Making cards is a lot of fun

Yesterday, we had our first art workshop.  The focus was creating greeting and note cards which will go into gift bags for the folks who attend our charity fashion show next Spring.  There were 8 of us yesterday and we made 60 cards similar to these.

All of these used photos I printed out from my computer this past weekend.  I made three of the cards.  The card on the far left is a card someone else made using my photo of the Portland Head Light in Portland, Maine.  The other three photos are from my 2000 trip to Maui.  They are in cellophane so the camera couldn't really catch a true image of how pretty they are.  My hubby saw them before I bagged them and said he felt they are so good that we should be selling them as a fund raiser.

Hmmmm.  There's a thought.

We had soooo much fun yesterday.  Lots of bright ideas filling the room as we sorted through pretty papers and photos, ribbons and stamps, paper punches and other embellishments.  So now we only need another 200 cards!

No problem.  Next up:  An arts and crafts table at the Annual Fun & Games Day where people will be learning to do paper quilling and how make fabric flowers. And maybe some more cards!

We'll "get 'er done!"

Lots of time and several more workshops planned!

Wednesday is usually a busy day

Wednesday is usually a busy day for me.  Today I have a Friends of the Library Board meeting.  It isn't until 4, but in my usual fashion, I left the reports until this morning to do.  They are all done now so I can relax until time to leave for the FOL Building.

Next Wednesday is the Woman's Club monthly membership meeting.  It is being held at a new venue this year so I'll leave a little early to get the "lay of the land."  I am handling the "Dollars for Scholars" drawings this year so I have to lug the spinner, rolls of tickets, baskets, etc to every meeting.  I will add the Fashion Show marketing stuff to that load next month.  I have a little milk crate cart of my own and a larger one that belongs to the club.  I'll be dragging both of them behind me. ;-)

I didn't work in the Friends' book store on Monday so I'm going to leave a little early and spend a couple of hours doing that before the meeting this afternoon.  We have had a lot of donations recently.  I still have to write a couple of articles for "Among Friends," our newsletter but I'm not in the mood for that today.

And I received my mail-in ballot for the November election in yesterday's mail.  I am DEFINITELY NOT in the mood to deal with that.  Depressing, really depressing choices for most offices including the Leader of our Nation.  I have made up my mind on only one race -- the Senate race.  I may give it a couple of weeks before I complete it to allow for some kind of earth shattering development in the other races.....but I won't hold my breath.  Mediocrity seems to be the prime prerequisite for holding office these days.

Now I have managed to depress myself.  Need to get busy with something to change my mood.

Happy Hump Day!

Love My Tuesdays!

I was able to finish 5 more card sets and extra bookmarks the last couple of evenings.  I meant to do some more today, but decided to clean out the fridge and do a little cooking while I was at it.  This card set was my favorite of the group I just did.  I am starting to get my brush strokes back. ;-)

I did a few palms, too.

And then a little whimsical one to use up the palette I set up for the first card set.

I love Tuesdays.  I usually am at home all day and can get a lot accomplished around here.

And I really did want to do some more painting today, but I decided to do a little more complex cooking today.

We're going Greek tonight!

I have an old recipe for Greek Lemon Chicken that I am preparing for dinner tonight along with Fasolakia (Greek Green Beans.)  This place smells wonderful right now.  Beau even smells good.  He had a shower a little while ago with Butch.

AND, tonight is my favorite TV night of the week.  Both NCIS's - back to back.  Love it! Tuesdays are GOOD.  Hope yours has been, too.

Yesterday Was a Good Day

Actually, most of my days are good....pretty much ALL of them.  Butch and I really love our life together at this stage of our lives.  As he likes to say, "I do my thing, Sherri does hers, and then we do something together."

