Duct Tape & Washi Box with Lizard Feet for THE CUTTING CAFE

I spy in my little eye five different tapes on this little box! I picked up some gold thin duct tape the other day when I was in a dollar store. That is on the edges while all the tape in the middle is washi. I had no idea what I was planning on using the duct tape for, but hey, you can't pass up gold duct tape! It's really thin and aside from being VERY STURDY reminded me of washi. I used it on the edges of my box to give it strength. I love making something out of paper that is very durable. ;-)

And while I am letting you in on that little secret, here is another. I use staples because I have a melt down if things come apart. Just little itty bitty ones, but it ensures things stay together forever and ever. Since I used a TON of hardware on this box, I need all the help I can get! Also if you get all mixed media with paints, glitter glue and mists, it helps when things are a bit damp.

Check out those feet! They were purchased at The Funkie Junkie Botique along with the handle and latch. Love them! What I don't love about this photo is the dog foot...she was determined to be involved....bless her doggy heart...

Here is a top view of the box & the handle. Those flowers, leaves, and pink gems were all vintage stash...always fun to use something old on something new!

Now every one of Regina's boxes at THE CUTTING CAFE are designed for a purpose. This one is SUPPOSED to hold sticky notes which is a great idea unless of course you didn't buy any at the dollar store since you were way too excited about the four different kinds of metallic duct tape you found...you can check out her file here and see it's intended use.

One last photo minus the dog foot. She did eventually leave me in peace! Hope your Tuesday is awesome!

Scope Creep & The Never Ending Sidewalk Project

After much effort, we finally got the sidewalk poured. By we, I mean the contractor we hired and then complained about after. He was twenty something and adorable, but the concrete got away from him at the end of the sidewalk by the shed. One buddy had to leave to go milk and it was all drying too fast.

The piece by the shed THE MAN brought home a jack hammer and spent most of Thursday night ripping it back out. We spent the weekend building a form for that piece and another on the other side. And nobody needs to see photos of that! ;-)

The bricks were also an after thought. We didn't get the edge we wanted due to the concrete setting up too fast so I offered to edge it in brick. Luke and I spent an afternoon pounding them in and THE MAN came behind us after with top soil & tamping. Now we just need some rain & the grass to grow! I just might have had a marital moment over bricks tho. THE MAN was NOT pleased in general and picking up 280 bricks with his truck was not high on his list. He was mumbling things about scope creep....and wives who spent too much time on Pinterest....

Thankfully it looks super amazing. Now we just have that section by the house to work through. I have had a lot of suggestions about turning it into garden. The thought of having to chip all that every single year isn't making me all that excited...but I'm sure if I spent just a little more time looking at koi ponds, Japanese maples, and river rock I could get into it.....Pinterest here I come!

Happy Monday!

You People Hate Me Layout for Another Freaking Scrappy

Some days it feels like the wild kingdom up here. In between the rabbits, chipmunks, groundhog, turkeys, deer, and the raccoon that loves the bird feeder, it gets a bit much. So when Anne at Another Freaking Scrappy suggested that we scrap nature or to use nature as an embellishment I used something that had just happened the other day.

THE MAN was NOT in a good mood over the baby birds. He said he could barely see out of his windshield. Thankfully there is a car wash at the bottom of the hill so he got our truck cleaned up really quick! I guess I should be thankful that I didn't get a photo of the windshield. The photo of the baby birds wasn't great, but it's pretty high up and I didn't want to disturb them with a ladder!

I also used a piece of birch bark and a stick to create a little nest for my photo so it worked for the second part of the challenge as well! I love that paper too! I always think flamingos are a bit silly...

And on the baby birds? They have fledged so it's safe to park in the carport again!

Happy 1st of the Month!

Monkey in the Middle

My morning started at 5 am with a sharp pain down my leg. Got up, did some stretches and found some Advil. Couldn't get back to sleep so read a book for a bit. Figured the morning would be a train wreck as I had one kid to drop off at the Museum and the other one in the opposite direction.

Kid one was dropped off successfully. So far so good. We stopped at Dunkin for coffee because I was tired and the boy needed a doughnut. The line was long, but I got myself an ice coffee and blueberry muffin.

We had hit the four lane when the text messages started arriving.

Mom no one is here are you sure I am supposed to be here. 

My co-pilot was in charge of reading them to me and responding. He was also in charge of buttering the blueberry muffin.

I suggested in my very best calm Mom voice that he cut it in fours and carefully butter one section and hand it to me. I also suggested that he tell his sister to ask someone in charge.

I watched him fumble with the knife, get butter on my phone and stop buttering to respond to the next text message.

Mom people are here in suits and I think the museum is closed. What do you want me to do?

I give the boy an eye ball. I am getting hangry and that muffin did not appear to heading my way any time fast.

