Colored Pencil Birthday Card

This is a large birthday card for a friend who recently moved to be with family.

I did pencil crayon piece a little while ago.

I trimmed the coloring book page to leave an even border when placed onto a large half sheet card.

I chose a warm green card and folded  the letter 8.5 x 11 inch piece in half.

I added a blue layer of card stock to repeat the blue in the artwork on the front.

I added a large banner greeting above the art work with 3D foam tape.

Recent Photos

This is the puzzle I am going to make this week.  It is from Eurographics Puzzles and is a reproduction of Marc Chagall's - The Blue Violinist done in 1947.  He was a Russian French painter (1887-1985) raised in the Jewish faith who spent time in Paris in the early 20th century.  He traveled extensively and lived in the in several countries during his long life.

I see that I will need a bigger space than I thought to put this one together.  I will work on that.

I hope all the pieces are there as I did acquire it second hand.  Here' s hoping.












I did some coloring this morning the gorgeous sunshine which was really warm!  Considering that it was -18C at 7:00 am.  That's enough reason to stay inside.  This will become a card.  The coloring book originally appeared in this post.

I finished this book this week.  It was different to read a book written by a man with Kabul, Afghanistan as the setting for the story.  It takes place after the Taliban has taken over the city and affected the culture and place dramatically. The two couples in the story Moshen & Zunaira - wealthy and had careers and Atiq & Musarrat - now a prison keeper with his wife very sick and dying.  It is a very difficult life.

It has made me want to research more about Afghanistan history as they had very different lives before the Taliban.  The couples were more equal it seems before and now there is a drastic contrast in their every day lives.

Yasmina Khadra is the nom de plume of the Algerian army officer Mohammed Moulessehoulm, who is the author.  He took the feminine pseudonym to avoid submitting his manuscripts for approval by military censors while he was still in the army.



I took hundreds of photos this week in the above mentioned sunshine.

This is one of my shadow macro photos.  The object is a small black mesh half sphere in shape. Could be the top of a microphone possibly. 

I love the intersection of the actual metal mesh and the shadow the sun created.  I find the shapes that result appealing.  The dark crescent shape created by the overlapping of 2 shadows is very cool.

The Flickr Macro Monday theme this week was "Shadow".

The mosaic on the right are a few of the photos I took.  You can check out my photo stream at www.flickr.com/photos/smdpics .

I am sharing with
Mosaic Monday #75 hosted by Angie
Through my Lens #236 hosted by Mersad
My Corner of the World hosted by Betty

Tea, Fellowship and Spring

This was my tea this afternoon.  I'm going with summer colors as the weather today was really warm and I can see that it is on it's way. 

The tea is Lemon & Ginger by Clipper which is really nice.  Served in my true blue dishes which have been neglected during the winter season.  I chose a yellow place mat and a striped napkin.

The glass fruit in the wide bowl from the true blue dishes are a new acquisition. 

A couple Citrus and Cranberry cookies.

The glass fruit in the wide bowl from the true blue dishes are a new acquisition.  I have been looking for a few glass lemons for a table center. 

I managed to get 12 fruit in a punch bowl for about $1 each.  I was thrilled.  I chose the lemon, pear and banana for this bowl.

I have been spending time on one of my goals for 2017 - relax. 

I received this tea coloring book in the blog giveaway from Margie at Tea in the Valley. 

I selected a doodle tea cup and chose colors to coordinated with my afternoon tea.  The colors are deep yellow, true blue and navy.

It was our women's fellowship Welcome to my Kitchen group get together this morning.  Our host provided some baked quiches, cinnamon rolls, fruit, cheese, yogurt, juice and delicious tea.  We were 9 with a few new attendees.  It was a wonderful time.

These small quiches were absolutely delicious. 

They were baked in muffin tins.  They had cheese and ham. 





After breakfast and a made a visit to the wetlands.

The pussy willows are starting to emerge.  I think it is a bit early and hope they don't get a shock later when we get more snow and cold weather. 

It was very encouraging to see them though. 

The pond is nearly melted which surprised me.  There are bits of snow still showing.  I did not manage to get a photo of the chickadees which were certainly singing their hearts out.  

Sharing with Jann at Daily Cup with Mrs Olson - Share Your Cup #236.



Tuesday Cuppa Tea hosted by Ruth.


Bernideen's Tea Time 

Afternoon Tea & Cool Tool

I set up afternoon tea with my yellow tea pot and a few coordinating accessories.  A vase of flowers, a generous mug, a textured plate work with this place setting.  I still have the lace tablecloth and navy runner on the table.

The teapot is by Maxwell & Williams Infusions. You can read more about it in this post.  I`ve had it for almost a year!

The holiday baking is all gone so I am having a few Citrus Cranberry cookies with my cuppa. 





I have a few very pretty yellow and deep pink carnations in the yellow vase.

The tea is Bengal Spice which I rediscovered over the holidays.  My aunt served it a New Year`s dinner and my sister has served it in the past.  It`s a great tasting herbal tea which is what I need in the afternoon.  I can have it with out sweetener or milk. Served in a yellow ironstone mug hits the mark.

These teas are part of the blog anniversary win at Tea in the Valley.  Margie included the Orange Spice Tea and the Exotic Berries Black Tea as well as small containers which hold Chocolate Rocket and Strawberry Rhubarb Parfait tea.

I will feature some colored images from the tea coloring book on future posts.
I have several envelopes to try as well. A tea cork coaster was also included.

This is a cool tool I purchased over the holidays.  It is a brush designed to clean a steel drinking straw but I bought it to clean my tea pot spouts.  It`s sold through Norwex.

