SO I'M A SLACKER...but there's more..

Apologies for not keeping up with the site, but I really do have this most excellent excuse...
A NEW ADDITION TO OUR FAMILY!
We have a new baby!
Impossible at my age, you say? (I'm 55 & 10/12ths.) Not at all!
Our boys are 28 & 30; one lives the next province over, the one most likely to procreate soonest (we hope), is married (6 years, has degree, owns house) lives TWO provinces in the other direction (Honestly? I didn't think we were that BAD at parenting) and a person just can't wait for grandchildren forever. Not this person anyway.


So our new baby is of the 4 legged variety & he joined us 7 weeks ago at the ripe age of 12 weeks. Formerly named Rascal (Uh, uh - why name him something he'll strive to become; that's just wrong). Marv came up with a name he liked on his way home from work, on the same day I picked the same name, and neither of us had heard or seen it before.

BISKIT is part Shih Tzu, part Bichon Frise. Already more well behaved than the boys- this one sleeps through the night! And no diapers! (Or cracked nipples!)






Oops, I almost forgot...this site IS supposed to have something artsy so here's a quickie down below. Notice it's not spelled Biscuit; HOW TO FLOURISH THAT?!...boring. Byskit was a consideration with even greater flourishing possibilities but that just doesn't pronounce well when being read.
Lettering's done with walnut ink & a Pelikan split nib Fountain Pen (pen came in a pkg with 3 sizes of double lines about 20 years ago but they might still be available). And the backgound kinda looks like our floors now, but who gives a crap; we have a NEW SOURCE OF JOY in our lives!


About the pictures-
#1. Rec'd this photo by email while Marv was away 4 the weekend, with the heading "Marv's new puppy". My 1st thought? "I don't THINK so!" Everbody knows we're a pet free house 'cause our 1st born has allergies.
Marv comes home. No puppy. I'm a little disappointed...a lot actually, so we phone the kid & all agree: skrew 'im for moving 2 provinces away! They can stay with friends or family nearby. Puppy arrives 4 days later. Free too, 'cause he's from friends.

#2. I am SO in love! See how I no longer have time to wash my hair, put make-up on, wash clothes (20 yr old sweater), feed Marv...

#3. Puppy's 1st visitors. Val & Morley rush over as soon as they find out. Didn't say boo to us tho. Hmmm. Friends.

#4. Yes he does. Have eyes & legs, that is. 1st haircut @ 4 months @ just 4 times the price of mine. (Really...I pay $10 to a professional hairdresser who works out of her home...don't bother commenting that it looks like it too.) Biskit's strawberry blond? is JUST like son#2's hair...maybe this one will let me try those french braids on him.

#5. For Father's Day Biskit gets Marv a John Deere bandanna. It's actually a pet bandanna, but oh well. Marv's all about J.D. tho and "Nothing runs like a Deere"!

#6. I figured maybe I should do a little calligraphy this month. :)

Happy New Year!

OK, took a little break there from the blog, but look what I did over Christmas!
Marv & I were off to Van to see the boy over Christmas & I needed something to do besides chew my fingernails while Marv was driving (his driving is actually pretty good & it was I who drove us into the ditch one dark blowing night on the Coquihalla) SO I made
Paper Name Snowflakes!
Lotsa fun. Did one up for all Dale's roomies in the mansion, his girlfriend and even the cat Charlie. Can you pick out the names Adrianna, Shane & Karl on the pic below?

I had a nice Happy New Year snowflake all ready to post, but the man has done something with the connections so no scan tonight.

What you need for a 6 sided snowflake is a 30 degree triangle. Cut mine from a file folder. Any photocopy paper will do for the snowflake. Vellum won't work...rubbing the fold with your fingernail causes the folded edge to become a torn edge. I also thought Tyvek would be great 'cause it doesn't tear, but it's too thick & the layers that tyvek is made with create all kinds of scratchy looking edges.

Fold a square piece of paper in half, then half again, then line up the 30 degree triangle to create 3 more folds. Draw up your name in your sketchbook 1st to decide where each letter should connect to the next. A block letter style like Neuland works great. Erase the connecting lines. After folding the paper, pencil the name on one triangular section.
Use cuticle scissors to cut out the unnecessary bits. Be sure to leave bits of paper all over the house when you get up!

You can iron your paper snowflakes to flatten them out when you're done, but if you use a steam iron, flip the snowflake over 1st or you'll get all kinds of gunk all over your nice white snowflake. The voice of experience.

All about snowflakes
http://www.its.caltech.edu/-atomic/snowcrystals/
for the most amazing photographs of real honest-to-god snowflakes like you won't believe!
For some great patterns & what to do with them once you've made them, check out http://www.papersnowflakes.com/patterns.htm

We'll be making paper name snowflakes at the January 10 meeting of the Edmonton Calligraphic Society. http://www.edmontoncalligraphicsociety.org/