Michelle's Musings

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.

11 July 2020

Review: The Last Train to Key West

The Last Train to Key West by Chanel Cleeton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

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30 June 2020

Review: If I Can't Have You: Susan Powell, Her Mysterious Disappearance, and the Murder of Her Children

If I Can't Have You: Susan Powell, Her Mysterious Disappearance, and the Murder of Her Children by Gregg Olsen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

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Review: I'm Your Huckleberry: A Memoir

I'm Your Huckleberry: A Memoir by Val Kilmer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

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26 June 2020

Review: Deep in the Alaskan Woods

Deep in the Alaskan Woods by Karen Harper
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

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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.

Review: Before the Crown

Before the Crown by Flora Harding
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

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24 June 2020

Review: Master Presidential History in 1 Minute a Day

Master Presidential History in 1 Minute a Day by Dan Roberts
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

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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

Review: Nothing More Dangerous

Nothing More Dangerous by Allen Eskens
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

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Review: Nevertheless, She Wore It: 50 Iconic Fashion Moments

Nevertheless, She Wore It: 50 Iconic Fashion Moments by Ann Shen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

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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.

18 June 2020

The "stained" glass window

I have always wanted a stained glass window, but they are pricey and where was I even going to put one? Not, one was never on my radar for those reasons. Fast forward to when we moved into this house. We now live in the city limits, so houses are closer together. We have this lovely jacuzzi tub, and it has this window over it. We are very close to our neighbors, I mean they are great and all but do they really want to see us naked coming out of our tub? No! I didn't want to do curtains, why? Because I wanted a beach theme, the curtains are expensive and don't really fit a beach. So I looked at this as my chance to finally have that stained glass window that I had always wanted. I got some supplies together and made some sketches. First of all, I took painter's tape and taped off a 1-inch area around the edge of the window all around, this part would remain real glass so you could look out just a sliver.

I then took Aleene's acrylic spray and sprayed the window fora good adhesive surface. It also made it look like the clear stained glass, kind of opaque cloudy. This stuff is a great thing to have in your craft room so you may already have this or a similar product.

I decided to use puffy paint for my "lead" lines. Why? I thought if I ever did want to get rid of this I wanted to be able to scrape it off. So I want it to stay up until I want it to come down. I drew my sketch onto the window then I went over the lines again to make sure I had a good "lead" line. I let that dry. TIP*** you could tape a drawing to the outside of the window and trace those lines, but I wanted to freehand mine. I found lots of free and paid patterns on the internet if you choose to go that route, or you could even use a coloring page.

Then it was time to make the color parts of the glass. I used regular acrylic paint (because I have tons of this) and mixed it with a little clear Elmer's glue and dabbed it on the window within the lines designated for that color. TIP*** use a brush you don't love as you dab on the window you will ruin your brush.

It looks like the rippled part of stained glass as you are filling in the lines. I love the look! It looks just as cute from the outside of the house too. I did spray it again with the Aleene's after it was all dry. I just felt that would help make it more durable. This is a very forgiving artwork to make. I don't think you could really screw it up.

TIP*** if you screw up on the design or painting, a razor blade will scratch off the incorrect part. Just scrape it off and then let the areas around it dry. Take the Aleene's and spray over the "messed" up area, it will be just like it was when you started after the Aleene's dries.

We now have some privacy and a very unique piece of art.

16 June 2020

Review: The Great Gatsby: The Graphic Novel

The Great Gatsby: The Graphic Novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

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The backsplash of my new kitchen

So my kitchen is a little outdated, I do love the cabinets, but not so much the flooring or backsplash. We don't have it in the budget to fix up the kitchen (there is a priority list), so I had to do what I could for t

he "right now". I saw this white wall as a blank canvas to try something cool/new. I decided that the glass blocks were out of the budget, but I could paint anything so why not paint "glass" blocks? First of all,I cleaned the wall and let me dry overnight. Then I woke up and measured off 1-inch tall blocks on the whole wall. This took forever, but it was worth it. I used a level constantly to make sure my lines were straight and even. Once I got all the lines up there I taped it off with 1/4 inch wide painters tape. Again, I took my time and used the level to make sure my lines did not move. All of this took about 4 hours, but once this is done it is time for the fun part. I looked at the flooring and decided to mix and get colors from my wall of paint that would match the floor because it isn't going anywhere for a long time. I then started randomly painting the blocks with the colors. I did 3 coats on each block. Then pulled the tape off after I added that last coat and WOW!!! what a difference. My advice, take your time taping off. You may not need to draw the lines before you tape, you may tape as you measure, but I wanted that extra step to make sure I got it right.

Look at the difference. I love it! It is like a Brady Bunch kitchen wall and fits the current scheme perfectly. I actually don't mind the outdated look right now. I feel like I am living in a sitcom.