Sunflower Saga

The rudbeckia around Houston right now are spectacular. Every corner seems to have at least one bright yellow sunflower-looking spot.

I joined the fun a few weeks ago and added them along the dry river bed in my front yard. They haven't disappointed.



Yes that is actually a dry river bed heading straight for my front door and when it rains it's a wet river bed that flows under my house and drains into the much lower back yard. A River Runs Through It? Yep, that's my house.

 But, I digress.

Remember these lovelies from Easter time?



Captain America was starting to give me funny looks because they were still on my front door and it's now August.

So I replaced them with rudbeckia!

 I've written about my reluctance to paint book page before, but if it's going to be rudbeckia, it has to be yellow, right? So I went to Michael's and bought some spray paint. After I promised the clerk that I would not spray her name or mine on any nearby overpasses, she opened the locked cabinet and handed me a couple of cans of bright yellow.

Back home, I grabbed about 150 pages and headed for the back yard

I laid out a big piece of orange plastic to protect the grass and then I got pretty good at playing ring-around-the-rosy as I'd lay out a few pages, spray them, swing to the other side of the plastic, lay out a few pages, spray them, come back to the first side which was somewhat dry, stack those pages, lay out a few more, spray them, swing to the other side... and so on.

I was getting pretty dizzy. I'm not sure if it was from doing that aforementioned dance while breathing in the paint fumes or if it was from the mosquitoes who insisted on making me their evening meal. 

What I do for art! And to keep you people entertained! And to replace the outdated-by-five-months wreaths on my door!

After they were dry, I spent an evening in front of the TV watching The Escape Artist on PBS (good flick!) and making cones.

The next night it was Mod-Podging the center circles...

...gluing on the cones...

...and making the centers...

Ta da! My new favorites!

And it looks like Rudy likes them, too!

If Kids Are Going Back To School, It Must Be Halloween!

It's the beginning of August and you know what that means? It's time for Halloween!

Wait, I know that we still haven't made it through the first day of school, Labor Day, the first day of fall, or Columbus Day,

...but hey, I went to Michael's last week and I'm telling you, Halloween is here!

Lucky for you, these Halloween books are available right now in the Etsy shop.

Hurry! Only a few days until Thanksgiving!

Swirly Twirly Louisiana

I've been learning some interesting things about iris folding these days. Remember this guy? The swirls and twirls that you get depend on where the iris is.

 

 

And whether you twirl right...

 

 

...or left.

 

Ship Sliding Away

Remember when I bought that fancy new shipping station?

 

See how great it works in my craft room?

 

 

It's waiting for you to order a book so I can make a pretty package like this one for you!

Book Review: We, the Drowned

Title: We, the Drowned
Author: Carsten Jensen
Format: Kindle
Reading Dates: 1 Apr 2014 - 13 Jul 2014
Rating: ****1/2

I have decided that 2014 is not going to be the year that I try to get twenty books off my "to-read" list. It's going to be the year that I read long books. We, the Drowned is the first of my epics, and it is a dandy.

About a year ago I was sequestered in a hotel somewhere in LA waiting for Brian to audition for The Voice. There was a lot of down time and a lot of together time with Brian and at one point he said that he was ready to read an epic. Coincidentally, We, the Drowned was the next day's Kindle Daily Deal and it was described as a story "spanning over a hundred years," so I bought it for both of us on just that recommendation alone. It took me 10 months to start it; I shouldn't have waited so long.

The book is the story of the Danish town of Marstal and its people, many of them sailors whose livelihood depends on the sea. But the sea is fickle and many never return. The story begins in 1848 as Denmark and Germany go to war and for the next century follows the fortunes of men who board the large ships that leave Marstal and the women left behind.

The narrator of the book uses the pronoun we to tell the story of these men. At first I found that distracting but as the stories rolled on I began to see the point and by the end of the book I loved that Jensen used that technique. How else does a town refer to itself?

This book really grew on me. I had trouble finding the rhythm of the book at the beginning and then about a third of the way through I found myself wishing for free time with my Kindle so I could read some more. When I finished I went back and reread the beginning (that never happens) and I appreciated it so much more than on my initial reading.

Really great book! Highly recommended!

Rushing Around

I noticed this weekend that the stores have all their back to school paraphernalia out in the aisles. August and school time are just around the corner, and it seems like only yesterday that school was out--and I mean when I was going to school.

 

For four years of my school career August meant rush at the sorority house. There was always a lot of singing, silly skits, and smiles and in the end the nerve-wracking wait to see where everyone would end up.

 

Here I am on bid day way back in the old days. Look how happy and relieved I looked! Look at how I had no wrinkles on my forehead back then! (Don't look at my silly hairdo. I was trying to grow it out.)

 

 

Anyway, that day was the beginning of many lifelong friendships and a lot of fun. Part of the fun that my pledge sisters and I had was covering everything we owned with our new Greek letters. We covered paddles and frames and t-shirts and hair ribbons. You name it. We Greek'd it.

 

Now that I am an old lady, why should it be any different? So here are a few of my Greek letter books I've made recently.

 

 

Folded books make great gifts for new pledges. Get yours here.

Sand Castle Wedding

I've had a rush of wedding orders recently. One was for a couple getting married on the beach in Florida. They had sand castles as part of their theme and the groom's mom commissioned this book for the head table.

 

 

We used a sea foam blue book and I added dates and names to the corners after I took this picture. I think the whole table looked spectacular! Don't you?