Horizon Line

Words and Pictures

This photo was take this morning by my sister-in-law Carol. It's a simple horizon line but I recognize every inch of it including the telephone poles on the left going up the road and the hint of the tree on the right next to the driveway...and of course that magnificent sunrise.  It was taken on the farm I grew up on in Wisconsin....which is now Carol's home with her darling boys Henry and Charles. Thank you Carol!

The background photo was taken on a walk with my friend Anita in my Lexington neighborhood.

Playing With Rocks

These are actually rocks that I felted with wool using a wet felting technique.  I wrapped the rocks with layers of wool roving and with soapy hands just rolled them in my hands over and over until they were smooth. Then I rinsed them and let them dry.

I have also been quite intrigued with crocheted rocks like these beautiful ones that I found here.

I didn't know how to crochet...but I have friends who do...and they helped me out. These are my first...and maybe my last crocheted rocks.  But not bad for a first time.

We Planted a Tree

Photo found online

We just planted a tree in South Portland this weekend...and this is what it might look like some day.  It's a heptacodium...or seven-sons flower.  It will have white blooms in the late summer that will turn a lovely reddish pink in the fall....which is what it's doing right now!

This blossom is on MY little tree.

Again....this is on MY little tree.  I love the color!

It's part of a long term plan to gain a little more privacy in our back yard....but it's also symbolic of that fact that for now we are staying put.

It's rather small to start...but apparently they are fast growers and it will be fun to watch over the years. It also made it affordable.

Aaron, a local landscaper, helped me out and I loved watching his process.  He dug a nice hole for the tree using the sod to make a well to hold the water.  Then he used cardboard to create the shape we wanted for the bed.

There was newspaper soaking in the wheelbarrow.

Next Aaron used the wet newspaper to fill in all the gaps and cover the well around the tree...being sure to cover all the sod.

Finally, he covered the whole thing with mulch.  He said the sod dies back and provides nutrients for the soil.  Why haven't I done this before! Removing sod is awful!  I watched and I learned.

We will also do some other smaller plantings in the new bed in the spring.

Images found on line

Aaron has a few other things he's going to plant....including a Xanthoceras or yellowhorn tree that he has grown from seed.  It may be very tiny to start....but I love that he has grown it and again...it will be fun to watch it grow.  Slow is OK while we are here just part time

This tree will have interesting fruit and the feathery foliage will turn a lovely yellow in the fall.

October Colors...

...make me smile!

And here are some of the other October colors...still going strong.

Just For the Record....

Don't you love a pumpkin with a really good long curled stem? (I just wanted a better opening picture....now on to what the post is actually about.)

My husband teased me about my opening line in the last post..."I tend to attract other people's cast-offs." He chuckled because he thought it sounded like I have nothing to do with it...that things just appear. Well, just for the record, sometimes they do! But I guess I have fostered that "attraction" because I do tend to pick up just about anything with even a hint of potential.

When the new furniture came after the church renovation there were some awesome pieces of rigid cardboard used as packing material.  They were about 5 feet long, about 6 inches wide, and about an inch thick...and they were too awesome to throw away. I grabbed all the ones that weren't damaged and they've been sitting in my garage for 7 months.



And low and behold....the upholstery fabric samples are just the perfect width to wrap around the cardboard.  I did a very quick mock up on a scrap piece.  I didn't pay much attention to fabric choice...I just wanted to see how it would work so randomly pinned on some of the swatches.  I think there's potential here!

It's a wonderful thing when cast-offs that just showed up...meet ones I found myself!

Cast-Offs

I tend to attract other people's cast offs....which is mostly a good thing. But if you looked at my craft room and basement right now you might wonder if it's all that good.

My most recent acquisition is a big pile of upholstery samples from my friend Melody....who saved them from ending up in the dumpster. The sampling you see here is just that...a sampling.  There are many more.

I see potential in so many of these cast-offs....and know that just the right project will come along and I will have just what I need...for free.



