Blossoming & Chick Pics

To mess with me (I found this out at a later date) THE MAN asked me where the little heart ornament went that hung in the bathroom. The very fact he noticed anything that was a decoration blew my mind. I may have stuttered in fact.

I had been contemplating a small project with my little favorite quote until he said it would hurt his brain if it looked any different than it did now. Like I'd ruin it. ;-) And he said he looked at it every time he started to...and then I stopped him. Marriage is better with less sharing sometimes and bathroom exploits are on the top of that list.

To give you some background, I purchased this little heart years and years ago at a craft show in Vermont and it has followed us bathroom to bathroom.

I personally read the quote on a bad hair day or on one of those days where I mistakenly burn my forehead with a curling iron and think crawling back to bed is a better option than facing the world. I also read it when I have to go be a rat bastard to someone at work and it makes me feel slightly better. I mean, I am getting paid to be one sometimes, it just isn't a task I relish.

My favorite part of the quote though is just quietly doing the right thing. Blossoming, if you will without expecting anything back from the world.

Sian over at From High in the Sky has the most unassuming way of blogging (you should check out her chick pics, they are cracking me up and sorry to use a word that reminds one of an egg...but it was intentional). She hosted Story Telling Sunday for a few years and randomly thanks to Google, a guy is now going to publish my Dad's stories about Peace Corps in his newsletters. We were sharing his stories on her blog because it was a lovely happy place with good things to read.

I have a little package to send over THE POND to her in thanks. Can you hook me up with your addy, Sian! And accept a huge thanks from my peeps here!

Happy Hump Day and yes, the little heart is hung back up in the throne!

Rockin' Robin & the Rock Star Layout for Another Freaking Scrappy

At the start of this semester in school, our Lexi starting learning guitar in Music. Randomly (we are not a musical family) she really started enjoying herself.

She declared she was earning up for a guitar.

Lexi does not take money lightly.

We started taking her seriously when she started shopping Craig's List for a used guitar.

Now, we do live in a musical town. Very musical as in the local college is known for The Crane School of Music and if you shop real estate listings around here you'll come across people with music rooms in their house. Which also means there is a huge store downtown who specialize in helping people purchase instruments.

THE MAN suggested nicely that a cheap guitar would be a waste of money and that perhaps they should go take a peek at some at Northern Music.

She opted for this lovely acoustical guitar and has set about mastering Rockin' Robin which she now knows by heart. We have spent the last month listening to her practice and self teach herself. We offered lessons, but really she is content to pick up her guitar daily, sometimes multiple times daily and just play.

A friend of hers got grounded for not practicing (see told you we take music seriously around here) so perhaps she just doesn't want to turn something fun into a chore.

I usually try to reserve design team layouts at Another Freaking Scrappy Challenge for pages about me as I am working on an album, but this layout couldn't wait.

Anne provided us with a sketch to use. Being so super simple, it was easy for me to jump off and go to town, hence the wings, drips, raised plaster, flicks of paint, and mixed media look! I also snuck in an extra guitar pick and some purple tattered flowers from Helen over at Scrap Addict. I pulled a Helen trick and cut one in half. She is always doing clever flower extending tricks like that.

I used gold spray paint on my wings. I probably will continue to use it on every single project from here on out until I use up the can....

It has a great shine here in this photo where we have real sun & no snow! I know, can you believe it!

Hope your Tuesday is going fantastic and you have a bit of shine to your day!

Come play with us over at AFSC!

Configuration Box from THE CUTTING CAFE & Nicecrane Design Images

Eeeek! This box makes me so happy! And I made the WHOLE THING MYSELF as I cut all the pieces for the box and assembled them!

Yes, I have proof!

I wanted it super sturdy since I was planning on displaying it on the wall with that black glittery metal scallop so I folded the edges in half and stapled them. Then I stapled the whole thing together and used tissue paper and modge podge to cover up all the edges. A coat of gesso with some brown mist completed the process. I knew I was going to gesso it, so used some extra cardstock I had in this mustard color. :-)

The blue edge is a larger sized box that you cut and then use to nest all your boxes in. I painted the smaller boxes first and then added the blue box after it was dry. I used hot glue and glitter to further seal the edge. 

One of my favorite parts of this box is the crazy hand made bird nest at the top paired up with a white Birch stick. Has to be a robin's nest, those loopy birds will build their nests anywhere!

