I Have Moved

OK, as promised, I have combined my two blogs into one. I will not be posting to this blog anymore, but will leave it up for those who want to continue to read the older posts.

Please CHANGE YOUR BOOKMARKS and blog roll entry.

The name of my new blog is "A Nesting Place" and I think you'll like the new layout and content.

So, without further adieu....see you there!

Strawberries & Eggs

Hmmmm, I'm blogging a lot lately, huh? That's a good sign, I suppose. Must mean life is settling down a little. As some of you know, my life has been miserable this year with my husband's illness, but as each day goes by, he gets better and better.

I've always wanted to make some of these strawberries and I finally found a pattern for them. Here's my first one. Pretty cute, eh? I had these tiny doilies that are perfect for the tops and the button colors are so pretty.

I spent some of the day crafting, but most of it went to laundry. I normally do laundry on Saturday, but you know what I spent all day doing yesterday.

I fear that I don't have too many days left for hanging clothes on the line. Even in the heat of the day it took a bit longer for the clothes to dry this time. I'm really gonna miss that, too, because the smell of laundry dried outside...to ME...is one of life's greatest pleasures.

I do love this time of year though. I am not a summer person and I'm a winter person for about a nano second until everything turns that ugly winter brown and there's death all around you. I pretty much become a cold-footed bitchy pants until spring.

I'm also working on some of my hand painted eggs for my Etsy shop. I don't normally do these until spring, but I don't see why they wouldn't be lovable any time of the year. They are so fun to do and I love the pastel colors. I'm thinking of doing some darker, richer looking ones as well. We'll see.

The weekend sure went fast. The sun is going down and as per usual, I've got work tomorrow. I've got a trainee and I HATE training. Especially when they're 19 years old and basically lazy. I'm stuck with him for another two weeks. I much prefer to work by myself, not to mention that we're in the Christmas season in retail and it's the busiest time of year for us. I'm expecting overtime and working weekends soon.

Sorry I didn't get the photos of my craft room up. I'll try to do it soon, I promise!

I'll keep ya posted.

De-cluttering

I love sitting at my computer after a long day listening to the Savoy Express on XM radio. It's a 40's station that plays Big Band era music. I love it!!

I spent the whole day in my office/craft/sewing room chucking stuff left and right. It's a small room as it is and tends to be where everything gets put when it has no place in the rest of the house. I ended up with a construction size trash bag full of stuff to throw out. I save stuff for years and then wonder why I saved it, don't you?

De-cluttering is a way for me to revisit what I have and maybe start using it like I always tell myself I'm going to do. I set up some special notebooks and folders for all of my paper scraps and rearranged an old computer armoire that I use to store my fabric stash. I'm making some storage boxes that I'm doing decoupage on with some pretty rose wrapping paper that I found at Big Lots for a buck. I want my shelves to look prettier and tidier than they do right now. I have a bunch old USPS Priority boxes that I'll never use up, so I'm making boxes like the ones you see for magazine storage.

As I predicted, I think we'll have an early winter. There's already a chill in the air and you can see the trees and bushes beginning to turn. I decided I better get out and pick my cherry tomatoes. There are bunches of them. This is the first time I've grown these and I love them. They are so abundant. They produce fruit very fast. don't they look yummy?

I'll post some pictures of my cave tomorrow. It's too dark in here to take pictures tonight and I'm tired.

It's de-lightful....it's de-licious...it's de-lovely......Good night!

Creative People are Easily Bored

If you are the creative type, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Your brain is always on overdrive with new ideas, boring into your mind on the minute and the half minute. It hasn't been a month since I redid the look of both my blogs and I'm already considering a change, but with a slight difference.

I have two blogs. My crafty creative type blog and my regular, everyday, what's up blog. It takes up a lot of my absolutely valuable time (time I could be making something) doing two of them and I'm thinkin' about merging them into one. No, I AM merging them into one. It's just a matter of deciding on the layout and all that mess. Since I'm a graphic artist, too, I'm constantly changing the graphics, which will probably happen again, but what fun, eh??

Another change you'll probably notice is the language of the posts themselves. I don't mean I'm gonna start cussin', mind you, but there is one thing in life that I've always been kinda anal about and believe me, it doesn't go unnoticed (as I'm told) that I have this thing about grammar, spelling and punctuation when I write or when I read the writings of others. I've even been called "condescending" of all things, because I dared to correct someone who was in err! How dare they!! :-} The spelling and punctuation thing probably won't change, because you need that to get your point across, and not come off like a total dode, but I am making a promise to myself that I will not sit here and edit, proofread and rewrite my posts, ad nauseum, until I think they're perfect enough to go ahead and publish. I am going to try and actually write the way I talk.

I just turned 48 this August and by cracky, I've earned the right to relax a little. I'm not climbing some corporate ladder or trying to snag a husband, so, out the window with that! I do write articles once in a while, so Miss Perfect will be let out of her cage periodically.

It'll probably take me a little while to make this change. Although I can write basic HTML, I'm not totally comfortable with PHP or or whatever they're calling the code that makes these blog thingos work these days. But, with a little experimentation and the loss of a couple clumps of hair, I can usually bend them to my will. I'll just start a practice, throw away blog to mess around with until I get it how I want it.

Is this what they call reinventing yourself?

Look Out Yesterday, Here I Come!

It's no secret that I love old stuff. Anything pre 1960, that is. The 60's was when America lost it's innocence and stepped onto the slippery slope of this almost amoral society that we now live in. I grew up in the 60's and 70's and I do have fun and fond memories of those times, however, I wish I had been born much earlier. That desire has gotten so strong that I am emulating those pre 1960 days in any way that I can. I've always collected old things and loved the more traditional decorating styles, but this passion is infiltrating other areas of my life. I have been searching for old cooking techniques and vintage sewing patterns. I love the clothes that women wore back in the 30's, 40's and 50's and I can really see where these could be applied to the here and now. Working on that.

Probably the biggest thing I've been into lately are handmade items. I know how to sew very well, but haven't utilized that talent as much as I could. I've been hanging around much different areas of the web than I used to and have made a whole new batch of online friends that aren't graphic artists. They are crafters for the most part.

My latest passion are these sweet, little handmade pin cushions that I've been working on and plan to put in my Etsy shop eventually. These are so fun and easy to make, not to mention so cute and pretty. I make them using only vintage materials such as old bed linens, embroidered hankies and vintage buttons. I plan to use these same materials to start making handmade wallets, checkbook covers and other accessories.

I also went to work today and made some bread. Yes, I have a bread machine, but I wanted to try my hand at doing it the old fashioned way and I am very excited about my very first loaf. It is much better than bread machine bread and it looks like the machine might go bye-bye, or hubz can use it to make dough for his rolls he likes.

Lastly, and just a thought that popped into my head just now after seeing an ad for some stupid show coming this fallI; I can barely stomach television these days. Big Brother? Gimme a break! What is up with all these "reality" shows? I do confess that I love Grey's Anatomy, but beyond that, I mostly watch TV Land, AMC and TCM and the DIY and Home & Garden Channels.

I have one more day of vacation and then it's back to work. I guess I don't mind.

Hope you're all having a great weekend and be safe!