happy new year !!!

happy new year to everyone, hope it was a safe night for all of you , and i am looking forward to the new ventures in wood carving in the coming year ,, keep carving, arleen

PRAYING SANTA #14 ( END)

new dvd , here are a couple of photos of the praying santa , enjoy arleen

PRAYING SANTA #1

so what motivates you ? whats in store for 2011?

hi folks, i often wonder what motivates people,, how to reach a goal, or a dream they may have? often more times then not what motivates folks , is to seeing something come to pass. its normally having a goal complete, so what in 2011 is going to motivate you? or inspire you ?

what motivates me is what the new year can bring, and what wonderful things can happen, my motivation is to keep on going, keep carving, keep making things new and interesting, and what really motivates me is knowing that so many are learning what a wonderful hobby woodcarving can be, happy new year to all of you, keep carving arleen

plowing is done ,, for now, back to winter and some carving??

hi folks, i hope this finds each of you , happy with christmas behind us,, as some of you heard on the news the big storm we had here on the east coast,, well we were spared only got about 4-5 inches of the fluffy stuff, so plowing was simple around the farm, and my home, took only 2 1/2 hours vs, last year 7-8 hours ,, but then again we had 22 inches , twice in one week. so to my canadian friends, and family please keep the heavy snow up there were it belongs,, so far it looks like canada got hit hard the past couple of weeks,, believe me i love snow, but last year was a bit more then i wanted,, to many when a snowstorm hits, well many enjoy to stay in the house and watch movies , and do whatever makes one happy,, or carve a bit,,, but for me ,, first it was putting the plow on the tractor,, making sure where all the shovels and salt were from the year before, makings sure that there was fuel enough in the tractor,,, ohhhh yes to make sure that the tractor is working,, lol which it did ,, also setting the heaters up so that nothing would freeze in the barn,, , thinking i had a morning home before i went to plow,, my mom calls there is water in the basement,, had to shovel my way to the car, then out to the farm,, went to look,, water tank along with the pressure gauge leaking,, so called the plumber,, was there in an hour , thank goodness he was in town for another call, he fixed it,, then off plowing and now home,, lol dont you just love life,, to those of you that enjoyed you snowy morning in the house carving,, i hope you enjoyed it,, i will later today,, i will get some carving done today,, i promise,,, ohhh is that the phone again,, well maybe i carve tomorrow, happy carving, arleen

MERRY CHRISTMAS

hi folks, its now christmas eve,, as i am ready to go to a service in a couple of hours as many other around the world are doing,, i have to think of the meaning of christmas, to some its getting gifts, or giving them, or spending time with family and friends,,

to some folks it will be a sadness, because of love ones that are not with us at christmas,, or they are alone, if anything, it should give us a great deal of comfort, because of the reason, of the season, was not only to spend time with folks we care about, but that god cared enough to send us his son, i hope all of you have a wonderful christmas, and a very happy new year, arleen

christmas poem, by arleen zomer

twas the night before christmas and all through the house,

a carver was carving , and quiet as a mouse

late at night , all you could see ,

was a light on in the shop where the carver would be,

basswood in one hand and a knife in the other

a gift it would be for sister or brother,

the carver kept working late into the night

knowing all to well it would soon be light

when the carving is done he looks with delight

to be able to give it away to someone tonight

and the smiles it will bring to the ones that he gives ,

the carver will cherish it as long as he lives

merry christmas,

SPIRAL ICICLE ORNAMENT our woodcarving club project

howdy folks, at last night at our meeting, of the lancaster county woodcarving club we sometimes do a carving project, i was able to attend this and one of our members taught how to make a spiral icicle ornament,, it was a fun project to do,, andy provided two cutouts and thought you folks might enjoy seeing it,, it was a great night!! happy carving, arleen

a new santa dvd in the works, lol sometimes take longer than you think LOL

hi folks, i often wonder how many different santas one can make,, well i have another that i am working on now that came to me how to do it, in just in a matter of an hour, and bingo got another one that is different from the rest,, i found this to be an enjoyable santa to make, you can make it from a block,, and sometimes the things that come out of the blue are the best, i will only make this santa available on dvd, just like my morning santa, i will post the first and last videos, of the project, and a photo here on the blog and facebook ...

