Cards - Charity

I set out this morning to make cards for IWin which is a charity which helps vulnerable women.  When they finish their program they get a card in their backpack to remind them that someone is thinking of them.

Each card needs a Thinking of you greeting and a butterfly.

I found a bag of wooden butterflies at the thrift shop the other day and brought them home.

I have been at a disadvantage to making cards for this project because of my home situation.  Back home and feeling like crafting again.  Not all is unpacked but I move forward.

I chose this designer paper with flowers printed in green. I trimmed it to leave a small border and adhered it to the front of a A2 card in SU Summer Sun.

I punched a Stampin Up Artisan punchie in Always Artichoke and adhered the butterfly with a Zot. I placed the short length of SU chevron ribbon under it and followed the pattern to trim it.  I added the greeting in the bottom right hand with a shadow of a green oval punchie.

For this yellow card base I trimmed a piece of floral designer paper to leave a small border. Wrapped the red ribbon along the bottom edge and taped the ends to the back.  It was adhered to the card front with DS tape. 

I added the yellow SU Decorative Label punchie, topped with the SU Small Oval greeting then topped with the wood butterfly accent held in place with a Zot.

Love the bright colors in this card.

Carrying on with the green floral designer paper I added it to an SU Always Artichoke card base.

I added a card stock strip on the left hand side and adhered with double sided tape.

I made the wood butterfly and the SU Small Oval greeting punchie touch and attached with a Zot and tape.

This card features a water colored piece of the green floral designer paper.  It was not very thick so I had to be really careful with the amount of water. I adhered it to the card front.

I combined the wood butterfly and the greeting in the bottom right hand corner.  

A Zot for the butterfly and DS tape for the SU Small Oval greeting punchie.

Inktober 2024 - 29 Potted Plant

Inktober 2024 Challenge

29 Potted Plant

Another bit of red today.

I created a yard fence with a large potted plant sitting on the paved stones.

Permanent black marker laid over my pencil drawing.  I then applied some watercolor. 

Down to my last couple of pieces of Canson Mixed Media 154lb paper.  This has been great paper for this challenge.

Nearly done!

Inktober 2024 - 25 Camera

Inktober 2024 Challenge

26 - Camera

This is the only prompt from the official list that I have followed.  I chose an antique wood camera for its height in this format.

Pencilled then traced with a black marker.  This mixed media paper has worked very well.

I mixed a sepia colored watercolor and added an overall wash to give an old feel.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

I had been thinking of auditory things for relaxing this year.  A Westminster Chime Clock, a Tongue Drum, Tibetan drum music CD were things that cam up.  

I recognize that I don't have musical talent so a drum might be an expensive mistake and I had no experience so I would have to find someone to help me. Again, a chime clock is expensive and maybe to much for the small place I have, a CD is certainly a possibility. 

Then, I found these at a Thrift shop for under $5.  They are Chinese Chime Balls - Baoding Balls.  Well, that may fit the bill.  They are 1.5 inches in diameter and quite heavy so they will not work as intended in my hand. For now I put them in my pockets when I am home and they chime during my morning workout.

This is one of the things that arrived following my visit to the ReUse Center today.

Gorgeous translucent red mitten ornaments for the Christmas Tree.  Yes, it is still up. There were three of them and they are plastic.  Would have been amazing if they were glass.

I have to go through my ornaments and purge the ones that I know now will not work with my wall tree.  Maybe that is why I am not taking it down because there a big job ahead.

Another visit with the doctors in Ballybucklebo Ireland.  I finished this book - " An Irish Country Welcome" by Patrick Taylor. 

In this book Dr. Barry Laverty and Sue are now married and expecting their first child.  Barry is finding it challenging to be on the other side of the desk as he and Sue navigate a few challenges with this pregnancy.

During this time the country is suffering with sectarian tensions in Ulster in the late 1960's.  The Catholic / Protestants conflict arrives in the little town and the people put a stop to the divisiveness. Everyone are neighbors and treat everyone with consideration.

