W.I.P.'s

Here are a few "Works in progress"
A brown & pink baby blanket for one of my daughter's friends who is having a baby in a few months. I am using one of my favorite patterns that consists of mindless crocheting (I've got the pattern memorized) then attaching the flowers made with my vintage daisy loom....and a pirate photo album....This album is made from one of those photo pocket books that you just insert photos into the cut outs for an instant album. Well.... I used some sand paper and sanded the pages printed design to get it roughed up to paint. I have never in my life used gesso...so why start now? lol I first painted each page with a thick, even coat of black paint and let that dry. Then I used a stiff old brush and painted on some brown (and let that dry)--- then using the same old brush I painted on some red that I added a touch of black to.(and let that dry) I then stenciled some pirate themed images onto each page, and dry brushed around each photo area with the same color (and let all that dry) Once that was all done I put a coat of sealer on each page and that really made all the colors pop. After letting the sealer coat dry, I sanded the edges of each page to make it look old. I purchased a brown faux suede-like blazer at a thrift store to use the fabric on the cover of the photo album. This is as far as I've gotten. I am wanting to create either a beaded or embroidered cover for the front of the photo album....in a pirate them of course! I added a piece of torn muslin to the front & back cover to help keep the book bound. After sanding all those pages it loosened up the glued binding somewhat. The muslin just adds to the old world look :-)

Mixed Media Monday~

This weeks theme is: HarmonyOkokokok-- reaching a bit here lol.... 3 fairies caught in jars living in "harmony" with some old books. Hmmm lets just say, I live in a box-- up on a shelf-- behind stuff.... I have no imagination lol If you want to view some fabulous works of art from people whose imagination is staggering please check out this website :-)
P.S.... the fabulous sheet music that I coverd this little bookcase with is actually fabric that I bought at Walmart, it was around $4 bucks a yard. It comes all tea stained with gold glitter on it, f-a-b-u-l-o-u-s!!!

ButTONS

Yep-yep...I have a TON of buttons :-) I have been visiting a blog called "Button Floozies" and I wanted to join in a long time ago...but I felt I didn't have enough buttons. (not that you need a certain amount, it was just my attempt to justify getting more) Well...I think with this last assortment of buttons I picked up for $15 bucks I am ready to join :-)I have created a mini slide show of some of my buttons.

Boutiques~

I picked up these treasures today:I've wanted this book titled "Where Women Create" FoReVeR..... and I picked it up for $6 bucks :-) Look at the cute gum ball machine, that was only $3 bucks :-)Also, a bag full of these plastic pieces (total of 54) for only
$2 bucks......

Lastly, here is a chandelier that I picked up for $4 bucks :-)

It was brass-- until I painted it white and baked it in the sun for a few days. I am needing to replace the pvc "candles" on the piece as they are not as white as I'd like them! Not a bad score!

Designing for your life....

Kari & Kijsa are hosting a lookie-lou into other peoples houses....
I would say my "style" of decorating is eclectic shabby-chic/second hand COMFORT :-) I live in total comfort...lol...I laugh because "Comfort" is my last name.

Anywho, these photos represent the area of my house that I like the most. It is just a corner of my living room..... literally, I've got everything in a triangle (in the corner) It is a very comfy space right next to the fireplace~ My favorite "piece" is the two tiered wooden steps next to this (above) chair. I am using it as a table right now~

Here are some more photos of the same room...the living room/dining room. I've shared these before :-P The photos below have a "magnifier" if you run your mouse over the pictures...kinda neat~

Cuppie-cake

I saw these on Janets blog and had to make some myself.I think they are totally cutie-pa-tooties! The hardest part? The cool whip blob under the duck! I spent all day long trying & trying but everything looked awful. I finally ended up using a sunflower crochet pattern from a book that when whipped up on a smaller scale looked kinda cute :-) I am going to make a lot of these for my daughter (who is expecting her second child) dArLiNg!!! if I do say so myself *grinning* I will add either a pink or blue ribbon with a tiny bell on it when I find out if she is having a boy or girl :-)

