Ready or Not, Here We Come!

This past Monday the movers arrived. That in itself was not unexpected since we had scheduled them a couple of months back. Having moved once before with movers, we figured we knew what to expect. The first day they would pack the garage, giving us time to pack bags & get the camper set up. THE MAN and I had run through the schedule many times including how many nights we'd be sleeping in the camper.

They were scheduled to show up at 9 but arrived at 10. By 10:30 two guys were packing up my kitchen.

I ran around like a chicken after a rain picking up worms gathering things I knew we'd need for four nights in the camper. Shortly after I was folding sheets & blankets so they could unassemble the beds. Our theory was the faster they went, the faster the whole moving thing would be over.

Little did I know that night I'd sleep with a cat on my head or perhaps I would not have suggested taking the beds apart so soon. Normal camping only involves the dog. The cat is more of the hide under things sort, nap for long hours every day, and mostly be left alone. He did not take well to sleeping with us in the camper and chose instead to yowl and hang out on my pillow.

After two semi sleepless nights, Wednesday at 10 am, they were pulling out with the tractor trailer full of our stuff and we were saying goodbye to Potsdam. Both THE MAN and I had difficulty leaving. Potsdam was good to all of us.

By Wednesday evening, we pulled into our new house with our camper in the pouring rain for another two nights of sleeping in the camper & round two of cleaning! Thankfully we were able to let the cat loose for a night exploration in the house so we had a better night's sleep!

Things are looking better now a week later. We are nearly unpacked. We have made friends with the rabbits who are all named Jeff. We met a baby robin and countless chipmunks. By this weekend we'll be hanging pictures & mowing grass!

That being said, I'm thankful I have a few scrapbook pages up my sleeve to share with you since it will be a bit before my fingers get inky again! Stop back tomorrow for my Another Freaky Scrappy page!

Happy Monday!

Last Bit O' Junkin' & Fugly Owl

Well, by now things are likely really not fun. In theory they are putting our things on the trucks for delivery down South for unpacking on Friday. I had to of course add a couple of last items to the pile.

Send me to the second hand store with our old stuff and don't expect me to home home with a treasure or two? Yes, not possible.

THE MAN had some choice words to say about the owl. What can I say! I saw on a pin on pinterest where someone spray painted something similar white...just because all the white paint is packed....

Lexi and I played a bit with the spirograph. Anyone else beside me have one of these as a kid? I loved it. Always lost the littlest of the circles though.

I think it should make a come back personally....and you may just see a spirograph on a page of mine soon when I get my things unpacked & creativity starts to flow again!

Happy Hump Day!

You Tuber Video of My Old Studio

Eeek! I can't even watch this. It's super cute. Lexi did a great job. I am just such a freak! It's terrible quality which is the result of using an iphone. But TIME was of essence!

Plus, if the moving crew is done with the garage, they have moved onto the house and this lovely little crafting place of mine looks nothing like it does in the video!

Enjoy & Happy Tuesday!

Towing & Talking

Last week we made a trip down south to our new house. We managed to marathon trip it for just an overnight and fit in closing on the new house, THE MAN visited his new plant, and I went to my office for a meeting. To say we were tired Friday night was a bit of an understatement. 

We hauled a bunch of stuff with us and in fact, when border patrol stopped us just outside of Canton, we had a giggle. The stern looking dude asked us if we were heading off to go camping. Why yes, we normally haul a plant stand, rocks, and spare tires for all our camping trips. Sadly I wished we were heading off for some camping. Much more relaxing than signing a huge stack of papers & driving five hours, not to mention meetings. 

THE MAN got to try out the new trailer he built. He spent all winter building it after picking up the trailer body at a local scrapyard for cheap. They had likely bought it from Fort Drum as military surplus although the trailer bodies had never been used. 

It was a labor of love I believe as it probably did not save us any money, but entertained him for the winter. 

My main contribution to the project was some wire wheeling & cutting him a star with my Silly so we could maintain the military star on the sides & back of the trailer. He made his star white while the original was black. 

Nice part was that I got to see my new office & craft room again. This time it had NOTHING in it, so it was much easier to imagine my stuff in my space. 

I am excited about the yellow and big windows. The brick floor even makes me happy. One does not like to talk about how many messes one has cleaned up off of carpet....I have plans for a rug that is easily washed, my new table, and perhaps a black sparkly chandelier!

