Crazy for Upcycled Cloches

Oh dear spring, how happy I am you have finally arrived! So happy I've been planting! These little glass choches were at the Restore a bit back and I paired them up with a plate, tea cup, and glass votive. It's amazing how easy it was to put them all together! Epoxy is really my new favorite adhesive!

The ribbon makes them extra cool in my book. I hand dyed some seam binding & crinked it up!

I used a part of a drawer pull painted gold to thread the ribbon through. It was perfect! A little epoxy holds it on the glass.

The most awesome part is I think these glass domes get me outta watering....rock on!

Happy Thursday!

Weaving Collaborative: Grandma Ireland Rainbow Woven Dream Catcher

Every so often the very talented Tina Walker (who blogs over at A Dog's Life) organizes a collaborative between artists. This time 'round it's a weaving one! I was rather interested to give it a whirl, but I didn't have a loom so had to make due.

First up was finding something to start with. Located this round hoop at the ReStore. The doily was already in place, but was a rather hot mess. I removed a ribbon someone had woven in, bleached the doily, and spray painted the hoop. 

I colored the stretched doily with some stamp pad ink and then added that lovely photo of my Grandma Ireland and some little flowers. 

Added the little weaving at the bottom. Alternated with some fluffy soft yarn and some hand dyed string. The friendship pin & gold thread was the last addition. Loved the idea of a friendship pin..remember those from back in the day?

Currently my little wall hanging is hanging out with a few other things I love in my studio, but soon it's off to my Mom because she really likes that photo of my Grandma!

If you want to take a hop around the other weaving projects, the links are below!

Martha Richardson

http://tinyurl.com/ho8nxg5

Beth Soler

http://scrappingwonders.com/weaving-art-fun

Albion Gould

http://wp.me/p57foU-1zx

DeeDee Catron

http://deedeecatron.blogspot.com/2016/04/lets-weave-baby.htm

l

Tina Walker

http://adogslife-thirteen.blogspot.com/2016/04/artist-weaving-collab.html

Laura Mooney

http://happinessequalscreation.blogspot.com/2016/04/artist-weaving-collaboration.html

Robyn Crowningshield

https://cozienookhomestead.wordpress.com/2016/04/27/artist-weaving-collaboration/

Happy Hump Day!

Hooray Layout (not quite Kraft + but close)

I was inspired to make this page by the Kraft + white and black challenge, however once I got part of it made, I veered off course and added some blues and greens in.

Although it's a manly page, adding those flowers really made me happy! And since Lizzy Hill is on the DT, added some really cool feathers I found! (waving, hi Lizzy!)

Added a small strip of teal washi that has planes on it. Since this is Civil Air Patrol, I thought it was fitting! Really have been enjoying getting to make a few more pages lately. It's funny how we go through stages with the creative process!

And how do you like that photo? Luke is ranking up again in Civil Air Patrol! So proud! Loved this photo! Thanks Beth for hooking me up!

Happy Tuesday!

Memorandum Monday: Air Plants and Fresh Air

Oh goodness, 25% off at the ReStore for Earth Day and a free re-usable bag, how can one resist! Plus, they had my stuff down there! Wish I could have spent longer, they had all kinds of new goodies out!

Pretty sure I'll be using these two items together...epoxy is my best friend. Not sure what I'll use the handles on but they are epic!

The Corning ReStore had their Earth Day event set up on the construction side of the shop when I went this past Friday at lunch but they were hoping for sunny weather to set up outside the following day.

Can you see those little air plants on the right? I thought of putting those little plants in a little glass cup and ordered them a few from Amazon. I love air plants. I'll have to show you that idea later. Little glass cups seems to be a mainstay item at a second hand store, so maybe you'll want to give it a try. ;-)

On the subject of Earth Day & buying stuff at second hand stores:

Recycling means less garbage is going into landfills. Did you know: for every dollar generated in sales at the ReStore, 1.3 pounds of material is diverted from the landfill.

Anyhow, we're off this week Spring Breaking which means learning lots of interesting things, getting inspired by new horizons, and spending some time in outside in the fresh springtime air!

Hope Spring has finally sprung for Sian who is our sock knitting, scrapbooking hostess From High in the Sky. I hear she has a new driver, which is awesome, yet slightly scary so I am also giving her a high five!

