Autumn Bliss Week: Friday

Spectacular fall foliage displays are in evidence in certain parts of the U.S. now. I was thinking about that and wishing I could see this marvelous display of nature. Since I can’t and silk autumnal leaves are just not giving me my foliage fix, a simple little project this morning helped me enjoy my own little celebration.

I chose five different leaf-themed photos from my husband’s stash and affixed each one to the front of a blank greeting card from my supply stash with archival glue. After they were all ready, I simply tied a ribbon around each set and called it a done deal. My plan is to use them as hostess gifts for some dinner parties we have to attend over the next couple of weeks.

Beautiful photos are already beginning to populate various blogs depicting the changes in nature people are experiencing where they live. What a great opportunity to enjoy a virtual fall foliage trip over the next few weeks.

Autumn Bliss Week: Thursday

One of the old Victoria magazine’s beloved themes for September was “finding the quiet center of one’s life.” An afternoon with Jane Austen seems a good way to find that quiet center.

I’ve pulled my blinds shut, turned on the lamp, and am pretending it isn’t 99 degrees outside. Instead, I’m imagining a cool crispness in the air and envisioning rich red and golden leaves wafting about in the breeze as though they have someplace to go but aren’t in too big a hurry to get there.

A Cup of Fragrant Tea



Numerous tea blend recipes can be found almost anywhere. Here is the recipe for the herbal concoction I'm enjoying today.

Autumn Afternoon Tea

• ½ teaspoon dried rosemary leaves
• ½ teaspoon dried lavender flowers
• ½ teaspoon dried mint leaves
• A pinch dried chamomile
• ½ teaspoon dried rose petals
• 1 clove

Place mixture in a tea infuser and add to 6 ounces of hot water. Steep for 5 minutes and there you go. The Jane Austen Centre provides a brief tutorial on preparing the perfect cup of tea.

An Engaging Book

Today I’m reading Becoming Jane Austen, a biography by Jon Spence. Jane lived a rather circumscribed life which makes me curious as to how she created the worlds we’ve enjoyed in her books. This biography makes a number of insightful connections that help me understand more about her life.

At Home With Jane Austen

I enjoy doing theme things; it imbues such a richly-textured layer to any endeavor. As such, an appropriate bit of needlework is required for today’s bliss. I’ve chosen At Home With Jane Austen: A Sampler. It’s a work in progress. I’m not hurrying my way through it because sometimes you just have to relish the process and not rush things.

You can purchase the chart at The Sampler Girl. She is offering a free “Tea With Jane” chart and a giveaway contest so hurry over before you miss it.

I hope you find the quiet center of your life today.

Autumn Bliss Week: Wednesday

Trying new things is part and parcel of crafting your bliss. I thought I should learn how to paint gourds as a fun project for Autumn Bliss Week.

First find a clean dry gourd at your local craft store or farm (dried gourds ready for artwork may also be found on eBay).

I had a gourd in my stash from some well-intended shopping trip about 4 years ago. Took me long enough to get around to this project, huh? I’m going to count it as one of my “Finish What You Have” efforts as sponsored on the Turkey Feathers blog.

If you have a garden, you could grow and dry your own but I don’t. There are beautiful pictures of home-grown gourds at Homespun Living.

Once you have your gourd, wipe it off to remove any residual dust from the drying process. If there are any rough spots, you can very lightly sand over it with a fine-grain bit of sanding paper. Otherwise, the gourd is ready to paint.

Dream up an idea, trace a page from a coloring book, draw swirls, circles, or whatever makes you happy. Take into consideration the shape of your gourd. Some gourds are short and squat while some are tall and lean—kind of reminds me of Jack Spratt and his wife in the nursery rhyme.

Draw the design free hand or trace using graphite paper. I chose a southwestern turtle design.



I selected metallic acrylic paints because the colors glow and used a paintbrush designed for working with fast-drying acrylic paints. The painting process itself was fun and rather relaxing. Once dry (which doesn’t take long at all), I sprayed it with a clear acrylic sealer. You can also rub a bit of stain all over your gourd to give it an antiqued look before sealing it.

The turtle looked lonely to me so I dug out a hunk of that fuzzy string stuff for which I cannot remember the name and tied a big chunk of it on the stem of my gourd. Yep, that helped—a bit of dimensional texture against the smooth skin of the gourd.

I love my happy autumn turtle!

Resources

Decorating Gourds: Carving, Burning, Painting by Sue Waters



Gourd Fun for Everyone by Sammie Crawford

Autumn Bliss Week: Tuesday

My Autumn Bliss note for today is my pleasure in a freshly-cleaned house. My heavy-duty fall cleaning is always scheduled for September because everything comes down on Oct. 1 for the Halloween decorations—no room is safe in my house from Halloween.

I strongly believe in trying to make something special out of something tedious. My fall cleaning checklist is a monster so I decided I needed a little something to give me pleasure as I clean. And so it was that my cleaning apron, cloth, and headband were created.