I also have plans for roses outside my windows. Currently there are just bushes there and I am pretty sure flowers where I can see them will inspire! I told THE MAN that while we made plan after plan on our way home. 

Movers are here today, so it will be a busy week. IN THEORY, I will be back tomorrow with a video of my old craftroom. Please be gentle...I giggle and laugh and boy was I feeling awkward! 

Happy Monday!

Tractor Paint on my new old Buffet

We got this buffet the same way we got a lot of our early furniture. Nobody else wanted it.

THE MAN believes his Mom bought the buffet from Nick Tavener's Mom when we were kids and I do recall it hanging out in their basement full of craft stuff when we started dating in high school.

Recently it was hanging out in our basement until our garage sale. Marked at $25, we were offered $20 for the hardware.

THE MAN said no. Which is pretty amazing since he said yes to the lady who wanted to buy the coat rack that wasn't for sale and we still needed for the towels by the hot tub.

The next day when she didn't stop back with the full price, he declared we were sanding & painting it. He knew exactly where it would fit in at the new house so was on board for revamping it.

You did notice that one door & the laminate is all bubbled up right? Plus some was actually missing.

A huge amount of wood glue & every single clamp we owned later....we did get the wood mostly flattened. We had to put the buffet on it's back since the door was not coming off. At least, we were not clever enough to get it off!

It also meant that the buffet had to be painted & not stained. Also it meant that the buffet needed to be sanded and sanded some more. And then even more sanding.

Sanding is almost as monotonous as spraying it with the air sprayer. THE MAN is the best with that kind of thing, which is why he sprayed all three coats of black. I tried talking him into that new fansy smancy chalk paint and some kind of crazy color and got THE LOOK. He said, not in my living room. 

He happened to have a huge amount of black semi gloss tractor paint left over from a previous project so that is what we used. We are a thrifty lot. I like how it turned out. You can see a couple of the ripples left from the laminate on the door, but where this is going in the new house, it won't be noticable.

You might also spy a black star by the second leg in from the left on the floor. More on that later! That is a Silly Cut star that had a very important use in the previous tractor paint project.

I'll be back in a week or so with some photos of my buffet installed in our new house! Can't wait! 

Happy Thursday!

Love Me When I Least Deserve It Because...that is When I Really Need it Burlap Canvas: THE CUTTING CAFE

A couple of weekends back our friends invited us to hike Lamson Falls with them & their kids. I suspected that my friend Rich was going to take the opportunity to ask my friend Sara to marry him. Both of them had been married prior with the wrong people so they were really not in a big rush to fall into that same mess again.

However, seeing them together you knew they were married in reality, even if not legally. Rich did not disappoint and when we got to the top of the waterfall, he took Sara aside.

If you know Sara, she is one tough girl. For the majority of his proposal, she wore a WHAT ARE YOU DOING look on her face, until he dropped to one knee. It was pretty romantic and if you are lame like me and cry at the SPCA commercials on TV, you might have also shed a tear at this moment.

Even though I had a PILE of pretty things to use, I was feeling less than inspired so popped over to THE CUTTING CAFE and after a quick search on wedding, had a plan!

I used Regina's A Love Story Sentiment Printable Set for the quote. Having been married myself for quite some time I found it really fitting to use. It prints out nicely at a larger scale as well, so I was able to increase it by 300% and use the image to frame my photo.

I had all kinds of pretty things to use, some Prima Roses, Jolees, handmade roses from my friend Lisa over at You Made Me Ink that I have been hoarding, some shells from Florida, and a little gold mermaid. Our friends enjoy their beach time and once made us watch the Animal Channel show on mermaids so the shells, beach glass, and mermaid fit.

Sara also likes rustic looking things, which is why I chose burlap for the canvase and some little bows. Love that heart with a crown! It's the first I've seen those and I purchased them from Alpha Stamps and are made by Spellbinders.

This pieces makes me really happy and I hope our friends Rich and Sara enjoy it and remember their proposal at the falls more than all the bugs and kids complaining!

Happy Hump Day!

Jenn for President Layout

There is something about this Simple Stories Homemade scrapbook paper that just makes me happy! Add in pink glitter paper with scallops, a vintage doily and a row of buttons and I'm overjoyed!

This was the terrible photo I blogged about yesterday. Messed around with it a bit in Picassa so at least it looks less horrible and cut out the very busy background.  They were sitting in front of our coat closest which when it's open always looks messy! ;-)

Love those buttons that Shirley, the best neighbor ever hooked me up with! So lovely and vintage!

