Jenn for President Layout

There is something about this Simple Stories Homemade scrapbook paper that just makes me happy! Add in pink glitter paper with scallops, a vintage doily and a row of buttons and I'm overjoyed!

This was the terrible photo I blogged about yesterday. Messed around with it a bit in Picassa so at least it looks less horrible and cut out the very busy background.  They were sitting in front of our coat closest which when it's open always looks messy! ;-)

Love those buttons that Shirley, the best neighbor ever hooked me up with! So lovely and vintage!

The page itself is pretty flat, which is a minor miracle since I have nearly less to no space left in my current scrapbook. I need to buy a new one, but.....we are moving so it's kinda pointless right yet!

Hope you are having a fantastic Tuesday!

P.S. If Jenn ever runs for present for REAL, I have a page to prove that I knew her! Hmmmm. Maybe I should get Lexi to get her autograph just in case...it is yearbook season!

Thug Bird & a Birthday

Lexi's friend or perhaps we should say fiend...Jenn is another year older.

I have only met her once and at the time, she was very shy. Originally from China, I can see perhaps why she wasn't interested in taking too much. We had a Grandpa & Uncle visiting & were playing poker. We were far from quiet. There wasn't much room to even THINK about talking! ;-)

Her Dad had asked that we also invite another girl that he knew, which we did. The three of them hung out in Lexi's room and ate huge slices of chocolate cake. 

This is the same girl I've heard on Skype taking over the world while four of them are playing At War on-line. She also would like to be president of the US and can draw like a crazy!

So, when Lexi said she needed some help making her a card, I volunteered. Lexi also offered to trade her video editing skills, so I was also in LUCK!

I had promised a video of my craft room ages and ages ago and we are moving in less than a week and a half! Had to get on that!

While I was making Jenn a card, I also scrapped the photo I took the day she came over. It was a horrible iPhone picture, but I used a Lizzy Hill technique where I cut out the background so it then became more usable!

Here is something Jenn drew for Lexi after she got back from Florida and after hearing of her issues with the Thug Birds aka Pelican gangsters! 

Back tomorrow with my page. 

Anyone else think that having a president that is creative would be a huge asset? 

Happy Monday!

Be You: Age 13 Layout for Another Freaking Scrappy

This brand new sketch from Another Freaking Scrappy corresponded with a new kit I had just received and I took the opportunity to show case some of the lovely papers & a vintage doily on this layout I made for my daughter.

I asked Lexi to write some journaling on what her plans are for when she grows up. I thought this photo I took of her back in the winter looked slighly Brittish (with the long coat) and matched the paper & what she wrote perfectly!

 Pretty sure Lizzy Hill will be impressed with my blue jay feather I used! Do you all have those big ole squalkers in Oz there Lizzy?

Here is a side view of some pebble stickers I used and my crazy vellum & lace flower cluster.

Hope you get a chance to play along with Anne & the girls over at Another Freaking Scrappy!

Happy Sunday!

Thift Store Flowers & Silver Scallop Bowl

While I was on my search for Owl Materials I ran across this lovely silver scallop bowl at a second hand store that has been hanging out on my dining room table. I have randomly been attacking it with white toothpaste to get rid of some of the tarnish, but I don't mind a little of that here and there! I was GOING to make the owl from this but THE MAN said it was kinda too nice. Yes it is too nice. I paid a whole $3 for this and most of the stuff I used on the owl were free....

I found those flowers in the bowl yesterday at the second hand store for 75 cents and almost squealed. I love Prima but sometimes the price tag gets me a little so I can augment with these old and tattered ones. Best thing is they are already aged! ;-)

My favorite find recently is this milk glass container! It's already been altered, but you'll have to wait a bit to see it all fancied up!

And when you run out of things to buy, you can always make your own!

I cut that large P shape out myself after printing a rather large P on my large format printer. Fun times!

Hope you are gearing up for some great crafting this weekend!

When the Daffodils Bloom: Layout for Forrest our Pup

It's a weird kind of quirk of mine, scrapping funerals and pets that have passed.

But I think it's important to acknowledge that life isn't all sunshine and roses and that things happen sometimes that are hard. Tuck them in amongst your pages and you get a good handle on life when you flip through a scrapbook album.

Our pup Forrest had been on a decline for the past couple of years. We suspect the lime disease from a tick attacked his joints making it harder and harder for him to walk.

In fact, when I went looking for recent photos I saw we really had not taken any for quite a while. I think it was the tired & pained look in his eye.

Nearly a month ago we called our local farm vet and had her come over as it was his time to go to Rainbow Bridge. I told my husband we had to wait until the daffodils bloomed so he could sniff them one last time.

My Mom and I were talking as we tucked a few wild plants in on his grave about Rainbow Bridge this past weekend.

I told her that I suspected as he arrived he met Frank right off.

Frank was our Westie that died when we first moved to our North Country House.

Hey Jackass I can see him barking. What took you so long?

