Recovering from a fall & the Lent giveaway continues ..

First things first: Amy of Amy Elise Designs, please email me at emricks @ gmail dot com so I can get your snail mail because the pie bird is headed your way.

In my enthusiasm to clean out during these 40 days of Lent, my husband has happily joined in with the giving away of things. Last Saturday, the two of us wrestled a very heavy organ out of our basement, up thirteen steps, through the kitchen door, out the garage and into a trailer so that we could take it to my sister's house. It was probably a comical sight, since he had to tie a rope around the organ and around his waist and PULL as I did my best to PUSH from below. I'm only five feet tall, so my arms were extended above my head most of the time and the organ probably weighed over 500 lbs. It was exhausting and when we finally got it into the trailer, we had to stop and rest. Twenty five years ago, we probably could have gotten away with a five minute breather but it really took the stuffing out of us. So, loaded down with the organ and 14 "collecter's" plates, we headed Southward.

It was a pretty quick visit because there were so many other things to do. I was carrying the little monkey boy to the car when I stepped off her patio just wrong and fell. In my effort to keep from landing on him, after my knee hit the ground, I wrenched around and fell on my back, all while still holding on to my 28 lb precious cargo. Needless to say, I got hurt pretty bad but he was just fine, though a bit shaken up. I'm not exactly sure what happened after I hit the ground but somehow he was lifted off me and after a few minutes of breathing through the pain (and trying NOT to complain loudly) of my knee, I was helped off the ground. A week later and my knee is still purple and tender and my back is still aching something fierce. If I sit too long in one spot, the muscles complain. I just don't recover like I used to, that's for sure.

My birthday is next week and even though I don't *mentally* feel it, there are times that my body feels twice my age.

Anyway, we then had a visit from one of my dearest friends so I've been "unavailable" because I'm trying to deal with the fact that my warranty has seemingly expired or because I was spending time with my friend. It's always so good to see her even though her reasons for being in town were sad.

I've still been giving something away every day and even though I've cleaned out quite a bit, I still have a long way to go before I'm satisfied. On top of the things I've been giving away daily, I've also been selling old books and movies we will never watch again on Amazon. Easter is in another week, and that's when the Lent giveaway will officially end, but I'll still be offering things to you from time to time. There's a neighborhood garage sale in May, and I might reluctantly participate. Over the years, as we've bought new furniture (and other things), we've not gotten rid of the old.

I've had some trouble sleeping, so I've made a few more ATCs in the wee hours of the night. I signed up for a swap-bot swap and it's been kind of fun delving into this new world of paper craft.






My drawing skill are so sad. I wish I could get what's in my head onto the paper.



This is my most recent giveaway. If you'd like to have it, please leave me your email address so I can let you know if it'll be headed your way. If you'd rather, you're more than welcome to email it to me at emricks @ gmail dot com.


If you're interested in knowing more about it, look here.
As a side note, you can still put your name in for things even if you've already gotten something. I'm just trying to find good homes for them.

I'll be updating again tomorrow because I've received a few things in the mail and I'd like to show them off. Plus, I have a huge lot of things to offer to you since there's only a week left of this giveaway. :)

ATCs, the Lent giveaway continues

These are some of my most recent ATCs. I think they might be too cutsie but I'll keep working at it. Actually, papercrafts is all I've been working on lately. Maybe I'll figure it eventually.



Here is today's give away. I've never once used it but it sat nearby on a kitchen shelf while I made plenty of pies.


A nice pie bird from Rowe Pottery Works

A weird thing happened yesterday. The day before, I sent something off in the mail with an address label affixed to the front but it was returned to me yesterday because the label apparently fell off. I'm glad the return address label stayed put. Anyway, I took it over to the (contract) post office and they said that since it didn't get delivered, that I didn't need to put more stamps on it. So, we mailed it again. I hope that it gets to its destination this time.

EDIT: I put a clickable link under the photo of the pie bird so you could get a clearer photo. It's really overcast today so my photo isn't great.

Is it Spring yet?

These are my giveaways today. I have no idea why I've been hanging on to these little guys for so long except that after a while, they just blended in like everything else. I don't mean to name drop but their cousins are friends of Snow White.


Gnomes? Dwarves? They've gone to a new home.

This is for the angel collectors out there.


Ceramic Angel It's flown off to a new home.

My newest ATC:



I was driving downtown the other day when I found myself following a tour.



I went to one of my favorite stores to have a look around and I spied this:



Isn't it just the cutest little Toddler-sized Spring hat? I should really dig out my crochet hooks and make one. I have a couple of nieces who'd look adorable in one ...

Because my husband and I spent some time this weekend re-arranging my work space, we kicked up a lot of dust and my allergies have made my life miserable. I can't wait til the dust settles again ;) He was a real champ and defrosted the freezer too. It's amazing to be able to look in there and actually SEE what's in there.

Crafts, swaps and giveaways

Sometimes I wish I was 25 years younger so that I'd have more time to try out some crafts and art forms I've never gotten around to yet. I suppose (hope) I still have plenty of time left but I'm not sure I can justify spending money in a whole new direction. And really, I'm not sure what I'll be up to in 25 years anyway. Maybe I'll get to travel around to meet up with all the friends I've met on the internet.

