Placemats to Purses

One of my many hobbies is making purses out of placemats, something I just love to do.  I have made quite a few for gifts and they seem to go over well.  Over time, I have improved my methods to make them sturdier and more attractive.  My latest invention was adding cute little feet for the purses.  I did not have any of the "proper" feet handy,   but I had quite a few magnetic snaps that I used to close the purses.  I had ordered about 100 from ebay.  Another of my hobbies is playing with polymer clay, so I made little feet with colors that matched the quilted pattern, and put the magnetic snaps at the bottom with feet made of polymer clay with the other side of the snap embedded into it so that the feet can snap on and off.  This way, the handle can be removed and the feet snapped off, and the whole thing thrown in the wash when needed.  I find mismatched or broken sets of placemats to make these.    Below is a slideshow of other placemat handbags I have made.

The Blogging Rabbit Hole

I have been very lazy about posting these days.  As I have said before, I am so amazed at the beauty and quality of the blogs that I visit that it often takes me down the proverbial Looking Glass rabbit hole.  For example.  I had one Swedish blog I visited almost daily.  I could not understand a single word since it is in Swedish, but I loved the site anyway, just for the pictures.  I figured out where her links were and down the rabbit hole I went to discover even more delightful blogs each with more links to follow as I went deeper and deeper down the hole.  As you can see, many of them are now in my homepage content for quick daily reviews.  Here is a picture  of my Google homepage with all the tabs for favorite blogs. 

  As you can see, I have one tab called "can'tunderstandaword" and that is where I keep all of these.  So to entice others in the freefall through the rabbit hole, here are some links to these delightful blogs, highlighting the things all of us seem to enjoy so much, beautiful interiors, gardens, sweet furry and wooly friends, creativity, etc.  I would never have had the access to these if it were not for the fabulous blogging community and the ability to find likeminded cyberspace travelers.  Enjoy:

Housemartin,  guldkantpalivet, An Angel at my Table, Spets och snor , Emma, Camillas Drommar, Lantliv i stan,

Annas hus, Clara's Linescap,  Hemmapalandet , Hemmariket, Fridtid, Vita Ranunkler , LovingHulu,  and this lovely shop  in Norway (I think) Linnea's Hage (maybe Hage means house?) with so many beautiful things, antiques, etc, etc, and be sure to see the amazing shabby chic dollhouse here, it is so "perfect."

Well I will leave you now that I have enticed you to spend even more time than you do already chasing the "Inspiration Rabbit" down the hole, but I think you will be rewarded.  I just wish there were a Scandinavian Language translator tool that I could use --but I still can enjoy these sites (sights)!! I apologize to anyone if I have not been able to distinguish between Norweigan, Swedish, Danish blogs, but the language of beauty is the same and that is what has been communicated

I have created the following album slideshow of just a few of the delights you will find at these blogs:

Face Painting on the 4th of July

As one of my many hobbies, you all know I love painting little faces and I do it twice a year, on the 4th and in October for our Octoberfest here. This year I did manage to take a few pictures of the little darlings, although I was painting solidly for 3 hours and they were still coming. I think they are so cute! They are usually so nice and still and well behaved, it is a pleasure to see their eyes sparkle when I finish and let them look in the handmirror at their painted faces!

I'm Baaaack

Actually got back on the 5th of June but had a nasty head congestion/allergy thing which did not make me feel like posting, slept a lot to get my time changes in synch, also, had to load up all the 912 pictures and 17 video clips taken on the trip, see this link if you have the stamina, note that all the video clips are on the last page and there are some cute ones, especially of my friend Lynette being wooed by a silver faced, charming mime! Then another one of us navigating the narrow stone passageway down the 65 foot Glenfinnan Tower. OSHA wouldn't allow us to have such an opportunity here I am certain! Oh, and I forgot, if you find the right picture, and enlarge it, you will see what Scots wear under their kilt. I had taken a picture of what I thought were fine looking Scotsmen in kilts walking down the street in Glasgow and got more than I bargained for. Didn't ask, but I guess they figure we all want to know and flashed us anyway. I turned my head but managed to somehow (LOL) click the camera button so I did get the picture.

