Confessions of a Grandma

August and September are big birthday months in my family.  I have been busy with some card making. Dane wanted to make a card during his weekend visit.  I used to have my craft supplies in the laundry room, but earlier this summer I converted Mike's old office into a dedicated craft space. Dane was seeing the transformation for the first time.  His reaction:  "Wow, Grandma, you really girled this place up!" The distant rumbles were Mike's expression of dismay.

Yesterday, I slept until 8:30.  Today, I was up before 6.  Both nights I went to bed at my usual 10:00 and had the usual bout of tossing and turning before I fell asleep and again at around 2. The funny thing is that I worked at the library on Monday.  The librarian is getting her summer reading programs nailed down.  I have been helping her make sample crafts that she can show when she does a presentation at area pre-schools and the elementary schools. So I have made buckets out of old jeans and mixed up cement to make flower pots.  Monday I painted rocks to look like a penguin and a strawberry, mixed more cement (this time with color added) for three more pots, and cut out pigs.  Lots of pigs and poster board patterns for piggy banks. Obviously it exhausted me. On Tuesday, I worked in the garden.  There are so many perennials that have been in need of dividing for some time now.  I worked for hours, digging and pulling and repla...

The past two Sundays have been iffy weather-wise, and with Mike not being up for adventure because of foot pain or the medication for foot pain, I have had to amuse myself.  If it is going to be rainy, out comes the sewing machine.  I put together another quilt top.  The top is the easy part, especially since this material has all those blocks built in so I cut big pieces.  Even here in FL, I am building up scrap piles of fabric.  I made a couple of fabric bins to organize a closet.        I did not bring too much of my card making/paper crafting supplies with me, but I was inspired by a project on The Paper Boutique to make this lap book out of file folders and patterned papers.  I plan to use it for my medical insurance and prescriptions and all kinds of relevant personal information that I like to have in one spot.   It folds up.  I still have to come up with some kind of closure.   ...

What is this?  A roast in the oven?  On such a hot day?   No, it is the second step in an attempt to sterilize some drift wood.     The first step was soaking it a bucket of bleach and then drying it in the sun. And the completed project to add a bit of beachy ambiance to the place:

I get together with a group of crafty women on a fairly regular basis.  We have fun with glue and glitter…so much glitter.  We have a lunch, laugh a lot, and go home with something completed. We made a lot of Christmas cards and gift tags over the fall.  We met last week and I was responsible for a project.  I made a bunch of these folded pockets to stuff with treats and give to friends and use for the kids’ advent basket.  By then, I was tired of the Christmas stuff, so I packed pink paper and we got all girly. A candy, a note, a gift card, whatever could be tucked inside. The steps are: Start with a square piece of paper.   Fold it in half to form a triangle.   Fold the top point toward the long side (bottom).   Fold one side over, aligning the edge with the upper fold line.   Repeat with the other side.   Voila! A pocket.  No glue or tape required.  Ready to decorate.

I bought this bookcase as a yard sale for 5 bucks. I did a little sanding and gave it a few coats of a primer, which I had on hand. I had the paint too so this did not cost more than the $5 plus some labor.  I will take it to my daughter’s house for my grandson to use in his room for books or toys. I also bought a wooden paper towel holder for 50 cents.  Mike mounted it under a cabinet in my craft room and I am using it for ribbon storage.                                   I painted the little bird house and added some branches and a little bird on top.  I hung it in the breezeway where I have set up my sewing machine for the summer. Staples started its Back To School sales a while ago and I have been picking up little things here and there.  Some will be in the Advent baskets I ma...

The purse organizers are supposed to make it easy to swap out bags.  I made this one because I just got tired of everything rolling around in my cloth bag.  This helps. Our haunting of the thrift stores has slowed down considerably.  I did find about six yards of this denim material for $1.99 though.  How could I walk away?  I made a couple of pillow covers and decorated them with felt.  I have plenty of material left over, but no plans for it yet. I am giving this bottle of Florida wine as a thank-you gift to the friends who were instrumental in our finding our winter home--ribbon (which I just noticed I have to trim), shells, and beads wrap it up. If idle hands are the devil's workshop, I think I must be dancing with angels lately.

