Rainy Day Craft

 I can multi task...as in do laundry and stamp a bunch of cards to watercolor.

The project had a number of stamps.

 New stamps that I got for Mother's Day from Jen and Andy.  

This one may or may not be a Christmas card...time will tell.  This set of stamps were $1 at a garage sale.

And one of my favorite stamps of all time. 

I love this bouquet of flowers in a mason jar, I can do all kinds of color combinations and I hope when I mail the cards out people feel like I sent them flowers! 

It was a great rainy day project and kept me out of trouble for the afternoon...I missed my afternoon nap...but I had a morning nap...so there ya go. 

Minnesota weather; High 45 F or 8 C eh  Low was 38 F or 4 C eh  It was a chilly rainy day.  What a big change from last week at this time. 

Supper was a baked chicken breast on top of a salad (mine will be on a separate plate) and fresh baked bread, raspberries for dessert.

Far Side

What is next?

Not sure what big project I will take on after the Farm Diaries.  I do indexing for Family Search and can do more of that.  I can work on Find A Grave entries...I have some obituaries that need to be entered.   One side of Far Guys Mother's family can be traced back to The American Revolution I just need to prove that step by step.  If proven our daughters/granddaughters could  join Daughters of the American Revolution.  It may or may not be something they are interested in.

Presently I am keeping my head above water here at home, trying to stay ahead of housework and laundry just incase the call comes for new lungs.  I am working on the big sort and doing some spring house cleaning in the winter.

I have several crochet projects in the works and two pairs of socks on the knitting needles.

Yesterday I worked on some of my stamped cards...always a fun project and makes me feel good.  I tried out some new pens that I got for Christmas.

I always stamp the images on watercolor paper, I did some watercolors and some Prismacolor pencils this time around.  I use a special blender pencil with the Prismacolor Pencils.  These images will be cropped and matted before attaching them to the front of a card.

I have a woodcarving project that is lost someplace...possibly I left it in the greenhouse last Fall and now there is too much snow blocking the doorway to go take a look.  I could take the time to shovel the snow away....there is about 3 feet of snow there...seems easier to just let it melt! I have another woodcarving project that is almost done... a Santa.

 I have my small Wooden Barn Quilt Square that should be finished. Once upon a time I was missing the paint to finish it...still have that paint and it might be getting old!

So you see I have enough projects and hobbies to keep me out of trouble for a good long time.  I am hardly ever bored. 
Far Side

Rain

We have had rain for two days.  The first day I caught up on laundry and packed some suitcases just in case we get on that Transplant List and get a call.  I have one suitcase full of  misc stuff medications, bath stuff etc.  One for clothing and one for craft stuff to keep me occupied.  I also have a list on the bulletin board that tells me what we need to grab quickly before leaving.  (We should know soon if he is on the list, unless they want some other medical tests.)

I resurrected my sock knitting project, I need to visit that project more often.

The rain has beat down my daisies.

Yesterday Far Guy had surgery to remove his defective port.  It went well, but he is very sore.  For a quiet activity I spent some time online shopping .  I finalized this years Christmas Card design and I needed a few die cuts and ordered the paper with matching envelopes....Blueprint Blue.  Then I cut a bunch of watercolor paper and stamped my design 119 times.

Then my train of thought derailed and I stamped a few of my newest stamps...first time I have had a chance to try them.

 It will be fun to see how they color up!
Far Side

Thoughts of Spring

We wish Spring would get here faster!

Far Guy took away the Electric Snow Shovel...that piece of equipment saved my shoulders from many aches and pains.  No worries my other snow shovel is still near the door.  I expect that we will get more snow before Spring really gets here.

I bought a new stamp.

A Trillium.  It was on the sale table...truth be told I would have bought it anyway even if it had been regular price.

These will be cards ...eventually.  The shiny one  on the right is done with a pearl watercolor paint.  Far Guy and I both agreed that it was TOO much.

Simple is better...the rest were done with Prismacolor pencils, watercolors and a glitter pen.
If Spring cannot be here yet...working with Spring like images is the next best thing!

The snow is melting and revealing many twigs and branches that litter the yard.  Snow really hides lots of "stuff."
Our Trillium will be blooming in about six weeks.
Far Side

Staying busy

I am busy with various craft projects when it is so cold.   I crochet, color and think of new projects I might like to try.

