Time to Take the Balls Down?

Well...maybe.

Ever since I saw the beautiful glass balls hanging from the dining room chandelier at my friend Laura's house, I knew that was in my future. I had been collecting them for years hanging them here and there around my house.

When I made the move to a new house 5 1/2 years ago I started putting them put up just for the Christmas season....which can extend a long time.  

They make me happy!

Reinventing the Jar

As I mentioned in the last post Connie's oil painting of the jar is a favorite.  During her show she had an offer to buy it, but since it wasn't for sale...we wanted to come up with a way to share it.  At first we color copied her original thinking we would use a simple frame. But because it was an oil painting I used a different technique.


I bought a 4 x 6 wooden paint panel at my local craft store which I sanded and stained.



I cut the copy a little smaller than the panel thinking the edge gave it a nice frame.  Then I applied a thin coat of Matte Medium on the panel and adhered the jar image using a brayer.

Sometimes it's helpful to put a coat of the Matte Medium over the image for protection, but it isn't necessary. This can protect the image and give it a more hand painted feel.  (If I do, I spray a light coat of fixative so the ink doesn't run.)


Voilà!  A wonderful gift for someone special!

Let Me Introduce You to Connie

Several years ago a delightful woman in our church asked me to help her transition from her home into an apartment in an assisted living facility...and of course I was in.  Along with her daughter, Becky, I helped her figure out what furniture to take, what to buy new, and what colors to paint the rooms.  Then came the fun part...putting it all together.  We made a good team and it was the start of a long-term relationship that would bring much joy into my life.

Let me introduce you to Connie...

my friend, and accomplished artist.

Connie's media include
watercolor, acrylics, oil, rug
hooking, basket making, and
knitting.  She has even done a
little Japanese brush painting
and probably other things I
don't know about.

 A few months ago Connie was invited to participate in an art show at her place of residence and I helped her pull it all together.

We created a beautiful collage wall for the show showcasing her varied talents.  

More of her handiwork was displayed in this cabinet .

In addition, over the past few years I have had the pleasure of helping Connie reinvent some of her art.  By scanning and resizing her original work we have been able to turn it into notecards, bookmarks, gift tags, and special little accordion books.  

She enjoys giving them as gifts and is seen here selling her treasures at a craft show at her place of residence.

A tiny set of Connie's floral watercolors 
I made into accordion books that fit inside matchboxes.

Notecards, Bookmarks, and Gift Tags

Her oil painting of a canning jar can be seen in the collage wall above and is a favorite for many...including Connie. The original hangs in the kitchen of her apartment.







Stay tuned to see how we reinvented this lovely painting to give as gifts and more of Connie and her art.

My Star Collection...

...Surrounding Myself With What I Love

My friend Adam has been making paper stars since he was in the 4th grade. When he was a freshman he attended the high school where I was teaching and that winter the whole school took a break from regular classes for a few days and teachers offered special interest courses. I offered "Paper Crafts,"  and as you might have guessed, I had a room full of girls.  During a break on the first day much to the pleasure of the girls...in walked Adam.  He had signed up for "War Movies, Just for Fun." Yes, you read that right.

Having been a paper star maker for years Adam spent his break showing some of the girls how to make them....needless to say he never made it back to War Movies. At the end of the session, I was lucky enough to end up with a small jar of stars on my desk and I gave them out to students when they needed a little token of recognition.

Over the years I have collected 

many of Adam's stars.    

This jar contains about 1800!

It sits on a cupboard as you enter my back door and is probably the thing in my house that gets noticed and asked about the most.  Even service workers have asked about it.

Next to the big jar is a little jar with small stars made from notebook paper. 

Adam used markers to make thestripes.  

These teeny tiny little stars sit in the printer's drawer in my dining room.  You can see just how small they are...I think he had to use tweezers. 




     Can you spot the little jar?

Here's another jar on the shelf in the living room.

I think I also have a jar upstairs and I know I have some in Maine....but you get the idea.

Thanks Adam!  I love that your stars are sprinkled all over the house!


Adam is a young adult now and is still making stars and selling them in a store in Maine.

Six Word Story Book....a Shared Art Project

Becky, Tracie (both from Wisconsin) and I shared an interesting project that we called "The Six Word Story Book.  Each of us started with a blank cardboard children's book.  Our goal was to write about what was going on with us at the time in just six words and then illustrate it.  We started with a page in our own book then sent it on to the next person. The books went around the circle three times over the course of a year. Our final book had three pages from each person.

This is my book....I collaged punched squares from one of my old "Sun, Moon, and Stars" calendars for the cover.   (click here to read about these calendars)

The most interesting aspect of the challenge was to describe our current "story" in just six words.  Every single word had to count. (That's a good six word sentence!) Here are most of my pages and a sampling of Becky and Tracie's. 

Easily distracted by bright shiny objects.

I borrowed the concept from my friend Anita....but it soooo describes the story of my life...I'm very distractible.  I think her line is "bright shiny object syndrome"...or something like that.  I had this advertisement of bangles in my stash and I just embellished the heck out of it.  

