Magazines & Tea

Afternoon tea with peanut butter cookies and honey, and then thirty-three magazines from an antique store for only three dollars. I was walking around with my back leaned out so I could effectively traverse the building without spilling the oversized bundles from my arms. I had to leave them at the front counter so I could continue shopping and not break my back. ♥

Coasters, Coasters, Coasters!

Random crochet projects are perhaps some of my favorites. I get to use every skill I've learned from following patterns, smoosh them all into one, and make something totally unique to me. It's a wonderful feeling to see yourself in your work, and then see others enjoying your work. It's perhaps the biggest compliment in the world to an artist.

Which is exactly what happened not too long ago. I get random urges to crochet coasters. Everyone needs one, and the cats are always kidnapping them and hiding them goodness knows where in the house, so my craft is particularly requested.

I picked the colors without thinking much about it, and when I had crocheted about half of the below coaster, I realized that it matched my sister's bedroom flawlessly. The colors and even the style of it go completely along with everything else in her room, so I decided to let it become a permanent resident on her nightstand. (In fact, many of my creations go to my sister's room. Case and point, a box I decoupaged some time ago that is now used to hold her pencils.)

I must say, it looks very happy there.

When I finished, though, I still had a swig of creative juice left in me. And after a spilling catastrophe on my desk but a day earlier (a swamp of tea slipping across the entire thing, soaking everything possible -- something I call Mother Nature's way of saying, "CLEAN YOUR DESK, YOU LAZY BUM!" which, sadly, worked, resulting in some of my notebooks AND a magazine becoming waterlogged, or, rather, tealogged), I was drink-coaster-less.

So I made myself one! Which always pleases me since I love to make things to decorate my own room. Making things for other people is a blast, but when I can make something that actually works and is attractive for my room, I am in complete bliss.

It goes without saying that coasters are my favorite things to crochet.

Have a wonderful week, my lovely followers! ♥

P.S. What could these possibly be for? ;D

Is there anything better than watching gardens grow?

The Southern Magnolia

Magnolias are perhaps the loveliest symbols of the southern United States -- they are simple, elegant, and clean. Their petals are thick and soft, and so thoughtfully curled that one cannot help but (for me, attempt) to reach for the nearest blossom, marvel that it is bigger than one hand (or in my case, both), and then gladly release the branch and let the bobbing blossom bounce back to its comfortable place among the others.

The magnolia in our front yard, affectionately dubbed Maggie, was never really a big-time bloomer, so it was a pleasant surprise for the entire family to see, a few years ago, even one blossom peeking out from behind her oval-shaped leaves. Then, the next year, there were even more blossoms, and even more the next until finally she erupted in a sort of acne breakout of pure, silky blossoms not long ago. Not only are we pleased, but the bees are as well, if not even more than we are. Every time we look into one of the bowlish flowers, tons of bees can be seen waddling in and out of the petal folds in utter bliss, having a grand old time and not minding us in the slightest.

The South is so beautiful year round. Where I'm at, there's a little bit of everything, and anything else isn't too far away at all to go see. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.

Have a lovely weekend, everyone! ♥

My Last Teen Year

Today was a spectacular 19th birthday~!

I got several wonderful books and new shirts, along with a Ms. Brown M&M mug, some spiced chai tea, and an Avengers poster because I am a girl obsessed!

Now I am tired, smiling, and remembering it all because it was fabulous. The next birthday I have will be my twentieth, and that in and of itself is so hard to believe. I still feel sixteen, and yet here it is, the six turned upside down for my nineteenth. My mother was married when she was twenty, I believe, which is even more surprising when I consider that I am almost that very age. How time does fly, indeed!

Peachy Sunday

It was a lovely Sunday morning. 

I have been itching for the past week to run out to the pond and snap photos of the beautiful lavender-plum colored flower blossoms there, but every time I would plan to go outside, something would keep me inside. It was torture, as I knew every day I spent not getting pictures of them was a day closer to them not being there at all, wilting away into the still water below. So when my family went into the front yard this morning, I dove for the nearest charged batteries, snagged my camera and flip flops, and made a beeline for the pond. 

Needless to say, I am very content now.

I wandered about the yard then, looking for something that begged to be immortalized in my digital film. At first glance, there was very little, but then I was confronted with the peach trees. Now, whether or not the peaches were ready to be picked or not, I don't know, but the little guy in charge of making the fruit should be fired because there was SO MUCH fruit on the trees that the two of them were bending, and one had even snapped a huge branch right off the upper trunk. The wood was all peeled away like a fruit tree hangnail. 