The configuration boxes are very simple to cut as Regina at the Cutting Cafe has them numbered with very clear instructions & a diagram. Of course, they are normally much deeper than mine since mine are folded.

Deeper ones mean you can add all kinds of cool little trinkets & found items. I am thinking about one like that in my future!

I knew I wanted to show case some really pretty graphic files I got recently from Nicecrane so that was the second reason I folded down the sides. The French Post Cards Mixed Media images are AMAZING! Nice job Ignacio!

Here is a bit of a side view so you can see more of the blue edge and a little of the drippy hot glue that has been sprayed a bit with some gold. 

And a close up of the images:

They are really quite lovely!

Huge thanks to Regina and Ignacio for some great products!

Happy Monday!

Creepy Gold Legged Chooks

I usually have a display on the top of my hutch. Mainly for my own entertainment purposes since I am not sure THE MAN ever looks at it or cares.

Today I have out my Stove Pipe Trim Mirror, those crazy white chickens (chooks for your Aussies) I got on a recent Junking Trip, various frames, a silver tray that hangs out there a lot, and a couple of new projects.

The crazy chooks have been given spray painted gold legs in an effort to make them look less real and creepy. My oldest came home after school one day and was upset to find chickens on her kitchen counter until she realised they were not real. She says they are still creepy!

Lexi also says these little white love birds that came home in the same batch of stuff from the second hand store are also creepy despite their new gold nest with pearls and Prima vine. 

She however has no issue with the gold spray painted bottom on this mushroom. ;-)

One of my favorite weird pieces on display are the naked baby candlesticks. It's real brass and not honestly all that pretty. FUGLY as THE MAN would put it. After cleaning it, I gave it a coat of patina so it wasn't quite so bad. Here's a before shot.

I'm off tomorrow to do a bit more Lent!

Wish me luck, I'm handing out these at the store tomorrow. Little seed packets to usher in spring!

Happy Friday!

Hugs!

Nearly Oval Frame Revamp for LESSology

I had a nearly trashed plastic gold frame that was begging for an overhaul! I still wanted to display photos but in an easier way to change them up.

It was also slightly warped due to it's age and being in the sun at the last house. So, it was needing a change & a bit of a disguise in the form of hand rolled flowers!

Here is what I started with! Patti wanted you to see how sorry that frame looked....she was quite embarrassed with all the really old photos!

I removed the glass, ditched most of the old photos, and hot glued in the black backing. You can also see the old vintage lace that I modged podged in.

The black background was also spritzed with Lindy's Stamp Gang Moon Shadow Mist giving it a bit of a shimmer. Also spritzed the lace just a bit with mists and used gold shimmer modge podge.

One of my favorite parts of this whole project was adding that lovely JOY tag gifted to me from Helen over at Scrap Addict. It goes along nicely with our newest challenge over at LESSology to use a tag or tags on your project.

I actually have used quite a few tags on this piece. I had some that were over ten years old!

If you look behind the school photos, you'll see the edge of a tag that says "report card" that was used with a die cutting machine and cut along with other scraps in a scallop. I am using those as place holders for my photos with my dyed clothes pins. I downloaded a digital image from Etsy called Faded Roses that really helped pull those scallops together. 

Here is my new recently old frame on display in our bedroom! The rolled roses & black background go along with my other frames. I hope you'll play along with us this month over at LESSology!

@ the Dali Layout from our Florida Trip

Whoohhooo! Who is a kit buster, me that is WHO!

I subscribe to a monthly kit club and I make it my mission to kill a kit a month. This is actually the second to last page I made from my Scraptastic kit last month, but they were made together, so it counts.

Living in the middle of nowhere with limited access to supplies, it keeps me a smidge trendy and also makes me grin when I get a big fat bag of goodies. My mail lady in her Lime Green jeep hand delivers it with a smile!

As you can see, I used a lot of little smidges of paper here and there on the edges. Also used up a lot of bling  & memorabilia down the right edge, including a palm tree drink stir stick, a couple of plane ticket stubs, and my favorite, a lime green paint brush!




























The paint brush is important! We were at the Salvador Dali museum in St. Petersburg, Florida.

We were in a silly kind of mood so skipped the paintings and headed outside to goof around. Didn't think they would be the kid's cup of tea.

THE MAN and I are kinda fond of Dali. He had this awesome print in his college dorm room. Of course they had this print on display in the gift shop and THE BOY couldn't look at it being that there was a naked girl. ;-)

I considered mimicking Dali's style on my scrapbook layout but then thought better of it. No way I can get a pomegranate to work in with my patterned papers!