A new doctor, Sebastian Carson joins the practice for internship. Being upper class it takes a bit of getting used to the ways of the rural folk. Dr.  Fingal O'Reilly and nurse wife Kitty start to cut back on the work at the practice as they head toward retirement.

I finally got myself some applique pins for my slow stitching.  I am enjoying my big project and anticipate continuing to do stitch work of some sort so it made sense to invest in some of these.

They are shorter with small heads so they don't get in the way as the regular glass ball quilting pins do.

After several visits to Michaels I had to head to Walmart to actually get these.  I did find serger thread on sale so I bought 2 more cones.

The big project is coming into it's final stages.

I remembered to stop by Lee Valley and buy Tung Oil.  I had recently found a video on line talking about it and what is sold with that name on it.  The fellow was suggesting making sure that it is 100% pure Tung Oil. 

It will come in handy for part of the big stitching project.  You will have wait and see how.

I will use it on my dining room table as well.

Oil Diffusers - One of a Kind - Set 4

 Daisy on Blue

This diffuser features a yellow felt daisy flower set into a cobalt blue glass holder.  

The yellow felt and the royal blue pompoms in the center are the diffuser.  Place 1-2 drops of pure essential oil in the center of the flower and sit back and enjoy some relaxing time.

This diffuser would fit into a sun room, next to a favorite chair, or a bedside table.

Glass Ink Well

This vintage glass ink well wit a silver plated lid has a navy blue felt diffuser inside the bottle.

The bottle will contain any stray drops and protect your furniture. 

Open the lid, place 1-2 drops of pure essential oil on the felt on the inside.  The lid can be closed when not being use.

This diffuser would sit incognito on a desk.  A small bottle of essential oil could be stored on the inside to be handy when one wants to use it and would be out of sight with the lid closed.

Tear Drop

A beautiful white ceramic holder with a tear drop shape.  The holder has a nice satin finish very smooth to the touch.

The diffuser are 2 wooden rods tied with a black thread.  There is a black felt in the bottom of the holder to catch any liquid which makes its way down the rods.

Place 1 or 2 drops of pure essential oil on the wood or the felt at the bottom to enjoy your favorite scent.

This elegant diffuser would look great on a bedside table, an end table next to a favorite sitting spot, or on a window sill near a cozy sitting spot.

I am super happy with how this year's collection of unique diffusers is coming along.

Oil Diffusers - One of a Kind - Set 3

Another set of One of a Kind Oil Diffusers

Marble Cube

This diffuser features a cinnamon colored marble cube with an matching insert with a hole.  I have placed wooden rods in the hole which will be the diffuser. I have placed a piece of felt under the insert to catch any drops.  The sticks are held together with a bit of jute.

This diffuser would fit nicely on a desk, in a man cave, or near a favorite chair.  The outside cube will protect your furniture.

Place a drop or two of pure essential oil on the wooden rods and enjoy your favorite scent. 

Amber and Gold 

Glass beads in gold and amber have been strung on this crystal glass square.  

I have placed a chocolate brown felt under the beads which is the diffuser.  Place a drop or 2 of pure essential oil on the beads which will makes their way to the felt.

Sit back and enjoy a time of rest in your favorite personal space.

Greek Tea Cup

I have used an old tea cup made by Pratt Potteries with the Greek design featuring beautiful horse and lady image on the front with key stone pattern around the inside edge of the cup.

I have added a black felt stuffie in the cup with a vintage button and bronze thread embroidery which coordinates well with the metallic accents on the tea cup.

Place 1 or 2 drops of pure essential oil on the black felt and relax in your favorite spot.  The cup will protect your furniture from any stray drops.

Will fit into any favorite spot as you enjoy a cuppa.

