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~

THE ART OF GIVING.... AND HONORING ERIC.

This post is in honor of my son, Eric James Fossum, who passed away 5 years ago today.  I miss you sweet Eric.
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I saw a post on Facebook the other day, by the family of a sweet little boy named Danny, who has an inoperable brain tumor. His 6th birthday was July 25th.  All he wanted for his birthday were cards in the mail!

 
Danny loves getting cards. Here's the link to the story: Danny Nickerson story.  He has already received over 30,000 cards! The post asked that people send cards for his birthday. I was a little late, but got one done and sent today.

I used a darling sheet of paper full of all sorts of little critters and that had this chalk-like saying that I cut out. The row of animals on the bottom came from a different 6x6 pad! I thought a little boy would love all the animals.

I decided to make the card interactive, so on the inside I put a pocket along the bottom and put some tags in that he could write on (with a little help I'm sure), and a teeny tiny little pocket album with little tags inside.

This little album was made from a 6x6 piece of paper and is 2" tall and 1-1/2 inches wide! Very tiny but room inside for some little tags he can write on or put teeny photos (with help I'm sure!)

I had made the album a few weeks ago, which is a tiny version of the one sheet wonder pocket album that I love so much. Normally it uses a piece of 12x12 paper. This one was made with a piece of 6x6 paper and then I added the little paper edge for the spine. I thought it matched perfectly to put inside this card, and I stamped Danny's name on the front. What child doesn't like to see their name in print?


Here is one of the tags that I put inside. My husband said when he was a little boy, around 8 years old, someone wrote this out for him and asked him to read it. Can you figure out what it says? I thought it matched the little owls I stamped everywhere! He said he has never forgotten that saying, so I thought a 6 year old boy would love it too.

Below are the tags that I put inside the card. I had some journaling tags that I had printed with my computer. I put sticky tape on the back so he can write on them and then stick them somewhere (his bed? his mirror? the wall?). I thought he would get a kick out of drawing or writing on little cards!

This shows how tiny the album is. The card measures 5x7.

I think you can still send Danny cards. The address was posted on Facebook, so I'm putting the envelope here with his address on it.

This was so much fun to make and it felt good to give a little something to a sweet little boy who asked for so little, and ended up getting so much.  And I thought of Eric the whole time I was making this cute little boy card, because he was such a thoughtful and giving young man.

Maybe you can make or send a card to Danny too.

 

A SEASON FOR LOVING, GIVING AND SHARING.

It's almost Christmas. It's the season for sharing, loving and giving.  It's a difficult time of year for some of us who have loved ones who are no longer here on this earth. The memories of our precious loved ones are sweet, but also bittersweet. We cherish those memories, by reminiscing with our photographs, or by recalling special moments that live only in our hearts. We are sometimes bitter, and yet the memories are so sweet. But if nothing else, we must try to continue to give to others, and share ourselves with others, as best as we can.

Looking back at my blog posts over the last year, I especially love this one: THE JOY OF GIVING, HERE that I posted last January.

I included some quotes that mean a lot to me, and that are especially important to "live" by this time of year.  One of my favorite quotes is:


We make a living by what we get, 
but we make a life by what we give.  
Winston Churchill  1974-1965.

I have the same feelings today as I did then.

This photo, that I took last year, reminds me of what Heaven must look like. 

I'd like to share this Christmas season with all of our loved ones, here on earth, and those who have departed, and I pray that they are looking at us with smiles, and joy that we try to live each day as a privilege and as something very special. And that we continue to give.

I hope your Christmas this year is blessed.