Saturday treasures~

Here are some things I picked up this past Saturday. I got a box full of brand new items from a scrapbook store that had closed...all this for only $10 bucks. I tallied about half of the items and it came out to over a hundred dollars! The gal had a yard full of stuff and this is allllllllllll I got. I should have just made her an offer on everything lol. (I was trying not to overbuy-- when I do that I tend to need to purge stuff-- so I pre-purged) Ohhhhhhhhhh to understand me would only confuse you!!! This is the second year she has sold some of her stock. I told her I'd see her next year as well :-) Loads of reink bottles, jump rings, ink pads, shadowing pads, paint brushes & rubber stamps :-)The vintage crepe paper streamers & Christmas stockings I picked up for a buck :-)

Finally, a tiara that I picked up for .50cents. It is missing some rhinestones-- but all the faux pearls are in place. I've got a bazillion rhinestones that I picked up for $5 buckeroos about a year ago that will do nicely as replacements :-)

Here is a photo of the tiara on a pile of my rhinestones. I would say about half of the bags had "flat backs" and the other half were jewelry quality faceted beauties :-)
This is my "birthday tiara" :-)

Whew~

Finally finished with eVeRyThInG :-) Here is the last two things I've been feverishly completing before the Friday deadline:

3 Crocheted Christmas ornaments~A mixed media piece of jewelry~ This is a fun piece, I'm happy with how it finally turned out :-) It has the watch chain from my father in-laws father, the oblong (faux brass) charm with the word "hope" is from one of those .25cent machines from when I was a child... and the cross/rosary is one from my collection. And the rusty bling piece was something I yanked off an art piece I no longer liked :-P This piece is called: "The key to life...is hope & faith"These two along with the crocheted baby blanket~and the Yo-Gabba-Gabba baby quilt~Bring my total entries to 8....and whew, I'm glad I didn't sign up for more lol

Fair entries....

Here are some things I've finished that I'm entering into our local fair.... I'm entering a total of 8 things. I've still got a set of 3 crocheted ornaments to finish and then I've got to finish a mixed media jewelry piece. The jewelry so far has been the hardest to finish as I keep taking it apart and reworking it lol

Sooooooooooo here is 6 Christmas ornaments~ (I won second prize last year) They are little boxes filled with vintage flowers & papers topped with a piece of glass and then soldered. A pair of baby booties~ Very easy-peasy pattern!A crocheted "animal" Next year it will be cuter/bigger, but I needed something I could whip up fast lol~

And a fabric covered box (I won first prize last year)

The top of this box is created using straight pins & beads. Its called "pin beading" and it was very popular in the late 1800's~

Mixed Media Monday~

This week the theme is stars.... here is my contribution~

You can find other peoples works of art here.

Happy birthday to me...

Here is a little number I wrote especially for me for my birthday. Now, keep in mind it is to be sung like Marilyn Monroe sung Happy Birthday many-many years ago.....

Happy birth-day to meeeeeeeee~

happy birth-day to meeeeeeeeeee~

give me a fork,

pass me my cake,

happy birth-day to meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee~

cha-cha-cha~

Today marks the start of my birthday month..... someones got to spoil me and lets face it...I am a trained professional!

Plugging away~

I've been extremely busy trying to make things to enter into our local fair. I am such a procrastinator-- this is my punishment. I've signed up to enter 8 things this year, and I've got until the 12th to complete everything. The upside is I've got 4 things completed! I'm entering: One crocheted baby blanket, one appliqued baby blanket, a set of 6 Christmas ornaments, a set of 3 crocheted Christmas ornaments, a crocheted animal, a fabric covered box (I know dumb one huh lol) a piece of jewelry, ummmmmmm what else??? Ohhhhhh duh-- a pair of baby booties. Next year I've got to start earlier! I'm such a ding-dong. Anywho--- for a dollar each to enter I've got a chance to win $7 bucks for each first place ribbon. But lets face it, I'm entering to win the BLUE RIBBONS! lol