i have to tape it yet, i going to paint the ones i have done tonight, to see how they look, and then i will share them with you when everything is completed

as i was taping the first two videos the second one was lost, not sure what happen, but nowhere to be found,, so i will have to restart it but nothing lost really, i went ahead and finished this santa and will have two of them,, to add to my collection of santas, ,,, thanks for dropping by

an interesting night, most folks are giving, salvation army,

hi folks,, last week , i went to work and one of the folks from the mall had to leave early , she and her husband were going to ring the bell for the salvation army at walmart in morgantown,, i said that i had thought that might be fun to do ,, i always admired those that would brave the weather to ring a bell ,, she said let me have your number and i will let you know what its like( it was their first time) , i said ok,, a few days later i got a call from a woman from her church that said , i heard you are willing to help ring the bell,, ((well ,, in my head i thought that i was going to get a call from the other lady telling me what it was like,, lol)) i said sure i do it,, and so the next day which was sat night at 6 to 7 pm i would ring the bell,, it was cold , three layers of slacks and 4 light layer of shirts and a coat, hat, mittens and i was ready, it was 27 degrees, one hour was just enough not to get to cold, and it was at night,

i think everyone should put in one hour,, you will find 6 out of 10 give, some folks ignore you , others will say god bless you,, but overall it was good, most folks are giving, and you have to remember if your anything like me i go to walmart a few times before christmas, and some may have given at another time,

i thought what if every person that enter walmart during the holidays would only give 25 cents, ,, what a difference it would make, the little donations are just as important and the one that gave 1-5-or 10 bucks,, it might be all they can afford, and i mostly enjoyed seeing the little ones putting money in the bucket, whata great lesson for them,,

most folks are giving, carvers are no different,, i see it often at shows or at meetings, if you need something or need to learn how to do a carving, there always seems to be someone willing to lend a hand

one thing i know for sure, most folks want to help , and care about their fellow man, happy carving, arleen

http://www.etsy.com/people/carverswoodshop

where i will post my carving that are for sale, thank you , arleen

NEW DVD #32 PENGUIN, FRONT SANTA, MINI PINECONE ORNAMENT

hi folks, i have another dvd available, cost 20.00 free shipping, thanks for dropping by

these projects is good for beginners,, all three can be carved from a block , which you dont need a bandsaw, most beginners do not have a bandsaw, but you can use a copying saw, or a band saw to speed up the process, free shipping in canada and usa, arleen

check or paypal is fine

MINI PINECONE ORNAMENT #6 (END)

FRONT SANTA #9 (END)

PENGUIN #8 (END).

winner of the CARVING MAGAZINE GIVEAWAY

hi folks,, the winner is george, congrats, the next drawing for the carving magazine holiday issue is dec 20th ,, if you didnt enter , its simple just send me an email and on the subject line put carving magazine ,, that is it,, thanks folks, i am having fun,, happy carving, arleen

HAVING FUN

folks i am having fun with these mini pinecones , a great beginners project or for any carver, enjoy, arleen

MINI PINECONE ORNAMENT #1

FRONT SANTA #1

this santa is carved from a block front not from the corner,, enjoy, arleen

for some ,,,change is never easy, not always bad

hi folks, i just finished carving the penguin,, as i begin to look towards the future of where i would like to be, and where to go with carving, i am finding i dont like change,, but as most of us know change is part of life, as i looked into how i could do things better , weather the blog or videos, i really dont want to change what i am doing,, why fix it if is isnt broke,, that is a great saying but at the same time if you dont change along with the times, your going to be left in the dust, or just never catch up,

its funny as i go back even 5-10 years ago, what i carve today is not the same, they may look like my style but it is different, more refined, etc, so change isnt always a bad thing,

just the word CHANGE sends some folks into fear,, i feel bad for older folks that just dont get the technology of today,, they are lost most of the time, and feel they dont need it,, well they dont , they find others that can do it for them,, and yet some embrace it,.. so what do you do, do you enjoy change? do you embrace it? well what i am getting at is that if you dont want to try something new, or change how you carve you may never know how good you can carve,, its simple i guess, if you dont embrace it you might miss something you like!! happy carving,, arleen

PENGUIN #7 ( END)

PENGUIN #1

strop

STROP

some have asked if i sold leather strops, i made a few this pass week, if your interested i have a video coming out soon on them,, 14.00 and 4.00 to ship in the usa and canada, email me first to see if i still have them i am limited, i make them for my classes ... the strop overall lenght is 12 3/4 inches the strop is 2x10 two sided , thanks

