Little Trays and some Spray

It was some fine weather this weekend, which is why I'm showing you the side lawn in conjunction with these two pieces. Good mowing weather, good playing with plants weather, and very good weather for some spray paint, which is why I dragged out these two trays to alter.

The golf ball holder is being sent to a friend so she can play the Twelve Tags of Christmas over at the Funkie Junkie if she gets time. If she doesn't, I am sure she'll find something fun to do with it. The second brown one happened to work really well with that cool vintage chair top I found so I wanted to cut it down and get it attached.

My first task with both was to get them ready for paint. As you can see, the golf ball holder got the back removed. WHICH means (insert happy dance here) I can add a pretty piece of paper on the piece of wood and reattach. Since she only has to do 12 tags, she can use the rest of the open spots as a blank area to rest the eye. ;-) The tags get kinda busy if you are trying to fit everything in. On the brown one, the chair top was cut down carefully and attached with sheet rock screws that were countersunk.

After spraying and drying, I assessed both pieces for hardware. This to me is the BEST PART EVER. I was very sad when I figured out that the golf ball holder couldn't have a cool glass handle or feet due to the placement of the slots...so I had to add something else pretty. Pretty wood flower! Of course I had to add those scallopy metal gold pieces to the printer tray. They are hot glued in and were spray painted gold to match some of the gold shimmer

Not bad for a little bit of work on a Saturday and some quick spray painting! Now to find the perfect piece of background paper and get this piece mailed out!

Happy Monday!

Encampment Layout with Vintage Gold Buttons and Accordion Blooms

Goodness gracious it's nice to go off and stretch your legs for a bit so you appreciate your space when you get back! This layout was waiting for me on my scrapbook table and I needed to add the flowers, journaling, and some bling! It was nice only doing the fun part, which was making those crazy flowers. I'm still in love with banners & accordion blooms which are probably so last year or was it the year before?





































There you go! I knew you'd want to see them closer. Technically they are WATER COLOR blooms which makes them trendy since that's the thing these days. I cheated and used some leaves off some upcycled roses as I was done cutting things pretty much after those blooms. I used some vintage gold buttons that I thought matched well with my page. I clipped off the button hooks on the back with some pliers.

My other bling are some glued on gold stars with gems in the middle. None of this is very manly, but they are MY PAGES so I can make them all pretty! It's one of two pages I'm making...the photo of his flight just came in the mail so I'll be making another soon! More blooms? It's entirely possible!

Happy Hump Day!

Friendship Rocks Cape Cod Style

One of the things on my list to do in Cape Code this past week was bring home round rocks. I was more thinking of a few for my Japanese Rock garden. It hadn't occurred to me to bring a couple home painted & ready to be hidden until after I got there. Since most of our rocks here are shale (sorry, it's the Geology degree talking) and rocks in Massachusets are granite, I opted to run with a base coat of clear Modge Podge, then the painted design, then another coat of clear, so you would at least see the granite base. Little people might notice that the actual rocks are pretty and I'm releasing these today around town as I run errands for work. Of course I had to theme them all Cape Coddy...because they are traveling rocks you see. I imagine the lobster will get left at Aldi's. I mean, it makes sense right?

It's a kick ass game around these parts. My Facebook Feed alternates about people bitching about statues, other people bitching about people bitching about statues, the I hate Trumpers, the I hate the People Who Don't Hate Trumpers, and lots and lots of little people with happy faces showing their pretty new found treasures. Since I personally like my goverment a little farther away and something I don't have to worry about & these days it's inches from your face...I need those rock photos!

It's pretty popular here in Steuben County probably partially in part because we have a lot of tourists and some of these rocks are traveling, making the game interesting. I also figure the rest of the rock artists just need a break from the news and need to get painty. The hiding them outside where it's pretty and the news isn't on is an extra bonus. Throw in a few kids doing happy rock dances? Icing on the cake. I'm in!

On a side note, who else thinks Michaels should organize a friendship rock painting party for Trump and his peeps? Maybe a couple of soothing Art Therapy hours of painting little American flags and writing inspirational messages will pay off and everything will run a little more smoothly. The Secret Service won't allow any rock slinging or writing things like YOU ARE FIRED.

Well, I'm off to hide rocks and hide from the news! Happy Tuesday!

Pumpkin Harvest Mug for THE CUTTING CAFE

I spotted my first tree turning red on the way to Cape Code last week. I'm not quite ready for fall yet, but it's around the corner. Some kids are already back to school, in fact! I did get in the mood to work with some fall stuff along with this new mug file that Regina has over at THE CUTTING CAFE called the 3D Cup Template and Cutting File. It's a nice little holder for a gift card, perhaps some carmels, or tea? My birthday season is coming...most everyone in the Pratt Inc. Clan has fall birthdays.

