Nothing big but lots of fun!

Hi friends.........
I  thought I'd take a few minutes to share with you some of the fun crafty things I've made in the last couple of months. Seems like I've been glued to my TV watching YouTube videos (on mostly paper crafting of course!) way more than normal!

I'm really into buying digital printables from Etsy right now - words and phrases, journaling tags, vintage images, etc.

I don't know why this Shelter in Place has caused me to do that (be a couch potato). I think at first it was just an excuse to sit more and stay inand watch more YouTube! And the weather wasn't that great  in March and April, so lots of rainy days gave me even more excuses to just sit and make "stuff". 

Altered paper clips with "dangleys"

Most things I've made were "just for the fun of it".. with no particular person or reason in mind. I just made something because I saw a project I liked and wanted to try my hand at. I should have kept a list, because now, when I look around my craft room, I don't see that many new creations.. I have given some away "just because", made a few gifts that have already been sent on their way, and tuckedhidden away other goodies I made here and there. 

I made some Tiny Little Books. My Porch Prints on Etsy sells the digital downloads that you then cut out and assemble the covers and little pages inside. These were a birthday gift for my son's fiance. She absolutely LOVED them!

I will be getting some more of these printables as she has several others that I didn't purchase. She even sells a digital printable for a tiny bookshelf to hold them all!

Some of my favorite YouTube channels have been posting tutorials more than normal... some everyday! I love that! And some are having giveaways and challenges, which I usually don't take part in, but I decided I would do a few because I had the time. That was BEFORE all the yard work started!

Gift bag I made from Posh Paper Lady's tutorial - using plain old copy paper! Amazing huh? I printed out the image from one I found on the internet (free).. and then put together her gift bag. She did a series of tutorials on making things with plain white copy paper.... gift sacks, notebooks, tiny boxes, tiny gift bags, etc. I willhope to  make them all!

Here is the link to Posh Paper Lady's channel: Posh Paper Lady. If you want to just play and craft with paper, go give her channel a look. I love her! I love what she makes.  Here is an envelope card I made following one of her tutorials, and it's part of a giveaway she's holding that ends on June 6th. I earn extra chances to win by posting my project on my blog, so here it is!

Front of envelope "card" (which is made using two envelopes of any size).... I used some digital paper that a friend of mine gave me to cover the envelopes.

I'm linking  HERE ON YOU TUBE  to Posh Paper Lady's specific tutorial for making this card if you are interested. It was fun and fairly quick, and came out so darling.

Inside of card. On the right is the 2nd envelope. The flap opens up to hold some money or a gift card or a special note. The "burlap" is really just some digital papers I downloaded from a purchase I made on Etsy. It looks so real!

Back of card. Such pretty digital papers.

Front of card, using a digital printable tag from Gi Kerr's Etsy shop, Happiness in Crafting.

I love the YouTube channels Posh Paper Lady, Scrapbooking with ME, Septeria18, Rejoice and Create, and Lyriclover Crafts (among many others). Gi Kerr (Happiness in Crafting), Shabbydabbydoodah, and My Porch Prints are three of my favorite digital printable shops on Etsy. Their papers and ephemera are so SHABBY and lots of pink!

I made this little folder/folio using a digital download freebie from the Happiness in Crafting Facebook group (Gi Kerr). She has started a Friday Freebie every week on her FB group and then she does a tutorial on something you can make with it. This little folio is so sweet - I love her shabby designs and papers.

Here are a few other things I've made. Gee can you tell I love pink???

Some small envelopes (tutorial by Scrapbooking with ME) for an album or journal, using old book pages.  I sent Edith at Scrapbooking with ME some of my old book pages that I had. She sent out a request on one of her videos and I guess she got all sorts of old books and old sheet music and book pages. 

A flip open tag or photo holder - tutorial by Scrapbooking with ME for her #maychallenge. I'm taking part in her challenge and trying to make several of her items and posting pictures on her Facebook group and Instagram. She's having a giveaway at the end of the month! 

Inside - has pockets for tags and goodies.

Before this post gets too long, I want to mention and THANK my blog friend, Marilyn at  Mountain Top Spice for this darling Scripture Journal that she made and sent to me recently. I absolutely love it! She lives in Northern Idaho in the most picturesque and beautiful area around the Pacific Northwest! 

She used tea dyed papers inside with torn edges, and added some of her favorite scriptures.  I also spent some time going through one of my Mornings with Jesus magazines and added my own loved scriptures. I also added some doodling here and there.

