Back Door Visitor - And a Few More Pics and Preparations

We made a day trip to Delaware a couple weekends ago and as we usually do when we're away for the day, turned on the camera at the back door.  It wasn't until we were almost home that I noticed that the camera had sent a notification of a person at the backdoor earlier in the day.  I was totally surprised to see this..... make sure to turn your sound up..............

They do come and tap at the windows when I'm sitting in the dining room so I guess they missed seeing us that morning.

Here are a couple of friends at the suet feeder....

We had almost 11" of snow and these flower pots were just asking for faces with their snowy pompadours....so I did a little editing........

And one more picture that I tried to capture late one afternoon last week when the setting sun illuminated part of my gypsy rod and caught my attention....

I don't have a picture of it, but a couple of weeks ago, in a routine e-mail from the state, we were encouraged to visit the Unclaimed Funds site and I did.  I was totally surprised to see that there were, indeed, unclaimed funds in my name so I put in the claim and received the check late last week.  I would caution anyone doing this to not speak of it in front of your appliances, because not 10 minutes after I spoke with my son on the phone last night about it (because he also had a claim), our microwave got so excited it dropped dead.  I don't have the time today to go shopping for a new one so I sent HWNSNBP to get a replacement - he's going to have to make due without it for a few days until it can be delivered......we really only use it to steam vegies and to reheat food, so he can get by with what I've already prepared.  Having an air-fryer now that can do most of the same thing I might forego getting another microwave but ours is not free-standing and I don't want to have that gap above the stove.  

I wrote a little tongue-in-cheek info segment on dealing with abdominal surgery after I had my hysterectomy 15 years ago (find it here) and I'm revisiting it to get ready for my back surgery coming up tomorrow.  I already know that I won't be allowed what the doctor calls "BLT's" - Bending, Lifting, or Twisting so some of that advice will also apply for this.  What's new to me is the preparations that the  hospital has in place - I have Gatorade to drink at certain times that they provided at my pre-op admission appt. because they've found that staying hydrated improves recovery, and I have special "wipes" to use after showering this evening (not the morning of) to help prevent infection.  We are washing/changing all the bedding today because instructions say - clean pajamas and clean bedding tonight, clean clothes tomorrow.  I usually shower in the morning so this is throwing me off a bit and adding to my anxiety.  HWNSNBP moved one of the single beds from upstairs downstairs because I won't be able to climb the stairs for 1-2 weeks and we had to rearrange all the furniture to accomodate it and a new chair that we picked out that has arms.  A friend is going to lend me a dining room chair with arms again like she did for my last back surgery.  I'm thankful for that and also that we thought ahead when we redid the bathroom downstairs and made it safer for "seniors" with a step in shower, built in seat, and grab bars.  Still, I'm sure there will be a learning curve but it will all be worth it if I can walk without pain again.  Fingers crossed!

I have some posts pre-scheduled but I'll mostly be absent for a bit while I get myself in recovery mode.  

PS - Remember to celebrate Pink Shirt Day on Wednesday - wear a pink shirt to stand up against bullying!  

Jingle Belles - Text Me

Jumping in with my cards for the Jingle Belles Challenge of using Text as the star.  I found some red and green texty background in my stash for the layers and this new-to-me die that features "Merry Christmas" in the scroll.  I decided to add in that piece of green and gold ivy paper behind the die and used some matt gold paper for the frame of the die.  I decided to use the red texted paper for scroll portion of the die and highlighted the sentiment by using shiny gold paper for the letters.

The shiny gold paper became an inlay and I had to remember to keep the little centers of the e, a, and r's to be able to close up those openings with the red scroll also so I saved those red letters when I die cut the red trying not to have them pop out in the process at that point.  I will say that this was easier to do by adding two sided tape to the back of the gold before die cutting it.  That made those letters into stickers and no gluing was necessary.  But those centers only needed a dot in the opening so I was able to  lay the red letter over the top and use my needle tool to just press the centers into place.

And since I had the ingredients out I did two of them.

