Thunder, Green Grass and cherry pie

Good Day!

We have had so much rain in the last 2 weeks.
Everything is still quite green. I know to some of you that is no big thing, but I do live in a semi-arid plain so by the end of July things are starting to look pretty brownish.
Not this year!
The rain has decided to come with huge thunder/lightning storms.
I'm talking windows rattle.
I'm talking the whole house seems to shudder.
I'm talking humongous bolts of lightning that knocks out our power.
I'm talking HUGE thunder, that goes on for several hours.
At night.
When everyone is trying to sleep!
For two weeks now.

homepages.paradise.net.nz

I have very fond memories of sitting on the edge of the Palo Duro Canyon, Texas at Hidden Falls Ranch. HFR is a Christian youth camp where I spent many summers there doing different staff things - cook, laundry, counselor, snack shop, etc. The Palo Duro would have lightning and thunder storms, across on the other side. The Canyon is so large that we would sit on our side, and watch the lightning on the other side, but we didn't hear the thunder, or have any rain.
http://www.hiddenfallsranch.com/

Absolutely fascinating!

skydiary.com

Our storms that we have been having are not that kind! First, there's no canyon edge to sit on an watch. We live in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, so pretty much if the mountains are getting rain, we will soon; or we have the storms along with the mountains.

And yes, I can hear quite clearly the thunder!

Second, the skies are pouring sheets of rain, along with the booming thunder and crashes of lightning. (And no, I'm not being scientific here - just normal people talk- for all you perfectionists or weather scientists...)
:0)

photo by floyd menagh c.2005

middlezonemusings.com

I'm sure this is a photo of my neighborhood.

That bolt of lightning hit 2 houses down...

It sure sounded that way! Really...

So, in the last 4 days we have had to reset all the clocks in the house 2 times. One of the power outages took out a ceiling fan, light and controls. We still haven't found where to fix that!
Our driveway is crushed asphalt/rock. We need to go and shovel up 1/4 of it that has washed down to the neighbors!
My garden is being taken over by greedy, big sticker weeds. They love that combination of garden soil and tons of rain!

Am I complaining?
No, not really. Some things are a nuisance, but it could be so much worse. Our home is not flooded and we can still drive to the store and get bread and dill pickles (essentials, you know). The postman still delivers our mail. Tanner has grass to hang out on.
And everything is so green!

Here are a few Betsy McCall paperdolls,

going camping!

Time to bake a cherry pie!



Karen’s favorite Cherry Pie

1 Pillsbury refrigerated pie pastry, for two crust pie

            Or 2 pre-prepared frozen pie shells,

1 extra deep

1 regular

1  can cherry pie filling

1 /2 Cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 tsp almond extract*

Follow the pie crust directions on the package.

Pre-heat oven according to pastry directions.

(I use my Pampered Chef stoneware pie pan – I love it!)

Combine all ingredients, mix well.

Fill prepared pie crust. Place second crust on top, pinching edges together.

Follow package directions to bake.

Notes: Have fun with that top crust! You can score designs in it like a heart with rays going out from it, or trace a cherry and cut out. Do fork-tine art!

*The almond extract really brings out the cherry flavor. If you don’t have any, use vanilla extract. I prefer Watkins vanilla extract.

Feel free to adjust the amount of chocolate chips up to 1 Cup.
Try it first with the 1/2 Cup though.

Well, that's it for today!

Think I'll go bake a cherry pie...

work a little on my 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle of the moment...

Maybe watch a John Wayne Western...

while I'm working on some scherensnitte...

or

there's always laundry!

Don't forget to smile today!

inkspired

http://www.inkspired.etsy.com/

http://www.inkspiredmusings.blogspot.com/

dominoes@myinkspired.com





Rainy Days and Saturdays? and Safety Pin Pins tutorial

Bonjour!
"Rainy days and Mondays always get me down...."

I adore Karen Carpenter's voice. Such a tragedy when she died so young.
Her brother was a fantastic musician, but really haven't heard anything about him much since shortly after Karen died.



So today is a mixed weather day for us.
It's 11 am, and the temp is 39 degrees!

How about where you live?

Tell me about it...www.dominoes@myinkspired.com

I LOVE to hear what others are doing, making, crafting, listening to....

Any who how, I thought we would get into some cool rain things!

vintage travel poster for Scotland - is it raining there today?

vintage travel poster for Bermuda is raining here today?

Our backyard in May last year.

Pretty much all you see are native grasses and weeds!



Budget Craft:

This little duck is a pattern for SAFETY PIN pins!
I learned how to do this many years ago, teaching myself from a book.
This is a link for one safety pin jewelry book; it is out of print:

http://www.amazon.com/Safety-pins-jewelry-Delores-Frantz/dp/B0006QOLF8/ref=sr_1_45?ie=UTF8&qid=1305319940&sr=8-45

There are a few more on Amazon.