Marilyn has also written and added her own (stunning) photography to a book entitled Through Love's Eyes. It can be purchased through Westbow Press, and I think it is also on Amazon.  The front cover is a photo she took of her own property, and that is her barn! Her photography is incredible, and many of her photos can be viewed on her blog. Her recent blog post of a couple of days ago, has a short video of Marilyn introducing her book and showing some of her pages inside. Her poems and writings inside accompany each picture, and she does have an wonderful way with words. It would be a book worth having, or to give as a gift. 

I want to say that I haven't ONLY been sitting and watching TV and videos! Much more is going on behind the scenes here now that Spring is finally here... much yardwork, cleaning, organizing, trying to do a few "good deeds" and sending happy mail out now and then.  I'm also working on crocheting two baby blankets for twin great nephews who are due on June 4th! I have one done and the second is about 2/3 done.... I need to hurry up and finish that one! So much to do.... so little time..........

My crafting "roll" kind of ended around May 8th, when we got the 12 yards of gravel delivered and we started working on our back  yard gravel and dirt area. We have worked ourselves silly, and are still not done, but making some good progress! (but I have still managed to squeeze in some paper crafting...........) 

More to come on our yard progress.... on the next post!

Have a good weekend everyone!

Rolling along.......the battle of the weeds

Hello friends!
Short post today (well maybe..........).  I seem to have been really busy, even though we're staying home for the most part.  I really want to respect the social distancing at this time, and I may continue to do so for quite awhile.

This is what I've been doing.

Creating and making.
 (more on this in my next post) 
Illustration by Mary Engelbreit.

Digging up my Iris bulbs, separating and planting about 60 singles all over our yard!

This bed was so PACKED with Irises that it was like cement! 

Digging a new flower bed below our rock wall (for Iris bulbs).

Transplanting single bulbs and pruning down the leaves.

Buckets and buckets of Iris to plant... I still have many left and nowhere to put them.

The "newbies" even sent up new flowers! I was surprised.

Chopping up the white garden  hutch (darn... I left it out for two winters and it was just falling apart, so decided to take it to the dump).

BEFORE... falling apart and rotting wood. 

AFTER.......

Bye Bye hutch... sniff sniff..... a new one will be coming soon (hopefully).

Cleared out entire back yard "patio" area to ready it for new gravel.

Moving all our yard stuff, tables, chairs, planters, and junk tools to behind the house and on the back lawn (which needs mowing by the way).

Cleaning up weeds in our back "dirt" area (soon to "maybe"? be gravel?)...... it's the dirt area we tried to reseed twice last year, and the weeds took over again, so we are giving up on it! No lawn there... just gravel.

A right fine mess........ will we ever win the battle of the weeds?

Planting two new blackberry bushes..... thinning and transplanting my raspberries (they've LOVED the heavy rains).... and weeding flower beds. Note: the yellow Iris I bought last year is doing great!

(And yes, I do want blackberries! Where we lived in Washougal, WA (in the wet climate), blackberries grew wild everywhere. I loved having them! I made jam and pies galore. I really miss them here as there are none to be found. I'll keep them pruned to a reasonable size (hopefully).

Going to the gravel pit and ordering rock! Whoo Hoo! And having it delivered.

And this is what we WILL be doing - as soon as the rain quits!

Shoveling all of THIS stuff, by hand, into a wheelbarrow, and hauling it to our back yard - after we lay down the HEAVY tarps! Not looking foward to it.

We're hoping the gravel laying will start on Friday, the 22nd... we've been waiting a week for the rains to quit. We've had unseasonably high amounts of rain and "gully washer" type rains. 

We also need to get a new gutter by our back garage door, as when it rains so hard, our garage gets flooded! ...... which means more work, and more digging and cleanup around the back cement slab outside our garage. There is nowhere for water to drain that pours off of our roof. That's another story...........so we need to dig trenches before laying the gravel... maybe put in some drain pipe.... etc. etc. etc. 

With all the digging I've done, my neck has been killing me.. so hubby will have to do most of the gravel shoveling and hauling. I'll at least be there to supervise...... :-)

More to come on my crafty adventures! I've loved holing up in my craftroom (when I could)........... bye for now.

~Marilyn~

Keeping busy.......

Hello all and Happy Good Friday,

Just a quick hello to say that my husband and I are doing fine. Staying in the house for us is the "normal" for the most part. I must admit I do miss going out to my favorite craft and fabric stores, but I have so much "stuff" at  home, that I find plenty to keep my mind (and hands) occupied. I'm a homebody so this is not too tough for me (staying home).