Well...as you may know our church has recently gone through a major renovation. Joan, Gwen and I worked hard creating art for a few of the spaces....including the welcome wall in the entry way and the tree quilt going up the master staircase. But there are a lot more new spaces.

For now we are going to focus on a few of the front offices....which have virtually NOTHING on the walls. I've been thinking about it for days now...and even a few nights. One thing I know for sure is that whatever we do it will include some of these upholstery fabric cast-offs.  Stay tuned....it's time to play with fabric!

A Splash of Color

The incredible color of kale...as seen today in a window box in Exeter, New Hampshire.

Merry and Bright

It's time for another set of Folly 101 Christmas windows...this time from 2010. This is the outside view...so pardon the glare.

The classic words from from White Christmas were the inspiration for these windows.

"May your days be merry and bright....

This is the inside view. Each layer of the tree is suspended from the previous one....so it hangs as one unit from the ceiling....over a silver bucket loaded with gifts. The topper, which is from Folly's logo, hangs on its own.  I also used the logo as the spacer squares.                                   

To make the tree I cut square lath in graduated lengths and painted them all a dark green.  It took some planning to fit in the words keeping it symmetrical and looking like a tree.  One more piece of lath needed.

For the letters I used several layers of card stock...to make it nice and sturdy...and to add interest with the mix of papers.  It had to be two sided....but it needed to read in the opposite direction on the other side. I had to check and double check before I glued the letters together.  I inserted ribbon tabs in top and bottom of each card for the lath to slide through. I made the stencil on my computer using a very large font. The words "merry" and "bright" were cut out of glitter card stock and the other words out of white card stock.

For the other window..."And may all your Christmases be white" I used the same lettering on green and white squares. Again this was two sided and had to read in the opposite direction on the other side. All the letters were cut from white glitter card stock.

I glued the words onto a long white ribbon hanging from an oversized snowflake that I made out of large paint sticks and popsicle sticks.  

For the side windows I made garlands of small squares mimicking the colors in each window.

This picture was taken while we were in process from the outside and it's a little clearer.  I was quite proud of this tree!

Words and Pictures

Pingree Park, Colorado
This photo was taken by my husband Paul.

Made Me Chuckle!

This was on my Tumblr feed a few days ago...it made me chuckle! A little too true, however.....

For those of you who aren't familiar with Tumblr...it's another blog site. I mentioned it before in this post called Images That Make Me Happy.  I use it as a place to collect interesting images. It's cheaper than buying magazines...it's free.

Below is a screen shot of recent images on my archive page. Many of them are animated so if you are interested take a look here. Once you are in Tumblr you can click on any image to take a closer look.  It's a beautiful world we live in!

Hodgepodge

This little story is a perfect example why this blog is so joyful for me...

I got an e-mail today from my good friend and Lynn...who, if you remember brought me this wonderful "hodgepodge" of watercolor scraps when she visited this summer.  

Lynn told me that she was looking for a gift for an artsy friend of hers and saw my post about the snippets I shared with Becky. It inspired her to put together this "hodgepodge" of art supplies for her friend.  I love her mixture of papers, strings and watercolor scraps. Nice job Lynn and thanks for sharing!

The 2016 Readers Calendar

My sister-in-law Liz just had a birthday.  That meant it was time for the 2016 readers calendar.  I collect images of readers all year as I see them on Pinterest and Tumblr. I understand that they are someone's beautiful art....but I often do not know whose.  I do not sell these calendars...they are just gifts for people I love.

Thank you to all the talented artists.



These are screen shots of the calendars....all mixed up and collaged onto a Pages document.  I absolutely love making these calendars!!!  They are a perfect gift to personalize for someone! Maybe I can help you make one!  They can be ANY subject and you can use your own art or photographs.

"Words....

With Friends"  I just had to share!

I have a little routine in the morning....there's something comforting to me about a routine.  I check the weather,  my e-mail,  my blog, sometimes the news headlines, my Pinterst feed...and sometimes my Tumblr feed, and I play my "Words With Friends" games.  Sometimes it takes 10 minutes to do it all...sometimes it takes 20...sometimes I get hooked into something and then it takes on a life of it's own. But it's what I do.

