Hello!

 I must be getting old fast the way the weeks are flying by! We made it throught the winter! (Though there could be more snow. It just won't get down to sub-zero temps. Which is a good thing!)

I've been doing a lot of reading and art making. Just finished a Christian Regency Romance called The Noble Guardian by Michelle Griep, which is even better since I'm getting to know her a bit through the Christian Regency Romance Facebook group I'm a part of. They have some fun little things going on. I'm currently reading Practicing the Presence of God by brother Lawrence. (See how I alternate novels and serious reading? lol) Oh, I also finished The Benedict Option by Rod Dreher, which I really liked. I'm also involved in numerous ATC swaps and am doing a free Sketchbook Revival workshop that lasts for a month. You get two free videos each day which are from 30-60 minutes long. Some of them are not that interesting to me, so I'm skipping around and only actually doing a few of them. Which is a good thing, since it could be a full time job otherwise!

Here are pics of the three I've done so far. The first one was called One Liner. You draw quick sketches of a subject without lifting your pen off the paper. Then you choose one of the quick drawings and make a more finished drawing.

The next artist lady had us carving rubber stamps to make a block print. I used erasers as my stamp making material. We were supposed to make 5 different designs and then stamp one on top of another to make a more complex design. Hard to explain, but it came out something like this:

My stamps weren't exactly square, so it was wonkier than it should have been, but you get the idea? (Each square has three different stamp designs on it.) She made beautiful, colorful fabrics and pictures with her stamps. Something to keep working on!

A third class was taught by a lady named Tamara Laporte who has a YouTube channel called Willowing. Maybe some of you have heard of her? I've watched her before and I love her art, so this was fun. We followed a tutorial of her painting an owl and this is how mine turned out.

I've done lots of swaps, so I'll just start hunting on my memory card and post what I find...

The Illustrate Your State swap. I illustrated the three states I've lived in, and made an Arizona card as a host gift. (She lives in Surprise, AZ!)

Postage Stamp ATC swap. We had to include at least one stamp that had a Celebration or Emotion theme.

May have shown these before. This is another Postage Stamp ATC swap with the theme of Sports. A gal in Australia is hosting this swap and it's ongoing with a different theme each month. Some of us like to collect stamps to use on these. I purchased a bag full from Amazon a long time ago and I still have tons of them left! (Plus I save the stamps from all the ATC mail I get.)

The grands came over for a few hours day before yesterday while Micah and Thatcher (aka Chuck) went to Micah's regularly scheduled midwife checkup, which is 1-1/2 hours away. The kids had been outside running around like wild animals and rolling in the dirt before these pics were taken. They settled into playing some video games, doing some art online and, in Della's case, art in person on the floor.

There was also a lot of running around and snacking. :)

And now, a "Do You Know What This Is?" riddle. I bought a few things at the thrift store a while back and I couldn't resist buying this item. It's been at the store for a long time and I knew I could repurpose it. It's made of a heavy metal and was used to store some sort of sewing items in. What exactly would it have been used for? (I really don't know and would like to.) I removed most of the felt lining because it was gross. I'm using it to store my hand carved stamps in.

Update: Mystery solved. It was for keeping sewing machine attachments in.

Sorry I don't have a prize for the one who guesses, but I would be curious to know what it was used for originally. :)

And a few other items I got at the same time.

A cool stamp roller with north woodsy images. It also came with three other rollers, but this is the one I bought it for.

What do you call these? Plant watering bulbs?

These were little hand carved wood things. I think the carver believed they would work for stamping, but they don't. Still, they're cool and hand carved.

I've never seen these before. Little pans of pastels (kind of like eye shadow!) that you use to color your stamped images.

A Greetings stamp with pine cone accents and a bumble bee (right side of photo).

I need some new ink pads! :)

That takes care of the memory card! One last bit of news. I've been watching a nice young gal on YouTube. Her name is Giselle Waldner, and her channel is all about life as a Hutterite. I love her sweet, obedient spirit and how much fun she gets out of life within the boundaries of the Hutterite faith. I must say, this particular group of Hutterites seem to have a lot more of the modern conveniences than most groups I've watched. (I do a lot of Amish, Mennonite and Hutterite watching, lol.) We used to live just a few miles from a Mennonite community and some I've watched seem pretty somber. This group seems more my speed. She's a lot of fun to watch. 

