Random Ramblings

Had some errands to run yesterday.  I was actually headed to the drugstore to pick up a prescription, and I ended up at Michael's Craft Store.

Both of my granddaughters are sick with colds and fevers, and I thought I would find something to keep them a little busy while they're recuperating.

I found Shrink Art for the older one (very similar to Shrinky Dinks my own children had) and a Peppa Pig sticker book for my youngest.

Then I ran (really drove) to their house to drop these off.  I didn't want to stay long because of the germs running rampant through their household!

The little ones were excited and very glad to have something new to do while they're down and out!

Came home, worked on an order for a pair of fingerless gloves.  I was so tired (don't know why) that I decided to take a nap.

I woke up almost 3 hours later.  With the greatest part of the day already gone, I didn't feel like getting into anything new.  

Then a friend messaged me about the alcohol ink Christmas ornaments I've been making.  As we talked, together we came up with a new idea.  If it works, I'll be sharing this with you tomorrow.

So, be sure to stop by!

That's all for today!

Talk to you tomorrow!

Beth

How Did This Happen

I was working on some alcohol ink ornaments yesterday in between my knitting projects.  I've found that during my "eye resting" time, I can do these quite easily.  Doesn't require a lot of eye concentration on my part in the beginning.

So, I'm working on an ornament using purple and gold.  I'm watching the ink run, watching it evaporate and dry quickly in some places, not so quickly in others.  

I took a picture of this, enlarged it to look at closely, and look what appeared:

 See the creepy snowman?

 I have no idea how this happened, but it is so strange!!!  

I have many things to attend to today---just wanted to make sure I stopped by to say, "Hi!".

That's all for today!

Talk to you tomorrow!

Beth

A Christmas Carol Sing

I had a rather quiet day yesterday.  I'm always glad for a quiet day.  Gives one time to pause and reflect on things.

I took my youngest granddaughter to school yesterday, and then headed over to one of the local craft stores.  I needed to buy some more clear Christmas ornaments since I've received orders and also have an upcoming craft show on November 10. 

In my email today, I received an invitation to do another craft show the next weekend.  I'm going to have to think on this.  Sometimes it's difficult to finish orders, keep up the supply for craft shows, and then in addition, orders taken at craft shows.  

But, this is the busy time of year.  Spring and summer will slow to a grinding halt.  I suppose I should do as much as I can!

I was looking through some Christmas events yesterday and stumbled upon this:

 Annual Community Christmas Carol Sing

This is sponsored by the Lititz Historical Foundation.  This is being held December 13 from 7-8 p.m. at the Lititz Moravian Church in Lititz, PA.

It's free!  A community Christmas carol sing!  A trombone choir is going to present, and song sheets will be given if you don't know all the words.

And honesty, I don't care if I don't know all the words.  Just to sit and soak in the majesty and beauty of the music, people coming together and being united in a peaceful setting is all I ask for!

I know that if I get the opportunity to go, that I will sing too.  I do love to sing even though it's not something I do well!

Here's hoping to being able to do this!  Since I don't drive at night any longer due to my vision, I'll have to find someone willing to drive me to and from this event.  

That's all for today!

Talk to you tomorrow!

Beth

A Wonderful Sunday

Yesterday I mentioned that my granddaughter was celebrating her 4th birthday!  It's hard to believe how fast these years are passing by!

The family gathered at the local Hoss' restaurant.  They allow you to use their banquet room for free, and it's nice to have a place where we can all gather without being crowded.  

Just some pics from the party:

She has a cold and was starting to feel warm by the end of the evening, but over all, she enjoyed herself on her special day!

I also made another alcohol ink ornament yesterday:

 I particularly love this one!   

These are unique, unbreakable, and cannot be reproduced.  The excitement of doing this is seeing how the end result because you never know how the ink is going to run and dry!  But, they always seem to be beautiful!

That's all for today!

See you tomorrow!

Beth

Birthday!

Today is another day filled with things to do and places to go!

It is my youngest granddaughter's, Vayda, birthday!  She is turning 4 today!

Hard to believe that she has grown from this:

 To this:

in the space of 4 short years!  

The family will be gathering later today to celebrate this little one, and I'm looking forward to seeing all of my children and various other family members and friends all together.  Hopefully, I'll have some pictures to share tomorrow.  

Yesterday I worked on another alcohol ink ornament, and I'm really liking the way this turned out.  Just posted this for sale earlier today, but it's going to be hard to give up!  

I'm definitely going to be making more of these.  Each will be unique and cannot be reproduced.  Plus, they're nonbreakable which makes them great for people with small children or those with tree climbing cats!

That's all for today!  Off to my busy day!

Talk to you tomorrow!

Beth

Excitement!

Something exciting happened while I was sleeping last night!

First sale in the Etsy shop!!

I've had my shop open since August with a lot of people stopping by to look at things and mark it as a "favorite".  But, no sales!

