I did it!

I finally did it! One sweet night of camping with my Van! It was a "trial run" and all in all, I did pretty good.

I've named her BERTHA! She is old but very sturdy.

I had my trial run at my sister's house about 30 miles from me. She lives on a beautiful 5 acres, with some trees and views of the mountains in the Cascade Range of Oregon. She even has a hookup for electricity! It was perfect for my test run.

I haven't really touched the Van since my  husband passed last September. I still have a dream to do some camping with her... so I decided it was time to get her cleaned out, fixed up, freshened up and reorganized. I found my curtains and put them back up, made up my bed (to make it as cozy as possible), and packed a new tub with stuff I thought I might need, even if for only one night!

I moved in an old sewing cabinet with two drawers, and put it at the head of my bed, to place a little lamp on, my phone, etc. The drawers were to come in very handy!

Once I started the cleanup, I was more enthused about taking a little trip... but I first wanted to do a test run! I HAD driven it a few times over the last year, just to make sure it was mechanically sound, and it did well on the highway.

Here I am at my sister's, the last weekend of August, and the weather was perfect! It was the ONE day that wasn't 100 degrees or more! And the night temperature went down to a nice cool 48!

See that little step stool? Sure makes it easier to get in and out!

Since it was too dry to have a fire, my sister and I sat out by the firepit in the evening, and gazed into my candle!!! 

Next time I will bring more candles, as it's just not the same not being able to have a little fire for roasting marshmellows.  I'm looking into buying  a small propane firepit.. never knew they existed until recently!

And now I know what needs to be tweaked.... most especially, my bed was WAY TOO HARD. It's a new 4" foam mattress but was as hard as a brick. I'll need to remedy that before the next trip! And I couldn't find a few things, so need to get more organized. I would love to put in another little set of drawers to use.

Until next time Bertha!

~Marilyn~

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A little sewing

Hello friends and followers.........

Even with all the yardwork this summer, I've been in the mood for sewing. I  finally dragged out my machines that had been gathering dust on a shelf in my craft room. 

I have a Singer and a Riccar (old from the 90's). I love the Riccar! It is SO heavy duty.... but it had quit working when I tried to use it earlier last year. A friend of mine cleaned and adjusted it for me, and then it worked.. but I could not find the feet to go with it! So I had to order some from Amazon.  

You see... I wanted to do some sewing on my paper crafts, like around tags, and the pages of my little albums, etc. But I didn't want to use my "good" Singer (although I think the old Riccar is better!).

I was able to use the Riccar a few times to sew on my papers and I was so happy!....but it was short lived...........  as then the bobbin ran out, and I could not remember how to thread a new bobbin! And I tried using one that was already wound, but in doing so, unthreaded the top thread to the needle, so tried rethreading the needle, but then I would sew a few stitches and the thread would break! Over and over again it broke. Very frustrating!

I tried rethreading, adjusting and rethreading again many times... and watched some Youtube videos, but it still breaks. I can't figure out what I did, as when I first got the new feet, it worked fine.

Oh well, time to move on from that fiasco......... so I decided to use my Singer for some fabric projects. And guess what? I used it a little, and when I went to wind a new bobbin, the bobbin rewinder kept stopping and not winding the bobbin!  It would beep and stop....over and over and over......... So again, I went to YouTube, and found a video for my specific machine.. and it said I would have to open up the top case, dig in to the "clutch" and clean it or adjust it. Oh no.. I didn't want to do that! So I found another video that said the tension may be wrong on the little arm where you wind the bobbin, so I tried loosening that.. and low and behold, it worked! (..........for awhile anyway).

So I proceeded to make 7 pillowcases and about 10 fabric gift sacks, plus did some mending.

I was on a roll with the pillowcases! I had laid out several from my stash fabrics 2 years ago, to make pillowcases! I guess it's better late than never right? 

I made 2 pillowcases to match my new(ish) quilt that I bought last Fall to brighten up my bedroom (the first two shown above). They look so pretty on my bed. The rest I put in the little gift shop here where I sell my papercrafts.

And the gift sacks I also wanted to make for the little gift shop here in town (Hummingbird Junction), so I went through my older fabrics and pulled from those.  I found a good video on YouTube on how to make them with the sleeve for the cording of a different color. I loved that look.

  

I used some of my novelty fabrics for the gift sacks. Loved these owls and my retro style cowboy ladies.

I decided to make some pillow covers for some of my throw pillows that were Christmas designs, and from doing that, got 3 "new" pillows for my bed. 

The "Wildflower" pillow I bought from the little shop here in town.

I "shoppped my house" for a picture to put above my bed (had been a blank wall for months........) and got a cute little birdhouse and plaque to match, so I'm very happy with how it looks now. Both the birdhouse and plaque I bought at the Hummingbird Junction), where I display my papercrafts for sale. 

Love this sign!

That's about as far as I got on my sewing projects, this time anyway. My Singer bobbin winder pooped out on me again quit working again, so I had to wind the last couple of bobbins by hand to finish my last two gift sacks!

I had company last weekend, so put my piles of fabric (yet to be made gift sacks) away, and the sewing machine away..... and those will come out again on another day..... when I'm on a sewing roll again.

HAPPY SEPTEMBER!!