All that picture uploading took some time, then the garden needed some attention but DH had done a wonderful job of keeping everything watered, but the weeds!! So many lilies were in bloom, it was a joy to come home. But another stupid act of mine got me in real trouble. I was smart enough to wear gloves, but chose those nice soft cuddly Foxgloves to do some weeding and cleaning. Made the BIG mistake somewhere along the line of wiping my face with those soft gloves, I don't even really remember doing it, but now my face has a nasty case of poison oak! It hasn't gotten me anywhere near in the mood to blog about pleasant things. I did take pictures of the nasty rash, but they are too depressing to include in this post. I will share pictures of the nasty weeds though and encourage all of you not be as stupid as I was.

I must admit I don't post as often as I should, but I feel so inadequate as I go from blog to blog enjoying the tremendously talented entries I find. There are so many wonderful blogs I forget to update my own. I actually get lost in them some days. To me it is better than having magazines lined up at my mailbox, there are truly so many lovely people out there sharing their insights and lives and pointing to beauty and charm in all corners of the world.

Totally Mixed Emotions for me

The time has come and I must spend tomorrow packing for my trip. Everyone who knows me knows that I hate leaving home in May. In fact, there are only a couple of times a year that I like to even think about traveling, but this is not one of them. Things are starting to bloom in the garden, delicate new annuals have been placed, and babied and I must now depend on others for 11 days to water them. In our climate, it doesn't take much to wipe out a plant for lack of water. I also do not make it easy for people to take over these chores, since I have things scattered all over the place. But I am putting my faith in trust in my DH and daughter who lives nearby to make sure things survive while I am gone. I will also miss my home, family, friends and my two most adorable kitties, Beau and Piglet.

Many of you know that this is the trip we have been planning for such a while and my sister (whom I haven't seen in ten years) will be accompanying me and a dear friend. We all have read (and loved) the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon and our tour to Scotland will be based on the history behind the books. My sister who has been undergoing chemo for over 14 months now (every other week) will have a much needed change and we are all excited to be able to take this trip. That's, of course, the happy and excited part of me, the other side will miss May at home in the garden. Ah, but then there is June--we should be back on the 5th of June and I will be plowing through the hundreds of photos, and will then enjoy the lilies which are right now starting their bloom sequence. First my tall lemon yellows, then the Asiatic Lilies, then the Oriental lilies. I may miss the daylilies which are working toward their peak now and the Hydrangeas, and lots more. But this is the trip of a lifetime for my sister and I am happy we can do this. Next Monday night we will all be in our 18th Century costumes at Culloden House near Inverness. I have a few pictures posted here of my friend and I working on our costumes with a little help from Beau. If I had realized I would be posting these, I would have combed my hair and put on a little makeup, but the pictures of Beau helping me sew were not expected.
I will miss my other kitty, piglet and as I was experimenting with my camera, I took this closeup video clip of her.

Happy Mother's Day to Me!

As Mother's day is soon approaching, I have to admit I have spent some time looking at precious old pictures and a few newer ones, also, one of my favorite things is to listen to some audio tapes I made of my little girl at about 3 years old. For mothers and grandmothers with young children, I highly recommend making some audio tapes as candidly as possible for playback 30+ years later as in my case this week. Most of us have pictures, but the sound of their voice at that tender young age is something to enjoy over and over again as well.
Here is the slideshow (I haven't made one in a while and love doing them)

And for those who want to hear her too, here are two separate voice recordings that thankfully I have in digital form now.
Story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears (sort of)

and Kristina talking to a spider

Well that's my walk down memory lane, Kristina is now 35 years old and all this seems like just yesterday. Precious memories for sure.
I hope you all have a wonderful Mother's Day with your children and your own mothers if you are fortunate enough to be able to spend time with them. Take a few moments to cherish those memories.

I need a blowtorch!

Just what I need right? Another hobby! I sure would love to try this art/craft on for size, not that I could create anything as wonderful as these beauties, but I would love to be able to do metal work. I found these on Whipup (one of my daily blog checks---necessary for every crafter). But since I value beauty over function, I could easily see turning shovels and wheelbarrows into works of art like these:

This talented artist from Nova Scotia makes metal look like lace. Awesome I think.

