Inchies

My June Inchies calendar is done.  I ended up making the background look like pool water and I drew an umbrella and used stickers for my "Splash into Summer".  I'm pleased with the way it turned out and am continuing with July in the same way.

From my previous post - I did pick my gooseberries and although they looked great, they were somewhat tasteless.  Next year I'll have to plant a few more varieties.

L and I started the mermaid blankets for the girls to take to the birthday party and so far so good.  Whilst L was sewing them together I cut out a beach bag from some oilcloth that mum and I had bought last year from a quilt store somewhere in Lancaster.  Maybe I'll work on that before going into work this afternoon.  Pics to follow!

Here are my photo-a-day pics from 2 weeks ago!

The first is the stained glass dome at the mall.  The bunny was sitting by the path at the park. A gentle breeze was waving the flag.  We went shopping to Ikea!  Handel's always has good milkshakes!!  Most people would have taken pictures of the fireworks but I decided after treading on him in my flip flops whilst watching the fireworks - he'd make for a more interesting topic!!  And finally, my passion flower is blooming after about a 4 year lull.

Hope you're enjoying your summer.  Until next time...

It's July Already!

Wow! I can't believe it's July already.  I haven't quite finished my June Inchies.  I'm almost there, just have to colour in the background, so will show you on my next post.

I have a few other projects in the works - The Bean and Sissy have been invited to a Twins 1st birthday party at the end of the month and are hoping to take Mermaid dolls and blankets as gifts.  I'm just working out the details so L and I can make them!  I'll use my doll pattern that I made last year and change the legs to a mermaid tail/fin.  I'm also beginning to think about doing a Fall craft show.  This time though, I don't want to be consumed by it, so I'm going to challenge myself to be really organised!  I'll update my progress as I go.

We've almost finished our blueberries with help from the birds and will be picking some gooseberries later today.  I'm thinking gooseberry crumble and custard.  The English have the best desserts!

My pix for the week are a mish mash as usual!

The first pic is at the Barnes & Noble Starbucks cafe! Relaxing by the pool before the storm came through. Went with L to drop off clothing. Breakfast on the porch. Lemoncello Martini after seeing the Tall Ships in Philly - YUM. Our weekly trip to Target!! Saw this butterfly in my garden.  Can't believe I've been doing this for half a year already.  Have a great week.  Until next time...

Inchies

Just a quick post on my Inchies from last week.  It seems like there are days when I haven't really done anything interesting so have a hard time deciding what to draw, and then there are days that are pretty busy and I have to choose!!  I guess the only thing I'm consistent with is that my drawings are VERY basic!!  I kind of like it that way as this project was just to challenge me to do something quick each day.  Plus I'm only using a pencil, pigma micron pen and my 12 sign pens from Paperchase.  I'm still thinking about adding a few words to some of the pics but most of them speak for themselves.  I'm definitely going to colour in the background - probably with watercolours and maybe do some doodles/zentangles to fill the empty space.

The first picture shows the whole month so far

I gave a bike to a friend of mine on the Sunday and on Monday we went over to friends to celebrate their daughters birthday.  And of course Sunday was Father's Day

This is a pic of a baby Robin I rescued from the gooseberry patch - it got caught up in the netting that is supposed to be bird friendly!  And on Wednesday I skyped with mum and dad.  Then Thursday we had quite bad thunder and lightening which always scares the labs.

Friday I picked up some books at the library and spent a few hours sitting in my favourite armchair reading.

Like I said - pretty basic.  Enjoy the rest of your week.  Until next time...

Happy Father's Day!

Hope you all enjoyed your Father's Day weekend.  We had a leisurely day outside.  The weather was perfect so we managed to get a little weeding and planting done out by the mail box, a quick trip to the grocery store for some yummies for the grill and a few hours spent messing around in the pool with The Bean!

It's been a busy week for me with late nights and early mornings at work - all fun though and Hubby finished work early Friday afternoon and now has the summer off until school starts again in the Fall.  We've also had a few sleepless nights due to thunder and lightening that our two labs are afraid of!  It's sad to watch them shaking and pacing and listening to them panting all night and there's nothing that we can really do to help them.

On Friday Hubby and I went to the library just before they closed and got ourselves some books for the the next few weeks.

I decided to start with Coming to Rosemont by Barbara Hinske.  I spent part of Friday evening and first thing Saturday morning reading this book.  It was very enjoyable and easy to read and is the first book in the Rosemont series.   I've read Me Before You by Jojo Moyes which I thoroughly enjoyed, so was happy to find a couple more books by her and am now just starting One Plus One.  The other book byJojo Moyes is The Girl You Left Behind and my final book choice is Black Dog Summer by Miranda Sherry.  I'll write my comments on these books as I finish them.

