Haunting the Thrift Store

I have been haunting the thrift store lately on the prowl for good stuff. 

I am a bit confused obviously because I am posting thrifting finds that I will use to decorate my mantle for Christmas and today in the States, it's Halloween!

Rest assured we'll be celebrating tonight. They are too old for the trick o' treating part but we have plans to visit a Haunted House and also to head over to the Rockwell Museum to see some Sugar Skulls on Sunday. 

(And how do you like that burgandy case, omg, is it not super vintagey or what! Rock on!)

Happy Weekend too!

The Fifth Icicle for Linda's Funkie Junkie 12 Tag Challenge

This is my fifth icicle for Linda's Funkie Junkie 12 Tags of Christmas. Linda's store The Funkie Junkie Boutique sponsors the tags and she is also the Rock Star behind our inspiration!

This is my FAVORITE tag of hers so far. She pulled out the silver, black and twinkle!

I imagine the gentleman is hurrying home to his family with a beautiful wreath that his MRS. will LOVE! So I used a sparkley love word on my icicle!

My favorite part of this icicle besides the bling is my Lisa Flower, vintage silver leaf, and glass crystal!

Lisa at You Made Me Ink has been playing along with this challenge too, so if you get a minute, pop on over and see her version of the tag! (hint, she's using canning jar lids, OH MY!)

What a sparkly bling filled pile of icicles! So much fun! Only 7 to go, sadly! I better get a stack of icicles prepped for the rest of the tags!

Hope your Hump Day was fabulous and involved just a bit of glitter!

The Forth Icicle for Linda's Funkie Junkie 12 Tag Challenge

I can't.STOP.making.icicles! EEK! I am having so much fun I can't stand it! This is my forth icicle for Linda's Funkie Junkie 12 Tags of Christmas. Linda's store The Funkie Junkie Boutique sponsors the tags and just in case you weren't for sure on playing along..she gives away several gift certs to her store at the end of the challenge. And if that wasn't enough, she also offers 10% off to everyone who plays along with each challenge. I can PROMISE YOU I will be taking her up on that offer again this year. Her prices are already super low.

Sorry it looks like it snowed on my pointsetta, but I got carried away with the vintage glitter! The warm temperatures today are just making us believe winter isn't around the corner!

Linda's tag is simply stunning with the careful stenciling. That really said traditional to me, so I used those colors and also some velvet holly leaves and poinetta. Her tag has holly allllll over it! I also used a metal piece that says "traditional"in the center of my bottle cap. Like how it fit perfectly in the cap!

I also cut up a beaded bracelet & wrapped around my bottle cap. It's really crazy fun! Of course I had to add a heart to match the pretty little upside down flower hearts on Linda's tag. 

Four down! Eight to go! Happy Hump Day Peeps!

The Third Icicle for Linda's Funkie Junkie 12 Tag Challenge

Are you feeling winter's chill just yet? Chock full of snowflakes, I'm back today with my third icicle for  Linda's Funkie Junkie 12 Tags of Christmas. Linda's store The Funkie Junkie Boutique sponsors the tags.

I was inspired by Linda's colors and huge snowflake on her tag. I did not however go with the whole CAS look...that was lost on me as I layered flowers, gems, and flakes!

I really enjoyed the gold, so I added quite a bit to my flake.

Three tags down and nine to go!

The Second Icicle for Linda's Funkie Junkie 12 Tag Challenge

It's Monday (again, eeek!). I'm back today with my second icicle for  Linda's Funkie Junkie 12 Tags of Christmas. Linda's store The Funkie Junkie Boutique sponsors the tags.

Her second tag screamed retro! I really wish I could have dug up some checker ribbon, but alast, had to run with one that had dots on it instead!

I replaced the poinsetta with a green flower, used a red ribbon on the top, and dug up a clear snowflake to match her card. My favorite part of my "tag" is the Santa in the bottle cap and the gingerbread man waving from behind the flower.

Two tags down, ten to go! I can't wait!

The First Icicle for Linda's Funkie Junkie 12 Tag Challenge

Yesterday I showed you the snowflakes & icicles I am using as a base for my "tags" that I am making to participate in Linda's Funkie Junkie 12 Tags of Christmas. Linda's store The Funkie Junkie Boutique sponsors the tags.

I have a lovely tag to case for Week One.

The reindeer stood out to me first and foremost. The lovely crinkle colored ribbon also was a pleasing surprise. She used very vintage colors as well, so I wanted red, green, with that splash of teal for my creation.

