Need a Favor

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I'm going to be out of town for a couple of days.
Could I talk someone into watering my plants for me?
It shouldn't take long.

(Click photo to enlarge.)

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Wedding Cards

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Here are two cards I made Tuesday night for an order.

Turns out this is for a July 1st wedding so the colors are kind of appropriate. I just wanted to make something kind of quilty using tone on tone quilt blocks.

Now I'm wondering if I should have placed the two smaller flowers symmetrically. I was purposely trying to be daring (for me!) and make them asymetrical. Don't you love that embossed background paper? I bought a small book of various unique papers. Wish I had more of this! Each of the spirelli are wrapped in gold thread and have beads on the ends of the petals. Click on the card to see the details. (I only now realized what a lousy scan this is. Oh well, too late for a do-over - the card was mailed.)

I'm a New Age Girl

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You are a New Age Girl!

You're bright, opinionated, and dedicated to changing the world. Even if it's one hybrid car at a time, you do your part to make things better. In fact, you may be so busy with your causes that you have little time for love. Take an extra yoga class or two, and you just might meet New Age Guy!

What Kind of Girl Are You?

Dog Person

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So it turns out not only am I a dog person after all - actually a "dog person on steroids" is how Steve describes me - but now I'm one of "those people". Six years ago I was still claiming "I'm just not a dog person," and dragging my feet on letting Simon get a dog. You know the rest of the story. Our beagle, Reggi (short for Regina) is "my girl". I love her.

Now I'm posting nauseatingly cute pictures of dogs on the Internet. Wait. It gets worse.

Remember me telling you that we purchased pet steps after we bought our new, very high bed, so overweight Reggi could easily get onto our bed each night? Our recent purchase is a doggie seat for Reggi to sit in so she can ride in the car safely and be able to see out the window.

What? Shut up. It's a safety issue.

It's called a Fido Rido. How could we not buy it with a name like that??

Reggi loves to go for rides in the car. Typically I drive and she sits on Steve's lap. It's always bothered me - what if the air bag deployed? I've half-heartedly looked at pet seat belts over the years but Steve never seemed to see the value or didn't want her to sit in the backseat or something, I don't know. That is, until the Fido Rido made an appearance on his computer screen.

We thought it would take Reggi about 5 trips to really get used to it. Nope. Her second ride, she was comfy cozy. She wears a harness that attaches to the seat, so we feel comfortable rolling the window all the way down so she can do her doggy thing. Previously, we were always afraid she'd lunge out the window if she saw a rabbit or something. She probably wouldn't and couldn't, given her girth and how much she loves us - but still, we thought about it. Now the wind blows her beagle ears back and she's got a big ol' smile on her face. Does too!

You think I'm bad? Recently Steve sent me a link to Pet Friendly Travel. When I asked him why, he said, "Just because. You never know. Maybe a long weekend to start." See?

Yep. Now we're those kind of people. And proud of it, apparently. I'm writing about it here on the Internet and Steve drives his vehicle around with the Fido Rido in the backseat. Now there's a secure man.

Blue Quilt Card

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This is the Father's Day card I made for Dad. Gretchen and I are taking him to breakfast this morning, postponed from last weekend when we couldn't coordinate schedules. We're a quilt-lovin' family so I think he'll like this.

My new punches from Emagination's going out of business sale arrived a few days ago. I received everything I ordered except the third picture down on this page. I'm disappointed but I still have plenty to play with.

This card took me hours to make, as the first ones often do because I try so many different things. I punched 9 designs and 9 squares of various blues and combined them willy-nilly. I took the "leavings" or "punchies" I think some people call them from those designs (that center pointy square shape) and glued those back into the designs, willy-nilly. The little flower shapes in the center of the designs and at the corners of the lattice strips are also leftovers from other punched designs. As are the white hearts at the corners. I love those white hearts so much I was determined to use them somewhere.