I really decorated big time around the handle. Even used vintage pumpkins! Part of this was because I cut two of the cup files so the inside of my mug could be green and the double paper was super thick. So thick that I used staples to hold it all together. No really, I did.

See? And yes, there might be some stray glitter in the cup bottom. I had to glitter up the lip of the mug because I could. Gold paint would have been involved under normal circumstances, but since I waited until kinda late for this post...and things were wet almost at the time of the photograph...no gold paint.

Happy Monday to you & enjoy this cutting file!

Steuben County Rocks

Recently, I learned of a group in my area who was painting rocks and scattering them around our county in hopes to spread joy and happiness. I caught the rock painting bug and urged Lexi to bring her paints along camping and bought a bottle of modge podge at the store before we left. As the back of the rock asks you to post in the Facebook Group Steuben County Rocks, I've seen some of these rocks travel out of our area. I figured it wouldn't be that bad of an idea to paint them here in Cape Cod and scatter them here.

I wouldn't have thought it was addicting until I got caught hiding some and was fleeced of my rocks by two cutie pies who biked off with their treasure. Later I found one of their rocks that was all blue and sparkly and it made me happy.

It seems by the advertisements I've been getting from Michaels that this rock painting thing is a big deal and isn't just regional. It's a good deal for the paint peeps. Our local stores keep getting wiped out! I've been decorating mine with some paint pens too which kinda helps being able to write on a rough surface. I then add a coat of modge podge after so they can survive a rainstorm.

It's been fun placing these and hoping that the person or little person who finds them is super excited!
I'm back to paper tonight I think, but I'm sure I'll have to make another batch of rocks soon!

A Collection of Oddities

I'm off this week camping in Cape Cod, but I wanted to pop in for a bit and show you some of the recent finds that I've left behind. I've got big plans for those candle sticks. I might have to get all Christmassy with them. Why not, that month will be upon us before we know it! That clock has been hanging around forever, but I finally found a new insert for it at the ReStore, so it might be painted soon! I'm still trying to figure the perfect paint combo, but certainly, something that shows off all the little details. Maybe white and gray? That wooden chair back also has a plan that involves attaching it to a little wooden display box. I randomly set it up on top and thought wow, that looks awesome! I plan on spending the week painting rocks and making backgrounds for scrapbook pages. Oh, and recharging! I can't wait to spend a week looking at cedar shakes already installed on houses, checking out the beaches and spotting a whale!

I'll pop back in with some painted rocks...It's sweeping my county and you'll want to hear all about it!

So Very Blessed with Good Food Layout

Sometimes when I'm trying to use up a paper packet, I make an extra page or two without any idea of what photos I will put on them. Of course they may sit for a while until I look through and think, wow, this is perfect for those photos I want to scrap!

See, I pretty much scrap in order or work on recent events so I start with the photo or photos first and see what I might have that works. If I don't have any accumulated backgrounds to use, I make one. In this case, I lucked out!

I also lucked out because my subject (Aunt Connie teaching chopsticks to Lexi) had a birthday yesterday so not only do I get to show you this page, but I get to wish her a happy birthday! What a nice time out and about when we were in Lake George, NY. We really liked this place to eat. Sometimes you are on vacation and the food is sub par, especially in this area where it's very seasonal. Check out that flower cluster! I went digging for a few things that matched and was pretty pleased.

Check out how many letters I used! I had a sticker sheet with the word blessed on it that I started with to use up and then it morphed from there! I was happy at how cool it turned out!

Happy Thursday and a happy belated birthday to Aunt Connie!

A Little Knobby

Great Grandpa Ham made this shelf for me ages and ages ago. In fact, it still has a little Christmas tag at the back of it. This doesn't mean it can't of course get a new look for a new room, which is why I added a fresh coat of paint to the bottom and gave it all new knobs.

New knobs being a relative term here since I think a couple of these door knobs are older than me. I countersunk a couple of them so got to use forstner bits. I also used bolts and the little tiny set screws that came with the knobs to hold them in place. The air nailer got put into use too to add that little scallopy do-dad at the very top of the shelf. My favorite knob of course is that crystal one. Yum!

Ready to be installed here at this house! I got thinking that Grandpa must have made this shelf back in 1998 making it around 18 years old....Super cool!

A Walk in the Park with Reindeer Fur

I forgot how magical it can be to help someone. Last week was a long one full of extra volunteers followed up by painting a house on Saturday with a group. I can honestly say Friday night did not feel magical. Both of my guys here are fighting a cold and between the one who is coughing in my ear all night and the other one who had to start school all sickish, it's been a bit rough. Add that in with one person calling me Friday afternoon for help as he and his Mrs. are living in their garage as something blew up in his house. The connection was spotty so I never did hear what blew up, but the end of the story was that the house wasn't safe to live in and he was OK for now, but worried about winter due to the living in the garage bit. Those are the kinds of stories that keep you up at night or require a shot or two of tequila to forget for a bit.