Happy Jump out of a Fish Day, or Happy Hump Day. You can pick.

Sturdy Scalloped Egg Goodie Box for Kya & THE CUTTING CAFE

Somebunny little is getting a treat box! Kya is the grandbaby of BEST NEIGHBOR IN THE WORLD Shirley and I thought I'd pass this fancy little box next door for sending off with something yummy.

Let me let you in on a little secret. The whole top is not actually scalloped. I cut it out of cardboard on my Silly cutter and then glued two pieces together. I then placed those double thick layers in an embossing folder to use with my Big Shot. The BS cutter proceeded to be a BIG SHOT WIMP and opted out of the situation. Hence only the very top and the very bottom are actually embossed. Well, I had to try it again, right? I am so hard on things! ;-) You can see the edge of the top below.

The instructions that come with the Egg Goodie Box over at THE CUTTING CAFE actually suggest four pieces of cardstock glued together. The instructions that I read after I made the box. 

I also used cardboard on the sides, but cut the thinner stripped paper out first and just used it over top of the cardboard. I figured a little person needed a sturdy treat box. We'd hate for those treats to escape!

This little box also has feet. COPPER recycled feet that I dug out of THE MAN'S hardware stash. Aren't they cute? I have four more I am hoarding just like them. 

Hope you enjoyed this box! Plenty of time to make one for someone special in your life! 

Happy Tuesday!

Salt & Pepper Shaker Vases with Paper Flowers

So last Friday I talked about a recent junkin' trip I took to Best Friends which is now run by the Potsdam Humane Society.

They kindly sold me 8 little salt and pepper shakers minus the caps for 25cents and asked me nicely if I was SURE I wanted them!

Never under estimate a girl with gold spray paint and twine! AND one who knows how to use both items wisely!

I also enjoyed making these accordian bloom flowers with little sayings. U Rock is my favorite!

I dropped these off Saturday at their open house so they could gift them to the volunteers working that day.

It was my Lent-capade for the week! Some things I've done recently involved dropping school supplies off to our local school, sending Happy Mail to some scrapbookers, passing handmade soap out at the post office, handing out flowers at the grocery store, and dropping a box of chocolates off at school during testing week to go in the teacher's lounge!

Hope your Monday is fantastic!

P.S. THEY HAD KITTENS at their open house. I did not even LOOK at the kittens which also means no photographs of kittens, but it's better to be safe than sorry. THE MAN would have locked me out of the house. 

Junkin' and Giving

My favorite second hand store opened back up! It was previously privately run with profits going to support the humane society and they recently switched over to volunteers so more of the profit goes directly to the animals. It was a rough couple of months though with nowhere to go cool once a week!

Yes, I try to hit that store once a week. A lot of times I come out empty handed, but once in a while....

And this trip was a good one! Crazy glass mushroom, freaky white porcelain baby chicks, a passle of salt and pepper shakers minus the tops and vintage doilies. The lady at the store thought I was quite nuts buying 8 salt and pepper shakers minus the tops. Little does she know how crazy I can be! ;-)

Another trip to town involved dropping off a box of chocolates to the teachers at our school as part of my Lent Experience. Some things I've done recently involved dropping school supplies off to our local school, sending Happy Mail to some scrapbookers, passing handmade soap out at the post office, and handing out flowers at the grocery store!

They have both my kids captive at school most days and this week had to deal with four days of icky state testing. I thought it would be nice to find a box of chocolates in the teacher's lounge. I have something bigger planned for next week and boy are they cute!

Happy Friday Peeps!

Evil Eye Robins & Spray Paint

Is it OK to be in your bathrobe all day? Having gotten a good chill this morning on a walk, I thought it would be better to work in that than a blanket. And on the walk this morning in my sneakers (despite the melty snow and mud) I noticed that the birds were back. The flies have been back for three weeks, so I am kinda relieved. The robins were giving me the evil eye as I strolled up our melty muddy driveway. I imagine they were asking where the hell all the worms were at and where did the lawn go.

We are still under snow here despite "warmer" temperatures. Anyhow, all this "warm" weather has put me in the spray painting mood. Can't actually spray paint outside just yet, but I'm on it! When I mean warm, I mean slightly above freezing with a frigid wind, but who's complaining when we have grumpy birds to watch!

