this was the week, another milestone

well its over one million views , :)  another milestone, thanks to all to come to my youtube channel,,  enjoy,, arleen

CARVERSWOODSHOP
1,876
subscribers
1,006,838
video views

hi folks,,  thanks again for following the blog , facebook and youtube,  for me its been lot of fun,,  makes my head spin to see so many of you take the time to watch, the videos,,  i hope to have the donkey done this weekend,, and hopefully have another project up soon,, so many things happening this week,, i will be at the kitchen kettle village, intercourse pa.   on july 4th,,  i will have a table set up,,  if your in the area come see me,, take care keep carving, arleen

another carving class at the camper studio,, a great time !

hi folks,, i had a class, and they did a great job on their carvings,, thanks to all that came today,, and some photos of the day,, and of course the finished project,, arleen

we live in an interesting place? and taking it for granted ?

hi folks,  as i was thinking about our area, with philly and reading , harrisburg and of course lancaster ,,  i had to think we do live in an interesting area,,  folks come from miles around to see the amish in lancaster, philly for the history of our country and out to harrisburg for yet more history ,  reading was known well for outlet shopping before  outlets became a common name in towns across the country,,,,
often times we dont see what tourist see, or come to see,  we take things for granted,  just like my mother was once asked if they ever went to the tulip fields in holland when they grew up there , mom said no,,  never did,, and all those years it was in her back yard when they lived in holland,, i guess that is true for many that live here,, have never tour areas that are common places to go when people  come to Pennsylvania.
i just started to get into history a bit more,, thanks to the geo channel, and went to the local library to see if i could find videos on the civil and american war,, so much information about the wars i  had no idea,   not that it was not taught to us in school to some degree but just so much information that made events interesting,,  so i enjoy watching and learning more about our american history,,  as a kid i liked history but find it even more important to remember the past or at least understand it better, why events happen,,
so i going to try to visit those places that many come here just to see,  so much history right in my own back yard,, within 25 miles .
so as i look at folks coming here to pa,, there is lots to see , culture ,history,, i am glad where i live,  i believe this area has so much to offer,,  and i for one will want to see some of what made this country great,,
and this is true about anything,, we dont know what we have, and take so  much for granted,  this can be true about carving too,,  if you belong to a club or able to find one near you ,, your very lucky, many would love to be able to share ideas with other carvers, but cant find a club to belong to near them,, today we have the internet that all information is just a few clicks away,,  you can look up anything and find something in print about it on the net,,  and many carvers that cant find a club use this wonderful tool to learn more about carving,, so take a look around what are you taking for granted?  if you cant find anything your taking for granted, then you are taking it for granted,, happy carving folks, arleen

what makes a great carving?

what makes a great carving,,  well some would say,, its the detail? or the project itself stands out, new, never done before? painting , how is it painted, and finished?   well i think its all the above,, but more then that,,  not saying those listed above are not important , sure they are,,  but more,,, its you!!!  what do i mean by you,, well  , our carvings take on a bit of us,, we start to carve and learn we have our own style to carving, that makes your work stand out from someone else,,  that is what makes it a great carving,,  your creative idea coming to life.  finding idea can be tough to do at times,,  and other times you may come up  with few
new projects  and not knowing which you should do first,,,  so what makes a carving great  it is you.. your thought into the planning of a piece, and your style,,   now you may say well i only do what others do,,,  that is fine, nothing wrong with that,, you can even take a project and change it a bit that it now becomes your new design,,,  lots of carvers get ideas from each other and will add or change things to the design  to make it theirs,,  
 i find often that no matter how many folks send me a photo of a project they followed,, it looks the same but it will look different... that what makes it so neat to carve,, and even when i repeat a project,, its never the same,, but keep carving you will have your own style of carving,, you may not see it yet but you will ,,  arleen

lancaster county woodcarvers club picnic at the park

 all the food at the picnic

we were ask to bring in our project we did at the last meeting ball in a cage

jeff with his carving of the amish women he carved along with the little girl, he did a great job 

hi folks, our yearly picnic was tonight , we had a good time,,  our club normally has the picnic in june,, and we do not meet in the summer until sept again,,,  so we had a good time,, and of course good food too, it was a very warm night,,  but it went well,  till sept we will once again gear up for another year of monthly meetings,  keep carving , arleen

sitting cone donkey project in the works

this is the sitting cone donkey project , a few more videos to go before he is done :)

