Peek at My Week (Oct 10-16)

 It was a a week, y'all! I'm already running behind on this new one. Take a peek!

To get out of the house on Sunday, we took Zoe for a walk at a local park and checked out the new disc golf course there. You can tell how excited she was about that (the walk, not the disc golf). 

Since her picture turned out so well, I decided to capture Artemis' good side too. 

I also made a little time to play in an art journal after some inspiration from The Ugly Art Club. 

Monday began beautifully as I decided to go for a morning walk and watch the sun rise. 

I pretty much stayed home and worked on a few projects all day. In particular, I gathered papers and other bits for the giveaway I'll be having when I reach 2,000 YouTube subscribers on my channel. I'd love it if you'd follow me there too!

On Tuesday, I ran my usual errands of grocery shopping and whatnot. The local farmer's market had out their impressive display of pumpkins. These are just a small portion of the pumpkins that run down the side of the whole building.

It was also our wedding anniversary, so Pat and I had a nice dinner out on the deck at The Little Whiskey in Fairhope. It was a real treat!

On Wednesday, I worked on a variety of tasks. But the big event of the day was the four hours we spent in the evening painting the floor of the new building. 

On Thursday, I headed to Mobile to visit with my mom before I did a little estate sale shopping. I really scored big! You'll have to watch my October Thrifty Haul to really see what I bought. 

Friday morning, I treated myself to some yummy cheese grits topped with (PRO TIP) leftover taco toppings and a fresh fried egg. So good!

That evening, we got to enjoy seeing the Spin Doctors at a local outdoor venue. I was thrilled!

While Pat worked in the building on Saturday, I wavered between checking in on college football games, getting some jewelry made, and exploring the property. I discovered bees buzzing all over the blooms on the loquat trees. And, somehow captured this butterfly with its tongue out!

I was inspired to try to experiment with creating a tin and bead mushroom. Though, I understand that not everyone sees it as a mushroom. I guess I need to work on the design some more. 

As if that wasn't enough mushrooms, I stumbled across this interesting one in the woods.

And really, that was the week. It was busy, but full of joy.

I only found one thing to share and it was this blog post from Autin Kleon with an inspiring Ann Patchett quote.

I'm not sure what the week ahead holds, but I really do hope it's a good one! Here's wishing you a wonderful week as well. 

Peek at My Week (Oct 3 - 9)

 I'm happy to see that I'm able to make a little time to share what my week looked like.
Take a peek. 

I worked on a few projects on Sunday while one of my nieces and her boyfriend came over to help Pat clean the floor of the new building. I explored the property for a bit looking for the weird and wonderful and found plenty to delight me (above).

There was even this little treasure half-buried under a tree. 

It tickles me so! I can just imagine one of the kids who grew up in our house playing out in the yard with this toy motorcycle.

I also finished up a little needlebook I've been working on based on the skills I learned in the Mixed Media Textile Collage class from Sara Hartmann on the Southern Gals Designs Creative Academy. 

Monday was all about knocking out the chores and finishing several projects. Though, my favorite part was probably the joy I found in watching the birds and squirrels at the feeder we recently hung outside my craft room window!

I piddled most of Tuesday, working on a few things including this resin and tin piece. 

I actually didn't even realize that it looked like an eye until Pat said something about it. Ha!

Really, the day was spent waiting to hit the road for a fun experience. On the way, the sky was glorious! I even spotted a rainbow as we were crossing Mobile Bay. 

Then it was time for the BIG SHOW. Seriously.

KISS put on a concert like none other I've ever seen. It was amazing!

The rest of the week paled in comparison. Here are some of the highlights. 

 - I found a massive sticker book from someone's scrapbooking days at Goodwill on Wednesday.

- On Thursday, I visited with my mom and niece in Mobile.

Most of Friday was spent working on a design I had begun earlier in the week and was desperate to get finished. 

While I absolutely adore how the earrings came together. There are a few flaws with this particular design. So, these earrings are mine (all mine!)

Most of my Saturday was spent watching college football. Though, I made sure to keep myself busy with some organizing, art journaling, and beading on and off throughout the day.

Unfortunately, Alabama (my team) just barely lost their game, bringing down an otherwise beautiful week. But, I'm trying to stay optimistic for the week to come. 

Once again, I didn't find much to share. But, here are a few links for you to enjoy.

• This Quick and Easy DIY Fabric Bunting really does look quick and easy. 
• As it is pumpkin season, this DIY Cottagecore Floral Decorated Pumpkin caught my eye. 

And, that was my week. 