If any of you are "Words With Friends" fans...you will appreciate this.  I played the word "trapeze" this morning....using all seven letters where the z fell on a triple letter and the whole word fell on a triple word.

The word stars were really lined up today!

It's the little things.

Happy October!

Polka Dotted Pumpkins

I can't believe tomorrow is the first day of October! Where does the time go?

I've mentioned these pumpkins before in a post about my photo collages, but they deserve a better look. I got the idea from my sister Marilyn...who I made the collage for.  Using a plunger style apple corer like the one below...you take plugs from each pumpkin and trade them.  I think they're pretty clever.

There is a glimpse of the pumpkins in Marilyn's photo collage.  

I love the colors of fall!

Joyful Puttering...

Collecting...Creating...Connecting!

When Becky was visiting we had a long list of things we wanted to do but it was impossible to check everything off. (We really need to live next door to one another.)  One thing we didn't get to was sorting through my boxes and baskets of snippets. It may be hard to believe...but that's fun for some of us. These snippets include punched squares, collage scraps, watercolor and doodles experiments, cutouts from cards and catalogs, and about a thousand other little bits of this and that.

The idea of packaging together bits and pieces from my vast collection of art stuff has been rattling around in my head for a VERY long time.  These packages might include special papers, buttons, ribbons, fabric, card stock, punched squares and shapes, yarns and strings, felt, beads....I could go on and on.  I have been collecting my whole life!

This crazy hodgepodge of stuff is not exactly what I had in mind, but it's the perfect by-product of my time with Becky.

After she left I started going through some of my snippets...made a "quickie" logo...and packaged some "Joyful Puttering" for Becky.

Keep an eye out...it went out in the mail this morning.

Hodgepodge

What a great word...I love the synonyms.

I think it's a good word for our words and images journal!

This is the backside. You can see it includes a variety of fun stuff...including this tiny little blackwork piece and an old postcard that was in my grandmother's collection. Becky can use the snippets for card making, collaging, journaling...or whatever.


I think I'm on to something.  Thanks for talking it through with me Becky!

It's time!

Let There Be Light!

200 match boxes ready for the store.  I got into a groove so decided to get a head start on the Christmas order...Netflix really helped!

A Splash of Color

Castor bean plant...York Beach Maine.

When Becky was here we visited my dear friends Linda and David at their beach house in York and got a tour of their incredible gardens. I couldn't believe this castor bean plant that must have been 10 feet tall...and there was more than one.

And don't you just love that beautiful blue sky!

Back In Business....

My matches for sale at Folly 101.

....the match business, that is.

After a recent stop in Folly 101 Astrid asked me if I would be interested in making matches again....and I said yes.

When I first started making them years and years ago Diamond brand matches came in sturdy little boxes with a nice white frame around the logo....and they were available everywhere. At first I liked using images from Christmas cards and other interesting papers and cards.

Astrid preferred simple patterns in dots and stripes for the store and it was fun finding coordinating scrapbook papers to put on each side.

Then it seemed like the Diamond Match company was onto us....they changed their logo. The new logo slightly wrapped around the edge of the box...and I lost that nice white border making it nearly impossible to cover.

I searched online and found simple white boxes from a party favor company....but they only had a strike plate on one side.  So I adapted my technique and got back to work.

Now after taking a few years off...I'm back in business.  I'm working on fall and primary colors and will also start gearing up for Christmas.  

I cut my papers just a hair smaller than the match box....I still like that little white border.

I wrap the paper making creases where it will fold around the box....I like a sharp edge...and it makes it adhere better.

Then I coat the box with a thin layer of medium using a foam brush and place the paper making sure to smooth down all the sides and edges. 

I place the matches under a cutting board for just a bit....so the medium has a chance to set.

I generally put a little bit of medium in a wide mouth container....the mouth of the jar it comes in is awkwardly small to keep dipping into.

Then they just keep piling up. 50 done....50 more to go for this order. There is something oddly relaxing about making them.