatever.

I always enjoy making tote bags and am thinking I shall get out some more fabrics to match up and sew some more bags. My sewing machine is lonely and I am feeling creative.

What goodies are you making or planning for future projects?

Sunshine Summer Smiles to all...

Sister Reunion...

Here we are...four sisters.
Two sisters were not able to join us.
We got together for the day after sister Renee drove over 500 miles one way to spend a week with me in my home.
Sister Joyce took the train and sister Marie picked her up and drove them 75 miles to visit.
We spent a wonderful day together at my home. Lots of chatting, laughing, and eating...to keep up our strength.
Thank you sisters for a day of bonding and keeping the love flowing. It is always bitter sweet to say goodbye and not know when we will get together again.

Family Time...

I just love this photo of an unknown (to me) little girl. I have posted this before and unfortunately know not where I came across it so no credit is given...however, thank you. Somehow I relate so much to this little girl sitting patiently. I always wonder what she is thinking...

For me today is about the last minute cleaning and grocery shopping for you see company is coming. The fresh flowers are set out in the guest quarters. All appears ready for a nice relaxed visit. I will be welcoming my sisters as we have a reunion of sorts this weekend.

We may take a walk along the NID canal and do some laughing and chatting...

We may stroll through the back yard and do some remembering. Maybe we will sit by the pond and blow some bubbles and tell more stories.

We will definitly do some eating and reminiscing.

So if I am quiet on the blogging scene I shall be the noisy one in sister family time. I have always been the noisy one who gets shushed a lot.

I look forward to seeing my sisters and getting to visit. Let us hope "family dynamics" have taken a far away cruise and won't be here this week. As I age I find time with family is so very precious. Let nothing spoil this time together. Lets laugh and cry and share our love together.

May you each have a wonderful weekend...

Please be safe in the extreme heat some of you are experiencing. Keep hydrating...

Now I am off to finish up the last details...

Lace Envelopes...

Here are more of my little kraft envelopes. They are merely 2 1/4" x 3 1/4" so much too small for ATCs. I managed to sew some of my favorite lace around them. Then I took my heart punch and made some tags. They are colored on one side and plain on the other so I could write a thank you note.

Then I created some charms and attached them to the heart tags. This tassel is made of beads strung on beading thread. I sent this to a special follower as a surprise.

This charm is made from an old costume earring. I love the pearls effect and how it dangles.

This charm is a special mix of beads I bought in Rome Italy on holiday.

Each of these charms is attached to a lobster clasp and can be used for zippers, charm pins, decoration on curtains or pillows or anything else you can think of.

I just love the look of lace on the tiny little envelopes. The photos do not show that the lace continues on the flap to complete the look. Therefore instead of sealing the flap I chose to tie ribbon around the envelope to close it.

A little beaded surprise wrapped in tissue enclosed in a tiny lace covered envelope. Yum!

I still have a lot of these tiny envelopes so I shall be putting on my creative thinking cap.

Please share any ideas you might have for using them. I think I have a balance of at least 400.

I am still weeding, trimming and cleaning house in preparation of company arriving. The hours and days are passing so quickly. I must adopt the attitude that whatever I do get done will be far more than nothing. Got to get back to my duties as "daylight's a burning" so Mr. C says.

Happy Summer Creating...

Painting Envelopes...

While ordering office supplies late one evening I was compelled to add a box of small coin envelopes to my order. I knew I could craft with them and they would be fun to decorate. Mr. C was not amused. "What are you going to do with so many little envelopes!" he said. I replied, "I don't know however I will use them!"

Here I am painting each little envelope with gesso to tone down the kraft coloring. I included my hand as proof that I can get messy. I am very fussy and never like my hands to get dirty or messy at all. So in true artist style I am forcing myself to allow messiness as others say it is part of the creative process and even others say it is part of the fun. Hmmm...my hands did clean up after the painting and it really wasn't so bad. There might be hope for me after all. :o)

No picture of my hands here but trust me they got lots of paint on them with all of this process. I painted each envelope with different colors on both sides. I wanted a variety.

Here is my favorite little blue envelope. I even added liquid silver leaf circles and it really gave a lustrous shine.

This treatment of dry brushing several colors included a metallic copper which I really liked. The photo does not show it well.

This little one was dotted with some black ink. I used the end of a square chop stick.

Hard to see the gold leafing dry brush technique here. I thought the colors were representative of a bright spring day with all the trees leafing out.








What am I doing with my little painted and gilded envelopes? Now that is for another day.

Here we are in a new week and I shall be busy cleaning and weeding and ironing and weeding and generally enjoying being a homeowner.

