I somehow missed all of June. It was super hot and even when it was in the 80s, the humidity just sucked the life out of everything. I did manage to get some crafts done somehow, so here are the June Crafts update. First, I kept making purse charms (see above). I mostly did a beach or coastal chic theme for them, but this one above is a pink coquette theme. I put them up on my Etsy, and have sold none.

I also made a ton of phone charms. I really like to make them, like the purse charms! I put them up on my Etsy, and again have sold none. I made one and did a tutorial for my YouTube channel (for the love of all that is holy, please please subscribe and if you watch a video, can you just like it? Please?), and put it on my own phone. It did hold up to the wear and tear, but it bugged me so much I took it off after about ten days. How do the young people manage to use phones with charms on them?

Here’s some more purse charms! Only these aren’t for the store. My dear friend Amy came for a short visit to the shelter on her way to vacation, and I made her a cat-themed purse charm and a dog-themed one for her sister Mary (with whom I was on the school paper, The Crystal, back in 1993). Seeing Amy was one of the highlights of my summer for sure.

Bob suggested I try making some bracelets, and so that is the plan for July. I’m making stacking bracelets, sets of threes. I’m also making some Halloween-themed bracelets, as I saw that people start searching Halloween stuff in July on Etsy. Will they sell? I don’t know. I like stackable bracelets, especially surfer or beach themed bracelets, but generally if it’s something I like, it might not sell.

I’m not officially doing a summer reads this year, but I have been reading. Since my last reading update, I’ve completed the following:

• Hospital Hill by Katherine Anderson (hard copy)
• The Long Walk by Stephen King (audible)
• We Are All the Same in the Dark by Julia Heaberlin (audible)
• Paper Ghosts by Julia Heaberlin (audible)
• The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods (hard copy)

I’m most of the way through the audible format of Murder at Gulls Nest by Jess Kidd, and I’m getting ready to start Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann. The Long Walk was quite memorable and it’s coming out as a movie September 12. I’ve already forgotten what We Are All the Same in the Dark was about, though I know it was a murder mystery. Her Paper Ghosts was a murder mystery as well, and pretty good, about a woman who takes a suspected serial killer with dementia on her search to find out if he killed her sister, but I wonder if I will remember it in a few months. I felt the same about The Lost Bookshop, which was about 100 pages too long to get to the point it needed to make. Murder at Gulls Nest is about a nun who left her order to solve…you guessed it…a murder mystery! Again, kind of cute but probably will be forgettable after a few weeks. I need to update my reading journal and do a YouTube recording soon.

The Mutt Market is just over four weeks away. What all will I finish? I suppose some of it depends on how hot and humid my art space is. Last night it was over 80 degrees and I had two fans blowing on me. I managed to get a little work done, as it felt cooler in there than it had in the previous several days.