I was looking something up on my Christmas card list yesterday and noticed that part of the file had become corrupt.  It was fine several days ago.  I keep my list in an excel spreadsheet and I usually add a picture of the card that I send to each person/family so I don't duplicate anything year-to-year.  It also helps me when someone tells me they love what they got so I know what they like and can work with that in the future.  So I was very upset and annoyed when all but three of the pictures that I had copied to that file for last year all had errors in them.  My resident excel expert was consulted and he couldn't explain what happened, why it was happening or how to fix it.  To top it off, in my process of doing this at the end of the year, I take a picture of each card with a little post-it note attached and then, after I add it to the spreadsheet, delete the picture from my phone and computer.  Thankfully I had forgotten to delete them from my Amazon photo storage, otherwise I don't remember who got what.  We did determine that I could copy and paste in a different way but it involves a lot of resizing which takes more time...... but I will get it done eventually.

At this point I have 7 Christmas cards finished and will probably be taking a break from card making for the next few weeks because I won't be climbing the stairs to the craft room for a while and I dare not send HWNSNBP up there to find anything.  (I may have said that before in a previous post - sorry - it is playing on my mind.)  

If you want to check out all the other texty cards on the Jingle Belle blog (and you should really, because our hostesses have made some beautiful and clever samples) click here.

The100DayProject 2024

These flat folded pentagons, when inflated by pinching, become....

Origami wish stars of which I've been keeping my hands busy with whilst watching the last few Portrait Artist of the Year Series' on Prime.  

So what's that got to do with The100DayProject 2024?  Well, there's always a little bit of a paper tail that is left before you get that little pentagon and I've been saving them in the cap of the jar that I've collected the stars in thinking that I would find a use for them someday......maybe.  I wanted to keep this challenge as simple as possible for me while I go through the recovery of my upcoming surgery so I looked through my stash and found these 1.5" kraft colored round labels and decided that I will use the little leftovers to make a little geometric collage of sorts on a label each day.  My plan is to also make a 10 x 10 grid on black posterboard so I can stick the labels to it as a finished product.

These are all the tools I'll need, although I think that I will need to replenish the scraps periodically as they get low.  Luckily I have plenty of unused origami star paper to help me out with that, and this shouldn't take too much time or energy to complete.  It will also be easy enough to catch up on from those days when I'm totally unable to engage in artist endeavors.

Oh, and the official start of the project was Sunday, February 18th - so you see the first 2 days here.

Happy Valentine's Day

 

We picked up some chocolate covered strawberries yesterday after my PT session.  It snowed here - about 5-6" but the roads were clear enough to not have to cancel my appt.  We have some errands today and will probably have our traditional heart-shaped pizza for dinner.  

GS1 was with us on Saturday and I wanted him to help me make these penguin Valentine's for GS2 and GS3 but he had other things that he was interested in and I wanted him to pick the things he wanted to do since they'll be moving at the end of the month and we won't see him for quite some time.  He brought a school project to finish - I had gotten a head's up from his mom on what we needed to do.

He used salt dough to create landforms on a paper plate at home the day before and I supervised the painting portion of it.  

That's a snow-capped mountain with a waterfall into a lake with an island along with a volcano, some grasslands, and a river.  I think he covered more than 4 land forms with this.  He has to make labels/flags identifying each one which he'll do at home in addition to filling out a worksheet.  

He spent some time outside with HWNSNBP riding the tractors and we played a game of OINK.  The last time we were at his house he was interested in me doing some origami with/for him and he brought some paper with him, but he saw the stars I had started and I tried to show him how to make them, but they're a bit fussy for small hands and he just asked if he could have all the red stars in the jar.  Of course I said yes.  

He found some interesting things in my art cart that I keep next to the dining room table and he did some drawing.  There was an interest in my battery-powered eraser and I promised I'd send him one for his birthday in April.  He also wanted to see my Cutttlelola - the electric dotspen that I have but we had to cut that short as we had to get him back to his parents for dinner.  I'm going to miss those art explorations with him.  It was a 10 day for the three of us until we pulled away from their house for the last time.  

I totally forgot that Saturday was my blogoversary.  Sixteen years full of lots of memories.  

