Birthday Time

Nick turns 18 today!  Hard to believe!  I remember when he was born and the times he would sleep on my lap as a baby!  I don't like seeing those times gone...but that's life isn't it.  Not sure we'll get to see Nick today or not.  I'm hoping as I made him another gag gift for his birthday!  Here is the process!  I taped end to end money...this is $1, $5 and $10 bills...

 

You need one of those small Kleenex tissue boxes.  Open up the side and remove the tissues; retape the sides back and remove the center opening.

Then you roll the money onto an empty toilet paper roll and place inside the box.  Hold the last dollar out so you can tape a bow on it.

Then tape a stickie bow to the end of the last dollar bill and the box top....when they take out the bow the money will flow!!!!

At least I hope it will.  Over the years, I've made some of these gag gifts for Nick and for Ian.  Amber usually gets something more practical.  Only because she's a girl!  HA

One year I had Nick do  a scavenger hunt for his birthday.  You can see that post here.  That was fun!  

Another year I rolled dollars and placed inside a McDonald's french fry box!  That was fun too.

And another time,  I gave  Nick a pizza box filled with $$'s.  I ended up doing the same for Ian for Christmas.  This was a fun gift.  Just something different and what young man can't use dollars vs a shirt or pair of underwear.  HA


Hope we get to see Nick...if not, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!   LOVE YOU TONS!!

There is so much talent around us!

For my 'faithful' followers, you may remember I attempted to make a folded book back in 2019!  Mine didn't turn out that great but I certainly did appreciate all the work involved in making  this type of art and I do consider it art!

This past summer we had a few new members join our Friends of the Library volunteer group.  One of them, Holly, happened to talk  about the 'folding book' art she does.   Well, I knew what she was talking about BUT  after seeing her wonderful work, I asked if she would make a folded book for my daughter's upcoming BD based on her company logo.    And look at what Holly made!  Keep in mind that the letters in TALENT are covered with colored paper in each  section, in addition to all the folding!  How cool is this!!

So, I would like to introduce you to Holly Sifferman and her wonderful folding book art!  

Isn't this adorable for a Valentine's gift!

I love, love this butterfly dress!  I can't imagine the work involved in this one!

This is another amazing book!  I can't imagine how difficult this was to create!

Check out the view from the side!!!!

This is adorable!!!

Of course our Michigan land is always great to have!

I love the sunflower!!!!  

So not to give anything away....I took a picture of  a very small portion of the pattern I had for making my first (& last!) folded book.  I just want you to appreciate the work involved.  This is only 1/8th of the 1st page of 3 for that pattern.  It shows you where to make each mark on each page and where to fold those marks!!!!  This particular pattern called for 400 pages!!  I saw on Holly's FB page where she created a 1000! page folded book!!!

I am adding a picture of Holly's business card.  She is on Etsy and will ship.  Holly also has a facebook page (here).  You have to check out all of the books she has posted.   Christmas is right around the corner and what better unique gift than a folded book!  And what better way to repurpose those old books rather than have them lie in a landfill somewhere!  

My mind is already thinking about gifts for this Christmas and future birthday's!   Oh, my daughter LOVED her folded book!  She's already sent out a picture of it to the fellow who designed her logo as well as some of her friends.   Thanks again, Holly!  You did a great job!

Disperse Dye Prints - part 2

Before I get into this post, check out the picture our Prime delivery person took!!!  OMG...this is priceless!  We weren't at home but did see him on our Nest camera.  He made a point to get our little Gigi in the picture.  I talked with another Prime delivery person and he said "We do that on occasion.  We've had some funny pictures."  

 I will thank this delivery person, if we ever see him (well, that's silly!  We know we'll be ordering from PRIME again at least one more time! HA.)  It sure made our day!

Now the fun begins!  OK, not so much fun trying to come up with a layout to use all the prints we make is it.  

I wanted to take advantage of the 3"x8" prints and  include them but I didn't want a standard type layout.

I just kept playing with some different layouts.

After awhile they all look the same but they are different!