Shroom Making Kits for Earth Day at THE RESTORE

I have six mushroom making kits heading down to the ReStore for Earth Day which is TOMORROW! I thought I'd post the directions on how to make these in case you wanted to try them at home.

You will need:

1. two heavy duty cardboard spools (one with a bottom, one without)
2. twine and/or Washi Tape 
3. a doily
4. two red circles of material
5. black lace
6. cotton balls
7. a pot to plant your schrooms in (we are using gold spray painted punch cups)
8. hot glue
9. decorations

You will first need to pull (or cut) the top off your spools so you can build the mushroom part. I hot glued five cotton balls on the top and carefully hot glued the red fabric over the top. Then I hot glued the black lace on. I then hot glued five cotton balls on the bottom. Repeat for the second mushroom. You can add variety by making one bigger or plumper than the other mushroom. 

Add the trimmed lace doily before reattaching the top of the mushroom to the cardboard stem with some hot glue. You can then decorate the stem with washi tape or twine. Pull the bottom off the second spool and cut the second stem at an angle. Add washi tape/twine before hot gluing the angeled stem to the main shroom. 

You can now hot glue the shrooms into the pot. Add more hot glue and attach the moss. Add some greenry or flowers. You can also add a little fairy to the top, a bird, butterfly or something else that is awesome. I added glitter to my mushrooms and a little scotty dog button with flowers to my copper spray painted pot. 

The best part about this project is that with the exception of the twine, moss & cotton balls, it's all upcycled stuff! Happy Earth Day and hope you get a chance to upcycle something! 

Epic Metallic Votive Holders for the ReStore

Was playing around with those Olive Garden dipping cups they gave me at the ReStore last week and came up with a combination of glass paint & silver mirror paint that I really liked. Let me show you what they looked like before....

Honestly on the scale of hard, this is a super easy project. I glued the glass candlesticks that are pretty much a mainstay of any second hand store or a dollar store to the bottom of the small dipping cup with epoxy. The kind I used worked in five minutes but cured over an hour so you could do the second painting step right off.

I then painted them with turquoise glass paint. Interestingly enough, the glass paint worked on the ceramic just like it did on the glass. You just mix your paint color with the Vitrea thinner, apply with a large brush, let dry overnight and then bake.

The looking glass paint goes on very thinly so if you don't use a lot, the glass color will show through under it, which is pretty.

You can then decorate your item! Since I used battery operated candles, I opted to make hemp bows and add some petaloo lilac flowers. I also added some washi around my candles so they matched, which is the beauty of battery operated ones!

These are headed to the ReSTore for their earth day celebration!

Vintage Peacock Feather Clear Cardstock Box for THE CUTTING CAFE Shop

Have I mentioned how much I love making boxes? This one was a bit tricky as I had that metal caddy that I wanted to use for feet, so measuring was pretty critical to get the box to fix inside it. I used a couple of pieces of scrap paper in the cutter before I got brave and used the clear cardstock that Regina is selling over at THE CUTTING CAFE Shop. The actual box is the Hershey Kiss Window box (minus the window) that I resized a lot.

The genus part of the clear cardstock (besides the part where you can see through it) is that it's very durable. It's also shiny so you are able to spray it with spray paint or heat emboss it. I used just a little gold and purple spray paint. It's also heavy duty and rigid so I wasn't afraid of tearing it when I slid it into the metal caddy.

I cut the top out of paper and you can see that the same spray paint reacts much differently with the paper! I did love the contrast between the clear cardstock and the paper. Totally dig that huge bloom that I got on an etsy store. Wish I knew which one so I could link back to them. It was a purchase long ago and I have been hoarding it! Just like I've been hoarding that peacock feather & that chipped handle! A special box requires pulling out all the stops though!

Huge thanks to Regina for sending me some clear cardstock to try! This box makes me happy! Can't wait to gift it to a friend with something special inside!

Happy Tuesday!

Memorandum Monday: Maintenance Mode

Most of the weekend was spent in the sun. Thankfully it's turned back into spring here again (finally) and we able to take the camper out locally for an overnight. It had to be de-winterized & we wanted to make sure everything was working from the winter. Sunday we spent on lawn clean up. Since it was already spring once, I have already raked the lawn once. But, whatever is worth doing once is worth doing again, so got out the rake and got all the sticks cleaned up from our big snow.

