Summer has finally arrived here in Arizona! This will be our 11th summer here and they certainly do not get any easier with each one seemingly hotter and longer than the last! I long to be in one of those places where summer means long balmy days spent outside in the garden with a good book or leisurely walks in the warm sunshine or perhaps even a picnic in the park. Bliss! Let's be realistic though - does such a place exist? I am from England, where if you were lucky, you might get 3 days in a row of that before it got unbearably humid and oppressive for another few days before it reverted back to grey skies, rain and the inevitable period of "is anyone else chilly? Shall we put the heating back on?"!
Here in Phoenix however, summer generally means hibernating indoors with the AC blasting and outdoor activities are limited to a couple of short hours first thing in the morning (and by first thing, I mean dog walks at 5.30am! Ugh). This year, however, instead of dreading the very real possibility of 110+ temperatures for weeks on end and wishing away the whole of June through September, I decided I needed to have a word with myself and come up with activities which both evade the heat and also bring me joy so that I can look forward to each day and actually enjoy the summer instead of just wishing it away as quickly as possible! Time is precious and life is for living!
Of course one of the benefits of being up and about so early, is longer days and more hours to spend on my most favorite activity of all - crafting! YAY! I love all things paper obviously, but also on my list is to catch up with my digital scrapbook journals, delve further into hybrid scrapbooking, finish knitting that blanket that I started 3 years ago (I've gone off it already and not loving the 'battleship grey' wool I chose at the time **eye roll**) and learn to crochet! Plenty to last right through summer and beyond!
As well as creating, I also love to write and I suddenly remembered the crafty blog that I started several years ago but have seriously neglected of late - does anybody still read blogs even? Let me know.
Oh. Just noticed that the last post was almost five years ago ... sorry what? FIVE YEARS?!? Holy Macaroni Batman! How did that happen?!
Anyway, as I have a craft room which is bursting at the seams with 'stuff', a lot of which I have yet to play with, why not start there? Today's project utilizes last month's subscription kit from Hero Arts which was languishing on my desk unopened, and as my stash of birthday cards is running low I decided to start with the large Happy Birthday die, which is the perfect size for using as the main card focus, and make a shaker card ... or 3 as it turned out! Well, who doesn't love a shaker card? I didn't quite have the right color sequins to coordinate with the card from the kit but trying hard to use what I have and they kind of work I think? There are lots more great birthday themed items in the kit that I can't wait to work with, including a large present die which I think might be next!
If you made it this far, thanks for sticking with it and hope to see you again next time!
TTFN
Bev x
