Back on Canadian soil...

It was wonderful seeing old friends in Ireland and the wedding was great - loud and raucous as could be expected, in the middle of Storm Jorge, which hadn't been expected. The wind was unbelievably high, making the rain fall sideways for a time but, they do say rain on a wedding day is good luck. As such, I'm sure the happy couple will be together for eternity, given the type of day it was. Then, the day before flying home, we got to see the one-week old baby boy of our young friends, Maria and Sean. The little guy is absolutely gorgeous. I forgot how tiny new born babies are!

It was a long trip home, leaving Dublin Tuesday at 11:30 a.m. Ireland time and finally arriving at our home at 3 a.m. Wednesday, New Brunswick time (7:00 a.m. Ireland time) having a 3.5 hour drive from the Halifax airport. We slept until almost noon then, when I checked for messages I found one from my SIL letting me know my uncle (the last one!) had passed away Tuesday night. So, I hit the road for Prince Edward Island early on Thursday for another 3 hour drive. I stayed around for a little while after the funeral then took another 3 hour drive back home to New Brunswick. Tomorrow I have a 3 hour drive to Bathurst to pick up a display for the Irish Association before taking the 3 hour drive back. I should become a professional driver! For the rest of the week I think I am just going to sleep - and do minis of course!!

Speaking of which - not much to show you since my last post since I have been away but, I had mentioned how much I was praying for an early spring. So, I thought I would take a peek through Pinterest to see what spring-related things might show up. One of the real-life trends I have always liked was farmhouse-style signage used to decorate a front porch. So, I decided to make mini ones.

I started by drawing out what was in my mind, then gathering together some Popsicle sticks and lettering I purchased at Dollarama.

After cutting the sticks to size and gluing back cross members to them, I painted them burnt sienna and I painted the letters in a cream colour.

Once the dark brown colour had dried, I covered them with an ordinary white school glue and immediately covered that with a peacock blue colour acrylic paint. After a few minutes the cracking began to show up. I left them to dry overnight to achieve maximum "crackling". Next, I sanded the edges then dry-brushed them with white to age them a little further.

I wanted to add a couple of tiny details to the sign so I glued some small green leaves to the letter "I" and I fashioned a wee tulip out of the pieces from the plastic leaves. The centre portion of the leaves reminded me of a tulip bud that had not yet opened so I painted them yellow and glued it, along with two longer leaves, to the signs.

Then I glued the letters and decorations to the boards, used a fine black Sharpie pen to write "Welcome" across the top. So, I now have four "Welcome Spring" signs just waiting for front porches to lean them against. They make me feel like spring may be a little bit closer.

On a last note, I was sorting through a box of books that we intended to get rid of and I found this one. I forgot I had planned on throwing this out - okay, truth be told, I forgot I had it in the first place. It had the instructions for knitting real-life-sized patterned sweaters but I couldn't help but wonder if I could adapt the patterns to mini sweaters. Mini knitting is a skill I have always wantd to try my hand at. Perhaps this book will inspire me to start - - - after I finish all those projects I said I was going to complete, of course! *smile*

So, I will try to keep myself on track. You all know how difficult it is for me. TTFN!! - Marilyn