Watching the Tropics

I've been watching "Irene" since before she was Irene and now it looks like she "could" be heading our way. Here is the five day forecast, bringing her right to Charleston as a category 3 hurricane Saturday morning.

If there is one thing I have learned since moving to Charleston thirty years ago, no one knows for sure where they are going until maybe 10 hours before making landfall. A lot can happen between now and Saturday, so we'll keep watching and in a few days, decide what we need to do if anything!

scripture in Pictures Sunday

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Please visit Charlotte and Ginger at Spiritual Sundays for more inspiring posts and have a wonderful Sunday everyone!

R is for RED, Vintage Book!

It's been sooooo long since I participated in any memes, I decided I needed to jump back into things! I've had this very old RED book for many years, probably thirty years or more. I found it in a stack of stuff a teacher was throwing out. 

Here's a shot of the inside cover with the publishing information. 

And here's a shot of the introduction. 

I'm guessing given the date in the intro, that this book is approximately 84 years old. Wow, I never thought about how old this book was until I typed it just now! As you can see from the intro, this book was intended to be a hands on manual for children in elementary school or junior high.

This page shows a variety of birds and how they can be painted. 

 And this is the pattern for cutting one of the birds from wood, using a coping saw. Oh by the way, a coping saw is a small hand saw consisting of a handle, a thin blade and a "C" shaped piece of metal that holds the blade.  I love the simplicity of the drawings and the writing.

 This next project is more complicated and includes moving parts. 

 I'm sure little kids in the twenties and thirties were quite proud of their finished projects and played with these for hours on end. How sad that most of our children today would find these boring.

 This is the pattern for making this cute little project. Hopefully once I load the drivers for my scanner on to my NEW laptop, (did I tell y'all I bought a new laptop?) I will scan the pages and post them for you in case anyone wants to try their hand at coping saw work!

I'll be sharing this post for:

REDnesday at It's a Very Cherry World

Vintage Thingey Thursday at Colorado Lady 

and Alphabe Thursday for the Letter R at Jenny Metlocks

scripture in Pictures Sunday

 You may click on the picture to bring up a larger, sharper image

then right click and save. 

Please visit Charlotte and Ginger at Spiritual Sundays for more inspiring posts! 
Have a wonderful week, xxoo Nan

Scripture in Pictures Sunday

You may click on the picture to bring up a larger, sharper image,

then right click and save. 

Please stop by Spiritual Sundays for more inspiring posts!
Have a wonderful Sunday, xxoo Nan

Look what I found!

 Hi everyone! I know, I know, I've been AWOL for sooooo long! I just haven't felt like I've had anything to share. So, I needed a little jump start and I thought what better way to do that than with a little edition of Friday FREEbies! And since there are a few days left in July, what better than a Christmas In July version! Make sure and leave some sweet words for these bloggers
if you find something you can use!

Is there a little girl on your Christmas list? Why not make this sweet little Mermaid Doll from The Crafting Friend, so cute!

Next, get a jump start on the Holidays with this very cute printable set of tags, check and gift card holders from
How Does She!

This FREE vintage banner from Smitten Blog Designs is so cute and there are tags to match!

And also from Smitten Blog Designs, this really nice Subway Art piece
in two colors! This would be so pretty framed.

I don't quilt but if I did, I would love to make this quilt from Quilt Soup, just for the Holidays! You can find the FREE pattern HERE.

Find the pattern and TUT for this sweet little PINK Ballet Slipper Bookmark at
Wee Folks!

And how about a sweet little PINK Hobo bag to match! Simply Modern Mom has the TUT and the FREE pattern!

This litle Christmas Elf from Picklesticks is so darn cute! I can see a bunch of these guys hangin around the mantle or on a tree!

I LOVE this little Reindeer from Eat, Drink, Chic and can think of a lot of uses for him!

I think this Deer paper cutting pattern from Akit Digital Design would look so pretty cut from sparkly scrapbook paper and framed for the Holidays!

That's it for this edition of Friday FREEbies, I hope you found something you can use or inspiration to get you moving on your crafting. And since I've shown several PINK FREEbies, I'm going to link this post to PINK Saturday at How Sweet the Sound! Have a wonderful weekend everyone, filled with Bubbles of JOY!

xxoo Nan

Where Bloggers Create III

Let's get this party started!
Welcome to Where Bloggers Create III and to my humble studio!

Thank you to the uber talented Karen at My Desert Cottage for hosting Where Bloggers Create again this year!
I participated last year and since I've made a number of changes to my studio, I decided to participate again this year, besides, it provided the motivation to get my room cleaned up! Let me start first with this little sketch of my studio to help you visualize the layout.

My studio was my daughters' bedroom before they left for college. It's not a huge room, it measures 10' x 14' but it suits my needs just fine. One of the reasons I picked this room was for the amount of light that comes in through the windows. But the main reason was for the view out one of the windows,
I have a perfect view of the pond when I am sitting at my large table or at my easel.

As you come through the main door, immediately to the left
is my vintage red shelf.

This shelf holds my vintage children's books, magazines, vintage and reproduction toys and other things dear to me. My drafting table sits right beside this shelf and is where I do my technical drawing.
I also set my laptop on this table.

 Along the adjacent wall to my drafting table, is paper storage central! The bins on the shelves contain 12x12 scrapbook paper and the bins on the floor contain 8-1/2 x 11 scrapbook paper and my art papers. The turquoise and yellow bins on the top shelf hold rolls of crape paper, feather boas and rolls of all types of trim. The small jars below hold vials of glitter. The giant pencil was once a clothes tree for my girls. I added lots of hooks to it and hung the little red pails on the hooks to hold my colored pencils.

 Right behind the giant pencil, I mounted a curtain rod to the wall to hold a large roll of drafting paper. Just past this roll of paper is a former VCR tape rack that now holds Mason jars filled with ribbon and just past that is my easel. The small white stand holds my painting supplies.

 My large project table is just two - 2' x 4' folding tables with a large sheet of white mason board on top. The mason board is very inexpensive and Lowes will cut it to whatever size you need. My little red vintage sewing cabinet sits at the end and the cabinet in the corner holds a TV, stereo/DVD player and behind the curtain, more crafting supplies and tools.

 The final wall contains two more Iris carts that hold more supplies, little drawers for my Copic markers and a large bulletin board. I bought the double sided, multi pocket Jewelry holder at Stein Mart and it is perfect for holding punches.

 One little thing that I'm kind of anal about, everything, and I mean everything, has to be arranged in ROYGBIV order:
 (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet),
paper, pencils, markers, ribbon and paint, all in order!
Ribbon is wound on craft sticks and placed into Jars by color.

Colored pencils arranged by colors in their own little pail!

 A little shelf with lots of PINK goodness and pocket tags from a swap.

 I still need to de-clutter the closet and Iris carts and get rid of a lot of junk that has accumulated so it's not so hard to find the things I "actually" use. I also need to hang some pictures on the walls in the empty spots.
So that's my tour of my little studio, I hoped you enjoyed it and found a little inspiration for your studio too!
I'll also be linking this to PINK Saturday at How Sweet the Sound.