Sharing with Mosaic Monday #25 hosted by Maggie at Normandy Life.

Tuesday Cuppa Tea host by Ruth at Antiques and Tea Cups.

Share Your Cup - This Week

I've made some more tea cup coasters because they are fun to make. You can find the link to the pattern in this post.  I'm not sure how I made one facing the other direction.  It was not intentional so I will have to work on the process to figure it out, then write it down.  These feature subtle and bright fabric.

I have decided to include some relaxation into my life regularly.  The tool I have chosen is coloring so I bought my self a small book. 

I used watercolor pencils on this fish page.  I bought them for a class I am giving in the spring and I wanted to try them out to see how they worked.  I colored them just as I would with colored pencils. 

Once done, I used a paintbrush with a bit of water to blend all the colors.  It makes the image well colored as any white space is given color with the water.  This paper is not the weight needed for much water and you can see the wrinkled edges.  I had to iron it flat once it had dried. 

I am happy with the results.  It took longer as the design was quite a bit more detailed and the water color added some time.

I spent some time viewing art with my aunts. 
One of the most interesting pieces was an art piece with with this kit designed by Victor Vasarely (French/Hungarian, 1906–1997) Planetary folklore Participations no. 1 , 1969. Mixed media sculpture edition plastic, paper, metal 20 x 20 in. (50.8 x 50.8 cm.)
The plastic pieces are held in place by magnets in a black metal box frame. The pieces can easily be re arranged to create a new piece of art.  I loved the concept.  I found these images on line as photos were discouraged.

I have been sewing too.  

Car Litter Bag

The piece of fabric on the left with the marbling pattern was too small to make a litter bag. I combined it with red fabric for the outer bag and chose solid red for the liner bag. 
I have been trying to decide how to design the way the bag is held in place in the car.  I have decided to make fabric ties of 12" as well as include a loop in the center.  Some cars have a hook in the foot well which is works nicely to hold this type of bag.  Again, it holds a produce bag placed inside a plastic container which makes the opening always open and the litter in the produce bag can just be tossed when it is full. 

 

Scrap Sack

This one is made of turquoise butterfly fabric with a pale yellow liner. 

Sharing with Jann at Daily Cup with Mrs. Olson - Share Your Cup #233.

Share Your Cup - This Week

I received this Scentsy Silent Night wax warmer for Christmas.  It features the nativity, the wise men and the shepherds.  A light bulb provides the heat to melt the wax.   It`s navy and white which totally fits into my colors.

Several years ago I changed from candles to wax for adding scent to my place.  Safer and I can set a timer for only a certain amount of time so I don`t forget to turn it off.

I placed my favorite scent -Scentsy Cinnamon Vanilla into it and enjoyed it all day!!  It added great atmosphere to my place.



I`ve decided to add some meditative coloring to my life in the new year.  I`m starting out with a small coloring book and my pencil crayons.  I loved, loved coloring when I was a kid and look forward to applying some creative juices to these pages.  I will post my efforts as time goes by.



I made some of these Thread Catcher Bags as Christmas gifts this season.  Several of the ladies in my family sew and quilt.  My Mom has sewn most of her life.  I had to sort out a pattern for these and you can find instructions on this post.

I made these soft fleece pot protectors for my sister.  These are designed to be placed between fry pans when you stack them so they don`t get scratched being moved around.  I chose the deep charcoal color based on the colors in her kitchen.
This is a very simple design based on a circle measured with a dinner plate.  It is 2 layers thick and I sewed the seams with zigzag around the edge then trimmed any leftovers off.  I ran 3 seams across the center and you can see I did not get perfectly in the center but the frypans will not notice.   This is very washable which is important for anything in the kitchen.


I am enjoying the decorations on the trees in the homes I visit over the holidays.  My sister`s tree on Christmas day was spectacular.  Done in clear lights, mostly clear, white and silver ornaments with a few red ones.  It rotated all day but I`m not sure how that was accomplished.  This is a silver snowflake that was on her tree.


Sharing with Share Your Cup #229 hosted by Jann at Daily with Mrs. Olson.

Christmas Card Challenge - Oct - Black/Polar Bear

The Christmas Card Challenge this month is black and polar bear.  I have always cut polar bears with my Cricut so I decided I need something new.

After a search on line I found this coloring page image at Supercoloring.  I sized it to be the front of an A2 sized card at 3.75x5 inches. I added a black border and printed it on a quarter sheet of white card stock.  I then selected metallic blue, metallic silver and black from my Crayola pencil crayon set and started coloring.  I used the blue for the sky and the silver for the snow.  I added a bit more pressure on the shadow lines and just under the baby bear. I use the black for the noses, paws and ears.  I did not worry about going over the border because I was going to trim later. Once done coloring I trimmed it to the border.  I used the black crayon to color the white cut edge. The image was then added to a warm blue layer cut to 4.00x5.25 inches then onto a black card.  This makes a winter card which works for those on my Christmas card list that don't embrace it the way I do.

I've lost all my lists from my blog when Blogger made changes on Sept 29th.  It will take a long time to recover what I lost and some I may never remember.  It's amazing and silly how we come to depend on this on line world and a reminder how not in control of it I am. 

Macro Photo Challenge - Pencil Crayons

I took this photo of pencil crayons against a coloring book page.  I chose sunflowers of course.  I placed the focus on the yellow pencil.  I'm happy with how it turned out.  With the craze of adult coloring books many people are trying to recapture the calm of focusing your attention.

Submitted to

Macro Monday 2

Flicker - Macro Mondays - "When I was a Child"  I spent hours putting crayon pencil to coloring book pages. Time with peace and quiet.