Some Summer crafts

    Time to post! I have made a few things this summer to share..


         I got nostalgic this big birthday year and upgraded my baby book. The black pages were fraying, so I cut out all the photos and put them on new black pages in a new book. I moved quickly with scissors and Aleen's original Tacky Glue. I preserved Mother's white ink and just LOVE it. Some of the photos were so small that I enlarged them to add toward the end. I will fix Joe's next!

          Summer is a time of trips and crafts, so I got out my old books with essays about Winston Churchill's taking up painting.  I even tried to paint David (not easy) with my alkyds (oils with a fast drying resin). I only spent a couple of hours, a few evenings, and there is more to go. "If you don't use a talent, you lose it" I am finding is true. But I will keep trying. So glad to paint again. In that spirit, I mailed to traveling Trilla, A Traveler's Guide to Painting in Watercolors since it is fun to sketch or paint to remember more. Connie says she sketches stick figures rather than takes photos because it makes indelible the moments. I agree. For me, a .05 permanent black marker, water soluble colored pencils and a watercolor brush with a water holder in the handle fill the bill. I scribble and color while Joe drives.

         The girls were playing with gimp but never braiding the old fashioned lanyards I made at camp. Rather than explain, I got more hooks and gimp spools at Ben Franklin. I found I could secure the strings of gimp under the top of a clipboard, keep it in my lap at first and as the lanyard got longer, move the board to a drawer. It was not easy, since the specific long lanyard pattern was not on-line, but I made one and attached a flashlight to it. I improved immensely on Erika's pink and white one...but no photo! There are patterns for gimp keychains, square and diamond patterns on line. Patience is required: a two hour job, I think.

     

           One more thought: Before going to the beach the next time, check out all the tricks for clever and detailed sand sculpture on line at YouTube. I love YouTube and Google! So much to learn, so little time.