My Craft Space - Before and After

I moved to a cottage in Coarsegold in July and figured I'd had enough weight lifting looking through boxes and bins for craft stuff. I was making cards on the small living room table and it was driving me crazy. Here is a before picture of how my craft area looked...

and drum roll please...here is how it looks now :o)

Today I'm starting to look through my 4 boxes of craft stuff, sorting it and deciding how I want to store it in this space. To get extra storage space, I stacked two wine boxes horizontally I got from Mel. I put them on an end table which also has a shelf on the bottom for me to use. The smaller wine box on the left hand side of the craft table has small shelves to put "things" on, small containers of buttons, brads, etc. which will be easy to reach.

I am a visual person so the more I can see the more ideas I get and my creative juices start flowing.

I love this pink lipped flying fish I got from Shadzz in Redwood City years ago. When you drop it onto a hard surface it's makes the sound of a child laughing and you can't help but laugh :o) It was a savior when I went to trial in Boston years ago, laughing is good medicine. Plus it's just so colorful!

Panning around to the right this shows a framed picture which was a gift I received from Larry last year. The picture and Larry's saying "Maturity is nature's reward for making an effort" has a special meaning to me and reminds me how the hard work I've done on myself over the years has paid off.

Below the picture is a blue bin on wheels which has some of the first stamps I bought when I started making cards. I'm going to look through these stamps to see which ones I haven't used and will give them away to my crafting girlfriends. The 3 drawer wicker chest is great for storage of my craft stuff and printer paper and inks.

This final picture shows the desk where I sit at my computer. It's right below a window that looks out to the countryside. If the window is open I can hear various birds and critters in the trees and bushes scurrying about. Nice sounds of the country.

Once I get my craft stuff sorted and put away I'll take a few more pictures to share.

Bay Area Trip July 2009

When I went to the bay area I was having such a great time visiting with everyone I didn't take as many pictures as usual. I decided to group what pictures I did take into 3 collages.

The first collage I titled "Papa's Garden in Belvedere". Their backyard looks out onto the Belvedere lagoon where people canoe, sail and swim. My dad loves to garden and when they moved here a few years ago he created a few different gardening areas in their backyard. I love the flower in the middle, it looks like a star burst. The flags hanging off the porch in the backyard are Norwegian and Danish, part of his ancestry.

We lived in Belvedere up on the island 1970 to 1975, when I was 12 to 17 years old. Those 5 years were the longest time we stayed in one place, we moved around alot. This area holds alot of good memories for me, it's where alot of "firsts" happened, first kiss, first love, learned to drive, first serious boyfriend, etc. So when I visit my parents I often think about the time we lived here and smile.

Kris Werner, a friend from my freshman year at Redwood HS found me on Facebook. When I go to the bay area at the end of this month we're going to get together and reminisce, though her memory is alot better than mine. She's going to bring Redwood HS yearbooks, mine got lost in the many moves. Talk about a blast from the past!

This collage I call "People and Places in the Bay Area". I visited a few times with Darcy and 3 month old Ruby in Redwood City, what a precious gift she is. When I visited with Melanie in the East Bay we went to Caspers Hot Dogs http://www.caspershotdogs.com/ . I'd heard of them from a friend here in Coarsegold so I had to go. We went to the one in Hayward and I'm eating a Kraut dog, it was really good! My last visit was with Jerrold, we met at his place in SF and went out to our favorite Italian restaurant we found about a year ago. It's called Paradise Pizza & Pasta http://paradisepizzaandpasta.com/ and they have THE best pizza!!

My last collage is titled "Canine's and Feline's of the Bay Area". Friends and family are a big part of my life but so are friends dogs and cats. The yellow lab is Buffy and I've known her since she a puppy, we go way back. Every time I visit Gerri and Dennis in MP she starts wagging her tail when she sees me. It's amazing to me that she remembers me and my voice, even when it's been over a year since I last saw her.

The top picture is of Jerrold and his precious Tess, he got her from the pound when she was 11 months old and she's now almost 11 years old. Tess has moved with Jerrold alot over the last decade and she's been a great companion to him.

Mila is the black dog and Brian and Divina got him from the pound too. Her prize possession is the tennis ball which she is either playing with by herself or waiting for me to get off the computer so I can throw the ball for her. The picture of Mila in the upper right hand corner is when she's spotted a reflection of light on the ceiling or the wall. She's so funny, she stops dead in her tracks to looks to see where the light is moving and then she'll run after it. It's too funny for words!!

Hope you enjoyed the pictures and narrative. I'll be going to San Jose at the end of the month to pet/house sit for 10 days. I plan on taking alot more pictures and blogging as I go, at least that's the plan!

Pictures of Ruby

I'm in the bay area visiting friends and family until August 1st when I return home to Coarsegold.