Again, still calm I repeat myself. Tell Lexi she needs to ask someone. There isn't much I can do, I am driving and she is in a safe place.

Again I watch him fumble with the phone while waving buttery knife.

I then ask nicely for part of my muffin. (I think GET IN MY BELLY MUFFIN but try to remain calm).

Boy fumbles the muffin. It has somehow managed to self destruct.

The phone dings again.

Mom I think the entire museum is closed. There are table cloths. 

Belly takes over for brain. Besides the table cloth comment has me stumped and I don't have the fortitude to deal with it.

LUKE TELL HER TO ASK SOMEONE IN CHARGE AND GIVE ME THE DAMN MUFFIN. 

He looks really sad. He tells me that he can't be expected to text and cut a muffin all at once and that he could feel the angry from my side of the car plus he was pretty sure Lexi was upset on her end of the phone too. And next time could I consider a doughnut instead? The butter was a bit much.

The phone dings again.

I'm all set. I'll explain later. 

Thank you Sweet Jesus the madness is over. I tell the boy to hand me the remains of the muffin and sadly lay it to rest in a napkin. It's just a crumbly mess at this point.

Luke texts back:  "K"

Luke I am going to take that K and beat you to death with it. There's this cool little thing at the bottom of a recently sent text that shows you if the text was read. You don't need to "K" me. 

Luke texts back: "K"

Luke stop. You don't need to send me "K" it is the stupidest thing on the face of this planet. 

By now the caffein and sugar have done their trick and I no longer feel like a zombie from The Walking Dead. Belly has stopped talking and I'm back to brain power.

I tell him to tell her we love her too. That is what it is. Just love because if you didn't love your kids, you'd eat their livers for breakfast.

Happy Rain: Layout from the Sterling Renaissance Fair

My tickets to the Renaissance Festival in Sterling were bought months ago as was the reservation at the campground...so we couldn't cancel due to rain! Suspecting rain late afternoon, we left the camper with umbrellas. About a half hour into arriving, down came the showers!

Due to toting around an umbrella, I didn't get a ton of photos, but it didn't stop our good time! The few photos I did worked well as a collage. Even pulled out the oval cutter I haven't used in ages.

I also used a Lizzy Hill trick. My paper was pretty busy but I still wanted to journal on it. Out came the white out!

I am also digging those flower clusters! The little fluffy ones that are white and sticking out sideways are vintage and those little pinecones were found at the campground! And look at those ladies on those huge silk ropes! They were amazing!

Hope your Tuesday was awesome. The week seems to be off to a good start for me!

Fishes and Frocks

Early this spring we set up camping trips on alternate weekends. We figured we'd kill ourselves working on the new place if we didn't plan on getting out of dodge every now and then. Which of course doesn't mean the work is all done! We are getting close to wrappping up the sidewalk project into the back door. THE MAN did a little work on it on Friday before we hit the road for the Renaissance Fair in Sterling NY.

You can see my garden in full bloom and the new straw that is holding down grass seed. You can also see our side hill which is a project in itself. We have some plans for that as well that involve a bit more grading to make it easier to mow!

While we were at the Ren Fair, I picked out this lovely spitting fish for the water feature I think we should have by the back door. I mainly just took a picture of it and WISHED it was mine. I nearly have THE MAN convinced we should have a water feature, but not enough to add an expensive hand made fish to the equation. Although you must admit it's quite amazing!

And while I was wishing, I was thinking I'd look awesome in this green gown. Again passed that one by! Had to console myself with a turkey leg slathered in hot sauce, steak on a sword, and a slab of carrot cake! Still want the gown though!

We did buy some wine at the Ren Fair! Yummy stuff and I thought it was super cool my wine bottle matched my wine glass and my scrapbook pages! I'm alway in serach of the perfect picnic table and this one was the best! Nice & flat great for making a couple of layouts!

Today it's back to the grind of work with more sidewalk work to top it off in the evening. However, we have more camping planned so lots of weekends to look forward to! Happy Monday!

Aunt Karen Angel

My Aunt Coco asked nicely if I would make her an angel for the Lake George Cottage. She had spotted one somewhere and gotten the idea. Since she didn't get a photo and it was gone the next day when she went back, I was left to use my imagination. I grabbed some sheet music at the ReStore and that vintage Ivory Brand type writer ink metal box and got creative with a dowel and some hot glue.

The head is a glass lamp finial and fit nicely over the dowel after we whittled it down a bit with a knife. The box was cut with metal snips to fit over the same dowel. The only "new" thing is really that bloom from Prima. The other little blooms were some vintage ones I dyed and added.