Love the sparkles in the sun! So pretty!

I'll be back Monday with the second tag I mean icicle!

12 Icicles of Christmas: Frozen Style

It will be my THIRD YEAR participating in the Linda's Funkie Junkie 12 Tags of Christmas. Linda's store The Funkie Junkie Boutique sponsors the tags. I am pretty fond of her store, she carries EVERYTHING I like a whole lot so shopping is a breeze! ;-)

And by tag, in my book that means something not so tag like. 

One year I decorated the metal tops of square Herb Ox containers.

Another year it was small metal sample dishes in a metal box. 

And this year.....I'm making snowflakes attached to glittery icicles. 

I found a bag of these icicles at the secondhand store and spent some time with my Tim Holtz Snowflake Rosette die (which by the way Linda sells) and have been making up some blanks. I intend to decorate the center of the snowflake. 

I have two different kinds of glue that go into making these work as well as some mists. I use a fabric glue to hold the two snowflakes together as well as a lot of hot glue. Then I sprinkle some Renea Bouquets Chunky Glitter Glass on the edges. 

Lexi says they look like they are from Frozen! Which gives me another idea...

Back tomorrow with my first "tag" to show you!

Purple Japanese Lantern for the Birthday Girl

I just figured out the other day that I have more cans of spray paint than spray mist. This is terrible! I must buy more mist....

I did just add a color to my collection. It's not one I'll use a lot. I have a semi Lizzy Hill phobia to purple, let's not tell my kid.

I did already HAVE purple spray paint, I just thought it would look terrible on this paper Japanese lantern that I got for free!

Well, it was a good thing it was free since while I was buying mist, I also grabbed a couple of packages of flowers! The big purple ones were at least on sale...

And if you like purple, that is some awesome shimmer shine right there!

It took me two days to find the fishing twine (in the fishing tackle box in the camper) and now I'm on the hunt for a cup hook to hang this lantern from Lexi's ceiling right above her desk chair...

Wish me luck!

Sassy Birthday Layout

Lexi (or Sassy as she called herself when she was four, specifically ME SASSY!!!! with the emphasis being hers) seems to have celebrated her birthday for nearly a month!

From watching all four Pirates of the Caribbean to having her friend Cora spend the night, it's been one long celebration! We managed to hit three glass shows at the museum over the weekend and bought a glass snake...

The actual DAY of her birthday was pretty cool though. She wanted to window shop on Market Street, get a burrito at Boomers, and go to the Rockwell Museum!

Since she was off school that day due to Columbus Day, I took a couple of hours off work to hang out with her!

The page is pretty simple, most of it is journaling, with some really cool doilies & leaves from Awesome Up North Shirly! Lizzy Hill suggested I take a blog post I wrote and turn it into a page. I added a few things, but for the most part, the whole post is on the page! Printed it right on my patterend paper using a large format printer. Here is what it says:

My oldest turns 14 today. I know, I have a teen. I haven't noticed much except now I have a mostly helpful partner in crime for food shopping who maintains pushing around a cart full of food should be followed by a taco. 

She has my jeep programed to play her Pandora Bastille Radio station. She then rummages around in my purse for gum, sunglasses, lip gloss, and then turns on our heated seats for the ride. Often I am deep in thought or "stinking" like she calls it. She yells at me to SMILE AND BE HAPPY and I snap back to reality.

Sometimes I'm running her down to Market Street for her guitar lessons with Melvin (who incidentally doesn't think it's funny if you ask him if he's one of the Chipmunks). She is getting proficient with the guitar, but still isn't keen to show it off to everyone. If you have heard her play, it's because you've shared a campfire with us.

Right now she is hoping desperately that her science teacher gets a chinchilla for their classroom, She's also wishing for a pet snake, and likes chocolate rice krispies for breakfast or toast with nutella. All these things change daily almost like her height.

She has bigger feet than me, is taller, has longer hair and far more patience. For now, she still thinks I'm cool.

Well, maybe not cool, but at least OK.

THE MAN said we should have woke her up at 2 am (when my water broke) and then keep her up to the following morning until 2:30 am after they finally let us all go to bed. Only to wake her up a couple hours later with some nerve shattering screaming. (We think she was saying GIVE ME FOOD NOW or something in baby). Oh the memories, eek!