Oooh and one more thing--

I forgot to let NG know how delighted I was at her including me amongst several other "brilliant bloggers" as one of her selections for Thinking Blogger Award. I am indeed honored to be among her selections. I know I am supposed to list five that inspire me, but I couldn't pick just five, there are so many places I travel daily in cyberspace that make me think, and excite and inspire me. It is the most wonderful community--the world! I will add one site, not a blog site, that never fails to make me think. Quite a departure from the world of beauty and garden and home delights that I usually post about, but this is truly a "thinking" site and very controversial also. The Edge has so many interesting and provocative ideas that help me keep my mind open and to truly "think" about things differently and try new ideas on for size. It may not be for everyone, but when I was challenged to pick a site that makes me think, this one came immediately to mind. I try to keep a balance of serious thinking and creative pleasure in my life, this shows a more serious side of me, (but not too serious!). Steven Pinker's articles are particularly interesting to me as I ponder life's mysteries.

Now to bring this back to the beauty of the world, be sure to click on the gorgeous anemone
at the top of the website and explore the breathtaking beauty of Katinka Matson's images, artfully arranged and presented to transport you inside the beauty that exists around us all the time.

Azalea Garden Tour-- Wilmington, NC

Two of the three days were nice, but Sunday got rained out I think. Fortunately, we spent the whole day on Friday getting lots and lots of pictures with lots and lots of gardening ideas! The gardens were very nice with beauty and hard work evident at each location. From the grand and majestic to the delightful treasures of a tiny garden with lots of surprises. Toured with two friends and their adorable dog and had a lovely time. Did manage to bake cookies for the ribbon cutting and made an extra batch for my daughter.

Also took hundreds of pictures and they all can be seen in the separate photobucket album here.

Wedding Marathon

Just recovering from a three day wedding marathon that was really wonderful. If I am the least bit tired, I can't imagine how the primary participants are feeling. The wedding events began (for me at least) this past Friday with a bridal shower, then the rehearsal dinner that night, then next day, the actual wedding and spectacular reception was quite an experience. I think it was the most elegant wedding I have attended, just beautiful. Then on Sunday, the bookclub gals (I am one of eight of us) provided food for Easter Brunch for what seemed like 200 people. We never did count them. The setting was absolutely gorgeous in the backyard of bride's parents, one of the most beautiful gardens here! I got up at 6:00 a.m. and made about 150 ham biscuits as my contribution, it was so much fun working with my book club friends. Now a brief rest for this upcoming week's event, the Wilmington Azalea Festival. I will enjoy seeing the garden tour with friends this Friday and will need to make cookies for the ribbon-cutting for the event. The Azalea Festival is a major event here in Wilmington, NC and the garden tour that comprises one of the events during the weekend is the main fundraiser for the Cape Fear Garden Club. Lots of money is raised that goes into beautification grants for many organizations throughout the city. I am proud to be a member of this garden club.

So much in common!

I truly do have so many hobbies, I just am scattered everywhere. I also never know what I want to post on this blog, but I have blogs of friends that I visit often and sometimes one or more of them jogs something into my head that I want to follow up on. Too bad there is no way to have a community discussion on some of the blog postings where you can share pictures, etc. I do often comment, but want to take it further. For example, I just visited Nature Girl's blog and see that she has just posted photos showing her beautiful pansies pressed from last year and it reminded me that I had recently had my bag of dried/pressed flowers out and they looked so pretty. They were just laying on my cutting table so I took some pictures (photos were dated March 18th). I love saving some of my flowers this way, and do dry them (in fact my phone books (old ones) have these bits amongst all the pages.) I had dried these last year as well, most using the microwave, silica gel method.
For a great rundown of all the methods, check HERE
I have stuck a few on cards and gift tags, but am always looking for unique ways to use these dried flowers. For example, in the photo collage, you will see a plastic cup where I decoupaged some around the edge. I was making a dinner "to go" for a friend who has been looking after her pregnant daughter-in-law who has been bedridden since last December hoping to bring the baby to term (so far so good, I think baby is due in April or May). Anyway, my friend needed a break from cooking all the meals so I thought I would help out. I wanted also for her not to have to return any dishes, etc. I decided to make Rachel Ray's Chocolate cup dessert which I have made before and love since it is soooooo easy! Then I thought, maybe I could use plastic cups to put the dessert into, but wanted to jazz them up. What you see in the picture is an attempt, made but abandoned, since I couldn't wait for glue to dry and wasn't sure how it would look. I ended up just covered the desserts with plastic wrap and tying with rafia. Sooo, long story short, thanks Nature Girl for helping me to come up with another posting stimulated by you!

