Earth day 2009~

Reduce-reuse-recycle....three words that come to mind on earth day. I recently bought these gift bags (26 in total) at a yard sale for $2 bucks. (highway robbery I tell you!) They were previously stamped and written on but never used. I figured I could use them for--- what else? the upcoming pirate party of course! One of the thrift stores I go to gives away magazines and maps for free. Crazy huh? I always grab both on my way out of the store! Anywho, I recycled these bags into something I could use...using leftovers from previous things I've worked on :-) I ripped one of the maps into small sizes that would cover up the previous crafters "embellishments" I glued the map piece on the bag... Using left over stuff from my stash, I glued on an oval of ultra suede with a cut out of a pirate image glued on top of that. Then I tied on a piece of ripped black fabric on the handle...Lastly, I dragged my ink pad along the sides of the bag and stamped "Booty" on the bag and taaaaaaa daaaaaaaa reused/recycled & reduced waste!

Nesting~

I've collaborated with one of the many mourning doves in my yard with building a nest. I could see this young couples concerns with building a nest...being young newlyweds and all.... sometimes you just need to have the experience of someone older and wiser to go to for help. They were sweet and didn't boldly come out and ask for help.... They tried on their own...picking up sticks and bits of dried grass while I was out in the yard planting & pruning. The couple had picked a nice location... in a wreath that I had hung, rather haphazardly, from my front yard gazebo. I saw the momma-to-be sitting on a pile of sticks in the center of the wreath looking very proud of their accomplishment of their new nest. Thats when the "momma" in me took over. Once the sweet couple went off on an errand....I pulled down the wreath with a gentle pull-- a strong wind would have done the same! I pulled out the few sticks and in its place I wired in a store bought nest with high sides. I then used stronger wire to attach the wreath more securely to the gazebo so it wouldn't sway in the wind. Once the wreath with the nest was in place back on the gazebo, I placed the few sticks the dove's had previously gathered inside the new nest. Here is the wreath with a portion of the nest showing.....I placed a wicker basket on the backside of the wreath to help shield the birds from the heat of the sun. I was going to use a flat woven basket, but I figured the depth of this basket would allow the birds to turn easily when they were sitting in the nest. Here is the basket on the flip side of the wreath-- not to pretty, but well worth it~
Not a moment to soon.... a new life is on its way~A closer look.... isn't the egg beautiful~

Mixed Media Monday~

This weeks theme is Mermaids....You can find more mixed media Monday mermaids...here~

Boutiquing~

I had a fun time hitting some yard sales this past weekend...I thought I'd show off my bounty~ This crystal light was only $5. I think I might pull all the crystals off of this and make two matching hanging lights for my upcoming pirate party :-) You can't tell in this photo, but the bottom that it is sitting on has about 5 more rounds of crystals that hang down! All of these things were bought at the same house... a tin of buttons $1.50 (most are mother of pearl) an old pair of childrens shoes .50cents, an old photo of 4 children .75cents, a tiny box of old mercury glass Christmas beads (and other junk) .25cents, a baggie of stamins .25cents.... I would like to think that some of the buttons in the tin were from those children's clothing, maybe the shoes were worn by the little girl, and the old Christmas beads were from something that they had hung on their Christmas tree. A baggie full of crochet pieces $1.00, a baggie full of jumbo sized white ric-rac $2.00. A pink vintage scale $2.00, a silver candlestick $1.50, a two tiered cat bed (soon to be painted white) $5.00, that rectangle metal lidded thingie filled with rose covered balls $5.00, the grayish looking metal thingie was only $1.00.The large metal oval thingie (I am going to put decorating books in it) $5.00, the metal topiary was only $2.00.Lastly, this filthy childs chair with matching filthy foot stool was $3.00. Stay tuned for that puppies make-over! lol

Magnet board~

I am not a huge fan of magnets on my fridge. Probably because my house is so cluttered, its nice to have a place of emptiness to rest my eyes? okokok, that and my cats jump up and knock them off of the fridge. Anywho, I had bought a bunch of those adorable plastic letters with magnets on the back for my fridge for my two year old grandson.... (I think my cats enjoy them more than my grandson)...anywho, I took one of those metal calendar dry erase boards....and I spray painted over the calendar part. (I never could get into the habit of writing on that thing) I had previously "shabbied" up the frame on this calendar thinking that would get me to use it.... didn't work lol Anywho, here it is with a few coats of aqua blue paint on it. I baked it out in the sun for two days to really dry the paint. (bringing it in at night) Truely that is the secret to a great paint job. Anywho, I think it is adorable now :-)
My grandson really enjoys playing with it...okokok, just pulling off the magnets and tossing them all over the floor-- whatever~

Vintage baby coat~

I just finished making this little crochet poncho/coat for my grandaughter using a vintage pattern..... (the pattern was for a two year old-- she has 22 more months to go before she can wear it lol) There is a pattern for a matching hat as well. This is my first attempt at making anything to wear (besides baby booties) I am so going to enter this in the fair this year-- it probably won't win a ribbon-- but I put a lot of hours in on this, maybe that will at least get me a chuckle lol

Show & Tell~

I've redone my mailbox flap that is in my kitchen..... I am lucky to have my mail put into my house and not in one of those community mail boxes that are popular in newer developments. (something to be said about living in an old established neighborhood) So this thing-- being 40 odd years old was once a shiny brass mail box cover. Over the years it turned into a pitted/rusted embarrassment-- which I painted & repainted over the years...Soooooooo this last time.... I painted it with some rust prevention paint and then had some fun with my joint compound :-) I used one of those thin stencils for scrapbooking, I centered it and taped it into place~Then I spread a layer of the joint compound over the cut out area I wanted to appear on my mailbox door. I would say it was about 2/16" thick~Once the compound had set up for a few minutes, I just peeled off the tape and carefully lifted the stencil up and off revealing the design~Here it is painted.... I distressed it using some brown paint. I am not sure I am going to keep it like this due to the fact that the tile this is going to be set into is stark white and this might just end up looking "dirty".....so its going to sit up against the tile for awhile until I decide :-)
You can find more show & tells over at Kelli's blog.