Finally, an update

It's been a crazy month! As I wrote in my last post, I started a huge purge of my craft room and guest room (which holds the overflow). I've taken several boxes of supplies to Scrap Denton (which is like a craft thrift shop in nearby Denton, TX) and several boxes to Goodwill. I have two boxes of needlework books and two huge boxes of needlework supplies that I will donate to a local embroidery guild once my contact and I can schedule a time to meet.

All of this work keeps getting interrupted by "life." I just returned from ten days' of babysitting with my two Albuquerque grand boys. Their parents went to Spain for a week and while they were away, the demo and remodel of their home commenced. Luckily, my daughter rented a house for the boys and me for part of the time so we could escape the noise, dust and lack of kitchen!  It was a busy week filled with soccer games, practices, school activities, a second grade field trip to the pumpkin patch that I volunteered on, birthday party, music lessons, book fair and a neighborhood party. I had forgotten how busy life is with children! Enjoying the quiet of home now!

And in a few days we will go down to Austin to be with our other two grand boys for Halloween and then bring the four-year old home with us for several days as a special trip since his brother and Mom are leaving for Hong Kong on Friday. So I don't expect much crafting to get done in the near future.

I did, however, do a project for my grandson when I was in Albuquerque. I had found the supplies to make little felt mice for Christmas while cleaning out my rooms (I had made these for my kids to take to school parties years ago) and had just enough to make 22 for the 7-year old's Christmas party. They just need the candy canes inserted for the tails as shown in the one mouse in the foreground.

While I was there I also finished their Halloween costumes since they wanted to wear them to the school Halloween carnival before their parents returned.  Grant is Flash - I glued the white felt circle and yellow felt lightning bolts to his red sweat suit.  He already had the mask.

Drew wanted to go as a football player, specifically Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints. We had given him the shirt for his birthday this summer and his parents added gold duct tape to black pants. They also started his helmet by cutting and painting a pumpkin. I painted on two fleur de lys and added the gold duct tape face guard. I also made a foam "vest" and shoulder pads for under his shirt. He loved it, especially the black makeup under his eyes.

So that's about all I've been doing creatively for awhile!

October Altered Trading Coins -- and purging

I've been "missing" for awhile. I spent a long weekend babysitting the grands in Albuquerque. Once home, I finally decided to tackle my art room. I've been putting it off for years and really haven't done much except add to the "stuff" since we moved into this house 13 years ago! Every time I start, I find all kinds of treasures and get side-tracked into working on projects.

I am starting with the six-foot standard closet in the room which is stuffed with sewing and needlework supplies. I figure that once that is cleaned out, I will have much more room to store my current mixed media supplies.

Most people don't know that I was an addicted needlepointer (and cross-stitcher) before moving to Texas 20 years ago. It was something portable I could do while my children were younger and still keep watch over them.  I became a needlepoint teacher and was certified by the National Embroiderers' Guild of America. I taught at seminars throughout the country and was even named "National Teacher of the Year" in 1996 by the EGA.  All this to say that I have a lot of supplies, personal as well as for all the class kits!

And, since I'm knee-deep in a huge mess, I haven't done much crafting. I did finish my altered trading coins for the October swap. The theme was "Fall is in the Air." They are very similar, except for the card stock layer. The background is heat-embossed leaf stamps with Distress ink sponged over. The heat embossing resists the color. Then I stamped and punched the sentiment from scraps of the same paper. Simple, but "fallish."



I hope to be back with more projects soon, but still have a long way to go before my art room is functional again!