Week 11 of Donna Downey's 48 Weeks Journaling Workshop ~Live in the Moment~ LOTS OF PICS

       Hello beautiful people its once again Friday night....and we just finished getting everything done for the day. I am waiting on Bruce to get done outside and its 9pm thank goodness for Instapots and Crockpots....am I right!!!! Amen to that! We had to go out today and actually relinquish supplies....when you work all the time and somethings you just can't order. We needed more jars, more cheese containers, and of course some easy foods for the boys tomorrow...however Colby is the resident chef as Bruce says....Colby likes to refer to himself as get this "Gordon Ramsey" everyone bellows in laughter.....HEHEHEHEHEHE!!!! He loves watching his YouTube videos and shows and remind me well Gordon Ramsey says, etc. I remind him I know what I am doing and keep on cooking....ya gotta love it though....I think I have learned somethings Colby has said btw! So keep up the good work Gordon kids are learning and that is TOTALLY AWESOME!! I have been a usual worker bee this week making more tie dyes, jams, pickles, and a few body products and of course more bracelets. I love the support from all my customers at the market and of course our market family....we always look forward to Saturday. Well Bruce is in now gotta run to the USDA kitchen and do some work...be back soon.
          Well I am back and now its Sunday evening and I am now cooking dinner, was supposed to be supper but we ended up having a swarm and I picked a bunch of veggies, time ran away with me. Colten has literally been on the tractor all day cutting grass, in his own words "MONOTONOUS" can you hear us both laughing after he said that....??? YES you can. I said what do you think making the same jam is or the same cheese, or washing laundry???? lol we both laughed on that one. I can do my monotonous jobs with my eyes closed but somehow its better to leave them open....and sometimes its nice to be able to make something else besides the same jams, so a little creativity is good!
           Enough of my chit chat here but onto the page in the journal. This makes week 11 of the 48 Weeks Journal Workshop by Donna Downey you can go to her website and still take the class. I actually started this workshop in January of 2014 and only made it up to workshop four complete and five half way. Thats ok though you know the old saying better late than never. Well let me tell ya this one was way out of my usual type of mixed media work and as far as flowers go not something I had really ever did except in week six a wee bit similar although it was poppies but defiantly the first time for flowers in a vase and this type. Oh my goodness I am certainly hooked now. LOVE LOVE LOVE them. I am so thankful I have took a bit of time in my life to get some of these accomplished for I really don't have so called "me" time but now I just say I going to put a coat of paint on and just do it! You can only work so much and my back an only take so much......so I take a few minutes here and there to finally complete my workshop.....and I am so happy I am.
       

                                                      Love the texture and the colors.

                                                                the background is way to cool very tactile

I enjoyed this whole process 

the quote was perfect and came from an old calendar I had from 2015 which is the Page A Day by Workman Publishing the painting by Jessica Roush dot com "Live in the moment" I have these little pieces of paper as Dusty explains to everyone she has the artist brain lol but the calendar page was from September 28, 2015

I love these little calendars they are such great inspirational pieces of art and the new one comes out on July 23, 2019 for 2020 you can even get the back issue ones If they are still available I know 2018 still is and 2019 

note all the colors in the flowers 

I have been so digging this workshop and totally love that about summer being able to go on my porch and paint "such a happy place"

if you would like to see some of the other weeks you can see them here 

WEEK 1

WEEK 2

WEEK 3

WEEK 4

WEEK 5

WEEK 6 

Week 7

WEEK 8

Week 9 

WEEK 10 

I am now working on week 12 and can hardly believe it hopefully it will be done soon I was able to get my orders done tonight as tomorrow I have my yearly exam and I have still had this so called sickness but its just allergies because when I get outside picking I just start sneezing and to think I eat a lot of honey so idk 

While Bruce and I were in Florida for Aubrey's 3rd Birthday we all went skating it was a blast 

It was like we had never stopped skating being a child of the early 70's rolling skating was a thing for sure and we both spent a lot of time rolling skating 

Aubrey loved it too and even asked Amanda to go back and they did like the next weekend 

Aubrey rode Dusty around on her tricycle, too cute

I always make tie dyes and have for years and I sell these at the farmers market 

you can see a short video I did on how I do it 

Making the tie dyes are just fun!!! 

