Floral Punch Calendars

Hi all, this is what has been keeping me busy the past couple of weeks. I took a Floral Punch class at Scrappily Ever After in Tyler taught by Susan Tierney-Cockburn (see post on 11-10-08). In one of these great classes she taught us to make the punch flowers in her book, Paper Bouquet, and to use them on the cutest monthly calendar. Each month has a flower of it's own.

I do not yet have all the punches to make the flowers yet so I had to improvise a bit and so a few of the flowers do not look exactly like hers in the book. Also, I had a Quick Kutz snowflake die that I was wanting to use for January and my Cuttle Bug leaf dies along with some of my leaf punches for November.

I cut the layered calendar scallops with my Nestabilities lrg scallop circle set using a light color for the smaller scallop where the calendar sticker goes so that it would be easily seen. The calendar stickers that were used in the class were from Pine Cone Press but I couldn't find them anywhere so, I decided to try to make them myself. I went to the office supply store to find clear printable stickers and left with a pack of 8 1/2 X 11 clear sticker sheets. Then using my Printmaster graphic card, poster etc. maker I laid out a monthly calendar on the sheet of stickers. Then I cut them out with my paper trimmer.

My goal was to make 4 sets to give as gifts and cut out all of the scallops quickly. Next came the flowers, that took a little more time. The monthly calendar scallops in the class sample were attached to a round metal cd tin with a small and very strong silver magnet. I liked this idea but since these were gifts I also had to think about storing the 12 flowers also. So off to Hobby Lobby I went and found these cute little white metal suitcase/handbag tins. All the flowers fit inside along the sides and bottom by magnet strips. The 12 calendar scallops fit nicely in a modified paper cd sleeve attached in the lid with 2 sided tape, the red one.

When sitting on a desk the tin's front lid becomes where you would attach the calendar scallops with the magnet and then the monthly flower. The flowers stick to the magnet by means of a small washer glued to the back. I had a lot of fun making these and now have to finish my set from the class! There were so many choices of flowers to use on the calendar and I'll have to find another project to try all of them!

Try it out and send me your versions, I'd love to see them.

Until tomorrow Shalom,
Sonya
Comments are always welcome, I'd love to hear from you!

8th Day of Hanukkah

Hi all, sorry to be awol for a while. The once removed gallbladder is still giving me trouble and I focused all my engery on trying to ignore it and work on some gifts which I will post pictures of tomorrow. We have been celebrating Hanukkah all this week and tonight is the 8th day. We light our hanukkiah and say blessings, play the dreidle game with the kids and eat things made with or in oil to remember the miracle of the oil in the Temple.

To read a short history of Hanukkah and the miracle of the oil click on this link: http://judaism.about.com/od/chanukah/a/hanukkahstory.htm , and here for a believers perspective: http://christianity.about.com/od/biblefeastsandholidays/p/feastofdedicati.htm.

Hanukkah isn't one of the seven Feasts of the L-rd mentioned in Leviticus 23 but it was celebrated by Yeshua, John 10:22. You will see it in scripture as the Feast of Dedication. It is a civil memorial celebration to honor G-d and His providence, like our Thanksgiving. The cleansing of the defilement and dedication of the Temple again to the L-rd is a major part of the story of Hanukkah.

As messianic believers we celebrate Hanukkah with that goal, cleansing and dedication of ourselves to the L-rd. During these eight days we focus not only on the miracles that G-d did during the times of the Macabees but also what Yeshua and Shaul (Paul) teach us about cleansing ourselves of defilement and dedicating ourselves, as we are the Temple of the Lord's Spirit now, to Him, His will and service (1 Cor 3:16, 6:19; 2 Cor 6:16, plus more on this same theme).

It is also called the Festival of Lights and light is a teaching of Yeshua as well. He is the Light of the World and He tells us that we as Believers are that light now. Light is a major theme of Yeshua's teachings and we meditate on them during these days as well.

