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    T Tuesday: changes edition

    This week is one of change. J heads back to college for the Spring semester. Our school is having its final week of the semester. Next week brings new classes for me and Mini-me, just to name a few.  With J heading back to college I’ll once again be expanding my crafty space to include the desk in his room. Perhaps then I’ll catch up with a couple of projects that have hit the back burner over the last month.

    New projects

    I’m creating an embellishment storage booklet. I was inspired by Gayle Agostinelli. So far I only have one page of the booklet completed. It’s not pretty but that wasn’t my purpose. I’m using up papers and extras that I’ll never use. It’s strictly utilitarian. Waste not, want not.embellishment booklet

    I slipped a few random paper pieces in the pockets so they’d actually show up…

    embellishment booklet

    It will make better sense when it’s all put together but basically I want to have a book or booklet with all my small or fussy cut embellishments at the ready instead of searching through half a dozen places for just the right piece I know I own.

    Another new project is actually an old one that I never started. The sketchbook project that I purchased over the summer. Of course, at the time the due date seemed so far away…now its only weeks away.sketchbook project page

    sketchbook project page

    I’m sure you’ll be seeing a lot more of these pages in the weeks to come. My only disappointment is that the pages are so thin…any wet media really soaks through very quickly. I definitely have to keep this in mind instead of just intuitively creating as I prefer.

    Last weekend we finally put away all the Christmas decor. I snapped this late even photo the night before for my obligatory T Tuesday beverage reference. T Tuesday obligatory photo

    Something fun that just came in the mail that I had to share was our “free” Marvin puzzle.

    Marvin puzzle

    I say “free” because for the puzzle itself we had a coupon code making it $0 but then the shipping seemed a bit overpriced so they definitely were making their money somehow.

    I snapped this pretty sky photo when I got to work this morning. The sun was behind a veil of thin clouds…it was a perfect orange disk. The view almost made up for the slick driving conditions from the overnight snow. Almost.snowy morning sky

    Such a bummer…we’re getting snow again right now…in fact, we are getting snow basically every day this week during one or both commutes. Not fun.

    T stands for Tuesday

    What are you doing today?
  • Around home - Blog - Crafts - Creativity - Kitchen

    T Tuesday: Christmas wrap(up) edition

    Hello and welcome to another edition of T stands for Tuesday! You may have noticed that I’ve been gone a while. I talked about my back saga in the previous post so we are moving on to something more festive and fun!

    Since we were hosting Christmas (because I love it!) I had to lean on the rest of the family to do all of the heavy and not so heavy lifting.

    Even the simple things like getting a cake in and out of the oven.

    The past few years I’ve made a rum cake for Christmas but this time I went for a Fireball Whiskey cake. It was so good. I forgot to take a photo of it with the icing…likely because it wasn’t very pretty.

    We had overnight guests on Christmas eve…Mini-me gave up her bed and slept on the couch. Of course, this meant that she was up even earlier than she usually is. She is my early bird kid.

    It was a long wait…even with me making all kinds of noise in the kitchen.

    This was my favorite present under the tree…it’s hard to wrap arrows. Mini-me needed a new set for archery season which is just days away.

    Marvin had to be a part of the chaos…bows are his favorite.

    I suppose the whiskey cake could have been my “beverage” for T stands for Tuesday but instead, I thought I’d share the tiniest cocktail I’ve ever seen. My BIL brought this over. It wasn’t anything I cared for but the can sure was cute.

    I’ve been working on purging my rubber stamps. I was so frustrated digging through them trying desperately to find a Happy Anniversary stamp since I had promised my MIL that I’d make her some cards. I had a bunch of bases completed they just needed a sentiment and the also requested “shiny butterflies”. Thankfully I have a very crafty neighbor who is willing to share. Thanks, KW!

    The “shiny butterflies” have the big wow factor but are pretty easy to make. I stamped each butterfly on white card stock with black Staz-on ink. I used watercolor paint to colorize each. After completely dry, I fussy cut each and placed on a non-stick surface. I coated each one with Diamond glaze. As they dry a slight curl happens quite naturally giving them an even more “lifelike” appearance.

    I have now looked through every single one of my stamps and alas…I never even had a Happy Anniversary stamp. ugh. Well, now I do…I bought a set of sentiments at Michaels. I’m sure you’ll be seeing some cards in the near future with these words.

    Today is Mini-me’s 17th birthday. I can hardly believe it. 

    I was planning to go out and get her favorite meal… Chipotle…but we are getting a snowstorm. It remains to be seen if we venture out or not.

    Speaking of crazy storms and slippery conditions….have you seen this video?

    The video was taken a few miles from our house. Mini-me had friends on that bus heading to a girls’ hockey tournament.

    What are you doing today?
  • Around home - Art - Blog - Creativity

    Where I’ve been….

    Hello!! I bet you thought I forgot all about blogging. December has been full of highs and lows….none of which had me racing to the keyboard to share. Since my last completed post was December 3rd, we have a great deal of catching up to do.

    December 10th I actually had a partial post written for T Tuesday wrapping up November.

    T Tuesday: November wrap-up edition

    I’m a little slow on the draw lately. I’m finally wrapping up November. Technically, I’m not fully wrapped up since I haven’t completed the #junkjournalnov19 prompts. But just go with me on this.

    11/30 Zodiac sign

    12/30 Autumn evening

    14/30 Dress

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    As you can see I never finished the post including missing one of the days. That’s ok…I’m learning to embrace imperfection.

    December really was a whirlwind. Lots of activities, snowstorms, J coming home for winter break, shopping, cooking, sewing, shoveling, cleaning, decorating and a little bit of creating.

    Everything came to a screeching halt when I threw my back out on December 12th….the morning of Mini-me’s holiday choir concert…also a Thursday. This was really unfortunate because my chiropractor doesn’t work on Thursday! I always seem to break on a Thursday!

    The last 2 weeks have been painful and scary at times. I’ve had an urgent care visit, 2 ER visits, 2 injections, 5 medications, an MRI, 7 days of missed work and numerous chiropractor visits…including one today.

    In the end, I’m doing much better. Diagnostic tests came back good, the healing process is moving forward. My back still is easily fatigued and a bit fragile but something really positive came out of this. I’m learning to ask for help, let others do, letting go of things I can’t change and embrace the chaos.