my friend Cheryl brought me two plants one day at one of the craft shows I was at and they have been producing like crazy and so delicious I have made eggplant parmigiana, grilled eggplants all so yummy thanks to Cheryl for these prolific plants 

This one I had a special request for and made it exactly how she wanted it 

Bruce raises homegrown chickens we have raised quite a few we also sell these, we are approved by the North Carolina Vet as a home processor and we just moved these from the commercial freezers to a chest freezer 

they didn't all fit in the chest freezer and the chickens are the only thing in the chest freezer 

these are all my seeds as I am a seed saver and  stratify my seeds every year 

See these happy little faces.....well guess what they are going to be staying with us for the next month 

EXCITING 

Riggy is so adorable and he came last year when he was only two months 

Big Brother Ledger is coming too and the last time he was here he had just turned one....now he just turned two 

DOUBLE EXCITING!!! 

I am overjoyed at the thought......more to come

These are their pics from last year while they were here 

Ledgie with Sage one of our Oberhasli dairy goats last year 

Riggy in the carrier from last year over in my office I just love that look

I can't wait 

Super duper excited 

Well better close I am reading two books now and want to get back to one of them immediately 

Have a great week

Thanks for stopping by 

Cyber hugs, Dawn Gallop

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It's All About The Zoo Crew at the Virginia Zoo in Norfolk using the Silhouette Cameo with Vinyl and Tie Dying with Kids

                

Well Hello there!!! I know it has been a LONGGGG While, but I tell ya I just can't keep up with
everything......Now that the boys are out of school for the summer maybe I can sneak a few post in the morning or late evenings???? We shall see! I really do try.......but with today's social networks, it seems in some ways it's like a duplicate, but then again a much more detailed one at that! The T's-------This all started off with Mrs. Walker coming to Mrs. Savage and asking do you think we can make shirts for the K class to go to the zoo. Mrs. Savage called me and I was rolling off ideas.....I was thinking I should use the Yudu then I thought mmmmmm a lot of work for something simple.....so I revamped that idea and on my Silhouette Cameo from Silhouette America I designed "THE ZOO CREW" 

with a little welding. I sent the pics to the teacher and she liked this one the best, me too! So then I packed up my tie dye kit and off to school I went to help with the  children so they could dye their shirts that Mrs. Walker provided us. Mrs. Bazemore and Mrs. Savage did all the prep work on the T-shirts. Wash them in cold water 100% cotton t-shirts, DO NOT USE FABRIC SOFTENER OR DRYER SHEETS!!!!! The dye needs to bind to the fabric and cannot with the softener or dryer sheets they create a barrier for penetration. Then once you have the shirts washed soak them in a SODA ASH you can follow the directions. Please make sure you use utensils used only for this, like your measuring cup and spoon (I use an old spoon with a long handle) do not reuse for anything else. Soak  the shirts in the soda ash for at least 30 minutes.....then using gloves ring out and begin folding, we used the spiral, for these shirts. There are videos on YOUTUBE for this I'm sure. We used rubber bands to "tie" with however you can use string. The rubber bands are easy for the kids. Please keep the kids in gloves (I buy the box of latex free gloves at Wal-Mart) also put them in a plastic smock or cut the bottom of a trash bag for head space to cover them in. Use plastic on your table, we also keep paper towels under the dye to make these fabulous paper towel art pieces, which can be used to decorate the bulletin boards etc. You can also use gel medium or Mod-podge to paste them to your journal or cards, etc.

Cooper dyes the tie dye shirts

I use the shelf stacker that you buy from Wal-Mart or K-mart or Target they stack together and this way when the children are squirting the dyes on the shirts any excess drips down on the paper towels and keeps the dyes from becoming muddy. I also get the squirt bottles from Wal-Mart in the kitchen section to mix the dyes in. Label your bottles with masking tape so you will remember the colors. The dyes sometimes are not what you think they are. The dyes can be purchased at Jerry's Artarama, look for Jacquard Procion MX Dyes, or at Amazon. Fill the bottom of your bottle up 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch with the dye using warm water. Shake well. Make sure you wear a mask and don't breath in the dye dust. If using the x-tra large bottles fill up to one inch of the dye in the bottom of the container. HAVE FUN!!