How was yours?

Peek at My Week (Dec 13-19)

This year is quickly winding down, isn't it? The days seem to just slip by. I've been off my morning routine for several weeks now, and it has made me feel a bit off-kilter. I'm not sure if I'll be able to regain that balance before Christmas, but hopefully, I will in time to psyche myself up for the new year. Maybe. I can't quite seem to put my finger on what's made me so unbalanced as of late. But, I'll push forward as there isn't any other option, is there? Anyway, here's a peek at what I was able to stop and capture this week.

My Japanese Maple has been gloriously red all week (as of today, it's almost bald) so there's at least one more picture of it in this post. The above was taken on Sunday when it seemed to almost be glowing. I kept myself busy much of the day and spent much of the afternoon wrapping presents and watching Christmas movies. 

I know I kept myself busy on Monday - maybe too busy as there's not a picture to share. Most of my work was business-related as I packaged a few orders and worked on videos. 

Since Monday was so full of work, I went grocery shopping on Tuesday. On my return from the store, the lack of a barn was in full view.

I promise there had been more to it when I left for the store! Pat's been busting butt trying to get it down so we can put the new metal building there when it gets built (it will be a few months before that happens though.) This demo job has been his obsession for a few weeks now, and he's SO CLOSE to being done!

At some point on Tuesday, I also snapped this shot of some of my pile of wrapping paper. I believe the picture was supposed to go in one of my videos this week to prove that the majority of my paper is red and green. With the exception of the Star Wars paper on the bottom left, it's true, I have a type. 

It rained before we got up on Wednesday, so I found the maple leaves dripping and had to capture that beauty for all to see.

I busted out chores and sending out one package of gifts. In the evening, I realized that I was aching for a Christmas glow in the house and decided to hang some lights across our TV stand. I'll have to get a picture of that for you this week. We've only enjoyed the lights one night this week as we've stayed busy every other night.

On Thursday, I headed to Mobile to deliver a couple of orders and help my mom with a few things. Before I left though, I made sure that I uploaded a video on making gift tags.

I'm really smitten with those tags!

I had a rough time focusing on Friday, but did knock out quite a few tasks. When I went to pay the bills, I got a kick out of our final bill from AT&T

Yes, they sent us a bill for ONE PENNY! I'm sure no human eyes ever saw this bill before it landed in our mailbox, but it felt a little ridiculous. We paid it.

I also worked on getting Beaded Bookmarks made for my Etsy gifts. 

As I worked on wrapping the LAST of the gifts and baking some cookies on Saturday, Pat was tearing down more of the barn. When I stepped out to check on his progress, I found some real treasures. 

The rusty crackle on this old, holey, metal cabinet caught my eye. I had to take a few shots before Pat hauled it up the street to the trash pile.

And, we found another bottle of random poison.

First, yes ANOTHER!

Second, what the heck are we supposed to do with this?

In the evening, we watched the SEC Championship football game. It was a tough one, but we (Alabama) won in the end. The last quarter about killed me. Apparently, that's considered a good game. lol.

Throughout the week, I made sure to do my stamp carving for #CarveDecember

Day 13 was "square" so I tried to make a tile stamp. It turned out okay. I'm not so great with being exact, as you'll see in several of these stamps.

Blue was the theme for Day 14. I was stumped and went for tears or raindrops or whatever you want them to be.

The "hexagon" prompt for Day 15 absolutely baffled me. So, I went off-prompt for the first time and instead tried carving the chunky rainbow that was in my head when I woke up. It didn't come out as I envisioned, but it's still a solid stamp.

I was a little more on-theme for Day 16's "calm" prompt as I decided to use one of my calming doodles as inspiration. This stamp may be one of my favorites so far this month. I really dig it.

Like the jungle-prompt last week, Day 17's "Verdant" prompt made me think of all things lush and green. As I was finishing up this stamp, I nicked one of the leaves and decided to "fix" it by taking notches out of the rest of the leaves. It worked out okay.

I'm not really sure what this doodle flower has to do with the "big" prompt on Day 18, except that it's a fairly big-ish flower stamp. I dunno. I like it.

For the "fit" prompt on Day 19, I tried to make a stamp that would fit together. It didn't work out as I had hoped. But, that's okay. I just didn't have the patience and creativity to deal with it that day. It's a solid stamp though - good for texture. 

I was all over the place this week and didn't have much time to search for inspiration. I apologize for the short list.