Oil Diffusers - One of a Kind - Set 2

 

Wings at Rest 

An elegant butterfly gently resting on a circle of leaves.  It is ceramic with a satin finish and features beautiful colors on the butterfly.  A reminder to breathe deep and rest for a bit. The circle rests on a crystal glass base with ivory felt in between to catch the drops which may escape from the butterfly.

Place 1-2 drops of pure essential oil on the butterfly to enjoy the scent in your personal space.

Tropical Fish 

Here, I have paired painted wood tropical fish with a turquoise felt and a yellow pompom.  It would work well in a sun room or a bathroom. It features beautiful bright colors.

Placed 1-2 drops of pure essential oil on the yellow pompom.  The turquoise felt will ensure that no drops escape onto furniture.

It is a bright and cheerful diffuser to lift our mood and brighten our day.

Caffe Latte is brought back from last year.  

It features a felt coffee layer then an ivory cream layer and topped with a cinnamon heart with a glass  bead with copper highlights.

One to two drops of essential oil on the bead will ensure the ivory layer is not stained by the oil. 

The blown glass vessel will protect your furniture.  Perfect for all coffee lovers and will fit into an office, a man cave, or maybe even a kitchen.

Sylvia`s Simple Shots

This book - Fingal O`Reilly, Irish Doctor by Patrick Taylor was another wonderful visit with these characters.

It was very interesting to learn about his early years as a medical doctor.  His passion for his patients was there from the beginning.

Switching back and forth between now being a newly wed having married Kitty his first love. Adjusting to life at Number One with 2 women in the house - Kinky and Kitty.

I always love reading these books.

I found a few Tinker Toys at the thrift store this week.  We had a set when I grew up and played with them a lot.

I bought them for sentimental value.  They did not come in this wonderful tin.

I expect they may come in handy for constructing structures in the future how knows.

I have a good number of long, medium and short pieces as well as quite a few wheels.

 

It's a Tactile Show - My Submission

It's a Tactile World is a joint show with the Sculptor’s Association of Alberta and the Allied Arts Council.  We received a good number of entries from our art club so I think this will be a great show.

The reception is Saturday, April 15th 1-3 pm.

My piece is titled - Alberta Skies. 

It measures 12.5" in diameter and is about 18 inches tall.

It was woven as an abstract but when I came to title it I rotated several different ways and hung it on the wall to see what spoke to me.

This presentation made me think of our blue skies, the yellow is for sure sunshine color, some of the blues make me think of water and the wavy frilly piece makes me think of wheat or canola fields.

I  kept the colors cohesive and I am happy with how it turned out.

This is my first attempt at a weaving project.

Tactile Weaving - My First Attempt

I first found the 12" bamboo embroidery hoop at the ReUse Ctr along with sunshine yellow wool roving for free.

That is when I decided Okay I guess I'm going to give this project a try.

The yellow cotton thread is what I used for the warp thread which is where the yarn and interesting fiber will be woven into.

With the ring being bamboo I did not feel it would take paint well so I decided to stick with the warm honey tone.

I started gathering coordinating supplies.

Wrapping the warp thread around the hoop went pretty well. 

There is math involved to figure out how much thread you need so I found that on the web somewhere.  I believe and odd number is best.  I had a few issues with 38.

I tied all the threads together and I wanted the focal point not to be in the center.  At this stage it is quite movable so I just moved it to the right a bit.

Here the warp thread is not tied.

I pulled together yellow, blue and white supplies together.

Some acrylic yarn, cotton thread, wool roving, wooden beads, wooden rings, some fancy yarn and long needles/crochet hooks to help me pull the weft through the weaving.

You will notice that I had not put the outer hoop onto this inside one which made it very difficult to keep my warp threads evenly spaced.

Things went a lot better once the warp thread had been evenly spaced and  the outside hoop was screwed tight.

Here are my first weft threads.  I chose to put some yellow cotton at the focal point.  It helps to make the warp thread disappear when it is the same thread in the weft.

