Women, Wine, and Watercolors

Last week the Elk Rapids Women group started their 2014-15 season, celebrating 70 years of encouraging and supporting women in the community. This season they've decided to focus on hosting events that give women a chance to have a fun night out. Realizing that we are, in fact, women, Aunt Linda and I decided to join them.

The September meeting was a Paint and Pour - a night of wine and watercolors. None of us had any watercolor painting experience (no, I don't consider my middle school watercolor Super Saturday class as "experience"), but we were willing to try.

My friend Steph joined us, and she and Linda bonded over their appreciation for white wine. Everyone chatted and snacked for a while before getting down to business. Then it was all work.

We started with sample strokes (those little white squares with lines on them), then set out to paint flowers (it was supposed to be a rose...mine is a little more mum-like). Linda got right to work, painting drier, dark lines, then bleeding out the colors with some water.

Okay, it wasn't all work. We had to let our flowers dry for a bit, so we refilled our snack plates. (Notice all of the cups on the table - surprisingly only one person accidentally rinsed out her brush in her drink.)

With the flower done and the stem added, Linda went rogue and added a tulip to her paper. 

Done! As you can tell, she was really proud of her picture, and I was really proud of her. I wasn't sure if she would get frustrated or enjoy herself; I think being with a bunch of other women who didn't know what they were doing helped her feel comfortable trying something new. I'm sure it didn't hurt either that some of the ladies took advantage of the wine portion of the night, so Linda's flower looked like a Monet compared to their final projects. Definitely a good time. We're already planning on and looking forward to attending more ERW events this season.

And the crafting continues, snowman-style

A couple of years ago Matt and I bought Linda a ceramic snowman for Christmas. She never got around to painting it, but when I came home the other day she had everything out and ready to go. Problem: after two years those little tubs of paint turn into solid masses of color.

So, about week later we made it to JoAnn's and picked up so more paint. Linda found some pastel and glitter paint that she really liked. Finally, the painting commences.

Viola! A sparkling, pink-coated snowman for the winter season! That's not all, though. Linda also picked up some items to paint for Christmas presents. I'll have to wait to show you those.

Getting Festive

Linda and Matt share a passion for holiday decorations. It doesn't matter which holiday - 4th of July, Christmas, Sweetest Day - so long as they can find a decoration for it. If we can't find a decoration, we don't have a problem making our own.

Recently my sister created a fabric wreath for Halloween:

Growing Up Gabel

We don't celebrate Halloween, but I liked the idea behind the wreath: fabric and a wreath form. What could be easier? Linda and I trotted on down to Joann's to see what we could find for fall and Christmas.

My sister bought 1.25 yards each of five different fabrics for her 16" wreath form, but she had a ton of fabric left, so Linda and I hit the remnant shelf first to see what we could find. We bought five different fabrics for each wreath (a mixture of prints and solids), and we bought 12" forms.

The remnants ranged from 0.33-1.0 yards, then we purchased 0.5 yards of the other fabrics. Based on my sister's experience, I cut my material into 1" x 6.5" strips. DISCLAIMER: My sister used a rotary cutter, but she didn't tell me that. I had to use scissors, which is a MUCH longer process. However, it worked very well to measure a 13" wide section and cut that in half. I then took each 6.5" strip and continually halved it until I ended up with 1" pieces.

It took a while, but I cut strips while watching TV, so it wasn't bad. After I had everything cut, I gave the pieces to Linda and turned her loose. Her fingers would get tired and she had to take a couple of breaks, but she kept at it.

Linda tied the strips to the second ring from the outside (the third largest). When she finished, the wreath was fully covered and there was still a pile of cloth (and I hadn't even cut all of the fabric yet). I had roughly 2.25 yards of fabric for the fall wreaths, and it was enough to make two.

We haven't started the Christmas wreaths yet because we need to buy a couple more forms. She's pretty excited about making more, especially now that we know we'll be able to keep one at the house and give one away!

I'm most excited about the fact that we can make these wreaths for any occasion. As long as Joann's keeps making holiday-themed fabrics, we're in business.

Our chiropractor - Linda decided to give her second wreath to Dr. Brad of Back on Track. You can see it there this month!

Arts & Crafts in Northern Michigan

When you live in a climate that includes 4-6 months of winter, there's more to summer than just warm days. Any outdoor activities  - class reunions, weddings, fairs - get crammed into our 12-16 snowless weekends (notice I didn't say warm - just without snow).

The Elk Rapids Arts & Crafts Fair

Hands down one of my favorite summer activities is the arts and crafts fair. I'm lucky enough to live in a community that hosts one every month, May-August. Our May 25 fair was a bit chilly (notice the coats and jeans!), but the sun was out and the vendors showed up, so Linda and I grabbed our friends, Hope and Joy, then made our way downtown.

Our blacksmith friend (I forgot to get his name!)

Joy's favorite was this blacksmith. We could have stayed there all day without her complaining. It's hard to stay in once place, however, when you can smell the cinnamon roasted almonds a few booths down (because no fair is complete without some type of yummy snack food).

Only $2!!

My favorite part of the Elk Rapids art fair is the prices. I've been to dozens of other fairs over the years and spend most of my time drooling over pieces I'll never be able to afford. In Elk Rapids, the vendors sell everything from paintings worth hundreds of dollars (see below) to beautiful, hand-made dollar crafts for the kids (and modestly wealthy) to buy.

I admire this artist's work every year.

One of these days Linda and I will be rich, and we'll get to buy whatever we want at the arts and crafts fair, but for now we enjoy the window shopping and chatting with friends (not to mention finally getting outside after a long winter).

Joy with her new crown and flower.

Even if you don't enjoy buying hand-made artwork, the fair in Elk Rapids offers one of the most beautiful settings for any outdoor event. Walk two blocks past the fair and you end up at the beach; two blocks in the other direction takes you to the library. It doesn't matter which way you go - natural beauty surrounds the man-made beauty of the arts and crafts fair.

Linda and Hope leading the way.

 Best of all - it's a short walk home.

Another successful trip to the fair.