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A Christmas Eve selfie brought to 'life' courtesy of Grok :) Hope you’ve had a beautiful Christmas holiday season! For the last several months our focus has been on our pet’s health. As many caregivers know, it’s a labor of love, yet also challenging and at times exhausting. Tater started inhaler treatments for asthma twice/day, Hobbs recently began insulin treatments for diabetes twice/day, and our bunny Mac has ongoing health issues which require nursing care around the clock. Thankfully we have great vets, but we’re late to the pet insurance game. The bills are no joke. If you don’t have pet insurance, I recommend considering it.  Onto more pleasant things! I’ve been spending a lot of time in the kitchen (where Mac is) and worked on several fun creative projects. I made this cake (above) for a friend turning 70 back in November. It’s a gluten free, three layer vanilla cake, with a raspberry filling, two nut crunch layers, and cream cheese frosting. It’s topped with frosted cranberries and rosemary. My original design had much more intricate decorations, yet I greatly underestimated how long things would take!! I had to re-do several aspects because of mistakes. This cake actually took about a week to make, lol! They make it look so easy on TV! Thankfully, my friend loved it, which made it all worth it!! :)   I’m part of a creative group with some church friends who meet monthly. In November we created holiday wreaths. I had gathered several pinecones last year, intending to make Christmas tree decorations. Never got to it, but used them this year to make this wreath (above), along with some frosted pinecone decorations (below). The one above hangs outside on our porch. I made another one for inside (below). I watched this video to learn how to make these easy pinecone wreaths.   Finally made my frosted pinecone decorations! That's it for me! Hope you are well this winter season, and wish you a happy, healthy, and creative New Year! ❤️
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We’ve had this little plant on our kitchen windowsill for about 15 years. It gets watered regularly, but other than that, nothing’s changed. Until now! A few days ago, I noticed some of the 'leaves' in the center had turned pink. Then to my great astonishment, something appeared in the center! It was a little purple cone. Over the next several days we’ve watched 3 blooms rise up and make their way up and into our world! To my knowledge, this is the first time it’s bloomed. We didn’t even know a bloom was possible! I suppose every time a flower blooms it's a miracle. But this is such an encouragement to us, as we’re believing for other miracles. How about you? I thought this was a cactus, but it's a type of air plant called "Tillandsia Brachycaulos × Abdita". :-) Behold, I will do a new thing,
Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness And rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43:19
There’s something about the seasons I LOVE! Maybe it’s the constancy of the rhythms of life, the slow excitement of change, or the happy holiday memories that different seasons hold. I love how they seem to transition so gradually, and then BOOM, all of a sudden in spring everything seems green, or like now— pumpkins appear overnight on porches, roadside stands, and pumpkin spice galore! And in wintertime, a lovely blanket of snow makes the mundane darkness of winter sparkle with child-like wonder. Fall is my favorite season. I love the cooler weather, anticipation of the holidays and of course the colorful foliage and pumpkins! Evan’s birthday and my father’s are on Halloween, so it’s extra-special around here. Sadly, last year the groundhogs ate all our beautiful pumpkin flowers and leaves. This year Evan put up a fence to keep them safe. It’s been amazing to watch them grow from seedlings all spring and summer into huge leaves and vibrant orange blossoms and fruit. Now we're watching daily as it takes weeks for the pumpkins to change from green to orange. Here’s the view of our patch outside our kitchen window. We’ve got about 10 pumpkins this year - Hooray!  View from our kitchen window “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night,shall not cease." Genesis 8:22  To me growth is ultimately so mysterious. Why? Why do some seeds grow and some don’t? Why does it take so long? I don’t know. But I trust that the ultimate Loving Creator does know, and has his eye on every seed and every plan of all life. In my not knowing, I can still rest in His love. And believe there’s a real place called heaven where life never ends, and living things that passed away here are alive there. God wants us to know how much He loves us in every season. In good times, bad times, in-between times, and horrendous times. I pray that in whatever season you are you that you experience his deep, personal love for you. In any area we are struggling with today, let’s draw near to God and He will draw near to us. (James 4:8)
Given the turbulent times we live in, I wanted to mention this as a resource. Joseph Prince Ministries is a huge blessing to me, and I highly recommend it if you or a friend are struggling with anxiety or depression. (Click or scan code for more info!)  If you are interested in paper art of any kind, I highly encourage you to check out The Guild of American Papercutters. It's an organization with an endless amount of information, teaching and learning opportunities, and ways to experiment with paper art with a fabulous group of talented artists. Below is a snapshot of some of the pieces in the G.A.P. "Mountains and Valleys" Show. You can see the wide variety of papercutting styles and interpretations of the theme! Here's me next to my piece "Spring in the Valley". It's my first time working on creating and framing 3-D paper art-- what a learning experience!
