It's been a while...

It's hard to believe it's been over a year since I last posted. I am working on getting a degree and just left a full time job...so I could continue working on my degree...so I've been rather busy.

The job I had was in Maintenance at a retirement community here in town and there is a lot of things that need to be done before the place opens at 6am. I had to be at work at 4 in the morning. Ugh!

Anyway, landscaping was part of my job. I love working with plants, even in the 115 degree F temperatures. I had the opportunity to bring home old broken locks, branches, the end rolls of paper towels from paper towel dispensers and other odds and ends. One of the things I really love is the branches. I have always found tree rings fascinating. As we trimmed a carob tree the interesting patterning of the bark really caught my attention. I've yet to figure out what to do with it but it's pretty cool looking.

I've been working on jewelry made from the carob branches, as well as a few citrus branches from trees we trimmed in our back yard. I have them listed at my Etsy shop. I've got a branch from a Mesquite tree that I'd like to work on, too.

That's my life in a nutshell at the moment. =)

Yummy Brownies!!!

I decided to make a batch of the Delicious Healthy Brownies found at Spork or Foon's Blog. The only thing I changed was using Sugar in the Raw (turbinado sugar) instead of white sugar. Since I hadn't made these particular brownies before I didn't know if it changed anything but they were definitely brownie consistancy.

I have to say that these brownies are amazing! They're chocolatey and moist and definitely take care of that sweet tooth!

I'm going to enjoy finding healthy recipes for "Girl's Craft Nite"!

Denim Notebook

I decided to try making one of the demin notebooks that I mentioned in my last post. I don't have any notebooks on hand so I grabbed one of my composition notebooks and came up with this...



This is made with upcycled denim. It's embellished with some yarn I had laying around and I added a pocket to hold a pencil or pen.

Here is what you need:

composition notebook, any size
fabric
embellishments
white glue
brush for glue
wax paper or plastic wrap
heavy books

Here are the steps:

1. Cut your piece of fabric large enough to cover the entire notebook with a couple of inches to spare around the edges.
2. On a flat surface, place the notebook on the fabric and trace around the edges on the right side of the fabric, top, bottom and at the binding, with a soft pencil. This will help you as you embellish to know where to line everything up.
3. Embellish
4. On a flat surface, place the notebook back on the fabric, lining everything up with the lines you traced.
5. Carefully lift the fabric from just the top of the notebook, spread the glue over the surface of the notebook and brush evenly, leaving 1/4" to 1/2" around the edges. DO NOT APPLY GLUE TO THE BINDING.
6. Smooth the fabric back over the top of the notebook.
7. Very carefully turn the notebook over and repeat steps 5 and 6.
8. Place wax paper on a flat surface, place the notebook on the wax paper then place another piece of wax paper on top of the notebook.
9. Stack your heavy books on top, trying to distribute the weight evenly.
10. Leave it to dry for 5-6 hours or overnight.
11. Carefully trim the edges of the excess fabric and apply glue all the way to the edges.
12. Place wax paper inside the front and back covers (to keep excess glue from seeping onto the pages).
13. Build your "wax paper/notebook/wax paper/books" sandwich again and give it another 5-6 hours to dry.

Things to note, when deciding on which fabric to use, think thick. The white glue will seep through anything too thin. It doesn't appear to have seeped through the denim but anything thinner might be a problem.

You'll probably want to keep your embellishments thin and relatively light weight.

We'll see how the white glue holds up, especially around the edges.



It should be handy for all kinds of note taking. =)

Girls Craft Nite

So I'm trying to get a Girls Craft Nite started up with some family members. I'd like to kind of do fun things, interesting things, upcycling, and recycling. Along with knitting, crocheting, polymer clay, and jewelry making here are some ideas that are out there on the net that I hope we can try...

Who doesn't have a pair of jeans that they just want to retire but aren't quite ready to give up?



Blue Jeans Denim Bootie Bag Purse at craftbits.com



The Green Macgyver Eco-Friendly Crafts Blue Jean Notebook at Sustainable Scribe

And a great way to hang onto those favorite t-shirts that aren't quite wearable anymore!



