Life @ RuffHaven: February 2013

New friends and Spirograph

For the last few weeks I have been reading quite a few "new to me" blogs. One of them is EveryDay Ruralty Patrice has a great personality and a cool talking horse named Wendell.   (here's a carrot for you Wendell. ) One of the features on her blog is her Chats on the Farmhouse Porch. She asks us questions and we get to answer them on our blogs. This reminds me of the memes that used to float around blogland a few years ago. I love link ups like this because it really helps us get to know each other. . Anyway. Here are this weeks questions and my answers. 1. Is there a room in your home that you'd like to redecorate or remodel?    Not this year. I am still recovering from our kitchen remodel last year. I have tons of pictures and I promise to show them to you as soon as I recover from the PTSD.
2. Did you watch the Oscars? NO.    Not interested.
3. How many pair of blue jeans do you own? 10 -12...but only one pair fits. I have been losing weight and I refuse to buy a new pair until I stop shrinking
4. What was your favorite toy as a child? Spirograph !   And I still have mine from 1968 or 1969. I had two and I took very good care of them.    O my gosh......I was a craft hoarder way back then!

oh wow ! Look ! It works! and no batteries either. hee hee

5. If you could visit a country in Europe, which would you choose? Italy. The food. The people. The beautiful scenery. And while I am there I might as well pop over to France too. This was fun Patrice. I hope to visit with you all again next week.

Rainy Day Play

I had garden clean up on my mind this morning ...
but...
Mother Nature convinced me that it would be better to stay inside.

I do have a few unfinished projects but what did I do instead?

Started playing with a new toy.

Its called a knitter's loom.

It's made for quick projects and just perfect for using up your leftover yarns from other projects.

I had some leftover pink angel hair boucle from the scarf

I made for The Pink Scarf Project

and leftover Ombre Chunky cotton and wool blend.

So I decided to see if the two would play well together.

They did !

I love how the cream, tan, and brown toned down the pink.

And since I was only playing, I decided to create a loose selvage.

I wanted more brown to show on the edge and I also wanted a soft organic edge.

I think it turned out great.

Here's a closer look at the edge.

and a closer look at the weave....see it's barely pink.

I think this would look great in blues and browns.

I think a trip to the yarn shop is a great way to spend a rainy evening.

Hope it's nice and dry where you are.

it's never too late

Florida was beautiful this year. I was able to relax and clear my head. I had time to finish a few projects and start a few more. Bosley and I had plenty of one on one time for training and it was amazing to watch him progress each day. The weather was wonderful and the sunsets

......oh the sunsets....

But let me tell ya. When I got home I had one good day and then ...

BLAH

the flu.

I would not wish that beast on my worst enemy.

whew.

I had a lot of time to sleep and rest and when strong enough I turned to the internet.

I got caught up on so many great blogs.

I read all my posts on this blog too....

and realized I missed December 12, 2012.

12/12/12

how could I let that day go by without a post?

12/12/12

will not come around ever in my lifetime.

I posted lists on 10/10/10 and 11/11/11

so I need to complete the set.

well it's never too late to do the things yo should have done.

here it is ......( only 72 days late )

RANDOM

Marianne...

1. is happy

2. enjoys spending time with her friends

3. survived "the change"

4. loves long walks at sunrise

5. watches 4 hours of TV a week

6. is still married to the Lifeguard...and will be...forever

7. realizes her dream sanctuary will always be small and private

8. learned to slow down and did not get any speeding tickets in 2012

9. wants to adopt a cat...hmmmm

10. is on a very strict diet....and it's working ....yay!

11. started weaving again (yes another hobby to share )

12. is seeking balance

FAVORITES

Marianne had a hard time choosing these:

1. color - honey

2. animal - dolphin

3. food - oatmeal

4. drink - water

5. movie - Avatar

6. song - Harvest Moon - Neil Young

7. state - Washington

8. hobby - gardening

9. flower -hydrangea

10. bird - saw whet owl

11. dog - BIG fluffy ones

12. musical instrument - guitar

BUCKET LIST

Marianne would like to:

1. scuba

2. hang-glide

3. build her dream house on a beach

4. volunteer more

5. lose a few more pounds

6. finish all the projects she started

7. find out the truth about her birth and find her birth mother, living or dead

8. learn to play the guitar again

9. write a book about RuffHaven and the joy of saving lives no matter how few

10. renew her wedding vows on a beach

11. love more

12. live more

So that's it

the set is complete.

hope it wasn't too much info.

