Thursday, December 26, 2013

Thanks to All of Our Emergency Workers

It seemed like everything I wanted to do couldn't be done.  I had no idea when I was a kid that we would be so dependent on technology someday that it could bring us to our knees.  Well, I'm being a little dramatic, but you get the idea. I couldn't ship any orders because I couldn't get into our online Etsy shop. I couldn't do any banking because the internet was down. I couldn't email anyone an e-card to tell them Merry Christmas because I had no email.  I couldn't even look up a recipe except in an old fashioned, real book, eek! no reviews? There was no television without cable.

So we had no internet or cable for a couple of days, but thankfully we had power until...just before Christmas dinner was fully cooked. Darn it, we almost made it. Well, the roast was done, but the roasted potatoes and carrots were not to the ideal done-ness. We made do. Then we hooked up the generator so that we could have heat and a light (we learned our lesson in the 1998 ice storm and bought a generator). We converted to a gas stove top a couple of years ago so we would be fine for cooking and most importantly, coffee! This storm wouldn't be as bad as the 1998 storm, but still, who wants to spend Christmas without our normal stuff like heat and lights.

But most importantly, I thought about all of the emergency workers who were giving up their Christmas to help out the rest of us.  The line workers who repair our power lines, the police who keep our roads safe, municipal employees who plow our roads, medical staff who fix our banged up bodies and everyone else that it takes to keep our world comfortable for us. Those folks who thought about the families who were having a cold Christmas without their normal everyday comforts. Thank you, thank you, thank you. You are all heroes in our world.

So now I can have a nice cup of hot coffee and sit and look out the window. I'll watch all the birds flitting about in the icy trees that look like spun glass and sparkle in the sunlight. Thanks to all of our heroes.


Thursday, August 29, 2013

One More Use for Duct Tape

So what does a Grammy do with her grandson two days before he goes back to school.  We started out going shopping for a last minute outfit and to get school supplies still missing from "the list". He has to be prepared this year since it was the first day at a new school.  Then it was out to lunch at Friendly's for the two of us. He's so much fun to chat with at 11 years old.

So when we got back to the house we checked out some cool crafts online that we could do together for the rest of the day.  I bought some of the awesome new patterns and colors of duct tape a while ago and we pulled those out to make something.  Neither of us ever tried duck tape crafts before so we were going to start with a really small, simple project.  Well, somehow after our online research I found myself talked into making a bullet proof Nerf gun vest.  I was thinking maybe a pencil case or a wallet.

It took a little longer than I expected. We got the back piece and one side of the front measured, cut and taped in about two hours.  By then we were both a little weary of measuring and cutting pieces so we decided that we would finish it the next day since he was spending the night.

We fell a tiny bit short of green tape, so before we completed it we had to make a trip to the craft supply store the next morning . Then there were the inevitable adjustments along the way, but we finally completed it late in the afternoon just in time for him to take it home with him. In all, it took about 4 hours to complete. I don't think it came out too bad for our first try.

I understand it might be part of an outfit for Wacky Wednesday at school sometime in the future!  And I was told that we might need to add pockets for Nerf accessories too!













Sunday, July 21, 2013

Artist's Block

I've had awful artist's block lately. Or maybe it's adult ADHD because I can never settle my mind down long enough to concentrate on just one thing that I'd like to create.   My mind goes from one subject to the next at lightening speed and when I'm done I'm so confused about what I want to do that I don't do anything.   And what medium to use only complicates things even more. So when that happens I usually just go buy some more art supplies to clear my head. Does anyone else have this problem or is it just me?

I'm a dabbler at heart and like so many mediums that I can't say that I am a watercolor artist, pen and ink lover, mixed media maker or any other thing that anyone could identify me with. So I'm just going to show you a bunch of some of the things I like to do. Of course, these are all things that I had to slow down my mind long enough to concentrate and finish!



