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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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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!)   Heart Bouquet, 5" x 5" I hope you had an enjoyable February! I’m part of these interesting online paper art groups, Guild of American Papercutters and All Things Paper. They offer lots of great resources on paper art, and on one of the recent Zoom calls, a guest speaker shared her process of working in all white paper. I’ve always admired this and finally got around to experimenting with an all-white piece myself!
My paper heart was inspired by some of the digital work I was doing earlier this month. I was experimenting with these free Procreate flower-heart stamp brushes I received from Teela at Every-Tuesday.com (below left). She along with Jennifer Nichols and Gabrielle Brickey are some of my favorite online teachers who provide free Procreate brushes, tutorials, and assets to their subscribers, as well as paid membership opportunities if you're interested, and teaching events and activities throughout the year. Many of their classes are also available on Skillshare. Delores Naskrent is another outstanding Procreate/Affinity teacher--I was a part of her online school for a year and a half. I work more in Photoshop now than Procreate (and haven't gotten into Affinity yet), but Delores offers a lifetime of experience in the business of digital art, surface pattern design, greeting cards, etc.. I also love Alaina Jensen's brushes, and highly recommend them if you want to try some really cool art effects like alcohol ink, acrylic pour, and all kind of traditional painting effects in Procreate!
Using the stamps is like having your own coloring book pages, and a great way to practice using the various brushes available! This also inspires me to create my own ‘stamps’. If you like to learn new things and are interested in a fun, relaxing hobby, check out some of these websites and the free tutorials and assets they offer and get started in Procreate. :) Like so many other art forms, the possibilities are endless!
 The view on a recent chilly-morning walk on the Paulinskill Trail “The day the Lord created hope was probably the same day he created Spring.”– Bernard Williams  It's always a thrill when our yard is in bloom!  This little fella made an appearance, too!   I revived this 2013 photo of cherry blossoms taken in our backyard with some tools in Photoshop to get this!  Original 2013 photo Tutorial found here: https://create.adobe.com/2019/10/3/free_photoshop_brush.html
 Fragment of tree lichen found along the Paulinskill Trail, Blairstown  Small wonders-- blooms on our walkway this October morning!
"The flower that smells the sweetest is shy and lowly." William Wordsworth  It's hard to believe autumn's here!
A little sunshine on our kitchen counter |
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