When we light the candles we say the blessing:

Barukh atah Adonai Eloheinu Melekh haolam shehekheyanu, ve-kiyamanu vehiggianu Lazman Hazeh - Blessed are you L-rd our G-d King of the universe, who has kept us alive, and has preserved us, and enabled us to reach this time.

Then while lighting the candles we say:

We light these lights for the miracles and wonders, for the redemption and the battles that you made for our fathers in those days at this season, through your holy priests. During all eight days of Hannukkah these lights are sacred and we are not permitted to make ordinary use of them, but only look at them; In order to express our thanks and praise your great name for your miracles, your wonders and your salvations.

And this:

"Rock of my salvation, to You praise is due. Establish Your house of prayer and let thanksgiving be offered there. The time will come when You will end all hurt and enemies will cease to be. Then I will sing and celebrate the dedication of Your sanctuary."

The Macabee's fought with zeal against the Greeks who ordered them to forsake G-d and His Word. During this season of the L-rd's salvation let us seek to cleanse and dedicate ourselves as His Temple. Let us also shine forth brightly as His Light in the darkness and to zealously serve Him in love.

Shalom until tomorrow,

Sonya

Comments are always welcome if you have the time, I love to hear from you!

It's Snowing in Houston!

I'm back after a 3 day hospital stay for my once removed gallbladder. I have been having flareups of pain just like I did just before I had it removed. This time it started on the day after our anniversary and after going to the dr. and her telling me to go to the ER if it didn't get better or if it got worse, I did, under much duress! My arms look like I have been in a fight with a drug dealer from all the IV attempts and blood draws, ugh! After many tests and torture they let me out today no wiser about the cause of the pain than when I went in. I should have stayed home!!!! I'll have to be unconscious or bleeding profusely before they will ever get me anywhere close to a hospital again!

But the bright side is that it was snowing when I left the hospital. Beautiful little white flakes floating down from the sky. We here in south Texas get excited even if it doesn't stick because we don't see it that often. I just went outside and it is snowing again and I looked on the radar and more is coming! Probably won't get to make a snowman but I feel like making snowflakes with my die cuter and get out the glitter to decorate them and hang them up!

I am going to start all my gift making tomorrow even if I don't feel well, hopefully it will improve my mood and make me forget the pain that is still there. I have to my sister's tag also, so until then,

Shalom,
Sonya

30 Years!

December 2, 1978

Today

I haven't updated the blog for a few days with all the cooking for Thanksgiving and kids in and out. Also because December 2nd was our 30th wedding anniversary. We took the travel trailer and went to a nearby state park to have a quiet celebration as we took our big celebration trip this summer to Israel. I can't believe how quickly these years have went by! We have had some great times and some rough ones and have a wonderful, loving (not perfect, which is a good thing, because he wouldn't have chosen me) husband, three great girls, one son-in-law, and three grandchildren. The pictures above are from our wedding 30 years ago and the black and white one is from this year. We have changed just a bit, he lost the mustache, sideburns and some hair, I gained more than a few pounds, but we still love each other very much.

Do I have any advice on marriage after 30 years? I'm still learning and here are a few of the things I have to pass on so far: Get your priorities straight - Your relationship with the L-rd first, your relationship with your spouse next, then your kids and then all else/everyone next. That includes your career, hobbies, extended family etc. Your marriage is a binding, life-long, non-breakable covenant, no divorce (barring true abuse)!

Marriage takes work, time and understanding. Becoming one does not mean that you no longer have individual personalities. Your own growing personal relationship with the L-rd will guide you in your relationship with your spouse and children making the joyous times more precious and the troubling times a time of growth and faith. Your spouse cannot read your mind! Communication is vitally important and know the difference between feelings and fact. Sometimes we women can "feel" something that doesn't have any bearing upon reality! Men don't relate well with emotions. They like to "know the facts" and to "fix a problem". Women relate "how they are feeling" in relation to a problem. These two differing ways of looking at a problem can cause a lot more problems than the original if you do not understand how men and women see the world. Pray, pray and pray some more, with your spouse and children. Build up your spouse, honestly and your children, do not tear down! Your home is your "safe haven" especially given to you by the L-rd, keep it that way. That safe haven will be a refuge when trying times come upon you, we all need one, with no criticizing, judgements and the like.

