I LIKE Valentine’s Day. I’m not a fan of assorted chocolates, jewelry, fancy dinners, or roses. But I do like to make and receive cards. When it comes to art, Valentine’s Day is so much fun! Any kind of creature holding a heart is fun to draw, and red, pink, and white are cheerful colors to work with.

In the dollhouse, the gnomes have been making valentines to send to all their friends.

I think Valentine’s Day should be a day of love, whether romantic, platonic, or self-love.

Would you like a Valentine from me? If your answer is yes, please fill out my nifty Google form, and I’ll send you one! (Yes, international readers are welcome to sign up!) https://forms.gle/dd75gm5eS25fjk4S6

Let’s put love out into the world. Let’s love each other. Let’s love ourselves.

Sending you love!

I’ve been having a great time with my 365 Somethings Project (hosted by iHanna). I’m drawing in my sketchbook every day, and I love it! I’ve been very successful at drawing daily so far, and I’m even ahead at the moment, with 12 drawings in 10 days.

I’ve been less successful with my daily stretching, exercise, and water intake. But they’re on my mind, and I succeed once in a while! Maybe I’ll succeed more often as time goes on.

I got this new water bottle today. It has marked ounces (32 oz) and times of day, so maybe it’ll help. Then again, the times don’t start until 8:00, and I’m up WAY before that, so it might just be annoying. Well, I’ll report back next week.

What do you think about this water bottle? Would it annoy you or motivate you?

I hope you have a great week!

I’m starting 2025 with this beautiful Sprouted planner from Elisabeth at Optimistic Musings of a Pessimist! I won her blog giveaway in November, and she jumped through some hoops to get the planner delivered to me despite the postal strike in Canada. Thank you, Elisabeth! I really appreciate your extra effort, and I love the planner!

Some of my intentions for 2025 are:
The Make 365 Somethings project, hosted by iHanna. (365 doodles in my sketchbook)
Try more of the Spoonflower fabric design challenges.
Sew more! Dolls, bags, wall hangings, coasters, etc.
Drink more water! This never used to be a problem for me, but last year, I found myself dehydrated way too often.
Meditation, breathing, gentle exercise, and stretching
Less screen time
More sleep

I’ll be using my lovely Sprouted planner for all of it!

Do you have any tips for getting enough water during the day?
How about any tips for getting more sleep?
Do you track anything unusual beyond the typical diet/ exercise / financial stuff?

Dear readers, I wish you a wonderful 2025! I’m so grateful for your encouraging comments and for everything you share in your blogs. Here’s to more blogging fun! Happy New Year!

I used acrylic paint and stencils to make abstract backgrounds, then used acrylic paint markers to draw and hand-letter some positive sentiments. They’re messy and imperfect, and I doubted myself several times. After the 3rd card, I realized I had to let go of my worries, and I went for it uninhibited – and it was so much fun!

My recipient list had 9 Americans and 1 Canadian. I was so surprised when I began receiving cards from Germany, England, and other Americans who I hadn’t sent cards to! I didn’t realize it wasn’t a direct one-to-one swap, but a huge, random swap of all the participants! And I became even more impressed with iHanna’s organizational skills!

If making the postcards was fun, then receiving them was even more so!

It’s wonderful to see all these different styles of art! I love all of them! I got 9 postcards, but I’m guessing that the 10th one is stuck in Canada somewhere – as is my postcard to Canada. Hugs to my Canadian friends.

In 2025, iHanna is hosting a project called Create 365 Somethings. I usually shy away from daily art challenges, but this one sounds very different. It’s not the usual “create something and post it on social media every day” challenge. It’s a “create what you want when you want, and post when you want” challenge. Do “The Something” daily or weekly. Work in batches. Change subject matter. Just make something 365 times during the year.

I always want to spend more time drawing in my sketchbook, so that’s going to be my “Something”. 365 drawings in my sketchbook! It’s nice to have the support and encouragement of a group of people doing the same thing. Everyone is invited to join in!

The dining room is decorated and filled with all kinds of Christmas treats.

The Christmas tree is set up in the living room, surrounded by wrapped gifts.

This ceramic Christmas tree is so delightful when lit at night.

Between snacks and visiting, some of the gnomes enjoy playing a rousing game of cards.

It’s so fun to have everygnome here for the Christmas season!

