Blue jays longing for Spring

First it was 3-5 inches.  I ran out

and got gas in the can.  Then a possible

wintry mix with 2-3 inches.  Then

finally a wintry mix and no snow.

I went out with B'Elanna today and

it was freezing rain.  The 9 AM church 

service is cancelled, but we go to the

1030 service.  For the time being it

is still on and probably will go forward.

Without me.  It's just too dangerous.

I am so bummed I can't see straight.

 

At least 8' of snow!

I didn't measure, but I do know that

I snow blowed the driveway twice.

I also ran out of gas, oops.  I

didn't realize I was so low.  I'm going

to have to  get the can filled again.

But at least I got my driveway done.

More ATC's for swaps:

This is for an "any media" swap

Needless to say, a "dragonfly swap"

I didn't think about putting script

as a background when I made these,

and I think it looks way better, but 

I like how these turned out.  The swap

host said she had hand cramps from

just looking at the stitching!

I am so excited for tomorrow.  At Christmas

Cody asked me what I wanted and I said

I wanted them to come to church with me

to see me sign.  Cody is on vacation now

and is coming tomorrow.  Naturally, this

is the one week I wasn't supposed to sign!

Pam said, "Well, I guess you'll have to sign

the sermon."  I said, "I guess I will take

the last two of your songs.  Problem solved.

They are also joining Pam and I for lunch

so they can get to know each other.  I

told Cody they needed to drive themselves

though, because they will be ready to 

leave way before we will!

 Now if God will just stop dumping snow 

on us, it will be greatly appreciated.  I didn't

even poke my nose out yesterday except

when B'Elanna needed to go out, but

I saw cars flying past my house like

the road was clear.  I was waiting for 

one of them to fly into my yard, but 

thankfully that didn't happen.

Happy Saturday!

4X6 card trade

I am getting active again in my ATC group 

(artist trading cards) which is how I

got started in paper crafting in 2008.   

I've joined a couple of swaps and a

member asked me if I would trade a

4x6 card with her.  I don't think I've

ever made one, but it's not any harder

than making a card, just different

dimensions.  She wanted pink.  She

got pink!

I made  her a card to tuck it into, as well.

Here are ATC's I made for 

a RAK (random act of kindness)

These patterns scale down so wonderfully!

And finally, I ordered a  sign language

dictionary.  I had no idea it was going to 

be so big, but it has lots more words than

the one I have and is easy to read and

understand the signs.  I'm happy!   It's

like two inches thick! 

It is snowing like crazy out.  I think

I will have to go out and snowblow

before long or it will be above my knees

and we are under a warning until

at least 10 pm tonight.   I knew it

would come eventually.  I just didn't

want to think about it.

Happy Friday!

Center mesh stitching

I saw this pattern and thought

it was so pretty that I made

two cards with it, but different

colours.  Why?  I don't know.

I guess because I can.

I think of the two I like the

dark pink and brown the best 

just because I like those colours 

together.  The bottom one is peach,

but I forgot what I was doing and

stitched it on a pink piece of

card stock so it doesn't quite look

like peach.  It does look more 

like it in real life. 

I am signing all 5 songs this

week and two I've never signed 

in front.  One is kind of fast.  I'm

meeting with Coleen at the end of

the week to go over them.  I'll

muddle through, make mistakes 

and God will take glory (I hope!)

anyway.   It will be interesting.

Happy Tuesday!

little boy and bear

This is one of my favourite images.

This little clown-boy is so

adorable.  As a general rule

I hate clowns, but he is an exception.

I don't know, is he really a clown?

I think he is called Pietro.  I love how

the bear is peeking out from behind him.

I'm signing three songs today.  I decided

I'm praying wrong.  Rather than praying

that God will help me  do a good job,

I want to start praying He will use my

hands as He sees fit.  Of course, that

is always what I want, but not usually

the way I pray.  The other thing I am

going to begin praying for is confidence.

I have pretty much none.  We are supposed

to pray for things we want.  Since I

believe that this is what HE wants, 

He would also want me to be confident

enough to carry out His plan, right?

Where does the confidence come from?

Trusting Him to use me as He sees fit.

That's just a big circle.  It makes total

sense to me.  I hope I'm explaining

my reasoning clearly.  I know this isn't

an instant thing.  It's going to take me

time to totally trust Him rather than

relying on myself to do a good job,

get the signs right, convey the right 

meaning...That's from my human side.

But I want to start trusting Him in

 everything  involved in it.  Well,  everything

period, but I'm just thinking of the signing

part now.   So here we go, God.  Together.

Keep my eyes upon you. 

Happy Sunday!

Tea bag folding

This is something I haven't done

in ages.  I happened to see a 

card with a medallion on it and

decided to look up some of my

old haunts.  I picked this one

up again quickly.  Some of the 

others are a little harder so I'll

save them for another time.

I think it came out pretty well.

A friend asked me to make a scroll 

box for a friend of hers who is struggling.

This is what I came up with.

These butterflies are so beautiful

but way too chunky for a card as a 

general rule.  This was just perfect

for that gorgeous little thing.  I wish the

"Faith" gems were in green, but oh well.

It still looks great, I think.

Deaf chat was fun, but wow is it busy

there with two bars, one on either side 

of the street.  I had to park on a back street.

Not the best place, but Pam drove me over

so I didn't have to walk in the dark.  Not

that anyone would want to mug me.  

 They'd probably run in fear at the mere

sight of  me, LOL.    In a little while I'm

going to meet her for breakfast and

then later today Judy graciously said

she would swing by and we can go over

the songs together so I don't have to

go all the way to Waterloo.  She has

a party she's attending here in Fremont.

Mom's birthday

My mother will be 81 next month.

It doesn't seem possible, but then

I can't imagine me being 59.  

Remember "anyone over 30 is the 

enemy"?  I'm waaaaay past that, sadly.

This is the front of the card.  I

smeared the ink on the inside and

ended up scrapping the first one

which really ticked me off.  I

usually use an ink that dries instantly

but I got some new stamps and that

ink causes them to stick to the paper

and you don't get a good image by

the time you peel the paper away.

So I used an ink that is more 

liquid and it smears when not

dry.  Good move, Marianne.  Here

is the inside.

I'm pretty happy with  it.

Tonight is coffee chat with the 

deaf.  I'm looking forward to it.  I

need to teach the coffee house 

 to make a good

frappuccino, though, lol. 

Happy Friday!