Being out and about with the hot sun also meant a good spray painting opportunity. Got the bird bath painted and then assembled it with a long threaded rod, nuts and washers. I drilled holes through the bowl and the stand with a tile bit and since both pieces are terracotta, it was pretty easy drilling. I learned how to use a tool for measuring the center of a circle, since I wanted to be accurate when drilling the hole.

In case you didn't know one existed, it does! There is a little edge that hooks onto the side of your circle (or the bottom of your bird bath bowl) and you draw a straight lines and then move it a little. Eventually where all the lines meet in the center is where you will want to drill! Rock on! Was totally pumped to learn this trick!



Totally dig that I left the terracotta color in the center of the bowl. It was already glazed so I think it will work quite well as a bird bath. Used a little bit of copper spray paint on the rest of the bird bath so it will match when I was painting it. Now to just get more flowers up and figure out where it's going!

Waving at Miss Sian who appears to be having a bit of spring in her neck of the world too based on the pretty daffodil she used in her photos!

Hoarding: For the Birds

The top terracotta bowl has been in my closest for at least a year since it came home from the ReStore. I loved the look of it and a couple of times I filled it with fruit and had it on my kitchen counter. The bottom metal piece has been in my closet for at least a year too. Boy, it's sounding like I just might be a hoarder....coming across both pieces recently, I thought it would be cool if I could find a middle piece and turn the whole thing into a bird bath.

Randomly I was in Hobby Lobby on a Saturday which doesn't happen all that often. In fact I was trying to waste time as my daughter was over shopping in the mail so I toured the ENTIRE store. That also doesn't happen. I love craftstores, but generally run in for the one thing I need. I happened to walk through the spring section that was all 50% off and found this ceramic piece. It's already distressed already even! I think all three pieces work well together. I just need to drill a few holes through the ceramic pieces and use the threaded rod I bought to hold them together. I also need to settle on a paint color!

Wish me luck! 

Time Worn Layout from Crafternooning at Debbie's

I had such a lovely time making this page. Jean always puts some great kits & cards together. She is our Close to My Heart rep and gets things all kitted up for us before hand. Our host this time was Debbie and it's always great to hang at her house!

The nice part is that Jean includes a lot of lovely die cut for use on your page. The heart die cut (which is behind everything and all inked up) and those big pink flowers with the black centers all came as part of the kit. I grunged up a lot of things to match that super cool photo. Clayton Vargeson took the photo and posted it in a group that I follow that has a lot of awesome photography around our area. I did of course ask if I could use it for a page!

The heart stencil paper was used to make those inky pigment hearts. I really like those echoing the paper behind the photo. I added some gold paint when I got home and gold splatters. The papers I used are called Charlotte and is great with some really subtle colors!

Huge thanks for having us Debbie and loved making this page, Jean!

12 tags of 2016-April & One Little Quote

Snow is on the ground outside but since we had a few couple of weeks with nice warm temperatures and the daffodils are up, we have robins hopping around. We also have the obligatory robin that thinks he needs to fly repeatedly into the porch window as he sees another robin vying for the same territory. Silly robin!

Due to the snow, you not only get to see my tag, but also the new to me china plates I picked up down at the ReStore. I thought the little blue flowers would look nice with my tag, so I grabbed one to protect my tag from that white stuff!

Anyhow due to the robin who is playing Don Quixote with the window and Tim's tag encorporating a bird, I opted to download a vintage image of a robin and robin nest and use those. I also embossed a piece of paper to look like wood. 

He used a tile mosaic look on his bird that I opted to use on the background of my tag. 

I do have some Tim Holtz paper that I dug out and picked some of the more interesting pieces to use for my mosaic. You can see a bike and a little girl peeking out by part of the quote. Of course if you look at the TOP of the tag, I used a piece with a lady giving Mr. Robin a hairy eye ball. THAT is me. I tried talking to him and hanging up a piece of stained glass to break up the reflection. He is determined to keep smashing himself into the window, sigh. 

And here are all the tags hanging out together. I'm still assembling that one little quote I'm working on for the year! It's funny to see how many of the tags have wings....super cool!

Happy Tuesday!

