Monday, October 31, 2016

Tea, Roses, and Buffalo Wings for Memorandum Monday





































Winter is trying to claim a foot hold here in New York from blessing us with a cold, wet, and rainy fall to dropping frozen bits on our heads. The fact that I spent a couple of days early in the week in Buffalo, a place not known for a mild winter just reinforced the idea that it is now officially sweater weather, which also means time for cider, pot roast, and tea. Lots of tea. I've spotted quite a few roses trying to give us one last hurrah before the flurries. This one was spotted along the fence on a block that the Habitat peeps at Buffalo are busying populating with their houses. Some local company has offered matching funds to help them develop a nice neighborhood for their employees. Sounds like a match made in heaven although one wouldn't mistake Buffalo for heaven, although the wings do rock there.





































This pretty little bloom is hanging around the side door at the next house we're working on. The house suffered a fire this past winter due to a hard freeze that burst a pipe that put water someplace it shouldn't go. Right now it's a shell of a house, but I'm looking forward to making it a home for someone very soon! More on that soon!

On the home front the trees have given up the very bright reds and mellowed down to some burgandies. THE MAN took a trip up to look at the canopy with the drone. So pretty!



























Our house is right over that green sign in nearly the middle of the photo. Aren't those trees pretty! They aren't so pretty when you are raking leaves in the rain. ;-)

Well, it's time to head into Monday. Lots of things planned, one of them may involve moving a couch with roses on it...they are better in a garden vs. on a couch, in my opinion!

Join me in thanking Sian for hosting us on Memorandum Monday!

Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Sweet 16 Layout with Swan Lake Close to My Heart paper






































What a fun day! Lexi just turned 16 a little more than a week ago and we let her stay home from school mainly because we needed her! We did all kinds of things that day! She got her own bank account, signed up to get her passport, took the test for her learner's permit, and also went to an epic dinner complete with singing at the end and Italian donuts with chocolate.






































Totally love that that gold is such a thing these days in scrapbooking. It makes me happy when it shimmers! As you can see, lots of journaling on this page!




































Totally loving this Swan Lake paper pack from Close to My Heart. Some very strong colors for the fall but they really pop! I've just about used up the whole kit, which is how I like it!

Happiest of Wednesdays!

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Hello Herkimer Layout






































Spent a little time this weekend getting caught up on some photos from camping this summer. We had a mostly rainy weekend so it was best to spend it inside. Did totally make me miss camping!






































Enjoyed making a little flower cluster and love those two swans! They came with a Close to My Heart kit and I thought they looked like Lexi and Luke sitting there in the quarry. It was so hot that we really didn't spend a lot of time diamond hunting. I think the quarry was mostly played out anyhow.




























I wanted to use up that acrylic "love" so used some journaling to explain how we felt that day! I think it's kinda cool!

Happiest of Tuesdays to you!



Monday, October 24, 2016

Kitting and Cleaning for Memorandum Monday






































Goodness gracious...saw some photos around Facebook earlier today of northern NY and they had a little bit of snow already! Guess maybe that is what put me into the Christmas mood to start making cards! Well, that and I have a card event to go to in a couple of weeks. We need to bring card kits with us. By the end of the day, we'll have all our Christmas cards done! Can't wait!






































So spent the day cutting and kitting. Well, after of course I went grocerying and vacuumed the car. No point in taking photos of that!




























In case you are counting Lizzy Hill, three cards down! I ight be gaining (a little).

Happiest of Mondays to you! We're off to Buffalo today for some training for a couple of days, but lucky for you I've got autoposts set up!

Waving over to Sian From High in the Sky who hosts us for Memorandum Monday and also who likely hasn't had snow as of yet, I hope!

Thursday, October 20, 2016

Supersized Hooters & Chocolate Kisses for THE CUTTING CAFE


This time 'round at THE CUTTING CAFE we're working on projects for cancer awareness. I of course choose one that involves pink and boobs (glitter and gold paint too) because all those things are epic. I also super sized it 'cause that is how I roll. Why not MORE chocolate kisses?! This box is from the BREAST CANCER HERSHEY KISS BOX SET - TEMPLATE.






































In fact, it comes with these little circles that you can put on the bottom of the kisses. I used one of those images to cut out that super cool super sized Hooter!






































A proper box of course needs a crystal knob to match the crystal owl eye balls. And why not pink flamingos.....