Leave your baggage at the door! Do not expect your spouse or your children to "fix" your childhood problems (real or imagined), past abuse, lack of self esteem, losses, past relationships or any other things you may bring to the relationship. Take them to G-d and let Him heal them. and to use them to His Glory. Last but not the least is that your growing 100% relationship with the L-rd will ensure that you will put in 100% into your relationship with your spouse. These lessons were learned the hard way and we are still learning! Love insn't just an emotion it is also a choice, a committment.

Below are two pictures from our trip to Israel. The first is a look towards the old city from the garden overlook and the other is us after we were blessed to get to pray at the wall! We put prayers for all of our friends and family in the cracks of the Western Wall. The trip was too wonderful to describe! There are over 900 pictures and 6 hours of video that we will show to anyone who wants to see! We were blessed to have walked where my L-rd has walked. To expierence the Land and it's people! On land that is ancient, modern, eternal and alive with His Presence. G-d has an eternal plan for His Land and people, and man's will and plan for it, will not prevail. I hope you had a great Thanksgiving with your friends and family, until the next post,

Shalom,

Sonya

Quilled Keepsake Invitation 2

Here is another quilled keepsake invitation. Sorry for the bad photography I had finished just before the wedding and we couldn't get a good picture of it before we left with it. The couple was Asian and the invitation inspired a simple bamboo theme. Bamboo has the symbolism for good luck in Chinese culture. I also added the Chinese letters for double happiness at the bottom of the invitation. It was framed in a 12 x 12 walnut shadow box with a rust red background. I have one more invitation to post that I have done as soon as my daughter downloads if off her camera. Have a blessed Thanksgiving with family and friends!

Until next post, Shalom,

Sonya

Comments always welcome if you have the time.

New Photo Tricks

I recently purchased a new camera, my old one wore out in Israel from the over 900 pics! This one is a Cannon PowerShot SD1100 IS, blue case. It has some nice features and special effects. I was playing with the color change option and came up with these:

These were in the sepia option. The one with Jake in it was on a rug that was about that color anyway and so was the dog! The one with my baby granddaughter Ava came out nice and I think I will play with it some more with her dressed and outside.

The picture at the top and these two pictures were taken with the color change option. You can choose a specific color in the picture and the picture will only have that color and the rest will be black and white. I like the effect it has with the collar and ball with Jazzy. The one with Jake and the blue ball is cute also. My rose picture was a little more difficult to get because of the light and shadows so I'll have to practice with that one. But think of the possibilities for these photo options. I might try taking a pic of the kids in sepia and print it off on watercolor paper and "color" in portions of it with my watercolors. There are more options for this camera that I haven't explored yet, but will soon.

And a thanks to my sister for her post yesterday highlighting my quilling. Now if you want to see her blog go to: www.thecreamerchronicles.blogspot.com or click the link in my blogroll. You will find many good and thrifty tips there, along with great recipies, gardening and thrift store finds with ideas to use them.

Well, I have to finish a quilling piece for a wedding gift for Saturday night and I will post it tomorrow along with another invitation keepsake that I have recently finished. So off to my craft table.

Until the next post, Shalom,

Sonya

Comments are always welcome if you have the time.

Morning Glories

This spring we went to the Texas hill country for a few days and stopped by a nursery that had beautiful flowers and plants. I picked up three morning glory plants because I have always love the big blue flowers on them. I didn't plant them right away because we had to have a stump ground in the corner of the yard. The stump finally was ground and I planted them in the back corner of the yard by my once vegetable garden. We put up a metal trellis for them to climb on and waited for the glory of the blooms. And waited. And waited.

