Popping up again!

 Micah and baby are still playing the waiting game. Things are, however, "moving along".  There are some "signs" that the time is drawing nigh. Micah thought maybe this weekend. But babies will do what they please, so we'll just have to wait and see. :)

One of the big events of this past week involved an unfortunately inaccurate aim, on Audrey's part, with a rock. It found the bull's eye on the back window of my car and shattered it completely. The glass guy will be here Tuesday, and hopefully all will end well.

On my last couple of walks I've gotten a glimpse of Mr. Water Rat (or muskrat, as we call them) paddling about in the river. He seems to have a home close to the culvert, so if I stand there a while I might see him a couple of times. The other day I also saw a kingfisher! I didn't know we had those here! I stood and watched him sitting on a tree branch over the water, hoping to see him dive. But I finally realized it could be a good long time, so I walked on. I love that little patch of marshland. :)

My camera doesn't do her justice. The deer are such a pretty chestnut color this time of year. I took this from my living room window.

My ATCs seem to multiply like rabbits. Can't keep up on posting them!

These four were for a swap for house-shaped orange cards. Only requirements: be house-shaped, and include lots of orange. I went heavy on the Richard Scarry elements. (As I may have mentioned before, I wouldn't ordinarily cut up a Richard Scarry book, but this one was in baaaad shape.)

And then there was the Fairy Realm swap. The other two cards are further down the page, because I can't figure out how to move photos on here, and Blogger just puts things where it wants to...ahem. Can you make out the blue and orange plaids in the background of the first picture? One gal on the swap site sent me some mail a while back and she had decorated her envelope with this hand-drawn plaid! I want to try doing that. I think highlighters would work. Anyway, I was impressed with it!

These four were for a swap with a theme of "Numbers". You just had to include items with numbers on them. I had some fun tracking down as many scraps as I could find with some sort of numbers on them. :) (More Richard Scarry!)

These are two "starter sets" I sent out for the Continuous Random Round Robin swap. Two more players will add to them.

Here are two more Fairy Realm cards. You could make actual fairies or just add wings to people, which is what most of us do.

Speaking of fairies, here's a little fairy ring that formed in my yard the other day!

We also did a swap about Pirates and Buccaneers. I decided to make treasure maps. They're kind of addictive. I pretty much copied one from Google images and then used it as a jumping off place to invent some others.

Here's some of that plaid envelope. Yeah, I shouldn't have posted this with most of my address on it. Oops. And it looked a lot better than this. :)

Getting sillier by the minute, this swap was called Animals in Fashionable Clothes. 

And this one was called It's Raining Men! Which only means that you have to have a man on the card.

Granny Marigold, you asked if I could show how I make these cards, and you mentioned that your cards are usually just glue and washi tape. Exactly. That's about it. It basically depends on what you've collected over the years in your "stash" as we call it. Lots of odds and ends. Some prefab things like the manly "paperdolls" (above) you can buy at Hobby Lobby or online, and prefab sayings and words. The main challenge is just making something that's fun to look at out of what you have. It's challenging for my brain, and that's partly why I do it. You end up giving away all of your art and collecting everyone else's! I've instructed Micah to donate my binders full of ATCs to the thrift store after I go on to glory. Believe it or not, there will be some art nut out there who will enjoy looking at them. :)

Audrey made a drawing to enter into a contest at Everbright magazine. It's a kids' magazine I subscribe to for them. 

Audrey will be 10 on July 18th! Here is one of her birthday gifts. She LOVES IT! 

Oh, almost forgot. Briefly revisiting the subject of ATCs, I got these in the mail today. This is a set of ATCs for the Continuous Random Round Robin swap. Two ladies have worked on these. I'm the third. I will finish the cards (which are random indeed in their subject matter). Then I'll keep my favorite and send the other two back to Player #1, who will keep her favorite and pass the last one along to Player #2. That's how that works. (In case you were interested.)

In the realm of bookishness, I'm currently reading In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson. I think it was recommended by Charles Krauthammer in his book. Next, perhaps, will be the Tom Bodett book. I just love that guy. 

But I'm ALSO reading this little book which was recommended by one of my favorite Christian YouTubers, Eric Metaxas. He compares Thomas Howard's writing to that of C.S. Lewis. Howard, in fact, knew C.S. Lewis, but would have been quite a bit younger. I can see the similarities, but I think Howard uses more "big words" that I have to look up, ha ha. Hence, the dictionary you see in the picture. There have been a couple of words I haven't even been able to find in the dictionary! (Exequies? Suttee?) But I think it will be worth the effort. And at only 136 pages, I can read it more than once. I think he delves into some deep and important things, but I'm near the beginning so I can't tell you much. Should be a good one.

Oh and looky at this little book! I found it on the $1 table on the sidewalk in front of a vintage/thrift store. It measures 2-3/4" x 5-1/2". It's adorable! I couldn't leave it there. The front cover feels like it's tooled. 

Well, I think I've run dry for now. The neighbors have gone to a neighboring town for a cousin's birthday party. (A cousin of my grandkids.) So, it will be pretty quiet around here. Good reading weather! 

I hope you're all well and enjoying this fine summer. God bless you all and your families!

Shalom! :)