What I've learned about blogging

 (Here's my photo of the week, in case you need something pretty to look at!)

#1.  Too much of a good thing, can actually be bad.  Yes, I do love to blog.  My little blog here has been a help to me in so many ways.  It connects me with people with my same interests.  It has helped build up my confidence in myself and what I love to do tremendously.  But, alas, there is such a thing as too much blogging.  Does anyone else out there ever feel totally saturated with the craft blog world?  I get so much inspiration from all the other craft blogs out there, but when I spend too much time looking, I get saturated.

Plus I have vowed to never let myself get carried away and throw my life out of balance for my blog.  I love it, but I still have to make time for the most important things.

#2.  There are a lot of really nice people out there.  Seriously, I have yet to come in contact with anyone who was not nice!  It has restored my faith in the good people out there.  I have heard of some kind of blog bullies going around and making mean comments on some blogs, but I have yet to have that happen to me.  Maybe my blog is too small to get the attention of those meanies- I hope it stays that way.

#3.  Blogging is a good way to connect with people if you be yourself.  I've had chances to get to know a few people and a little about them through blogging.  I've even had some chances to bear my testimony of what I know is true and what is important to me.  It feels good to be able to do that.

#4.  You can't follow everyone!  I struggle with this because I see so many great blogs out there and I want to follow them all, but that brings me back to point #1.  I could never possibly keep up with all of that.  So, as much as I don't like it, I have to pick and choose.  

So those are my thoughts about blogging for the moment.  What have you learned about blogging? 

I'm Addicted to Pears

You may very well have noticed the fact that I can't stop painting pears.  I try lots of things in watercolor, but in the end, I always come back to my pears.  They are so lovely!  

These two paintings are of the exact same pear, I just interpreted it differently in each painting.  Which one do you like best?  #1- more true to life   OR   #2- a little abstract ?

#1

#2

Monster Puppets

Here they are... the monster puppets.  Not an original creation of my own, but one that I borrowed from Six Sister's Stuff.  They offer some nice free templates!  Yay!

I got a little lazy with cutting out all the patterns and free-handed a few of the accessories on my own.  I also left out the noses and hands, but oh well.  It works.

My son got a kick out of them when he saw me making them.  Taking them to church this Sunday will be the true test of their child-entertaining-effectiveness.

Spooky Gourds

My almost three-year-old son refers to Jack-o-lanterns as "scary pumpkins"- he loves them! So instead of trying to name these gourds I painted something clever like gourd-o-lanterns, or jack-o-gourds, we are going to call them Spooky Gourds!

My in-laws grew about twenty of these gourds when they lived in California years ago.  My husband volunteered to take some off their hands while helping clean out their garage.  I finally figured out a good use for them!

Felt Ghost and Spider Templates

 Last year I came up with these easy and inexpensive Halloween decorations- little ghosts and spiders made of felt.  The ghosts I hang in the window and the spiders I stick to the wall.

I got these out yesterday to start my Halloween decorating and decided that I needed some more.  Well, I didn't save the drawings I used to make these from last year, so I decided to draw them up again and share the templates with you!

Yay!  Free stuff is good!  So just click on the link below to get a PDF template to make your own felt ghosts and spiders.


Felt Spiders and Ghosts Template