I went crazy one day and stamped a whole box full of images.  When I am tired of that project I just put the cover on the box…out of sight out of mind.

Some have been watercolored…I do like watercoloring.

The watering can is one of the spring designs I am working on.

I finished up the tax paperwork for the accountant!  Yeah me!  It is all ready to drop off at his office.  I am always glad to put tax work behind me.

I am going to physical therapy twice a week for my hamstring tendon injury.  Physical Therapy is not painful until afterwards…then I get pain I cannot sleep through…they said that is normal and part of the healing process. It is a real pain in the butt.

We were –40 F again Thursday morning.  Just another fine Minnesota day.  So Long January…hello February.

Far Side

Christmas Cards, Letters and Photos

Chance and Far Guy love their trips to the mail box during December. 

Since we send 120 Christmas Cards.  We get many in return.

I did find one of my Christmas Cards…tucked away in a box of cards that I sometimes take to carving when my hand is not up to working with a knife.

2017 Christmas Card inside it said “Christmas comes anew each year to draw people in from the cold.”

The sled/birds design was a stamp, stamped on water color paper and embellished with markers and glitter then it was framed with a border of red (other colors were used too) and then mounted on the white snowflake embossed paper ( which I also embellished with some kind of glitter!)

Yesterday I read through all the Christmas Cards and letters again.  Then they were either tucked away in a folder or recycled.

 

Photo Christmas Cards were looked at again and placed in a folder for a someday look back down memory lane.

Some letters were kept.  The letters are bittersweet; they told of struggles with cancer, deaths, births, lonliness after being widowed, and the usual what Far Guy calls “Brag” letters…we vacationed here and there and everywhere. Two letters in particular touched us this year…Jamie with her sense of humor and Bob and Sheila…  well I guess really only Bob writing about an old print of Rural 1950’s Farm life and never giving up on our dreams. Bob is a retired Pastor and he and Sheila are the other set of Grandparents to Noah and Adam.

Some cards had notes inside and some were on the front…like this one…from Sharon, her husband Gary was Far Guy’s best friend who died way too soon back in 1993.

The card count this year:

46 Christmas Cards

24 Christmas Photo Cards

22 Christmas Letters

Lots of good reading!

Ongoing Project:  Last year I organized all the Christmas letters and photos and put them in page protectors in three ring binders.  This year is was real easy to get out the binders and slip letters and photos where they belong.

Not much new

The wind is just raw lately, you want to wear a cap and mittens for sure.  It was –2 F here on Friday morning.  Chance doesn’t like the wind and must be accompanied outside.  There is safety in the pack.

 

I took the red Christmas lights down from the wreath outside and put up the snowmen. The red lights worked for a Valentine decoration but now it is March.

We went to town yesterday.  We had a few errands to do.  Chance needed help getting in the new vehicle and when we got back home he refused to get out…finally Far Guy lifted him up and out.   Chance is going to have to wear his vest with the handle…and he hates it.

Anyways the Ben Franklin Store in town was one of our stops.  I returned two stamp pads that were dry when I opened them…naturally I threw out the receipt.  They said get two more as replacements and we will open them and check them out…well those were dry as a bone too.  I said “I bet all your stamp pads back there are dry.  Some more people will be disappointed.”   So they refunded my money.  The next place to buy a stamp pad in Chocolate Brown is 35 miles away…so my stamping project is on hold.

I bought some yarn and I am beginning to crochet a blanket for the new baby.  It will just be a simple blanket with a soft yarn.  Naturally they only had 17 1/2 ounces of the yarn I wanted so I am making it work….I think.   If not I will just have to go buy different yarn.

It is forecast to be near 50 F today!!!

Making Cards

One day I got out my stamping supplies and did some “Thinking of you” cards.  It was great fun to stamp, watercolor and use glitter glue.  I use watercolor pencils and then a water brush…it practically makes you think you are an artist!  Watercolor paper is a must for this project.

I ran out of all ocassion cards with flowers on them so I am in the process of making some of those too.

I still have a glut of paper in my desk so the card making will continue. ( I might be a paper hoarder…but I don’t have to go to town when I need a piece of paper! ) I have not purchased a card in years.  The fancy edge is made with a border cutter…it is fun to use. The fancy corner is made with a corner punch…mine happens to be a Fiskers but there are many kinds out there.

My desk is a mess and it will be until I am done with this project.

It turned colder here and no snow melted yesterday.