The book I learned from is out of print, and it isn't for sale on amazon.

The title was something like "Safety Pin Jewelry for Fun", by Design Originals.

http://www.d-originals.com/  

The following is a tutorial I found online. The entire web site is a good one!

HOW TO MAKE BEADED SAFETY PIN PINS:

http://familycrafts.about.com/cs/beadedsafetypins/a/080700b.htm

You might be asking yourself, "Why in the world would I want to make beaded safety pins?" Well, I can answer that! Because it is a fun and easy craft to try, and the results are even funner!

All you have to do is slip some seed beads onto ordinary safety pins and you can create fun items to wear, share, and swap! They make great gifts too.

The supply list for this project is pretty simple. All you need are safety pins and seed beads. It is helpful, but not necessary, to have a needle-nose pliers and a small, flat-head screwdriver.

Depending on the pattern you choose, you will usually need between 10 and 14 small safety pins. Open a safety pin, and slip the seed beads onto it. Once all beads are in place, close the safety pin. You may want to use the needle-nose pliers to pinch the end of the safety pin so it will not pop open later. Repeat this step until all the safety pins are beaded.

Now you are ready to put all the beaded pins onto a larger safety pin. Open the large safety pin (the size you need will be stated in the pattern). Use the flat-head screwdriver to slightly pry apart the coils at the end of the large pin.

Slip the loop of the first beaded safety pin onto the large one. Pull it down to the loop at the base of the large pin. Pull it around the loop and up the back-side of the pin. Repeat this for each beaded safety pin.

Once all your beaded safety pins are on your larger pin, use the pliers and squeeze the loop to close it. You can now pin your new safety pin jewelry onto your shirt, hat, shoelaces, etc.

the suggestions shared here might help you when you are making the free patterns I shared, patterns from other sources, or patterns you create yourself.

Safety pins come in many different sizes. Here are some tips on choosing sizes for your own designs:

·        A size #3 pin is 2-inches long.

·        A size #2 pin is 1-1/2-inches long.

·        A size #1 pin is 1-1/16-inches long.

·        A size #0 pin is 7/8-inch long.

* A size #00 pin is 3/4-inch long.

• A safety pin that is 7/8 of an inch long will hold 8 seed beads.
• A safety pin that is 1 1/16 inches long will hold 10 seed beads.
• A safety pin that is more than 1 1/16 inches long is usually too wide to hold seed beads.
• A safety pin that is 1 1/2 inches long will hold up to 10 beaded safety pins.
• A safety pin that is 1 3/4 inches long will hold up to 12 beaded safety pins.
• A safety pin that is 2 inches long will hold up to 14 beaded safety pins.

Make sure you buy seed beads only for these projects. If you use the beads that are slightly larger, you will not be able to complete the patterns as shown. (Until I wrote this feature, I was not aware that sometimes you can run across different sizes of seed beads! Although my seed beads do not have a size listed on them, they seem to be about 2mm which would mean they are size 10/0).

The holes in the seed beads vary a bit. You will find that, while some seed beads fit perfectly on your safety pins, others will be too small. This is normal! Simply put aside the ones whose holes are too small and save them for another project.

One last note, shared by Denise the About Guide to Parenting Adolescents: If you use brass pins, you should spray them lightly on both sides with an acrylic sealer because they will tarnish and RUST.

Keep these notes about the sizes on hand when making your own patterns and purchasing supplies. Have fun!

Sherri Osborne has many many safety pin pins patterns on her site.

Note it at the bottom of each pattern.

First we have a SUN to chase the rain away!

Now we have a hummingbird, because I love them!

This one is for the creativiy in ALL of you!

I made several of these, and was MOST disappointed

when I was wearing my cow one, and one of the pins popped open.

I had little seed beads everywhere, and a pin that I couldn't wear.

Boo Hoo.

Lesson Learned -

Really do pinch those safety pin heads together,

as eventually they WILL pop open if you don't!

A YingYang, to show that we are all one on this earth.

We may have different language, customs, dress and so much more,

But we are all human.

and God loves each and every one of us!

Who are we to say we know better than God?

Not me.

RAIN

Bottlecap magnets with tweeked and adjusted and printed out black and white and then hand colored with art pens and chalk, vintage Art Nouveau Alphabet.

Recycled bottlecap with a sturdy  magnet on the back.

for sale:  http://www.inkspired.etsy.com/

Mr. Banks, from Mary Poppins, returning to the bank to be fired.

I love the mist and the fog.