Jingle Bells - Rudolph the RED Nosed Reindeer

What's right in front of Rudolph's eyes?  His red nose of course, and if he takes a look at the Jingle Belles challenge for this fortnight, he and we will be seeing a lot of RED.  Yes, our cards have to be predominantly red.

Lucky for me I happened to have these stacked gnomes on my work table that happen to be mostly red and were just waiting to be used.  I sorted through my paper stash and came up with this flocked red and white background paper.  All I had to do was use the dies to cut out the strings of ornaments and the stars.  

I don't know if it was the flocking on the paper or if there was something else in with it, but I got one of those no-see-um things in one of my fingertips after I touched the paper.  I hate when that happens and everytime you put a little pressure on it it hurts.  I tried using tape to pull it out and even tried a magnet, but finally got it to stop after I ran the blade of my scissor over it.  I've gotten metal filings in my fingers before from dies, but I wasn't working with metal so I wonder if that flocking had something to do with it.  For now, I'm not going to handle that paper too much.

Time to go and check out all the red over at the Jingle Belles blog now.  You can too by clicking here.

Friday Reflections

The sun is out today and HWNSNBP has gone for the afternoon to walk about the annual woodworking show at the expo center.  So I can turn the tv off and listen to the sounds that surround me today and do some uninterrupted yard watching.

The little flamingo solar dancer in the window to my left is providing me with a metronomic rhythm as I listen to the sounds of other birds outside the windows who I'm sure are revelling in the somewhat warmer temperatures of today.  

I can hear a mourning dove in the front yard - perhaps even in the andromeda bush next to the front porch.  Is is calling for a mate?  Or perhaps just thinking about the coming spring?

In the distance I can hear several sounds of blue jays.  They have a melodic call at times, much like a whistle, and also a very raucous call when they're agitated and I'm hearing both but at different places in the yard.  

The little woodpeckers (not sure if they're the downy's or the hairy's) are taking turns at the suet feeder hoping off when the blue jay comes to get it's share.  There's also a flicker coming to take a nibble now and then while the juncos diligently clean up under the suet feeder hopefully making for less "weeds" sprouting in the spring and summer.  And a black-capped chickadee is also taking a turn at the acrobatics required to hang on to the suet cage.  I imagine those people that get seasick on a boat wouldn't want to come back as a bird who has to eat while moving at times.  

Our little heated bird bath had gone dry overnight making me suspicious of a larger animal visitor having a drink.  HWNSNBP cleaned it up and added some fresh water before he left and there must be a slight breeze outside because I can see from where I'm sitting the reflection on the ceiling and the dancing effect it has.  It's quite mesmerizing and together with the sound of the flamigo dancer, almost hypnotic.  Oops, where'd it go?  Passing cloud for a moment.  Ahhh, there, it's back.  Later this afternoon, when the sun is more westerly and peeks through the kitchen window where the hanging crystals are, there will be rainbows on the ceiling, not to the extent of those you might remember from the scene in Pollyana with the chandelier crystals (click here) but enough to make me stop and enjoy them, even for a few seconds.

The worm feeder is currently empty.  HWNSNBP mentioned filling it, but something distracted him but  I know he'll get to it later.  The bluebirds will love him for it.  They're always hanging around.  

There's not too much activity at the seed feeder right now but I think that some of the birds will be happy that HWNSNBP got a new cover for his truck bed this week because he parks right next to that feeder and they sometimes like to congregate on the dark surface of it - leaving little presents at times of course.  (He had to get a new one because the one he had unexpectedly flew off the back of the truck while he was driving - for no apparent reason.  We were just thankful that it didn't cause an accident.)

A little peek at what I've been working on ........

Some Valentine hearts were colored for cards and I've been folding origami wish stars while I've been watching the Portrait Artist of the Year series on Prime.  You also see a pair of earrings and bracelet there - something I decided to wear recently in addition to my necklace I wear everyday which I haven't done in quite a long while.  I wasn't a fancy dresser for work, but my style is definitely much more casual since retiring but it's nice to add a little sparkle now and then.