Spring is here for certain!

Took these pictures in the last few days, couldn't resist yet another slideshow

Aaaah Spring!

My favorite flowers, easy to plant, last a long time, come back every year, can cut bunches to bring inside and they usher in the spring season with such wild abandon!

And they swam and they swam-----------

Had a marvelous weekend in Philadelphia visiting the Flower Show. Also got some experience using my new camera (Canon SD800IS) and the movie function.
I am trying now to upload all my pictures to my Photobucket Account to share with all of you. Lots of inspiration for our gardens and entertainment. Fun show and got to take this short movie of the Koi Pond:

We also had some wonderful dining experiences at the famous Bookbinders in Phila, as well as a new (for us) find--which DH loved called: "Fogo de Chao"

With love to my sister on Valentine's Day

Here is the present I sent to my sister for Valentine's day. I had fun making these "ruby" earrings and necklace. She had made a dress some time ago which she thought would be appropriate for our costume night during our trip to Scotland, and was looking for a ruby necklace to thread on a ribbon for her neck. By way of explanation, my sister has been undergoing chemo for over a year now for cancer in colon, kidneys, liver, and has been doing very well. She gets quite ill for a few days after each treatment but bounces back during the week "off" her chemo. When she was diagnosed in October 2005, prior to surgery, I had told her about a wonderful series of books that I thought she might like. Diana Gabaldon's books, (there are 6 of them now), starting with the Outlander are books I have enjoyed and thought my sister might be able to find some escape through these wonderful historic novels. Well, I never expected her to love them the way she has. She has read all six books (in paperback, they are over 1,000 pages each) five times! I expressed the idea that maybe someday we could go to Scotland together. Well, wonder of wonders, I checked and found an Outlander tour! We are booked to go and one of my dearest friends, who has also read the books and loved them, is joining us. Judy Lowstuter is the tour director and she has been absolutely wonderful thus far in arranging all the details for the trip which includes my sister leaving from Providence RI and my friend and I leaving from Wilmington, NC and linking up with my sister is Newark, NJ for the overseas leg of our journey. If you go to Judy's photo site, you will see pictures of previous tours and the special costume night at Culloden House where we get a special private presentation of the Jacobite rising and Scottish entertainment.

I have been entertaining my sister with little surprises to keep her spirits high as she continues her treatments and anticipates our wonderful trip together. In her Valentine present package I included some delicous chocolates and a copy of Scottish Life Magazine.
Here is a bulletin board I made up for her:

My sister sent me a photo of her dress and I "pinned" it to the board. She also sent me pictures of a calendar a neighbor bought her of the Castles in the UK, I had such fun using my Photoshop skills to create the board for her and she loved it. She also does Tarot Card readings and will bring along the deck for "fun."
I hope many of you will explore the books, the story and the fantastic history of the time. The last several books have particular significance to me since they take place in colonial North Carolina in the few years leading up to the Revolution. In fact, one of the last battles in the saga takes place at the Widow Moore's Creek which is just 20 miles from where I live. I am trying to talk Judy Lowstuter into exploring the possibility of a North Carolina "Outlander" tour which could be fascinating and fun.