Our little town of Madras, Oregon has been very diligent in their ways of handling the "social distancing" and most businesses closed very early. Those closures started right away back in early March, so we are very happy that there are no cases of the virus here.

And I must say, the easiest way for me not to get all upset and anxious is to "bury my head in the sand" in my craftroom, for the most part, only coming up for air now and then to watch a little bit of news - I can get very overwhelmed if I let myself watch too much. And I can get very overwhelmed and nervous about all of this.  I like being home and surrounded by all of my favorite things. I feel safe here. 

The only other place I feel safe is driving in my car.. and I do now and then take a little drive around my town, appreciating the smallness of it and how everyone is working together to keep our little corner of the world safe.

Enough said. I do just want things to get back to normal and not be worrying about my friends and family getting sick. And I worry about the entire world right now, and what the outcome will be for everyone, after this virus has swept through so many lives.

In February, there WAS a bright spot when I won and received a wonderful surprise from one of the YouTubers I watch. I won this darling Valentine's Day paper bag album, plus a ton of goodies, from  Lyric Lover Crafts. I love her channel and her fun and wonderful creations!

This album is made entirely of brown paper bags!

An entire box of goodies for Valentine's Day:

I spend alot of time in my craftroom.  It keeps me sane. Here are a few things I've been doing, and most of them  have been inspired from the various YouTube channels I watch.  My main entertainment lately. has been watching YouTube, crafting, and eating (and hardly any exercise). I've GOT to change that.

I made a "bill box" that is pretty, that can sit out in plain sight and not be an ugly mish mash of papers, envelopes, flyers, stamps, etc. This was inspired by Eve at Scrapbooking with ME.  I haven't made the lid yet.

It looks so pretty siting on my china hutch. There was such a mess before! It holds our current bills, extra envelopes, flyers, misc. papers and ads and stamps. 

 I made some cute Easter baskets and paper carrots, in anticipation of an early Easter dinner when my son and his fiance were coming on March 23rd.. but they decided not to come, so hubby and I will get to enjoy them I guess. I even bought Easter candy early, to fill all the baskets. Now I'm not much in the mood to use them or decorate our Easter table. I may just save them for next year.

Some birthday gifts and mini albums were made, just for fun. My sister's birthday was recently, so I made her a little "shoe" mini album, from some cards I had purchased from The Dollar Tree, with photos in it of just her. She really enjoyed it.

And I made myself a favorite things mini album, just for the fun of it. And another cute little 3x3, again just for fun.

Hum.m.m.m.m. everything has pink in it! Pink just cheers me up. I don't particularly PLAN to use pink, I am just drawn to it and end up pulling those papers and colors out of my stash. I also love the touches of gold foil.

I love making unusual cards, so made my sister a pretty Star card.. inspired by another YouTuber but now I can't remember her name! 

It stands up on a sort of "tent" that  you slide the "star" piece in after you take it out of the envelope.  It comes in two sections. I thought this was very unique and I had never seen this type of card before. 

I made a 6x9 envelope to fit these large pieces into. My sister loved it! I do too.

And last but not least, I've been sending cards and little notebooks to my friends and family, just to cheer them up and let them know I've been thinking of them.

I've also made some cloth masks and donated them to one of our local hospitals, as they sent out an email asking for us seamstresses to make them... and they even sent us the specific pattern to use. I made ten, which doesn't seem like enough to me, but I spent two days making them. They were quite detailed with a pocket and the ties rather than elastic. I will make more if the hospital requests more. I also made one for me and one for my husband.

Lots and lots of bias ties! 

I made sure I had clean hands when I made them (I should probably have worn a mask myself when I made them).. and packaged them up in a new zip lock bag. I felt good about doing this. I want to do more.

Of course, as most everyone has been doing, I've found myself doing some spring cleaning and organizing drawers and cupboards that have needed it for years! I also put up some new drapes to replace my "granny" style curtains, and just feel the need to simplify my colors and patterns to something more soothing.

My flowered "granny" curtains - and the mess on my trunk. How does it get that way???? The gremlins must do it.

The "after" - much more soothing, and the gremlin mess got cleaned up!

I'm so thankful that I have this wonderful passion of making and creating, that keeps me busy and my mind off my worries.

What have you been doing to pass the time while staying home?

Hang in there..........

~Marilyn~