Now, I know that it takes time to break into the Etsy world.  There are millions of items for sale on their site, but the first sale is like popping a cork on a fine wine!  

 

So, my blue octopus who has been keeping me company will be out the door today!  

I sold the pink one (plus an order for another!) at the recent craft show, so now the yellow fellow sits alone!  

Also, I'm having an online auction on my Facebook page--Warmharte Creations.   I'm auctioning off this fall centerpiece in order to make some more room in my home for the upcoming Christmas crafts!  Bidding is at $7.50 at the moment.  If you'd like to stop by, I'll see you there! 

 

I worked on some luminaries yesterday and also another alcohol ink Christmas ornament.  I wasn't so pleased with the way this ornament was looking, and I added another layer to it this morning.  Maybe pics of this tomorrow!

Waiting on the weather report--my oldest granddaughter is supposed to be in a parade this evening, but her group doesn't participate if it's raining.  Doesn't look too hopeful at this point!

That's all for today!

Talk to you tomorrow!

Beth

Italian for Lunch!

Yesterday, my neighbor, May, and I went out to lunch.  This is something we try to do at least once a month.  Sometimes there can be 4 or 5 of us, but today was just us.

I had told May to decide where she wanted to go, but she entered my car with no ideas in her mind.  I asked her if she felt like Italian, and we ended up at a place neither of us had been before.

I am glad because lunch was awesome!  

My son had told me about this little Italian place that he had been to several times for lunch.  I can honestly say that I've driven by many times, and never thought about stopping.  

I'll be stopping more often now!  

The name of this gem is DaVinci's Italian Eatery.   The atmosphere is casual, and we both felt very comfortable there.  I'm not finding a webpage, but they do have a page on Facebook. 

May ordered a chef salad, and I had a DaVinci mini stromboli--packed full of ham, salami, pepperoni and mozzarella cheese.  Both of us were very pleased with our meals.  

I looked over the menu which has cold and hot subs, pizza, salads, wraps and then the dinner entrees--oh my!  

The pasta is homemade!!  And May and I decided that we will be going back for dinner sometime soon because the ravioli looked spectacular!  

We didn't order this antipasto for lunch, but it looks wonderful!  

Something to keep in mind for the future!

Then, we ventured over to Hobby Lobby to pick up some items I'll be needing for my "Craft Day with Kaley tomorrow.  The only thing I couldn't find were woodchip snowmen that we wanted to use to make Christmas ornaments.  Maybe it's too early?  I couldn't find any online either. 

Big weekend coming up--"Craft Day" tomorrow with Kaley (need to go shopping today for some last minute items).  Sunday is my granddaughter's 4th birthday, and the family is going to be gathering to celebrate.  I'll be sure to share some pics with you!

That's all for today!

Talk to you tomorrow!

Beth 

Gobble, Gobble and More!

I've been busy getting ready for an upcoming craft show.  This is being held at a church close to my home, and I'm hoping it will be a success!  

In between times, I'm working on fulfilling orders from Facebook and Etsy.  

I've had quite a few orders for the Gobble, Gobble Dishcloth, and I did manage to complete 5 of these yesterday.  These are so nice for a hostess gift for Thanksgiving.  I love the 100% cotton feel and the easiness of machine wash and dry. 

I do have some issues with my eyes, and these are easy to do.  I can do the majority of this without looking at the work itself (which is good for future reference regarding my eyes).  

Otherwise, I knit for about 15 minutes, take an "eye rest" and then proceed.  Sometimes it's better, sometimes it's worse.  So, I just go from day to day and do what I can when I can.  

While I was resting my eyes yesterday, I worked on getting some household things accomplished--dishes, laundry, etc.  

I also made this alcohol ink Christmas ornament:

This is the first one of these I have ever made.  Kaley and I are hoping to have these at the upcoming show.  We're getting together on Saturday to craft a few things, and I wanted to try this before then.  

I think it turned out pretty well for a first attempt!  What do you think?

Today, I'm having lunch with one of my neighbors.  I don't know where we'll be going--I told her to decide.  But, we always have a good time together, just visiting and catching up with each other.  I'll let you know tomorrow!

That's all for today!

Talk to you tomorrow!

Beth

The Beauty of Fall

A few days ago, I mentioned an awesome mum that I had purchased at Clair's Orchard.   Yesterday was a bright and sunny day, so I decided that I could finally take some outside pictures.  

This is one mum!  It's so huge that I had to take the picture from two sides! 

If you're close by and interested in going to Clairs, remember they close November 4th for the season! 

I ventured out to the craft store yesterday (no surprise there!), and found some fabulous sales!  

So, I purchased a couple of things to dress up the front of my home.

I have a fall wreath on my door.  I've had this for a few years, but it's still in good shape.  So, no need replacing this!

Fall---the colors, the coolness of temperature, the beauty of nature.  What's not to like about it?  Just don't think about what's coming in a few months.