My Mom said, oh no! In Heaven I don't believe there is any concept of time or how long something has taken.

That does sound heavenly as it feels like just yesterday as I hid around the corner of the garage sitting on the ground and bawled. Will totally miss that dog. He sat on my feet and farted as I worked. Best co-worker ever! The day we had it scheduled I hung out with him in our gardens and fed him venison jerky.

Just a close up of all the pretty stuff I used including some dyed ribbon and a neat little pin with wings!

Hope your Hump Day is moving right along!

Hugs!

Hot Men & A Finished Lab Table

THE MAN attached my new BUTCHER BLOCK table top to my new/old lab table the other night. I am hoping they send very strong moving men as I can no longer even pick up one side of it. I was really hoping for strong HOT moving men, but I no doubt will have my hopes dashed.

The last move involved two different sets of moving men and none of them really qualified in the hot catagory. Nothing like our trash guy who really is movie star hot and who has all his teeth. Sadly I never run into the trash guy as lurking around the end of our driveway seems a bit over the top.

The dude who brought the top on a tractor trailer freight class was also not hot, but he had a thing for my jeep so he got points. I shuttled the top down from the end of the driveway to the garage in my jeep as tractor trailers cannot make the turn into our driveway. Picture me driving real real slow with this big counter hanging out the back and you'll get the picture....

Tonight THE MAN (who is hot) will show me how to use REAL RIVETS to attach this little metal tag that fell off the table while I was sanding. I have no clue where it goes but it make me happy.

Yes it's been painted & inked up with scrapbooking supplies...It's kinda shout out to the original color, rust and turquoise!

Why yes, this table has totally come a long way!

Hope your Tuesday is Sweet! 

Getting to Know My Creative Process

Yvonne the Rock Star blog owner of LESSology and her personal blog Do More with Less invited me to be part of a virtual blog hop to share my answers to the following questions:

1. What are you working on?

2. How does your work differ from others of its genre? 

3. Why do you write/create what you do?

4. How does your writing/creating process work? 

Before I jump into writing about me, I want to tell you a couple of things I really admire about Yvonne. Her most fabulous painting on her Getting to Know My Creative Process post is out of this world and she used wires from a recycled light in her painting so you should pop over and check that out. I am often pinning her work because she is so creative! She also once wrote a post about how she mostly posts & blog hops during the week, giving herself the weekend off. Maybe she can hook me up with the link again, but it really hit home on giving yourself time to recharge & stuck in my brain! 

Right now I am working on a lot of things that involve a whole lot of sanding and painting! Our move is right around the corner and we are prepping furniture for paint! This is a project from this past weekend where I took a wooden clock frame and played around with spray paint & some silver leafing paint. I am trying to talk myself out of adding rolled roses to it at the moment in the theory it's just fine the way it is! I am anxious of course to hang it in our new house.

What I am MOST excited to work on though are these thrift store finds that involve possibly welding and at least one deep dive through THE MAN's extensive collection of hardware! I have big plans for these locks & spindles!

I think my work is different than a lot of other crafters as I typically do not have the latest products right at my fingertips. Or, time to order them! I am in the second hand store once a week scouring for something that jumps out at me. Honestly it doesn't bother me though because I have had a lot of fun making my own things to add or coming up with new ideas on how to embellish something.

I create because I have to create. It's like it's all in my head and has to come out. I blog however because I love to write and I enjoy the community of artists who make scrapbook pages, altered items, and art!

My creative process usually starts when I find something that is in serious need of a good alteration to make it prettier! Although recently I participated in a challenge where the three of us came up with four triggers per project and ran with what worked!

I am hoping the two girls Lisa (QUIRKS) & Sue (ONION) who participated in the Technicolor Trio of Tempting Treats will post about their creative process! I am DYING to know what makes them tick! Yes clock pun intended!

Hope you have a great Monday! 

Hoot Hoot! New Challenge at LESSology!

I first spotted owls on Pinterest made from a variety of recycled materials. I pinned them and wanted my own. In fact, I swiped the pin from fellow teamie Julie!

When I found the metal clock face in a bin for free at the second hand store, I started planning my owl! I knew our challenge this month was to include an animal in our project and I wanted my project to BE an animal.

The silver tray was also a second hand store find and the clock face fit in it perfectly.

The metal ears were once part of a heart tart pan that I took apart. The metal base is the owl body that was covered with embossed copper & painted. Some vintage lace covers the top.

Of course, I bet you can guess what the eyes are made out of! Canning jar lids, rusty washers, and a crystal eye ball!

I am pretty sure the ones I spotted on Pinterest were meant to be hung in your garden, but mine is hanging out in my studio with me. The paper flowers don't lend themselves to being placed outside, but I really loved the addition of the rolled roses!

Love the patten and color they add!

And what owl isn't complete with a birch stick to hold on to and some bow ties!

Hope you get a chance to play along with us over at LESSology! Upcycling is a HOOT!