When Mike got his cell phone last fall, I gave him my carrying case because it has a clip for a belt.  I just carry my phone (when I remember) in my purse.  I made myself a new cover. I offered to make one for Mike's twelve year old grand son.  He declined.  Something about making him a middle school target.  I would have taken him for more of a leader, but he said that if owls become all the rage at his school, then I could give him one.  Some just are not cut out to be trend setters, I guess.

...are the Devil's workshop. Even so, I guess I missed the BIG cut as it appears that I was not one of the 200 million people saved in the Rapture.  Oh, wait, I wasn't killed in a cataclismic scourge either.  But I am not making fun...the volcano in Iceland and the tornado in Minnesota give me pause. Oh, well...I'll just have to carry on with amusing myself with scissors and glue dots. I found this tray on the side of the road on Green Up VT day. Why someone felt the need to throw an old cafeteria tray out their car window, I have no clue. Why I felt the need to clean it up and decoupage it, no clue either. I can amuse myself with beads and wire as well. This is a pin I'll use with a scarf I am knitting. All right.  I guess it is time that I looked for a job. A real job.

I sorted more books at the library on Monday and then went back for the poetry workshop.  The theme for this year's program is "The Ear of Poetry."  We spend some time listening to poets read --either recorded or members of the large group--and there are amazingly talented people in our small town area.  Then we  break into small groups for work sessions.  I am really appreciating the two other women in my small group.  It's eerie how we are on the same page without having known each other from before.  (Ha!  I made a small pun.  Ear-y, get it?) Yesterday I got out and did some cleaning up in the yard and garden--some raking and a lot of bending over to pick up debris.  I went for an exercise walk, but the yard work was much more of a workout, I think.  I can still stand upright and walk today, though. Last night I went to a "rockin rivets" class at a local bead store.  We learned how to drill small holes in ro...

A felted sweater pinecone in a bowl of real pinecones. This will be our Christmas tree for this year. Angels for my angels. Poinsettia--a package topper, instead of a bow. These are some of the crafts I learned as part of the Betz White  workshop.  I would make these things again, but not right now.  I'm taking a crafty things vacation. It's only 4 p.m. but already dark.  I'm putting on my pajamas, making a cup of peppermint tea, and sitting down by my reading lamp with a book ( The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver).  I'm taking a cooking things vacation, too--sandwiches for supper tonight only because I wouldn't get away with serving only toast.

I was doing an online craft workshop and needed to have some felted wool sweaters.  I found a nice supply of wool sweaters at a local thrift shop for very little money, but then I ended up feeling a bit guilty about shrinking down the sweaters and cutting them up for craft purposes.  Cold winter is coming and someone could have worn those sweaters. This was a large men's sweater made of 100% Alpaca wool in Peru.  I felted it, but then I could not force myself to cut it into pieces.  So, instead, I redecorated it and turned it into a girl's jacket.  A local restaurant serves a free Thanksgiving Day dinner and distributes coats and jackets at the same time.  I had planned on donating a pie, and now I will donate this jacket as well.   I hope someone will like it enough to wear. I have a pile of hats ready to donate to the Salvation Army for their gift baskets, along with some toys I have picked up, baby booties and bibs.  The ...

Embossed trees Stamped and sticker cards Punch outs Scraps used to make gift tags I have been making Christmas cards bit by bit.  Since I am just learning how to do this, I have experimented with a lot of different designs and techniques.  I'm sure it would be more efficient to pick a design and make a whole bunch to send out, but I am not there yet.  So now some people will get nice handmade cards and some will get kind of crap cards.  In either case, everyone who gets a card from me will know it's handmade, for what that is worth.  It is a good thing I do not send out that many cards.  I like making the little gift tags and  using stamps and coloring them in, but I really like using chalk to blend a background.  The card with the ice skaters is my favorite. My card making friend's mother, who is 92 years old, made 80 Christmas cards to send out.  She also has made all the birthday cards for friends a...

One crotcheted hat, Two Fleece hats, and Three small knitted hats. I have been on a hat making binge for a while.  I have a fleece jacket I made from the tan fleece on this hat and i lined another jacket with the flower print fleece, so I will keep this hat. As I am sitting here at the computer I can watch two birds fluttering around under the eave outside the window.  I know Mike filled the feeder today, so they can't be begging for food.  Maybe they just want to come in and get warm and dry.  Maybe they just want to visit with the two glass cardinals that sit on the window sill.  Maybe they are just jealous of those two glass birds because they are inside.  Oh, now there's a mess of them and they are banging at the window...Alfred Hitchcock...