Crystal Feet and a glittery ribbon with more flamingo washi.



Love how this project turned out! Fly on over to The Cutting Cafe to check out that file! 

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Borders & Bording Layout of Lake George






































When we were in Lake George this past summer, Aunt Connie set Luke up with a paddle board. We weren't sure how he would do, but he took to it like a duck to water. Good thing 'cause there was a float full of pretty girls watching.






































Can you see him there and the float full of girls? Yeah, had to scrap these photos using a photo collage! Couldn't leave out the "story" told by photos!






































It's a pretty flat page, but that wood washi tape, some red sequins, and a few stickers really worked well for some bling. That paper is a new paper packet out for Fall from Close to My Heart, but I think it works well for a woodsy layout too!

Happy Hump Day to you! I'm off to work on a house!

Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Family Bond: Sharing Gifts and Daughters Layout






































Totally dig this new paper I'm using here from Close to My Heart called Swan Lake. Thought it worked well with the photo of the girls. We had an Italian student visiting from Italy so I've got LOTS of photos to scrap. As always, I went for the one that kinda was my favorite and it happened to be this one. Also cool was the letter I got from her Mom with a huge brick of cheese and some other goodies! Had to use that on this page!

































Eeeek! Loving that shimmer on those gold doilies! Something about gold that just makes me happy! The shimmer! My Aunt Connie had sent matching bracelets for the girls so it was cool to see them try them on. Super awesome idea.


It's a pretty flat page. Just some pretty little flowers to match the paper and those cool plastic pieces that came along with the paper!

I'm back tomorrow with a layout using some of the same paper, but this time I went with a boy page. Love that it's pretty versatile!

Happy Happy!

Monday, October 17, 2016

Getting On Your Knees for Memorandum Monday





























Saturdays at Habitat are build days. When most people work from Monday to Friday except those fabulous retired volunteers, it's the only day they usually can sneak over to hang for a bit. The same is also true to for the potencial homeowners in the case of Bridge Street. I was overjoyed when both showed up early on Saturday (before Carl even!) to work on their house. I'm not sure what the actual numbers are, but they are required to put in a certain number of sweat equity hours on their own house and other houses if they can't get enough hours in before closing. In cases like this one, it will be the first house they actually own.

Got me thinking about all the houses I've owned. In general (with the exception of a sidewalk that went south on our current house) we have done all our own projects and then years later sold them for way more than they cost us originally. I'd call it flipping, but it wasn't. We are perpetual fixers taking pride in our work and a job well done. I blame our parents of course. THE MAN and I grew up in the Tug Hill part of NY where buying a house usually involved one that needed new siding, new windows, a new septic tank that wasn't a car (true story), a working sump pump, a good roof, a working furance, and if you were lucky, a paved driveway. In short. a shit ton of work to keep them up. My Mom can chop wood and wrangle chickens, my Dad is currently mad as he dropped a tree on his chainsaw, and I've seen Dad Pratt do things that would make OSHA keal over and die. They are not just DIYers but North Country peeps and those are some tough people right there. You didn't ever say you were bored at our house! Not sure everyone gets this valuable work experience like me and THE MAN did...but no worries. we can train you at Habitat!

What has been extremely popular the last couple of volunteer days has been the tile work that Harrie has been doing in the kitchen on the Bridge Street house. He has probably had a little too much help as everyone wanted to learn. I have taken to calling him Professor Harrie. Anyhow, at one point Saturday, Harrie had the potencial new lady of the house down on her hands and knees wiping her tile clean from the gray grout. It was certainly not a romantic job, hard on the knees, and involved many clean pails of water that had to be carried from the outside hose all the way into the kitchen as we don't quite have a working sink yet.

As I told THE MAN later, she will probably slay someone who walks into the kitchen with their shoes on and muddies those tiles and musses up her grout lines. I like that. Hell, it works at my house. Luke who does all the vacuuming and Lexi who does all the mopping get seriously pissed off if visitors don't take their shoes off or if they catch me dropping crumps on the floor.

We are back at the house today as we're trying to wrap it up. I have a hot date with a can of semi gloss white trim paint. Wish us luck and say hi to Sian over at Memorandum Monday who hosts us weekly!