The page itself is pretty flat, which is a minor miracle since I have nearly less to no space left in my current scrapbook. I need to buy a new one, but.....we are moving so it's kinda pointless right yet!

Hope you are having a fantastic Tuesday!

P.S. If Jenn ever runs for present for REAL, I have a page to prove that I knew her! Hmmmm. Maybe I should get Lexi to get her autograph just in case...it is yearbook season!

Thug Bird & a Birthday

Lexi's friend or perhaps we should say fiend...Jenn is another year older.

I have only met her once and at the time, she was very shy. Originally from China, I can see perhaps why she wasn't interested in taking too much. We had a Grandpa & Uncle visiting & were playing poker. We were far from quiet. There wasn't much room to even THINK about talking! ;-)

Her Dad had asked that we also invite another girl that he knew, which we did. The three of them hung out in Lexi's room and ate huge slices of chocolate cake. 

This is the same girl I've heard on Skype taking over the world while four of them are playing At War on-line. She also would like to be president of the US and can draw like a crazy!

So, when Lexi said she needed some help making her a card, I volunteered. Lexi also offered to trade her video editing skills, so I was also in LUCK!

I had promised a video of my craft room ages and ages ago and we are moving in less than a week and a half! Had to get on that!

While I was making Jenn a card, I also scrapped the photo I took the day she came over. It was a horrible iPhone picture, but I used a Lizzy Hill technique where I cut out the background so it then became more usable!

Here is something Jenn drew for Lexi after she got back from Florida and after hearing of her issues with the Thug Birds aka Pelican gangsters! 

Back tomorrow with my page. 

Anyone else think that having a president that is creative would be a huge asset? 

Happy Monday!

Be You: Age 13 Layout for Another Freaking Scrappy

This brand new sketch from Another Freaking Scrappy corresponded with a new kit I had just received and I took the opportunity to show case some of the lovely papers & a vintage doily on this layout I made for my daughter.

I asked Lexi to write some journaling on what her plans are for when she grows up. I thought this photo I took of her back in the winter looked slighly Brittish (with the long coat) and matched the paper & what she wrote perfectly!

 Pretty sure Lizzy Hill will be impressed with my blue jay feather I used! Do you all have those big ole squalkers in Oz there Lizzy?

Here is a side view of some pebble stickers I used and my crazy vellum & lace flower cluster.

Hope you get a chance to play along with Anne & the girls over at Another Freaking Scrappy!

Happy Sunday!

Thift Store Flowers & Silver Scallop Bowl

While I was on my search for Owl Materials I ran across this lovely silver scallop bowl at a second hand store that has been hanging out on my dining room table. I have randomly been attacking it with white toothpaste to get rid of some of the tarnish, but I don't mind a little of that here and there! I was GOING to make the owl from this but THE MAN said it was kinda too nice. Yes it is too nice. I paid a whole $3 for this and most of the stuff I used on the owl were free....

I found those flowers in the bowl yesterday at the second hand store for 75 cents and almost squealed. I love Prima but sometimes the price tag gets me a little so I can augment with these old and tattered ones. Best thing is they are already aged! ;-)

My favorite find recently is this milk glass container! It's already been altered, but you'll have to wait a bit to see it all fancied up!

And when you run out of things to buy, you can always make your own!

I cut that large P shape out myself after printing a rather large P on my large format printer. Fun times!

Hope you are gearing up for some great crafting this weekend!

When the Daffodils Bloom: Layout for Forrest our Pup

It's a weird kind of quirk of mine, scrapping funerals and pets that have passed.

But I think it's important to acknowledge that life isn't all sunshine and roses and that things happen sometimes that are hard. Tuck them in amongst your pages and you get a good handle on life when you flip through a scrapbook album.

Our pup Forrest had been on a decline for the past couple of years. We suspect the lime disease from a tick attacked his joints making it harder and harder for him to walk.

In fact, when I went looking for recent photos I saw we really had not taken any for quite a while. I think it was the tired & pained look in his eye.

Nearly a month ago we called our local farm vet and had her come over as it was his time to go to Rainbow Bridge. I told my husband we had to wait until the daffodils bloomed so he could sniff them one last time.

My Mom and I were talking as we tucked a few wild plants in on his grave about Rainbow Bridge this past weekend.

I told her that I suspected as he arrived he met Frank right off.

Frank was our Westie that died when we first moved to our North Country House.