SITTING CONE DONKEY #1

ok folks another new project , enjoy,, i dont know how many videos yet still working on it yet,, first and last will be posted here  on facebook ,, keep carving folks

some thoughts about heritage day

hi folks,,  this past weekend was fun,, i have to say sometimes when you don't plan things those times can be the best,,  not that planning is wrong but there are times when we do things  , well , just work out great without plans,,
i knew that our carving club was invited to come to this event, which they had done so for the past five years,  because i worked every sat,, i was not able to attend a lot of the events that the club was a part of in the past, so this year since intercourse pa, is only 20 miles from my home i decide last min just to go,, i had no idea really where the park was located ,, but  i worked at kitchen kettle in the decoy shop back in the 80s but i think they build this park later,,  so i drove right past it the first time,, but got there ok,,  but the night before 12am thinking i better throw some things together from the camper / studio,, cause i was told we could sell some of our carvings if we choose to,, so i put together some of my smaller finished pieces, ( knowing i was going to share the table with other club members) .    not know either how many of us would show up,,  at first there were only two of us,, and then three more members came,,  so it was good,, we had a nice time chatting together, getting to know them better too,,, and  doing carving demos for folks that wanted to know more about carving,, and it was good all around,,  even sold some things,, just the icing on the cake of a wonderful day,, so you dont know what it will be like, at one of these events the weather was great,, i didnt spend hours prepping ,and yet better then that i got to know what neat events i have right in my own back yard,,  often we travel long distances to see and go places like this,, when something all you have to do is look in your local paper ,, and its been there all along,  i will go next year again,, and hopefully some of you can come out and meet the lancaster county club members,  and take  time relaxing in  lancaster and all it has to offer,, take care and keep carving,, arleen

more photos of Intercourse Heritage Days

 our club had a table set up for the day,, it was fun,, i had a great time

also they had alot of events for the day,,  and lots of amish playing volleyball, they were very good at it 

it was a great day,, 

Tradition is part of the fun at Intercourse Heritage Days

Tradition is part of the fun at Intercourse Heritage Days

hi folks, this was today, the lancaster woodcarving club had a table and some of us were there for the day, carving and chatting with folks that came to the event, it was a super day,, and lo and behold someone from the lancaster news came along and asked if she could take my photo,, sure why not, :) i have more photos coming soon,, of the day,, take care, and possible video ,, keep carving folks,, and the weather could not have been better :)

berry picking time again, yummy,,

hi folks,, my mom has a large berry patch behind their home,,  since my mom is unable to do something she loves is to pick berries,, well i been picking them for the past couple of years for her,,  she makes the most wonderful jam,,  and gives them to many folks  along the way,, she still is able to make the jam, but not able to pick the berries,, its been her hobby for as long as i can remember,,  she carefully prunes the patch late winter( i did the pruning under her watchful eye this year) ,, and it produces rich berries,,  organic,, yes, we do not spray them with anything, so the jam is organic,,  if we have to many, we either put sugar on them fresh and eat them or,, with ice cream,,  but we also freeze them,, so she can make jam anytime ,, she often give away to friends and family at christmas,,  i really dont like to pick berries,, its a hot , and the berry bushes have little thorns on them,, along with all the bees ( which i dont like at all)  but i know how important it is to her,,  imagine,, loving to carving and not being able to do so anymore,, that is tough, when you love a hobby,, and because of aging you cant do it anymore,, so i go out to the patch every other night now for the next three weeks,, i picked 28 quarts total last year for her,,  but my dad loves to eat them too, so half will go in the freezer , and the other half on ice cream lol .....  so i off to the berry patch again tomorrow night,,   take care folks and keep carving,, arleen

relay for life event, someday

hi folks some of you know that i am part of the relay for life,, i belong to one of the groups,  and been a part of it, for about 5 years,,  please support your local relay for life..  the event is held once a year at the twin valley high school elverson pa...,  they raise money for cancer,, like many of you , my family has lost a love one to cancer, along with friends that have also past away,  cancer knows no age,  young and old alike , but hopefully one day they will be able to come up with a cure,,  someday,   :)  but one thing i do know is to keep the faith,,, keep carving folks, arleen

NEW DVD #50 PRAYING MARY, JOSEPH, BABY JESUS

skunk season lol , they are out and about

ok skunks are out and about,, went back to my folks place thinking calvin our black and white cat was eating the cat food outside by the door, it was dark, i got 4 foot of it and notice nopppppppe its not calvin,, its a skunk ,, i did say ohhhhh sh.....t and got out of the way,, it left,, freaks me out ,, good thing i had a solar light there,, normally its dark,, ohhhh my,, close call,, i think i stay inside and carve for a while,, much safer  keep carving,,:) 

nativity scene,, this will be dvd #50 coming soon

hi folks,  just finish the videos of the baby jesus, and now looking forward to making my 50th dvd,, it will be done soon, i be sure to let you know,, thanks for stopping by,, as always keep carving,, arleen

BABY JESUS #5 (END).