Next I laid the prints on top of a bright orange, purple batik print.

I like this purple batik fabric for the background and borders.  Gives a good contrast.

So, next was to measure the prints I have and see where they 'might' fit in this layout.  I guarantee you this won't the the final layout.  

Actually, after coming up with this type of layout, I'm going to need more prints...but that's fun to do and I've lots of painted papers left.  

I know this post is getting to be more dog related but it's only fair to show a pic of Kalee since Gigi was the star on this one!  We were sitting in the vets office for a check up - Kalee not me!

And I ordered more Delica #8 seed beads to make another knitted cuff!  Yes, I'm obsessed...I don't have any other knitted pattern to work on.  Haven't had any time to look up a pattern.

Beaded Isle Cuff

 

I purchased the Bead Isle Cuff pattern about a month ago from Laura Nelkin (you can see her pattern on Ravelry here).  I love cuffs of any kind and this being a small project I thought, why not make one.  I ran into a few issues, like finding the smallest needles I had in my stash and then, what yarn to use?  You don't need much but I didn't want to buy any (you only need around 43 yards of fingering weight yarn).  This was, afterall, just a practice piece.  So into my stash I went and I found some leftover yarn from a shawl I made (pattern, again, by Laura).  And ditto with the beads...actually, I didn't have enough size 8 Delica's and had to use some other beads...but it worked out ok.

check out those little hairs on my arm!  HA

You use a slide clasp to close the cuff.  The ends wrap around your wrist and then lay under the center medallion. So you don't even see the closure.  Fortunately, I had three slide clasps in my stash!  Don't you just love having a stash of items!!

This was the yarn I had leftover from making a shawl.   You can see that project here.

I really liked the purple Delica beads.  

You can see where the blue beads look a tad smaller than the purple ones.  Laura used three different color beads in her cuff, which looks really nice.  Again, I just used what I had!

You  add the beads as you knit the pattern.  Laura has a you tube on using Beadle Needles to place beads on your your stitches.   Of course I had to order them via Prime.  And she also has another youtube showing how to use a crochet hook (.8mm) or superfloss dental floss!  The only problem I had using the Beadle Needle was the yarn threads, which are very thin to start with, kept getting caught on the point of the needle.  Sometimes, it worked great and other times I was just shredding my yarn.  I use the SuperFloss often, which I'm used to but I think the Beadle Needle would be efficient once I got used to it.    Again, this is just a practice piece, right!   I think it's fun to wear, which I did today!  HA  Now to purchase some yarn and beads to make another one.  What fun to choose more beads and yarn, right!

Labor Day Weekend - Part 2

 

After Ron and MJ left mid day Saturday, Darrin sent a text telling us his menu for dinner on Saturday!  Well, who could refuse: Smoked Beef Brisket  & Smoked Queso dip!  Not us!  So around 4 p.m. we headed to the kids to chow down on more food!  My son said I could take a selfie of us but couldn't post on FB!  He didn't say I couldn't on my blog!

We were all anticipating the dinner!  That's Nick on the far right and his dad to his right, Kris busy at the stove and the back of Thomas, one of Nick's Lacrosse team mates.  Thomas is from Canada so he'll have to stay at school until they change some of the Covid restrictions to allow him to go home.

The Smoked Queso was delicious!!!  All done in the smoker...recipe sounds pretty simple but oh so good!

Yes, this was a feast!  We missed our Amber who had late lacrosse practice Friday p.m. and studies so she couldn't make it home. I'm sure we'll see her soon..although, it sounds as if her schedule is really busy for her senior year! She's studying 'Special Education'.

Bob, our SIL, Jeff and my daughter...who had a terrible migraine for 2 days!  I felt so bad for her!

Dawn, Nancy - Kris' mom and Kris.  It was good to see Nancy and have time to sit and talk with her.  She was at Nick's graduation open house but hard to talk with all the folks coming and going.

And the college kids home for their first weekend!

Back of Braylon, Nick's girlfriend; Nick (yep, his back too!) and Tae, Nick's room mate in the back seat.