My first visit was with Darcy and her 3 month old Ruby. I've seen pictures of Ruby but this is the first time I've seen her in person She sure is a charmer and a cutie too! I thought I'd take more pictures of Ruby but I was so mesmerized observing mother and daughter that I didn't even think of taking pictures. It sure is a special bond between a mother and a child and I'm happy I was able to visit with the two girls for an extensive amount of time over 2 days. It was great catching up with Darcy and seeing her little angel Ruby, her smile lights up the room!

I snapped the picture below just as Ruby was getting ready to sneeze, it's kinda cute and good timing on my part.

This next picture of her is how she looks after she's been fed, very content and just looking around.

This last picture shows one of her favorite things to do. She LOVES to put a few fingers in her mouth at a time and even tries to put her whole fist in too.

I'm going to visit Darcy and Ruby next week for a few hours, I'm really looking forward to it. Also, Darcy took a few pictures of me holding Ruby so when I receive them I'll post them here.

Crankbunny Etsy Site

My friend Rose sent me an email with a link to Crankbunny's Etsy site (http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5049568) and I want to share it with you all. This woman is very creative and sells pop-up cards, paper puppets and other things. Check out the link above.

My favorite pop-up cards are Let Them Eat Cake (the whole thing is just so clever)

and Red Blooming. The color of the flower is so vibrant, I could see it on a desk or table on display.

I want to see what she comes up with in the future so I've added Crankbunny's blog to my Craft Links on my blog.

My favorite thing about blogging is sharing websites, pictures, thoughts, etc. with everyone, it's alot of fun!!

The Shires are Here!

I went out to water the lawn this morning I heard the shires out in the field so I ran inside to get my camera of course. Ellen and Patrick board horses here on their land and the shires were brought here over the weekend when I wasn't here.

As you can see there are two adults and one baby shire.

I don't know why horses face opposite each other like this, maybe it's to keep each other cool while fanning each others faces with their tails? Don't think so but let me know if you know.

They are really BIG, alot bigger than horses. The adult tan and creme shire let me pet his nose for a while then backed off. The chestnut colored shire wasn't interested in being petted at all, not this time anyway.

The baby shire really liked it when I pet his nose, especially with both hands. He's a sweetie but needs a little bit of a comb on his hair up front, it was all matted and had weeds in it. Only a human female like me would think like that!

They are beautiful animals and it's nice to have them a stones throw from the cottage.

I've Moved Cards

I made five of these moving cards and am sending them only to a few people, even though I sent out an e-mail with my new mailing address information. I've never used this stamp set before and I really like it. I enjoyed using my paint brushes, water and the different ink colors on the chair stamp and the items on and surrounding the chair. Below is a picture of all the components I used. I got the idea of using the housing rental want ads from another moving card I saw, it's such a clever idea I had to use it.

Below is a close-up of the stamp using three different ink colors which I then matched with the corresponding cs. Since I couldn't find an I've Moved stamp (they all said We've Moved) I printed them from the computer. I used regular printing paper but you can also put cs through the printer. I used the large and small tag punches and an eyelet and you have your tags. They're very quick and easy to make.

Here is the card assembled. I like the blue card the best but then I'm partial to blue.

Bogart and Mace

I finally found the cable that connects to my camera and uploaded the pictures from pet sitting last week.

Mace the cat didn't do this the first time I pet sat but this time, whenever I was on the computer he would try and jump up on the desk where the computer was all the while talking to me so I understood what he wanted. To deter him from doing this I put some pillows on a chair and placed it next to my chair. He always laid on the chair when I was at the computer and even a few times when I wasn't. He'd sit on the chair and look out the sliding glass door or in most cases sleep like he's doing in this picture. I think he liked it there. For some reason I love it when cats curl up like this.

Here is a picture of Bogart the dog waiting for me to pet him. He is such a sweetie and so lovable and just loves it when I rub his tummy. He's fed twice a day and the first night I forgot he needed to be fed in the evening, but he had his way of reminding me. Around 5:00pm he would get all hyper and excited and kept running back and forth into rooms until I realized why. He's one smart cookie, especially when it comes to feeding time!!

I wasn't able to upload the video I took of my place. I've had problems uploading quite a few times and I need to check the Blogger Help section before I try it again. Also, I need to read the directions for the camera on how to take a movie, it was going in and out of focus and that's not fun to look at.

Finished Moving

I can't believe it's been 2 weeks since I posted here on my blog, it seems like a month ago! I forgot how taxing and draining moving can be, both physically and emotionally, but I got it done. Yeah!

I did some pet sitting last week and this past Sunday I finally spent the first night in my cottage. It's been a rough few days but I'm making progress and am getting things organized here at home.

I took some pictures of Mace and Bogart, the pets I did sitting for last week. And this morning I took a video of the chaos in my cottage, for a before and after look at it. Now all I have to do is find the cable that connects the camera to my computer, that may take a day or two but I'll upload everything when I find it.

As William Langland wrote in 1377 "Patience is a virtue".