Essss

S is for smiling summer sisters, sloppy silver sweatpants / sky blue sweatshirt, sentimental scrapbooks, sweet scented soap, and San Francisco sourdough!

Posted for Tina’s challenge.

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©️2021 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

February Love Me 6

Let’s celebrate the month of lurve by posting one thing we love every day throughout February. Today I’m loving my new hobby of painting!

Have a great day, everyone! ❤️😻🥰

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©️2021 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

Acrylic Smile

Octopus Garden

My smile for this week is about painting. I’m loving my hobby and did two new pictures over the holidays. The above was supposed to be wildflowers, but I did my purples too low and the whole thing looks like half of an octopus. The turquoise I mixed is so pretty though, isn’t it? No more spatter-paintings! That stuff gets everywhere. 🥴

Next, here’s a meadow under fluffy clouds, except I blended my sponges too much and my clouds don’t look distinctive. Sad. This one didn’t use brushes… sponges and Qtips! I’m happy with the field of flowers. 🌼🌸🌺

Fluffy Fields

More artsies soon. 😍

©️2021 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

Christmas Challenge 10

Yeah, I’ve missed a few. Oh well. Thank you Sandmanjazz for hosting this challenge. 🎄

Now, regarding wrapping paper… I love to wrap gifts! Love fun, fancy papers, ribbons, bows, the whole bit. I also love gift bags stuffed with pretty tissue paper, the prezzies hiding within. Here are some gifts I’ll be distributing Sunday. The bags are for the grands (one each) and the wrapped gift is for my daughter and SIL. The grownups get one gift for two people and the kids get a zillion gifts each. That’s how we do! 😂😍❤️

Involved kitty is involved. 🐈‍⬛

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©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

Truthful Tuesday Hobbies

Rainbow Tree

PCGuyIV continues his weekly prompt series by asking us today: With the exception of blogging (assuming it’s a hobby and not your profession), do you have any unique hobbies or pastimes?

I did the above painting at my daughter’s house over Thanksgiving and I’m really pleased with it! I’ve painted before, but this is the first project I’m proud of. I did some at painting events over the past few years, but those are a bit rushed for me. When we do them at home, we can pause the video and take our time. Plus, I like to choose the easy designs to follow since I am not that artistic. Diane is super talented, so she can do the more difficult ones. I enjoyed this so much that she bought the supplies for me, and now I can do more by myself! 😍

The best painting videos are produced by the Art Sherpa on YouTube, in case anyone is interested. 🎨

I’ve dabbled with other creative hobbies in the past, such as designing my own crewel and needlepoint pictures, beadwork, tee shirt painting, cake decorating, etc. None of those hold much appeal for me now. Partly it’s due to my eyes getting so tired/itchy, and partly it’s due to slight arthritis in my hands. But these small painting projects work great for me! ❤️

The above beauty is one Diane did. I may try a similar project soon.

By the way, I don’t consider writing to be a hobby. First, it’s more of an obsession, like breathing; and second, I hope to make money at it. The good news is I’ve already made a whopping ten cents from my poetry on Medium. Woohoo!💰

PS: My rainbow tree painting also counts as my Weekly Smile. 🙂

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©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

I Was Framed

I used to have a big house with lots of walls. That worked out well because I was always doing needlework pictures and I liked to frame them. Unlike a photo or flat poster, a lumpy cloth design can’t just be plopped into a ready-made frame from Target. There is a chain of DIY framing places called The Great Frame Up, and that’s where I used to go. These places are awesome, although not cheap, and have experts who help you choose mats and frames for your art. Then when the supplies are ready, you return and put everything together ~ they will help as much as you need.

But since my flurry of framing days, I’ve downsized several times and have had to get rid of lots of my pictures. I’ve kept my favorites and it makes me happy to look at them. Luckily, I’m no longer interested in doing needlework, so there won’t be sad projects languishing frameless in closets. I did attempt to restart my old hobby a few times, but this was one of the rare areas in which I have changed. I simply don’t enjoy stitchery now; it’s tedious and boring. I’d much rather read or write, or even chill and watch a movie without distraction.

Oddly, doing this particular repetitive task makes me more anxious now, not less. Used to be the opposite and zoning out with a pile of yarn was relaxing. It’s probably the internet ~ if the internet disappeared and I couldn’t keep checking it or ever think about all the news and blogs and stuff out there, I could shrink my focus down to a 14×14″ square of fabric night after night until a magical scene appeared.

But there would still remain the cost of framing.

Good Eggtentions [275 words]

This innocuous box of colorfully dyed eggs reminds me of all the money I’ve wasted on crafts that didn’t happen over the years. And even if they’d materialized, I’m not sure that the money would have been well-spent, but at least I’d then have had the satisfaction of a completed task.

