"n" is for ....

and the letter N is brought to you today by

Inchy by Inch

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What nourishing concoction do you think is in those dessert cups?

My guess is Jello - the ultimate space age food :)

inchie landscape

The inchies from the 99 inchie swap arrived in yesterday's mail.

I love to line them up in columns and rows like this:

and then pick out some favorites:

just gotta love Lucy!

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classic and elegant

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recycling at its finest

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and a tres cool cat

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just thought I'd share the joy :)

literary tea

I love this shot of my tea today - the steam was rising up to fog the lens of my camera.

Today's tea is Red Clover tea - beneficial for symptoms of menopause - or so they say.

***

I went to the library yesterday and found what I hope will be good books.

The one I started last night is Night Navigation, by Ginnah Howard.

It's about a woman and her adult son who is bi-polar and a drug addict.

It's a novel about their relationship.

I stayed up longer than I intended to. I guess I got sucked in.

The next book The Hidden, by Tobias Hill, is an archeological mystery/thriller.

I loved the cover of both of these books.

I say you CAN tell a book by it's cover - often :)

And this is Lawn Boy, by Gary Paulsen:

I read with kids at school and have discovered that if they read aloud with a Jolly Rancher in their mouth they do an amazingly excellent job with their reading fluency. I think reading out loud and sucking on a hard candy at the same time helps their brain not try so hard with each word. It all just flows better. Plus - there's the enjoyment factor of a good book and a yummy candy at the same time. Not quite so dry an experience.

I have more books from my library at the bottom of my sidebar. I recently updated it to include only the books I really really enjoyed. My favorite of all time being The Housekeeper and the Professor, by Yoko Ogawa.

***

please visit these other tea on tuesday tea parties today:

Patty

Chriss

Pat

Dianne

Christen

Penny

Elizabeth

Jean
Debs

Judy

Rosie

Meadowlark Days

playing along

Ale at Viola Violeta invited me to play a game.

Revisit my 10th post.

I was heavily into inchies in March '08

(still am I guess)

and I had just made this box to keep my inchies in:

Click here for the original post.

***

and now I pick 5 more blogs to play along

eenie meenie minie moe

Bluebirds Living in the Meadow

Pringle Hill Studio

Planet M Files

Annette Q

The Linen Shelf

Thank you Ale for the fun :)

Your comments always always bring a smile to my face!

Like this one last week:

hola kimmie!!!!this is a party of inchies!!!!!they are more than beautifull!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!lots of minie creations and an enormous talent!!!!!hermoso kimmie!!!!besos and l wish you a very mice and happy week!!!! 

fugly button redux

You might remember the "fugly buttons" post.

These are some simple ones that I did just for fun.

***

I happened to mail one to Dianne with her tea stuff and look what she made with it:

I just love love love it - don't you!!!??!!!!

She has 2 blogs:

 Bits and Pieces of D where she blogs about "life in general according to me"

and Pieces of D where she shares her art.

Drop by and say hello .... if you scroll down just a day or 2 you'll find this brooch and you can tell her how cool it is :)

happy earth day

In celebration of Earth Day

I just want to revisit some of my older projects using recycled stuff.

Like this Chili Cook-Off Trophy:

And this Garden Fairy named Mathilda:

And her friend named Betty:

And "Bicycle Dream Pie" .... something I made using a Fat Tire Ale beer carton and an apple pie tin:

Or the wall jewelry I made using an Alaskan Pale Ale label and a tin can lid:

Now doesn't that just make you want to go out and pick through your recycling bin looking for treasure?

tea and happy mail

... my tea party today:

... a closer look at all this happy mail from Ooglebloops:

... inchies:

... a "tres cool" matchbox:

wabi sabi is a Japanese phrase and basically means "finding beauty in impermanence and transience." 

Sabi is a Japanese word meaning rust

... "cool stuff" is Ooglebloops specialty:

... the tea is delicious:

... don't you just love my duck cup?

... and the lilacs?

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visit these other cool tea parties today:

Patty

Chriss

Pat

Dianne

Christen

Penny

Elizabeth

Jean
Debs

Judy

Rosie

Meadowlark Days

It took almost a year ...

... to finish this pillowcase edging:

.... here they are hanging out on the clothesline yesterday.

... and here the are pressed, folded and ready to mail as a wedding gift for my cousin :)

The pattern is called love braid.

It's a knitted lace 

- which even thought it was an easy pattern - 

it took forever for me to finish.

How do you spell 

p r o c r a s t i n a t e ?

Happy Monday :)

school field trip

I helped out on a school field trip into the city today.

One thing I've learned this past year is to always bring my camera.

And not just to get the obligatory group photo ...

but to capture the otherwise missed details.