Well, let me get done rambling and on with my projects for the days.  Valentine's Day is next week and I have some other cards to get done too and I would like to take advantage of the quiet.

Wear Red Day - Finished Projects - Tangles - And a Treat

I know it's Groundhog Day but it's also Wear Red Day for Heart Health Month and we're wearing red for this little Heart Warrior who will be 9 mos. old in a couple of weeks.  He's pretty much always in motion these days as you can see it was hard to get him to stay still for his photo.  He had his 6 mo. heart check-up and is holding his own on that front.  He is a little joy!

And it was a joy to receive as a gift from my friend Sabrina this needle felting kit to make these little blue tits last Christmas (2022).  I was half-way through with them last spring and then misplaced the box for a while.  Luckily I was able to put my hands on it earlier in January and got them done.  I've never done needle felting but it really was fun.  You really have to be careful with those needles though.  I might have to do a little more work on those masks and eyes.

Sabrina sent me this beautiful little wooden puzzle this year.  I love the birds - we share that love.  The pieces to this puzzle are very distinctively shaped making it a little more challenging than it may look, but I totally enjoyed the challenge.  It was fun to do during this gray month.

I gave myself two other challenges to participate in.  One lasting just for the month, and the second one is going to go on for 100 days (but it's not the 100 Day Project - that will be starting on 2/18 this year and I'm still trying to come up with a plan for that). 

Last year I had done the 7F5R Fragment of Your Imagination Challenge with similar substrate in pink.  I used the blue tags this time.  

It's good to have these handy when doing original tiles to get some ideas for patterns.

This 100 Days of Tangles is run by a FB group and involves a different tangle for each day.  What's the difference you might ask?  Fragments are the little pieces of tangles that when put together create a larger form.  So you may see, in the small tiles below, fragments that come together in a grid to make a larger tangle.  In any case, I'm doing these on a slightly larger square base of 2 3/4".  I have purchased these tags on the rings through Temu.  I know some people have had bad experiences with them, but so far, I have not, but I have mostly ordered craft-related items and little gadget type things.  I also only use my laptop for ordering things from online sources and only use Paypal for payments hoping that there won't be any issues.  

I have bought a couple of their Lego-like kits, both for GS1 and myself.  This is one that I put together during January - a little cockatiel with wings that move.  Let me tell you that they are a bit challenging with all those little pieces, but fun nonetheless.

And one last thing to share tonight - there's a place nearby called Paris Bistro that has baked goods as well as sandwiches and salads.  Each season they have some specialties and I had to try this one - the Cookie Butter Latte Creme Filled Donut.  It was delicious!

So tomorrow - February 3rd - is Eat Ice Cream for Breakfast Day and we'll be visiting the little ice cream shop we did last year but it will be for the last time as they're retiring soon.  I'm looking forward to the apple crisp again!

Jingle Belles - Something Old.....Something New and a PSA

This fortnight the Jingle Belles have challenged us to use something old and something new.  I procrastinated going into the stamp cave because it's been such a mess even more lately as HWNSNBP has been trying to help with the purging of lots of accumulated stuff on the shelves we have in the hallway up there to make room for me moving unused stamps out there freeing up some space next to my craft table.  We have a significant amount of books that we no longer feel the need to have around and have donated them, but I drew the line at my collection of Christmas craft books that I have a series of and anything else art related that has actual patterns in them because the internet is good for searching but you don't always find patterns for what you see.  Anyway..... let me get to what I actually did for this challenge.  

I was lucky to have been gifted the Unity Advent Stamps both last year and this year and thought that I could pull something together with those and also used a new-to-me die and some old paper.  I stamped the images that I chose from each set, colored them with alcohol markers and fussy cut them to pop up in the openings on the stamp frame die.  The cancellation stamp was also from one of the Advent sets.

I've got to make more time to get up there to reorganize things before my surgery next month, so I can get to things more easily once I'm able to get back to working up there.  Looks like there'll be a lot of boxes for donations in the next few weeks.  It's a good thing.