Today we walked around Market Street and window shopped. Then she talked me into going in the Rockwell Museum where I fell in love with a stick pony. This was after burritos at Little Boomers so we were walking on very full stomachs!

Tonight we have a double chocolate cake picked out for dinner with super extra cheese mac and cheese, what a feast!

I am back tomorrow with a present I made Lexi that I am pretty pleased about! Lizzy Hill will love allllll the flowers I used!

And speaking about flowers, this is one of my favorite presents she got on her birthday! A flower cake!

Happy Tuesday!

Batty Bacon Buddy Ben's Birthday: for the CUTTING CAFE

My nephew moves into Tweenie land soon. Ok, so he'll be a teenager at the end of this month (add some eye rolling for effect).

I thought I'd use one of Regina's fabulous graphics paired up with a cutting file to make this batty card! The Halloween & Fall in Jar printable set is very versatile. I personally LOVE the jar with acorns and toyed around with the idea that my nephew is a lil nutty...so maybe make him a card with nuts!

I opted to use the bat card BECAUSE I can give the bat red gem stone eyes, Yes, as always when in doubt bling!

Red eyed bat was an extra I cut & glittered just to make the whole thing extra batty! The smaller bats behind were right on the printable and I added some liquid glass to turn them shiny!

And red eyed bats always accompany orange basket ball paper & purple roses, right?

Was going for the whole Halloween look, yet boy colors.

Hope my bacon buddy Ben likes his card. Or at least the gifty card that falls out of it!

Have a good one, Ben! We'll have some bacon together soon over Thanksgiving!

Seasons at Dunkin'

After supper and after I had already changed into my bathrobe last night, I recalled that the coffee I was supposed to have purchased on the trip to town was still in town. I wasn't keen on getting back into clothes and driving down the hill, but the threat of a coffee-less morning was horrifying.

I decided to take the opportunity to swing into Dunkin Donuts and pick some up. Usually reserved for a treat, it saved me time driving to the other end of town AND I could possibly get a donut. WIN-WIN!

I ran in, grabbed my coffee and waited to be checked out. Finally the two young dudes who had been messing around with the drive through showed up at the counter. One was clearly grumpy with the other in a fairly big way. I had spied a rare toasted coconut donut and was celebrating my luck so I was ignoring the dirty looks one was giving the other.

Head Doughnut dude started to cash me out. Feeling like a Mom I said nicely to him, why it can't be all that bad to work in a doughnut shop. You work with your hands and around people, right? Not like reading email all day, some of which isn't always nice! He sighed as he plopped my prize doughnut in a bag.

Well he said, "Everyone else makes over minimum wage and I have been here a lot longer and only make that."

Eyebrows raised for not getting blown off, I pressed on. "Have you discussed that with the managers?"

"Yeah, but it doesn't help." he said as he swiped my card.

I looked at him in the face and said YOU HAVE TO KEEP ON THEM. No seriously you do.

I meant it. I have been in his shoes before and on the opposite side of the fence. Sometimes it's a pita to try to get someone what they deserve. Sometimes it's a pita to keep fighting for what you deserve.

Don't give up Donut Dude! Fight the good fight! And years from now when you look back to your first job, you will see that there are seasons in life. A season where you make donuts and fight for better pay and then later when you wish you were just making donuts some days!

Garden Shed & Climbing Rose

She's done! (And already full!)

We finally got our garden shed wrapped up! Good thing too, we needed the space! All the outdoor implements needed to move inside for the winter.

And look Lizzy Hill, I even bought a climbing rose to start making it look pretty! Will have to wait until spring for flowers though! The previous owners left us a smidge of trellis, so THE MAN attached it to the side for me. It will match the front of the house & a second climbing rose. I have planted the hostas back along the side of the shed here under the lilac, so hopefully come spring, it will be really cool!

Let me just tell you, this time of year left over plants are on serious sale! ;-)

Do you see my little P on the side of the shed? I have been hoarding that metal intial since this summer at my big ole junking trip to the Hudson Valley. So glad it's up where I can enjoy it! It's vintage and used to be something people installed in the middle of their metal screen doors..I'm thinking 50ties maybe?

The old shed that came with the place is also gone. We put it on Craig's List for free and next think you know, some dude was here with a trailer, a winch, and rolled off with it!

Happy Friday!

Pretty Pedi, Toasty Toes layout for Another Freaking Scrappy

I ran across this photo the other day. I was immediately jealous of myself! First, I was camping with a lovely fire AND I had a pedi! Fun times!