Here is what I started with. A long time ago I identified that spices were really not my thing. Well, the kind that come in a twirly thing really weren't. I gave the oldest a big metal bowl, a spoon, and a chair by the sink the let her make witch soup. She was probably four and the spices were dusty and older than her. She still remembers this, oddly....

It has been this blond color since buying it 16 or so years ago....

Now since most everything scrap furniture wise has gone black and distressed, it was kinda on the spray paint to do list!

On a side note, how do you like that little scroll thing there on the front of my big desk? I found that in the wood section at the hardware store and it got a spray paint too. Easy to attach with some brad nails!

I made a few improvements to my spice rack. For one thing I was sick to death of the hole in the top (original idea was you'd store kitchen implements in it which did not work for me since I have a huge drawer of them). When I was getting ready to paint the spice rack I had to dump out the accumulated dead flies and dust.

Here is the spice rack ready for spray. There is a bit of prep to get it to this stage. It had a clear finish that needed to be sanded so the paint would stick. I also added a bit of color in a few spots in case the sanding allowed that color to show through when I distressed it. The large candle holder was also attached with screws so it would be spray painted with the whole piece. And a huge thanks to THE MAN for setting up my fancy spray painting station. 

My favorite part of the piece are the spice jar stickers!

I got them on Etsy from LuvCrystals along with a couple of complementary rock star shabby tags. They are lovely and perfectly right for my jars!

Sorry about the washed out color in the photo, but it's very bright with the sun on the snow!

Having enjoyed my spice rack for a week now, I can say I am loving those bottles on the top right where I need them! Adding a lot more mixed media now that things are handy!

Hope your Thursday is GREAT!

It's Biological: Layout for Another Freaking Scrappy Challenge

My Dad must be chuckling at my title. For weeks when I was practising my lines for the play Pack of Lies with my little lame British accent, he always laughed at the one line that said my troubles were "biological!"

These photos were from a very long time ago. I'd say I was in middle school. Feel free to give me a better time frame than that, Mom & Dad if you are reading this!

Anne over at Another Freaking Scrappy challenged us to:

Scrap or art journal about a favourite pastime from your youth.  Was it a sport, fishing, cycling, reading, or teasing your older brother? Use a photo of when you were young, a photo of the pastime, or whatever is appropriate!!!

I dug these photos out and happened to also find a newsletter from the theater where I was in the play! It was really easy to slip a piece of it running down the side. I was in a couple of different productions growing up. Sadly my acting was cut short in high school by my lack of singing abilities!

While I was digging out the photos I also found two old play books so I took a photo and printed them out as a die cut. They are hiding right above my hand made rolled roses. I was trying to mimic my roses in the photo!

One more photo so you can enjoy that photo of the cake (I want cake!!!) and my big glasses that were so in style at the time. Or maybe that is just what I'm telling myself!

Hope you get a chance to play along with us! I have almost two whole albums of stuff just about me that are mostly from AFSC! 

Duke The Wonderdog Embroidery Hoop Art for THE CUTTING CAFE

Somewhere in my travels though elementary school (I am thinking it was 6th grade, but I cannot be certain) we were assigned pen pals. I got a girl named Karen Johnson. I recall thinking it was stinkin' cool to be writing to someone in a DIFFERENT SCHOOL.

Hey, now I write to people in different countries, but at the time it was one of the best parts of the week and quite exotic.

I still know Karen, do you believe it?  We are facebook buddies after all these years.

I was digging around this huge tote I had for the photos I used on a layout I am posting tomorrow when I came across this Polaroid of Duke. I was pretty sure it was Karen's dog. Snapped a quick photo to confirm it was indeed her pooch.

Judging by her quests for yarn, she is also a crafter so I decided to use a bright pink embroidery hoop with burlap, and added some vintage buttons.

The stars of the piece (besides the Wonderdog Himself) are Mikala Anne & Elisha Jean. These Big Girl Elisha Jean and Friends printables from the Cutting Cafe size up to 6 inches. They also come with a girl wearing a dress and one with overalls so they are very twinny if you choose to print the same image with two different outfits. Or make one bigger and one a wee bit smaller! So cute!


A quick shout out to fellow crafting & DT buddy Lisa at You Made Me Ink who shared these bingo cards & hand made flowers with me. I am linking up to her project as her girls have strawberry pants and are adorable! She also used one of her bingo cards!

I can't wait to send this to Karen! Hope she enjoys it!

Happy Tuesday!