Thinking of my piggies and their needs of munching and crunching (and not wanting good fruit to go wasted!), I snagged a basket from inside the house and returned with the intention to fill it. I did, and it weighs quite a lot, making it a hassle to pick up because the threat of falling fruit onto one's feet is always there! Though furry peaches would be far from deadly. Perhaps it would have been if the handle of the basket had snapped off, but it didn't, so that made me happy. Though, the basket did creak and moan as I lugged it from tree to tree and up the front porch. It was stuffed to the hilt with any peaches that did not have brown rot all over them, which turned out to be a lot in my eyes, but very little compared to the amounts of fruit WITH the brown rot on the trees. Those were not wasted either, however, for we threw them into the chicken yard. The hens hid in a corner for quite some time, not even venturing out to see just what was falling from the sky. But when I glanced over my shoulder a while later, I saw them chasing whichever lucky one happened to have a peach in her beak. The worms would have a rest today, at least. 

And then, as if this wasn't adventure enough, my mom brought our Saint Bernard out for a bath. Sitting in the shade of the magnolia, I photographed the water running down the huge dog feet, and relished in the shots of her shaking...though they did not come out very well. Much to my dismay.

But Sunday is not done yet! It is only 3 pm, and there are many more hours of daylight waiting to reveal possible picture moments. I shall be ready, staring out my bedroom window, camera in hand.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone! And an even better Monday morning! (Okay, that's asking for it, but a nice cup of coffee will cheer you up, right?)

P.S. I'd like to say hello, welcome, and thank you to all of my lovely new followers and random commenters! You all make blogging worthwhile!

Merry Mother's Day~!

 

I began what is perhaps one of my best decoupaged cards yesterday evening, spending quite some time planning and designing the perfect Mother's Day card. After going through three magazines (Better Homes & Gardens to be exact) and spending two hours chopping up, arranging, and pasting pictures to my folded card, this beauty emerged.

I have always loved decoupage. My grandmother got me into the art. She used to give my sister and me small boxes and some old magazines (Goodness knows she had enough to spare. She collected magazines!), then tell us to decorate the inside of the box as the perfect house. She would then give me and my sister some scissors and glue, and we two little girls would have at it. We'd cut out pictures of the most expensive and fancy sofas, kitchen sets, elegant four-poster beds, lamps, anything! After selecting the furniture, we'd glue it all in and use the little flaps on the inside bottom of the box as walls separating one room from another. And then, one day, our boxes were upgraded into full-fledged cardboard houses that our grandma bought just for us. We went wild. (In fact, that most likely spawned my love for decorating, but that's another story for another time.)

Aside from letting her granddaughters wreak havoc on magazines to paste the cut-out pictures everywhere, my grandma was quite the advanced decoupager herself. She has decoupaged just about everything imaginable, including a pair of blue earrings sitting in my jewelry box -- they're some of my favorites. She made this magnificent blue necklace with huge decoupaged wooden beads once, and it was so pleasantly heavy around one's neck. Truly magnificent. I never really understood how she did it.

My decoupaging work is far less fabulous (as is my crochet work) than hers, but that does not keep me from eying old magazines in thrift and antique stores with a blatant intent to chop up. I mainly decoupage cards, but I have other projects waiting to be finished that I must say are rather fantastic in their own right. Well, at least by my standards. I shall have to show you all some time. -winks-

At this moment my desk is still covered in chopped up bits of paper and some leftover pictures that I had planned to use, but they just didn't work out for my card. They'll go in a little folder with the rest of my may-use-later scraps. I will paste them on something one of these days!

Have a wonderful Mother's Day all you mothers and daughters! Kick back, eat some chocolate, get your feet rubbed, and watch the Avengers! Or Thor. Or Captain America. Cute guys everywhere. -laughs loudly-

It's a guinea pig buffet!

Have a great weekend! ♥

When Mother Nature is Angry...

...she controls no element of her fury. No gust of wind from her raging mouth is guarded, no flush of emotion powdered from her face, no electricity veiled behind her eyes. There are no lies with nature -- she is straightforward and truthful, never allowing the excuse of never knowing what was on her mind.

I took these pictures the other day when my family and I were on the lake. One part of a storm had just rolled through, but part two was on the way. We no more than got on the water and we soon were rushing back to the launching ramp to avoid any possible lightning. Nothing severe hit while we were there, so it was quite refreshing to be out when the air was chilly and full of rain above.

Have a great week everyone!