I then started adding color in the navy yarn on the right hand side.

After that it was adding texture, color and resisting just wrapping all my weft fibers around the focal point.

The sparkly white yarn added texture and hid the warp threads nicely.

The yellow wool roving was luxurious and smooth which added a different texture to the weaving.

Loved that the wavy yarn was the same color as the roving.

I added beads in the weaving as well as on the hanger to add texture and color.

The wonderful grosgrain ribbon has recently been acquired as a leftover from some project - maybe from my niece.

I really wanted to hide the screw tighthener at the top of the outer hoop.

The ribbon was over 1" wide and with a bit of planning the solution presented itself.

The hanger adds color and height to the final piece.

All the pieces came together so nicely.

The piece I decided would hang so that required a bit of something at the end of the ribbon.

The large wooden ring was oiled to bring out the wood grain.

This added texture and color to the overall presentation of the weaving.

The white bead repeated the shapes and colors in the weaving itself.

It was sewn in place with some of the yarn in the piece which added to the cohesion of the elements.

I created a back for the piece to hide the knots and transitions between fibers.

I cut a piece of navy microfiber fabric just a wee bit smaller than the outside hoop.  I serged the edge to finish it off nicely.  I then hot glued it in place on each warp thread which will help those stay in place.

I have attached a credit label printed on fabric which has been hand sewn to this backing fabric.

I pinned the gallery's information tag with a safety pin.

The final piece will be revealed when the show opens next week.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

My niece came up this week so we can take a trip to visit Mom in hospital.

My main nativity set is a White Matte Bisque Porcelain one by Avon.  I have a large stable to house them but of course all that is packed. She is always on the look out for additional pieces so she brought this 2nd Wiseman to me and the Angel Gabriel.  

Unfortunately, the did not come with their boxes so I will have to design a storage solution.  

I am still missing another wiseman, animals of every kind, and shepherds.

My sister called over the holidays as she had found some pieces but she thought they were Mary and Joseph so we let those go.

Another gift from my niece.  She bought a couple of these a long while ago when I was anticipating moving into a new place.  That did not happen and since I have gotten rid of the sofa (which I miss a lot!) she brought one of the chairs up.

Beautiful mid century lounge chair in a great yellow color.  It is vinyl upholstery in superb condition.  Dark wood frame in excellent shape. Comfortable.

It offers me a change from my glider chair so I am grateful she had room to bring it with her.

I finished this book - Katheryn's Secret by Linda Hall.  The story is set in Maine about a family cottage willed by Katheryn to her niece Sharon. 

Sharon is a writer facing a book deadline and taking time to visit Maine and the cottage is more important. Right?  She takes a couple of weeks with her teenage daughter tagging along. Her husband will join them a bit later.

Her aunt Katheryn Sullivan had not married and lived in this cottage with her sisters for many years.  She was eccentric, a dreamer, romantic and a storyteller.   Sharon finds a mysterious disappearance of a child and through the search for her resting place uncovers deep secrets. 

She finds folks who knew and did not tell but fortunately she was able to uncover the family history and bring closure to the events. 

I made a visit to the local ReUse Center as well.  I am working another version of essential oil diffusers/tree scent ornaments which features sewing thread spools. 

I was hoping to use wooden ones but only found a few.  Of course, the plastic ones are everywhere.  I will have to see whether I can achieve a look I am happy with using the plastic ones.

There were bits of velvet which should work wonderfully. Some colorful yarn and some wool skeins.

I will post when I have made a version I am happy with.

Another book completed - Iris and Ruby by Rosie Thomas.  This is my second book by this author and it was wonderful story based in Cairo Egypt this time.  The other was the Kashmir Shawl.

Her granddaughter Ruby from England appears on Iris's doorstep unannounced. She has run away and needs a place to stay. Can she?

Her quiet household with the houseman Mamdooh and Auntie the house keeper is disrupted by this young person and the friends she is making in the area. 

