Cleaned My Stencil
It took over an hour, but I finally got the dried spackling (Sp?) removed from my Black Birds in Tree Stencil!
I cleaned it by gently brushing it with a medium and soft stencil brush, and then use a needle awl to clean the tiny crevices. One of the things I love about StencilGirl Stencils is their durability. I have been happily using, and abusing, this stencil for over four years now!!!
It's happening right now! Giant stencil savings - 25%! Freebies too!
Check Out My Stencil Sale HERE
{Save 40%} Store Wide Sale!!!
Black Friday thru Cyber Monday Sale!!!
It's that time of year, and I'm passing the blessings along to you! As a special bonus I'm running this sale through November 30th! Like many of you I get paid twice per month, so I'm running this sale through the 30th so that you don't miss out on this wonderful opportunity!
This sale includes ALL available online classes, ebooks, DVD's, artwork, art cloth, and more!
Cockle Burr Season is Here!
Oliver was supposed to get a bath last night, that didn't happen.
What was supposed to be bath time ended up an hours long panicked filled session of removing cockle burrs from Oliver's left eye, ears, nose, mouth, etc. The one on his eye was the worst as tit was matted into his eyebrow hair and onto his face beneath the eye.
Notice the hack job on his left eyebrow. The right one will get trimmed when John gets home from work this evening, and the left one neatened up.
Oliver was in full panic mode trying to dig the burr out with his foot. I finally got him into a bear hug position so John could work on removing the burr.
John finally removed enough of the burr that I could use my Tim Holts craft scissors (Oliver won't let me near him with standard scissors) to cut the fur away, rather than try to fish out the tiny bits of burr. Our efforts to remove the burr bits was only upsetting him even more, to the point that he was growling at me.
Burrs are all gone now, I'll be going out to remove the cockle burr plant and dispose of it someplace where he cannot get into it again, and Ollie will get his bath tonight.
Been a Little Busy
And just a little bit more than distracted. Had a health scare, not going to go into details, which pretty much shut me down emotionally and mentally. First rounds of tests yesterday came up with everything being just fine.
So I did what I do best when these sorts of things creep up, I started this botanical piece. Second round of tests are on Monday, I should have final results next week on said health issue, praying that the whole event was a one time thing only.
Breathing isn't Always Easy!
So sometimes we need a little help to do so, unfortunately my health insurance company, Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, doesn't think that I need my medication, so I'm screwed!
If you have asthma, or know someone who has asthma then you can see I have two days left.
My pharmacy Hyvee Drugtown wants $299 for one months supply of Arnuity Ellipta asthma inhaler. At the encouragement of my Facebook friends I called around to see if I could get a better price. Yes I have the coupon but the pharmacies are telling me that they cannot accept it if my insurance company won't pay for the inhaler, although the wording on the coupon says otherwise.
So here's the break down in pricing:
- $437.99 CVS
- $299.00 Hyvee Drugtown Pharmacy
- $195.96 Medicap Pharmacy
- $193.00 Walgreens
- $184.23 Walmart Pharmacy
- $168.96 NuCara Pharmacy
Now I wait for my doctor to once again send in prior authorization paperwork to the insurance company in hopes they will approve my prescription. So much for cadillac health insurance.
UPDATE:
PRAISE GOD!!! Sam's Club wins the day!!! $83.50 AND they WILL honor the $100 coupon, per month, for twelve months! Gotta drive 28 miles to get it but what the heck!
Life is Good Again
Today was the third day in a row that I actually left the house, I mean left and went and had an hour long lunch with my best friend Brenda! And then we went for a ride afterwards too look at all of the beautiful red and golden leaves.
And then it occurred to me that the reason I hadn't been leaving the house, or working in my wet studio that's in the basement was because of Pepper. The constant worry of will he fall down the stairs (seventeen steps), or fall off of the bed, the table, a chair, so on and so forth.
The worry and the stress was real. Taking care of a geriatric pet who cannot tell you what's going on health wise is, well, stressful.
I even spent time in my garden, for the first time in two months, this afternoon.
I'm sad that he's passed, but the stress of knowing I can go on a day trip now, without something horrible happening to him while I'm gone, has been relieved.
Btw the fact that I was house bound was driving my husband John nuts! I couldn't explain to him why I didn't want to leave. And there were times when I questioned his desire to not be home, to spend hours mindlessly shopping. Subconsciously it was because I didn't want to leave Pepper alone, in case he got hurt while I was away.
On Sacred Ground Live Stream
WIP's On Sacred Ground
Shot a live stream this evening, and forgot to announce it on my blog and in my newsletter. My bad. Anyway, I streamed for an hour about the techniques I'm using to create this series, and did manage to get a large chunk of hand stitching to the piece on the left done.
You can watch a recording of the live stream in my Facebook Group Almost Stitched!
Good Bye Old Friend
We buried Pepper in the back yard tonight, about four feet south of where we buried Angel, under the cherry tree. I placed a tobacco offering in his little grave, John wrapped him up in his hospice towel and that was that. Rest in eternal slumber.
So Excited!
At the Marsh No.'s 1 & 2 where accepted into Iowa Crafts: 43 at the MacNider in Mason City, Iowa!
The show will be on exhibit from November 3rd, 2017 until January 9th, 2018.
RIP Pepper
2001 - 2017
No, no stairs for you!
Making sure the natural dyed fabrics are comfortable enough.
Chief quality control officer.
And always sitting in my chair... what, you want to sit in this chair? Nope.
Birth of a New Series
At the Marsh No.'s 1 & 2
Creating new pieces for a solo show in January 2018.
Earth pigments, clays, ochres, charcoal, conte, pastels, on cotton fabric.
Huge Labor Day Sale!!!
Save 30% Store Wide
Includes Online Classes, eBooks, Art work, and More!!!
Now through September 5th!!!
Tracy the Owl
Have lots of old pieces of paper laying around waiting for a project?
I used a page out of a search a word puzzle book to create Tracy the owl.
I started with a marks it all graphite pencil then applied a thin layer of ivory craft paint over the top. Over this I applied black marks it all pencil, charcoal, and conte to the page while the paint was still wet.
I then layered on color using various soft pastels in a range of colors.
This would be a great project on a rainy day by yourself, or with kids.
Note: I am an Amazon Affiliate.
Ink Swatches
I did some ink swatches today where you apply an alcohol drip onto the wet ink. I shall post a much longer blog post tomorrow!
Session 2 Starts August 1st!!!
Join me on August 1st for Colors of the Earth!!!
Some chickadee birds, in watercolor and graphite.
Watercolor on hot press watercolor paper.
Bluebird landing in the wind.
Acrylic paint, charcoal, conte, and pastels, on hot press watercolor paper.
Flamingo