That's all for today!

Talk to you tomorrow!

Beth

Pools, Yarns and Avoiding the Blahs

I wasn't feeling up to myself yesterday.  Had the blahs.

I've had a rough couple of years health-wise, and I was just tired, achy, feeling down, and stressing unecessarily on things I can do nothing about.  

Instead of sitting here being achy and grouchy, I moved into action! 

I gathered the majority of the yarn I need to finish up some custom orders.   

I looked at the clock, looked at the front of my refrigerator at a schedule and decided I needed to get back to the pool!

This is the Messiah Lifeways pool--only about 7 minutes from my home.  Last year, I was going here every day.  The have aquatic classes, open pool time, and two family swims through the week.  

I have rheumatoid arthritis, and the pool is salt water and heated to about 86 degrees.  So, it feels wonderful!  How did I forget how great this is and start wallowing in my own self again?

I put on my swimsuit and off to the pool I went!  And I'll be going again today.  I'm a little achy from the workout, but being in the water again today will help that.  

 Before I went to the pool, I finished these fingerless gloves.  These are Susie Rogers' Reading Mitts in Heartland Olympia.

I had a Fall Giveaway at Warmharte Creations .  A pair of these mitts was the prize, and part of the contest was choosing the color you would love if you had a pair of these for yourself.  

I'm glad I finished these just in time for some colder weather that is heading our way!  

That's all for today!

Talk to you tomorrow!

Beth

 

Of Sunflowers, Gourds, Apples and Mums

Two weekends ago, Kaley and I ventured out on a small road trip.  We were headed to Clair's Orchard .  I had been wanting to purchase some apples to use to display market bags that I had made, and then I was going to make applesauce.

That  morning, I had seen that Meadowbrooke Gourds was having a free sunflower picking.  As we were driving towards Clair's, I mentioned this to Kaley.  She's ready to go do this, so we changed direction a bit and headed to Meadowbrooke.  

I was totally surprised at the amount of people there!  We parked and headed out to the sunflower fields.  This wasn't just a small area of sunflowers.  There were acres of sunflowers!  

After this adventure, we headed over to the "Oops" tents.  This is a dangerous place to be (for your wallet).  

All of the gourds are grown at Meadowbrooke, and then crafted into some spectacular decor pieces.  Some could be used year-round, some seasonal, and even bird feeders!

The "Oops" sale are gourds that were crafted, but didn't measure up to standards for some reason or another.  The prices are lower, and we honestly couldn't tell what or where the "oops" had occurred.

We did a little shopping (little??) there, and headed over to Clair's.  They have a huge variety of apples.  I purchased some Crimson Crisp and an awesome hanging mum.  I'll have to take a picture of this and show you tomorrow.  It's still dark out!  

A fun day with more fun days to come!  

Talk to you tomorrow!

Beth

 

Beginning Again

Today is the first post on my new blog.  I've blogged in the past for a very long time.  Then Facebook came into being, and blogging fell away.

But, I find that I miss sharing my thoughts and feelings, what is going on in my life, photos, and whatever pops into my mind onto an actual piece of paper (not literally).  

So, here we will have a journal of sorts--my day to day life--with it's ups and downs.  You'll find my projects, my family, everyday happenings, and maybe something that will spark an interest.

I've made myself a promise that I will blog everyday for at least a year.  Some posts may be short, some may be long.  But, it will always be interesting and fun.

We will have contests, prizes, pictures, and anything else I can think of.  If you care to follow along with me on this journey of life, that would be wonderful!

If you followed me long ago, you know that I have three grown children.  I now have two granddaughters that I love dearly.  All 3 children now have significant others in their lives.  You'll be introduced to them as they enter into my writings.  

Life for me has changed immensely, but we'll get into that as we go along.  

For today, I'm going to actually begin with yesterday which was an exciting day for me.  I did a craft show--the first one in 3 years.  

This was held at Indian Echo Caverns, not too far from my home.  The weather was somewhat iffy, but Kaley (my son, Andrew's other) and I ventured on.  We had worked hard to prepare for this, and some rain wasn't going to stop us!  

Set up went quickly because Kaley is an expert at this (thank you!).  

The rain had stopped, the sun was beginning to shine (intermittently), and we were off! 

This is a unique setting with underground caverns that can be toured.  I've never been through them, but maybe someday.  

There were games, food, pumpkin carving contests, wagon rides, and lots and lots of vendors selling their crafts and wares!  

 These are just some of the pretzel rods, my daughter, Cara, made to sell at the show.  It was a family affair!

All in all, a fun day!  I was definitely tired and slept better last night than I have in a very long time!

Best part of the day--spending time and getting to know Kaley better.  I've known her for quite a while, but she is "new" in joining into our family circle.  

We have a "craft day" planned for this coming Saturday.  Can't wait to share our new ideas with you!

Talk to you tomorrow!

Beth