Watercolor painting of chives

Acrylic painting of hot peppers

Whimisical whale using soft pastel background and ink

Painted rock using acrylics

Oil pastel painting on birch bark with a birch twig frame

Birch bark collage on a piece of reclaimed wood

Pressed leaves and wild flowers made into laminated bookmarks



Zentangle style ACEO in ink and acrylic paint

You can find all of my creations in either of our shops here MyHumbleJumble or here at TheRusticWoodshed


Monday, June 3, 2013

Easy DIY Flower Vase

I've had this tradition at camp for years of picking wildflowers for the table when we are up for more than a day or two.  My container of choice is whatever is on hand and most of the time it ends up being something like an old coffee can. So when I found this DIY idea on Pinterest I just had to try it.  It was so easy and turned out kind of cute so I thought I would share it with all of you.  It's just about the easiest thing to do, and I'm all about easy, so here goes.

You'll need:
clear glass container to use as your vase. I used an old jar.
ModPodge craft glue
food coloring
paint brush
Water to clean up

  • Mix some ModPodge with your favorite color of food coloring or create your own custom color. I used a little more than I needed but if you mix it in a container that has a tight fitting lid it will last a while in case you want to do more than one.
  • Brush a thin even coat on the entire container. Let dry thoroughly between coats and add as many coats as needed to get the desired depth of color.  I did about 7-8 coats to get the color I wanted. I added a piece of twine for a little embellishment.
  • Voila! You have a nicely colored glass vase for your flowers.
NOTE: This is not waterproof so don''t submerge in water.  

It was early in the season when I brought my vase to camp so I opted for a few larch cone stems to fill in until the summer flowers arrive. What do you think?



The new ModPodge vase with larch cone stems





Sunday, May 5, 2013

Fun and Work and Camp

One of my favorite times of the year is finally here. May is a revitalizing month. The sun is warm on my shoulders as I walk through the woods and see the remains of leaves that were deposited on the forest floor last fall. It's a reminder of the beautiful autumns that we experience in Maine. But I can also see all of the little sprouts of the life poking up through the soft soil telling of the beauty to come in the months ahead. Mayflower and trillium tease me as I walk along our brook at camp. they seem to say "stay for a few more days and we'll really put on a show for you." But we still have to go home. Retirement doesn't alleviate all responsibility, and we still have to take care of those mundane things like lawn mowing and bill paying.

This last trip we had a chance cut a tree or two that needed to come down. These have been reclaimed and turned into pieces of wood to be used for all sorts of crafts and woodland decorating and you'll be able to see them in our shop as soon as I can sort everything out and post them.

Maple Slices

White Birch Slices

White Birch Pedestals

Maple Chunks


Monday, April 29, 2013

Helping Disabled Veteran's One at A Time


Shawna Mayo is a disabled Iraqi war veteran who served 4 years as a combat medic. She's also a talented member of the Etsy.com community, and a fellow Etsy Maine Team member who is looking for an independent life for herself and her family by creating with clay.

Please take a moment to visit the link below to find out more about Shawna and how you can help her achieve her dream through the Kickstarter Project.  

She has less than two weeks to attain her goal of raising $5,000.  So far, over 100 backers have committed to donating over $4,000 to help her. Please consider a donation to Shawna's project.



Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Signs of Spring!

Yep, signs of spring. No pun intended, but here are a few of the fun signs that are posted in our shop that will remind you of the good times ahead now that winter is mostly behind us!

Get the buggy out for a ride and


Put the sign up. We're goin' fishin'!


Don't forget the bug spray!


and make sure to stop in the outhouse...

before you leave...





Tuesday, April 9, 2013

What Makes an Artist?

I struggle with the idea of what makes an artist, and if I can consider myself one.  This morning, Dave shared a website photo with me that helped me decide that anyone of us can be an artist.  It's all about self expression!

Caddisfly larvae construct their own protective home with whatever materials they have at hand in the water. I watch them annually in our brook at camp and am always fascinated by their ability to disguise themselves as what usually looks like a piece of twig floating on the bottom of the stream.