I finished two more of these to be framed. Re-finished I should say. I had them finished, framed and everything, when I decided to take them apart and redo them because they seemed the tiniest bit out of square and it was really bugging me. I made a template to use when putting the black lattice strips together and now this thing is a joy to make!

I received my first check from Creative Presence yesterday! In a letter I received from them the other day, it was mentioned, if vendors want a report of what was sold, we can pick it up at the store. Next time I'm out there I'll see if they'll let me leave some self-addressed stamped envelopes to mail me the reports. It's on the other side of Rochester and I only plan on going out there every 3 months or so. Unless things are selling like hotcakes, then I can definitely make more trips!

Also in the letter was mentioned that Chili (the town here is pronounced Chi-lye) is having a Chil"E" Fest. It's their largest community festival and this year there will also be included the first annual arts festival. Creative Presence is one of the sponsors and will have a float in the parade and a booth selling our stuff. Cool! It's July 22nd for any locals wanting to attend. I intend to go check it out.

Two New Cards

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Two new cards - sympathy cards to pass around work.

Some of the sunflower petals are lifted for added dimension. The leaves were curled around a pencil and veins added with an embossing stylus. The bee is stamped, colored with markers, cut out and attached with foam tape.

I love the simplicity of this design. The rubber stamp is from Memory Box. (Sorry, no time to find the website at the moment! Will look later...) Those are tiny brads on the tree.

Lone Star Quilt

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A birthday present to my friend Pam.

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Graduation Cards

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Graduation cards are not my specialty, shall we say? Here are four I made for my family to give Simon tonight. They're coming over to celebrate tonight with pizza and wings.

Here they are in descending order of preference, because I always save the best for last, don't I?

Because I flat-out ran out of ideas. The spirelli in the center is from my cards part drawer. I'd made a bunch of them this size into pins, then decided they are too big. The school colors are red and white, at least I thought they were. Simon's gown is blue and the tassel is red and blue. As I recall from DJ's ceremony last year, the girls wear red gowns and the boys wear blue? Seems sort of pathetic that I don't know the school colors, doesn't it, for a school district Simon has been in for 12 years?

Heart Balloons. Wish I'd spread them out more or added more or something. I used Mizuhiki cord for the strings. Sorta okay.

My standard grad card - a scroll. I like the clean lines and fonts chosen though.

I'm kinda diggin' this one! It was sort of plain until I added the gold ribbon around the tassle. But my favorite part is the 06. It's something I've been wanting to try. I die-cut the numbers 4 times and stacked them. I love the effect - I'll be doing more of that.

I'm sure my enthusiasm for these 4 cards probably has my family heading for the Hallmark store as we speak.

Simon has one final exam this year - Politics - next Monday. I asked him if we're having the party kind of prematurely and he assured me we are not. The ceremony is next Thursday. For one who isn't big on tradition and ceremony, I'm finding the ceremony oddly important to me and I'm very much looking forward to it.

Work has been crazy busy - for everyone, not just me. It's a good problem to have but I've been having trouble this week kicking it up a notch like I need to. I'm going through the motions but my heart isn't in it. I'm blaming it on hormones and think I'll be back to normal next week.

The woman that does accounts payable for us was assigned to Grand Jury duty. In our county that means all day, every day, for 4 weeks. I wasn't that worried about coverage for her position because there were 6 of us splitting up the work. After covering for my accounts receivable counterpart for 3 months, this was going to seem like a breeze. However, she called this week and was able to change it to their new rotating version. Apparently it's a new way they are trying but don't really publicize it or something. So she'll go for 2 days and 3 days/week, alternating for a few weeks. It's weird, it's only 11 days total, instead of the 20 she was originally assigned to - all because she asked. This is how a couple of surrounding counties do it, which makes much more sense. The straight 4 weeks thing has to be an imposition for anyone - except maybe retired folks. It has to really suck for sales people who get paid on commission - not working for a month. Or single moms who have to pay for day care if they can't make other arrangements. Plus the county doesn't reimburse for parking. Guess that's a good built-in source of revenue for them.

So mostly that's why I haven't posted in a week. Feeling blah. This too shall pass.

