In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lion

Not gonna lie, March really sucked weather-wise except for a handful of precious days.  We had a hell of a howler on the last day of the month.  Roads were flooded, creeks over their banks, etc. Pretty sunsets from time to time.  

Of course we lost that hour switching over to Daylight Savings Time which I have always hated.  Standard time is real time.  People are always kvetching about how early it gets dark.  It's only a period of time of like 60 days tops.  If that.  The light already starts coming back by mid January.

So my peace embroidery has taken over the craft table.  What a mess.  

The floss situation on the other craft table got completely out of control.  I spent some time trying to get it somewhat organized and discovered that I have A LOT of duplicate skeins.  So I made this meme to remind myself to look at what I have before trotting off to the store to get more.

Now I can start stitching again and only pull out ONE skein per colour.  That will keep it under better control.

Started this diamond painting.  It's OK.  It was only $5.  It came in a very flimsy package unlike the more expensive kits.  The plastic sheet over the adhesive surface was ripped and the adhesive is so-so.  If this one is going to be displayed, it will have to be framed for sure.  The other thing is that it's only the peacock design that gets the tiles.  The background is preprinted already.  Finally, the tiles are round, not square. They fit together better than I thought, but I prefer square.  It's going fast though.  At this point I'd put in about an hour at a time over 3 days.

And of course I made my hubby's fave pineapple upside down cake for his birthday.  He loved it.  As did I.  Last year I did it as a bundt but it seems too dry that way so I went back to the 9x9 cake pan.  We don't like cherries so I don't use them.

I finally had a rainy, pajama day where all I did was do some crafts and a few chores.  Besides working on the diamond painting, I did this saturn Makit Bakit kit.  It only came with red, yellow and glow in the dark but I dipped into my stash for the other colours.  This project went sideways the first day I worked on it.  I was nearly done when my arm hit the pan and sent everything cattywampus.  I had to back away till the next day when I started over, carefully putting the crystals back practically one at a time.

I ended up having to bake this THREE times.  I had to fill in spaces with more beads and remelt it. Then I found that I skipped a dark green section and had to put it back in the oven again to fill it in.  I guess all the extra work paid off cause I love how it came out.

I got a ton filled in on the peace sign, now that I can actually locate the floss I need. 

It's really going fast now!!

I really hope we start getting some warm temps soon.  

Motivation: I Lacks It

It's been so hard for me to get motivated to make jewelry and stuff for the upcoming craft shows.  My craft table is so packed with stuff that there's no room for me to spread out with all my beads.  I finally broke down and set up the second card table and took everything out.  Keep in mind, most of what's on this table was purchased when I still lived in Washington and bags of old, broken & unwanted jewelry were gave me.

So I have a table full of beads plus plastic boxes (seen on the floor under the table).

Here's Sagan, helping me after I set up the table.

What a sweet face.  He'd just had his fall bath and was so fluffy & soft.

We had such a nice fall that it's really been hard to get back to being inside and making the same old stuff, vs. wanting to try out new crafts.  Plus I was busy carving pumpkins and roasting seeds.  And another horribly time consuming chore is having my name changed on everything.  I should've started it back in September but I put it off. Finally forced myself to the DMV for the new license and registration.  Since the closest one is in Plymouth, I had to get up early and get up there by 7:45 and I was still about 15th back in line when they opened at 8. Luckily they were moving people through quickly, so I was back on the road for home by 8:30.  Of course everyone wants copies of things and don't get me started on the hell that is changing your name on Paypal.  I just did this a couple of years ago and now I get to do it again.

I have been trying to figure out how many miles I've walked since winter ended.  I remember my first longish walk in April, my back, feet legs and hips were aching after reaching the end of my street.  Now I'm regularly doing miles at a time, esp. on the Canal.  My sneakers are worn out too.  Time for a new pair of those.  Just from looking at my pictures, it looks like I walked just over 100 miles since April.  That's a lot, esp. for me, a confirmed exercise hater.

Finally forced myself to start making jewelry and having the beads all spread out has made designing so much easier.  I really love doing it so I don't understand why I couldn't get motivated.  Michelle did the wire wrapped beach glass pendant on this one, and I added the necklace part to it.  I did quite a few necklaces, some bracelets and earrings but my pics didn't come out too good!  I was in a hurry to shoot them and they ended up kinda blurry at the top and bottom.

Here's another 'never again' project.  Shells and glass stuck on a styrofoam ball.  This took over a week to finish because the styrofoam glue takes so long to dry.  The shells are from Sanibel Island in Florida, which friends brought back for me.

November 2 was Fall Back Day; my fave!  We had a wicked storm too. Started the day before with torrential rain and high winds.  The poopies were sticking close together, as they are not fans of storms.

All hell broke loose after about 2:30 AM on Sunday, 11/2, with rain and wind.  I was very grateful that Russell made sure the generator was all charged up and ready to use in case the power went out, which, fortunately, it didn't.  I got up at 8 and promptly set the clocks back to 7, and busied myself packing away the Halloween decorations and putting up the Thanksgiving ones.  When I looked outside around noon, I could not believe what I was seeing.  Snow. Just a tad early.  The temperature plummeted to the mid 30s, I caved in and turned on the heat in the house, and I had to break out the winter coat and boots to take the dogs out.

It prompted me to write this on my car.

But by day's end, the snow and wind had stopped, the cold remained but the setting sun lit up the tree tops.

I am sooooo not ready for winter!!

Mission Accomplished

I realize that many of you will look at these pictures of my newly reorganized craft room and say, 'Erm....I'm not seeing a difference....', but trust me, there is.

Yes this could use some more work but it's 10x better than it was.  At least I can see things a little bit better.

Same with this side.

And all the newly typed recipes except for one I left on a card because my dad handwrote on the back, 'Good Luck'.  90 recipes took me a few days, not steady work but some here and there, and it really added up.  If I had a half hour to kill waiting for a show I wanted to watch to come on, I'd go in and do a few.  

And here is the binder in all it's glory...organized, tabbed, alphabetized, page protected and everything. I was gonna decorate the cover page more but I ran out of steam cause I was sick. I dug out some pretty stickers to do the lettering and didn't feel like finding more images to decorate with.

I was kind of dreading this project but it turned out to be a really good one, and fun to organize and see come together.  It also didn't take the months and months I thought it would, but I'm glad it's done too.   

A Hot Mess

It amazes me how fast my craft room gets dusty and disorganized.  By the end of December, it was a white hot mess.  I decided to take the bull by the horns and try and get a handle on this.  

There's no room on my table, which is piled with half done projects and repairs.

This is a horror show.  Stuff's always dropping on my head or spilling onto the floor.

Baggies of Christmas things I was intending to use for altered art that I never got around to making.

How that upper shelf doesn't collapse amazes me.  

I've been chipping away at it....hopefully by the time this posts I will have made real progress!