Wednesday, March 31, 2021

Baptism Today

Decorations 

I made a quantity of decorations to somewhat disguise an  under-reconstruction room, in which the dinner was held. But I forgot to take pictures of numbers of things.

But here are a few.
Most of you have made, or know of, these oversized, poufy flowers. They fill space with color nicely.





These were hung from the ceiling. 



They started as layers like this. 


This was an in-progress picture. Big swathes of pink covered the back shelves. 



Tuesday, March 30, 2021

March 2021 Life Drawing

 While waiting in my car for the laundry again... XD



 Actually, kind of a funny thing happened this time. I was sitting in the driver's seat with my window rolled down to let some of the nice weather in, sketching the gas station down the hill, and this little family came up the hill. The guy paused because he apparently saw my drawing through the open window (it was about halfway done at that time), and he said it was cool and asked if I were an artist and if I took commissions! I didn't have anything ready with me for such an inquiry, but we chatted a bit, and it sounded like what they were looking for was something that Leah would do excellently, so I ended up giving them my email and her Instagram, and it will probably come to nothing, haha XD But I just thought it was kind of neat and different.

 

Monday, March 29, 2021

Anniversary

Card for My Better Half

Does this ever happen to you? 

So, I made a pretty cover.....







...then, OOPS! Upside down. Fold on the wrong side. So I cut and pasted it on a new paper, and determined to be more attentive next time. Let’s see how long that resolve lasts. Sigh... and photo is blurry. My eyes were, too. It was late. So that’s probably about how I was seeing.



But it all turned out OK, and he liked it. He’s generous that way. He has a box full of  annual anniversary cards. 




Saturday, March 27, 2021

Friday, March 26, 2021

Spring Flowers

The Sun Came Out



I planted some color for Easter. Just a touch for the passersby. 

L






This I use for our Easter tree. 




Thursday, March 25, 2021

Grandma Time

Patterns and Paper

In Mankato



The girl loves pink! And flowers. And sparkles. 



The boy decidedly does not. 

Wednesday, March 24, 2021

In the Works

For Next Week



Note “paper paste” lace. 
The foil is from Italian candy wrapper liners and Christmas chocolates. Yes, I saved them. 

Tuesday, March 23, 2021

Chinese Handwriting Site +

While this doesn't really have anything to do with creativity, I thought I'd mention that in my Chinese language self-study, I've reached a point where I realized I should figure out what order the strokes are made in when writing the characters so that I can write them perhaps, and not just type them on my phone. I came across this site archchinese.com, which is more helpful in that area than my DuoLingo app is, but I haven't fully explored it yet. Seems like there is a lot you can get for teaching resources on it, but so far I've only tried the character writing section and peeked at a game that was still a little too advanced vocabulary for me.



Sunday, March 21, 2021

New Life

It’s a Girl

We welcomed a granddaughter to the family yesterday. First day of spring indeed.




Friday, March 19, 2021

Happy Spring

As We Enter a New Season - 





First ones just starting to open after our recent snows. 







Last of the Crocuses

I started this post earlier today, when the sun was shining and the day was balmy. It felt like spring. 
Then I got calls and had things to do, and now it is night, AND SNOWING again. Hello, Winter.

Wednesday, March 17, 2021

Happy St. Patrick’s Day

We Benefited 

While most of the celebrations today are about green beer, corned beef and cabbage, and green leprechauns with gold and rainbows, we really do have a reason to celebrate this day. It was the Irish monks, people like Patrick, who literally saved civilization, who preserved the ancient manuscripts, who were tough enough and motivated enough to take the Gospel to the pagans moving into the vacuum left by the departing Romans. Our Germanic ancestors were brought the Gospel by Irish monks. Our people became Christians through the mission work of strangers in a strange land who cared that others heard the good news they had. It would be well to review that history in our families today, of how God worked our salvation through the hardships others took on to do the Lord’Has work. 
Then enjoy your greens and gold with meaning. 



From this



On a day with no emerald hills.



This is the sun shining through water droplets on the birches, as the snow from last night melts in the sun, after the heavy fog burns off.





Happy St. Patrick’s Day.

Tuesday, March 16, 2021

A Piece of a Piece

I am creating a lot these days, but none of it is really shareable, so here is a piece of what I was working on today. :)
 

watercolor and ink pen

 

 

Monday, March 15, 2021

Watercolor 509

Because It Felt Like a Watercolor Day





A snowy, rainy, snowy, grey day outside, so painting helps direct thoughts elsewhere.











Saturday, March 13, 2021

Easter Projects 3

Bunnies

This is one I did some years ago. Decoupage with a napkin. Then augmented with pencils. 





I did another this week. Paint and stenciling. 




Friday, March 12, 2021

Easter Projects 2

Preparing Parts

I found a new medium. It’s called Paper Paste. It is a paste that gets spread in a silicon mold, which, after drying, becomes a flexible form suitable for adhering on flat or round surfaces. 





I plan to use them on eggs. 




Easter Projects

Small Crosses

Painting and stenciling and decoupage. 




Thursday, March 11, 2021

Conifer Cone Flowers

From Oma’s Tree

Natural





Colored with alcohol inks, and some paint





These will find their way into Easter decor. 

Wednesday, March 10, 2021

Part 1 complete


These are the finished first sections for my quilt project. They will be assembled together later when more elements are completed. I’m sorry now that I didn’t prepare and bring along the next group of sections since I still have another week here. 


 

 

Tuesday, March 9, 2021

Sprouted!

Look What’s Up! 




Easter Crafts

Ladies Time

Two of us spent an afternoon preparing table arrangements for the Easter season. At least we started. We painted trays, conversed, went to the garden store to get flowers, conversed, painted more, conversed, cut, taped, collaged, wrapped, conversed, re-painted, conversed, and finally called it a day. It was good. Progress.... not so much... but we have days left. 






Monday, March 8, 2021

Patterns

For Spring and Easter

These are the patterns for some of the project items I showed earlier. I am (finally) preparing to scan them, so they can be mailed. If you want them, let me know. 









The Holy Week Story Cross and Easter Cross patterns will be included.