Fastest Recycled T-Shirt Tote Bag at Instructables

Giving plastic bags a new purpose!



Recycle Plastic Bags and Make Gift Bows at Creative Jewish Mom's Blog

And some DIY tea bags for all the lovely tea...



Home Made Tea Bags c/o Bonzai Aphrodite's Blog

Hopefully we'll be able to add some healthy snacks to the fun! Here's one I want to try first...



Healthy Brownies at Spork or Foon's Blog. They look scrumptious!

Happy Indenpendence Day, America!

In celebration of Independence Day, here are some things I love!



Betsy Ross Flag Banner

>

Independence Day Flag - Palette Knife Oil Painting



4th of July Cheesebruger and Fries 1/12 dollhouse miniature

Newest Creations

Very hot here in AZ, but it's still so wonderfully dry that its great to feel the sunshine!

The idea for these Plush Emoticons popped into my head one day when I was texting a friend!





You can click on the pictures for more information at my Etsy shop.

New Owl Bags and Lower Prices

Spring seems to finally have sprung...thankfully! I am so ready for trees to bud, flowers to bloom and bees to buzz...okay, maybe the bees can buzz from a distance!

I've just listed the following bags in my Etsy shop. I've lowered the prices of my Owl Bags and many other items in my shop!



And this one...



and an eensy beensy tiny one...



I hope you like them!

And the winner is....

-drum roll-

shopaholic221

Congratulations!!!

Chosen by random.org.

Thanks for entering everyone! I appreciate your patience with my first giveaway. =)

shopaholic221 if you could please email me at grandmajoys(dot)giveaways(at)gmail(dot)com with your postal address I will be happy to get your prize out to you!

Everyone have a great Sunday!
Joy

Tomorrow's the Big Day

Yay! I'm really excited about the drawing tomorrow! I wanted to take this time to thank everyone for your wonderfully kind words about the Owl Bag and other items in my Etsy shop. I appreciate your interest and wish you all the best of luck in the drawing tomorrow!

Joy

Two More Days!

There's only two more days before the drawing for the Brown Owl Bag! Remember, the winner will be announced after 1PM CT on Sunday, March 7th and will need to email their mailing address to me at grandmajoys (dot) giveaways (at) gmail (dot) com.

Good luck!

Building a dress

I was so excited to get a new sewing machine last week that I'm celebrating by making myself a new dress. It's been a while since I've made clothing so I'm really looking forward to it!

Unfortunately, I've lost the sleeve pattern piece. I'm hoping to be able to use the sleeve piece from a different pattern and make it fit somehow. Definitely going to try it on scrap material. =)

After playing Warcraft for most of the evening, it's time to focus on something else...like sleep. =/

One week until the drawing for the Owl Bag!!!

Nightzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Spring cleaning...

I realize it isn't spring yet but I've been kind of reorganizing and getting the house ready for my granddaughters who are moving to MO along with their support crew (Mom and Dad). The oldest is nearly 3 and the baby is 14 months. Lots of stuff going up and out of the reach of little hands.

I've started collecting toys and clothes for playing dress up. I've found some really cool instructions on making tutu's and am looking for other things that I can make or purchase. If anyone has ideas, I'd love to hear them.

I really love these!



Russian Nesting Matryoshka Doll Child Apron

Bunny Pin and my next giveaway...

While pondering the many nuances of running a successful blog giveaway...most of which seemed to have escaped me today, I looked through the blogger help section and made the changes that seemed most logical so I hope the comment issues have been permanenty fixed.

I decided it was time to do something creative and started up Jamaica Inn, a movie directed by my favorite director, Alfred Hitchcock (I found this movie while scrolling through Netflix and couldn't figure out why I'd never seen it before), grabbed my yarn and began crocheting a cutsy little bunny pin in the midst of shipwrecks, murder and mayhem. I looo-oooved the movie.

Here's the Bunny Pin...



