Friday Finish and Fun!

This weekend we got to enjoy time at the beach and time with Nick. He loved visiting his Great Aunt,  especially her new puppy. And of course there is nothing better than exploring the beach with Nick.

It was a beautiful day on the beach and lots of sailboats enjoying the breeze. Grandpa and Nick were being silly.

Nick found a shell tree and added his own shells.

And he loved exploring the beach, he even found some glass for me and a few hidden crabs.

And we had a nice haul, lots of larger pieces too and some fun new shapes.

And that gave me inspiration to make some new things. I used a couple of the larger pieces of glass and painted some nautical designs on them. I used acrylic paint and a coat of gloss over the design to protect them. I left the rest alone, so the frosted glass shows. I like the idea of mounting the larger pieces and working on some ideas for ornaments I can give as gifts.

And used some of the rocks to paint more smile rocks. We will be hiding them this week, when we go camping. If you want to know more about my group, you can visit at DSmiles4Miles on Facebook. The heart rocks are something fun and easy, that anyone can do.

And after all that work of hunting on the beach, we took a swim. Nick loved bobbing up and down on the waves. We will be camping locally, our cat sitter isn't feeling well, so we will stay close to home. That way we can come back every day to take care of the kitties. I hope you all have a wonderful week.

Friday Finishes and Finds!

This week seemed to fly by, I had lots of plans and didn't get as much accomplished, but I was able to do a few things. I think the heat is getting to me, and it is continuing into next week. Of course we may get showers finally, right at the same time as the boys belated birthday party, lol.

One good thing is the first of the month and a new stitchery from Kathy Schmitz's club. I decided to do some more lavender sachets and I kept them simple, omitting the extra stitching in the basket and some outer pieces.

One I did with pearl cotton and one I did with DMC variegated red. I think I like the red best, the blue is a bit light, but fine for a sachet that I will be hiding in my wool.

I also got out over the weekend to hunt for glass. We found a lot the first day, and we spent 4 hours looking, and I had my helpers. I even found an old rusty hook, not sure what I will do with it. If you look towards the bottom left, you will see a face rock, complete with 3d nose and a smile, that will be fun to paint.

The next day I found less, but some nice pieces and the big rock at the top will be an owls head. I ended up throwing away the piece of bottle, too new and it was cracked and sharp, so not worth keeping.

And as you can see from the first photo, I used some of my rocks. I did some simple ones this time and the hearts were a design I saw on a cookie. The problem is, I was supposed to make the stripes in the opposite direction and my brain went backwards, but they still turned out, ok.

The chick and dog came from the first finds. I have the others ready to go, but wanted to finish a few this week and I can do some more, next week. One the back I write my group name, DSmiles4miles and ask them to smile at the next person they see, that is the payment for finding and keeping the rock. I am hoping to get a large batch made, then when it cools down, I can hide some on our walks and maybe take some on vacation.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. The boys had to postpone their birthday in May, so they are finally getting a party. And Bean is on house rest, though he seems to be getting back to his old self. He injured his leg and had an inflamed tendon, so no jumping for now.

Friday Finish!

This week, a few new patterns were uploaded on Cheri's facebook page. Even though she is no longer with us, she has given permission for others to keep the group going. I saw this pattern and knew I had to do it for the boys.

I changed it a little to make two boys, one was a girl. Then I put their names above the boy, that depicts them. Alex who is the happy, smiley boy and Nick who is always giving me that smart alec smirk.

I used Bills jeans and the green shirting is from their dad's old shirt, when he was younger, so it is a memory pillow, as well. The finished size is 7" x 11".

We also did some beach combing this week. We didn't get the full tides, but still found lots of treasures. The ones on the right are from our local dog beach, lots of craft glass, but some nice sea glass too. The ones on the left are from the island, a lot of smaller pieces but a few large ones.

I was able to find some tiny bits of glass, to finish my Love piece. It isn't what I imagined, so I will try some on wood, next. I like the way I can age wood, hard to do on canvas and this was a small one,  only 4". I realized that the glass shifted a bit and went off the line, the result of moving it too soon. It was good practice and I wanted to see how tacky glue would work, which was great for this project. I also sprayed a high gloss over the piece.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. It is a holiday I avoid, so I am hoping the rain doesn't last and we can get out for some walks on the beach.

