Monet and Me

hate spaghetti. No, not the pasta, but the tangle of electrical and charging cords. Every device (usually) comes with its own charging cord. Many of the devices use the same type cord: USB-A, USB - B, USB-C, Mini-USB, Micro-USB,  Lightning cord. The chances that all of your devices need to be charged at the same time is pretty slim.

Monet and I detangled the mess and kept two of each kind. We went from the picture above to

all the cords fitting into the ark, two by two. Along with a dual  USB-A plug and a light that attaches over the camera of the laptop so you look pretty on a Zoom meeting.

The extra cords will be donated.

Monet and Me

are admiring some happy mail. I didn't even have to look at the return address to know it was from friend and guild member, The Postman (he worked for the US Postal Service).

He mixed fun styles for the lettering and placed the stamp in the lower, righthand corner! A no-no! It doesn't look like there were any problems with the placement of the stamp. The stamp is one of the new Baby Wild Animal stamps that was issued in May. Very cute.

The card had a calligraphy cartoon on it.

Thanks, D, for brightening up my mailbox.

Monet and Me

 

took a week-long, online class Bookbinding 101 sponsored by Ali Manning of Vintage Page Designs and the Handmade Book Club.

Topics for the course included paper, adhesives, covers, and stitching. We made one small book that didn't require sewing, and 3 small books using 3 different stitches to bind the book.

I've made small books before so some of the techniques I knew, but I didn't know about some tools. One of the tools talked about was a book binding cover tool guide which is what Monet is holding. The tool is a 5 in one. You can square your book covers and pages, you can round corners, you can easily create neatly mitered corners, you can use the guide to make small measurements, and the narrow metal bit allows you to evenly space book covers and spine. Like this:

The tool that was featured in class was from We R Memory Keepers, but I found the same tool for a lower price at Amazon. 

Monet and Me

 

From the suggested scarecrow names from last week, Monet and I decided we liked the name Bolger. This name was contributed by Mackerull and the FSG from Trout Town.

Thank you all for the wonderful names

Monet and Me

 

are trying to think of a name for the scarecrow. Any ideas?

Monet and Me

are procraftinating. That's doing some sort of a craft instead of what you should be doing like cleaning the studio.

We decided to try to make the little birds from Saturday's happy, little, time waster. The project called for using paper that is decorated on both sides. I had some cardstock, but it was a little too difficult to work with.

I decided to use  some colorful, glossy pages from a garden catalog which would otherwise be relegated to the recycle bin. I trimmed the image so there was no white border and then cute it into strips. 1 inch, 1/2 inch. The length of the strip was about 5 or 6 inches. I didn't measure things. 

 I did try a shorter strip but it wasn't long enough for me to tie into a knot. The magazine paper was fragile so I had to be careful about pulling the knot taut. I got a little ham-fisted and tore the paper.

The birds turned out cute. On some I cut swallowtails and on a couple I just cute the tail into a fringe. I didn't think the Sharpie marker eye showed up well enough. I had some googly eyes, gems, and other embellishments that I thought would work for the eyes.

I have a friend who retired and moved into a new home in Arizona to be closer to her daughter. I thought I would use the birds to make a card for a new home.

Monet and Me

 are sharing a memory about the Young One's birthday

Monday, July 23, 2012

Creating Memories

For The Young One's eighth birthday, the cake request for a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. No problem until the baking went horribly wrong. The cake layers baked uneven. So uneven, it would have taken a tub of frosting to even things out so the layers would stack on top of each other. What to do?

The gap between the layers looked like a mouth. I grabbed items I had hanging around. Desperation is the mother of invention. White chocolate chip bits, glaced fruit, and red licorice laces became the features on a monster cake and fortunately, The Young One loved it. Whew!

Twelve years later, The Young One's cake request was for chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. And then a surprise. I wish I could have a monster cake?"

"Seriously? "

"I loved that cake."

Ok. This time I went out to buy candies to use for decorations. I had to buy white chocolate chip bits because someone had opened up the package to snack on and only left two bits. Hugs, gummy worms, peach rings, M&Ms and red licorice laces jumped into the cart. The hard part was to intentionally bake uneven cake layers. without burning one side or the other not baking through. It worked and The Young One loved the result.

We spend a lot time, effort, and sometimes cash to create memories. Nostalgic memories  from when we were kids, or expose them to opportunities we never had as kids. Sometimes odd what we think what should be a memory, and what actually becomes a memory. Some thirty or forty years from now, The Young One will be saying, "That crazy, old, broad was hell on wheels with a tub of frosting and a bag of gummy worms."