I am a firm believer in circumstances and just because you have made all the right choices, it doesn't mean you won't find yourself in a bit of a pickle and need help. This was the case with Bonnie who lives in the house above. A little over ten years ago, medical bills (due to lack of insurance) forced her and her husband to move into this much smaller place. She said she thought that what they had would cover them, but then it turned out it didn't and they had to fix the cancer. I agreed. It's important to fix the cancer. She is determined to age in place and hopefully will get her hubby back soon who's currently in rehab. This why the crew of Corning Area Young Professionals popped in to help keep her house up by painting it.

Since the guy who organized his group is an early riser, I lucked out and the project started at 8. By 7:45 I was carrying five gallon buckets of paint out of the van and throwing plastic over bushes. By 8, he was pulling up in his pick up truck with a ladder and a variety of tools and his wife. The wife part was important as we had to paint A LOT of shutters and she is a wiz with spray paint. By noon, we were getting called into the house for pizza and pie. Real pie. Not the kind with a little grocery sticker on it.

We didn't finish her house. I didn't think we would. The homeowner had a blast talking to all the kids and they were only scheduled for the morning. I'm calling them kids here because when we stopped to talk to her about what to expect with the painting, she asked politely if there would be an adult in charge. These kids are long since past college and working on careers, but but we'll let her think that. We have a professional painter that will come back this next week to wrap things up but a large chunk of the house is done.

I think Bonnie had a nice morning. She was all happy with her paint choices. The yellow was called A Walk in the Park and the brown for the shutters was Reindeer Fur and she kept telling us how nice it all looked. Her daughter popped round to take a photo to show her husband in the nursing home, so that was also nice.

The paint is all stashed under the ramp, ready for Ted to come wrap up painting the house.  He was the same guy who prepped it for us by scraping all the loose paint off and priming. I am thankful we can offer this service at Habitat. Valspar donates all the paint and the volunteers do the rest. I hope Ted finds her as charming as we all did. I am sure the volunteers will remember this for quite some time and feel all happy to have helped. Indeed, it was magical.

Christmas in August for THE CUTTING CAFE

Goodness, I'd say this card was a stretch for me, but today I cleaned out a closet and organized a bunch of stuff, including moving one of the Christmas trees and some of my Christmas craft stuff. So, it was easy to put my hands on some of the bling I used on this card. Equally easy was finding a good cutting file from THE CUTTING CAFE to make a nice card.

I really wanted to play around with layers and holly. I went digging in the files for where I'd seen holly before. Found a cool little cutting file in the Christmas Shaker Cards. Regina made a little holly piece for the snowman which was easy to upscale & emboss as a second layer in this card. While digging through the Christmas paper, I found this little mitten print & cut from the same file.

I must say it's pretty easy to pile on the bling when you won't have to mail the card for months! Can you tell I just couldn't help adding more and then more? I guess I might need to make a couple more Christmas projects to get it out of my system!

Also, you might spot a little reindeer there on the very bottom....talking about those tomorrow!

Happy Sunday!

Erosion Bundling Collaboration

Just heard about this new thing the other day called Erosion Bundling. I don't normally associate erosion with a good thing, but in this case it's using the weather (or soil) to help age or distress paper or other items over a period of time. Mine is hanging out in a hanging plant until January. Well, the flower pot will actually come in the house with the plant in it, so I'll have to reposition the bundle at some point in the fall. I'd bury one too, but I am slightly against digging in the winter due to the possibility of snow, ice, or a seriously frozen ground. In January, I'll open my bundle and participate in an arist collaboration! Something to look forward to later!

I checked out a couple of posts where they added actual food or fruit peels, etc. I had already opted to ink up some seam binding and add some sumac to my collection of random papers, etc. as the fruits have the ability to dye items a rich purple/red. I considered adding food, but then I didn't want to encourage the chipmunks to further distress my bundle. I'm really hoping to open up a colorful & distressed bundle, but we'll see!

I'll be back after Christmas! Wish me luck!

My Peeps Layout for Another Freaking Scrappy

Anne over at Another Freaking Scrappy wanted us to a use circle or circles in our layout for August. Since I was scrapping a photo of THE MAN and Lexi in Lake George, I opted to pull out some very old paper that had a lot of circles around the acorns and I cut a circular hole IN the actual layout and mounted my photo underneath it.

Made me happy that circle! And because I didn't quite have a photo big enough, I added some of the green back in and used it as a good spot to put some flowers, leaves, and gold thread. So pretty! Love that shimmer!

One of the stars of this page is that butterfly that Lizzy Hill gifted me. That color really worked well with my paper and my photo! Thanks Lizzy!

Well, I'm off. It's the first and there is a whole new month to wrangle! Happy Tuesday!