How is your week shaping up?

Wonderful week and I hope you make time to make art...

Another Weekend???

This is a canal from the mining days. It is on part of our property and is owned by NID (Nevada Irrigation District) and they have easements to the canals and flumes as they maintain them.
Many people walk along the canals with or without their dogs. The walks are very easy as the canals follow a 1% slope. As you can see they are also extremely picturesque. We are fortunate to have this so close to us.

As a matter of fact that is our home in the background. What on earth is happening? A very large project to replace the old wooden flumes with new pipes which are much safer and easier to maintain...so we are told. This project should be completed by now but with our wet winter there were delays. Now this part of the project is on hold as the contractors are working backwards to address some sort of settling issue on the previous flume completed last year. We don't mind the delay however having a port o'potty and lots of debris and equipment as our entrance to bliss is getting a little stagnant.

The pipes don't look so large but as you can see both my husband and I had to venture in and walk through them. Kids will be kids as they say...

This is a view of the project in process before the delays. The old wooden flume built in 1928 will be torn down and the new pipe will remain. Oh the controversies that have ensued over this. Not to mention the lawsuits hampering all of this. Our entire county is rich with old mining history. I cannot even imagine the work and struggles the men and pack animals had to endure back in the olden days.

Here is my engineer, Mr. C, overseeing the entire project. He is completely able to understand every bolt and structure that is being used. Me...I just like to enjoy the progress.

Here is another view of the scope of this project. I like to call the excavator "Robisorus". It is an amazing machine that can do so many different jobs including tree stump removal. Yes, we have had loggers that came in to take out a giant pine tree. That is an entire story all unto itself.

And like all boys who love toys and adventure...Mr. C says, "Can we take it for a spin?"

I must admit I have been consumed with watching the happenings. Not much creating going on here. We are having the most glorious weather. Not too hot, blue skies and perfect temperatures. Just the right atmosphere for pulling weeds and triming and pulling weeds and planting some new shade plants and pulling weeds...you get the idea.

What is going on in your neighborhood?

Wonderful weekend to all...

Lace Wrappings...

I was giving a card recently and decided the envelope was far too plain. So I wrapped it in some delicious lace and stitched the sides to hold all in place.

The back flap was now really too plain so I stitched some more lace onto it. Then as a closure I stitched a circle of lace to hold the flap closed by sliding it onto the envelope. No photo of this part but I added a name label to the front with some more lace. No more plain card envelope for this gift.

Now for the gift box. Wrapped it in gold foil paper. Then a sleeve of more delicious lace. And to mate with the card a band of lace to hold it all together.

Oh how can I stop yet? No. More lace. This time I made a lace flower complete with pin back that can be attached to the package and then removed for additional uses by the recipient.

Now you see the package completed with it paper, laces and flower. This is a gift I am proud to give.

What is your favorite style of wrapping a gift?

Happy middle of the week to all...

Celebrations Complete...

Ahh the Grand Lady, Elsbeth, herself. A gathering to celebrate her 90th birthday. It was a wonderful celebration enjoyed by many. The setting was beautiful. The food divine. Red Velvet cake for the finishing touch.

Our table decorations were a welcome addition. Bookmarks and candy for all to take home.

Happy Birthday Elsbeth and may we celebrate many more.

This was also my annual girlfriend road trip and the week passed by so quickly. We leave the husbands and our fur-child kitty cats home and off we go. We spend the week with Elsbeth and have a great time telling stories, playing Scrabble, going out to eat when we aren't eating all of her delicious home cooking and relaxing at the dock on the lake. This year our trip was over July 4th so we enjoyed a huge fireworks show down at the lake and it was spectacular. I saw amazing fireworks I had never seen before and some of them had sound effects like sparklers. I lived many years right near Disneyland so believe me I have seen a lot of fireworks in my day.

It is always so good to be home and in my very own bed. My BooBoo kitty is not letting me out of her sight. I shall be spending my week catching up on laundry, grocery shopping and other assorted household and yard chores.

Most of all I am looking forward to catching up on my favorite blogs and see what each of you have been busy doing. I have sincerely missed you. I had no computer, no internet, no access of any kind for over a week and I truly missed my daily blog perusing. I know I owe some serious thank you notes and will get to them as quickly as I can. I had a stack of mail awaiting my return and fortunately little packages of bliss out-weighed bills. I will need to really use my time management skills wisely this coming week in order to get it all done.

Thank you for all of your comments and emails. I am so blessed to have such wonderful friends. May you have a wonderful week and make all the creative art that makes you happy...