Happy Birthday!

Well, today is my birthday!  I can think of nothing else!  Not that there is anything planned in the way of a party, I will see all my family on the 4th.  And then we will party! (I have an exceptionally large family, since we are a blended family.  I had six children and my husband had four. We all get together on the 4th--it's tradition!)

Thought I would post an old picture of me.  This is me on my second wedding day 21 years ago.   I don't look quite the same, sort of grandMAish now, but oh well, that's life!  It's a good life!

Strawberries!

Well, my strawberry pot has produced! I have 12 Junebearing plants in the pot on my patio. Six of them are Rainer and the other six are Hood (Fragaria x ananassa) strawberries. If you are not familiar with theses names or varieties, these are names of the Northwest. Mt. Rainer is in Washington State and Mt. Hood is in northern Oregon. Both are volcanoes and beautiful snow covered mountains. I see Mt Hood daily from the streets of my town.

A friend has asked about overwintering the pot.  This site should help with any questions about growing strawberries in pots.

 

Can't ya just taste them?  Sorry you are not close enough to share!

Watercolor Friday Finds!

Etsy is a wonderful place!  I love to browse Etsy! 
One of my very favorite art mediums is watercolor!  Today I have chosen some awesome watercolor artists to feature in  Friday Finds! Please visit their Etsy shops and see what else they have to offer!  You will be delighted!!!

This first picture is done by one of my Etsyblogger Team member friends, Kathleen Golter of tapestry316.  I just love her work! She is currently on vacation, if you can call it that, due to a death in the family.  To see her work, you will have to check her sold listings until she returns.

Dean Crouser is  local to my area, although I have never met him.  His technique is intriguing and awesome.  Please visit his shop at DeanCourserArt 

This sunflower is stunning in its design and it's use and depiction of the light on the petals.  This artist is another from the Pacific Northwest where I live.  Her Etsy shop is AlisaPaints.  If you like cats, be sure to visit her shop!

And last, but not least, is a painting that I just like because it depicts children's Victorian shoes.  It by Lora Riethmeier of The Yellow Farmhouse. 

What do you think?  Any of these inspire you to be a watercolor artist?

Summer CLEARANCE Sale and a GIVEAWAY!

SUMMER CLEARANCE SALE!
Keep reading, you'll get to the giveaway part! :-)

I spent the evening, yesterday, cleaning up all the listings in my shop.  Time passes and things in your shop don't change unless you change them!  There were tags left over from Black Friday . . .sheeech!  Prices that were inconsistent on similar items. . . . I lowered some prices. I changed some of the shop sections to be more consistent with my products.  I also added some INACTIVE items to my CLEARANCE section.  You owe it to yourself to check out some of the items.  Here's a few CLEARANCE items GREAT for gift giving:


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Set of four coasters, discontinued style $3.00



Set of four handmade THANK YOU cards



Set of simple tissue stamped Gift Tags $1.50

 Everything else in my Handcrafts shop will be 15% OFF through July 4th.  Everything!  Use the coupon code provided in the shop announcement.  (Coupon code is not good on Clearance items, since they are already marked down.  Thanks!)

4" Embroidered Hoop - 15% OFF!

GIVEAWAY:

Now for the Giveaway!  It has be quite some time, since I have hosted a giveaway.  I will be giving away a $15 gift certificate to be used in any one of my three shops. I will also be giving a 'grab bag' prize--my choice--worth approx. $10, as a second prize.  Winners will be chosen by a random generator. 

How to enter?
1-- I appreciate my customers!  Any single item purchased from my Pruitthandcrafts Etsy Shop between now and July 4th will get three (3) entries each. 
2--  A comment left here, on my blog,  listing one of your favorite items in my shop or what you would spend the gift certificate for, will get you one (2) entries.
3-- Tweet or FaceBook about the giveaway and get one (1) entry each.  Make sure you come back here and let me know about your tweet or FB entry.
4--  Follow me on this blog, FB or Twitter and get another (1) entry each.  Again, come back here and comment letting me know.
5-- List the giveaway in your teams thread and get another (1) entry. Make sure you list it here in the comments.

Winner will be drawn and announced on Tuesday July 5th.  Announcement will be here on my blog. Please make sure you can be reached from the link of your comments and/or leave your email address so I can contact you.  Thanks in advance for spreading the word about the sale and giveaway!

BEST OF LUCK!     --Linda

Musing . . . . for creative projects?