Technicolor Trio of Tempting Treats Week 6: Pratt Inc. Blocks

Yesterday I showed you my fireplace. Yes, I am beyond excited about having one and I wanted to make something PRETTY for ours.

THE MAN was on board for helping me. IN fact, he quite cabably cut these blocks for me WITH GROOVES even! Check out my before photo! The light colored block is sanded but not spritzed with mist yet, but you can kinda see what they started out like.

And, you can also see my very small & very old block that served as a model for my large blocks!

Lisa (QUIRKS) & Sue (ONION) are my partners in crime for these treats and we have several requirements to meet on THIS LAST CHALLENGE!

• Altered Boxes or ATB’s
• Wings
• Game pieces
• Seasonal display-Pick any Season you like

Now the last time I made altered trading boxes, I used paper and THE MAN made fun of me for hours.

He offered to let me cheat and to cut them out of wood. PLEASE don't tell Regina...honestly though, I am not sure wood is any easier as there is all that sanding!

And sanding dries out your hands unlike working with paper and hot glue!

There was some sanding on my GINORMOUS P but only to make sure both pieces of wood were even that I cut out to make the P shape. I then spent a good hour adding the metal tape that I embossed overtop. True labor of LOVE right there! 

Check out that key dragonfly with the crystal head. I seriously LOVE THOSE! A great way to get "wings" on your project!

Love this metal piece too that I added some of the Ragner Patina too. That stuff sticks so nicely to metal and I really dig the color!

So I didn't use game pieces, but I made my own blocks so I am calling that requirement met! Seasonal was a bit harder, but can we think of this as a nice spring green with dragonflies that emerge in the Spring? Ok, so it's a stretch!

And one more photo for SCALE! These are pretty big!

Can't wait to try them out!

Happy Hump Day!

Hints, Allegations, and Things Left Unsaid

So, I have been sanding a lot lately.

It's amazing outside so I just want to spend every single minute I can outdoors or in the garage with the doors open.

I also am MOTIVATED to work on furniture now I have seen where certain pieces can fit into my new house.

I am also motivated to make things because I have a new thing I'm really really excited about.

It's black and white. AND granite!

Ok one teeny tiny photo. (It's a horrible photo by the way, so sorry to my realtor but I think I can take a better one!) I would have at least attempted one when I was there, but I was trying to be polite and besides the lady of the house had taken most everything down!

Indoor photos are all about lighting and in her defense, it's pretty dark in the living room. I am sure I'll spend some time figuring out WHEN to take the best photos.

Anyhow that wooden P at the top there is a teaser for what I'm posting tomorrow.

The VERY LAST project for the Technicolor Trio of Tempting Treats! Come back and visit on Hump Day!

Happy Anniversary Card in A Box Set from THE CUTTING CAFE

I really LOVED making this Card in a Box!

I am anxious to try my hand at one again as they are so much fun!

Sending a HUGE THANKS to Regina over at THE CUTTING CAFE for this fabulous file! It also comes with embellishments that you can use to decorate your card! I printed out the Happy Anniversary from the file and it was super quick to add to my card!

I picked heavy stuff to add to mine, which is why I had to weigh it down with little feet! I built a bottom for mine & added nuts that were sprayed gold!   My card is stationary but her file is meant to allow the inside decorations to slide up and down. Which is exactly why I want to try it again with things that aren't quite so heavy like brass key dragonflies & sparkly gem leaves!

They are super duper pretty though! They match the little metal piece I used on the front!

My parents have the coolest pond ever and I always enjoy the dragonflies, so I thought they would make a nice addition to their card! They will be be celebrating their anniversary next week!

Huge congrats to them!

I tried adding THREE dragonflies to this card, but settled on two due to the weight. My spare dragonfly is down front of the this card. and I have big plans to use it elsewhere this week!

Hop on over to THE CUTTING CAFE and check out her files! 

Hope your Monday is fantastic!

Pin This & Pin Me: Layout for Another Freaking Scrappy Challenge

Oh no! Anne knows my almost guilty pleasure! Well, you ALL do now!

The first of the month has rolled around again and over at Another Freaking Scrappy she is asking us to scrap about our favorite pastime on our compuer...

My pc is more for printing photos and email, so I went with how I use my phone the most.

I love love love pinterest. I am not a huge pinner, nor do I remember most days to even pin my own stuff, but there is something about taking a quick wander through a bunch of lovely beautiful thing that just makes me happy. Stumble across something I made that is pinned by someone else? I get all happy embarrassed!

On the top I used a bunch of homemade tags for my journaling along with some pretty ribbon and cork board embellishments. I am using the car, bike, plane and map pin to symbolize how pinterest will take you places that you've never seen before. I randomly follow people who pin places and I enjoy those photos too!

Across the bottom I printed out some of my pin boards. They are random things that make me happy!

Hope you hop on over and check out all the cool pages & play along with us!