A Different Project this Time

I love needlework.  I love knitting.  I love doing creative things with my hands and my brain.  A few years ago, I discovered something else to love:  paper.  Not just the kind with black printing in it that lines my bookshelves, with fancy covers and ideas and lives that take you somewhere else, but fancy paper.  Like the stuff that has bright colors and triggers the imagination.

It started a few years back with a visit to Binders Art Supplies in Buckhead.  We were in the neighborhood running errands and seeing the old Disco Kroger (yes, it's still called that!) and we stopped in Binders.  Oh, did my heart stop when I saw all the bits of paper and cool stationery they had for sale.  I'm a sucker for writing letters; there's nothing like sitting down at my grandfather's accounting desk, with the tilted top and the old cherry wood and the scarred leather top, and just putting pen to paper and telling someone what's been going on in your life.  Or asking about theirs.  It slows one's thoughts and organizes them differently, and there's the added bonus of someday receiving a letter in return.  Where the writer tells you all about their life and asks you about yours.  It's an art that is too often neglected.

But I digress.

This visit to Binders then led me to a new-ish store called The Paper Source and I was hooked.  Totally, completely, hooked.  I took a class on how to make paper flowers.  They're a bit tacky, quite fun, and just the thing to dress up a dark corner of my desk.  And I get to play with paper and sharp scissors and glue.

I kept wondering how I could dream up a project where I could play some more.  And then I happened upon it:  a photo album!  I could make my own photo album!  With my own photos!  I have an account at one of these on-line places, where you log on and they tell you all about their specials (like, every day of the week specials), but you can also send them some photos you've taken on your electronic camera and they'll process them for you, just like the old days.  You can determine the size, what kind of edging, and how many prints of each.

Voila!  A project.

You see, we had an old dog.  His name was Dave.  After I closed my shop, his arthritis began to get very, very noticeable.  He was having trouble standing up.  He wanted to be with his people, but our walks were getting shorter and shorter.  He couldn't sleep in with us on the weekends, and life was just getting pretty tough for him.  We often visit some relatives in Springfield, IL, and that year we took Dave with us for a visit.  And we happened to stop at a National Recreation Area called Land Between the Lakes in Kentucky and had an amazing experience.  And we took pictures.  And we visited a Ranger Station that had ambassador animals (those that can't be re-released into the wild) as well as some Red Wolves.  These beautiful animals have been hunted almost to extinction, thus throwing the balance of prey-predator way out of whack.  This Ranger Station is doing a lot to re-introduce these wolves back to where they belong and we were thrilled to be able to see them.  They're quite small; no way they're going after a 2,000 pound beef steer.  Or a calf.  Mama cow would not be pleased and is way too vigilant for that kind of hanky-panky.

So here was the perfect project:  photos for a photo album, plus the do-it-yourself photo album, plus tons of pretty paper to cover the photo album itself (instructions are included, thank goodness!), plus a variety of pens and some incidental paper to tell the story of Dave, and us, and the animals and plants we saw at LBL.  And it took a few months to put the photo album together (no cats and glue on the same desk, please), then a few more weekend afternoons to create what I wanted to say on a page and what paper or pen I wanted to use.

It was a lot of fun, I already have a new project purchased (a decorated shoe box for the many cat toys.  With cat paper), and there will be more in the new year.

Here are the photos of the photo album to share:

This is the front cover.  I wanted some autumnal color and nature imagery to set the tone.  

The album is bound with linen tape (comes with the album) and attaching screws (also comes with the album), and this was the part of the assembly process where I followed the instructions exactly.  Not that I usually don't . .

 This is the inside front cover.  Also autumnal in coloring, and a very fine silk paper with the lines.

The pages of the photo album are black, very thick, and just begging for some decorative writing.  So a gold shiny pen was the answer to this portion of the album.

This is a picture of one of the ambassador animals.  It's an albino stag.  Pretty magnificent, eh?  He has a huge rack and was just peacefully watching the world go by.  

The papers were just pages from a book of papers The Paper Source had, and they made a great autumnal background for the pictures.  And you can tear them and write captions on them for your photos.

This is the Eastern Red Wolf.  

Though you can't see from the picture, its snout is smaller than that of a coyote, and definitely smaller than that of the larger Grey Wolf.  They're very delicate animals.  They do not pose a threat and I think that those who decided on the "predator control programs" are in a very dark place being roasted over nasty dark pits.  But that's just my opinion.

Here's a shot of the lake itself.  Yes, the water was really that blue.

It's a man-made lake that was created during the Great Depression by the CCC, and the central part is now the National Recreation Area.  It has 60 miles of camping, astronomy, and re-created 19th Century farms.  It's worth a weekend to visit.  It really is.   Have a great and restful time these next two weeks, and see you in the New Year!