This French Artist, Hubert Duprat, had the brilliant idea of supplying the caddisfly with some unusual materials. Tiny beads and gold flecks were given to the insects who then constructed these gorgeous homes for themselves.  What gorgeous beads these would make for jewelry! Once the larvae have vacated their home of course!

Hubert Duprat's exquisite caddisfly


A Caddisfly from Kidder Brook in Concord, Maine

Sunday, April 7, 2013

A Little Art Therapy Never Hurt Anyone

I bit the bullet.  After a year of indecision, I decided it was time to get the dreaded hip replacement that I had been putting off for over a year.  So when I finally had everything scheduled I thought that I should have something that I could do easily to pass the time while I was recovering.  I knew I wouldn't be able to work with my pressed flowers at first because it would be too hard to sit at the work station in my itty bitty studio. I was a little burned out on crocheting at the moment, so I thought that I would just get some sketch pads, and pens and pencils and draw and doodle my time away. Between drawing and reading I figured I would get through the boring part when I couldn't get around too well.

Sometime in January I ran across a book that looked interesting and proved to be just what the doctor ordered (not really, I just thought it looked cool). One Zentangle a Day by Beckah Krahula not only proved to be an interesting book that includes a 6-week course in Zentangle, but it was the best art therapy I could have found.  Once I started following the book I was completely immersed in another world and could really ignore all of that post surgical discomfort for a while.  I have done a little meditation in the past, and found that this was really quite similar. Once I began practicing the repetitive patterns I found myself so immersed in them that I forgot about everything around me and the pain that I was having.

I'd recommend this form of "art therapy" to anyone. You don't need to be an artist to learn it. It's really easy to follow along in the book that I used or any number of other books written on Zentangle. I'm continuing to enjoy learning my new art form and would like to share a few pieces that I've posted in my shop with you.










Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Hurry Up Spring!

I'm sitting here taking a break from filing - stuff that should have been filed three months ago. Yep, we're three months into 2013 and I haven't set up my files for this year yet. So I'm sitting here daydreaming out the window about spring because in our central Maine yard the snow is almost gone - except for those nasty, grungy snow plow piles that refuse to disappear with the rest of the normal snow. Daffodils are poking up and I can see some buds coming along that seem just as excited about spring as I am.

So while I was daydreaming I decided to pursue one of my favorite pastimes, window shopping on Etsy.com to see what spring things my teammates have posted for sale.  I've put together a treasury of some wonderful handmade items that can be found on Etsy.com  Here's the link to the full treasury (Etsy Treasury) with a few teasers below for you to check out.

And if your as excited to get out and dig in the dirt or have a picnic as I am, I just know that you'll find something to fit your taste.








Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Spring Sale!

Spring cleaning is just around the corner - if I can keep my focus long enough to do it. Once the weather turns nice I'm pretty much on auto pilot walking out the door to enjoy the nice weather.

Part of my spring cleaning strategy is to reduce the amount of "stuff" in the house to make more room. Theoretically more room will make it easier to clean and I'll be more motivated to follow through with my big plan.

So lowering the amount of inventory that I have in my shop makes sense, uh, I think.

Most of my items don't take up a whole lot of room, but the ones that do the most right now are my crocheted items. So beginning today and running through April 24 everything crocheted will be on sale at 20% off in my shop.

Just click on my shop link in the sidebar or go to the link below. Then click into the "Crochet Home/Fashion" section of my shop to see all of the great deals that are going.

www.etsy.com/shop/myhumblejumble 

Beaded Coasters


Lacy Crocheted Scarf



Amigurumi Owl


Kindle, Nook, Nexus 7 Case


Country Mouse Crocheted Doorstop or Bookend

Kindle, Nook, Nexus 7 Sleeve


Universal 10" Tablet Cover





Monday, March 25, 2013

Maine Maple Sunday

We were in our local warehouse store a couple of weeks back. Since I've related to you before that I have a hard time making decisions, it shouldn't come as a surprise that I couldn't make up my mind whether to buy a quart of maple syrup or wait a little longer.  We were running low, but weren't in crisis yet. So I waited. Then it happened, I used the last drop.