Keeping my eye on the ball

I am watching these boxwood balls created on the 22nd of December just before my bookclub Christmas party. I decided to make them at the last minute (big mistake!) they take quite a bit of time cutting, and sticking and filling the whole sphere but I did manage to make three of them and used them several times in several ways over the holidays (see my December postings), but I wondered how long in advance could I have made these and how long would they look nice and fresh. Here's a picture I took this morning. I have moved them outdoors and they have been resoaked in a bucket of water a few times and rained upon, but it is clear, next year I can make these at least a month in advance. I may even make some for friends next year because I can do them early and I have lots and lots of boxwood.
I used foam balls (4.5" ones) from AFloral.com at $1.99 apiece combined with other things, they could make very nice gifts. They look great just sitting on top of a terra cotta pot and can be used in a number of ways. I will continue my experiment to see exactly how long they will keep looking satisfactorily fresh for holiday planning (and other events as well), maybe I can even incorporate them into a design for Valentine's day?
Meanwhile in the garden lots of things are blooming for this time of year, Camellias which I would expect, but my azaleas are blooming, but not fully as they do in the spring (March/April), so I am not sure what they will do then, then the primroses are up and blooming and of course, those tazetta narcissus are still going strong. I spent the day (actually it has taken me almost three days) pruning up my crepe myrtles, but that garden chore is done and last week I cut back all the loriope, and the Miscanthus grasses, another winter chore, but it is fun working out there in our nice 40--50 degree temperatures.

Weird, Who Me?

I have been tagged by Donna of the Decorated House who was tagged by Kim of Daisy Cottage: Before I launch into my weirdness, here are the rules for those I reach out and tag:
The Tag Game:
Each player of this game starts with 6 weird things about you. Each person who gets tagged needs to write a blog post of their own 6 weird things as well as clearly state this rule. After you state your 6 weird things, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don't forget to leave a comment that says "you're tagged" in their comments and tell them to read your blog for information as to what it means.

Here's my list of wierdness:
Does this photo of me make me look weird? (if so, that's Number one), I don't know why people stare at me everywhere I go!
Well exactly how weird am I? I found a test (not obviously for 64 year old women like me), but I took it anyway and it is official (weird thing #2):
8% are more weird,
3% are just as weird, and
89% are more normal than you!
I guess it is true and poor Donna didn't think I could come up with 6 weird things! Ha!
Weird thing #3: I think it is a high compliment to be weird!
Weird thing #4: I handpainted a perfectly good cement patio to look like bricks, some thought that was weird, especially since it was done in 90+ degree weather.
Weird thing #5: I hate to do things the same way all the time. When I did grocery shopping which was a very long time ago (DH does it all now), I would enter the store and go down the middle aisle just to keep the boredom down and to see things differently.
Weird thing # 6: I had my palm read during a break at a business lecture once. The person who read palms as a hobby was a chemical engineer (that's weird isn't it?) And I believe everything he said he saw in my palm.
OK that's about all the wierdness I have time for today. I hate to do this to dear friend bloggers, but I will tag Nature Girl in Ontario who I am sure could not even think of anything weird about herself (unless we define weird as "extraordinary"). I really hate to do this to her when she invited me to such a "special" tea party yesterday. Is it weird to be able to almost taste that lovely scone and white rose tea? Also, Maria in Finland will be tagged to reveal her weirdness too. And since I never follow directions, I will only tag two, not six others as set forth in the "rules." Then we can all celebrate these special and wonderful traits that make us unique and interesting people. (or just plain weird).

From the Pretty to the Practical

After Jen at the Cottage Nest inspired us with her plans and progress to date on her studio, I thought I would share a neat idea for those of you who have purchased those wooden shelves at the craft stores that have wooden brackets underneath. I had stored my raffia and ribbons in a plastic box, always scrambling to find them when I need them. My DH, Gary, came up with the idea to use "white" bottle caps (I drink a lot of water, so these are perfect, only the case of water I have now has blue caps, so I keep trading them with others who have the white ones), anyway, he cuts out part of the rim, nails them onto the wooden bracket and a dowel slides and rolls perfectly and gives me access to ribbon, raffia and twine when I need it. Love this! I, of course am thrilled that my daughter Kristina, gave me almost three days of her week off between Christmas and New Years to get me organized. You couldn't even walk through the room for the debris everywhere. We did buy tons of plastic containers too. She is an excellent organizer. My space to "hobby" in won't be as pretty as you see in decorating magazines (and how I do admire those), but at least it is practical. Now the challenge is to keep it somewhat organized. I told Kristina that she needs to come over monthly and give me inspections to keep me whipped into shape, a really huge challenge though. Thankfully she knows me and forgives me my faults!

One of my favorite vignettes

Took this picture then manipulated it in Photoshop adding paint daubs. Here is the altered picture:

And everything that didn't move got a bow:

My lambs and my statue

and the birdhouse got decorated too,
A simple wreath at the front door,