Bad Drivers

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Emagination Punches

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Dara Ickes is my new best friend in the whole wide world.

She emailed me today that Emagination is going out of business and having a big ol' sale. I'll say they are! I just bought 16 punches, at an average of $4.00/punch, including shipping. I'm worried I'm going to get an email that they have already sold out of some or all of these. I'll be crushed.

The punches I bought all relate to quilting. I have one quilt block punch and have been able to get a decent number of variations out of it by punching extra little holes or cutting bits away. But now. Now I'll be able to just go nuts!

I also bought this puncher helper thing. Some of the more intricate punches can be a little difficult to punch and definitely some of the larger ones are too. I don't know if this will help a lot or a little but it was only six bucks.

I have saved this jpg for years, for inspiration. I can't wait to make my variation of this!

Linky Entry

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Jim posted some links to some You Tube videos the other day. Check out this Urban Ninja kid. Amazing stuff, if you allow yourself to get out of parent mode and stop worrying about him!

Then over on Google Video there's the video taken in a single day in a Russian tunnel. It's a very long tunnel under a river - that sometimes leaks. The water freezes and this is the result.

Just a note of caution - one could spend days on these video sites. Just checking out the top videos, I found this short one on Magic Sand.

I think I've mentioned before that I'm kind of addicted to Rosie O'Donnell's blog. A month or two ago she started this Ask Ro feature where she answers questions from readers. They are short questions and short answers - she gets thousands per day she says.(I just checked it - she's putting that part on hold for a bit - last week of school and all.)

The other day, within that "Ask Ro", a reader linked to Darryl Hannah's website. She's posted a bunch of environmental activist videos in which she appears. I've only watched a few - one is about cars that run on vegetable oil. In another she visits the Natural Products Expo, in which she explores new products including a new cleanser by Ed Begley, Jr. He's pretty funny.

These things, among a zillion others, are why I'm an Internet Addict.

Bloomin' Beauties

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One of last year's beauties. Oh wait - not from Country Way, now that I think about it. But still beautiful and it was a good survivor.

Last year or maybe the year before I discovered Country Way Garden Center, just a couple of miles from our house. (It's the opposite direction from where we do most of our driving.) It seems like a real Mom & Pop organization and I just love it. Everyone is friendly and knowledgeable and all their plants seem happy & healthy. I admit I was also swayed by the fact that they had handcrafted greeting cards for sale in a basket on their counter the first year I shopped there. (I haven't seen them since but that's what gave me the idea to create a brochure of my flower related cards and do a mailing to all area garden stores. I haven't had time to execute this idea other than to start collecting names of area nurseries.)

Another one from last year - definitely from Country Way. I love this one, perched on one of the two stools I picked up off the side of the road. The other stool holds a giant aspargus fern in the family room.

I received a postcard from Country Way in April, offering "Spring Bonds", where you can buy a $50 gift certificate for $40. Great deal - so I bought two. And so far I've only spent half. I have two window boxes and a big enamelware pot on the deck to fill this weekend.

And I'll probably end up replacing a coleus I bought last year. It was absolutely gorgeous and I even wintered it over inside just beautifully. I cut it back quite severely about a month ago because it was starting to get a little "leggy" and I thought that would promote a nice spring growth. I put it out on the deck last week, careful not to expose it to too much sun, too quickly. It rained quite a bit after that so I don't know if it's drowning or I just need to root some cuttings and start over but it looks pretty pathetic.

Here's what I bought yesterday.

Boy, do I love a sweet potato vine! I had a purple one in the aforementioned enamelware pot last year and it just about took over the lower deck. In fact I had it coupled with a spike, not unlike this hanging basket, sans geraniums. Never would have thought to put a spike in a hanging basket but I like this.

I was so pleased with the fullness and colors of last year's baskets, I was afraid I wouldn't be able to find something to live up to my expectations. I stand corrected. Ain't she a beauty? The teenage boy who carried this one out to the car for me said he counted 7 separate colors. Not shades, colors, he specified.