In the course of my life, I've tried a lot of things. There was the ceramics period, when everyone I know got planters and dustables .. I mean collectibles in the gorgeous (haha!) shades of the late 70s. Practically everyone (except me) in my family and my husband's family has gotten an afghan from me, most of them in the afghan stitch. I've done dough "art." I've made paper and made molded paper and paper mache, I've done bargello, needlepoint, cross-stitch and macrame. I've oiled-painted, tole-painted (and still like to acrylic paint on the rare occasion) and I even have a potter's wheel that I used during those heady, earthy 80s. I've smocked, done shadow work and crazy-quilted. I've machine quilted. I've made dolls from corn husks and woven many, many baskets. I'm sure there are plenty of other things that I can't remember off the top of my head.

These days I love to bead and make jewelry. i love fusing glass and plan to try my hand at slumping, once my work area is finished. I still enjoy machine sewing and once in a blue moon, I break out the embroidery needle for a stitch or two. I wish I'd done some printing and silk-screening and done more with paper. I'm getting a chance to do some papery things lately by working on some ATCs and I've actually made a couple of cards that turned out ok (at least, I think so). :)





I mentioned I've signed up for a few swaps. Some have been more successful than others. One was for a "Little Homemade Bag" filled with things. Here is the bag I made, filled to the brim.



Here is the bag I received and ohmy, it smelled wonderful. I honestly love the smell of the soap and lavender. :) I also love that ladybug. And it came today so the green bag was appropriate for St. Patrick's day.



And check this out. I received this lovely bundle of magazines in a swap from Lucia. Plus, she included a LOT of Beads! What a splendiferous treat! She included three!! issues of Hobby Ideer and a copy of Marie Claire . I can even manage some French so maybe I'll be able to read it :)



And .. last but not least, here is my most recent giveaway. Any takers? This has a new home.

Catching up! Whew!

For those who read I apologize for not posting sooner; I've been in home renovation hell What was supposed to be a 2-day job has turned into over 2 weeks PLUS we've had some physical property damage due to contractor negligence. My house is in shambles because we've had to move everything so that the contractors can get to their job so I've been unable to do much more than step around boxes and stuff.

Anyway, I'm feeling kind of discouraged because it's still not done. We're looking at a minimum of one more day of this mess. Keep your fingers crossed for me because my nerves are frayed. My husband contacted their insurance company to give them the estimate we were given to repair the damage and they're supposed to "get back" to us in a couple of days. ugh.

While I've not been able to sew much, I've actually been spending some time playing with some paper crafts in the wee hours of the late nights. I actually signed up for an ATC swap on swap-bot. Raesha is so inspirational with her projects and after she so graciously sent me one, I figured I'd have a go at it since I'm such a huge postcard collector and ATCs are a lot like teeny postcards, right? They're also a miniature way to express your art or craft. Since I'm primarily a jewelry-maker and beader, I'm still trying to think of how I can incorporate the two but until I come up with some clever idea, I'll try to muddle along with paper and such. When my ATCs are finished, I'll share them with you.

Because I've not had an opportunity to post a few things that I'd planned to for the Lent giveaway, I'll do four of them in this post. They'll be handled as 3 4 separate giveaway items.

The first is this cookbook and if you want to read about it, go here.



This is another book and I hate to call it "just" a cookbook because it's full of a lot of inspirational ideas.. You can read more about it here. This sweet book has found a new home.



I have two separate sets of stamps to give to a new home. I've put my scissors aside them because they were handier than my ruler and I wanted you to have an idea of their size. If you're interested in a set, refer to them as set 1 or set 2 to help me keep them straight. They're really in good condition, but I'm just not a "stamper" and am keeping only a few that I know I'd use.

Set One: These are going to a new home.


set Two: These are going to a new home.


I'm beginning to feel kind of guilty for all the images I'm posting today, but hopefully they're not taking too long to load (aside from the fact that flickr seems to be having some issues today) but I'm just trying to catch up a bit and I promise I won't wait so long between posts again (if I can help it!). :)

Last month, Mary Ann held a "fabric challenge" and I hinted around about what I might be making. Now that she's gotten the finished product, I can post a couple of pictures of what I finally made. I'm so pleased she liked them because it was definitely a challenge to decide what to make!

It's a small Project Holder. I sewed in plenty of pockets, both small and large, and included a place for pins. When I finished the holder, i used a bit of leftover fabric to make a few cards, because we can always use notecards, right? I really love that gigantic rick rack :)




When I finished that project, I dragged out some blank notebooks. I seem to hoard them and I decided to decorate a couple and spring them on some unsuspecting friends. ;)



I also decided to start playing with some of the pretty paper I have and made some bookmarks. They're pretty simple but, I guess I'll get more creative with a little practice.



That's it for now. I've been feeling a bit better lately so I have the energy to do some things, like Spring Cleaning! So, on top of giving away the things for Lent, I've been doing some other purging as well. It will probably take the rest of my life to get rid of the excess "stuff" it's taken 30 years to accumulate but I'm working on it!