The Kindness of Fellow Bloggers

This arrived in my email box earlier this week from a fellow blogger:

"Hi, Cheryl... Just wanted to check in to see if all is okay.  Haven't heard from you for a while and was a bit worried."

Receiving that message reminded me of two things:
1. I can't let my blog go when things get busy around here, and
2. The friends I've made through this blog over the years are the BEST!

Somehow, time seems to have sped up since we returned from our road trip last month. First there was Easter.

I have no idea why I felt compelled to make 23 Easter baskets, but I did. So no blogging that week! While going through the Easter stuff, I came upon this old photo of my sisters and I all dressed up for Easter 1954. Do you remember that we all wore "Spring coats", hats and gloves on Easter? And corsages, of course.

Andi, Nancy & Cheryl, Newington, CT,  Easter 1954
"The Stunning Smith Sisters"

The week after Easter, was spent with our grandchildren. They live in Brooklyn, NY and love to come to Maine. Our granddaughter wanted to "do crafts" so here's what we did together.

Do you remember weaving potholders as a kid? My sisters and I would weave them by the hour and then either give them as gifts or try to sell them to the neighbors for 25 cents each.  Happy memories. Our granddaughter picked it up quickly and made lots of potholders to take home!

After a week with kids (fun but exhausting!), we decided to take a quiet ride up the coast of Maine for a couple of days. just to get away.

We love the mid-Coast so that's where we headed, stopping to visit friends along the way.  Our Searsport friends have goats. The baby (above) is only 12 weeks old and so cute. When she cries for her mother, she sounds just like a human baby.

Our friends also own a campground. I've offered to help out the past few years ordering and organizing the campground store. The floor is freshly painted and it looks beautiful now - just very empty. So, I've been busy getting ideas from places like Pinterest and Etsy for things we need to order asap.

I love to make things, decorate, shop, and hit the flea markets so thinking of ideas for things to sell and unique ways to display them is actually fun for me. But it has been another distraction that's kept me from blogging.

While we were on out getaway, we stopped for our first fried clams of the season. So good! And, just for old time's sake, we shared a root beer float to go with them. Delicious! Sadly, my Weight Watchers meeting was the day after we got back. Those clams cost me two pounds that I have to get off this week but they were so worth it!

On the way home, we stopped at an antique shop we like. Being downsized I try not to buy much these days but I couldn't resist these four M.A. Hadley Berry plates. I've collected M.A. Hadley since I worked part-time at the Yankee Peddler Country Store in Connecticut when my kids were little. They sold her hand painted pottery and I coveted it. I couldn't afford even one piece then so now I can't help treating myself to it once in awhile.

When we got home, I found yet another reason to put off catching up on my blog: I decided to start digitizing the thousands of slides we had stored away from our college graduation through our children's early childhoods. Remember the boxes of Carousels that seemed so high-tech back in the day? Again, I have no idea what possessed me to do this now.

But I did find this neat little Kodak Scanza on Amazon. It converts Old 35mm, 126, 110, Super 8 & 8mm Negatives & Slides to JPEG Digital Files that are saved on an SD card. Since it costs 40-50 cents a slide to have this done professionally, I figured the purchase would be well worth it. When I finish (if ever!), I'll put all of the photos on thumb drives for my children and sisters. 

And in my spare time, I purchased three trees at the local nursery (that's another story) and set up the deck (finally - we've had NO Spring in New England this year!),

Having shared all that, I still feel bad that I've let this blog go for so long. But I also feel grateful to have such good blog friends, who, although we've never met in person, share their lives with me as I share mine with them. 

And who take the time to ask if I'm OK when I haven't posted in awhile. We may live across the country from one another and differ in more ways than we know, but we are friends. 

And that means the world to me!

This post is linked to:

Grandma's House Link Party # 138 at Chas' Crazy Creations

10 Beautiful Things to Have In Your Craft Room

"Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."              ~William Morris

Welcome back to my craft room!

In my last post I had some fun thinking about the perfect craft space. I looked around my own craft room and came up with a "Top 10 List" of items in it that I find to be the most useful. Today I'm thinking about how to make a craft space so beautiful that it inspires you to sit right down and start making something.  So, here's my . . .

Top 10 List of Inspirational Items to Have in Your Craft Space:

1. Natural light

You can't top this one. Not only does natural light help us to see what we're doing (and at my age, that's becoming more important!), it allows us to really appreciate color and texture.  In addition to a big window, my craft room has a skylight located right above my work table.

 Ott light over my sewing machine

If you don't have the luxury of natural light in your craft space, or if you do a lot of work at night, an Ott light may be able to provide you with task lighting that approximates natural daylight.