As for my next blog giveaway (oh yeah, there will be another one so you can consider this an announcement, a warning or a pre-disaster apology). I'm thinking about doing things the old fashioned way, though, and just drawing names out of a hat. =) Just kidding.

Thanks for the interest in the giveaway and good luck!!

Unable to comment on the blog

Hi all,
I've been trying to figure out what the deal is with the comment issues and can only think it's the third party blog template I'm using. I've changed some settings to see if it fixes things. If it doesn't I'll switch to a blogger template until after the contest.

Again, if you've been unable to comment your entries, please feel free to email them to grandmajoys(dot)giveaways(at)gmail(dot)com.

One way or another we'll get you in the drawing for the Owl Bag. =)

Thanks for being so patient!

Joy

Very overwhelming response!

Hi everyone,
I really am overwhelmed (happily so) by the response to the Brown Owl Bag giveaway! I understand that there have been some problems leaving comments here and want to assure you that my blog is set to accept comments by anyone so I'm not sure what's going on there. Please keep trying, I don't want anyone to miss out on entering.

If you've been unable to comment your entries, please feel free to email them to grandmajoys(dot)giveaways(at)gmail(dot)com.

If you have previously left entry comments on Skunkboy Creatures blog announcement (thank you for your moral and bloggy support, Katie!!!) of this giveaway, never fear! I'll add those comments to the entries as well.

Hopefully everything will straighten out soon...did I mention this was my first giveaway? =)

Thank you, everyone, for your patience!

Joy

Grandma Joy's Blog Giveaway

I'm really excited about having my first giveaway! In honor of the first anniversary of my Etsy shop I'm giving away a Large Brown Owl Bag that will look similiar to this one.



Rules:

1. Follow Grandma Joy's Blog (current blog followers are automatically eligible for this step) = 1 entry

AND/OR

2. Visit Grandma Joy's Etsy shop, ~~comment below~~ about your favorite item and include a link to it = 1 entry

AND/OR

3. Tweet a link to Grandma Joy's Blog Giveaway ( http://grandmajoys.blogspot.com/2010/02/grandma-joys-blog-giveaway.html ), leave your @twittername in the ~~comments below~~ = 1 entry

The winner will be randomnly chosen by random.org by entering each name, (if you do two of the steps you'll have two entries, if you do all three you'll have three entries), your name will be entered twice) whoever is chosen to be #1 will be the winner. The drawing will be held on March 7, 2010 after 1PM CT. Once the winner is announced on Grandma Joy's Blog they will be asked to email their mailing address to grandmajoys(dot)giveaways(at)gmail(dot)com so their prize can be shipped out!

You can also contact me with questions about the giveaway at grandmajoys(dot)giveaways(at)gmail(dot)com .

Feature on Cafe Handmade

I'm really honored to be featured on Cafe Handmade. It's really an awesome website!

In the Studio with Joy Ritchie

It's not just a place for selling/advertising but a place for communicating with other crafters and artists. It's a whole community. You can set up your own profile, join groups, invite people to be your friends, Twitter can be included in your updates and you can also share your profile to a variety of networking sites. I'm still learning all the things they have there! If you haven't seen it...

Here's my Cafe Handmade Profile

I hope you go check it out! =)

Bunny Bag

I am soooooooo ready for spring! With the snow we've had it's just seemed like the longest winter. I'm not even sure if we've had more snow than avearge but it just doesn't seem to go away.

Anyway, with spring on my mind I thought I'd try making a Bunny Bag in similar fashion to the Owl Bag's I've been making. It's pretty small and would be great for a little girl, as well as someone young at heart!



White Bunny Bag



I've also listed a large Dark Brown Owl Bag. You can click on the picture to take you to it's Etsy listing.

Purple Scarves

Pics of my latest Etsy listings. I'm pretty pleased with the outcome of the Vickie Howell yarn. I've used almost every bit of it. I'm kind of sad that I didn't make something for myself but I'll keep that in mind next time I buy yarn! ;)



Purple with Black Flower Cluster Cowl



Long Purple Scarf

This is such a cool idea!!!



How to Store Seed Beads in Plastic Straws