Weekend finish and finds!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter weekend. I woke up sick yesterday so no dinner with the family, Bill and I took it easy and he took me to the beach for a little while. There is nothing like fresh air and hunting for glass, to take my mind off my misery.

It is also a new month which means a new stitchery from Kathy Schmitz, from her One Stitch at a Time Club. I still need some more sachets, so I made another with this design to place with my wools. It was nice to have something small to keep my hands busy while I rested.

Of course I got out for some more glass hunting. It is the best time with all the winter storms and before the crowds hit the beaches. We did have the kids over on Saturday for a fish fry, and when it was time to go to church I opted to stay home, I guess I was getting hit with the bug and didn't realize it. But, I enjoyed the time with the kids and beach combing, so it was still a good weekend.

The two larger rocks at the bottom left are green, one is a lime shade and one an olive, but the years of tumbling has made them dark to the eye, but you can see the colors when they are held up to the light. You would be surprised at how many I find, just laying on the ground, people do not realize it is glass, especially with the brown. The yellow glass was a rare find for me.

Monday Finish and Finds!

This past week I was working on some small stitcheries offered by Theodore Cleave. She lists free stitcheries from time to time and I still have to make my garden ladies into a quilt.

This was one of those stitcheries and I reduced it, so I could make some small lavender pillows to put in my wool boxes, yes, I have quite a few of them. This was fun and quick to do and I did two different types. One is basic stitching and the other I colored. I think the coloring makes them fun. I use Faber Castell watercolor markers. They go on nicely, are steadfast and archival.

These would make nice gifts for friends too, especially filled with lavender. You can find this and other freebies on Theodore's Blog, by typing in free in the search box. This one is found on the second set of blog posts.

This weekend I was planning on starting my new paintings, but life got in the way, lol. Saturday Bill had to work, so we went to the beach in the morning which was perfect, since the tide was low. I got a nice stash of glass and a few stones, upper left pile in the photo. Then they cancelled, so we could have gone out again, but I was too tired. Sunday they cancelled again, so this time we went to the island for more beach combing. The problem was, there were scattered clouds, so one minute the sun was out, the next it was snowing. It was a bit tougher with the wind and snow, but with no one at the beach, we were able to find lots of old glass and stones. This time we dug into the piles of stones and found some nice ones hidden underneath. The piles on the lower, left and right, are from Sunday. The larger rocks are for painting on.

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and hopefully Spring will be here to stay.

Weekend finish and collecting!

I always love the first of the month, a new stitchery design from Kathy Schmitz and BOM's. I have been collecting some, but don't really have the time to do them all.

I have bags of lavender and decided it was time to make a couple of sachets to put in my wool boxes. I have some in already and when I open the wool it smells fresh, in the ones without, it is a bit musty smelling. I think lavender is the best for keeping the moths away and for the smell.

This is the design for this month, I kept it as is and simple, since they are going into boxes and won't be seen. They also worked up quickly, I actually finished the first and did the other and sewed them up after dinner.

This weekend was still a bit windy and on Saturday a chance of showers. I wasn't going to let that stop me, it was low tide and after a storm, the best time to beach comb. The bad thing was, it did rain for short periods, the wind was blowing us around and the tide was higher than usual, so I couldn't get to the rocks at the edge, without getting my feet drenched.

I did find some nice glass though, and lots of small rocks to play with. On Sunday we went for a ride and decided to walk along another beach. I found the perfect beach for small pebble rocks. The shoreline has several steep drop offs, so when the tide is out, there are piles of rocks, so I will definitely go back when it is warmer and I can pick through them better. I also found some small pieces of glass.

The first photo, upper left, has the small rocks and glass, as well as shells, I found on the second beach. The rocks to the right are from the first beach and below left is the glass I found on that beach, after the storm. Then I made up some small things for fun, to show you what you can do with them. Now I need to sit down and come up with some fun pictures to make with them.