• The Blue Bottle Tree has a list of several ways to secure post earrings to polymer clay. 
• If you're into metal stamping, Interweave has 13 ideas for metal stamped jewelry and personalized gifts. 
• I really love the simplicity of these paper star ornaments. 
• And, here's another ornament tutorial that caught my attention: felt Christmas ornament patterns. 

And, that's it. Now that the presents are wrapped and the shopping season is coming to an end, I'm not sure how I'll fill the week ahead, but I think I may be taking some time off to enjoy myself (and maybe clean and organize the craft room). So, if I don't post much, don't worry about me. I do hope you take some time for yourself and do your best to enjoy the season. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year!!

Peek at My Week (Dec 6-12)

 It was quite a full week around here. Take a peek. 

To use up a couple of packs of bakery bread in the house, I made French Toast to fuel us up for Sunday's day ahead. 

Pat wanted to get the shed cleaned up so he could move more of the items from the damaged barn over before he began tearing it down. This is what we were working with inside the shed.

With a little teamwork and focus, we had the place picked up and swept before lunchtime! From there, we delivered our donation of gifts for the Giving Tree and picked up lunch. The afternoon was spent on our own endeavors as Pat tackled more in the yard, and I worked in the house. 

Monday was all about the errands: groceries and picking up gifts.

I didn't leave the house at all on Tuesday as I worked on chores and began a Christmas craft that I hope to share soon. I did make a pretty yummy Mexican lunch of bean burritoes.

And, I admitted that my love of Mexican food is really all about the toppings!

I spent the bulk of Wednesday at my mom's house. We ran a couple of errands before my niece came home from school. In the evening, she and I dove into a cookie-decorating kit.

I learned that decorating cookies isn't really one of my strengths. Ha.

I woke to a foggy Thursday morning that gave a beautiful haze to everything as the sun rose.

Pat and his sister's partner worked much of the day on dismantling the roof of the barn at the bottom of that picture. Me? I began another Christmas craft.

Again, I'll share it soon.

The evening was just as hazy as the morning. When I went out to close the chicken coops, the flashlight's beam highlighted the water vapor in the air.

Crazy, right?

I finished the rest of my Christmas shopping on Friday, which is a new record for me! We also met a friend at the Fairhope Brewing Co. for a couple of beers outside.  

This was only the second time in nine months that we've consumed something out in public. It felt so weird and like we were breaking some rules.

On Saturday, the Japanese Maple was glorious!

Pat continued to work on tearing down the pole barn while I did some cleaning in the house. The Bama game was on early, but we decided to wait and watch it recorded later in the afternoon so we could tackle those chores first. 

While Pat removed the plywood walls in the barn, he found this gem and called me out to there to admire it. 

It's a snakeskin from one of the Oak Snakes we've seen near the barn. I think the texture is so cool.

I kept on track for #CarveDecember this week.

Day 6 was swirls

I just kept envisioning big leaves for Day 7's "Jungle" prompt. 

"Stripes" was the prompt for Day 8. This might have been my favorite carve of the week, and so easy!!

The prompt of "together" made me think of this shape that I've been doodling for a few months now. It's similar to the shape I did for the "float" prompt last week. 

At first, I was pretty stumped by "five" for day 10. Then, I decided to carve a five-pointed star.

Shortly thereafter, I had an epiphany.

I carved five gold rings as a bonus stamp!

"Fan" on the 11th just didn't excite me, but I carved this one that could also be a flower.

The "busy" prompt on the 12th just had me making a stamp that was...well, busy.

Like last week, I only found a few snippets of inspiration to share with you. What can I say...I've been busy!

• The tutorial for these Dipa Earrings on Halcraft Collection caught my eye. What a neat design.
• I have to admit that these sculptures from Alessandro Gallo are a tad disturbing but so well done!
• Here are 10 DIY Christmas Ornaments from Crafty Little Gnome. 
• Speaking of Christmas ornaments, this Easy Ornament from a Dollar Tree Gumball Machine really speaks to me for some reason. 
• I've been saving this Fun & Funky DIY Christmas Tree tutorial since last year. It's so fun! And Michelle Mach pointed out on Twitter that it would make a great earring display too. 
• Nunn Designs also shared this Holiday Ornament tutorial last year that I thought was worth saving to show you.
• I thought I ought to share this fabulous British show with you. Pat and I have been binging on Taskmaster for a week or two now. You can find it on YouTube. It's a good laugh and so much fun to watch. 

And, that was my week. Now that my shopping is done, I feel like I have a world of options in front of me. So, I need to focus on what it is I want to accomplish before this year is out. How are occupying these last few weeks?