Putting  mundane images to film somehow gives them purpose.

t is for .....

 tea

and a

talk

on 

the

telephone

(the tea is Tazo - Ginger Green Tea to be exact)

ta ta for now

or

TTFN

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take time to taste tea with these other fine bloggers:

Patty

Chriss

Pat

Dianne

Christen

Penny

Meadowlark Days

Judy
Debs

Elizabeth

Rosie

Jean

blog candy

Fiona over at Inchy by Inch is having a blog candy giveaway. She hosts the weekly inchie challenge on Mondays.


Please stop by and say hello - she'll enter your name in the giveaway - who knows this might be your lucky day!!!

99 inchies

I am mailing off my 99 inchies today for the inchie swap I'm in

... just in the nick of time too ...

It feels like I haven't been in a swap for ages

The way it works is like this:

Make and send your pieces to the host;

who then divides them all up equally;

and mails them back

... so 99 of mine go out ...

.... 99 of other people's come back ....

this one is a favorite - I don't know if I can part with it

and this one is too.

I think I have time before today's mail to make 2 more inchies so I can keep these babies.

That's the hardest thing - giving up art babies.

polished up

this one

all polished up isn't necessarily better

I tend to get really tight and overthink it, overwork it

can you see the difference between this one and that one?

that one

oh well

I don't know if I'll tackle it again .....

I think I'd rather go for a bike ride

critique time

I don't like this weird little valley













and I don't like these bulky ridges





Your critique and encouragement is important to me .... it's the closest thing I have to being in art class.

Teri said: "I love the trees" - I was being a little bit lazy and they are a happy accident

Elizabeth said: "I am so interested in hearing about your artistic process" - I lightly sketched the basic composition in pencil. I break down the shapes of things. So the trees in the foreground have a definite shape and boundary; the trees marching up the ridge are shaped like pebbles; and the rolling hills and ridges are larger, flatter stones. I think that my poor eyesight trained me to see things as shapes.

Ale said: "and if you think something is missing ... what??? some of your lovely words perhaps??" - I don't think I'll add any words to this - but I may take Jan's photograph and make some altered art with it and add words there.

Monica O said: "it's an original and naive landscape painting" - I can't even begin to tell you what a compliment that word "naive" is to me. That was my goal.

Terri Kahrs said: "walk away from it for a few hours and then go back to it with new eyes" - always always good advice .... that could be a life rule for just about anything :)

Renee said: "wondering when/if you would get back to painting in the style you used with the dots (Australia)" - my comfort level is not very high with trying to paint what I see - sometimes it's just easier to play with paper and glue - especially when it's only one inch.

Elizabeth said: "if I could paint like that, I would be happy, happy." - if it made me happy, I could quit taking so much Vitamin D, B complex, fish oil and St. John's Wort - just kidding :)

Jan's Smokey Mtns

... about half a year ago my dear and oldest friend (all the way back to high school) asked me if I'd paint her a picture of her beloved Smokey Mountains. 

She sent the photos and I'm sure she thought I'd get on it right away. 

Not. 

Well today I finally gave it a try.

I plan to try again tomorrow.

Something is not quite right.

First I procrastinated.

Now I'm obsessing.

"l" and "m"

These inchies are super simple.

Sometimes it's a relief to quit while you're ahead.

Way ahead :)

In art they say "less is more,"

"more is more,"

or "more is more better."

Today less is more.

My thoughts are with Fiona at Inchy by Inch.

Please take care.

T is for tasty ....

I love oatmeal .... but I'm pretty sure oatmeal (and wheat too) doesn't love me. The Sweet Husband and I are trying to go gluten free - I don't know if you know anything about that - but it's not too hard to do. For instance, I thought oatmeal was a thing of the past. But I found this yum yummy hot cereal from Bob's Red Mill: "Mighty Tasty Hot Cereal." Oh my goodness - they are not kidding! I made mine with apple juice instead of water, added plain yogurt and a drizzle of honey ..... y u m! And the tea? Tetley's British Blend .... a delicious and bright tea for the morning.

.... and these are the winners from my 2 for T giveaway ....

Susie Dally, ale, S. Etole and Terri Kahrs

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For more T (or coffee or hot cocoa or diet coke) on Tuesday please visit these other fine blogs:

Patty

Chriss

Pat

Dianne

Christen

Penny

Meadowlark Days

Judy
Debs

Elizabeth

Rosie

Jean

Spring Break

I took some time off from blogging and creating last week while the kids were out of school. When I was a kid it used to be called "Easter Vacation," for these guys it's "Spring Break," and from year to year it's iffy if it will coincide with Easter at all.

This year was great, they were off the week between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday.

It really felt like Easter Vacation :)

One of the things we did was visit a local art museum.

I'm always drawn to the native american art.

Here are some beautiful cut glass bowls with traditional northwest native motifs:

Here is the one of the bowls in it's entirety:

I think it's a frog.

Shortly after this I was told to put my camera away.

I should have known better.

Anyway, it was a lovely visit to the museum, and a beautiful Easter Vacation.

I hope your Easter Week was special too :)