I began a “tee shirt business” in the 1990s that never took off, partly because I developed carpal tunnel in my hand from painting all day, and partly because… what, really? I was paying retail price for all my supplies and just dabbling. How was this ever going to be profitable? 🙄

Then, because I received compliments over some adorable cakes I created, I thought, well, I could go into the cake decorating biz, but… see the tee shirt paragraph. 🤪

After that, I decided crafts would be back to hobbies only, yada. But I still have to be careful. I got carried away buying yarn a few times after crocheting for five minutes. Naturally, the projects were left untouched in my closet. (I did complete my knitted scarf however, hurrah!) The girls and I made bead necklaces up north once, and it was a struggle for me not to run out and begin a bead “thing.” Beads! Fun! 😀

Just typing that makes me want to do beady beady beads.

Mostly though, the rainbow eggs remind me of Beanie Baby days. Yes, I was one of those crazy people. At a certain point, there was a trend to buy multiple white Halo (angel) bears and dye them different colors in pots on your stove. I did this.

Why? I don’t know. 😳

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THW Prompt ~ May 9

Yarn [flash 172]

Sterling Q. Posh IV waited next to the fish tank at the library for his date. Her name was Skye Raine and he didn’t think they were a match, but the dating site had given them a score of 99.9, and Sterling didn’t argue with numbers. Oh, here she was… finally.

“Hi!” Skye said. “Have you been waiting long? Ooh, hello fishies!”

“Twenty-three minutes,” Sterling said. “I like your poncho. It’s quite… colorful.”

“Thanks!” She twirled around so he could see the poncho in its full glory. “I made it myself. Some of the stitches on this were difficult, but I was very tenacious.”

“May I be forthright?” Sterling asked.

“Of course.”

He leaned in close and whispered. “I also enjoy crocheting. And knitting too. In fact, there’s nothing better than an evening in with a bowl of buttered noodles, a detective show on TV, and my basket of yarn. Except of course someone to share those pleasures with.”

Skye clapped her hands with glee. “Me too! This must be fate!”

White Elephant 🐘

The lovely Sadje has tagged me in the fun White Elephant game begun by The Haunted Wordsmith.

Sadje has given me this wonderful prezzie:

“A big bookshelf for Paula as she is a great writer and would need to store her growing collection of books here.”

Awwww! Thank you, Sadje! 😀❤️ I am going to need this. Not only is my next poetry collection almost finished, but I am stoked about finishing NaNoWriMo this year and hope to have Ghosted on the shelves by the end of 2019. I also have other WIPs to complete after that ~ no shortage of ideas here!

Anyway, onto my (imaginary) gifts for other bloggers.

To Pensitivity I give tickets for a luxurious cruise for two plus Maggie on the barking friendly ocean liner Queen Mary. I think they could all use a sweet vacay!

2. To Laura I give a month of gluten-free meals, so she can take a break from cooking.

3. To Michelle I give a yarn shopping spree, wheeeeee!

Recipients, please gift three more bloggers to keep the White Elephant game going ~ and use Teresa’s THWWE tag so she can find you! 😀🐘🎁

Eleven, Fandango Style

Fandango received an award and told everyone to play along. So bossy!

1. If you had to choose to be on a reality show, which one would it be?

– I hatessss them, unless game shows count. If they do, then I might like to embarrass myself on Jeopardy or Wheel of Fortune.

2. If you could change your name, what would it be?

– Fandango. 😂😂😂 Actually, I’ve been thinking about this cuz I kept my married name post-divorce so I could have the same name as my children, but now they’ve gone and changed theirs. I’m stuck with a name of peeps I never see. I don’t wanna change it back to the original cuz I don’t know any of my own peeps either. Maybe I’ll just pick a new name out of a hat. NOT THAT HAT! 😱😱😱

3. How long have you been blogging?

– I began this blog in March 2011, but it had many lulls. I’ve had other blogs, all inactive or offline now except for my private diary blog that I’m using for NaNoWriMo entries (almost at 50K!).

4. How frequently do you blog?

– Lately 1-3 poasts per day. I’m surprised I haven’t received one of those woohoo 🎉 notices yet about 💯 days in a row.

5. Share the link to a favorite post of yours, why is this your favorite?

– The Duke vs. the Secretary. This is a fun poast with many views and comments.

6. Do you check your stats for the countries that have ‘visited’ your blog?

– Rarely.

7. Which countries are you missing from your WordPress globe and would really like to see filled in on your map?

– Don’t know, don’t care. I’m just happy there are a few things I don’t obsess over, and this blog stat crap falls neatly into that category.

8. Are you a ‘crafty’ person? (knit, sew, paint, macrame … ?)

– I used to sew, knit, embroider, do needlepoint, crewel, etc. A long time ago I began a tee shirt painting biz, but it was too stressful on my wrist. Love beading (costly tho). Have over a dozen scrapbooks. But I find my old eyes get a bit tired and irritated for this type of work lately. I have many unfinished projects. 🙁

9. Assuming that you celebrate, do you shop in advance for Christmas or do you leave everything to the last minute?

– I don’t celebrate as such. I enjoy lighting candles for Chanukah and I exchange small gifts with my immediate family that are usually purchased pretty far in advance. That’s it. No “Jewish Christmas” here.

10. Do you participate in sports?

– Blech.

11. Are you a sweet or savory person?

– I eat sugar until I barf, and then I switch to pizza for one meal. Then back to sugar. This is how I maintain my slim figure and stellar health. I should write a book…