Here is the cleaning cloth I made—one side is the same floral fabric as my apron and the other is a wonderfully-soft cloth I found in the car cleaning section at Target. The loop is so that you can hang it from the button sewn on one of the two apron pockets. I sewed my logo on both the apron and cleaning cloth—but maybe I’m overdoing that a bit. Sometimes I don’t know when to quit.

All three patterns and instructions came from Romantic Home Sewing: Cottage-Style Projects to Stitch for the Home by Christina Strutt.

Natural Cleaning Products

Some of you know from my Flickr photos that I make all my own cleaning products. Here is a sample cleaning recipe I use. It’s super easy, inexpensive, and works beautifully.

Lemony Furniture Polish

• 1 cup olive oil (you can also use jojoba oil)
• ½ cup lemon juice

Mix the ingredients and you have furniture polish. Dab a soft rag with the solution and give love to your wood surfaces. Store indefinitely.

Loving Home

In my mind, home is a place of love—a sanctuary of the heart as well as the physical. When we clean, we perform an act of love for the place that shelters us. Cleaning is not fun per se, but approaching it with a little bit of romance makes the job much more pleasant for me.

Patriot Day and Doing Good Deeds

The U.S. Congress and President Bush have declared September 11 of each year as “Patriot’s Day” to honor those who lost their lives on that day of terrible infamy in 2001. Today, the American flag flies at half-staff in their memory.



In today’s annual 9/11 statement, President Bush asks us to volunteer for helping others. I think this is fitting when we remember all the emergency service personnel and others who risked or gave their lives during the infamous 9/11 events and continue to do so today. I am grateful for these caring people and my heart also goes out to their families who worry whether their loved one will come home today.

There is an excellent article in today’s Christian Science Monitor about President Bush’s call for volunteers and how we may use this day for doing good deeds. I have made a personal plan of some things I will do not only today but as part of my life.

Whether American or not—any good deed is a blessing. It doesn’t change what happened but it’s a tiny step forward to peace in the world—some may say this is idealistic but doing nothing solves nothing.

I mourned then and do so today at the needless deaths of so many and the tomorrows that will never come for them

Make today matter for you and your family, and for the world.

Autumn Bliss Week: Monday

Autumn Bliss Week starts today as hosted by Clarice at her Storybook Woods blog. My autumnal contribution today is a simple acorn project.

Acorn Harvest Project

Acorns represent good luck and the reminder that great things start small. It’s perfectly suited for the arrival of autumn—a time to reap our harvests, be it literally or figuratively.

We cannot find fat juicy acorns here in Tucson; a totally different kind of oak tree grows here. So, my friend Donna in North Carolina and her grandson Jake gathered a bag of traditional acorns and mailed them to me.

When using acorns in crafts, you must prepare them first to avoid mold and little wormy surprises later. Carefully pop off the little caps and gently wipe each acorn with a soft cloth. Place in the freezer for about 48 hours which resolves the worm issue. Then bake the acorns in the oven on a baking sheet at 250 degrees for about an hour—this prevents mold.

After they cool, take a clean cloth and rub each nut with furniture polish until it shines. Then glue the cap back on and craft away to your heart’s content.

I hope your Monday is full of Autumn Bliss!

Blessings Friday

It’s important to me to be always mindful of the many blessings I receive. When planning my new blog, I decided Fridays would be dedicated to this. Fiona at Dragonfly-Crafts has joined me and you are welcome, too.

Here are just a few of my blessings this week.

Comments Left at Junie Moon

Thank you to everyone who visits and leaves me a note. If an email link is included, I’m making every effort to send a thank you. For those without the link (depends on how your account is set up and what contact info you’ve mandated), please know I’m grateful.

Seasonal Delights

The owners gave me permission to use their photo.

I first learned about this from Clarice at Storybook Woods. Seasonal Delights is a new online magazine with gracious ideas that live up to its name. You can subscribe for one year free during September—two blessings in one.

Butterflies

Yesterday I was gifted with the sight of a gorgeous adult Tiger Swallowtail flitting about my backyard. It was awesome. Unfortunately I did not get a picture but for amazing photos of a butterfly that just emerged from its cocoon, visit Wren Cottage’s Flickr.

Celestial Celebrations

At the beginning of each month, I download the free sky calendar offered by Skymaps and post it on my fridge door. The calendar provides a guide to celestial happenings and when to view them. There are separate maps for the Northern and Southern hemispheres.

Tucson’s low humidity as a result of minimal cloud cover facilitates a remarkable clarity of skies at night. Our Dark Sky ordinances reduce glare and light pollution so nights here are much darker than most cities.

Standing outside under a canopy of stars and watching the night sky awes me. It’s a reminder that although we are essentially tiny little microcosms in the overall scheme of things, we are each a vital stitch in the fabric of the universe—how life affirming!

What are your blessings this week?