Yesterday was one of those days.  He got started early with the lawn and then moved on to "Butchering" (my word for his pruning technique) the "ficus elastica" -- rubber tree -- that would over grow our whole house if he let it.  Beau loves that tree because it is home to a million little lizards.  Well. maybe not really a million, but too many to count, anyway.  It also provides a shady, sandy area where he can lie down and wait for the squirrels to come out to play.  The leaves are huge on the rubber tree.  It screens the large window in the dining room and affords us a lot of privacy and keeps the afternoon sun off that room.

"Ficus Elastica"

I have digressed.  But, this tree has fascinated me since we moved in here over 19 years ago.  I could not resist talking about it.  Half of the tree is bundled up and sitting at the curb for yard waste pickup tomorrow.  I was really upset the first time he "pruned" that tree.  I thought for sure he had killed it.  But after 19 years, I have come to realize that nothing he does to this thing will kill it.  The weather here in central west Florida is perfect for it.  Within a week, it will be sprouting more branches from where he has just cut it back.  Reminds me of the pyracantha fire thorn we had on the side of the house in Midlothian, Virginia.  Nothing would kill it either.  I liked that plant/tree, too.

Pyracantha Fire Thorn

Oh, my.  I am all over the place with this post! I need to get back on track here.

While he worked in the yard, I did a little housework. Damn little.  And then made a grocery list because we were out of breakfast Cesars for Beau.  We could eat peanut butter sandwiches, but the D-O-G needs to have his preferred breakfast.  Then I thought about my friend, Dolores, and the "Shutterbug" basket she is putting together to raise money at the "Fun & Games Day" the Woman's Club is holding at the Heritage Center later this month.  I had promised her a card and bookmark.  I also had a very pretty faux stained glass wine glass and a picture frame decorated in shells. So I wrapped them carefully and grabbed the card and bookmark I had decided upon -- my favorite of those I painted the other day.

There is just something about this particular set that I really liked.  I am hoping whoever wins the basket will really like them, too.

I kissed Butch's sweaty face (only a woman still truly in love would do that) and headed for Dolores and Bob's place, conveniently located just off Meres on my route to Sweet Bay and the dog food.  Dolores was having a peanut butter and jelly sandwich as Bob let me and my treasures into the house.  She stopped and insisted I sit awhile so we could catch up.  I hadn't seen her since the tea.  I have no idea how long I was there, but it was quite awhile.  She probably had to make herself a fresh sandwich after I left. Ha. Ha.

Grocery shopping done, I pulled into the garage around 2:30 with a car loaded with food for us as well as for Beau.  After repackaging the meat and putting everything away, I changed clothes and started to paint again.  I finished four more sets of cards and bookmarks including an extra bookmark of each designwhich will be sold or given away separately.

After dinner, I punched the holes in the bookmarks and added tassels and packaged them in cellophane bags.  I showed them to Butch.  He said he liked them all but the last two were his favorites. "Where did you get the idea?"  "I don't know.  I probably saw some loose flowers piled somewhere."  He smiled and hugged me.  The smile said it all.

As I said, yesterday was a good day.  Today will be even better.  We do our thing together all day today.  If I do any painting it will be in the art nook just off the great room where I can watch the race with him.  He'll have the Sunday paper in his lap and continue to read interesting articles out loud as he comes across them.

And, Beau?  He thanked me for getting a new supply of his breakfast Cesar meals.  Cesar, the breakfast of little champions. ;-)

Back at It

I am at the point that I can do more painting.  That's a good thing since there are events coming up that I need to do things for.  We have the annual Art Mart at the Woman's Club.  A portion of all artists' sales goes to the scholarship awarded to a Tarpon Springs art student each Spring.  I give all of my sales less supply expense to the scholarship fund.  I missed this last year because of my surgery so I am really looking forward to being involved this time.

I did four cards and envelope sets today along with coordinating bookmarks.

  

I love roses and cone flowers and started with those to help me get my brush strokes back.  As I have said before,  if I don;t use it, I lose it.  Painting for some people may come very easily and naturally.  It does not for me.  I have to work at it and I have had a lapse of about a month now.  Not a good thing.  I will do better.