kira-kira journal complete

A little over a year ago I started work in a new journal. It was a book I’d picked off the free shelf at our local library…which incidentally is closing in a week or so. They’ve built a new building to fit with the character of the historic main street. I’m really excited about the new building but also a little sad. The old location is the library where got my very first library card.

OK…done waxing nostalgic…on with the original reason for my post. I’m done…completely finished…with my little kira-kira journal. Today, I added my title page….

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…and gave a little attention to the covers, leaving the original title visible.

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Here’s a little peek at the pages inside.kira-kira collage

For me, it’s always nice to put a check mark next to a project as DONE.  What about you…do those UFO’s call to you…finish me…or not really?

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July-August art calendar

We had a very busy July…not that I’m complaining one little bit. It was busy for all the right reasons. Activities, staycationing then vacationing through the end the month.

July 2014

I doubt August will be filled with quite as many trips and travels…unless you count trips to the store for back-to-school shopping. Yikes…the fresh air and sunshine made those kids grow like weeds! Nothing fits…

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I used pressed flower stickers for the embellishment. My neighbor that hosts craft club passed a bunch of these stickers on to me last year.  They are really pretty but I haven’t found many places that they seem a natural embellishment. I believe these are meant as seals for envelopes.

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T Tuesday: grapevine wreath edition

T stands for Tuesday_200Thanks for stopping by today for T stands for Tuesday. I’ve got just boring old water in my glass today. 20140725_6078We’ve been so busy lately that it feels as if I haven’t done anything creative.  But then I got to thinking that I had made something…

I had to cut out a grape vine from my garden. I had actually planted it there myself and now 2-3 years later I’m realizing that wasn’t the smartest plan.20140722_6068Just before tossing the vine into the yard waste bag I had a bit of inspiration. Why not make a grapevine wreath?! 20140722_6072

I left it hanging in the shed to dry. I figure since it gets pretty hot in there even with the vents it should help to quickly dry it out. I made it slightly bigger than I’d like since I assume it will shrink in the drying process.

I also had to share this gas station sign we spotted. It was over by the Falls and Mississippi river a couple weeks ago.

gas wowGotta love a good sense of humor.

Today and tomorrow are booked solid for us…I’ll be around to visit my T stands for Tuesday friends as soon as I can!

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Dry Ice Ice Cream

I’m not sure how but I completely forgot to share this with you.

It was about a month ago… Our freezer was having an issue, which later turned out to be not a big deal. Thank goodness Mr. G is also Mr. Fix-it. In the mean time I totally panicked and sourced dry ice (and a lot of it) to keep our 200lbs of beef in the freezer from becoming the largest neighborhood BBQ anyone has ever thrown around here.

Long story short…the freezer was back up and running in short order and we had 100lbs of dry ice to play with.  Since we weren’t throwing that BBQ after all, we had no need of a fake smoke cloud to roll from the garage.  Still was fun to pretend.

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We searched out “fun things to do with dry ice” and found you can make ice cream. Sweet! No pun intended.

We used my trusty Kitchen Aid mixer. It was the one thing that I wanted when we got married. Now 20yrs later…I’m glad I insisted we make that purchase…I use it all the time.

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We weren’t really sure exactly how to make the ice cream and as you can see…we had a little trouble. The dry ice wasn’t crushed quite as fine as it should have been. This created very large bubbles as the solid carbon dioxide sublimated.  In the end, it turned out perfectly.

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The yummiest vanilla ice cream we’ve ever had!!  In fact it was so good we decided to make more the next day…

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We made another batch of vanilla, chocolate and my personal favorite…strawberry!  We had fresh picked strawberries from the my in-laws garden…oh yum!

It’s certainly not an inexpensive way to make ice cream but if you’ve got some extra dry ice sitting around…it’s a great way to use it!

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T Tuesday: days of summer edition

Happy Tuesday! So glad you could join me for another edition of T stands for Tuesday.

We’ve been trying to get out and about more this summer with the kids before they are too old to want to go out with us….or have jobs and can’t. I know we still have a couple of years but the times goes by so quickly.

On one adventure we came across a garage sale…more of a sample sale I guess. The kids convinced me I needed this travel glass.great at 40Of course, this edit would be most accurate…actually 42We’ve explored the MN Landscape Arboretum twice already. I bought a 1yr membership with my birthday money so I want to make sure we make it worth while. collage1 collage3Such a beautiful place…abundant trails…something new around every corner.

We always have a great time on Independence Day.collage4And no, those are not my kids. Mine are much, much older.

collage2We just had to go see Minnehaha Falls after the torrential rains and flooding. I’ve never seen the Falls running that fierce. It’s just a few short blocks from the Mississippi River, we ventured over there as well. collage5These photos were taken from Lock and Dam #1. The trees in the middle of the river look pretty strange right?! It’s normally an island about 200 yards from the dam. A good share of the walkways used by the Army Corp of Engineers are totally under water as well. I’ve never seen anything like it.

The more we adventure around…the more places we want to see. I keep making lists of things to explore. I’m sure we’ll have lots more to share before summer is over.

But for today, I have my everlasting list to tackle.

What are you doing today?

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Collage cards collage

Was that a confusing title or what?!?  But it is accurate. Thanks to my friend Patty, I now have a quick and easy way to make a collage or mosaic of photos… The program is called pixlr and I just love it!card collage2 card collage1These are just few of the cards I’ve made as of late.  I’d been slacking a bit on my etsy store inventory but figured it was time to get back at it.

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T Tuesday: Dig deep edition

Hello and welcome to the one year anniversary of T stands for Tuesday! Elizabeth asked us to “dig deep” in our archives to find our favorite T Tuesday post from the past year. What a task!!  I had a hard time choosing just one….it’s like asking who’s you favorite child or pet. So I sat down last evening with a glass of red wine and my eBook reader to contemplate.20140714_5879I finally settled on a post from last October.

Lets take a look….

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It’s been a whirlwind of activity around here since last week. I think the last time I’ve had two hours to rest during the day was when I was in the salon, last T Tuesday, getting my hair done.

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I’ve been sewing like crazy. On both fabric…

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And paper.

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Of course, some painting as well.

painted series

In fact I have some spray painted goodies in the garage right now. Hopefully I’ll get everything done for Saturday. I have so many ideas now at the last minute for my craft sale. That’s the way it always works with me. I come down to the wire and my mind starts racing with new items to add to my table.

In addition to my “crafty crap”, as Mr. G so affectionately refers to it,  I have these this on my list.

  • a chapter to read for my bookclub tomorrow.
  • finish A Wrinkle in Time for Big J’s “partners in reading” project….yes, I get homework too.
  • mow the lawn…bagging it since there are so many leaves.

As well as the regular Tuesday stuff…knitting group, pesky household chores and  visiting T Stands for Tuesday blogs.

What are you doing today?

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