My brainstorming sketches for the piece
The final piece, "Spring in the Valley" unframed (below)  $675 (SOLD) CONFERENCE WORKSHOPS: During the Conference I participated in three fabulous workshops. Paper Engineering Techniques with Jeri Fogel. Amazing class-- Opens up a whole new door to 3-D art! We all created fold-up bridges. Once home, I worked more on mine. (bottom)
  From Flat to Fabulous by Tiffany Budsisz I’ve admired her work from afar, so to meet Tiffany in person and learn her techniques was a dream come true. Check out her work - it’s so lovely! https://artvalleyva.com/. We used leaf templates, tracing paper, colored art, x-acto knives, and bending tools to create this 3-D look!
Folded Paper Cutting with Carolyn Guest I’ve always loved snowflakes and finally learned how to make one from a true expert! On the left is a photo of one of Carolyn's cuts that I used as a template/guide for mine. I’m new to formal ‘papercutting’ so learning her tips was invaluable. I used an x-acto knife on very fine paper Carolyn provided! Carolyn's work will blow your mind! :)
 My 'snowflake' revealed!  CLICK HERE for a closer look Now that I know how to make snowflakes properly 😍, I plan to update the ones on my piece below, "Snow on Love Mountain". Stay tuned for the 'AFTER'.  Work in Progress.... "Snow on Love Mountain" There’s nothing like in-person learning. Loved every minute!
Check out Guild of American Papercutters! Happy Creating!
A doctor friend of ours said to me afterwards, “God only allows His children to go through so much.” While I regret that Doug left us far too early, I’m confident that His healing came in heaven. Miss you, Doug! As I grieve the loss of another loved one, I realize again how nothing prepares us to deal with death. However, we do have the incredible opportunity to draw near to “The Comforter”, another name of the Holy Spirit (John 16:7), and receive supernatural help and care for our deepest of needs. Only this heavenly support from a God whose name is Love, and is available 24/7, gives me power to move forward, along with the hope of being reunited one day. I found this poem recently, which I wrote on Doug's birthday in 2020. I worked on it some more and came up with this. Thank you for reading! Please share any thoughts in the comments.
 If you have a few minutes for some gentle, yet powerful encouragement, check this out. I loved it! ❤️
Let me know what you think!  Evan spotted this fledgling bluebird in our yard yesterday. We could see his parents watching him in the trees above. He (or she) was so still and perfect. Such beauty in a tiny package. Not sure if the video captures it, but his tiny tail feathers were so cute! Later, Evan saw the mom feeding him. Fly high little birdie!!!  You can teach an old bird new tricks! After 15 years of using the Weebly platform for my website/blog, I just learned how to add emojis to the text. Yahoo!! 🤣😍🎉🐦❤️
This is our new daily therapy. :) Totally agree with the name of the YouTube channel:
FUNNY ANIMALS HEALING. You won't be sorry! If, as Emerson says, "the earth laughs in flowers," here's some giggles from our yard to yours. :) Hope your finding joy and laughter in your garden this spring! |
WELCOME to my blog! This a collection of photos, art, poems, thoughts, and other stuff on my creative journey since 2010.
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