I got this idea from Jean Green, a fellow blogger who sent me the adorable little angel on the left. She used a spool to keep her angel upright. I used a heavy ceramic insulator from a telephone pole we took down recently to weight the bottom. You can just see it peeking out from under Aunt Karen Angel's skirt. A big washer is the very base. Her skirt is sheet music, but I used the cover for the front of the skirt. I liked the graphic. ;-)

I also used birch bark from Lake George to make the tag. On the tag is a quote my Aunt Karen had written in her yearbook and was something my Mother read at Aunt Karen's internment so it was extra special. I think it very much fits an angel. 

Really happy with how this turned out! I'll keep Aunt Karen Angel safe in my china cabinet until I can deliver her to Lake George and my Aunt Coco. My Aunt has to do something hard today so wish her luck and strength! It's also the reason I picked today to schedule this post.

Happy Thursday to you all as well!.

Kayak Around the Bay Layout

My Mom (aka Grandma Gretch) and Luke had a little Kayak around Dunhams Bay when we were up to Lake George a couple of weekends back. He is so much longer than my Dad that they had to adjust things mid trip so he was more comfortable. That kid is growing like a weed! He said it was a lot of fun and a bit of me was quite jealous to not have gone myself!

I'm really digging the washi tape with paint splatter look at the present moment so I used a bit of washi with some red hearts to match the color of Mom's kayak. Also grabbed my other favorite with the gold dots! I used some birch bark stuck under the photo as well. It makes nice washi tape strips when cut on the paper cutter. ;-)

I was randomly pleased my toes matched my page, hence you are getting a photo of my pedi as well...and I'm loving sandal weather! Bring on more summer please!





























Oh check out that gold sequin making an apperance in the very bottom corner...super pretty!

Hope your Hump Day rocks like a boat! Oh wait..rocking the boat is bad...anywho....

Little Altered Drawers with Hardware

Little white knobs, numbers from a telephone pole and huge old metal furniture tacks decorate this upcycled drawer set. The drawers themselves are teeny tiny so it's much more of a decoration, but it's making me happy with all the hardware! If you want to see a before photo, I blogged about it in my Deer Me more Junkin Post. Those tacks came from a recent ReStore trip and the numbers came off a telephone pole we took down on our property. THAT is a story in itself...

The grundgy look with the copper and gold paint and red chips were intentional as well. I really wanted something to match the rest of my little collection. Some quick sanding took off that black paint I added!

Snuck some scallops in on the top & added some extra copper paint. They make me happy!

Hope your Tuesday is lovely!

4 The Love of Roses: Print & Cut Tab from THE CUTTING CAFE

Miss Regina over at THE CUTTING CAFE created an add-on for the Yearly Planners that is a month tab. Meaning that (and this is the exciting part) you can print & then cut them and have perfectly spaced tabs. I had to try it right away with the July Tab. If you look, you can see it nested under the doily and the pretty paper. I also printed the month of July from the Planner. Love it when a file can be repurposed to do double duty!

I liked using the month & tab for this scrapbook page because it's about a new rose I bought called Jump for Joy. I am keeping tabs (how punny!) on my roses and I'll slip the tag for this rose in the scrapbook behind this page. I wanted to use July because it seems to be blooming quite prolifically right now.

Love the gray inked up doily and how mostly flat this page turned out! I've maxed out another scrapbook so I'm trying just a bit to go flatter! Wish me luck since it probably won't happen!

Happy Monday!

Happy Birthday Jennifer!

Popping in today to wish my Sistah In Law the happiest of birthday weeks! (if the Aussie girls look real close, that is Australia on my card down near the rose!)

It's her actual birthday today, but I do hope her family treats her to a week of indulgences! I also hope that my package arrived safely!

Matched my card to some vintage wrapping paper I used. I love the rabbits and toadstools! Pretty sure my Grandma wrapped a present for me when I was little with the same stuff!

The really remarkable part is that I sewed (gasp!) on my card. The boy had my sewing machine out working on his uniform for Civil Air Patrol, so I did some stitching on my card! Hopefully you are sitting down for this news...

Anyhow, have a great weekend as it's Friday! insert happy dance here! And wish my Sistah In Law a happy day too! 

Aunt & Twin Layout

We spent the past weekend at Lake George. We traveled North for my Aunt Karen's internment who had passed earlier this year. She was my Mother's Twin. It was difficult to see her twin-ness as a kid since she suffered from some kind of thing I never could identify. The eulogy my Mother delivered explained it was Autism. Things are so much different these days and she would have gotten a much different reception from the world. Instead she made her way through half way houses and got sicker mentally and physically.

I made the page very "arty" as everyone who spoke about my Aunt Karen mentioned her various talents as an artist. Since the funeral was at the family compound at Joshua's Rock, I also added a couple of pine branches (in pink!) and some birch bark in strips.

I used the birch bark like washi tape but stapled on. It worked really well! You might see that I snuck in a rub-on paint brush! Love the pink splash of paint! I was trying to add just a little and the top flew off...Love happy mistakes!

Hope your Wednesday was Happy...we are on the downhill side now and coasting to the weekend!


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