Sylvia's Simple Shots

There's more snow this week. 

You can see the bike track in the snow again this week.

It is colder this week as well with temps in the -20C.

Winter has arrived.

That will be good for the coming craft sales because for some folks until it snows they just are not in the Christmas shopping mood.

This was done early in the week and then the weather turned. They steamed the kitchen stack on Monday.  

I had under the kitchen sink clear out in plenty of time. They did have to go and get parts as the PTrap was glued and could not be removed.

As you can see the truck was parked behind the big fence and they were climbing over with ladders.

The hoses came through the patio doors.  

I knew one of the guys that came because the same company did work in the building downtown.

The process went very well. 

DIY project - I took the Dremel and shortened the legs on the plastic shelf under the sink.

It did not fill under the PTrap after it was replaced.

It was about an 1/8 of an inch but it would not clear.  

Good to by handy with a tool.

With the timing I finished a couple of books this week.

The Favored Child by Phillipa Gregory.  It is book 2 in a trilogy and I have not read the first.

A couple of children are being raised together in the Dower House. They are Richard and Julia who are cousins but have lost parents and Julia's mother is raising both children alone.

There a mystical power at play, gender roles that confuse things, deep secrets which will change everything at the end of the story. How things change as children mature. Julie is connected to the land and Richard is not but that makes it difficult to be squire of the Lacey estate. 

Things get ugly and when the secret is revealed the world comes to make more sense.  Big book and a good read.

A Shelter of Hope by Tracie Petersen is the story of Simone Dumas who lives in the Wyoming Territory in 1883.  Her father is heavy handed shall we say and her mother has long been gone. Simone tends house far from town so is mostly alone.

After her father has acted very cruelly, Simone summons the courage to leave with very little.  She finds her way to a place she will not be recognized, changes her name and find employment.

In time the past comes calling.   The police are involved, her true identity revealed, a man steps up to protect her, people die, and her future is in peril.

I always like a strong female main character and Simone lives up to the part.

Great book!

The new computer arrived this week which was custom built as I could not find what I needed on store shelves.

Happy with the speed, the disk space, and the overall performance.

I just love the LED lights on the inside.  That is so cool.

The printer/scanner was set up EPSON 2980 Super Tank.   Windows 11 with its apps has been easier than I thought to use.

I managed to get software in a permanent license.  Wonderful.

It was the reception for the Fire and Ice Show at the Spruce Grove Art Gallery hosted by the Allied Arts Council.

My aunt and I attended the reception for the art show and the opening of the Christmas Store as well.

Check out the beautiful cookies made by Cindy I believe. Almost too pretty to eat. Gorgeous work.

I bought another small wood star from Val E at the Christmas Store.

Wonderful evening.

It's that time of year again.  Time to make Caramel Popcorn for family and friends.  I was up early because my friend was coming for lunch.

I made a lot less this year as it is not our big family get together this year.  I will deliver these as I see family of the next few weeks.

When my friend arrived we headed to Tims and bought lunch and brought it back to my house to eat and have a cup of tea.

It had been months since I saw her and my house was in a more organized state than when she visited in late August.

We decided to head out and hit a craft sale before heading to visit the Spruce Grove Art Gallery and Christmas Store at Heavy Metal Place in Spruce Grove.

After our outing we came back for another cup of tea and she headed out a little later to be home before dark.

My friend and I dropped by this sale in the PERC building in Stony Plain.

There is nothing I need, my Christmas list is very short, so I came to realize that I don't need to attend craft sales.  

I had been feeling like I was missing something special but my circumstances have changed a lot and I only need to attend if there is a reason to.

Interesting how time marches on and I am not the person I was. 

Learned a valuable lesson.

R2G Christmas Card Stack Kit - Snowflake

I stated with the snowflake designer paper.  It is good weight and was great to work with.  I matched it to a blue card.  I chose to coordinate it with a chocolate silver shimmery ribbon.  I cut the designer paper to leave just a small border and adhered it to the card front.  I then placed the ribbon to the left of centre and taped the ends to the inside of the card. I cut 3 snowflakes: 1 blue the same as the card with a Martha Stewart punch, 2 thin snowflake from mirror card stock with a Stampin Up snowflake sizzlet then 3 a white punchie with a smaller MS punch.  I layered these then placed them over the ribbon on the card front and used a push pin to make a hole for the brad.  I used chocolate brown brad to hold all these layers to the card front with the prong being spread apart inside the card.  I designed the banner greeting then color printed it.  It was trimmed by hand then adhered to the card front with 3D foam tape. I added 3 small rhinestones just above the greeting using mini Zots.

R2G Christmas Card Stack Kit - Christmas Plaid

I started with the traditional Christmas Plaid card stock. I chose red and green card stock which coordinated.  I cut a white layer at 5.25" x 4" which was added to the card front. I cut plaid layer to 5" x 3.75".  I wrapped a white seam binding ribbon around and knotted it to the front. I created the circle greeting with the Merry Christmas going all the way around and I added vintage Christmas card images in the centre. They were color printed then cut with a 2" SB Nestabilities smooth circle die. I glued the circle greeting onto a Stampin Up Deco Label die-cut in the same card stock as the card. It is adhered to the card front with 3D foam tape. As you can see it can be mounted to make a landscape (wide) or portrait (tall) card.

So with the same supplies and just a change of color and orientation creates 2 different looks. Great versatility!

Card - Books

I made this card for my brother-in-law's birthday.  Here's the sample on which I based my card.
I started by finding small designer paper scraps in my bucket. A great scrap buster technique. I selected them in the brown tones.  I cut them down to .75 but they needed to be trimmed some more. The sample I found indicated 5/8" which is closer to the right width.  Length 4.75" before trimming the ends.  The ends are cut with a circle punch.  Check out the link above for details.  I used my Chocolate Chip ink pad to color all the edges of the books before I glued them to a piece of scrap paper.  I tied some thick crochet cotton around the stack of books and added 2 Cuttlebug die cut tags onto which I added my greetings.  This was layered onto a piece of ivory which I used chalk to create a bit of a shadow and then adhered the stack.   I mounted these layers to a dark brown card.