I'm still here!

And feeling kind of awkward about it. I inadvertently abandoned my little blog, and I have big feels about it after browsing its pages. Do I start posting again or just let it be? With the unstableness of other sites I post on, I think I want to give this another chance.

My art and general way of making things has changed since I stopped posting here. I dove into the world of bookbinding a few years ago and have never come up for air. I joined Ali Manning of Vintage Page Designs' Handmade Book Club and haven't done much of anything else since. I rarely make cards anymore and I can't remember the last ATC I made. But I have embraced watercolor and acrylics, which has only enhanced my bookbinding.

I will write more later, but for now, I just want to say, hang in there. I'm doing the best I can by immersing myself in my family, art, British programming, and creative schmoozing with my (mostly) online creative peeps. 

It's a been awhile

I discovered Instagram and have been posting over there instead of here. It's so much easier, and the response I've gotten, the friends I've made over there, well, it's kept me away. I feel badly that I probably won't have a blog book published this year. But I'm so lazy! Posting photos here requires some footwork, but with Instagram all I have to do is upload directly from my phone, boom, it's done. *whine*

I just now tried to figure out to post photos from my Flickr, but I've forgotten how, argh! So I posted directly from my computer, which isn't the best way because it eats up storage.

Here's a card I made for a friend. I'm in love with this stamp! I water colored the card and then used colored pencils for the envelope. I like this so much I'll definitely be doing this again.

After The Windstorm

The windstorm I previously posted about really did a job on two of our fences in the backyard.

We dealt with insurance adjusters (a disappointing outcome) and neighbors, and received a partial reimbursement from both. There's still one neighbor we probably won't get any help from, but what's done is done. 

The contractor we hired did a fantastic job, we're so happy with his work. It's a relief after having shelled out thousands to realize we got what we paid for, beautifully well-built fencing that will be around for at least 30 or 40 years. The guy even threw in a little gate we've been wanting ever since we've lived here! Made from scraps, it blocks off the larger portion of our backyard from the area between the back porch and the little house. It's perfect for when we don't want the dogs back there.

That's Oliver's little behind.

It looks like spring has sprung here in the last few days, yay! I'm so grateful for all the rain we had this winter, but I'm also thankful we can now enjoy the sunshine.

Almost In Oz

There was a storm a brewin', Aunti Em!

 

We had the worst storm I've ever experienced here on the Monterey Peninsula yesterday.

The video above shows what it was like from about 4:00 a.m. until later in the evening. It was relentless. If you turn up the volume you can hear the wind knocking at our door. I had to put a cane under the door handle to try and push against the wind to help stop the banging. It kind of worked. We lost power for most of the day, but we were grateful to still have running water and gas for heating and cooking. It could have been so much worse.

I've never been that scared of our weather. Things were hitting our house, the neighbors' shingles, debris, things in our backyard, rain, it was all so noisy. We lost part of our fencing in the backyard, so we had to block it off and now the dogs can't go back there to do their business until we get it repaired. Good thing we have a smaller area just behind our house they can go to.

Our city lost over 150 trees! I haven't heard of anyone getting injured or killed, so thank God for that. We lost power again this morning for a very short time, and I'm sure it'll happen again. There were so many downed power lines I'm surprised we got our power back when we did. I'm glad it's over and hope to never experience something like this again.

C'mon spring!

Happy Heart's Day!

Cards I made for my husband and daughters.

Happy Valentine's day! It's also the anniversary of mine and my husband's first date. We've been married over 38 years and dated for two. He liked his card and said my coloring and fussy-cutting has gotten really good.  It's nice he noticed.

This is becoming a Molly blog

I had to share this miracle,
which Dawn and I saw with our own eyes
and still can't believe what we saw:

Video of Molly and Oliver playing!

Molly and Oliver have been playing in the backyard and have now brought it inside. Molly, who's the biggest grouch this side of California, is playing like a puppy. I love that she has rediscovered her youth. She had such a hard life before we found her, so it's wonderful to see her continuing to bloom.

Thank you, Oliver, even though you're a handful and a pain in the patootie to Winnie, you have brought so much joy to our family.

Dogs and Cards

Molly enjoyed her day at the spa.

She looks like two different dogs, doesn't she? Although I love her when her fur is long and swirly, it gets knotted, stinky and makes her uncomfortable. So I like to reset her every now and again, which brings out the puppy in her. She's adorable.

I made four of my lifelong friends a card and wrote a short note in each of them reminding them how much they mean to me and that I love them. I even made one for myself because I love how they turned out and now I can keep it as a reminder of all the kind and wonderful things everyone said about them when they received them.  This is the first card I've sent the group since our group went from six to five, so I kept thinking about her and how our get-togethers will never be the same. This makes me cherish all of my girlfriends that much more.

These were made of watercolor paper, even the ladies. The background was done using Distress Ink, and the ladies were colored with a combination of Copics, Le Plume and Faber-Castel markers. The sparkly umbrella has a coating of red Sparkle brush pens by Faber-Castel. Have you tried them yet? They're pricey, but if you want your images to shimmer, these will do the trick. I was given several sets for Christmas by my daughters and then yesterday I discovered the clear ones are sold as a set of three, so I bought them (using a coupon, of course). I'm especially enamored with the tiny raindrops I created with Glossy Accents. They make me very happy.

Meet Oliver Flynn, Valerie's new pupper! He's about 2-1/2 years old, has personality galore, loves everybody and all of our dogs, and just wants to eat, poop and play all day. We're still working on the potty training, so he wears a belly band during the day. He's catching on, but he sure is taking his sweet time about it. Good thing he's so adorable.