Finally the vines started to take off and then they REALLY took off with lots of vines and leaves, but no blooms. It looked like a potato vine on steroids! It was literally months before I saw my first bloom. I was not disappointed. It was magnificent! Then once they started blooming they didn't stop. The 3 neighbors who share that corner of the fence also have morning glories to enjoy because the vines are like a blanket hanging over the fences. On a clear day they are as blue as the sky! I would love to be able to reproduce these gorgeous beauties in my floral punch. Another challenge, I'll let you know if I come up with one. Anyway I love looking out my french doors and seeing the glorious display and I am reminded of the scriptures:

"Because of the L-RD's great love we are not consumed,

for his compassions never fail.

They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

I say to myself. "The L-RD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him."

Lamentations 3:22-24

and

"And we who with unveiled faces all reflect the L-RD's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory,

which comes from the L-ORD, who is Spirit."

2 Corinthians 3:18

Just as I waited for the blooms to come, I often have to wait upon the L-ORD for answers to my prayers and for direction. He never fails me and He is always faithful. The answers are not always the way I thought the answer or direction would be, sometimes it doesn't seem at the time that it is good at all! It is like surgery, you have to have the sick and diseased tissue cut out before you can be well. G-d knows what we need, how we need to received it, and what "surgery" we need to heal.

I was praying in the prayer garden in Glorietta NM many years ago and knew that G-d was real in my life but feeling a bit adrift. I asked Him if He was there. Boy, did I get an answer and it definitely wasn't the one I was expecting. I think the "garden" prayers are the tough ones, Yeshua prayed in a garden and received His answer and was faithful, for us. There were some devastating days after that prayer and the scars are still there. While I received my answer, He is there with me always, it took some hard times to show me just how much His is there. G-d is also a multi-tasker.

While answering my prayer He also wanted to do some "surgery" on me. He brought some long unhealed issues to the forefront and said "it is time to heal", you are strong enough in Me to deal with these things now. You know the saying "be careful of what you ask for", it is true when you pray also. The L-RD knows the real prayer and need in our hearts and will do what it takes to answer it to your best interests, even if it hurts a little.

In Zechariah 13:9 and Malachi 3:3 it says the L-RD will refine us as gold and silver. In refining these precious metals it takes heat to refine out the impurities so it will be pure. The refiner knows exactly how much heat to apply so that these impurities will surface and can be skimmed off. The heat has to be increased and applied at the right time, not too fast or not too much or the metal is ruined.

The L-RD knows how much "heat" we need to draw out the hurts, sins, and disobedience -the dross, the impurities - that keep us from being pure. I know from experience that it isn't always a pleasant! It hurts at times and I had/have to look at myself in the mirror of His Word and sometimes have to look at the ugliness there so that He can burn off these impurities and take the ashes and exchange them for His beauty! He is ever changing me from glory to glory in His likeness. I just have to cooperate!

Look for His Glory today and gloryify Him in your life always! I will pray that all who read this will see His morning glory and faithfulness every day!

Until the next post, Shalom,

Sonya

Comments are always welcome if you have the time!

Jumbo Clip Bookmarks

While searching the net on tips and techniques for paper art I came across these cute bookmarks made out of jumbo paperclips. These are not your "large" paperclips they are 4" long I used my nestabilities large set, the smallest two, cutting the card stock in the largest die, 2 times and the patterned paper in the smallest, once. Then I punched either a small circle or a blossom punch and added the embellishments and paper pricking. The matching second piece of card stock was used as the back. The adhesive I used was stick dots and it seems to hold well.

There is only two that have punched flowers and I will make more using quilling as an embellishment. They make the cutest bookmarks and with the addition of a magnet on the back it could be used as a note holder for the fridge!

