Peek at My Week (Sep. 26-Oct. 2)

Yeah, I know it's been a good while since I've given you a peek. Something about these weekly updates began to stress me out and feel like far too much work. So, I took a step back. Well, it feels like everything else also came tumbling down from there. While I don't want to build these posts up to a level that stresses me out again, I do enjoy sharing little snippets of my week. As I contemplate how to restructure these posts to a format that suits me a little better, I'm going to try to keep these fairly short. So, here goes!

I'm a member of The Ugly Art Club, and the end-of-the-month "Campfire Chat" was on Sunday. While I tuned in to the Zoom meeting, I worked on a necklace design to keep my hands busy.

As always, Monday was busy with errands. But, I snuck in some time to begin testing out an earring design idea that's been poking at my brain.

In the evening, Zoe snuggled on the couch with us. I was ticked at her little eyeball peeking up over the pillow at me. 

The building on our property is "done" as far as other workmen are concerned. That meant that I could sit out on the deck in my pajamas again. I absolutely indulged in that most of the week. Tuesday's sunrise was splendid. 

It felt like I spent the rest of Tuesday working on a single pair of earrings. But, I also made a run to Goodwill for some thrifting and had a good haul of items. My Thrifty Haul video and post will be coming in the next week or so. 

Wednesday was spent with my mom. I talked her into hitting up a couple of antique stores and found a pair of gorgeous tins that I probably paid too much for. (You'll also see those in the same video reveal later in the week.)

I was distracted much of Thursday as one of my nieces was over to help with a few tasks around the house. But, I did get a few stamps carved for a giveaway. I'm about 50 subscribers away from 2,000 on my CraftyHope YouTube Channel. When I reach that milestone, I'm going to have a giveaway of a few items. Several of my current subscribers mentioned that they would like some of my hand-carved stamps. So, I started on those. 

I also took the visiting niece out to the sunflower field that's around the corner from my house. I'd been wanting to head up there anyway. And, since sunflowers are her favorite, it seemed like the perfect time to take that excursion. 

I've been meaning to break out the soldering iron again for a few weeks to finish up and test out some design ideas. I was happy to realize that it was a good solder-flow day and found myself wishing I had prepped more items!

When I ran out for an errand in the afternoon, I discovered these wildflowers at the back of a parking lot. I've been admiring them on the sides of the road for WEEKS but there's never a good place to pull over and take a better look at them. So, I was thrilled at the chance to hop out of the car and take a gander. 

Saturday was packed FULL of good college football games. As such, I spent a good portion of the day in front of the television with a few couch-appropriate crafts. I made beaded bookmarks, did some embroidery art, and doodled. It wasn't much, but I was entertained and busy.

I have to admit that along with these weekly posts, I also haven't really been sharing many interesting links to other sites. Maybe that will change as well. I did find these two over the week if you're interested.

• DIY Howlite Wirework Bracelet from Fire Mountain Gems
• 20 DIY Rainbow Earrings you can make at home from CraftGossip

Hopefully, I'm going to be less absent. But, I can't promise anything as I have a lot of irons in the fire and ideas for the future. 

How has your week been?

Peek at My Week (March 14-20)

I hope your week has been quite wonderful. Mine's been a bit all over the place. After a busy Friday and Saturday, I took Sunday to recover and didn't accomplish much of anything. On Monday, I was still a bit sluggish but tried to make the most of the day. 

While I fit in a bit of art journaling, my jewelry-making endeavors were less than successful. 

Tuesday was blooming good.

All the azaleas, pine, dogwoods, and everything else is in bloom in our area!

I was inspired to finish these sunrise sunset earrings and they sold pretty immediately.

Artemis has recently decided that my chair in the craft room is really hers.

On Wednesday morning, I made myself a delicious breakfast with more of our egg abundance.

It was also St. Patrick's Day, and I went on a shamrock hunt.

While getting some work done, I looked down on my desk and saw a theme. Do you see it too?

Primary colors!

I took Zoe out and saw more blooms. Wisteria - one of my favorites!

Much of the day was spent in anticipation of a horrible storm throughout the state. We got our portion of it overnight as we tried to sleep. 

On Thursday, I made sure to work on a new design that had been doodled into my journal earlier in the week. It came out better than I anticipated.

I was in a creative groove and even worked on an art journal page too.

I was really feeling Spring knocking on my door on Friday right from the moment I walked into the craft room that morning. The view!

These little roses weren't in bloom last year, but I'm so glad to see them this year.

And, oh my goodness, the blooms on the blueberry bushes are out of control!

I struggled with my jewelry-making a bit but finally had a breakthrough.

And, it looks like I'm going to try to learn some new skills.

I haven't cracked the book yet but wish me luck.

Saturday was my niece's prom, so I spent much of the day at her house so I could get a few shots of her and her boyfriend before the big event. Really, they just had call-outs that we watched virtually. There was no actual dance because of the virus.

And, I got some great pictures for sure!

How about some inspiration?

