Winter Surprise Giveaway!

 It's still hot and muggy here and all I'm thinking about is making winter soap. I must be crazy. These are photos from last year's epic giveaway. This year I am going to do things differently.

 It's another pre-order surprise. I'm also going back to the mini bars and this time you will get two.

Since I have had so many fragrance fails recently I am just going to give you a general description of the scents I am planning on making. You'll have to trust me.

 For the December holiday package you will get the winter village card and two little soaps that will be in the spicy category. Think cinnamon, peppermint and candied citrus.

The January New Year's package will have the skating bears card and two soaps that will smell fresh and frosty, like a walk in the snowy woods.

The February package will have the great chemistry valentine and two soaps that will smell warm and romantic with lush florals and sugared vanilla.

You know the routine. DM me your holiday preference and your mailing info either at Ravelry (I'm Araignee) or at araigneessoapshop@gmail.com by the 20th.

And if you are still waiting for your fall surprise package, don't worry. I'm mailing out a few every day.

Blue

 This is all I can show you from today's baby shower soap remake. I've got three loaves in the oven and I'm not touching them until tomorrow morning which is actually today as you read this. I think all went well. I think. I can tell you it was no fun. I've got three more loaves to make today and then I will never want to see a bar of blue soap again.

I was really at my wit's end and ready to throw in the towel with that soap nonsense when the mail came. Thank you Sandy!!! If anyone ever needed a pick me up it was me. It was most appreciated-and yummy.

 Part of my problem was that I made the mistake of venturing out and surveying the disaster in my yard yesterday morning and immediately burst into tears. No photo can show you the mess we have and worse-The Mister thinks it's no big deal. His plan was to let nature take it's course. We had words. Loud words. That's my yard. My front yard, my side yard, my backyard. Trees laying in the woods is one thing. All along the house is another. I was pi$$ed. He did bring me a peace offering and a promise to start a serious clean up. It may kill us, but it WILL be done.

Later I had another go at the ill fated baby quilt. Two of the fabrics will work and I found another from the original collection that wasn't too terrible. That made nine blocks. I don't think it will be too bad once the next surrounding row of printed fabrics go on but at this point, I don't even care. It will be what it will be. I am so over blue. Blue cards, blue soap, blue quilt. No wonder I'm feeling blue.

Fair Warning

 I walked outside today to take some photos of the carnage and got covered in sawdust.

They don't tell you about the sawdust. It's like snow and it's everywhere. Even the dog is covered in it.

 It was the last day for tree felling. It was the worst day yet. The big ones around the house went down and every one felt like an earthquake. My nerves are shot. I could barely unclench my jaws to eat my lunch.

If you want to see how big these trees are look at the orange dot in the center. That's the tree guy removing one limb at a time until they could topple the trunk. The guys on the ground were taking down the small trees so the big ones had a place to fall. I suppose I'll get use to all that open space. Time will tell.

To make everything worse look at that photo. It's so hot and humid here again my camera fogged up. I had to keep cleaning it off to get any photos at all. Ugh.

I didn't get much done today but what I did do I can't show you. It was the three cards for the WINTER GIVEAWAY. Yes, it's time. See that calendar? That tells me when the soap has to be made for the next holiday and it's not that far off. On SUNDAY I will show you the card choices and the soap choices so mark YOUR calendars because time is running out. The 20th will be the deadline. Don't forget!

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

 First let me congratulate myself on finishing 50 shower invitations and then I'll get to the cookie part. It doesn't look like 50 are in the box but I counted them and there are 50. Yay me. You'd think I'd be done with making cards for a while but I worked on two more designs today-but that's a story for another day. Anything to keep the sound of the chainsaws at bay. It's day two of this terrible adventure and it doesn't feel any better. In fact, it feels worse.

 Now for the cookies. If you know the book then you know it's all about one thing leading to another. Every time I had to deal with Connecting Threads over the botched baby quilt I saw something else I wanted. This set of fall colored batik fat quarters had to be mine. Had to.

 Then it was this mini quilt kit. It is 12 inches square which is what I am always looking for to fit my little stand. Look at all those points. This will be quite the challenge.

Then.....I know, I know. I don't need another quilt. I have tons of quilt kits in the stash but I have loved this one since I first saw it. Cindy at Delighted Hands is working on it right now and it is so beautiful. And the best thing....IT WAS ON CLEARANCE!!! It still wasn't cheap but it's mine. All mine. I may never make it but I am happy it's in my stash. Crazy? You bet-but's that how I work. More ambition than sense.

Crybaby

Never in my life have I finished a bottle of wine for lunch-until yesterday.

 It was a terrible day. The night before the tree people called to say they would be here at 7 to start our three day tree removal job.

 Every time a falling tree hit the ground my heart broke a little more. I hate to see them go but I know it has to be done. It feels awful.

This is what mother nature has been doing to them. Over the past few years they are all getting sick and falling over. The ice storm we had a while back weakened them and the heat and humidity of the past summers is finishing them off. Poor things. It's just a matter of time before one hits the house.

 The Mister will have plenty of wood for the coming winters. To save money the tree people are just taking them down. The Mister is cutting them up. Seeing them all lying there waiting to be cut up is so sad. It looks like a tornado went through the yard.

I cried like a silly baby all day. Those trees were like a part of the family. They surrounded us and protected us for years and it's hard to say goodbye. My view from the deck looks so strange now. This is a painting done by Middle Son from years ago. It's our little tree house in the woods with the kids down in the meadow looking up at The Mister and me. I know it's the cycle of life but I really, really need it to slow down. I am so terribly tired of saying goodbyes.

Quoth the Raven

 I have one more sit down and this towel will be history.

This is what's up next. I know what you're thinking. Odd choice of colors. It was The Mister's idea. He wants a towel as a housewarming gift for his brother who is a huge Raven's fan. That's the Baltimore Ravens and that's their colors.

I'm making the towel and he's making matching potholders. I need to go look and see if I can find those colors in a kitchen cotton for a dishcloth.

 Speaking of The Mister, this is what he's working on. It's for Daughter. He thinks it looks like her cat. It does.

 This is what The Mister is usually up to. We have an entire empty bedroom that is filled with the models he makes. We are quite a pair. Between his messes and mine there's not an inch of unused space anywhere.

Happy Inktober!

 If you are addicted to watching people sketch on You Tube you know that October is the month for the annual Inktober event. That means that everyday you have to ink something. I bought this month's card kit because not only does it have another huge flower stamp it has........

 .....inks. Alcohol inks to be exact. I already have a stash of these that I have never used but I didn't have the colors that came in the kit or the ink lifter stamp pad.

 It's hard to explain how these work. You drip a tiny drop onto the special Yupo paper and the color explodes.

After it dries you can ink up a stamp with the lifting pad and pull the dried ink off like magic. You can then take the stamp and make another image with it since it also reactivates the dried ink. Cool, huh? How fun is this going to be for art journaling.

 For weeks I've been buying stuff for Inktober not realizing I'd be knee deep in making cards right now. It's going to be hard to find any extra time for a while to play with my new toys but maybe I can figure something out.

 If you think my watercolor obsession is over, I assure you it is not. Meet the Aqua-Mini from Sennelier.

I'll never be able to afford their full size paints but this itty bitty set is really all I need.  It's a honey based paint made in France and I have to say....it's different. It's very thick and gooey and the colors are really bright. I think it's a good formula to work with ink. We'll see.

 Finally, I saw someone make a card on You Tube with this stamp and had to have it for Daughter's Christmas card. It's a kitty tree from Mama Elephant.

Look at those kitty faces. No one loves kitties more than Daughter. I think she's going to be surprised.