The cream one with the A on it has a beautiful sparkle paper and I thought that it would make a great wedding favor. Think of the gift possibilities of these fun jumbo paperclips! They are easy to make and you could change the round scallop for a square one and use other shapes and die cuts to personalize for any occasion. These are brass colored clips and I found them at Staples but they told me that they were discontinuing them. Accu makes them also. I also found silver ones at Walmart, 10 for .97!

Well I am off to make more!

Until the next post, Shalom,
Sonya
Comments are always welcome if you have the time.

Quilled Invitation Keepsakes

I haven't posted any of my quilling lately so here are the commissioned pieces and gifts that I have quilled. I love the challenge of doing these invitations as keepsakes. The design is determined by the design of the invitation and some, as you will see, have to be cut apart to fit. The colors are also determined by the colors in the invitation and the flowers requested. I try to use the flowers used in the wedding or event, but sometimes that isn't possible and others are substituted. As I said it can be very challenging to do this.

This is the first commissioned invitation that I have done.

Here is a close-up of the detail

Here is another using the same color scheme and flowers with the addition of calla lilies.






This one was a graduation invitation, challenging for the colors and the invitation had to be cut apart and fit to see all the elements. This one has a hydrangea and two tone fringe flowers.






This one was for my nephew's wedding and it uses the flowers that his bride used in her bouquets. It has pink gerber daisies, a lime green spider mum, green and mango orchids with punched accent flowers. This one was much fuller than I would do in the future.

This is the first invitation that I quilled a border for. I took the picture of it which explains the bad angle of it. The invitation had navy writing on it so I put it on a navy background and used white flowers.

I have another two that I will post later. Practice makes perfect so I will keep practicing and now that I am learning how to do floral punch I will have more options to embellish the invitations that I love to do! I might even dig out my wedding invitation from 30 years ago and quill a border for it.

Until next post, Shalom,

Sonya

Comments always welcome if you have the time!

What Ike left

We were blessed by the way of not having very much damage from hurricane Ike. We lost our very large, and only tree in the backyard which split and took out the back fence and then split again! We were only without electricity for 4 days so I count our blessings. The picture above is what Ike left us. This rambunctious boy was running around at a friends house who we were fixing the fence. We didn't want him to run out on the main highway so we took him home with us after looking and asking around if he was someones lost pet.

After a few days of looking for signs of "lost dogs" and checking with the shelters to no avail we decided to keep him. By then Christine, my daughter back from the Navy, was attached to him and he was named Jake. Off to the vet he went and we found out he had heartworms and an infection and thin. Jake is currently being treated for the heartworms and is rotten pug! He will sit by the door when Christine goes to class and howls. He has to be by one of us snuggling when he isn't being a nosy boy getting into everyones business and trying to get the Chloe and Jazzy to play - all the time! He has made himself at home and we have come to love his crazy antics.

Until later, Shalom,

Sonya

Paper Punch Flowers

I had a wonderful time at Scrappily Ever After in Temple, TX taking a Punched Floral class with Susan Tierney Cockburn the author of The Paper Bouquet. I naturally am intrigued with floral punch flowers because of my love of quilling and I use punch flowers with it. So when I saw that there was a class withing driving distance and given by the author I had to go!

I wasn't disappointed. The class was held at a great scrapbook store, Scrappily Ever After, http://www.scrappilyeverafter.com/ . Cheryl, the owner, has a great room to hold classes and has a lot of great goodies to purchase including the punches from The Punch Bunch that are used in The Paper Bouquet to make the beautiful flowers. Susan comes down from Washington state to teach floral punch and there are wonderful examples of what can be made from these punched flowers as you can see from the pictures above. This craft is so versatile in what can be made and adorned with these lifelike creations.


The first class was for a tin calendar that had interchangeable scallops with the months and a different flower that was attached via the magnet that held the scallop in place on the tin. It is so cute, easy to make and makes a great gift! To Jody, my sister, and my Aunt Sandy, I guess you now know what you will be getting next month!