Thursday, October 13, 2016

Embossed Tin with a Gold Doily & Opalescent Knob





I'll let you in on a little secret. Sometimes the girls at the register at the ReStore irritate me. In particular when I went to buy this tin for .50 cents, she had to look it all over to see if it was Mary Engelbreit. Hello, if it was I wouldn't be buying it to fix it and secondly? Never once has Mary done up a tin with ugly teddy bears. Seriously go away. I can see why she thought that though...






































I left a strip along the top where the lid sits unpainted. It's easier so you don't have to deal with a lid possibly sticking to spray paint. That does kinda look like a boarder that Mary E. would use so we'll give her that.

The tin prior to paint was too ugly to share, so I'll show you what it looked like all painted up & ready for some alcohol ink...behold the spray painting stump (s). On a side note, THE MAN would like to chop these stumps up and make them all go away...he however likely has visions of me taking over other places to spray paint and they make him shudder so it's safe for now.






































I saw you eye balling up that knob. It's pretty isn't it. I am a sucker for opalescent shiny things and gold doilies. They make me all weak.


One last look at my tin. It's amazing with a little embossed silver foil tape can do to a super cheap tin! Mixed two alcohol inks up to get that epic purple! This is flying away to India soon! Can't wait to share it!

Happy Thursday to you!

Hugs!


Wednesday, October 12, 2016

12 tags of 2016-October & One Little Quote






































Only two tags left to go! Goodness! This tag took on a life of it's own when I decided all the bits and bobs on my scrapbooking desk needed to get put on it...






































So the little crystals and the key were something I found the other day and tossed on the desk for safe keeping, the peacock paper was a very last bit and already cut into a banner so needed to get used up, and the ribbon was a little snippet also on the desk. The round tag was also hanging there, waiting to be used as it was nice and sturdy. Plus, I haven't made a round tag yet! I guess I finally got around to it, lol!





























Plenty of inspiration on Tim's Tag here. I really liked the pieced together background and I am now on the look out for some crackle medium like he used. I also loved the idea of the punched metal, but opted to run with copper instead. Opted to use the little key with a lion instead of a spider! I love the halloweenie, but I'm not quite ready for that just yet!






































Still on track to wrap up my one little quote for the year! It's been a growing year for me and totally still fits! Can't wait to share it with you! And all these tags together LOOK EPIC! I am on the hunt for a cool way to display them all since we only have two left to go!

Happy Hump Day!

Tuesday, October 11, 2016

Glass Pumpkin Votives & Grace





A few Mondays ago I came back to the office to three voicemail messages. The very fact the phones were back working was a testiment to one of my coworkers who found a half hour he probably couldn't spare to set them back up. We had gone to new phone service and at some point they cut us over and we were phoneless. We had also managed to go away to a conference that weekend so everyone was scrambling on a Monday to get caught up. It was the same lady three times. Her voice sounded quite desperate so I called her back immediately.

She said, trying to keep her voice steady and her shit together that her husband was going in for surgery next week and would be losing his leg from his knee down  so he would be needing a ramp to get back into the house as he would be in a wheelchair. Now I have a couple of ramp projects currently in the hopper. The crew of volunteers we have are currently working on a house and as the ramps are for an eventual need, we are not in a huge rush to get them done. This one couldn't wait though. Called a contractor as we have money for crucial repairs.

This lady needed one less thing to think about so I was super pumped to find a contractor who was able to drop everything and pull the permit. Worrying about getting her husband back in the house was the least of her worries since she needed to focus on getting him through the surgery and rehab. Randomly the dude I called brought a helper who had this lady in school as his teacher, so the project took on special meaning. The ramp got finished super fast.

I talked to the lady the other day. They were still in the hospital and she couldn't talk long. She did managed to tell me how grateful she was and that she would be contributing to our building fund once things were settled in. I wish her the very best nursing her man back to health and hope we managed to make it a little less stressful.

On that note, another coworker and I took a trip to Buffalo. We were offered bathroom vanities that were donated to us from another Habitat for Humanity who got them from Home Depot. The floor models that they couldn't sell will look great in the houses we are building. While we were there, we were also offered some Egyptian glass. Since they had wayyyyy too much, we took some off their hands for our ReStore. I thought I might work on a couple to improve them....




That money too will go in our building fund...

Monday, October 10, 2016

Happy Droning & Red Heads for Memorandum Monday






















It was THE MAN's birthday yesterday which meant that we took a hike through the woods to get up to the pipeline right of way which happens to be on a very high hill above the house. We took the easy way up and then flew the drone until a couple of baby eagles showed up.






