• I'm not great with seed bead stitches but am quite taken with this Right Ange Weave Tennis Bracelet Tutorial. 
• Over at The Graphics Fairy, you can find this list of a couple different methods on How to Make Tassels. 
• These looking glass Easter eggs are made with a simple method, but the results are lovely. 
• Check out this easy wire and leather triple wrap bracelet tutorial. 
• If the flowers where you are aren't blooming yet, you can make your own tissue paper flowers with one of the tutorials at My Modern Met. 
• Now for a couple of embroidered inspirations. First, these embroidered portraits. Next, how about more landscape embroideries. 

I've got a busy week ahead: trying to make sure I meet all my end-of-the-month deadlines. I hope you've enjoyed the first couple of days of spring and have a really fabulous week. 

Peek at My Week (Feb 4-13)

Happy Valentine's Day, y'all! I hope the day and week ahead treats you well. This past week was a doozy for me! Take a peek. 

The above is about all I accomplished on Sunday, and that was specifically for my #100DaysOfMakingJewelry for #the100DayProject. My motivation otherwise was NOWHERE to be found. I had all kinds of ideas and things I should have done, but it all felt so taxing. I ended up playing on the Xbox for a while. It wasn't productive by any means, but I let it slide. 

Monday, as usual, was much more productive as I knocked tasks off my list, including working on some jewelry. In fact, I worked with the above materials for several days to get a necklace made. There was a terrible storm that night that had us up at 3am unplugging everything to protect it from a lightning strike. 

Tuesday ended up being a warm and beautiful day. But, I didn't have a chance to enjoy it because I stayed so busy! A customer ordered some earrings but then picked out several other items she had found on my blog and Instagram that she wanted. As well, Artemis had another vet appointment as we're still spacing out her vaccines to prevent another bad reaction. 

That went pretty quickly and painlessly (for me anyway!) Back at home, our washing machine's drain has continued to back up. Though Tuesday is my laundry day, I couldn't finish the washing without making a bigger mess (more on that in a minute.)

Despite all the crazy, I was able to fit in just a few minutes of art-making.

I needed to play with some paint to relax a bit. It definitely helped.

All heck broke loose on Wednesday. As scheduled, the guys came out to pump our septic tank to see if that would help fix the laundry drain issue (it didn't). They left the lid to the septic tank exposed because it needed to be re-mortared (by us) before it could be covered back up. While Pat ran to get the mortar, I went and updated the booth at Southern Antiques and Accents with a few new things. 

From there, I went to pick up lunch. It was already raining, but this was headed our way.

With lunch in hand, I hurried home as lightning struck several spots very close to me as I drove. I arrived home shaken and soaked! As well, the rain prevented Pat from mortaring the septic tank lid, so it was still exposed in the yard. As we sat down to enjoy lunch, we realized that the satellite was out. Further investigation revealed that the cable to the house had been cut when the septic tank was dug up. We were on the phone with the satellite company for 45 minutes just trying to get them to send a technician. They wanted us to restart the receiver and run through all the other troubleshooting. We were both already at our wit's end, I don't think we were very kind. It was an exhausting day.

Since I knew repairmen were headed in to help us on Thursday, I woke with some optimism. It was really foggy but warm enough to sit on the porch and focus on the day ahead. From there, I saw that the jessamine was blooming.

It helped keep me hopeful.

Before long, the reinforcements started rolling in!

The cable line was re-run and the plumber did his best to fix the washer's drain. However, they'll be back out here on Monday to re-run the line. It'll be an expensive mess, but maybe I'll be able to wash clothes again! While they were both doing their thing, Pat was able to mortar the tank. After lunch, the rain held off long enough for me to help him re-bury it. 

I finished the necklace from earlier in the week and started on some earrings.

Later in the day, I even did a little art journaling. I really just wanted to throw some paint around but went overboard into ugly. I was just about to walk away from it when I realized I could highlight the beauty in that mess with some black gesso.

I'm glad I kept at it. 

On Friday, I decided to use up some of the eggs the chickens have been laying for us. First, I topped my avocado toast with a couple for breakfast. 

They fueled me for the day ahead and the long list of chores that I tackled first thing. Then, it was on to jewelry-making.

Fresh eggs made their appearance in dinner too!

That's a Korean Beef and Couscous Bowl that I kinda made up and will hopefully be sharing the recipe for before too long. It's so stinkin' easy! Oh, and the big news for the week was that we discovered on Friday night that our Building Permit was posted outside. This means that hopefully there will be some movement on Pat's new shop before too long!!

Also, on Friday, I soaked a few pages of a National Geographic magazine with Citra-Solve. It was tough not to mess with it too much, but on Saturday morning, I had some beautiful pages. (You can look up this technique online. There's not much to it.)

I spent much of Saturday on a particular project that I can't reveal until the end of the month. But, I love it! When I ran out to pick up one supply for it, I also got some Girl Scout Cookies. I couldn't resist!

Before I settled in for the evening, I made sure to get started on a new jewelry design. This necklace is moving faster than the other one.