Thanks Another Freaking Scrappy for encouraging me to scrap this photo. Anne has a cool sketch that inspired me to do some ripping and tearing! The squiggle made me think of tearing. I really wanted a whole patterned paper background so I compromised with the tearing. I also flipped it so I could use my photo in portrait format.

I also used a sideways title from the sketch and did some journaling on the photo. Nice bright and cheerful! Now to find some time to get my toes done again!

I am IN LOVE with that pink doily! Those hearts are also SO AWESOME!

Hope you get a chance to hang with us over at AFSC!

Happy Hump Day!

BEER layout from Climbing Bines Brewery

My cousin Josh has always been a free spirit. For years he lived in Alaska. When he returned to NY he had a couple of jobs until he ended up with some friends who were running Climbing Bines Brewery. He is the Assistant Brewmaster, which I believe is a fancy way of saying he works a lot, very hard manually, but usually with a beer in his hand.

Since my hand usually has an iphone and the most manual labor I do is moving a mouse all day, I can say I might be a smidge jealous. ;-) Oh and he also gets to wear mud boots a lot. I'd be cool with that!

The other day THE MAN decided we needed to take a trip up to check out the brewery. It's probably 45 minutes from the house up along Seneca Lake. It's a beautiful ride. Sadly my cousin was away but the people watching was awesome! Check out the lovely vintage car that was in my view! I enjoyed the sun, the drive, the beer, and some alone time with MY MAN! ;-)

I did a little bit of stamping and smudging on my page to match my drips! Love those chippy butterflies!

Hope you are living your dream or at least happy that it's almost HUMP DAY!

Double Chocolate Cake, Extra Cheese Mac, and some Stinkin'

My oldest turns 14 today. I know, I have a teen. I haven't noticed much except now I have a mostly helpful partner in crime for food shopping who maintains pushing around a cart full of food should be followed by a taco. In case you get caught with the taco wrappers, it's best to bring home a 12 pack for everyone.

She has my jeep programed to play her Pandora Bastille Radio station. She then rummages around in my purse for gum, sunglasses, lip gloss, and then turns on our heated seats for the ride. Often I am
deep in thought or "stinking" like she calls it. She yells at me to SMILE AND BE HAPPY and I snap back to reality.

Sometimes I'm running her down to Market Street for her guitar lessons with Melvin (who incidentally doesn't think it's funny if you ask him if he's one of the Chipmunks). She is getting proficient with the guitar, but still isn't keen to show it off to everyone. If you have heard her play, it's because you've shared a campfire with us.

Right now she is hoping desperately that her science teacher gets a chinchilla for their classroom, She's also wishing for a pet snake, and likes chocolate rice krispies for breakfast or toast with nutella. All these things change daily almost like her height.

She has bigger feet than me, is taller, has longer hair and far more patience. For now, she still thinks I'm cool. Well, maybe not cool, but at least OK.

THE MAN said we should have woke her up at 2 am (when my water broke) and then keep her up to the following morning until 2:30 am after they finally let us all go to bed. Only to wake her up a couple hours later with some nerve shattering screaming. (We think she was saying GIVE ME FOOD NOW or something in baby). Oh the memories, eek!

Tonight we have a double chocolate cake picked out for dinner with super extra cheese mac and cheese, what a feast!

Happy Birthday Sassy!

Bridge Layout & Favorite Photo from the Summer

I always start off a week all bright and shiny with brilliant plans. My latest was to have layouts all made and just ready for a title, photo, and some journaling. Kinda like it's all in the crock pot, just add a few spices and let it simmer....

And then it took me an entire week to add one photo, a title, and some journaling....

This whole working and school thing is for the birds!  Not to mention I am using a photo from this summer so wishing for those easier days!

It is my FAVORITE photo from this summer captured quite accidentally. If you knew my two babies, you might imagine Lexi trying to straighten Luke out for the BETTER. If you knew my Luke you'd imagine him pretending to listen until he couldn't take much more. The argument might end with Lexi calling him a parrot and Luke stomping off.

They weren't arguing in this photo, I just liked Lexi's braid and captured her brother talking with his hands on while on the bridge over the Hudson.

Of course used a few of my favorite things on this page...like a super sweet butterfly from Renea Bouquets and a Let It Go badge from Scraptastic!

Happy Weekend! Hope you get a chance to do something fun! I believe I have more painting in my future! Not on paper, but a shed!