Tuesday, September 26, 2017

Teacup Tuesday: 9-26-17


Happy Teacup Tuesday. Love this Stafforshire bone china cup that was part of a grocery store giveaway years ago. I've got four of these, plus matching plates and a sugar and creamer, plus I've got several set aside for future giveaways.

What's your cup today?

Monday, September 25, 2017

Me? Carve?

My Dad did a lot of crafty stuff. He framed houses, fixed plumbing, put on roofs, did just about any home repair you could think of--and always on a budget. But he also made jewelry, fixed watches and clocks, and he carved. When he passed away almost eight years ago, I had the task of clearing out his workshop, and I was rather surprised at how many carvings were left unfinished. The ones below are some of them. Before my mother passed, I had found a box of "hounds" that were finished except for painting. He had one or two done, so I was able to figure out how to "finish" them off.


The box above held the rest. Or rather, I found them squirreled away all over his workshop and put them in this box. And I decided that painting them would be a nice summer job. Except ... they sat there for a year and nothing happened. I'm a busy person! But earlier this summer I thought I might like to take a crack at them.  The first thing I did was buy some acrylic paint and a yard sale that featured a LOT of craft items (including a bunch of rubber stamps, which I've been happily using all summer). But -- here we are on the first day of summer and I haven't done much more than photograph them for this post. (I did buy some paint brushes, so it's not like I'm not thinking about them.)

Aren't these snowmen cute? Or at least the finished one. But I suspect that  Dad didn't paint the finished one. He had two carving buddies that he met at a class he took at continuing education here in our town. After the last was over, they met at each other's houses. There was Estreter (I spelled that phonically--because I don't know how she actually spelled her name. She may have been Belgium (or maybe from one of the slavic states) and John.

My Dad was in charge of making the blanks, and Estreter was a wiz at painting. Dad's first carvings were rather drab, but once Estreter started pointing out painting techniques, my Dad picked up on it fast. But at least this gives me a guide as to how I should approach painting the one on the left.

 By the look of these bears, I can deduce that once Dad was happy with the carving and the sanding, he put a base coat of white acrylic paint on each carving. I think I have two bottles of white, and it looks like I'm going to need them.  The brown stuff on the bear is saw dust. Wow--that basement was full of saw dust, and so is the box that holds all the carvings. It makes me want to sneeze when I get near it. I will have to haul my compressor outside so that I can blow all the dust off each piece before I paint it.  Although quite a few of the carvings look like they could use a bit more sanding.  Where's my sandpaper?

As I said, Dad made the blanks. On the right is a finished angel blowing a horn, and the rough cut for the blank. I probably won't do anything with it because A) I am afraid of knives, and B) I don't think I would have any carving talent. Just thought you might like to see how they start out and how they were finished. (He would put brown shoe polish on the finished product to give it some "texturing.")


The top hound above is a blank, and the hound below just needs a little more sanding before it can be painted.  Sanding I can do.



This guy is holding up a canoe. What's with that? The little slab of wood he's standing on? My folks had cedar bushes/trees (whatever) at the side of their yard and one got cut down. Dad chopped it into slices and quite a few of his carving stand on them.  (Smells nice before the polyurethane goes on.)



You can see how the bear on the right is pretty much finished, but the one on the left is pretty crude. Dad added the mittened paws and skates, gluing them on. I don't have either, so I can paint the right one, but the left one will never be finished.  : (



These guys (and puppy) are all ready to be painted. Wish me luck!


These guys are interesting. This is the front side.


... turn them upside down and this is the back side. I'm not going to paint them. I don't think I could pull it off and perhaps they weren't meant to be painted anyway.

This bearded guy (Santa?) is from the earliest days my Dad carved. I know because he always dated his carvings, although this one isn't dated--I already have several finished ones that are. I think he'd be happy to join his brothers in one of my curio cabinets.

I think my Dad would be happy to know that I'm going to (at least) try to finish off some of his carvings. I'll never be able to paint them as well as he could, but ... I'm sure going to try.

And my Dad's carving are what inspired me to write the first Life On Victoria Square story, CARVING OUT A PATH. I wrote about it earlier this year. (Click this link.)  I wish my Dad could have read it. I think he might have enjoyed it.  (For more information on that, click this link.)

Do you have some craft projects you want to finish up?

Friday, September 22, 2017

Help the Elephants!


Poachers are still killing elephants in alarming numbers. But AirShepherd.com uses drones to follow poachers so that the good guys can stop them from killing these incredibly intelligent animals that experience strong emotions, including grief at the deaths of their friends and family. Air Shepherd also protects rhinos, too. I support Air Shepherd and I hope you will, too. 

Please spread the word.