Welcoming fall nesting and cozy evenings.

I used photocopies of actual leaves from my yard, metallic origami paper, and little village images from a Christmas Card.  

Making peace with sadness and loss.

During this project I lost my younger brother Rich after months of fighting a brain tumor.  It was a tragic loss....but it was my "story" so I found a way to illustrate it. In many ways that process of creating this page helped me work though some of the grief.

I used the sympathy cards I received....starting at the top with the color gray and the actual personal words of grief, sadness, and support.  I moved down the page to soothing blues and purples and beautiful images from the cards.  

Christmas doodling while watching favorite shows. 

There is nothing like a little doodling to soothe your soul.  It was a winter of rest.





Making new piles from old ones.  The constant story of my life!












Every day's a beautiful hair day!  

Believe it or not I also lost my oldest sister, Becky, to breast cancer during this project.  She was an amazing woman and I miss her dearly.  One of the things she was known for was her messy hair...but we loved her for it.  What came to mind when I was contemplating this "story" was that in heaven every day must be a beautiful hair day.   I created Becky's hair with some of the things she loved...including flowers and birds...and even worked in a waterfall off the side.  I miss you Becky!

An art teacher told me once that I overworked my pieces.....I needed to learn when to stop....not this time.

Stretching her heartstrings coast to coast.  During this difficult year my "story" had taken me literally from coast to coast spending time with family.  I used my sewing machine to illustrate not only where I had been, but most of the places I have people that I love.

And finally.....

The End, or just the beginning?  I was playing around with all the stitch options on my new sewing machine wondering what would be my next project.







A Few of Becky's
January, armed with flannel, wool....umbrella?
One of those strange Wisconsin winters with
back and forth temperatures.

Hiding clutter in pretty colored boxes.

This page ended up being opposite my 

"making piles" story...Becky and 

I have always made a good match!                                         

Lifetime searching for the perfect pen. 

Actual photos of Becky's pens...by the way.













 A few of Tracie's

Dreaming of reading on the beach.

 Don't we all!






Learning to enjoy a new perspective.
(Tracie's two beautiful daughters)

Sweet memories lead 

grief toward acceptance.

Tracie also suffered loss during this project.  

This was a good thing we did Becky and Tracie!  Thank you!

The Craft Cupboard Puzzle

Puzzle Meditation?

I almost always have a puzzle going.  It is the perfect thing for me to do when I am in between things, not feeling well, or just need to sit still for a while.  I often work on it with a cup of coffee in the morning...my version of mediation.

  OHMMMM....












I am lucky to have a great spot at the end of my living room where I can keep my puzzles up all the time. There are great views out the window and even a view of the TV if I want to watch while I work.  

My Cathedral Window Quilt

    ...it matches the paper tubes!

During one of our "girls' weekends" my friend Patsy taught me how to make a cathedral window quilt.  I am 8 1/2 years in...maybe I have too many hobbies.  She had already taught our other buddies, Jane and Janice, and I wanted in.  Patsy is on her 5th and Jane is on her 3rd. Meanwhile Janice and I keep plugging along on our first.  I don't work on it as often as I should at home because it's one of my "take-a-long" projects. Because it's all hand done it's very portable. I can carry a small container with what I need to make the white squares in the car, on a plane or sitting having tea with my stitching buddies.  So, much of the time it sits in the container.  Maybe this will get me going...or I just need to travel more.

It starts with a 6 inch square of muslin that gets folded in kind of a crazy way and tacked by hand.  This was difficult to start...but got easier.




The folded squares get hand-stitched together.  Some people make the quilt in even rows but Patsy taught us to work diagonally....giving it a really cool edge. This will make more sense when you see the picture below.   I started in the corner.  My friends started with the middle diagonal row of 49. (for a queen size)  I couldn't face that long row at the start.




Next is the fun part...adding colors. The small squares of colors get set into the muslin and the folded edges get turned back and hand stitched.

I am sure there are way better instructions available...or you can just call Patsy.  Just kidding.  Let me know and I can try.


The first row is one square.  The second row is three....and the next will be five....and on and on and on.

Every row of white squares allows for two rows of colors....in the row itself, and where the rows meet.  I really enjoy the process of picking the colors for the next row.

   Here is where I am 8 1/2 years later.

The longest row on the left half has 31 white squares.  I got this far and worried that I would die before I finished so Patsy suggested I start the other half.  When I get it the same size I can either join them and have a wall hanging or keep going on each until they are big enough to join to fit a bed.  For a queen size the middle row needs to be about 49 squares. (this depends on the size of the square you start with)  I think it would be beautiful hanging on the wall instead of a headboard...just saying!

Notice the funky pointy edge that you get by working diagonally.

I am adding the little beads
all the way around...just because.

One of the nice things about this quilt
is when it's done it's done....kind of a
quilt as you go.  And, because of all the layers it's quite hefty.

Stay tuned.

My Maine (pun intended)
stitching buddies:
Patsy, Jane, me (MaryAnn)
and Janice.