A Peaceful New Year

Yes, there is something about this time of the year. All the hectic Christmas knitting is done (thank you, Atlanta-area Shop Hop!), the packages are mailed, the kinfolk have visited and been visited by, and the overindulgence is finally over. Having had no traffic to drive through to and from work has kept me re-juvenated, too. It's just that time of the year when there's a little extra energy to spend on projects.

Like blogging.

I really, really enjoy blogging. I enjoy planning what stitched/knitted pieces I'm going to write about, taking picture of them, composing a draft blog in my brain whilst I assemble the pieces for picture-taking, and all of the writing I seem to do once I log onto my NNW blog. And I really, really appreciate how y'all are reading these postings and seem to be enjoying them in your leisure time.

So why haven't I posted in a while? Well, September was a busy month, then came October, and all the while I've been seeing my two-week temp assignment become extended and more involved. Which is fantastic - I'm working in areas that I had considered as possible job options while I was in the process of closing the shop, and am working with a terrific bunch of folks. It's interesting, too, to be in the position again of being an employee after so many years of being the employer; I really think I've gained insight into what an employer really expects and how best to do a task that is asked of me.

To bring everyone up to date, after my blog posting in September, Webmaster Bill decided that I needed to have a happy birthday celebration on Tybee Island, so we spent a long weekend down there in a hotel on the beach. I was really impressed with a small wildlife museum that was close by, and all the work they're doing to keep the sea turtle populations healthy and thriving. When we were there, in late September, 10 of the 11 nests had hatched and they were just waiting for the last one to hatch in the next week or so. Yay! Baby sea turtles! They had a couple in salt water tanks in the museum, and they are really so cute and so tiny! It's hard to believe they grow up to be so huge.

Then October I spent learning about wildlife rehabilitation. You see, there was this explosion in the Gulf of Mexico last April . . . oh wait, you already knew about that, right? Of course you do! So I wanted to help save everything, like I usually do, and I went on the website that spring for the Audobon Society to see when they needed me to come down and save brown pelicans and dolphins and everything else that was covered in oil. So I filled out their on-line volunteer form and it asked questions like, "Can you type?" (of course I can type - 120 wpm was my top speed, thank you very much) and "Can you answer phones?" (well, yes) and "Can you file?" (oh, if you could only see me file!). But then at the bottom was a question "Do you have wildlife rehabilitation experience?" and I thought, 'Well, no, but I could get some.' On-line again I found an organization that teaches folks to be wildlife rehabilitators or updates the skills and knowledge of current rehabbers. They have classes all over the US and Canada and some even in Brazil and they were scheduling one for Knoxville over Halloween weekend. Did I let a few invites to a few Halloween parties stop me in my quest to save all wild animals? Oh my, no.

Learning about wildlife rehabilitation was an amazing experience. I read the book, remembered all my basic anatomy courses and cell stuff, re-learned how to do fractions and use a calculator (after all, how much calcium do you feed a growing owl that weighs x lbs. and calcium comes in mg tablets?) after all these years, and it all came back with a loud *wumph.* I took a long weekend and drove up to Knoxville in the late fall (yes, it was a beautiful trip), found my hotel thanks to Mapquest, found a local brewpub for the weekend evenings, and just really learned a new skill. Will I use it immediately? Well, no, but I did find a place near me that has opportunities when I want to take them to assist with the myriad of tasks that must crop up when rehabilitating wildlife, and will take some time this winter to stay in touch with them.

Oh, and before I forget it, here's the link to the organization I took the course from: it's called International Wildlife Rehabilitation Council and their website is here: theiwrc.org. Talk about a dedicated, amazing group of people; I'm glad I could be a part of their lives and carry what I know back into the world with me.

November and December were Christmas knitting months for all the great-nieces and -nephews. No, I didn't take pictures; I didn't want to post and then ruin the surprise. And I was too overjoyed to finish all of them (well, almost all!) in time for shipping before Christmas. I have asked some of the recipients to allow me to post their baby sweater pictures, though, so we'll see if there are baby sweater pictures in the next few months! Several that I did make were by Roo Designs; their designs are adorable, very versatile, and put fun animals on the front (which means intarsia which also means yarn ends. I really, really dislike weaving in yarn ends.). Their website it here: Roo Designs.com, and while Sheepish doesn't carry them at the moment, you can probably ask them to order you a few, just to try. I'll warn you, though - they're addictive!

OK, well, here we are . . . at the end of a pretty long blog post (again!). Thank you all for reading down this far, and I hope you all have a happy and prosperous New Year!