Mail Art - Handmade postcards

I'm having a blast using up leftover scrapbooking papers, stickers, seam binding and just about anything else I can get my hands on. One of these cards is on its way to Katerina in Greece.

And I had the time to play tonight with a really cool gadget that I got for Christmas. It's called the enveloper, and making envelopes is a cinch with this!

Have a creative day!

Finding my rhythm

Here I am - at the start of the last week of the month already. Sigh . . .

It was a month ago - almost exactly - that I remember looking forward to the busy-ness of the holidays being over. And my holidays were wonderful, really. There was a dark cloud or two, but also a silver lining, if you'll pardon the cliche. My son and his family came home for a funeral and were here until almost Christmas. We celebrated Christmas early, of course, and it was the first time in a long time both of my children were here and we were all together for Christmas. It was the first time that the two cousins (my grandkids) were together, and it was perhaps my favorite Christmas ever!

But I did miss some things. I missed writing letters and postcards and working on mail art. I missed making tags and scrapbooking. And I missed blogging, or, more specifically, the sharing and connecting that I feel when blogging. I looked forward to picking up where I'd left off, getting back to my comfortable and comforting routine. It's just taken me longer than I'd planned.

I've taken a little time to read. I've spent some time in the kitchen cooking and baking. And when my Daughter-in-Law, C, was here, she taught me how to crochet. And I've been hooked (pun intended). I've made some scarves, I made a lap throw for sitting on the couch, I've made some dish cloths, and I'm working on a small tote bag currently.

I got a couple of my girlfriends, S & T, to go with me to a Crochet 101 class at the local Joann's store a couple of weeks ago. It was fun; we laughed a LOT! At one point S said, "You know, people say this is calming and soothing. I'm not getting that. This is a pain in the a**!" And I told her that she just needed to practice. I explained that when you get comfortable with the stitches and are just sitting with your yarn and your hook - yarn over, draw up, pull through, yarn over, draw up, pull through - that you fall into a soothing little pattern. You fall into a rhythm.

And I've been hearing my own words again lately. "Find your rhythm." I hear them often, as a matter of fact. "Find your rhythm." And so I'm here. And I hope to be back often.

xoxoxo