Memorandum Monday: Crafternooning

I Crafternooned Saturday at my friend Debbie's house and Crafternooned at my house on Sunday with a brief break to run to the hardware store and another break to take apart the washing machine with THE MAN. I'll leave out the uninteresting bits like what's under a washer after you move it or what the inside looks like if your belt is wearing out....I will be sharing the page I made at Debbie's house later on this week. It's made from some lovely Close to My Heart stuff and made me smile, so I am hoping you enjoy it too. 

My Crafternooning was most enjoyable mostly because I hadn't spent any time in my office since we moved in the big desk and moved things around. Somehow adding a piece of furniture and moving the printer gave me lots of extra room and the flow is a lot better. Duncan likes the carpet under the desk because there is a spot where where he can watch the birds out the window. 

I spent Sunday trying to figure out what to make out of the little dipping cups they use at the Olive Garden. The Restore was given a large amount of plates & stuff from our local restaurant. They are pleased at how quickly the plates are selling however the little dipping cups for some reason are not as popular. They asked if I could come up with a project for Earth Day which is right around the corner using those cups.  

Luke and I spent an hour trying to drill holes in them with a special $9 bit from the hardware store. My thought was little plant pots, but that took wayyyyyyyy too long. We only manged two in that amount of time. Then I thought about using epoxy to attach them to candle sticks. I have to spray paint them or something at this point. 

Turns out you can fit two little mushrooms in one of those cups and they spray paint pretty well. I'm still thinking on what projects I'll suggest for Earth Day. I did make up six mushroom kits that they could sell. Hope people are into making them!

Well, I'm off to start the week! I'll be back tomorrow to show you my Tim Tag for April! 

Waving over to Sian who is our lovely host for Memorandum Monday! 

Hello, Your Geek Is Showing: Top 10 Reasons I Love and Hate My New Job (in no particular order)

Photo Compliments of Mike Burrell and for more things like it, follow him on Facebook!

I have always wanted to write a top ten list. I mean, how many of those stupid things have I clicked on in just the past year? And then when I get to the bottom after reading one I'm kinda thinking omg that was so lame...why do I always fall for those...so I apologize ahead of time for my title...

Anyhow, I now sit in a huge building full of computer people. Then I drive home and hang in a house full of computer people....the main difference between the two is that my house has couches and so far I haven't seen any couches at work. I will continue to look though. Couches at work are so Mad Men. So, my list....

1) We have two traffic Round-a-bouts I pass through to get to work. While I see their merits, they still freak me out first thing in the am, which is why I drive carefully and like I haven't had enough coffee until I'm clear of both circles of hell.

2) On the way home from work, I pass through two traffic Round-a-bouts. All happy to be driving home, I pretend I'm on a race track and hit the pedal. I might even make zoom zoom noises under my breath.

3) We have revolving glass doors to get into work. It appears whomever designed the building thought maybe we should all take a quick test before actually getting into the building. So, we have to badge in while pushing this huge heavy glass door and also balancing a purse on our shoulder and holding whatever crap we are carrying to work. I would not want to attempt these doors after several glasses (bottles?) of wine. The possibility would exist that I'd give up half way through and sit on the floor in a little glass jail laughing my ass off. But since you can't drink at work or on the way to work, maybe that is more like a fantasy...hmmm. Might have to think about that one....

4) The view from the hill is fantastic. Unless of course you are in second winter (thank you very much New York) and it's snowing (again).

5) I have five pairs of new dress pants. Some where along the line from the last time I had to dress up to now, the fashion industry got smart. These dress pants don't have pockets or even a zipper. They just pull on. I thought I'd hate the no pocket thing, but they are amazing. Who needs zippers or pockets to adjust when you are half asleep getting dressed. And as far as comfort, I'd rather wear my dress pants over jeans. Totally on board with the dressing up thing.

6) All those nice jewelry pieces I'd accumulated since the last time I worked out of the house? They are still going strong and this week has had a lovely jewelry box reunion as I've pulled pieces out that haven't been worn in years. Now I've got to buy just a few more shirts to match certain jewelry pieces I have...that is cool right? Kinda like asking your family to wear certain colors to match the scrapbook paper you have when you are getting ready to take a photo of them?

7) Although I still pack a few snacks, the place I work has a cafeteria which is pretty top notch. I mean except the fried fish. I almost died after a bite of that the other day. It's also possible I will never eat fried fish again, which I suppose might be a good thing. However, the rest of it is pretty awesome. So I'm not stuck eating leftovers over the sink, which makes me feel much more civilized.