As today is Father's Day I drew/wrote a quick caption and posted it on Instagram - you can find me under whimsiesacc - but here it is

And finally my pics of the week

The first pic is the ATM!!  I received a package from Twinnee and that was the huge stamp on it and the Crunchies - YUM - were inside!  A trip to Target to the dollar bins.  A few blueberries left on the bush.  The library sign so I can remember what their hours are and finally a wine cooler and book to finish off Father's Day afternoon!

I need to finish my Inchies for the week so will post in a day or so plus with a little over a week left in June, I need to think about how I want to do July. Have a great week.  Until next time...

Blueberries!

There's nothing nicer than having fresh, homegrown produce from your very own garden.  About three years ago I planted two blueberry bushes alongside the vegetable garden.  Each year we've had good crops but the birds have always gotten there first - until now!  Here is our first picking for the season and they are delicious.

Next to the blueberries are two gooseberry bushes and they too are fully loaded.  They're not ready yet and I've kind of covered them with netting as they seem to be VERY popular with the birds.  Hopefully I'll be able to make at least one gooseberry crumble from them but I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Enjoy your weekend, until next time...

Book Review and Inchies Progress

I hope you all had a fun weekend.  The weather was fabulous so was able to spend some time in the pool with The Bean and Sissy.  It's always fun when they come over.

Well I read some of my books that I'd photographed on a previous post.  The first one I read was "the life-changing magic of tidying up" by Marie Kondo.  I actually had to rent this book from the library as it was in high demand and that was the only one available.  I can honestly say IT WAS AWFUL!!  Throughout the entire book she just kept repeating herself and other than saying only keep the things that bring you joy, there was zero value in the book.  She even said thank you to her stuff at the end of the day - thank you bag, thank you shoes etc!?!  I thought there was going to be some great tips but no there wasn't.  The best tip I can give is DON"T WASTE YOUR TIME, throw out some clutter and tidy up instead!

The Porches & Outdoor Spaces by Country Living was a lovely book.  I browsed that book many times and got lots of ideas for my porch and deck.  Grab yourself a coffee or something cool and refreshing to drink and go and find a quiet spot to lose yourself for a while!

I couldn't get into Last Night In Montreal by Emily St. John Mandel.  I tried but it wasn't for me.  I did however enjoy Another Night, Another Day by Sarah Rayner.  It was very "real" about normal people suffering from real life illnesses like depression, anxiety, loss and autism.  I felt I knew the people and could connect with the things they were going through as I have friends that have been through some of this themselves.  Well worth the time to read it.  I'm looking forward to reading more from her.

As for my Inchies.  I don't think I like how my page is looking.  I know I'm going to fill in all the white around the boxes but it's not really working for me.

I know I have a few squares to fill in but...   I guess I'll finish to the end of the month and then make my decision.

Here are my photo-a-day for the last two weeks

I'm learning to use watercolours and I posted this watermelon slice on Instagram.  The clematis is out front just off the porch.  There were three squirrels trying to get food and this one won!  This bug was on my armchair.  Dinner at Mesa.  Cute little mushrooms growing in the grass.  The pool looking inviting after a day of weeding!  Storm clouds gathering.  My sweet little hummingbird plate.  Another view of the pool.  Maddie and Lucy helping out in the kitchen.  Dinner at Maggiano's.  A few fabric picks for mermaid dolls and lastly Hubby grilled sausage and veggies last night and it was cool enough to eat at our little bistro table.

Get outside and enjoy the sun.  Until next time...

Inchies

At the end of May whilst browsing on Pinterest, I saw some Inchies and thought it might be fun to start doing an Inchie a day.  I emailed Twinnee to see if she wanted to do it too and she said yes!  I thought it would be a fun and easy project and a good way to do some kind of art on a daily basis.  At first I wasn't sure how I wanted to do this, so I went over to my daughter's with some plain white cardstock (from Michael's) and she drew me 1" squares all over my page using her Cricut machine.

Awesome!  When I got home I started doodling and then decided I needed to colour my squares first.  I used my water filled brush pen to take the colour off of my watercolour pencils and paint my squares.

Then using my Sign pens from Paperchase I coloured in my doodles that I'd drawn using my Pigma Micron pen.

Then I decided that rather than have loose sheets of paper I would use a small book.  Off I went to Michael's and bought 3 books. I couldn't decide which one I wanted to use! The blue one is a little bigger but if I decide to do it "weekly planner" style it should be perfect.  The other two are the same, I just couldn't choose one colour!!

I couldn't find a 1' square template so I'll be making my own.   I'm having a lot of fun practicing and will show you my progress in my next post.  So until then...