The novel moves between the years Iris was a young woman living in Cairo during the Second World War and her now at 82 years of age still living in Cairo but starting to lose her memories.  Ruby wants to help her grandmother preserve her beloved history so they start to set time aside to reminisce and capture the past.

It is a wonderful story which reunites 3 generations of women and helps Iris, Lesley her estranged daughter and Ruby the willful granddaughter see each other's point of view and life history.

Small Gifts - Oil Diffusers/Fresheners - Felt Balls Version 2

I decided to redesign these oil diffusers / fresheners.

They were longer than I thought they should be and when they are in your car air vents you would like to have less disturbing the air flow.

I tried this small one in the car and it would very well so I decided to do them all to be smaller with only one felt ball per diffuser.

I changed the attachment to the clothespin as well to have 2 stands of thread come up from a single accent on the bottom.  Then one goes through the hole in the pin one way and the other in the opposite direction.  Then a set of simple knots hidden between the ends.

Here I found a small blue shanked button for the bottom and a concave button in a similar color for the top.  Here it is clipped to the lamp behind the couch in the living room where I sit to read or watch TV.

I have redone all of the ones I made earlier.  I have tied a tag with a description.

I am using a clear plastic chocolate box where I have taped the pieces back to back.

I placed a piece of designer paper in the box so I could hide the chocolate logo still on the box.

I think the colors coordinated well with the colors of the diffusers.

Another task done!

Small Gifts - Oil Diffusers - Wood

I am working on small gifts and I decided to re-imagine a previous project.  I use essential oils in my everyday life. 

I was fortunate to find white quartz stones this week which worked well for my new diffusers.  

It gives these little wooden peg dolls a beautiful base to anchor them and provides a solid base.  The stone is gorgeous, smooth and feels luxurious which helps with mood one is trying to create. The wood works well to diffuse the oil and the base protects your surface from the oil. 

Here's another wood one which features a wood elephant carving. 

I have added it to one of the larger white quartz stones and it looks really good.

The diffusers generally have to fit into the decor of our living spaces so a variety of material and subject matter works well.

Of course, I had to upgrade mine as well. The purple string one is for lavender on my bed shelf for sleeping.  The blue and yellow one is for my Bergamot and Grapefruit scent for when I am exercise inside.

Just loving these!

Recent Photos

This is the flowers that Dad bought for Mom`s 85th birthday this weekend.  It is an Anthurium and the way to water it is to place 6 ice cubes on the soil once a week.  Place it in bright indirect light. She will have a reminder of this milestone for a while.













We had a terrific day of celebration with family, friends and neighbors. 





My sister picked some Hairy False Goldenaster on the weekend for me. 

I placed them in this great Robert Held Blue Poppy art glass vase.  I diffused the background by hanging sheer drapes on the second rod in the living room window.  I was always setting up something temporary. Now, they will stay up all the time.

This book was recommended by a friend in the Welcome to my Kitchen group.  Kate Quinn is an who writes historical fiction.

This book was a great one.  Covering time during the Second World War and the early 1950s.  The name character is a strong woman who flew airplanes for Russia. A war correspondent who was connected in another way was the other main character. It was a nice change in point of view as I have read many with England as the background.  The end has a interesting twist and excellent ending.  Would highly recommend this book.

Made of Wood was the theme for Flickr Macro Monday.  This a section of wood magnet from Hawaii brought back by a friend a couple years ago.

You can visit my Flickr photo stream to see which photo I submitted.

You can check out the submissions for the theme here.

I am finding the cloves especially beautiful this year.

Top left is white clover.
Top right is a Great Crested Grebe

Bottom left is Perennial Sow Thistle.
Bottom right is a Cinnamon Teal.

I really enjoyed seeing the sides of the highways covered by Yellow Sow Thistles.  It looked like a garden planted along the way.

Sharing with Mosaic Monday #38