The Answer Is…: Reflections on My Life by Alex TrebekMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
View all my reviews
Welcome to my altered journey through life. You never know if I will be into home improvements, knee deep in a good book, on an Alaskan cruise or just being silly. I hope this blog will give you tips, tricks, ideas and books to add to your TBR list. Thanks for stopping by.
30 July 2020
22 July 2020
21 July 2020
Michelle's Musings Library
Every book reader longs to have a space they can sit with a book, or six and just relax. I have always longed for a room where I could create this environment for reading, writing, organizing or simply logging my books read. When we first talked about moving, we didn't think I would even have room for the books I had because we were leaving behind 3 floor to ceiling bookcases that I had custom built in the living room. We also were thinking we would find a much smaller home. Well, that was not meant to be. We not only got a larger home, but I was able to purchase a few book cases. I still didn't have the floor to ceiling cases I used to have, but I am really trying to only get books I will read again, are autographed or have a special meaning for me. That is much easier to achieve these days since I am primarily a digital reader, but sometimes you just need a book in your hands!!!!
I still have a couple of things I would like to add to this room, like either a large chair for reading, a true reading bench window seat or a chaise lounge. I am not sure which it will be until I find what I want. I do look at the FB marketplace every day so expect to see some changes when I find that dream piece of furniture. In the meantime, here are the way things stand on July 22, 2020.
19 July 2020
Bookworms: the book club
A few years ago a friend of mine created a Facebook group where we do nothing but talk about books. It is a wonderful club where we talk about what we finished, what inspires us, what our reading lists look like, and even our monthly reads. Kelly, the creator, has made a space that is safe, fun, and welcoming. We had never had a live event, until COVID hit, once COVID19 got here everything shut down, we were all at home and needed something for our mental health. Kelly had the brilliant idea to start doing bi-weekly book club meetings over Zoom.
These meetings would have a "theme" of some sort and we would usually spend the first 40 minutes going over our personal lives and the book we were currently reading, it is usually during the second 40 minutes that we go over this meetings theme :), it seems we readers were missing humans and they social aspects of our lives. Over time, those of us that didn't know each other became friends, we all have evolved into a groups of friends that love to get together and talk about BOOKS!!!!
Kelly had the wonderful idea to get the "gang" together for a field trip and set a date of July 18. On this date we all headed to Nashville. One "bookworm" came from Bardstown, the rest of us from Western KY. We all put on our masks and tried to spread love for a good book.
We met up at the Nashville Public Library, which was closed so we headed west to The Loveless Cafe. Here we all chatted about lives, books and our fears of the fall, masks, and general pandemic talks. We then got in our vehicles and headed to the mecca for book lovers in West Nashville, McKay's. I think we were here a couple of hours, I tend to lose track when I am within these walls. I am a mostly (like 98%) digital reader, but spent $35 in books and 2 movies (I did take back enough books to get myself a $30 credit). I got 2 President books (both children's), 1 book that I have a signed bookplate for, and a few books I will be giving away as Christmas gifts.
I am so grateful for this book club. Everyone in the group is just fantastic!!! Over the last few months, our meetings have been something that I have looked forward to and hope our meet ups are going to be an ongoing event even after life gets back to whatever "normal" is.
thanks Kelly for being a great leader.
15 July 2020
11 July 2020
30 June 2020
26 June 2020
25 June 2020
Read with Michelle July book club pick
Good afternoon to you all!
Nothing More Dangerous
by Allen Eskens
It is time to drop the July book club pick and I must say I am super excited for you to read this one. It is about Broady who is living with his mom in a little bungalow in Ozark. His dad was a sheetrock hanger (I am not sure of the real term), and died leaving both of them alone and in a mess. Broady kind of does what he can to just get by. He doesn't have many friends and has a dream of chucking it all and starting from scratch. One day a kid named Thomas moves in across the road and suddenly everything changes. Broad offends him by using a phrase that was very offensive, and once they make up Thomas, along with his parents, change Broady's life. Broady and Thomas will change the town and discover a murder. The murder is not the main focus of the story, but it fits in beautifully with the main focus. I really think you will like this one.