And, that was my week - a wild ride for sure!

Here's a little inspiration for you:

• At the end of each month, Halcraft Collection shares a few tutorials using their pretty palette collection. Here's January's Pretty Palette Reveal. 
• Julie of Balzer Designs shared her Valentine's Day Ideas from the archives. 
• At The House that Lars Built, they've shared some artist-made Valentines that you can print (for a fee). 
• This DIY Lego shadowbox is so much my style! I almost made it for Pat, but just ran out of time to get the minifigs and box. Maybe next year...
• Jen at Epbot is one of my favorite bloggers. She's geeky and so awesome. It's not often that she does something jewelry-related, but when she does, I take notice. Her tutorial for making these Dollar Tree Laser-cut necklaces is no exception. 
• I love a good, old photograph for my mixed media art. The Graphics Fairy recently shared a collection of 22 Vintage Actress Images. I saved so many of them!
• Peacock & Lime has this great collection of 25 Jewellery Organization Ideas that are sleek and beautiful. 
• I've been saving this list of artist-made Geeky Valentine's Cards since last year. Again, I waited too late to get one for Pat. Drat.
• Here's another earring tutorial from Moois Van Mie. I actually have a plan to use a bead cap in a similar way at some point soon (the design just got added to the bead box.)

Like I said, this week has been a doozy. I'm looking forward to a better one ahead. Here's hoping yours is full of sunshine and magic!

Peek at my Week (Jan 17-23)

 It was another emotional week, but I definitely did what I could to make the most of it. 

On Sunday, we met friends for a hike then spent the rest of the day being lazy. 

Monday was Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday (observed) and what would have been my sister's 44th birthday. I went ahead and treated the day as a day off for the most part. After working on a few things, I convinced Pat that it would be nice to ride down to the beach for some salt air. 

It was just what my soul needed.

Back at home, we found the kitties in fairly close proximity. This is the closest they've gotten to one another EVER!

Since Monday was a holiday, Tuesday was spent catching up.

On Wednesday, we spent almost the whole day working and watching the Inauguration.

I stepped away from the television for a bit to focus some of my energy on creating.

In the evening, we stepped outside to celebrate on the swing and enjoy the milder weather.

I woke early Thursday morning with a feeling of positivity. And, I even caught the sunrise.

Since the temperature wasn't too low, I was able to sit on the porch to plan my day. 

I fit in some creative time, finishing up Bead Box 10!

And, Zoe got some belly-rubs.

Who am I kidding though. . . she gets belly rubs every day!

On Friday, I stay focused on getting a whole litany of tasks done.

While a huge bulk of those tasks were household chores, I was also able to fit in some creative time on the craft desk. 

I fueled up big time Saturday morning with a hearty breakfast.

I've never made cheese grits with an egg on top before, but it was something I was craving. And, it was GOOD too. 

I worked on some jewelry-making tasks most of the day.

But, I also pulled out the gel plate late in the afternoon.

I'll share the results of those at a later time. 

We met a couple of friends outside the local brewery for a few beers to finish out the week. 

I feel like it was a fairly creative and inspired week. Here's some inspiration I saved for you.

• Lifehacker shares how Journaling is Much More than Keeping a Dairy.
• This tutorial on making Nail Polish Hearts keeps turning over in my head. At some point in the next few days, I'll likely try it out. 
• I'm quite smitten with this "I Love Us" Embroidery Pattern from Flamingo Toes. 
• Sadie Seasongoods shares how to make Felt Succulents in Thrifted Planters. Those are some plants I can keep green!
• You should see the Works of Art created from old trees by one Italian artist. 
• Aaaand, here's another embroidery pattern. This time it's a Rainbow of Hope. (Perfect!)
• You know I love the jewelry tutorials from Moois Van Mie. She's shared a list of all her 2020 Jewelry Tutorials. 
• Check out this art created entirely from scraps of denim fabric!
• If you didn't watch the Inauguration, you missed seeing Amanda Gorman read her poem "The Hill We Climb". I HIGHLY recommend watching this inspiring woman perform her poem. 
• The surreal art of Ted Chin is mesmerizing. I'm in love with so many of these pictures. 
• Here's a tutorial on making a Love sign from repurposed materials. 
• Go check out these enchanting lightbox scenes! You won't be disappointed. 
• How cute is this Valentine Heart String Art?
• These inexpensive and easy DIY Roller Stamps are a great way to add texture to your art. 
• For those of you working to promote your art, here some ideas on How to Use Instagram to Take Control of Your Art Career. 
• Sculpy apparently has a new granite clay. At Handmade Happy Hour, you can find 5 Jewelry Designs using Turquoise Granite Clay. 
• I've never considered drawing on a leaf, but here are instructions for some Leaf Craft Ideas. 
• This No-Sew Scarf caught my eye as a great idea for gifts next year. Now if I can only remember that I saved it!

That's it for my week. I hope you've found some joy and inspiration in yours. I'm off to (hopefully) clean my craft room and prepare for the week ahead. Here's hoping yours is fantastic!