THANKSGIVING HORN OF PLENTY #9 (END)

THANKSGIVING HORN OF PLENTY

getting started it's the hardest part? motivated?

hi folks, i am trying to get this thankgiving project completed this week if all goes well, i am seeing something that i learn long ago,, its harder to start a new project than doing them ,, i find myself looking forward to getting started but really doing so is difficult,, or shall i say life gets in the way ...another day goes by, and well nothing gets started, lol

most of know that going to work is harder then being at work, just like we did for years, feeding the animals on the farm, it was harder to get ourselves out to the barn then it was doing the work,

i guess it comes down to if your motivated or not, the animals had to be care for,, so every 12 hours i was in the barn feeding , weekends, holiday, if i was sick or not, i can count on one hand the days i missed cause i was sick,, out of 25 years of farming,, there were no sick days, holidays. so getting motivated was sometimes difficult,

so if your not motivated, your not alone, there are days i just dont want to carve, and other days i cant wait to start, its normal, and if you find yourself not ready to start a new project that is fine, sometimes we just need that extra boost , weather that is going to a carving show, getting new project ideas from others. or just letting it go for a while, but i always end up finding something that will spark my interest again, or a new idea will come to mind out of the blue, either way , starting a project or trying to find one, somehow it always does,, happy carving arleen

dreaming, might come true?

well folks,, i had time to think about the past year, and some of you know i wanted to put a carving shop/studio/gallery at the farm,, not sure how to go about it,, some time ago i could have gotten a cabin type building super cheap,, something inside thought it might not be the best time to do it,, now i regret not getting it,, i dont know if another opportunity will come, up,, i dont often regret when i make a decision ,, this one i might have missed it,, a couple of factors other then the main one was the cost,, it had a leak which i could not determine where it came from on the floor,, so i shy away from it,, wow, i would have been nice not only to have it to work in but to store the wood, and other carving related things,, , i would love to have enough room when i get it , to have a library of carving books and magazines,, we all need to dream about something, or work toward a goal,, as i looked around the farm yesterday,, i still have to see where i want to put it,, how big will i need , and oh can i build it myself?? i am sure it would have more meaning if i did the work, but not sure i want to venture into something that big,, well i can still think on it,, but i dont want to think to long that i miss it all together,, its like the guy that is on a roof cause of flooding, and he prays to god to save him .... so a boat comes along and he says no god will save me,,, and another boat comes along and he says no again, saying god will save him...., and the third comes along and he says the same thing,,, he dies,, and then ask god why he didnt save him, gods reply is i sent you three boats,, ........................... so i dont want to miss the second boat if it ever comes i dont believe in chances, i believe in gods timing, its weather i listen to him when its the right time, keep carving, arleen

wow all the woodcarving and craft shows are over for the year

wow , folks what a year its been , total of 7 shows, and one demo at a carving club,, since june, thats a lot for me,, i not use to it but did i learn a lot,, i had three day shows, two day shows, one day show, shows during the day, one at night only, for three days, inside, outside( in the tent) and the last one in a outdoor shed,, at joanna,, so i kinda went all out this year,, thinking i will try everything that seemed like a good show, and some were close to home the others were far away,,

if nothing else i had a good time, and learned a great deal,,

here are the things i learned,

one,, its a lot more work than what you think

two, you cant control the weather,,,

three, you meet neat folks along the way, that are willing to help ya,

four, learn what things you need for each season

five , just to have a fun,, have a blast,, you never know who your going to meet, and what your going to sell,

some shows i faired better then others,, but wow, the crowds were super,,

thanks to all that came to the shows to see me, it was my pleasure to meet many of you,, and hope to see you again next year,, i plan to do more if i can,, so now is the time to start planning the classes,, so folks, it been an awesome year,, take care and keep carving,, arleen

CHRISTMAS AT JONNA 2010

CHRISTMAS AT JONNA 2010

NEW PROJECTS COMING SOON

SOME NEW PROJECTS COMING SOON

Hi everyone,, well the thanksgiving project is on hold for a bit cause of the upcoming craft show,, but i wanted folks to see the upcoming projects that i think will be fun to do ,,

the penguin , and the two new santa ,, and that i made a larger version of the morning santa,, all these are made from a block,, so they do not need a pattern,, so enjoy,, keep carving, and i will be back soon with the videos that will finish up the horn of plenty,, thanks for stopping by , keep carving arleen