BABY JESUS #1

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here we go again,, baby jesus is finished,, total of 5 video clips,, the first and last will be on facebook the rest you can watch from my youtube channel, thanks and enjoy,, this will be my 50th dvd of the three, joseph, mary and jesus,, it will take a week or so to get it ready,, :)   i will load them this afternoon

humble beginnings a photo of the past

hi folks, i know its been a while, i have  been really busy,, and had to cancel our one class do the the lack of people, i had to do this in the past which is fine, i know summer it is more difficult due to the fact that most folks are out and about,,, carving is mostly done by many.. over the colder seasons,, which i can sure understand,,  i will offer some of the same classes in the fall again, when folks are more geared to be home,, and back to school commitments,    well here is a photo of the 1980s  of my carvings that use to be added to the top of the tv console,,  lol now if that isnt getting old ,,,,  console,,  well anyway,, i thought you folks might enjoy seeing this,, i trying to guess that i been carving maybe a few years 4 or so,, when this was taken,, and yes i carved in front of the tv, watch or sorta watching the tv and carving,, listening i guess you could say,,  :)   but anyway,, we all started carving somehow ,,,,,, somethings i dont remember i carve so many different stuff back then, and still do,,  sad when you cant remember what you carved,,  but it brought back great memories of that time, farming was tough, and carving took me away from the worries of if all,, and  no, farming was not a worry free lifestyle,, well not in my book it was never worry free,    if i had one day without problems, i had a wonderful day,, and knew it wouldnt last long, lol ,   but enjoy the photo ... wanted to do a video on this and might ,, i still have most of it,, but its fun to look back, but even more fun to look forward to where carving will take us next,, keep carving,, arleen

new dvds, #47 #48 #49 cone santa head , baseball player, fisherman,

PRAYING JOSEPH #13 (END)

PRAYING JOSEPH #1

Hi folks,, here is the nextnew project,, joseph,   there are 13 video clips for this project,, have two loaded to youtube so far,, only the first and last videos will be on facebook,, next will be the baby jesus,, ok folks enjoy,, arleen

test run of Joseph

this is my test run of joseph  i will see if i can start the videos  of this project tonight,, it will be up in a few days

coming up to one million views, and what is next

35,000 more hits to go, to one million , makes my head spin

hi folks,  as i notice the other day that i have  35,000 view hits to go before i hit one million,,  wow , it does make me sit back and take notice,,,, i would have never thought that in a little over 3 years so many hits,   i know its not a viral video that one video get this but after over 1200 videos , its another milestone for me,,  it makes me wonder where it will lead,, what the next step will be,, if i can get new projects up, with over 85 different ones , one tends to think that i can not come up with something new, and then it happens, an idea,, and where do i get them,, well everywhere,, at home, at the store, at work,  just watching folks sometimes,  thinking now that might be a project,  craft  and gift stores you can come up with an idea,, and alot of the time,, you also have to think now how can i improve that, or change it to make it my own?  well i will continue to post new projects as the ideas come along,, looking forward to another 85 different projects that we can do together, still working on the two dvds, i will be sure to post them ,, and of course my special 50th dvd will be coming soon too,, in about a month,, so keep carving, thanks for watching the videos, and keep at  it folks,, looking forward to many more hours of carving together,, arleen  

love creating from the cone basswood blanks

hi folks,, i just finished up the praying mary,, and of course i will do Joseph next,, just have to think on it for a day or two,, but soon i will have the whole nativity set done,, but most of all all the caricatures that i designed the past few months have been from the cone cutout,, very simple concept and oh i enjoy it,, i keep thinking i cant create another project and bingo i think of something that might work,, so keep carving folks,, thanks so much for watching the youtube videos and also reading my blog,, arleen

youtube finished project praying mary

PRAYING MARY #9 (END)

new dvds coming soon !!!

hi folks going to make a few more new dvds,, baseball player and sparky the fire dog, fisherman and ball in a cage,, will take a few days to get ready,, that will make numbers 48 and 49 :) i having fun folks,, ohhhh Joseph will be carved soon on youtube hopefully in the next week or so 