That was about three weeks ago. Maine Maple Sunday this year wasn't until March 24 this year. So I was really anticipating going to one of our local farms to get some. The big day arrived and we went to pick up our grandson, Alex, to go along. We got to the Bacon Farm in Sidney, Maine on a typical windy March day  with a little bite to it. The last time we visited this farm was probably seven years ago, and we were surprised to see how much they had expanded their operation.  We were pretty surprised that we had to wait almost 30 minutes in line to get in the door too, but it was worth it.  The closer we got to the sugar house the more intense the maple fragrance was. As we walked through the door, the steamy warmth from the cookers enveloped us. The line circled around the room past the maple sugar demo area right to, yes, a table where a man scooped vanilla ice cream into little dishes and a woman poured fresh maple syrup over them. That was my next target! We all agreed it tasted awesome and continued on past the people who were spinning fresh maple cotton candy through the door into my next target area - the shop. Stocked full of all sizes and shapes of maple syrup containers I picked up a half gallon so I wouldn't have another crisis too soon. Alex chose a maple whoopie pie and bag of maple candy. I have to admit I couldn't resist taking a couple of whoopie pies for me and gramps too.

We wandered through the crowd taking in the sights of the tapped trees, barns and fields and a couple of ducks skating on the last remnants of ice in the farm pond. Back in the truck we all agreed it was a great way to spend a couple of hours and headed home.

I'm so glad I didn't pick up that maple syrup at the warehouse club. Lesson learned - buy local!

Me and Alex checking out the sap production

Inside the sugar house

Sugar house steam

Demo area

Brrr! that's cold

Buy local!














Friday, March 22, 2013

Waiting for Spring

When our family was young we actually enjoyed winter. Our two boys kept us busy trying to occupy the winter months with some fun activities for the whole family. We all got excited when the ice froze solid enough on the lakes to enlist the help of friends and haul our ice shed onto one of the nearby lakes and set it up for the winter fishing months.

The "siding" of the shed was made from those sheets of aluminum that our local newspaper used for printing somehow or other, and we bought really cheap to cover the shed frame. There was a tiny wood stove that we paid about twenty dollars for that occupied one corner of the shed and kept us from freezing and losing fingers to frostbite after checking our fishing traps (we thought it was fun back then). A window on each of three sides gave us the perfect view to watch for flags after we finished setting out our traps.

We'd pack up the truck every Saturday or Sunday morning with all of our equipment, firewood, and food and head out to the lake. I'd haul an entire meal out with us on our sled and cook over the tiny wood stove while the kids fished, explored the lake or ice skated on a shoveled off area. And of course there was cribbage for the grown ups. I don't ever recall catching an extraordinary amount of fish, but we always had a great time together. Exhausted by the end of the day, we would all load up the sled and trudge off the ice on foot, no snowmobile in our budget. We'd barely have the truck warmed up and the kids would be sound asleep for the entire trip home. This would continue throughout the long, cold winter months in Maine for our family and many others. Then spring would arrive and we would haul the shed back off the ice for another year.

Now winter means something different to me than it used to. As I get older, I enjoy staying indoors during the winter months, cozy and warm. Go ahead and call me soft, and I'll say "Yes" emphatically. Yes I am.

I'm so looking forward to those first spring days when I can bundle up and find a nice sunny spot out of the biting spring wind and take my sketch pad or my kindle outside to draw or read and enjoy the fresh air with the warm sun on my face.

But it's good to have those great memories. I'm so glad that we had those times together.

Photo on Echo Lake 1984

Monday, March 18, 2013

New Blog!

Where to begin. I've been procrastinating about starting my blog all winter. Why? Because as my blog name implies, my mind is always in a jumble. Too many ideas floating around in my head. What should my blog be about? Time will tell. I was never good at making snap decisions, always over thinking what the best answer should be. And to tell the truth, I still don't know what this blog will be about.   So follow me down the path on our journey to who knows where!