Monthly Archives: July 2016

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Hear Ye!

Welcome New Sisters! (click for current roster)

Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)

My featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is … Rebecca White!!!

Rebecca White (Beccalou, #6430) has received a certificate of achievement in Stitching & Crafting for earning a Beginner, Intermediate & Expert Level Quilling Merit Badge!

“I have always admired quilled projects and decided that I should learn this wonderful art form. I purchased a beginner kit from one of the craft stores and started working. Buy the time I had finished, I had two books and more kits on order.

I made several cards and gift tags that I really love. Some of my fellow sisters in the card swap may be seeing them soon.

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I saw a certain photo of something on Facebook and I thought that it would be neat to do with quilled flowers. I painted the canvas with different colors of gold and copper and then drew on the silhouette with dark paint. I then quilled the flowers and added it to the canvas.

I really loved how it turned out. I have it hanging in the studio/barn where I do most of my craft work. The flowers add a bit of definition to the hair, and the hair itself is quilled.

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I decided that I really wanted something that showed lots of flowers and needed something for my studio to put up that would make me happy. So I designed a plaque. I took a wooden 10/10 board and covered it with scrapbook paper, and then printed the word BLOOM on it, then I decorated it with all the different kinds of flowers that I could think to make.

I think that it turned out better then I expected. It is very cheery and I love the bright colors of the flowers.”

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Young Cultivators Merit Badge: Lean on Me, Beginner Level

The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 7,050 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far—10,044 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! ~MaryJane 

Wondering who I am? I’m Merit Badge Awardee Jane (MBA Jane for short). In my former life

For this week’s Out There Kids/Lean On Me Beginner Level Young Cultivator Merit Badge, the lovely Piper and Nora and the intrepid whippersnapper, Andy, all decided they need a place in the shade. A little piece of heaven they could call their own …

“Can I have a piece of Earth?”
Mary, The Secret Garden.

I had just the thing:

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one-word wonders

How does this photo make you feel?

Photo by Pezibear via Pixabay

Would you say it gives you a sense of ukiyo?

Whoa … what was that?

You know, ukiyo: living in the moment, detached from the bothers of life?

That’s the vibe in a nutshell, right?

Thank Japan for summing up something like “contentment mixed with whimsical nostalgia and feelings of freedom” into one perfect gem.

You probably see these sorts of one-word wonders on Pinterest all the time—obscure terms from other languages that describe feelings we Americans simply haven’t invented words to convey.

Pinning these pretties is easy as pie, but can you actually incorporate them into daily use?

Nope, me neither. But wouldn’t you like to?

How lovely would it be to describe our feelings with such concision?

Rambling not required.

Inspired, I set out to broaden our linguistic horizons a bit, to deepen our pool of descriptive vocabulary. I pulled together a little 5-word dictionary (complete with pronunciations) of words that eloquently evoke emotion.

Your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to try to use one of these words in casual conversation each day for a week. And, of course, leave a comment to tell me how you managed to squeeze ‘em in.

Ready, set …

Go!

  1. Laotong (lao-dong), from China:

A friendship that bonds two girls together for eternity as kindred sisters.

As in: “Sally and I agreed that our serendipitous meeting on MaryJane’s Farmgirl Connection was the beginning of our laotong.”

  1. Gigil (GEE-gil), from the Philippines:

The overwhelming urge to pinch or squeeze something cute.

As in: “I was overcome with gigil at the site of the baby’s smiling cheeks.”

  1. Mudita (moo-DEE-tah), from India:

Sympathetic or unselfish joy; delight in the good fortune of others.

As in: “We all shared a deep feeling of mudita when Mom announced that she’d won a trip to a yoga retreat in India because she has always wanted to go there.”

  1. Voorpret (foor-bdet), from the Netherlands:

The sense of joyous anticipation felt before an event actually takes place.

As in: “As Daisy Jo prepared for the midsummer garden party, she could barely contain her voorpret.”

  1. Meraki (MER-a-kee), from Greece:

Soul, creativity, or love put into a project; the essence of yourself that is put into your work.

As in: “She loves to make jewelry with sea glass, and she crafts each piece with profound meraki.”

 

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ugly does a body good

Have you ever wondered what the world’s ugliest color might be?

Photo by Yanns via Pixabay

Yeah, no … I really hadn’t either.

But, leave it to science to sniff out a seemingly silly subject and say it’s so.

Such is the case with Pantone 448C, otherwise known as Opaque Couché.

This is it, they say—the world’s ugliest color:

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Well, approximately, anyway.

Frivolous as this finding may appear, it’s making the news because the Australians have pinned down a way to put it to good use …

 

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Hear Ye!

Welcome New Sisters! (click for current roster)

Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)

My featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is … Emily Hack!!!

Emily Hack (alterationsbyem, #2951) has received a certificate of achievement in Each Other for earning an Expert Level Entrepreneurial Spirit Merit Badge!

“After joining the Farmgirl Sisterhood a few years ago, I was able to research opening my own business. Well, nearly a full year out of my craft business, and I am so pleased. I have been able to take my farmgirl love of reduce, reuse, and recycle and make home décor and usable items that people love.

Best sellers: Golden Girl wine glasses! Emily Hack’s Inspired Collections range from Repli-Kates to custom wedding gowns, while my home series has personalized wine glasses and cutting boards. I have branched out to doing craft shows all over my home state of Pennsylvania.

It has changed my life and allowed me to have a creative outlet from my new day job as an accountant. Some days, juggling my family, school, work, and the small business feels like I am in a full tornado. But I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

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