The iron on material is a heat transfer that you mirror the image on your machine I buy the heat transfer from VINYL VILLAGE.

Here is the link to Mario's homepage

Vinyl Village

Note the cool awesome paper towels.  Mrs. Walker is having fun! Thanks again for purchasing these wonderful t's for the K class! YOU ROCK! Once you put the dye on allow the shirts to sit in a Ziploc baggie for at LEAST 24 hours I usually allow them to sit longer and I put them in the sun in the bags this helps to the dye to penetrate even more because it is warm. After the shirts have sit in the bags for at least the 24 hours remove using rubber gloves squeeze the dye out under running warm water. Rinse until the water runs clear, then hang out on the line to dry. This also helps for penetration of the dye. It allows the dye to "BAKE" in out in sun. Once dry you can now wash them in the washer, if you have various colors like a black and a red, don't wash together keep those separate. The dyes might fade together keep like colors together. If all the shirts are the same with the colors like seen here in the pic on the line wash together in COLD water. This will set the dyes. Hang to dry or dry in the dryer. You can now use the fabric softener and/or dryer sheets. Ta Da...... now you have beautiful tie dye shirts.   

Tie Dye shirts on the line

The finished shirts for 40 students and teachers.

While at the camper the Memorial Day weekend we all tie dyed shirts and socks.

Dusty and Cooper using the Royal Blue dye at the camper

Here is a spiral tie note those paper towels underneath

Here is the finished tie dye socks

I found these at Roses which were like 97% cotton o that made it perfect to tie dye them! These are for the girls. They are BRIGHT!

Here is one finished shirt. I ironed on the zoo crew with a machine that I bought from Amazon from Fancier well we got like 10 shirts done and the machine quit working well the company gladly sent us a new circuit board. We now have a new machine. Thanks Amazon as always you ROCK!

Now some pics of the Virginia ZOO

 Dusty telling the children about the zoo. He is an expert!!! LOL! We have gone so many times, Bruce calls him our tour guide. He even gets "mustard" on his chicken nuggets at the zoo cafe' because that is what we did one time. I think it is so funny! Don't deviate from the original first visit!

The kids look soooo adorable in their shirts.

Cooper gets off the bus with Mrs. Walker!!! We love Mrs. Walker she is such a super person! ALWAYS Helps in any way possible!!

Dusty thinking should I really go with the principal???? Who also went with us on the trip.

Cooper and Daddy at the Virginia Zoo

Always trying to be creative LOL!

While we were waiting for the bus.

Lots of beautiful geese at the zoo. Of course the boys wanted to chase them. The geese were like yeah I don't think so! LOL!

We JUST had to get a drink according to the world of Dusty...and Cooper! So off to the gift shop we went they sell drink inside the shop when you come in the zoo. The PSE Brushes are Rhonna Farrer

at Rhonna Designs.

Shortly after it was off for Dippin' Dots YUM!!!

Cooper loves the Dippin' Dots!!

This has to be the most photographed spot at the zoo!! LOL!

The boys run every time to get on the Rhino and pose for pics!

The spider web rope is always so much fun!!!

Cooper starts to complain "I'M HOT"

Of course the REPTILES the boys love!!! They are so fascinated with spiders, and snakes!!! ALWAYS!

Dusty didn't want Cooper in his photo!

 How clever is this it explains the "OLD ZOO STYLE" versus today's much more Happy animals ZOO. Here the children all enjoyed climbing the old cage. They even tried to close the door, which does not close!!! LOL!

How cute is this sign???!! Perfect! "WARNING" Homo Sapiens Caution!

Dusty found a family of Geese when we were by the monkeys. How sweet!

OF COURSE!!! Yep that's my kid! I didn't see it and then I did after the pic was taken, haha! SO I thought yep a perfect pic!

The kids all had lunch over in the playground area and enjoyed some play time at the park.

It was yet again another wonderful day at the Virginia Zoo.

Thanks Kindergarten teachers for taking us!!!

On our way home we all stopped and got a 7-11 Slurpee, I got the Sugar-free Sprite and the boys got the Watermelon Wallop. #awesummer

Thanks so much all your support and I hope that this little word tutorial on tie dye helps anyone looking to make tie dyes this summer!

Cyber Hugs, Dawn Gallop

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