PRAYING MARY #1

here we go again, :)  i have 8 videos or 9 of this project,, some are posted tonight the rest tomorrow,, thanks and enjoy,, arleen you can find the rest of them on my youtube channel,,

PRAYING MARY

hi folks just having some fun in the studio today,, with a holiday to start off the summer,,  i just wanted to see how well the air works in the camper,, works great,,  it was 90 degrees today,, ohhh my ,, i dont like the heat,, but anyway,, i decided to do a little 2 inch praying mary,, sooner or later i will get a nativity set done lol one at a time, so i might do this one on line just a bit bigger  4 inches or so,,  but here it is , nothing fancy just something simple,, take care , hope you all had a safe holiday,, keep carving,, arleen

two classes set up for june

hi folks,, i  have posted two videos of  woodcarving classes in june,, thanks folks

WOOD CARVING CLASS ( CONE SHEPHERD) ONE DAY CLASS

WOOD CARVING CLASS ( CONE SNOWMAN) #2. ONE DAY

painting in my new camper studio

hi folks  i decided that i needed to get some of my carvings painted,  if your like me and rather carve then paint will this is what happens when you wait LOL ,, , i painted this in the carvers camper studio,,  it worked out just great ,, i could leave it till the next day,, and now i have a few ready to put on ebay,, or keep them here in the studio to sell later this year,,   they look a little glossy cause of the mineral oil mix that i use as a finish,, but in a couple of days that will disappear.  enjoy,, i am  having a great time,, still hard for me to believe that i really have my studio,, :)   keep carving folks, arleen

what shall i do this fall, which shows?

hi folks,, believe it or not , my mailbox, is filling up with applications for various woodcarving shows and craft shows,  now i have to see what i plan to do this fall,, i believe going to shows are important, but at the same time the expense of it can be high depending where you go,, so i am going to have to figure out which ones to go to,,so  i will have to sit back take out a calendar and see what i can do,,,  its always nice to meet folks at the show,, i will keep you updated which ones i plan to do later this year,, take care folks and keep carving, arleen 

BALL IN A CAGE # 7 ( END)

BALL IN A CAGE #1

here you go ,, there are 7 videos in all,,  i have two up on youtube,   the rest will be up soon, hopefully by tomorrow afternoon,, thanks , and enjoy, arleen

when you reach your goal what is next?? lots :)

hi folks, some of you that follow me know that today was a day i was waiting for a long time,, a studio that i can teach , carve and work in with a hobby of woodcarving that i love...,,  when i started to do the videos on youtube back in 2009 , i did one of myself that so  folks could see what i looked like,, it was called   arleen , the woodcarver,,  in that video i said that i would like to set shop at the farm,, now three years later,, its here,  how sweet to reach a goal,, no matter what it is,, if you work hard at it,, and search for it, and make it come to pass there is a bittersweet feeling,, now what is next,, well lots and lots,  lots of time here, and just enjoying it,,  most of us reach a goal and then set another goal,  i just going to enjoy it for what it is now,, and then plan all the classes i like to do here,  and hope that it becomes a place people like to come to.  but mostly folks,,  i just in a awe,, of it all,  thanks for going with me in my journey of finding what i was looking for,,  i would not have thought of a camper to work out,, but this one does exactly what i want it to do,,  i dont think i could find anything more perfect of what i wanted,, and the great thing it can come along with me if i move or decide to move to another location , or just a different  place around the farm,, :)  one person said god will give you your hearts desire,, and yes he did,, more then i thought,  and i am so thankful,, take care and keep carving

first class at the carvers camper studio, i had a great day!!

they did a great job carving the santa bottle stopper,, i had a good time caving,, this was the first class in the camper,, worked out very well,, thanks to all that came,,  after,, thinking of this soo long and to have it become real, what a great day it was for me today,,  i will have more carving classes posted soon,, enjoy the photos,,  i am blessed :) 

carverswoodshop sign at the carvers carvers camper :)

update,, i had to take him back into the garage,, he was cracking, maybe due to age,, so the sign is out on the camper, :)  take care,,  and keep carving everyone   , arleen 

well ok here i did it i finally used this carving i did back in the 80s,  it was in the garage most of the time,, i didnt want to put it out do to my amish neighbors but now i thought i would not paint it,, and use it to hold my sign for the carverswoodshop,, thought it was fitting for folks to know what it is and at the right place,, lol so i had to put him to work,, lol ,,,  i am about ready for the class on monday,, had the plumber in for about half a day,, and all the electric works,, so its ready to go,  what i neat camper,, i still feel so blessed,  take care folks,, enjoy the photos ,, arleen