Happy Birthday, Don!

We had a great day at Karen's today. She provided us with coffee, tea, and goodies to munch on.

Each of us seemed to be working on something different today. April was getting ready for a book mark making class at her church. Karen was working on cards. Pinky was working on her crochet rag rug and then April talked her into making a little monster book mark. She is holding it in the pic of her. Jan was working on a newly started beaded piece. Mary was making a couple of crochet dish cloths.

Today is Karen's husband, Don's, birthday and we all sang him Happy Birthday on his special day. He brought us up some pics of him and his band from the 60's...a pretty handsome fellow.

We are meeting next week at Mary's. April talked to us a bit about a challenge that sounds really interesting and challenging. We are all up for it!

Laughing At Jan's Till We Cry...

Pictures:

#1 Jan's hand made raven stamp. (we are hoping to do a workshop on these)

#2 April's hand made gift box

#3 Left...Pinky Center...Cathy Right...Karen

#4...Mary's Answered Prayer Box (used old wooden thread spools for the legs & antler button)

#5...Jan's Vintage Family Portrait Box (used old family portraits for top, inside, and front)

#6...April's Box (used bronze wood beads for legs, elegant papers, and ribbons)

#7...Pinky's Stash Box (used letter beads, wooden bead legs, hand made papers)

#8...Karen's Raven Box (used a card sister, Lyla, made for the top, unique papers, and cut out ravens for decoration)




Today was one of those days. One thing led to another and we were laughing big time and so much that tears appear...the best medicine a doctor can recommend.

Thank you, Jan, for such a nice day. The muffins were wonderful, the coffee yummy, and the friendship amazing...

We all brought our cigar box challenges to share. Pinky gave us all small cigar boxes to alter. It was so much fun to see what each one did with theirs. I know that three of them had crows/ravens on them. I thought that was interesting... Take a look at the pictures to see what each of us did with our individual boxes...very fun.

We had special guests today. Cathy Otto was with us and so was Gwen Jarvela. It was just fun to visit with them both and do some catching up. Cathy was working on a hat for herself and Gwen brought a sketch pad and sketched most of the time she was with us.

Jan gave us each some wooden beads to use as legs on this cigar project or ,maybe, a future one. Thanks, Jan!

Jan was working on a special project, making little booklets...April was making hand made boxes out of scrapbooking papers...Pinky was working on a crocheted rug...Karen was working on cards, and Mary was working on Valentines. We all were on a roll...

See you next week at Pinky's on the Long Beach Peninsula!

We're All Here!

Tuesday was another great day with the five of us physically, and Lyla...our co-partner in crime...long distance. We are so happy Karen is joining us again and feeling better each day.

Jan did the hostessing and served us her wonderful muffins to get us off to a good start. She also showed us two or three different online demonstrations of using different inks and making your own stamps. All of it inspired us to have a workday next Tues., here at my house, working with new paints and stamps, embossing, and heat guns. We are excited!

Pinky brought us all little cigar boxes...here we go again. It is to be a challenge, but we have awhile to work on them...no rules :>)) Make something from the cigar box...that is it! It needs to be done by Nov. 22. The last one like this was sooo fun and all were so different. That is what is fun about putting 6 different personalities together making art...super!

The pictures are top left...Jan showing us her latest project...a fantastic quilt using a method of doing one 12" square at a time, sandwiching them, and finally...putting it all together. It is just beautiful. Double click on it to see the detail.

Top right is Karen working on some cards and writing notes with them.

Next is April's Alaska journal she is working on. It will be a keepsake for her to look back on for many years. I know Amber will enjoy reading through it when she gets home at Christmas.

Mary and Pinky were working on crochet. Pinky worked on her rag rug in greens, beiges, browns and Mary was working on some wash cloths.

All in all...it was another too fast day and it was time to head home. The time always goes too fast for all of us! We did solve some problems of the world while we were together :>))

Pinky is working on finishing her burgundy rag rug. She was having some trouble with it curling. It really is tricky keeping the rug so that it doesn't curl or twist. She referred to it as a creeping banana slug. There was a suggestion that she should put a $600 price tag on it and put it in a gallery :>)) When I was making mine, it started curling and I made it into a bag! OK...do what works...

April has already made a beautiful rag rug in purples and teals and is now beginning a matching rug that will go in her bathroom by the toilet. This is a bit of a challenge to figure out how to make the parts that will go on each side. She is pretty good at figuring out these things. She enjoyed visiting with Kate. April didn't have to drive Micheal today, so got to stay a little longer and that is always fun!

April Working on Her Rag Rug...

The double pic of Karen is supposed to be April! Boy...you can sure tell I am back from Arizona!!! :>))

The next pic is of Mary's rag rug gone wrong...now a purse/bag...who would every guess! As I was working on my rug, it started curling up and made itself into a bag! No kidding!

Hey girls...we all had such a fun day yesterday. I enjoyed every minute. It was so fun watching April spend her birthday money!...very fun. Today is her actual birthday and we wish her a very happy day.

We Tried Crocheting a Rag Rug...Fun!

April and Jan had taken a class to make crocheted rag rugs and helped us all get started on one of our own. It is really different than working with yard, but very fun.

Pic #1 & 2 Jan is showing us her new needle felting machine. As you can see...it is very light. Jan used her regular machine to sew together the strips that Pinky was using to start her rug. Pinky, April, and Mary helped rip the sheets to make the strips.

Pic #3 is of Jan and Karen trying to get serious about starting their projects. Note that Karen is not crocheting!...I think she likes that as much as I like knitting socks :>))

Pic #4 is of April's circle rug in 3 colors. It just looks fantastic. She tells us it takes ripping two - three sheets to make a full rug...more if you want it really big. I think hers looks great! I thought I had the pic of Jan's heart shaped one on her, but see it didn't get posted. I will try to put it on the next post.

Pic #5 is April teaching Pink how to crochet. The rest of us had done some, but I sure needed some refreshing and Pinky was just learning. She was doing fantastic!

As usual, it was a fun day together. You couldn't ask for a nicer bunch of friends.