I am happy to report that the trees are starting to turn color. How to you like those rolling hills? Right about the middle of this picture is my house.


Dug out the Red Head hiking boots which haven't been used in ages and was on bird watch. We hear that Eagles have been known to take down drones and we didn't want to chance it. While we were watching the video from the first two flights, two jouvenile Eagles flew over. They were huge and checking out the drone. Time to hike down! I felt like prey!

Happiest of Mondays to you! I can't wait to hear what everyone else who hangs out over at Memorandum Monday was up to.

Thursday, October 6, 2016

Sparkly Pumpkin Milk Carton for THE CUTTING CAFE


Dear Fall,

Thank you so much for staging my sidewalk just in time so I could take this pretty picture!

Gotta love it. The leaves are just starting to turn here and they worked perfect for my photo of this little milk carton container that is all prettied up for THE CUTTING CAFE. 

I have worked with the Halloween-Fall Milk Carton file at least twice before and it always cuts out like butter. The pumpkin is a cut out, but I opted to run with using a pretty patterned paper and some glitter instead of using clear cardstock. I had a thought that I might put some bulbs in this milk carton and they are more pretty in spring once they bloom!

Look at that yummy vintage  key and those pretty crystals paired up with some burlap twine. So pretty! 

One last shot of the leaves and the pretty sun. Soon that same sidewalk will be covered with snow. So pretty! 

Happy Friday! 





Canning Jar Lamp with Vintage Pumpkin Colored Lace & Accordian Blooms


Living in upstate New York, I'm always surprised when the weather turns. It's like a switch and overnight we are putting the shorts away, grabbing hoodies, and getting the gardens ready for winter. Our leaves have just started to turn and the days are darker. With that being said, I'm ready to work with some fall colors and focus on interior projects!



I really enjoyed working on this lamp and using this awesome pumpkin colored vintage lace on a copper spray painted shade! The shade, light socket, and light bulb were part of a trade I made earlier this summer with another local artist. The canning jar was one I bought from the Corning ReStore for $3 and spray painted up. The one in the photo above was wayyyyy to small to be the right scale, so I did some painting and spraying on a clear one to get it to match my flowers.


See how awesome that canning jar is? I spray painted the inside with some clear mirror spray and the outside top with some turquoise. Love it! 



See how pretty it is all lit up? The Edison light bulb is pretty epic looking, so I decided to make the vintage music accordian bloom flowers removable so I glued all the flowers to magnets.


The nice part about paper with light behind it? Well, it's lovely and happy! Love vintage music paper! Hoping you love it too, so you'll play along with us for our newest challenge over at LESSology where we're asking you to encorporate music notes in your upcycled project. 

Tuesday, October 4, 2016

Whatever Art for the Starting from the Same Place Artist Collaboration






































I love the artist community I am a part of! Happy Dance as I was given the opportunity to be involved with a very special project that was the brain child of Tina Walker. She thought it would be cool if we all had the same pieces parts with which to create a piece of art. What she didn't plan on was the amount of people who would want in. Some of us donated pieces, others were donated by companies, and then we all paid a very small amount for shipping. In all, we were able to create something quite unique and very special to share with you today. I think about sixty people participated. Thirty of us provided sneak peeks to create that photo collage you see below.

We even had some corporate sponsors! Beacon Adhesives provided some rock star glue I'm in love with and Amazing Casting Products provided the resin for the hard plastic flowers. StencilGirl hooked us up with the awesome stencil. 





































Normally I'm not so timid working on something like this. I get out the hot glue gun and start sticking, In this case, I actually laid it out first and then worked it around a little.



Here is a rough draft. ;-) The paint brush I have been hoarding for ages and the real wings (an actual butterfly was not harmed in the process) were donated by my Mom.






































I used an old metal embroidery hoop to stretch the hand dyed fabric over. Then I stenciled using black spray paint. Added a bit of purple in various color to the paint brush that was already ruined. I embossed the cogs using gold and then smeared some gold paint along the edges of the piece.



I was having a hard time using the heavy green fabric until I decided to use it to cut leaves from it. LOVE how those turned out! Paired up with this grumpy little vintage girl, it's my favorite part of the piece! The little plastic piece she is standing on I sent along for everyone. I am not even sure what they are....but found them at some point and was happy to share!



In all, an amazing experience! If you are interested in seeing what others created, the links are below!