Oh, and my title for this post did include a PSA.  While putting our Christmas decorations away we usually take the batteries out of things that have batteries in them and there was a set of lights on one of the little trees that I had that we emptied.  It was a lucky thing that when I took them out of the device I put them on the rubber cutting matt I have on the dining room table and not directly on the wooden tabletop.  It was later that evening, when I was working on my laptop and HWNSNBP was already upstairs when I heard this loud pop and hiss.  It was loud enough to make me jump and for a minute I couldn't figure out what it was until I looked a little past my laptop and saw this.......

One of the batteries had had a little explosion and was leaking onto the matt.  So I was luck in that it was on the matt and lucky that it happened when I was awake.  If we had left it in the light set it would have been even more of a mess.  

Now I'm off to see what else is old and new with the Jingle Belles.  You can too by clicking here.

**Edited - don't know why the link at JB only allowed a partial view of my card this time, but the whole thing is visible here.

Happy Birthday Chickadee!

 

Sharing Their Creativity and Things I Worked on Before the Holidays

I completed another temperature spiral for 2023.  I originally bought larger beads to use on this but they were so irratic in size that I didn't feel comfortable using them although the colors were more intense.  There is size difference in these smaller seed beads but it isn't as noticeable as the larger ones.  2022's spiral colors were not differentiated enough so I revamped the color chart for 2023.  There are still some that are pretty close in color next to each other, but my choices were limited. For this one I attached the beads a little differently so that they would lay flat on their sides and I used the high temperature on the outer side of the line and the low on the inside.  The seasons are set off by the color of the base spiral - blue for winter, green for spring, pink for summer, and a light orange for fall.  Oh, and I did purchase a better cloth for the base this time.

I received some beautiful handmade cards this year.

This sparkling beauty from Lauren, one of the Jingle Belles.  

An sweet ice skating rabbit from Sabrina.

This vintage lovely from LeAnne.

Some gorgeous snowflakes and snowflowers from Sunshine.

This textural beauty from some friends in Maryland.

This stunner from Stephanie, our other Jingle Belle.

And this very special one came with a school photo from GS1.

Sabrina made me this beautiful ornament using glass microscope slides and a beautiful stamped bird motif.  I'll be keeping this out year-round.

My friend J made this cute little gnome in a toque who looked quite at home in the lemon tree with the little bell gnomes that I had made.

My cousing B sent me this darling little wooden matryoshka ornament, also happy in the lemon tree.

And J found another little gnome ornament to add to my collection.

I had some ideas about creating some trees with some of the things that I had lying around (and a few purchased additions).  

This first one is not done - only because 1) I ran out of tags, 2) I ran out of time, and 3) I couldn't figure out what to do with the top.  I'm thinking now that I might add some little greens and some jute to the top with a little wooden star to cover up that top.  What I had done was wrapped a styrofoam cone with brown paper and then used straight pins to attach the kraft colored tags in layers around it.  There are 100 tags on this now.  The cone was taller to start with, but early on I realized that it needed to be much shorter and sliced some of the bottom off.  

This one started with another styrofoam cone and I used the saved seams from old jeans I had cut up for a project a few years ago.  I did see something similar on Pinterest. Again, the top to this is not complete to my satisfaction, but may just need a little round piece of denim on top to finish it off.  The cones that had in my stash did not have pointed tops to start off with - something I didn't think about until I got almost there.

This one was a Dollar Tree idea I found on IG.  It started as a fuzzy white duster that I trimmed in a cone shape.  I took off the handle at the bottom and HWNSNBP supplied the birch base he had in his stash of scraps.  I just wrapped a set of battery-operated fairy lights around it.

  

I also came across a fun account on IG that had free felt patterns for advent and I printed off a couple of them.  The one that I did finish was this little European robin.  I actually did two of them and gifted one.  Check out @whatacurlylife for the free patterns - and she currently has a cute Valentine bear up for grabs now.

I've got some tangle projects that I'm working on this month and I'm debating whether to do another temperature spiral for 2024.  Oh, and I'll be showing off a little needle felting project that I finished soon.  Trying to catch up already.