Great set and design.

Don't you just love the "plip plop" song from Bambi?

Does anyone know the actual name of the song?

Well, even though it may sound like I am grumbling about the rain, I'm really not.
We can use all the moisture to take us through until next fall.
AND, I love walking in the rain!



I always wanted some cool rubber boots! I know I had some when I lived in Elgin, Illinois as a small child. They fit over my shoes and had an elastic loop to button them up. My older sister always got in trouble because she would come in, and leave her shoes inside the wet galoshes.
Leather shoes. Wet. Dark place. Not good. Mom yelling.

"Rain, rain go away!

Come again some other day!"

child's rhyming little song

of course, did we want it on some other day?

I will close today with this humorous picture:



I laugh because I have a 157 pound Great Dane dog.

He is afraid to get his paws wet.

He held his 'bathroom needs' for 10 hours last week because it rained all day.

We finally had to go out in the rain first, and then call him out!

Silly dog.

inkspired

http://www.inkspired.etsy.com/

dominoes@myinkspired.com

http://www.inkspiredmusings.blogspot.com/

More Gardening Fun!

Hi!

First, apologies. Yesterday I had a blog all ready except for two things, and it all froze on me.
Yikes!
I have no idea why this popped into my head, but I saved it. Only there was just half of the blog by then.
Eeek!
I had spend 1 1/2 hours getting the thing ready.
Grrrrr!
So I started on More Gardening Fun!
And it happened again, only this time I didn't have a chance to save it in another program,
                           SO THE WHOLE THING WAS GONE!!!
Panic!
Search help, search anything, search, search, check my computer - is it that?
Nope!
Blogspot had 'technical difficulties' and would be closed.
Big Sigh.
Checked it again this morning - no  posting.
Bigger Sigh.
Checked again this afternoon.......
AND IT WORKS!!!!            HIPPITY HOPPITY HOORAY!
now....on to more gardening fun:

Can you tell I'm itching to get gardening?
I don't know about other parts of the country, but here on the Eastern Slopes of the Rocky Mountains, you have to wait until danger of frost is over.
That's May.
Except it snowed a bit on Wednesday.
Sleet on Thursday.
Sunshine and blue skies on Friday.
Waiting for another storm to blow in over the weekend....
That's weather for you in Colorado!

My first garden consisted of carrots and radishes.

My dad had to take over the watering for a couple of months while I was a counselor at Hidden Falls Ranch, Wayside, TX.
By the way, if you know any kids ages 8 - 17 that need a week break from you,
This is a super duper ranch camp!
On the edge of the Palo Duro Canyon, TX

Following is a simple scherensnitte cutting.
Simply fold your paper in half.

Line up the pattern on the fold where the dashes are.

Cut out the open spaces, starting with the smallest first.

Where the pattern touches the dashes,

DO NOT CUT so you have "bridges" when the cutting is opened.

Use a paper hole punch for the flower centers!
You can also use a small heart punch for inside the watering cans.

Here is the cover of the pattern booklet.

See our double watering cans on the front?



"Mary, Mary, quite contrary"

'sunken gardens'
oh, yeah, this will be my backyard someday...
only the statue fountain would have to be a mermaid!

Ann Kovach's Paper Dolly Fun with gardening:

I'm adding cleaning and baking day,

so you can have more outfits to play with!

"Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer's day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time."

- John Lubbock

A Gardening Shrine, hand painted and decoupaged by inkspired.
One of a kind, original.

http://www.inkspired.etsy.com/

World War I vintage poster

Here is a little dress to wear when observing others garden!

Bohemian Glamour Barbie

(She's a favorite, but I don't have her yet!)

"Janet Laura" from the late 1920's - 1930's

"I think that no matter how old or infirm I may become, I will always plant a large garden in the spring.
Who can resist the feelings of hope and joy that one gets from participating in nature's rebirth?"
-   Edward Giobbi

vintage clip from Dover Publications

see side bar for web site

This is a Gardening ROCK!

for sale at: http://www.artbykathycarr.etsy.com/

This is one of my Rockin' Art cottages.

I like my flower beds by the base of the cottage!

Rockin' Art by inkspired. This one is sold.
By the way, the bay window is totally painted.
There is no difference in the actual shape!

You never know what you might find in your garden:

photo taken at the Denver Zoo, Denver, Colorado

Well, I'm off to edit some more of my new line of original

Collaged Art Dolls.

These are made 100% with recycled junk mail!

I have listed many in my etsy shop,
since I couldn't work on any blogs!



until tomorrow -

inkspired

http://www.inkspired.etsy.com/

dominoes@myinkspired.com

http://www.inkspiredmusings.blogspot.com/