Click the link to help: http://airshepherd.org/

Those Unfinished Carvings

by Lorraine Bartlett / Lorna Barrett / L.L. Bartlett

My Dad did a lot of crafty stuff. He framed houses, fixed plumbing, put on roofs, did just about any home repair you could think of--and always on a budget. But he also made jewelry, fixed watches and clocks, and he carved. When he passed away almost eight years ago, I had the task of clearing out his workshop, and I was rather surprised at how many carvings were left unfinished. The ones below are some of them. Before my mother passed, I had found a box of "hounds" that were finished except for painting. He had one or two done, so I was able to figure out how to "finish" them off.


The box above held the rest. Or rather, I found them squirreled away all over his workshop and put them in this box. And I decided that painting them would be a nice summer job. Except ... they sat there for a year and nothing happened. I'm a busy person! But earlier this summer I thought I might like to take a crack at them.  The first thing I did was buy some acrylic paint and a yard sale that featured a LOT of craft items (including a bunch of rubber stamps, which I've been happily using all summer). But -- here we are on the first day of summer and I haven't done much more than photograph them for this post. (I did buy some paint brushes, so it's not like I'm not thinking about them.)

Aren't these snowmen cute? Or at least the finished one. But I suspect that  Dad didn't paint the finished one. He had two carving buddies that he met at a class he took at continuing education here in our town. After the lass was over, they met at each other's house. There was Estreter (I spelled that phonically--because I don't know how she actually spelled her name. She may have been Belgium (or maybe from one of the slavic states) and John.

My Dad was in charge of making the blanks, and Estreter was a wiz at painting. Dad's first carvings were rather drab, but once Estreter started pointing out painting techniques, my Dad picked up on it fast. But at least this gives me a guide as to how I should approach painting the one on the left.

 By the look of these bears, I can deduce that once Dad was happy with the carving and the sanding, he put a base coat of white acrylic paint on each carving. I think I have two bottles of white, and it looks like I'm going to need them.  The brown stuff on the bear is saw dust. Wow--that basement was full of saw dust, and so is the both. It makes me want to sneeze when I get near it. I will have to haul my compressor outside so that I can blow all the dust off each piece before I paint it.  Although quite a few of the carvings look like they could use a bit more sanding.  Where's my sandpaper?

As I said, Dad made the blanks. On the right is a finished angel blowing a horn, and the rough cut for the blank. I probably won't do anything with it because A) I am afraid of knives, and B) I don't think I would have any carving talent. Just thought you might like to see how they start out and how they were finished. (He would put brown shoe polish on the finished product to give it some "texturing.")


The top hound above is a blank, and the hound below just needs a little more sanding before it can be painted.  Sanding I can do.



This guy is holding up a canoe. What's with that? The little slab of wood he's standing on? My folks had cedar bushes/trees (whatever) at the side of their yard and one got cut down. Dad chopped it into slices and quite a few of his carving stand on them.  (Smells nice before the polyurethane goes on.)



You can see how the one on the right is pretty much finished, but the one on the left is pretty crude. Dad added the mittened paws and skates, gluing them on. I don't have either, so I can paint the right one, but the left one will never be finished.  : (



These guys (and puppy) are all ready to be painted. Wish me luck!


These guys are interesting. This is the front side.


... turn them upside down and this is the back side. I'm not going to paint them. I don't think I could pull it off and perhaps they weren't meant to be painted anyway.

This bearded guy (Santa?) is from the earliest days my Dad carved. I know because he always dated his carvings, although this one isn't dated--I already have several finished ones that are. I think he'd be happy to join his brothers in one of my curio cabinets.

I think my Dad would be happy to know that I'm going to (at least) try to finish off some of his carvings. I'll never be able to paint them as well as he could, but ... I'm sure going to try.

And my Dad's carving are what inspired me to write the first Life On Victoria Square story, CARVING OUT A PATH. I wrote about it earlier this year. (Click this link.)  I wish my Dad would have read it. I think he might have enjoyed it.  (For more information on that, click this link.)

Do you have some craft projects you want to finish up?




Monday, September 18, 2017

Yee-ha! I've got a Cowboy Studio!

I have always liked photography, even when I couldn't seem to take a picture of a friend with an Instamatic camera without chopping off her head.  (Ooops.)

When I was in high school, my brother bought an SLR camera. Some Japanese model that started with an M but I can't remember what else. He started taking much better pictures of his friends and I decided that when I got my first job, I'd get a good camera, too.

I my first three SLR cameras were Minoltas, and I loved them. I had lots of lenses, but I've always preferred to take pictures in available light. I took a lot of black-and-white photos in the 90s because I had access to a darkroom and two professional photographers as mentors, although mostly they just taught me printing techniques (something I do today with Photoshop or Gimp2). But now I'm into digital photography.

I always wanted a Nikon, but when I went to buy one, the guy at the counter convinced me to get a Canon. I'm currently on my 2nd Canon EOS Rebel (T3i). Um... the previous one (only about 3 years old) I dropped on a ceramic tile floor, on the day we were fleeing New York City the day Hurricane Sandy hit. (Writers conference.) That was a bad day. : (

Nowadays, I mostly take pictures of my yard sale finds to entertain my Facebook Group Page members. I bought a tabletop Cowboy Studio a few years ago for just that purpose, but it got stuck in a closet and I forgot about it until last week. What a fun toy!  I comes with all kinds of wonderful things like 4 different
colored backdrops (white, black, red, blue), a tabletop camera stand, and dual lights. In it makes my shots look pretty professional, if I say so myself.

