Pool Party!

 

I was watering the garden the other morning when I decided to fill Jemma's pool. I figured she could use a cool dip, and maybe it would clean her up, too.

Her friend, Lexi, was on her morning walk with our neighbor, and decided to make it a pool party!

They took turns dipping their paws in the pool. Lots of tail wagging and pouncing!

And when they had enough of the pool, they went and laid in the cool shade of the garden. Smart girls!

Summertime fun!

Pushing Back Against Consumer Culture

 

Let's face it. We live in a day where we are being told to buy! buy! buy! and spend! spend! spend! from every corner. It is hard to resist. We see an Instagram post, or an advertisement, or a magazine photo, or an email, and suddenly, we've fallen down a rabbit hole of images.

It is tough to walk into a store and tell yourself "I'm only buying what's on my list today." But wait! New fall décor! And pumpkin spice everything!

I went to the store to buy groceries last night, and came home with new tennis shoes.

The struggle is real.

I try to find ways to curb the spending. Those sweet little ivory Longaberger pottery bowls are one example. I found them at the thrift store last week, and I think I paid $5 total. My family uses these little sized bowls all the time, so I knew they'd be a good investment. And five bucks? I can't buy a coffee at Starbucks for that cheap!

I love to visit my local library, but I rarely visit bookstores. If I can snag a used book at a great price, I will. And I will pass them along when I'm done with them.

Used stamps and dies and craft supplies? Yes! 

I often see folks who purchase new décor for every season. Why? Have pumpkins really changed in one year?

Clothing is SO expensive in the stores. I get the majority of my clothes from Thred Up and Poshmark.

So thrifting is my jam. But even though it is thrifted, I'm still spending money...just not as much.

I've been known to get a little too excited about craft supplies. A new release! Must have! 

But sometimes, I can slow my impetuous side down long enough to say "Do I really need that? Don't I have plenty of _______________ that I can use instead?"

I have a lot of fall/autumnal stamps and dies and papers. But those new releases are always so tempting!

Instead of giving in to the temptation, I decided to pull out what I have. This card is an example.

Coffee and pumpkins and leaves. This may not be the newest model, but it's close enough!

Enjoying what I have. Giving thanks for the many blessings. Drinking a home-brewed cup of coffee with a good book. 

I can love peeks of the new while still appreciating the old.

Just a few thoughts for a Tuesday.

A Care Package for a Friend

 

The third time's the charm, as they say! Yes, I went back to the book sale for a third time on Saturday, and scored another stack of great deals and fun finds. 

This sweet little book caught my eye. Joan Walsh Anglund was a famous author and illustrator in her day. Her drawings are precious. I knew I had to get this for a friend who would appreciate it, so I'm putting together a little care package to send in the mail.

This card came together quickly, thanks to more pre-stamped images that I found in the storage sleeve.

I had the idea to use the curved sentiment along the curved pumpkin garland. It fit perfectly. I think this makes a fun little tableau of almost-autumn images.

{Today's Brew: Bless This House stamps and dies (Catherine Pooler), Something for Everyone sentiments (CP), CP inks and papers, CP twine, Hello Bluebird deckle frame die}

Autumn items are creeping in to the stores. Have you seen anything new and trending this season?

Summer Reading...done, and ongoing

 

I signed up for our local library's summer reading program in June. It was fun! I logged the books I finished reading into the program, and I even won a gift card to my favorite cafe. Yay! The program officially ends today, and I managed to read ten books in that two month time span. Not bad!

I read library books and I also read books from my own shelves. And in that time frame, I managed to shop at TWO Half Price Books stores and visited a local book sale, which just added to my my TBR list!

The local book sale is held 3 or 4 times a year at the farm council grounds, and this week was the summer sale. It is so much fun to browse through all the tables of books. They do a great job of organizing, too. On the first day of the sale, all the books are $4. And the next three days, the books are $2 each.

I've been to the sale twice, and may have to go back today for one last scan.

I'm going to continue reading from my summer pile for a few more weeks, and when I'm done, I will share some of my favorites.

A Thank You from My Present Self to My Past Self

 

I needed to make an autumnal coffee card, so I pulled out one of my all-time favorite Catherine Pooler stamp sets. 

And guess what? When I looked in the sleeve where it is stored, I found all kinds of pre-stamped images, ready to use.

Thank you, past self! You saved me the time and trouble of having to choose ink colors and die cut all off those little images.

I need to remember to do this more often. As long as I'm on a roll, cutting and stamping, it really makes sense to make some extras while it is all out.

I also had a pre-stamped background in a pile, ready to use. And some pre-cut banner dies, ready to add a sentiment.

I added the "pumpkin spice" sentiment from Hello Bluebird, some ink splattering, a few sequins. Done!

And while I was adding that sentiment, I stamped and cut a few more to have on hand. After all, pumpkin spice season is just around the corner!

Butterflies and Ink Blending

 

I played around with ink blending recently. I started with watercolor paper and Catherine Pooler inks stamped directly onto a big acrylic block. Next, I used chunks of crumpled up plastic grocery bags, smooshed them into the ink on the block, and then smooshed them onto the paper. After smooshing, I sprayed a light mist of water over the whole panel (CP inks are water reactive). When this was dry, I stamped on top using this old classic Wildflowers stamp set from Papertrey Ink.

I flicked a little coppery watercolor over the whole thing, then added the butterfly.

I like how this one turned out. Simple, but elegant.

The butterflies have been really active, finally! Last year was not a great year for butterfly visitors, but I'm seeing a lot more this season.

 

I've had swallowtails and monarchs, too. Beautiful! They really love the butterfly bush, whereas the bees seem to prefer the coneflower.

I find myself adding butterflies to a lot of my cards lately. It must be the season.

Blessings!

The Frog Lady

 

It started with the frog statues that I inherited from my step Mom-in-law's garden a few years ago. Shirley Ann had a LOT of frogs that needed homes after she moved into assisted living. I took a few, and gave a few to my son, John for his garden, too.

And then I decided to add the frog garden flag and doormat. And maybe a few new frog statues, too.

Overnight, I became the frog lady. How do these things happen? Slowly. One frog at a time.

My son, John, found these new froggy items at Hobby Lobby and knew I'd have to have them.

So cute! (Hi, Jemma!)

But wait, there's more!

John has taken up stained glass, a new hobby he's trying with his new lady friend. He made this one for me:

I love it! It reminds me of the Frog and Toad Together books.

I'm calling him St. Frog, the patron saint of lawn mowing.

I haven't seen the tree frog that normally visits my garden every year. Maybe I've scared him away with all the BIG frogs. I hope not.

Do you have an animal that seems to make it into your collection?