Needing a new project to work on?  Wondering what to do with that stash, whether it is paper, ephemera, or fabric? 

Often, I look at my stash of fabric, sort and resort trying to put colors together, patterns and what not, in order to spark my creativity!  I find pieces that will go together--a child's crayon carrier in two fabrics;  I find fabrics that will make a nice apron; I find pieces in similar colors that I set aside for a future quilt.  Some of these projects even get cut out for later construction.  I stack these probable projects together, separate from my general stash, for future use.  My stack of future projects gets larger and larger.  I also make a list of these projects with an empty check box beside them.  That way, I can check off the projects as I complete them and keep track of what still needs to be done.  I post this list on my inspiration bulletin board. 

When will I get to the projects?  On those days that I am stuck for creativity, I look thru these preset stacks for a short project that I can complete to encourage myself.

This worked for me just lately, as I created several children's crayon carriers in one day, just because they were already planned and pre-cut!  One of them I made wrong-- I forgot the cotton batting for cushioning, so I made it into a colored pencil carrier, which obviously does not need as much cushioning as crayons do.  I gave this particular one to my eight year old grandson, Indy, who likes to draw and is getting a little big for crayons.  He has three little sisters.  Now he can have his pencils put away separate from their art supplies and have them at hand to work with when he pleases. This pleases me also, not just because I gave it as a gift, but because creativity reigned and a new use for my handiwork was created!  Yay!!

Hope this gives you some new ideas for your creativity! 

Wordless Wednesday - Pretty Blue

Did I ever say that I LOVE flowers!

Grands are truely Grand!



Birthday Boy!



Yesterday was a full day, as today will be.  A graduation (another today) and a birthday party!  My five year old grandson had a batman birthday party and seven of my grandchildren were there!  Just though I would let you in on the fun.  P.S.  Batman is my grandson!



Stomping balloons for treats!




Batman's baby sister, Ada.




Cousin Vivi, the diva with the hot dog!




Transformer helmet gift! 





Yum!  Batman's curly-top sister.



Hope you enjoyed just a little portion of the party!  Sorry you couldn't sample the cake.

Dinner

Went shopping yesterday and got a bargain.  The meat department was clearing out quite a few of their whole chickens--large ones!  I paid $3.70 for a nearly 5 lb chicken! 

My daughter is always eating healthy, spends a lots of her time on Saturdays at the farmers market and insists on fresh local food!  Her name is Suzanne.  Well, I did a "Suzanne" with our meal this evening.  Along with the roasted chicken, I cooked some fresh broccoli, homemade mashed potatoes and scratch gravy, and made a fresh spinach salad (spinach was from the farmers market, a local grower) with fresh cherries and balsamic dressing. I don't have a picture of the salad, as it was the first course and gone before I thought about sharing all this with you!  Dinner was nothing fancy, but yummy!

   Now, what shall I do for dessert?

UNstuck!

Yesterday I asked for input.  Thanks for your feedback, everyone!  I took the challenge, and just in time, for today is the deadline for a June Collage Challenge that Laurie suggested. Laurie is a friend that I met in a journal swap that happened to be a lot of fun.  She is a great collector of ephemera and you really shouldn't miss her wonderful blog. 

Anyway, I liked the challenge that she suggested:  Create any piece of art using at least part of each of the 3 images that were provided for download.  You can see the three on the link above.  Here is my offering and the process to complete it.  And you can see the other participants artwork on the Green Pages blog.

I started with an ordinary shipping tag, removing the string.

After downloading the required collage prints, I started cutting and pasting.

In my ephemera stash,  I had a little package of some pressed flowers that I previously didn't know what to do with.

Here's the finished tag!  "Time for Perfumery"!

 What a fun challenge!  It added a little bit of fun to my day!!!

STUCK!

Ever think that you just have nothing to say?  Everyone else has said it all!?  Well, that's how I feel right now.  Doesn't seem like my life is interesting enough to share, but I know that is not true.  I think it's the weather!  Up and down lately, doesn't know if it wants to still be spring or make up it's mind to be summer!   I feel like that!  I craft a little, read a little, watch TV some; just don't have direction or feel creative.  I need a challenge!!!  One that involves ephemera and supplies that I have already, since I recently became unemployed! 

So dear reader, I am enlisting your help.  Heard of any blog challenges that are really good?  Let me know in the comments, would ya?  Lookin' for inspiration!