Our local grocery store sells marked down bundles of flowers every Monday. They are $1.99, no matter the size.
This time the bunch of blooms was extra large.
I spread them out into four vases and they brought me so much more than $2 worth of pleasure!
I painted one last canvas drop cloth.
The others were old murals that I touched up.
This one is brand new.
I bought a $15, 9×6’ drop cloth from Walmart and a cheap gallon of gray blue paint to start it.
This will be used for a backdrop at A Snowbird’s Song.
It is meant to be a photo op for our Peeps.
I kept it pretty simple, a snowy background for people to stand in front of, with the tree and birds to the sides and above their heads.
I will just have to figure out a good place to hang it.
For now, it is in the garage behind the junk, like the other one.
While I was working in the garage, dressed in paint clothes, I cleaned the space up. Everything got carried out to the driveway, the walls repainted (as well as the garage door). I even moved the fridge!
Then, I put everything back in what I sure hope, is a less cluttered manner.
Maybe it won’t be nearly as much work to get the room ready in November for Snowbird? I use the spot as a store, and it is always a chore to prepare it.
Heck, I can just drape the messes in painted drop cloths! No work at all…
Avahni made an ideal Snow White at the Fringe Fest.
The story was adorable and show had tons of talent. I am happy to announce that they won Best of Venue.
I knew it was going to be good, since I had watched a couple practices that they had done in my living room. But it is much more dramatic to see them on stage with lighting and costumes in a professional theater.
While at Union Station, we visited Science City.
(Dont ask what a giant, potato chip maze has to do with science, I couldn’t tell you)
We played in the infinity mirrors…
And explored the mysterious hotel of optical illusions.
Then, learned about levers. Apparently, it was a lesson that I needed, because I didn’t read the sign, and I thought it was just a game of tug-o-war. And that I was extremely good at it, not realizing the leverage was the winner, not me.
A couple weeks back, I took it upon myself to touch up some peeling paint on the garage. First, I power washed it, and saw that more paint was loose than I had thought….hmm…
No worries, It was still just a small part of the building.
But then I realized the reason it had peeled was that the wrong paint had been used. Not the exterior paint that was on the house itself! Which was a slightly different color and that meant all of the garage and the shed next to it needed redone. Not touched up.
So I power washed and scraped some more, and started priming and painting.
And painting.
And painting.
Just when I thought I might start crying because it was all so overwhelming, I had a little talking to with myself and changed my attitude.
Painting a building isn’t fun, but life is what you make it, right? This job needed done, and I am dang lucky that I am capable of doing it at my age. I hope I will continue to be doing tough jobs around the farm for as long as possible.
Although, the job would have been easier if I was slightly taller, or less afraid of heights so I could balance on the top of the ladder.
Instead of getting help to finish, I think I will leave this bit at the peak undone as a marker of how strong you can be when you need to be. And how sometimes doing your best is all you can do.
My family is going through some rough patches right now and time up on the ladder was also time to think. And to know that my best and my strength is all I can offer.
We are head over heels, smitten to the core with the Sugarbabies!
All of us.
Especially Albie. He is fascinated by them
For now, they live in the hearth room, this is my view from the kitchen. But I am usually in that recliner or sitting on the stool next to them, totally mesmerized.
When they are ready to run around and need more space, they will be moved to the breezeway, but for now, I am loving the continual squeaking, occasional yipping, and all of the other cute little sounds they emit.
Although the loud squeals at 3am send me running to them in a panic to make sure everyone is okay (not as cute).
If you would like to follow their story, I have a Cottage Doodles blog for them. But I will also be bombarding FB and IG, as well as posting here.
I can't get enough of the teensy, wriggly, sweetness of these
And if you want to have one of these darlings of your own? They are for sale and ready for pickup end of Sept. beginning of Oct.
Today is our 34th anniversary.
And he is still my favorite person to go on adventures with.
He will walk in the moonlight with me.
He stops to save turtles and loves animals.
Except rats. He is pretty good at trapping rats. That is a good trait in a husband if you have a 100 year old house on ten acres.
He is a dedicated pop pop.
He makes the best of my Christmas obsession. 
And tolerates my even more out of control Disney obsession.
(As long as I don’t make him hang out with the mouse too)
He is always interested in trying new hobbies, like bee keeping.
And axe throwing.
He is very supportive of his family.
And would do anything for them.
He is very sentimental. This fallen tree was special to him, he told family stories to the grand fairies under it. So it had to be saved and made into a table.