And with that I'll close for now. I think I visited most of you yesterday. Sorry if I miss a lot of posts. I just seem to run off in lots of different directions and then remember I haven't been over here in a long time! I hope you're all well and happy!

God bless all of you and your families! Shalom!

Do you think spring is coming?

 There's still snow on the ground, but our temps are getting up in the 30's and 40's during the day, so that's a good sign. March is usually a snowy month for us, but I have been able to get out and walk down my road a couple of times this week. The shoulder of the road is finally free of ice! We have four swans that fly over a couple of times each day. They are so impressive and their voices are lower than those of the geese. The grands stand out in their yard and wave at the big birds! :)

Speaking of grands, they've been having fun with a YouTube site called Art for Kids Hub. If yours haven't discovered it you might want to give it a try. Here are some samples of what they've drawn.

By Audrey (age 9)

Also Audrey

A Della original (age 5)

Audrey (Hazel decorated the background)

By Hazel (age 8)

Not sure which artist made this one!

I'm just doing the usual: a little artwork, reading, watching YouTube, walking, running to town with Micah and the kids or by myself occasionally. I've been a little under the weather since Monday, but nothing serious. Feeling tired, but that's probably a combo of the slight sickness and the after effects of walking. Who can know? I take things pretty easy most of the time. :)

I'm considering signing up for Faith Voices, which is something our new worship leader is starting. As close as I can tell he just wants to gather a group of people, ages 12 and up, who are willing to sing now and then for special services or to help with the worship. I've been on hiatus for years, but this might be a good time to jump back in. The main reason for my hesitancy is driving after dark, but I can probably manage that. It would be nice to get more involved at church. I am on the prayer chain, which is also a good way to be involved. It's 15 miles to church, so it's too easy to think up excuses not to participate. I need to give myself a big nudge!

Just got this in the mail. It might be my next read. It's another Rod Dreher book. Now, I'm not sure if Rod is an Orthodox Christian or Catholic. I've noticed icons in the background when I watch his YouTube videos. But in any case, I like his common sense, conservative views on things and I'm interested to see what he has to say in this book.

Did I show you this book, which I also received recently? I read this back in my early 20s and wanted to revisit it. The story of a young Danish woman which I think took place in the 1940's. She felt the call of God to go to Jerusalem, though she wasn't even familiar with the place. She ended up rescuing orphans and it's a fascinating story of how that came about. (True story.)

Woodpecker couple... (I'm not sure if you can see the one up by the feeders?)

I did some negative painting for a Watercolor Postcard (4"x6") swap.

These four are for a Bunnies and Rabbits of Spring swap. Ordinarily, I wouldn't cut up a Richard Scarry book, but this paperback copy was all crumpled and looked like someone had run over it with a truck. So, I decided to salvage some of the cute little illustrations and give them a new lease on life. 

The grands sledding on the little "hill" created when their dad plowed the driveway, ha ha. They have to drive a couple of miles to find a good hill for sledding, so they make do between times.

For a Bird swap.

Yesterday morning's moon...

I found this cute little book at the thrift store. Have I already shown it? I didn't realize what it was at first. The language it was written in looked familiar, but it didn't register right away. Then I saw some English phrases on the copyright page.

It's a little Greek New Testament!

I guess it will live on my shelves unless one of you knows someone who would love to have it? (I like to rescue foreign language books. Sometimes for collage, but not if it's a Bible!)

Well, I think I've wrung my memory card dry, so I will bring this post to a close. 

Oh, Pom Pom, I'm still looking forward to a visit from The Jolly Postman. I know he'll get here in his own good time! :)

MK, none of that bragging about being out in your vegetable garden, okay? Those of us in the north are sensitive about that sort of thing.

I'll be visiting, y'all! 

God bless and shalom to everyone!