2. Color



I believe in surrounding yourself with your favorite colors. I love orange and turquoise, my friend Mary Elizabeth loves pink . . . our personal spaces reflect the colors we love. Who cares if no one else likes it? Who cares if the rest of the house is "builders' beige"? This is your room; it should make you feel happy and inspired.




3. Words that inspire

I love words and find them both soothing and encouraging as I work in my space.

These words were stenciled on the wall in my sister Nancy's yellow and red Mary Englebreit inspired craft room.

4. Objects found in nature

The shapes and colors found in natural objects inspires a sense of balance and design.

 

This strange looking piece of bark is on my craft shelf because it is shaped like a goat's head (?). Call me crazy but I'm saving it because someday I hope to make something out of it for a friend of mine who owns goats and makes beautiful things from their wool. (Yup . . . you know who you are!)

the view of Casco Bay from the bottom of Applegate Lane always inspires me

5. Things with interesting shapes or textures

Who knows what these things will become . . .  or not?  Right now it is simply their textures and shapes that make me covet them.

 6. Old Things

What can I say besides . . . bring on the rust . . .

and chipped paint, and beautiful wood, and faded lettering, and steampunk goodness!

7. Collections

 Sometimes I think I have too many strange collections lurking in my craft room, but . . . I love them so, there it is.

 

 

 I collect sea glass, buttons, door knobs, sand dollars, rusty tools, old keys, scrabble tiles, beads, vintage postcards, clothespins, tie clips, girl scout patches, miniatures, wooden spools, belt buckles, vintage linens, magnets, children's blocks, vintage Shiny Bright ornaments, old dolls . . .

oh, my!

 

 

I also have quite a collection of Cat's Meow buildings depicting some of my favorite places.

DH attached molding high up on the walls of my craft room so that I can display these without having them in the way when I work.

 

8. Books that teach

 

I love my craft books even more than I love Pinterest. Call me old-fashioned but I like to hold them, come back to them again and again, and have directions and photos right next to me as I work. Thank goodness for my local bookstore and, when that fails, for Amazon Prime.

 

 

9. Things that evoke memories

 

My craft room shelves are chock full of things that bring back happy memories, like this old Patsy doll, with her steamer trunk full of organdy party dresses.

 

 

And my Mom's buttons. Many of them came from clothes she made for my sisters and I when we were children; she would remove the buttons to use again.

 

 

 I love being surrounded by my favorite family photos . . . even the silly ones!

 

 

10. Handmade things

 

Having a few completed projects on display in my craft space reminds me that I really can finish what I start, frustrated as I may get with a project at times.

 

 

And displaying  things that others have made for me just makes me happy when I look at them. This amazing 3-dimensional book was made by fellow blogger, Paula Clare, from Paula's Palace of Altered Art.

 

 

 

So, to recap, here are my Top 10:

 

1. Natural Light

2. Colorful things 

3. Words that inspire

4. Objects found in nature

5. Things with interesting shapes or textures

6. Old Things

7. Collections

8. Books that teach

9. Things that evoke memories

10. Handmade things

 

 

 What are the things that inspire you the most in your creative space?

 

 

 

This post is linked to:

Party Junk at Funky Junk Interiors

Nifty Thrifty Sunday at Nifty Thrifty Things

Weekend Wrap-Up at Tattertots & Jello

Flaunt It Friday at Chic On a Shoestring

Show & Tell Friday at My Romantic Home

Amaze Me Monday at DWELLINGS

 

 

Finding Street Art

Last week, new friend Anita and I took our cameras with us and roamed the back alleys of St. Augustine looking for what we decided to call "Street Art".  Here are a few works of "Street Art" we found along the way...

 

 

 Can you tell what the rusty collage element on this door is?

 

I love the contrast of colors in the windows of this old house.

 

 

Can a fence be art?

 

Maybe our "street art" is a variation on "found art "or even "folk art"..which leads back to the big question:  "What is Art?

 

We decided, for that day anyway, that art was whatever we decided it was and just went with it. As long as we could see it from the street, anything was fair game for our cameras!

 

 

 

 

To me, the window in this garden is just as much a piece of art as the sculpture.

 

 

 An outdoor mural, painted by local children...I love that kids aren't afraid of color.

 

 

 Graphic Art?

 

 

 A mosaic wall on Aviles Street.

 

 

 

 

The Star General Store on the edge of Lincolnville, a section of St. Augustine settled by freed slaves after the Civil War.

 

 

Is this Art?

 

It is to me.

 

How do you "know" art when you see it?