The next class was making cards and gift tags using the flowers and rubber stamps made especially for these flowers. Susan is a great teacher and punched all the shapes out for the class so that all we would have to do is assemble the flowers!


The hollyhock flowers on the pink card were made with coffee filter paper. It gives the flowers an airy delicate look. The color comes from Luminarte H2O's water colors. I love these sparkling water colors. You just take a watercolor brush, the kind that you fill with water, and squeeze some water onto the dry cake of color and let it sit a moment, swirl it around with the brush tip and then paint the coffee filter punch with it. The sparkle shimmer effect is beautiful. These come in over 100 colors and two sizes of pots. Back here at home I tried out these paints by making a hydrangea and sweet peas. Both were beautiful and will be another great version.

Pictures from the morning and afternoon class, with Susan standing.

I hope to be able to take another class from Susan next year. The class was fun and informative and while we were busily assembling the flowers we also tried to solve the worlds problems as only we women can. What did we come up with? Well, we came to the conclusion that we couldn't and that crafting was much more fun!

Comments are always welcome.

Shalom,

Sonya

Newest "try on"

Back to "trying on" backgrounds. I am also trying to update my header, which is harder than it looks for someone who doesn't know what they are doing. There are several sites that have tutorials and when I find one that is real EASY I will post it! I am leaving in a bit to go to Temple Texas for a paper sculpture class taught by Susan Tierney Cockburn auther of "The Paper Bouquet". I love the flowers she creates using punches! I can't wait to use them along with my quilling and of course that means more punches and cardstock to purchase (don't tell my husband). LOL. Not really he is the one "dragging the trailer" as he says to the class, he's so good to me! Below are a few of my first attempts at paper punch flowers. I didn't have the small sun punch for the centers so I improvised until I can get it this weekend. Also I finally downloaded my pics off my new camera and I have about a weeks worth of pics to blog! So check back to see!

Comments always welcome!

Shalom,

Sonya

Playing with customizing!

Under construction! I am playing around with customizing my blog to make it more interesting etc. You may see it in various stages of changes until I get it the way I want it or, close to it! I will try different backgrounds and have downloaded Inkscape to play with the header and such. So check back to see the various "try-ons". It's late and I am going to play dress up the blog some more tomorrow. Until then.

I've been a bad blogger!

It has been a lot more than a little while since I have blogged. The reasons? One I look at others blogs and see great ones then look at mine, ugh. Then I think what do I have to write about that others would find interesting? I love reading others blogs, the little things about their lives, art, collections etc. So I decided to start once again and be faithful to blog. I do have new quilling to post, and still have devotionals already done, just need to post. So look forward to new posts!

First, please keep my oldest daughter in your prayers. My soon-to-be granddaughter is due Aug. 28 but is not doing well and may decide to changer her birthday to next week. Please pray that she is healthy and no complications.

Well that is all for now,
Shalom,

Sonya

Slide show of my latest Quilling

These are a few of my latest quilled cards. I am going to try some bookmarks tomorrow and test out my new border punches.

I'v been tagged!

My sister tagged me! I'm not sure what this is all about except that I'm supposed to tell 7 facts about me, wow that's a boring subject!

Here it goes:

1. Despite me being part of the equation, my husband and I will be married 30 years this December, we were married very young.

2. I am really Elly Mae where critters are concerned, we had 7 dogs at one time. No the one in the picture isn't one of them, he just emoting the moment for me.

3. Jobs/careers I had: keypunch (showing my age here), real estate agent, all kinds of data processing, office manager, day care manager (a very short time!), jewelry business, dog trainer, ministry. Is that enough?

4. I love to travel but love to get back home.

5. I love and do any kind of craft, and have to get every supply known to man to do it!

6. I have started my first real garden and have killed just about every house plant I have ever had.

7. I love my family and we kid each other that we are the real "Barones". lol.

Ok, that's two posts in one day! Just in case you want to see the above dog and more like it, click on this link - http://ihasahotdog.com/ .