Back to the present. Over the weekend, I sent a message asking if she was still here at home for her birthday, what would her request for a cake be? She said she would like the chocolate cake with the chocolate frosting and orange flavoring.

On Sunday, I was going to bake the Starlight Double Delight Cake with orange flavoring, but it was too humid to bake. Humidity can effect baking. Since today is supposed to be dry, I will bake the cake later on. It won't be as elaborate as the cake Monet is posing with, but it will be delicious.

Monet and Me

 

asked The Young One if she could remove the background from a picture of Monet so Monet could be added to photographs.

I had given it a go, but it was quick and ragged.

The Young One said sure since it was an easy thing to do. Voila! I now can add Monet to photographs. Here he is with The Young One when she was 6 years old and dressed up as our cat, Mitty, for Halloween.

Thanks, Doll Baby. It works like a charm and the check's in the mail 😉

Monet and Me

 

Inspired by Kathy Milici's take on the Macintosh rose, I created a piece with her Modern Illuminated Initials for the newest grandniece's room. Monet approved of the design when I added Stickles glitter to the dots in the corner, center of the roses, and dots on the ends of the heart border.

Monet and Me

 

Saturday was predicted to be a washout so 2OLOTR booked an extra day. Monet is waiting all by his lone for me to come home.

Monet and Me

 

Monet supervised as I packed. 2 Old Ladies are going on the road again.

Monet and Me

 

forgot to have a blog post ready. What are you doing today?

Monet and Me

 

signed up for a FREE Zentangle class by Stefanie van Leeuwen, the same Zentangle instructor for the Shell Symphony class  

Stephanie taught the Zentangle Dragon Class during the Inktober 2024 challenge and now she's offering it for free. The classes are not live, but students have access to videos. Even better, you don't have to wait until October to play.

Stephanie is a very organized and patient teacher. She has prepared a .pdf file with the dragon string and the materials needed for the class. My only criticism is she's very soft spoken so sometimes it was a bit difficult for me to hear her. Also, she uses the pencil transfer method to transfer the string. It's a lot easier if you use Saral paper. Saral paper can be used over and over and lasts a long time.

If you want to play, too, you can sign up at the Free Inktober Dragon Challenge

Monet and Me

 

Welp, my electromagnetic field finally overwhelmed the microwave. We went out and bought a new one. The new microwave must have some sort of a force field because my electromagnetic field has no effect on it. 

You may remember a a couple of weeks ago, when I opened the door to the microwave, the turntable would rotate.  The new microwave must be shielded because the turntable doesn't turn when I open the door. Monet no longer gets a teacup ride.

Monet and I played with some of the features of the new Chef Mike. We boiled a cup of water, used the reheat function to reheat a plate of food, played with the time feature (it has a cute little song when the countdown is done), defrosted chicken, cooked bacon, tried to soft boil an egg (no shell, I was close and it needed a little more time but I got impatient and gave it a lot more time so hard boiled. Still good.)

No Monets were harmed in the making of this post.

T Stands for A Weird Phenomenon

 So a very weird thing started happening to me. Now weird things happening to me are not new. Like I've been known to stop clocks. When we were first married, Himself gave me a beautiful moon phase watch. After wearing it a couple of days, it stopped working. He took it to the jeweler and they tested the battery which was still fully charged. The jeweler reset the watch. Again, after wearing the watch for a couple of days, the watch stopped. This time a new battery was inserted. Rinse and repeat. 

Himself bought a second moon phase watch. Same results. Only this time, Himself told me if I wanted a watch I had to buy it myself. 

So apparently, I give off  a weird magnetic field and now

it's effecting the microwave. Here's a video of Monet enjoying a teacup ride in the microwave. You'll notice the microwave door is open and the microwave is off. Note the 0:00 in the digital timer display. Also note that Monet is not being fried to a crisp as the turntable goes around. No Monets were harmed in the making of this video.

When the door is closed the turntable stops. If Himself opens the door, the turntable does not immediately start to spin. It only happens when I open the door to the microwave.

Now, this would be a pretty cool super power to have, effecting electronics, if I could figure out how to control the power.

Drop by hosts, Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog to find out what the rest of the T Stands For gang is up to. If you want to play, include in your Tuesday post a beverage or container for a beverage. Don't forget to link your blog to Bleubeard and Elizabeth's page.

Monet and Me

 

One minute you're young and cool going to concerts and late night parties. The next minute you're researching bird identifying bird feeders on the Internet.