8) I hate not being able to see over the cube walls which by the way are extremely tall. I thought I'd hate cube life again, but honestly it's not bugging me. They have white noise so most sounds (with the exception of the ring tone that sounds like a donkey on the coworker's phone) are sucked up into the ceiling and are gone. Some days I imagine the white noise goes to where ever all those socks go missing...maybe they are having a dance party? Anyhow on the not seeing over the walls part, I now know why women wear high heals. It's an evolutionary thing to try to make ourselves taller to see over cube walls. Besides, heals are cute when they are not cutting off the circulation to your feet. I try to pretend I don't look like Kilroy peeping to see a coworker.

9) My house isn't messy. It's an interesting phenomena. If you aren't in your house all day, it doesn't get dirty. So when you walk back in, it's pretty much how you left it.

10) A new bra purchase. So recently the expensive Vicky's Bra I owned starting cutting into my shoulders so half way through the day I was ready to rip it off. Since I would guess that ripping a bra off in an office despite what you may have learned on Mad Men may be frowned upon, I figured I had to shop for a new one. Randomly I came across this article called Happy Boobs on measuring yourself for a bra on Pinterest. She maintains that the women who measure you for a bra at the big stores are really just trying to get you to buy the bras they sell vs. what you really need so I opted to try her method. This involves a fairly awkward position (that I won't give away here) but since she was dead nuts accurate on what I should be wearing I vote you give it a try. A new bra that actually fits without boob parts sticking out is beyond amazing. In fact, the most intelligent thing I've done in a while is buy the new bra first before shopping for new clothes. Works a treat on getting a shirt that buttons up without the gaps!

So not only did I survive my first week of work at a new job, I also am the proud owner on a Top Ten list. Wow, things are really rocking in my world! Hope you enjoy your weekend! I'm off to a Crafternoon at my friend Debbie's house!

Today Layout for LESSology

The other day I was working with some cards I had made and I came across an envelope that had gotten a bit messed up. Instead of tossing it in the bin, I decided it would make a great pocket to hold some memorabilia. I used one of my favorite stamps with some white embossing power and then inked it up with some ink pads. Then I glued the envelope down on the page and started filling it.

Recently I went through some stuff from my Gram and found a couple of cool things that I was saving for a page like this. One was a list of paints and another was a piece of note paper from her desk. I paired that up with a brush that was a bit injured (you shouldn't use the other end of a brush for prying, but hey you probably knew that). Voila, an arty look for my budding artist, Miss Lexi.

Lexi in her leather coat and cool scarf was looking arty in that photo. I think it's funny I caught Luke in the background too too. It's just one of those random photos you talk of your kids that later you look at and love.

Hope you get a chance to hang with us over at LESSology and participate in our upcycling envelope challenge. I am positive you have one that isn't all that nice in your stash that needs a bit of love. If not, just wait a day for the mail to arrive and snag one before you toss it!

Colorful Cards for the Cutting Cafe with Water Colored Construction Paper Lined Envelopes

Do you know what is deeply satisfying? Pulling out one sheet of pretty colored cardstock and cutting out a card with a matching envelope! The Assorted Card Fold cutting file over at THE CUTTING CAFE comes with a large assortment of adorable cards & matching envelopes. I loaded up my cutter with one sheet of cardstock and resized both the card & envelope on the same page. Then I cut them both out together. Easy peasy!

I then lined each envelope with construction paper that I found at the Restore. I was totally digging the water color like colors so I was glad to pick up a ream for super cheap. It's soft and I think looks really cool as an envelope liner.






































I think this bunny card might be my favorite. I had a vintage bunny image I used. The sparkle washi tape & cut grass makes me happy!

Used more washi tape & cut grass on this card. I also layered up the washi. I am totally digging that coffee cup die cut which was a present from Lisa over at Life of a BZscrapper. Had to arrange my mini blooms in a rainbow pattern!

This card I used up a couple of scraps. My cutter had a bit of a scramble due to the paper not being stuck down and the tri-fold card got messed up. I figured I'd just turn it into a single card and use up a few pieces of scrap paper and a die cut. Love it!

Happiest of Wednesdays to you! Or in this neck of the woods, we call it Hump Day as it's in the middle of the week!