Hey Jackass I can see him barking. What took you so long?

My Mom said, oh no! In Heaven I don't believe there is any concept of time or how long something has taken.

That does sound heavenly as it feels like just yesterday as I hid around the corner of the garage sitting on the ground and bawled. Will totally miss that dog. He sat on my feet and farted as I worked. Best co-worker ever! The day we had it scheduled I hung out with him in our gardens and fed him venison jerky.

Just a close up of all the pretty stuff I used including some dyed ribbon and a neat little pin with wings!

Hope your Hump Day is moving right along!

Hugs!

Hot Men & A Finished Lab Table

THE MAN attached my new BUTCHER BLOCK table top to my new/old lab table the other night. I am hoping they send very strong moving men as I can no longer even pick up one side of it. I was really hoping for strong HOT moving men, but I no doubt will have my hopes dashed.

The last move involved two different sets of moving men and none of them really qualified in the hot catagory. Nothing like our trash guy who really is movie star hot and who has all his teeth. Sadly I never run into the trash guy as lurking around the end of our driveway seems a bit over the top.

The dude who brought the top on a tractor trailer freight class was also not hot, but he had a thing for my jeep so he got points. I shuttled the top down from the end of the driveway to the garage in my jeep as tractor trailers cannot make the turn into our driveway. Picture me driving real real slow with this big counter hanging out the back and you'll get the picture....

Tonight THE MAN (who is hot) will show me how to use REAL RIVETS to attach this little metal tag that fell off the table while I was sanding. I have no clue where it goes but it make me happy.

Yes it's been painted & inked up with scrapbooking supplies...It's kinda shout out to the original color, rust and turquoise!

Why yes, this table has totally come a long way!

Hope your Tuesday is Sweet! 

Getting to Know My Creative Process

Yvonne the Rock Star blog owner of LESSology and her personal blog Do More with Less invited me to be part of a virtual blog hop to share my answers to the following questions:

1. What are you working on?

2. How does your work differ from others of its genre? 

3. Why do you write/create what you do?

4. How does your writing/creating process work? 

Before I jump into writing about me, I want to tell you a couple of things I really admire about Yvonne. Her most fabulous painting on her Getting to Know My Creative Process post is out of this world and she used wires from a recycled light in her painting so you should pop over and check that out. I am often pinning her work because she is so creative! She also once wrote a post about how she mostly posts & blog hops during the week, giving herself the weekend off. Maybe she can hook me up with the link again, but it really hit home on giving yourself time to recharge & stuck in my brain! 

Right now I am working on a lot of things that involve a whole lot of sanding and painting! Our move is right around the corner and we are prepping furniture for paint! This is a project from this past weekend where I took a wooden clock frame and played around with spray paint & some silver leafing paint. I am trying to talk myself out of adding rolled roses to it at the moment in the theory it's just fine the way it is! I am anxious of course to hang it in our new house.

What I am MOST excited to work on though are these thrift store finds that involve possibly welding and at least one deep dive through THE MAN's extensive collection of hardware! I have big plans for these locks & spindles!

I think my work is different than a lot of other crafters as I typically do not have the latest products right at my fingertips. Or, time to order them! I am in the second hand store once a week scouring for something that jumps out at me. Honestly it doesn't bother me though because I have had a lot of fun making my own things to add or coming up with new ideas on how to embellish something.

I create because I have to create. It's like it's all in my head and has to come out. I blog however because I love to write and I enjoy the community of artists who make scrapbook pages, altered items, and art!

My creative process usually starts when I find something that is in serious need of a good alteration to make it prettier! Although recently I participated in a challenge where the three of us came up with four triggers per project and ran with what worked!

I am hoping the two girls Lisa (QUIRKS) & Sue (ONION) who participated in the Technicolor Trio of Tempting Treats will post about their creative process! I am DYING to know what makes them tick! Yes clock pun intended!

Hope you have a great Monday! 

Hoot Hoot! New Challenge at LESSology!

I first spotted owls on Pinterest made from a variety of recycled materials. I pinned them and wanted my own. In fact, I swiped the pin from fellow teamie Julie!

When I found the metal clock face in a bin for free at the second hand store, I started planning my owl! I knew our challenge this month was to include an animal in our project and I wanted my project to BE an animal.

The silver tray was also a second hand store find and the clock face fit in it perfectly.

The metal ears were once part of a heart tart pan that I took apart. The metal base is the owl body that was covered with embossed copper & painted. Some vintage lace covers the top.

