• Around home - Blog - Outdoors

    Fish and tomatoes

    No, it’s not a recipe. It’s what’s been happening around here.

    As requested (and because I’ve got nothing better to show you), here is our new aquarium. There are 9 current residents…6 platy’s, 2 corydora’s and a purple cichlid. We plan to get a few more in about a month.

    And then there’s Bob, our Crowntail Betta. Our daughter named him “Prince (something or other)” but Bob just seemed to roll off the tongue better. He enjoys looking at art and my girl swears that he gets excited when she changes his scenery.

    And finally…my tomatoes are starting to ripen, so the harvest has begun. They are so yummy!

  • Blog

    Scrap bag


    I started this project over a year ago. But for most of that time, it’s been in a drawer..out of sight and out of mind. I had to clean out my sewing table (aka small desk I refurbished years ago) because it is now our aquarium stand.

    Anyway….I had intended on making a tiny little string purse for going to garage sales and festival type things. Since then I’ve discovered that I really need to carry more stuff all the time…so a bigger bag was born.

    An old piece of table cloth was used as the base for the random scraps. I used different colors of thread and stitches for a fun crazy quilt look.

    I decided on a jagged edge on the flap for interest.

    The lining is a re-purposed pillowcase. I wish I had the forethought to sew a pocket or two on the inside but when you’re winging it…those things don’t always come to mind.

    I did learn a couple things while putting this together that I’ll *hopefully* remember to apply to my next purse project.

    The only purchased item on this purse is the magnetic closer. I bought 3 of these a while back when I was making more purses

    Otherwise everything used to create this purse is re-purposed or scrap.

    A girl can NEVER have to many purses! Maybe I’ll sell a few when I actually stock my etsy store… It’s just an empty storefront right now.

  • Blog

    Times slips away…

    I don’t know how it happens but it seems as if I have been accomplishing absolutely nothing lately. Well, I should say art related accomplishments.  I’m starting to get very frustrated.

    I have been reading, cleaning, hanging out with the kids, running errands, yard work etc.

    The only remotely artsy thing I’ve done lately…and this is a real stretch… was to stain a wood project my husband has been working on. It’s not completed but needed to be stained at this stage.

    I’ll leave you with the baby bird in a nest picture… It’s a wren nest in our dwarf lilac bush along the front walk. They build a nest there every year. It’s fun to see them swoop in and out feeding their fledgling.  I’m not sure if the egg along the side is the baby’s egg that it hatched from or a sibling that never hatched.