on my desk…
Hello, my crafty friends! It’s Wednesday and I am am a bit late but you know what time it is. Time to snoop. For those of you that aren’t familiar with WOYWW (What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday), head on over to Julia’s Stamping Ground and you will find desks from all around the world where we get to snoop on other crafter’s desks.
My desk is messy because I left it after my last session and I have decided to work out on my deck today so it’s rather cluttered. I don’t remember if I talked to you about my renewed interest in scrapbooking. I decided to work on 2 big 12 x 12 albums, one on our trips to Hawaii and the other our trips to Martha’s Vineyard. I was surprised how hard page protectors are to come by now. I think the pandemic has restarted a lot of people’s interest to scrapbook. So I bought an aqua album since it makes me think of the sea. I loaded all of the page protectors I bought into the album. It will be easier to store them in there for easy access to use them.
Let’s face it, I have a lot of patterned paper but I thought a new paper collection would keep me interested so I found that Simple Stories has a new line that works perfectly for both albums. The colors are so gorgeous. I am fighting that hoarder voice that is trying to resurface to compel me to “save” them. Nope, I am going to use as much of this paper and embellishments as possible.
I had to buy the 6×6 paper pack because the 12×12 was out of stock. But I think it will be fine since I am working in page protectors with pockets. The washi tape was so pretty too. I also snagged another line that matched the theme and color quite lovely.
I searched the Silhouette design store for cutfiles that might go with the them and found several. I cut out two of them to see how they look. I am going to store the print out of all of these cutfiles with the paper packs so I have everything in one container for easy access.
I thought I would share a collage of photos taken in my garden this week. Flowers are blooming rather nicely. Lots of colors this year. The gazing ball has a lot of sentimental value since my mother bought it for me many years ago. I am so happy we have been able to keep it without it breaking. It contrasts nicely in the garden.
A peek into my veggie garden reveals some cool stuff. The broccoli is growing. I have not had success in the past so fingers crossed. I never grow strawberries for fear the squirrel may eat them. But this year, I decided to try. I also added canteloup to my garden this year. Let’s see what happens.
Yesterday was my birthday and I decided to take a picture of me on my birthday with my gray hairs exposed during a pandemic. I have to learn to be more comfortable with them at least while I can’t go to the salon.
I spent my morning binge watching a TV show called, “Community” on Netflix with my youngest son, my husband bought yummy sushi for lunch on the deck and then I spent much of the day reading my books on my deck. I didn’t wash a dish, fold clothes or tidy anything for the whole day. I milked it for all it was worth. I had a lovely conversation with two of my sisters and my dear friend that lives in California. It was a really lovely day and our new stove was delivered on my birthday. Not planned, and nope, it is not a birthday gift. I continue to remind my husband that appliances are not birthday or anniversary gifts. So the coincidence of the date of it’s arrival does not change that fact. Hee hee.. I am so excited to use it. We owned our last stove for 15 years. I hope this one will last that long.
I hope you all have a blessed day and stay well. Now it is time for me to grab a cup of tea and begin my snooping!
Belinda
Hello friends! I hope you haven’t forgot me in my long absence. I apologize. I got caught up with the end of the school year and then bam, right into my family summer vacation. But now I am back and preparing to head out of town for the holiday weekend. I now know I prefer space between vacations and weekend escapes. I usually need a week to recover from vacations and a few days to recover from weekend escapes. My mind has a hard time turning back to routine. Oh and one last vent (that’s what I’m doing right?), we are having our home painted and repaired and the contractor arrived the day after we arrived back from our vacation. They arrive each day at 7:30am and leave around 4. AAAAAgggg!!!! That limbo state kinda stinks but I know it will be worth it in the end.
Hello and happy Monday! I am getting this out late because I spent the morning nursing my garden. I say nursing because in addition to the funky weather this summer, our vacation getaways and my less than enthusiastic maintenance this last month and a half; my poor garden has suffered. So this morning after dropping off Nick, I decided to go salvage and care for my plants. My girlfriend, Ashley is one of my big inspirations and usually this time of year, I am sitting around a bountiful veggie garden and explosion of blooms and texting her about my daily happenings in the garden. But this year has to go down as one of much neglect when it came to the garden. So in the midst of my pity party, I put on my garden shoes and headed out to water and make adjustments, but I realized that despite the lack of care, there were so many things to be grateful for in my garden. Above is a Phlox that my former neighbor gave me before she moved. I just had to stop and smile at this delicate beauty.
This lovely yellow rose bush was ripped out of the grown when we had some major plumbing work done in June and I was so afraid that it wouldn’t last after being transplanted to another area in my garden. But today, to my surprise I peeked behind my echinacea and there this single beautiful bloom greeted me.
I don’t know if you can see what’s happening in this photo but I had my sprinkler on my side lawn and went inside my house to talk with my son while I waited to move the sprinklers. I had set a timer on my phone to remind me to go out and turn off the water. When I came to the door to come outside, I saw between 6 – 8 birds (mostly Robins) running in and out to the sprinkler and washing off. It was the cutest thing to see. So the total bird-lover in me decided to let the water run a few more minutes to let them cool off and play.
I wanted to share these photos because I wanted to show how small miracles are happening around us all every day and all we have to do is slow down and be open to receive them. I could have stood out there and grumped about the veggies that didn’t come or the excess leaves that are already falling from the trees but I chose to look at the beauty that exists when I open my eyes. I am grateful for the nature that I can come into contact with right in my yard every day and I do not take it for granted.
I know Monday can be stressful with all of our ambitious to-do lists but just make sure you pause for a few minutes in nature today and I bet you will be pleasantly surprised.