Nothing More Dangerous
by Allen Eskens
It is time to drop the July book club pick and I must say I am super excited for you to read this one. It is about Broady who is living with his mom in a little bungalow in Ozark. His dad was a sheetrock hanger (I am not sure of the real term), and died leaving both of them alone and in a mess. Broady kind of does what he can to just get by. He doesn't have many friends and has a dream of chucking it all and starting from scratch. One day a kid named Thomas moves in across the road and suddenly everything changes. Broad offends him by using a phrase that was very offensive, and once they make up Thomas, along with his parents, change Broady's life. Broady and Thomas will change the town and discover a murder. The murder is not the main focus of the story, but it fits in beautifully with the main focus. I really think you will like this one.
24 June 2020
DIY stamp pad holder
I am going to admit right off the bat that this was NOT my idea. I was trying to think of a cool way to store my stamp pads and I was leaning more towards doing something with pizza boxes since I can get my hands on plenty of those. I did a little Google search and saw many folks were making pad holders from foam core. Foam core! Brilliant!!! I watched a few of the videos, I recommend that you do that too before you tackle this as they are very detailed and informative, then I decided to just dive in. I cut my foam core back from black foam core, as it was much better quality (wish I gotten 3 of these instead of just 1) at 20"x12.5. Then I cut my sides 2 pieces at 20"x3" and the top and bottoms are a little over 12.5 x 3" (I put the sides together on the back and measured what I would need to cover the top part o the sides too.
The insides (shelves) were 4"x20" for the long ones and 12.5"x 4". I would change this to 3" instead of 4" now because most of what I use is Tim Holtz and sometimes I have to dig in the slots for those 3"x3" pads. The small shelves have slots cut into them at 4.25" and 8.5" (this is seriously where you need to watch those videos) and the long ones are notched at every 1". I am not going to give you assembly directions because these other folks do it so much better than I did, so why mess with perfection?
Inspiration videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSBnDd3Oi-8 foam core holder with storage (very cool)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNo3jWxosIc (this lady has so much DIY stuff)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YZRp4c15NI (this one is so detailed)
21 June 2020
20 June 2020
DIY modeling paste
I love to buy art supplies, but I also like to save money on some supplies in order to spend more money on things I love, like stamps!!! I started making my own modeling paste about 12 years ago, and while the recipe has changed a bit, the homemade modeling paste thing is still working out just great for me. I keep it in a marshmallow creme glass jar and it will stay good for a long time. I have tinted the paste with paints and I have thickened and thinned it as needed. Here is not only my recipe but also some samples. This stuff dries hard and looks a little gritty. It takes paints or sprays well too!
I use a 1/8 measuring cup because it is what I have in my craft stash. I have tried variations so I will list those in the ingredients too.
2 of the 1/8th cups full of school glue (can also use clear glue which is normally what I use)
3 of the 1/8th cups of white paint (I usually use Apple Barrel because it is cheap)
6 of the 1/8th cups of baking soda (I buy this in bulk at Sam's and use if for cleaning, cooking and crafting)
I wrote the recipe a bit odd in case you want to use a different type of cup, you would still use the 2/3/6 measuring of whatever type of cup you use. I don't remember where I first learned this breakdown, but it has served me well for a long time.
Prior to this one, I used this recipe that I did a write-up on years ago, check it out because it worked fabulously too.
There are literally tons of modeling paste recipes on the internet, don't be afraid to try one and give some dimension to your art journal, cards or cards.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
-
My dear father-in-law that has been so sick passed away on Tuesday. Henry Champion was man who never gave up. He came into this world fig... -
This week I am making cards for me to use next year that are a year on the life but more of a reflection on life and not typical events. I a... -
you know my name (look up the number) Today I decided to have a scrapbook day of my own. I was inspired because I am reading...