Himself gave me one as a Mother's Day gift. Monet and I are trying to figure out how to get it up and working.

Monet and Me

got a rush job of lettering in two baby books for a baby shower yesterday. Actually, I did the lettering while Monet supervised.

The books were presents from a great-grandpa. Initially, he wanted me to write in the books. To Baby Name and From Great-Grandpa.

I have written in books before, but it's quite scary as there's no room for error. When the books were delivered, I told Great-Grandpa, I wouldn't be able to write in the books as the pages were printed on glossy paper. My ink wasn't going to adhere.

What to do? We brain-stormed a few ideas, and he liked the suggestion of a bookplate. I cut a scrap of Arches 90 lb. watercolor paper to the size of a business card (3.5" x 2 ") (It was a relief to know I had more paper to use when the pen caught in the paper and dragged a fugly, thick line of ink instead of the graceful ending to the letter "e".)

The area on the front piece (verso or left page) wasn't large enough to fit the two lines of writing.  He decided the bookplate  could be glued onto the title page

and that's what I did

Finding a spot for the book plate on the second book wasn't easy. There wasn't a front piece or a title page. There were felt flaps, but again, not large enough.

On the last page there was a felt cloud which when pulled down revealed a mirror. Since the left page had a square cutout so part of that blue felt could be seen, the bookplate had to go on the inside of the cloud. Problem solved.

Job dusted and done.

Monet and Me

 

are trying to bring the Peace Lily plants back to life. I'm not sure if the plant was killed with kindness because one watering I also add a splash of plant food, or if the studio got too cold. The plant was not looking happy.

On a trip to the Dollar Store, I bought 2 new pots, added drainage holes, some rocks, potting soil and split the plant into two. I also relocated the plants to the kitchen.

It's been about 3 weeks since the transplant and the Peace Lilies aren't dead, yet, Jim.

Monet and Me

 

On Friday, I mentioned I had a gadget that helps with Hot and Cold Flash Relief.  The device is Embr Wave 2 First a disclaimer, I'm not a paid spokesperson for the company and I receive no percs for discounts for the product or its accessories.

Monet is modelling the device.  It also comes with a charger with a USB you can use in a plug or laptop. I've never charged off my laptop. The device is not cheap, but I think it's worth every dime. 

There also seems to be an option to rent the device for $20 per month. 

I have had the device, the first iteration of the device since 2019. In 2022, my Embr Wave would no longer hold a charge so I bought the Embr Wave 2 as I couldn't live without it. My only disappointment was the device wasn't available in Silver as the Embr Wave was. Embr Wave 2 comes in Rose Gold or Black. I thought the black looked too conspicuous so went with the Rose Gold even though my favorite color is Not Pink. 

From the website, How It Works:

Wear Embr Wave on the inside of your wrist. Embr Wave generates cool or warm sensations by moving heat away from, or toward, your skin in waves.

Press to cool down. Press to warm up. Precisely calibrated cooling or warming waves stimulate temperature-sensitive nerves on the inside of your wrist.

Feel relief throughout your whole body. The thermal stimulus triggers a natural mind-body comfort response that helps bring relief for sleep, hot flashes, stress, & more.

There's a phone app that allows customization of the Cool Down or Warm Up Buttons. Plus there are lots of other settings to choose from. Time for the sensation ranges from 1 minute to 8 hours. 

I'm not sure my cold flashes are entirely age related as I also have Reynaud's Syndrome  Hot flashes during the day and night have gotten worse since I began taking Tamoxifen to treat and prevent breast cancer from coming back. This little device has been a godsend.

Last week after an iOS update, the Embr Wave 2 would not connect to the Wi-Fi. It took a bit of searching to troubleshoot the problem, but the what to do worked. 

Monet and Me

 

While looking for an item in the studio, Monet and me came across a project I had done a long time ago. I had made a box of chocolates. The original box I made was crushed, but I had a small box from the treats I bought from the candy house when I went looking for the gold elastic I needed for a project.

The chocolates are made from shiny brown paper and folded into a small folder. When Ma was 16 she worked at a candy factory. She could read the swirls on the top of fancy chocolates which told whether the inside was a cream, nut, nougat, jelly, etc. 

I made swirls for the chocolates using Elmer's glue and walnut ink.

The filling inside the chocolate was/is an accordion folded, strip of Arches Text Wove. A chocolate saying was written with walnut ink. You can see the back of the folder in the photo.

Today's chocolate saying is: If it ain't chocolate, it ain't good.

Happy  Birthday, (106th ) Dad. One of the biggest chocolate lovers.