The dogs adore him, and he walks in the woods with them multiple times a day.
He works hard, even on vacations, he can put in a 40 hour work week.
He is always up for adding another room on our house, or another dog to our family.
Luckily, I can usually stop him.
Unless I really like the idea of another room.
Or the dog is really cute.
He doesn’t care that I rarely wear makeup.
And best of all? He is hilarious. And sometimes everyone thinks so, not just him.
He makes us all laugh.
Another 34 years sounds pretty good.
While I was redoing a canvas for the Guncles, I thought I would touch this one up too. I don’t have a before, because I hadn’t planned on painting it, I just kinda started in on it while working on the other one (previous post).
It didn’t get a big overhaul. I changed the sign to my blog name, brightened and sharpened up some details.
Added a rosemary plant and some roses.
This hangs over the fuse box in my garage, because, well, what else do you do with giant 6’ paintings?
Years ago, I had painted a canvas with a French market scene to use as a backdrop/divider for a booth at a show. It was a quickie, and not meant to be too detailed.
Here is the original. I have had it hanging in my garage, but have never really liked it. When Guncle Randy needed a French themed mural, I offered to give it to him.
But of course, that meant that I wouldn’t like it any better when I saw it at his house.
So, I spent an afternoon brightening it and adding details.
Including his Bichon, Bella, peeking out of the window.
And his address in French, on the wall.
(the sign isn’t really crooked, the canvas has a few billows, here and there that throw off the perspective in photos)
I like it better now. I think he will use it in his patio tent for a French themed dinner party or maybe to hang on the garden fence?
It is canvas and acrylic, so would be fine outdoors. But over time, could cause moisture to be trapped behind it and the fence would rot, so that couldn’t be permanent.
My dear Peep, Tamil, often hosts a girlfriends' craft day, and provides an interesting project for us all to do. I recently attended one of her fun days, but didn't have a chance to make the theme for the day, a Mermaid Bottle.
Which was pretty cool. All of her ideas are.
Instead, I needed to concentrate on A Snowbird's Song, and I finished the cards for the swap I joined.
These ladies are all a part of the collage sheet I will be giving to the ladies as one of my kits. They will only need one photo for the project, but will have a pageful to use as they wish on other pieces.
And this one is made from trees cut from old gift wrap and layered over snowy hills of vintage paper on top of glittered card stock.
This girl (also on the collage sheet) was the last one I made. I didn't pack well for the craft day at Tami's house, and ran out of lace and dyed coffee filters, so had to chop up and fit bits and pieces together to make her skirt.
Which I think was a happy thing, this is my favorite one! Sometimes, making do, means being extra creative, huh?
Thanks for the (as always) GREAT day, Tami!
Things are moving along with preparations for A Snowbird’s Song in November. I am working on kits (two are complete!), swap hostesses have come up with delectable ideas for exchanging lovelies, and menus are swirling about in my head.
Mostly of cookies and treats.
Probably because my head is often filled up with daydreams about cookies and treats.
I am so pumped for the party that I just had to get in on a swap. Terry, my dear sis, is hosting a card one, and I was happy to hear it because that is right up my alley. I propped myself down at my work table and whipped up a few while I was feeling the Christmas spirit.
(in this pic, one of the stars had slipped off because the glue was still wet, it has since been returned to her waist band)
This one featured the front of a vintage card with a circle opening, so I glued it to another card and cut a coordinating circle from that.
I lined that with printed vellum and put a colorful bird image behind the transparent vellum.
Backing the vellum, is a Christmas card envelope from the 50’s that I glued to the inside of the card. I saved the stamp from it and added that, along with a little girl, velvet ribbon, and a flower to the front.
Another sparkly, gold card was used for this as a backdrop, then was layered with neutral wallpaper (old), and a Victorian post card. I trimmed the postcard around the roses and glued it down to form a pocket.
The girl was glued down behind the roses with her arm outside the roses and she is holding a bouquet.
A note from a vintage card was cut out and slipped into the pocket.
Often I work with whatever was last left on my desk. All of the stars and sequins on some of these cards were from kit building. So are the pink ruffles on the first card, making the sugarplum fairy’s skirt, and on the edges of this vintage wallpaper.
The girl’s Santa hat is the same (it might need more fluff), all are trimmings from the hand dyed coffee filters I was using for some other kits.
We don’t have the number of cards needed until the swap is full, but I wanted to get a head start and figured that if I made too many, they wouldn’t go to waste.
