Carving and Cleaning

I got the little bark houses painted.  I also painted a bigger project for Far Guy.  Glad to have that project done.

We are working on a prototype for this years Christmas ornament…it is another woodcarving, different from anything we have done previously…we will see how it works out.


Now I am ready for the ever present snow to melt…we are very cold here…so that probably isn’t happening this week. So far we have record breaking low temperatures for the month.

I began some winter/spring cleaning …kitchen cupboards are on my list and I have a number of them accomplished…it is tedious work exploring cupboards.  I have 28 cupboard/drawers in the kitchen…8 are done…uffda.

I hounded Far Guy until he replaced all the batteries in the smoke alarms…even though they are supposed to be good and will let you know when the battery is low, I feel better when they are changed every six months.  He changed the batteries and tested them all…made Chance nervous.  For some reason we did not get them changed when the time changed…usually that is my reminder to insist it be done.

Reading

I have been plunged back in time by 55 years.

My baby brother thought I might need some reading material.  So he ordered a box of books to be delivered to me.  I should read them first and then take them over to his almost completed lake home so someday his Grandchildren can read the books he read as a child. 

I was not aware that BOTH of my brothers read my books…

Mine were purchased at the old Woolworth Store in Detroit Lakes Minnesota.  Back then the books were less than a dollar (97 or 98 cents plus tax??).   The art work on the originals was slightly different also…the were called Cello Editions.  I can recall standing in front of the display of books and looking at all the covers…wondering which book I should buy next…decisions…decisions.

I finished the first book…I can see why the series first captured my attention…there is some kind of calamity or adventure in every chapter…it is a page turner…and leaves you hanging at the end of the book so that you will buy the next book in the series.

The original author (Julie Campbell Tatham)  of this series wrote just the first six books and after that many different ghost writers took over for the publishing company and wrote under the pseudonym Kathryn Kenny …it seems they found that young readers were buying their books and they wanted to continue after the original author stopped writing.

So now I am exploring books from my youth.

Brayer and snow

I had no idea that a little rubber ink roller was called a brayer. 

Last Fall at the scrapbooking retreat one of the gals had a whole box of “stuff” that she was giving away.  My daughter Jen grabbed the little roller thingy and said “Here Mom you need this.”  She explained that it works well to ink larger stamps.

Last week in Far Guys birthday package there were several gifts for me and a note saying  “Dad’s birthday but you got gifts.  How does that work?”  The sunflower stamp was large enough that I could try out the brayer to ink the larger stamp.  (The cling stamp gets mounted on an acrylic block prior to stamping.)  Remember my word for 2018 is explore.

So I stamped a bunch of sunflowers on water color paper and will have fun coloring them…they are in my work play box on my desk.

I did get a wild hair…looking for a particular stamp…found one and ordered it…the brayer may come in handy on that one too.  Many hours can be spent just exploring new stamps...

It snowed here…about 5 inches.  More snow is forecast.  Right now we have 9 inches at the snow stick. With more to come today.

Far Guy is getting a little stronger everyday.  Yesterday he fed the birds and walked Chance outside and then walked around and around indoors.

Exploring

I finished off one of those “explore” projects, stitch markers made from little charms and “stuff” that was hanging around in my beading supplies.  I will never make them again…at least not without taking lessons in how to close jump rings.  Nope no photos.

Then I decided I better explore that Shiny Brite tree upstairs before I have to dust it.

Far Guy helped for awhile I conned him into thinking that back and forth was worth a few steps.

It snowed most of the day…not sure how much we got 4 maybe 5 inches.

It was a good day to put all the Shiny Brites away.  I bought a new storage container for some of the most collectable ornaments. I still have to place some notes in that new storage container about the ornaments…what they are and why they are special.

Better late than never.

Exploring: Metallic Water Colors

Last Fall I purchased some metallic water colors and really never had the time to explore how they worked.

Remember my word for 2018 is Explore.

They are easy to work with.

I stamped a bunch of butterfly cards that will be all ocassion cards.  The watercolors give them a nice shimmer, I may add a bit of glitter…you can never have too much glitter….can you?

Nothing much is new here, it is warmer and we may get into the 30’s F yeah!  The Janurary thaw has arrived!

My Dad and I had another Bingo date…neither of us bingoed but we were close several times.  Dad was one number away from the $1,000  blackout…we will try again next week God willing and the crick don’t rise.

Cold

Still cold.  It might warm up a bit on Sunday afternoon.

Chance is real bored, he wants to go for his ride…I cannot blame him.  He hasn’t been for a ride since Wednesday. 

I put away downstairs Christmas except for the Nativity set…I wasn’t ready to put that away yet.  The Christmas totes were gone through…we have a few Christmas decorations that belonged to Far Guy’s Mom…they found their way into a pretty box with a note explaining them.  So I explored the Christmas Totes….vacuumed their area and put them back. Dusted too if that counts.   A bunch of odd ball stuff was piled up to mark for a rummage sale.

The Shiny Brite tree is still up, I am not ready to put that away yet either.

Far Guy worked on his latest flower carving and it is awesome.  I will photograph it soon…before and after painting.

Chance slept…chased his treat ball around, pestered someone to play ball (I did) and he tried to lead us to his treat drawer many times…his restricted diet must be boring for him.    When I was cooking supper he was a pain…underfoot and insistant that he was hungry “NOW.”

I hope to make some more of these funky bead creations over the winter.  This one still looks good but it has faded a bit.  I bought some heavier copper wire which might work better.

Hope you all are staying warm. It was turdy below zero here.