Saturday, May 25, 2013

Happy Blogoversary to Me!

Wow!  Time flies!  I had no idea today was my Blogoversary.  Ah, well.  Been busy trying my best to get well & be creative at the same time.  So no gifts this time...but maybe you can use the tutorial below, in a previous post, to get some inspiration!
I will be taking an online class in June.  You can see the artist at her blog: http://joannezsharpe.blogspot.com/  I'm hoping to loosen up my art some.  After June hopefully I'll have some new artwork to share with you!
Until then, have a wonderful summer!
And don't forget our veterans this Memorial Day!

Ron's Playground

Now we're up to date!
While I've been busy inside, my DH has been busy in his backyard playground!
When we bought our house, only the front yard was landscaped.  Which left him the whole back yard to play with!  Here's what he's been up to so far:
Here's one path he made from our gate to our patio.
Here's looking from the opposite direction.
You can also see some of the planting beds
he made, and plants he's planted.
They actually grow bougainvillea here!
Here he has started a retaining wall to help
keep our soil from sliding down our sloping yard.
Here's a bed of bougainvillea and petunias he planted.
Here's some potted plants he got for our patio.
You can see he's also starting some seeds.
Some potted carnations on the patio.
Can you see the pohaku on the left?
More potted carnations!
A close up of some carnations. 
They smell wonderful!!!
Next time I'll have to take pics of his veggie 
and herb garden!  He's having so much fun!

Dream Pillow

May 2013
My dear little sister saw one of these and wanted a Dream Pillow of her own.  She said she'd even pay me to make her one!  Well, I decided to make her one for her birthday.  She liked it, but not sure about her hubby!  LOL!  The herbs are sleepy time herbs & not as "sweet" as some would like!  Here's some pics of the process:
First I readied the materials I'd use.
Then I trimmed the felt to size.
I used a disappearing ink pen to draw in the sun.
You may have to click on the pic to see it.
I stitched the outline of the sun.
Then added yellow rays to the sun.
Added some orange rays to the sun.
Then I sewed up 3 sides of the pillow.
Separated 7 different herbs and spices into wooden bowls.
Used my spoons from Turkmenistan to scoop herbs.
Here's a close up of the 7 herbs and spices I used.
The herbs and spices I used were chamomile flowers, 
lavender, patchouli leaf, cinnamon chunks, 
whole coriander, pink rose buds, and cloves.  
Do you know which is which in the pic?
I added some alpaca batting to the bottom edge & sides.
Then I added the herbs and spices.
Added more alpaca batting after hiding a couple shells
and some beach glass among the herbs & spices.
Sewed the top closed and the pillow was ready to mail
Hope you enjoyed this small tutorial!

International Awareness Day and Mother's Day

May 12th, 2013 was International Awareness Day for ME/CFS & Fibromyalgia. Trying to get the word out so people can understand about these diseases & hopefully help in any way they can.  Here's a couple of pics from that day I found in Google Images & from my health sites.  I want to thank everyone who has sent me well wishes, prayers, energy & support!
Even Niagra Falls got in on the action!
Blue for ME and purple for Fibromyalgia!

And this day also happened to be Mother's Day!
I hope all of you moms out there had a very 
special day!
I wish you all could smell these wonderful carnations!

Ron's 70th Birthday!

This was during March 2013...

My oh my!  It's hard to believe my DH is 70!  I decided to make him a scrapbook with notes, cards & pics from his family & friends.  So I sent out an email & had everyone send their stories, wishes, memories to my sis in WA state so he wouldn't suspect anything.  Then she sent me all of them in one box!  (Thank heaven for good little sisters!)  :)  I got busy with the book I called "A  Little Rough Around the Edges"!  Here's some pics of the process:
Set up on a table with pages, letters, stickers,
stamps, inks, cut-outs, glue, etc.!
First page...A Little Rough Around the Edges.
And there was a lot of overflow in the studio!
And here's one of Ron reading each page!
And he really did read each page!
He also got a new pal for the year!
And of course he made a wish!
Thanks to everyone who helped make his birthday special!

Spa For The Soul Bead Exchange

Now we're into 2013...

I know I mentioned before about the bead exchange I was in.  Well, I wanted to show you the bracelet I made with the beads.  I did receive one bead after this picture was taken, but you get the idea.  I added jingle bells as spacers so the beads didn't bunch up.  Plus it also makes a fun sound!
Here it is:
It's so pretty & powerful!  From women around the world!  
I thank you all!

Long time no see! Or read!

So I'm gonna try to catch up on some of the things that have been going on in my life since...well, too long ago!  Ha!  I'll try not to put them all in one post so there's not a bunch of confusion.  ;)  Let's start with the end of 2012!

The first one is my Birthday 2012!!!  Here are a couple pics from that special day:
Some lovely birthday gifts, cards & food!
And here's a special doll a dear friend made me!
I called her Blue Margarita!
She also made me one before that I called Pink Champagne!
And, since I really don't like cake,
here's a piece of my birthday pie!
Check out that great crown candle holder!
All in all it was a wonderful day!  And I'm still in my 50s!  :)



Then it was time for Cookie Day!  This year I didn't take pics of all the cookies. But I did take pics of a few hot air balloons that decided to take to flight that day!  Here's a couple pics:
This one you have to enlarge 'cuz they're in the distance.
Except for the one just to the left of the house you see.
Just click on the picture!
Here you can see the first balloon starting to descend.
Sure looked close to the bosque!



Then shortly after that it was the Solstice & Christmas 2012!  We didn't do our regular big tree this year.  Just decided on a simple celebration of the light of the season.  Here's a couple pics from then:
Check out my little mice candle holders.  
They're reading!  One of my favorite pass times.
Outside we had paper farolitos/luminarias and 
our circle of friends candle holder.
It was a very sweet time for us!

And that's all there is for the end of 2012!
Hope you all are having a great New Year!

On to the next post...