Summer Stuff

The clouds gathered for over two inches of rain last week. It rained for two days and the accumulated rain water from the side and back yards almost flooded my patio! Turr Tull's new home located in the side yard stayed dry. He finally move in last month after shunning it at first.

The hibiscus that I bought from the clearance table at Lowe's bloomed for the first time after getting drenched with rain. I'm glad it is red as Turr Tull loves anything red, even my red toe nail polish! He nibbles at my toes if I stand still very long!

Let the parties begin!! All the weekends during August and September will be birthday parties. I started another diet today, and I am determined to stick with it for the next two months!

This pocket shrine is something I made at at a reclaimed art retreat that I attended a couple weeks ago up in northern Arizona. We had a fun weekend learning to make art from found treasures. We brought photos from home, and the instructor furnished the cigarette box. We purchased other ephemera from a local thrift store and a yard sale nearby.

The birthday table looks bare without the usual cakes. Instead, the birthday grandchildren prefer cookies, brownies and ice cream!! The table came from my Grandmother's porch and sits in my daughter's dining room. It was hand made by my Grandfather around 1917. It was mostly used as a working table--canning, grading eggs, cooling cakes etc., just a catch-all farmhouse table. My daughter has used it as her dining room table for the past 18 years. We love having our parties at her home, and look forward to seeing her decorated party table!

``````````````````````````

Hubby had his last chemo today!!!! Further testing in September, but we are sure he will be free of treatments for two years!

Garden Tower Yard Art

I saw a Garden Tower in a magazine and I just loved it. I quickly found items around the house and put it all together with epoxy. Pretty cute, don't you think? Next I will make a stand to hang gourd birdhouses that I spotted on another page of the magazine. The gourds hang en masse on the horizontal part of a cross setup.

I enjoy the sunrise over the lake, and then the sunset reflections from my east-facing patio! I love this time of the year when the sunset turns the clouds pink in the eastern sky! Sometimes it's hard to tell a sunrise from a sunset.

We have been enjoying our mild winter weather and not wanting to miss a minute of it, so we drove to a friend's home about an hour away. Hubby needed a refresher course on leather working, and there's no better teacher than Bobbie, a multi-talented artist.

This is some of Bobby's beadwork. So intricate and colorful. Wish I had the patience to do this type of work.

It looks a lot like spring in my backyard! Everything is bloom.

More Craft Projects

A few months ago I made this fused glass meditation stick during a class I took sponsored by a Phoenix garden shop. Throughout the year they offer various arts and crafts classes, and this class seemed interesting and something new to me. The meditation stick was very simple to make. We chose various types and colors of glass and arranged it on a 1" x 10" strip of clear glass and secured it with Super Glue. During the subsequent firing of the piece, the glass bits melt into each other and fuse to the glass strip. Depending on the thickness and type of glass, some are thicker, some expand, others shrink, so you never know for sure what your stick will look like when finished.

Since the pieces of glass had to go with the instructor for firing later at her shop, everyone eagerly awaited their masterpieces! By the time we got them back, we couldn't really remember what we started with. Next time, I'll have to take a camera if I do any more fused glass classes! The class was fun for me as I enjoy art projects that can be done in just a few hours--even though I had to wait for the firing.

This took about 30 minutes from start to finish. I found these silver plate serving pieces in a junk drawer while decluttering this morning, and decided to make this simple wind chime. We (Hubby) flattened the four pieces in a vice--drilled a few holes-- I used fishing line to attach the forks to the spoon on top and voilà.....chimes! I thought I forgot to attach the teaspoon--went outside to check-- and there it was, hanging perfectly in line with the fork! They have a charming tinkling sound, just what I was looking for to compliment my Hawaiian bamboo chime and my beautiful tuned chimes.

DEVIL'S CLAW

One of my favorite plants of the desert is Devil's Claw, or Proboscidea parviflora. The prongs on end of the seed pod hook onto animals, which then disperse the seeds as they move along. Although I still look for them while in the desert, I haven't found any in many years.

As children we would search the desert floor, gathering as many as we could find. The curved prongs have hooks on the end that are similar to a fish hook. They would hook our shoes, clothes and fingers. We always came home with many bloody puncture wounds. We would paint some of them, form some into balls and see who could make the longest chains. The seed pod contains about 50 seeds. By the time we found them they had already split open and the seeds were scattered. There are two tails, and the tiny hooked head is formed as you break it from the plant.

I've tried making a pinwheel like the one in the photo, but after 2 hours of getting poked, I gave up and just purchased the one shown at a nature store in Yarnell, Arizona.

I have used Devil's Claw as embellishments on my crafted gourds. They have a southwestern look, and I usually favor that style in my gourd crafting.

Gourd Art Phase

I spent one year of my life crafting gourds. I went to several classes that I thought would be fun. My least favorite gourd technique was the teneriffe design shown in the first photo. I took two classes, and never could remember how to do the stitching. Anyway, it took over three hours to make, and then I remembered my "Make nothing that takes over three hours" rule! I like the wood burning technique and pine needle weaving technique. One of my favorite rim trims is made with date trash (stems) shown in the second photo.

I recently cleared out my doll room to make room for a hobby room. I had over 100 collectable dolls in there but then lost interest in that collection. So far, I haven't been inspired to take advantage of my new hobby room. I haven't crafted anything!