I'm sure Nick was saying "that's just my grandma who has to take pictures all the time".  HA

Still, Nick's back, Thomas to his right, Tae and Braylon at the far end.

This is A.J.'s favorite spot!   He loves to lay on the men's shoulders!  

It was nice to see Nick's roommate again and to meet another Lacrosse teammate. Bob pointed out how polite and nice these young men are/were! Of course, Braylon, Nick's girlfriend is a sweetheart so we have to include her.

Bob said, and I agree, we have the best kids, grand kids and family. We are so lucky and proud of each and every one of them. What a wonderful two days we had!

I did rest up today, Monday...walked dogs twice and finished up a load of laundry and did some knitting...otherwise, it's a rest day for me! No 11,000+ steps for me today!

Labor Day Weekend 2021 - Part 1

Mural downtown Clarkson

 What a busy, fun filled, family Labor Day weekend we had!!!  Started off with Bob's son, Ron and DIL MaryJo driving from Indiana to spend Saturday and Sunday a.m. with us!!!  We haven't seen them in over a year so it was a nice visit.  Ron got to see his mom too so I'm sure he felt better knowing his mom and dad are doing good!!! 

As soon as kids got here on Saturday, MaryJo and I took off for the Farmer's market in Clarkston.  They close at 1 so I wanted to make sure we got there in time to walk around and shop!  And we did!  We stopped at a Cheese People vendor and got three different cheeses!  An apricot triple cream brie, some aged cheddar and a chipotle espresso cheddar!  Vendor said it's fantastic on a burger!  So guess what we'll have this week!

So after the market, getting some peaches and a huge hunk of Romaine lettuce, we headed to downtown Clarkston to walk around town.  On our way out we stopped at Honcho's for a cup of coffee and a treat (MJ had an iced mocha w/carmel and I had a Mexican spice chocolate decaf!) .  Turned out they only had a salted chocolate chip cookie, which was huge and delicious!  We ate half..just to give ourselves some energy to continue to shop!  

Next up we stopped at Willow Pointe, which is a great flower shop as well as unique gift shop.  And we did find a gift!  Ron turns 60 in October and as we drove into the parking lot, I saw this cool Michigan Welcome sign.  MaryJo said Ron would love that...so what better gift for his BD from Bob and I!  And I didn't have to mail it!

Here's Ron with his Michigan sign!  Yes, he and Bob are both HUGE Michigan fans, regardless of the sport...so wasn't it great timing Ron could be here for Michigan's first game on TV Saturday!  

I should say great he was here for all the other college games that were on all day and ALL night!  Keep in mind games started at noon and they taped several games so they could go between games!  

Mary Jo sent me this picture to show how good the sign looks by their door.  They have a fantastic wrap around porch at their house so this will be a nice welcome to those who come to the door and sit on that great porch!

  I had chips/dip, pita/hummus, pretzels, cheese popcorn, sliced cheese and home made cookies for the guys to munch on while we were gone. 

I made cream puffs, which I haven't made in years....they were pretty tasty.  Dinner was sloppy joes, scalloped potatoes with cheese, home made cole salw, salad w/ egg bites, bacon bites, cheese, and sunflower seeds in little bowls so folks could make their own salads.  And of course, bob's favorite Freakin pickle's!  They are delicious and unique!

This was taken as the kids were leaving on Sunday to go meet Ron's mom & Jim for lunch.  Wish they could have stayed another day but best they headed home on Sunday and not fight the traffic on Labor Day Monday.  They actually made great time and were home by 6 p.m.!

I didn't have my fit bit on but I'm sure MaryJo and I walked quite a bit.  We took the dogs for a walk after we got home from 'shopping' and then we walked another 2 miles around the sub before dinner!    Hard to say good-bye to the kids but we look forward to seeing them again....now to talk Bob into driving to see them and  then to see Rilynn/Kalya/Nate in Ohio!

Next Post will be family get-together at Darrin's!  It was a busy weekend!