It's always hard trying to decide how much to share.

Thank you if you read this far.

If you have time and are interested,

I invite you to read my previous lists here :

10/10/10

11/11/11

see you again real soon.

looking back at a cool technique

I am still feeling very very sick. So I thought I would pull up an old post of a technique I shared a few years ago. I hope my new readers will love this and add it to their bag of tricks. I hope to be back to normal next week. I am going back to bed now....Please enjoy this fun re-run.....

**********************************************************************************

You know how sometimes you have a rubber stamp image that goes one way....but you wanted it to go the other way? .....And yes, I know all about mirror image stamps and many other ways to flip the image. But I don't have one of those with me .....and besides....this technique is so cool...

For demonstration purposes I am working on a small notebook from 7Gypsies. I guess I should mention that I am not affiliated with any company or product I show you here on this blog or any of my other blogs...I am just a consumer...a very active consumer...I use a lot of stuff.....I should probably add some type of disclaimer in the sidebar... I am a consumer and an enabler...

...Sorry I got off track didn't I?

ahem...anyway...........here is this cute little notebook after I covered it up with some decorative paper* and some of that lacy paper that I showed you last week.

I even covered the cute little pockets on the inside

I need to put that bird image* on the back of the book...but I want it to face

the other direction
Here is where the varnish comes to the rescue....

but first I have to tell about this....

here is another favorite product....acetate

some artists and crafters call it window plastic

No I am not going to use the acetate...

I am going to use the sheer tissue protective sheets that are in between the sheets of acetate

They put them in there to keep the acetate from sticking together.

I guess some people throw them away

But not us crafty types....

We use everything

so... here I have my stamp, the tissue paper and the ink.

water based inks will run, so use a pigment or hybrid ink

Stamp the image on the tissue

Slather some varnish on your project where you want your image to end up.
~ see the shiny wet varnish...

lay the tissue paper with the image

FACE DOWN

so the image is reversed

pat it down a bit and

gently tear away the excess tissue.

hard to see in the pic...but I am gently tearing...see

now gently use your brush to smooth it down

be careful ...it is wet and it will tear

so tap tap tap

gently

I folded the excess tissue on the edge around to the inside.

See......reversed image !

and it's transparent.... look....you can still see the script on the decorative paper

This technique is great for altered books and journals

as long as you have time to wait for it to dry.

And of course it's great for collage

edited to show you the completed book:

I used a gold leafing pen on the edges

page edges before:

page edges after gold leaf

front

back

see you soon....

*the bird stamp is from Crafty Individuals and is made by Magenta in Canada

* the decorative paper is from Prima Marketing Pastiche Collection " Seaside"

be your own valentine first

Always remember to love yourself first. Sit down and list 10 things you love about yourself.

Then go gather your Valentine Spirit and spread the love around.

Happy Valentines Day !

Sew I hate it.

I am stitching on the binding and realize I really really hate it.
I have one side and one corner done. I think I need to remove it and go with the backing fabric.

Sometimes this process can be frustrating.
What do you think?

29 Faces - Marty, Sheldan and Ringo

In order to keep up as the days fly by I am going to have to post more than one face at a time.
Today I would like you to meet this happy trio from some far away places...Mars, Neptune and Saturn.
These faces were inspired by random stuff on my desk.

29 Faces - Phil

Today's face was sketched on strathmore cold press watercolor paper with a ball point pen that lives in our desk drawer.
In keeping with my series of faces from places...Phil lives in Pennsylvania. I was inspired by today's bing photo.
There is a button on my sidebar that will take you to the list of artists playing along in this challenge.