I participated in San’s Secret SANta exchange and received the most delightful package from Meike at Home Here and There! I don’t know how it’s possible that I’d never come across Meike’s blog before, but I’m delighted to be introduced through San! Meike also likes to sew and craft, and I’m looking forward to reading her blog from now on! Thank you, Meike! And thank you, San, for hosting this fun exchange!

It’s so new that we haven’t even had time to let it sink in. It’s wonderful! It’s weird! It doesn’t feel real! The feed store kept us very tied down Tuesday through Saturday. We had Sunday and Monday off to run errands (which included hauling inventory for the feed store) and to do all the ranch work. I think it’s going to be so nice to slow down and have more flexibility in our schedules.

I got out our Christmas decorations. We don’t have a lot of decorations, and they’re subtle and calming, which I love. I wrote out Christmas cards and mailed them, except for the ones to Canada. Our post office won’t even accept them due to Canada’s postal strike. Oh, I sure hope they resolve it soon!

I’m decorating the dollhouse for Christmas today! I’ll show it to you in my next post!

By the way, the Santa in my cover photo was a gift from my friend in Japan.

Gnomes are so much fun to draw!

Gnomes are also fun to sew!

I love to see gnomes out in the world, in people’s yards, on receptionists’ desks, and in people’s blogs. I love it when Nicole (or Gnicole, as I like to call her) writes about her gnomes!

It’s only fitting that this month, there’s a family reunion of gnomes staying in the dollhouse. (A group of gnomes is called a Donsy!) This Donsy of Gnomes had a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration with a huge feast. I had ordered them a Thanksgiving turkey, but it didn’t arrive in time. They didn’t care at all and enjoyed their Thanksgiving salads and bread very much.

Mama gnome enjoyed working in the kitchen, as cold salads and bread were easy to prepare!

Who ordered the pizza? Well, you can’t go wrong with a Thanksgiving pizza!

One gnome decided to take a bath before dinner.

One gnome was so tired that he went to bed right after dinner.

I hope that everyone who celebrates it had a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Thank you for being one of my blog readers and friends! I am thankful for you!

Elisabeth is Canadian, and she loves her u’s so much. I didn’t fully understand the importance of the u’s until she said it’s like Anne with an e (from Anne of Green Gables). Now I get it completely! There is an elegance to the u in words like honour, colour, favour, etc.

Elisabeth is a wonderful part of the growing blog community, and I highly recommend visiting her blog ASAP! She recently hosted THE COOL BLOGGER’S WALKING CLUB (CBWC) in October. A bunch of bloggers joined together to walk for 10 minutes every day. I only missed one day during the month. Here are all of my selfies!

Thank you for having me as your guest, Elisabeth!

This year, we have a bunny dressed as a witch, wearing an orange dress that looks sort of like a pumpkin.
There’s another bunny dressed as a cowboy, looking uncomfortable because his ears are folded into his cowboy hat. There’s a bear dressed as a gnome with his beard askew. It’s hard to eat treats with a scraggly beard in the way!
And there’s a gnome hiding in the corner dressed in purple. He thinks this is a wizard costume.

Other guests were a couple of candy corns, an owl, a bat, and a cow! Are they wearing costumes, or is this just what they are?

It’s quite a crowded party!

We have cake and bowls of treats. (And, as usual, orange pop!) See anything you like?

Would you like to join us? You’re invited!

Which character is your favorite? What treat would you bring to the party?
Happy Halloween!

And now I present you with: Where Do You Keep That – Dollhouse Edition!

Kleenex, medicine, and makeup: On shelves in the bathroom next to the new sink and mirror. We’ve had a little bathroom remodeling project, and now we even have a toilet! What a relief!

Pens, paper, scissors: There are two desks in the living room full of pens, paintbrushes, and paper. All of the scissors are in the sewing room.

Sewing supplies: In the sewing room, and of course, there are so many!

Library books: Wait! No! We do not keep our library books by the toilet!! I will be having a very stern talk with the dollhouse residents!

Other books: There are shelves of books in the living room.

Crock Pot: On the bottom shelf in the kitchen.

Water Bottles: In the dining room with the crate of orange pop.

Dollhouse: It’s probably not surprising that there’s a dollhouse IN the dollhouse! It’s kept in the bedroom at the foot of the bed.

I hope you enjoyed this little tour! If you did, please come back at the end of the month for the Dollhouse Halloween Party! You’re invited!