I love combination baskets!

Weekend Wrap-Up

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I worked for MJ at Canal Days on Saturday for about 5 hours. The weather forecast called for thunderstorms but it turned out to be mostly okay, for the bulk of the day. It rained at the very beginning and very end of the day with a short, light sprinkle in between. It confirmed for me once again that I don't want to do outdoor shows, at least not at this point. The slightest wind or water - not so good for paper.

I was to work for MJ on Sunday as well, for only 3 hours. I had Steve drop me off (to avoid hassling with parking) an hour early because I wanted to go visit a couple of friends who were also vendors in the show. It turns out MJ left me voice mail that she didn't need me today but she had my old cell phone number - and I was probably already there at the show by then anyway. Her husband was able to work with her that day. This didn't bother me at all because I had plenty to do at home. So I called Steve to come pick me up.

I worked on filling an order. (Hi Julie!) I had to make a bunch of cards that I didn't have in stock. I updated some of them so they are similar to what was on the website, but are now a little better, I think. More beads is what that really means! I've updated the Stefani page with the new versions -and I'm posting them here as well. I sure do love making cards!

Now that our TV shows are in rerun, we've returned to Netflix. Over the last couple of weeks we've watched:

Moonlight Mile - chosen because I wanted to see Jake Gyllenhaal in something else, after seeing him in Brokeback Mountain. Also with Ellen Pompeo from Gray's Anatomy and Susan Sarandon and Dustin Hoffman. I highly recommend this.

Spy Game - Brad Pitt & Robert Redford. Need I say more?? Though after the opening scene, I was afraid it was going to be another Ronin, where I couldn't follow the plot or even keep the characters straight. But I could and I liked it.

The Last Castle - Robert Redford and James Gandolfini. I'd seen James Gandolfini interviewed on Inside the Actors Studio and saw a clip of this movie. I was intrigued. It was very good - and we loved seeing Gandolfini in a role quite different from Tony Soprano.

Sideways - loved it!

Baby Skunks

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Poor Steve, he didn't know what to think at first. We were driving home from work yesterday in our separate cars, talking on our cell phones (yes, with headsets!) when he heard me say, "Oh my God! Ohhhh, my God!" I quickly explained what I was seeing so he didn't think I'd run off the road. There were three little skunks huddled together trying to cross the road. They are the size of kittens! I've never seen anything like it before. No sign of mama anywhere. Cars were coming up behind me so I couldn't stay stopped long. Then I watched in my rear view mirror and everyone was slowing down to look.

I turned my next corner, pulled in a driveway and turned around and went back. I had to take pictures, even though I knew they would never do the little fluffballs justice. I walked up as close as I dared, used the zoom, my head on a constant swivel, looking for any adult skunks. None to be found so maybe they are orphans. I try not to think about that part.

This is the only picture I got of two of the three together. The third one must have wandered away separately. This just proves that all baby animals are definitely adorable!

Don't you want to just scritchy-scratch them under their furry little chins?

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This weekend is Fairport's Canal Days, which is always a ton of fun. I'll be working for MJ for part of both days in her booth, selling her painted glass. She'll be located in the Village Landing parking lot I believe she said. Stop by and say hi.

Works in Progress

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I'm still working on lots of little Lone Star quilt blocks, soon to be assembled into cards and framed paper quilts. There's a great deal of cutting in these so I've been doing it on my lunch hour at work and at night while watching TV. Steve and I eat dinner in front of the TV and I always finish first so I start cutting while he's still eating. Then we finish whatever hour program we've Tivo'd. I'm amazed at how much I've accomplished in these little bits of time. Plus I'm saving every little bit I cut away from these shapes to make into something else. Each block produces 5 distinct shapes. The tiny pieces, organized by color and shape :-) are stored in those clear 18-compartment boxes in the upper left of the photo.

Meanwhile, here are some paper embroidery pieces I stitched a while ago, soon to be made into mandalas. I absolutely love these variegated threads!

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