Shalom,

Sonya

Comments would be really great on what to do next!

Finally back to blogging!

Well I am resting up after the hectic week of preparing for Pesach (Passover). My back decides to go awol on me when I stand for to long. A short post for today and then tomorrow, I promise, a post on Unleavened Bread and First Fruits.

The two pictures below are so that my blog isn't "Blahg" ala Paula Bauer. lol. I am new to this blogging thing and I am learning so much by visiting others blogs that are so interesting and well done.

What happens when you get tired of your grandchildren and can't send them back to their parents!

Your feed them to the T-REX!

******

What you do to teenagers! (For any reason!)

Ok, so they aren't technically teenagers anymore, but could you tell me when they outgrow it? This was taken on our trip to Corpus Christi and the day after we were touring the USS Lexington, we returned to finish our tour. It is a museum aircraft carrier and we were touring it the day before when tornado force winds came up when we were on the flight deck. My husband was at the aft end of the deck taking pics and almost didn't make it back into the super structure. He was losing ground fast and if he had fallen it would have been "MAN OVERBOARD!"
Until tomorrow.
Shalom,
Sonya
If you have the time please comment, they are always welcome!

The Smell of Fresh Baked Bread

Today the UPS man brought my brand new Kitchenaid mixer! I bought it so I could mix the bread dough better. So I ripped into the box and went right to mixing bread dough. I used the white bread dough recipe in the book that came with the mixer to try it out. I put the dough in the warm oven to rise and then read in the recipe that it made two loaves. I only had one small loaf pan. Off to the store to buy bread pans! I love the way the mixer kneads the dough for you. I have trouble doing it because of my back and can't work it enough so that it will be light. My husband even tried it out baking two loaves of banana bread. My daughter in the Navy stationed in Bremerton, WA was on the phone while he was mixing it and said to send her some! Won't she be surprised when she receives a banana bread! It will probably cost a bunch to send it 2nd day air so it won't be spoiled by the time it reaches her, but it will be worth it to hear her laughter.

The garden is growing well and I have a tomato with a nose that looks like Gonzo off of Sesame Street! I think when it is ripe I will put two wiggle eyes on it and tell my grandsons that it is Gonzo! They want to pick them right now. I quilled a little Trex dino for my oldest grandson and then my youngest one wanted a big dino picture. So we went to the store to look for coloring books that had the right kind of pictures that could be filled in with quilled shapes. We found his favorite one, a triceratops, and he asks everyday if I have finished it. Well tomorrow night is the start of the Sabbath and I will try the challah recipie out on my new mixer.

Comments are welcome if you have the time,

Shalom,
Sonya

Back from our mini vacation

We are back from our mini vacation to the Texas hill county and can update my blog. The weather was beautiful and the RV park we stayed in was the nicest one yet. The Wimberly Market Days was one of our stops and it was a "shop till you drop" morning. What we didn't know was that in Round Top there was a huge, miles long, along the road Antiques Fair that same weekend and we missed it! But we stopped by anyway and looked around for a place to have lunch, which there wasn't, and decided to take some pictures of the bluebonnets in a field. Below is a picture of a rare white one. I guess it would be called a "whitebonnet"? The flowers were not as much as they have been in past years, maybe we went too early to see them. But it was a nice getaway. Below also is pictures of my papillon, Chloe, who went with us on our trip. She loves to have her picture taken. And since this trip was to see bluebonnets I posted a pictures of my quilled Bluebonnet and Indian Paintbrush. I haven't used them in a picture yet and when I do I will post it.

Some good news from my youngest daughter who called us when she recieved a letter from Stephen F. Austin U. informing her of her acceptance into nursing school this fall. A good thing she is becoming a nurse then we won't have to worry about our care when we get old!