So far I've only used it once, for some wonderful Syracuse china teacups  (and a couple of other things) I got at a yard sale, and I was very happy with the results.  It's just that it takes up a lot of room on a table. But I have plans to clear a space in my basement workroom to set up the "studio" and leave it up.

I think my little Cowboy Studio and I are going to have lots of fun in the future.


P.S. Don't you just love the three variations of this china pattern? And I found out there' a fourth! I got a box lot of seven cups and eleven saucers for only $3. What a deal! They're heavy, restaurant china and the pattern is named after the former governor of NY called DeWitt Clinton, who was the father of the Erie Canal. Pretty nifty, huh?

Friday, September 15, 2017

Instagram = Instant Aggravation

I dislike Instagram. A lot. A REAL LOT.

First, I'm not real good about uploading (or downloading, for that matter) stuff with my phone. I don't have one of those BIG iPhones. I have a tiny iPhone 4 with a little screen. (My brother got it for me; $40 used. He was tired of me not being able to figure out my cheap android phone and put me on his family plan.)

But back to Instagram. The easiest way for me to get my posts onto Instagram is with a third-party app called Gramblr. You log into Gramblr and it connects with Instagram via your computer. Except ... when Instagram cuts you off--and they seem to do that a lot.

I've lost most of my accounts.  I had one for each of my author names, and for several groups I belong to, including the Cozy Chicks.

Instagram often wants to make sure it's you and they demand you return to them a code number sent to you either by email or text.  The only problem is THEY RARELY SEND THEM.  I lost six of my accounts because they never sent me the info I need to log back on.

I replaced my LLBartlett account in July because they never got back to me with the code, and now they've blocked that one, too.

Guess what: THERE IS NO CUSTOMER SERVICE.

There's absolutely NO WAY (unless you're Taylor Swift or someone as influential as her) TO GET YOUR ACCOUNT BACK. There's no recourse. NO NOTHING.

And SURPRISE!  They're owned by Facebook, whose customer service is just about as bad.

So, while it's a nice little app, I think I'm going to dump it.

Have you had this happen to you?

Monday, September 11, 2017

Try these books for a change of pace

As a writer, I don't only read what I write. Yes, I adore cozy mysteries, and yes, I read darker suspense, but I also read what I call "fun stuff." Sweet romance and YA books. (Harry Potter is considered YA and boy, did that series get dark--and not just kids read them.)

But a fun series I've been reading is Mary Kennedy's Crazy Love Diaries.  She wrote three of them: Love Signs, The Ten Cupcake Romance, and Only You. They are utterly charming, and laugh-out loud funny.




Here's a bit more about them.

Love Signs: Tracy Adams trusts her horoscope--it's been right 100% of the time. When the stars predict she'll meet a good-looking boy, Jeff Nichols shows up. Tracy falls hard, but the stars warn Tracy not to mistake friendship for love.  Now she's confused. Jeff is everything she wants in a boyfriend, but her horoscope insists Steve Richards is a better match for her, even though they have nothing in common. Have the stars made a terrible mistake? Should Tracy trust her heart or her horoscope?

Kindle US | Kindle Worldwide | Nook | Kobo | iBooks



The Ten Cupcake Romance: Every time Amy Miller falls in love, she eats her heart out—literally! Her latest crazy is cupcakes, but when her friend Sharon finds Amy devouring a whole box of them, she knows that Amy needs to find a better hobby. Why not become a romance novelist? Amy loves the idea and Simon Adams a cute British student fits right into the plot. In fact, he's the main character. Amy knows enough about love to fill a book, but even she can't guess how the story will end.


Kindle US | Kindle Worldwide | Nook | Kobo | iBooks



Only You:  Carla Santini. She's the Italian exchange student who's coming to stay with Jamie Hogan and her family for the summer. Jamie can hardly wait to spend time with Carla—it will be just like having a sister her own age. Everyone is waiting for Carla's arrival at the airport. When a gorgeous Italian boy steps off the plane, Jamie gasps in surprise. Carla is actually Carlo—there was a typo! Can one key stroke turn Jamie's world upside down?

Kindle US | Kindle Worldwide | Nook | Kobo | iBooks

If you want a fun read that will take you back in time to your high school days, you can't miss with the Crazy Love Diaries.

Tuesday, September 5, 2017

Teacup Tuesday: Narcissus


Happy Teacup Tuesday. This is one of my collection of cups. It's called Narcissus, by Bell China, but I like it because of the tulips. But you know, I don't think I've ever used it to drink from. Must remedy that--maybe today.

What tea are you drinking today?