Of course, I bet you can guess what the eyes are made out of! Canning jar lids, rusty washers, and a crystal eye ball!

I am pretty sure the ones I spotted on Pinterest were meant to be hung in your garden, but mine is hanging out in my studio with me. The paper flowers don't lend themselves to being placed outside, but I really loved the addition of the rolled roses!

Love the patten and color they add!

And what owl isn't complete with a birch stick to hold on to and some bow ties!

Hope you get a chance to play along with us over at LESSology! Upcycling is a HOOT!

Technicolor Trio of Tempting Treats Week 6: Pratt Inc. Blocks

Yesterday I showed you my fireplace. Yes, I am beyond excited about having one and I wanted to make something PRETTY for ours.

THE MAN was on board for helping me. IN fact, he quite cabably cut these blocks for me WITH GROOVES even! Check out my before photo! The light colored block is sanded but not spritzed with mist yet, but you can kinda see what they started out like.

And, you can also see my very small & very old block that served as a model for my large blocks!

Lisa (QUIRKS) & Sue (ONION) are my partners in crime for these treats and we have several requirements to meet on THIS LAST CHALLENGE!

• Altered Boxes or ATB’s
• Wings
• Game pieces
• Seasonal display-Pick any Season you like

Now the last time I made altered trading boxes, I used paper and THE MAN made fun of me for hours.

He offered to let me cheat and to cut them out of wood. PLEASE don't tell Regina...honestly though, I am not sure wood is any easier as there is all that sanding!

And sanding dries out your hands unlike working with paper and hot glue!

There was some sanding on my GINORMOUS P but only to make sure both pieces of wood were even that I cut out to make the P shape. I then spent a good hour adding the metal tape that I embossed overtop. True labor of LOVE right there! 

Check out that key dragonfly with the crystal head. I seriously LOVE THOSE! A great way to get "wings" on your project!

Love this metal piece too that I added some of the Ragner Patina too. That stuff sticks so nicely to metal and I really dig the color!

So I didn't use game pieces, but I made my own blocks so I am calling that requirement met! Seasonal was a bit harder, but can we think of this as a nice spring green with dragonflies that emerge in the Spring? Ok, so it's a stretch!

And one more photo for SCALE! These are pretty big!

Can't wait to try them out!

Happy Hump Day!

Hints, Allegations, and Things Left Unsaid

So, I have been sanding a lot lately.

It's amazing outside so I just want to spend every single minute I can outdoors or in the garage with the doors open.

I also am MOTIVATED to work on furniture now I have seen where certain pieces can fit into my new house.

I am also motivated to make things because I have a new thing I'm really really excited about.

It's black and white. AND granite!

Ok one teeny tiny photo. (It's a horrible photo by the way, so sorry to my realtor but I think I can take a better one!) I would have at least attempted one when I was there, but I was trying to be polite and besides the lady of the house had taken most everything down!

Indoor photos are all about lighting and in her defense, it's pretty dark in the living room. I am sure I'll spend some time figuring out WHEN to take the best photos.

Anyhow that wooden P at the top there is a teaser for what I'm posting tomorrow.

The VERY LAST project for the Technicolor Trio of Tempting Treats! Come back and visit on Hump Day!

Happy Anniversary Card in A Box Set from THE CUTTING CAFE

I really LOVED making this Card in a Box!

I am anxious to try my hand at one again as they are so much fun!

Sending a HUGE THANKS to Regina over at THE CUTTING CAFE for this fabulous file! It also comes with embellishments that you can use to decorate your card! I printed out the Happy Anniversary from the file and it was super quick to add to my card!

I picked heavy stuff to add to mine, which is why I had to weigh it down with little feet! I built a bottom for mine & added nuts that were sprayed gold!   My card is stationary but her file is meant to allow the inside decorations to slide up and down. Which is exactly why I want to try it again with things that aren't quite so heavy like brass key dragonflies & sparkly gem leaves!

They are super duper pretty though! They match the little metal piece I used on the front!

My parents have the coolest pond ever and I always enjoy the dragonflies, so I thought they would make a nice addition to their card! They will be be celebrating their anniversary next week!

Huge congrats to them!

I tried adding THREE dragonflies to this card, but settled on two due to the weight. My spare dragonfly is down front of the this card. and I have big plans to use it elsewhere this week!

Hop on over to THE CUTTING CAFE and check out her files! 

Hope your Monday is fantastic!