~Marilyn~

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A Moment in the Garden

Hello sweet friends and followers............. I know it's been awhile. I just wanted to pop in and say hi. I've been spending alot of time in my yard, mostly enjoying having to do  yardwork!  I came across this poem when I was watching a 4 day (online) Cardmaker Success Sumit put on by Brandy Mahon on YouTube. Sharon Ware runs (or owns?) Prickley Pear Stamps and she said she wrote this poem. It really resonated with me.... tis the season to love all of the flowers, birds and nature!

I typed the poem in one of my design programs and added the bird and flowers, bees and dragonflies. It was such fun! And I keep it posted by my computer.

Here are some of my garden photos. I didn't plant as much this year as I have in previous years.. and I really planted late! I think it was July 6th before I got any of my veggie SEEDS planted. I may have planted the flowers a little earlier. I just couldn't seem to get "with it" this year as far as gardening.  I did have some starts of lemon cucumbers, and 4 out of 7 plants survived. I also found only one yellow zuchini left at my local store by the time I had decided to plant a few veggies, which I wanted to try.

My cukes and zuchini are doing really well, although they need to be watered every day (well everything does, because of the horrible heat we've been having)....... and even with that, my zuchini wilts by the afternoon, even though I've moved in to a shadier spot.

My strawberries are doing great! They are everbearing, so are just now starting to turn red. I've eaten a few ripe ones and they are really good. I won't get near the crop as I was hoping though.

I've had trouble this year (again) with bugs eating the leaves of my flowers and veggies, and fungus in my raspberries. That fungus spreads to my cucumbers too so I've had to be diligent about tearing off any leaves that show signs of it. My poor raspberries haven't done a thing... just a few little berries, but most get eaten by whatever pest I have. I babied those plants from the day they started coming up in February! I've re-dug, recomposted, sprayed for bugs, sprayed for fungus, fertilized, picked off brown and curled leaves, etc. but nothing has seemed to  help. I may have to give up on them!

My peach tree so far, is OK and not eaten up by bugs! But it didn't bear any fruit this year.. it's only 2 years old. Hopefully next year I will have some, if the frost doesn't get the buds in early spring.

Raspberries are behind the peach tree. They looked good in May, and then when the heat wave started, and the bugs started, it was downhill from there.

I have accomlished a few things on my old TO DO list.. which I'll show in future blogs. For now....... just enjoy my flowers!

Hope you are all enjoying your summer!  It has gone by way too fast.

~Marilyn~

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Eye Candy.....

Hello sweet blogging friends,

Life goes on as they say...........since the loss of my husband..........I'm still in a sort of fog............... I do try to keep busy, and continue to enjoy my papercrafting, as it takes me out of reality for awhile.

I don't have alot to say right now... I'm not being very social lately, and I'm becoming quite the hermit. I love my little house.... it is such a haven for me..... and I get little (tiny) spurts of energy to do a little changing up or adding other colors, etc. And then that little bit of energy goes away for awhile, and I go back to my craft room.

New quilt and pillow shams.. I love the soothing aqua blue.

Here is some eye candy for you to enjoy. Lots of fun little things I've made... lots of color, pastels which I love.... simple things.... but each one is a little work of art.... and brings me some joy in making it.

I'm sure with time, I'll become chatty again.........

Tiny photo album for my son and his fiance.

Folio to hold photos and tags. I LOVE this paper!

Tiny flipbook - to hold a note, some tags and a tea bag. This one is in my Etsy shop. I made two. Link is below.

Little vellum envelope holds the tea bag.

Another tiny flipbook... I love making these.

Origami heart.

3" x 4" flipbook. I love making these (as I've said before!).... they are little treasures.

Tiny photo album.

Moments in Time - flip album with lots of spots for photos and notes.

A "one page wonder" flip album... lots of pockets and tags and tiny envelopes. I made this last Fall but don't think I've shown it before.

Tiny books!  I bought the digital papers from a shop on Etsy. She has the covers and insides of the little books. So fun but very time consumming to make!

Heart shaped mini albums.

Altered paperclips - yes! this is a paperclip! to use in a journal, diary, Bible, or as a bookmark.

Packaged up and ready to sell. I sell them at a little gift shop here in town.

 I sell many of the items I make, or gift them to friends and family.

I love the vintage look.

I continue to make my Hershey Bar pockets. They are fun to make and I love using all the different papers. This one is a bit different. It's not open at the top so you can't see the candy bar. I sell these at the shop here in town and they are very popular! but this one has not sold..... so have gone back to making the ones with the peek-a-boo at the top!

This is also a new style I made... just to see if they would sell. They did! 

This is the normal style I make..... they do sell like hotcakes!

It's strawberry season! I just had to make some with strawberry themed papers. I purchased these from Etsy. How cute!! I'll be making more.

Teeny tiny tea packs. I made a bunch for the shop here.

And last but not least, I must ALWAYS make tea things......... drinking tea soothes my soul. I love these little triangle shaped tea pockets. Each one holds a little 3x3 inch card and room for a sweet tea bag. I made the vintage looking ones for my Etsy shop and they are there now. The packaged ones (last three) I've made for the shop here in town. Tea things sell very well.

These and various others are in my Etsy shop My Pink Paper Cottage

I wasn't chatty, but enjoyed sharing my photos and projects. If nothing else, the colors are all so pretty and springy!

Have a nice Memorial Day weekend everyone.

~Marilyn~

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PLEASE DO NOT COPY MY PHOTOS AND IMAGES INTO YOUR OWN POSTS WITHOUT FIRST LINKING TO THIS BLOG AND MY NAME.