my green thumb

i was all inspired by a read in a magazine to buy bulbs for my outdoor containers- cuz apparently now is the time....so, i stopped at a local little flower shop yesterday. i had stopped one other time and this gal had the coolest little "fairy gardens" with such neat arrays of plants- i just loved them! so that is where i stopped yesterday to grab my bulbs....

she helped me pull plants and arrange my little gardens and then also gave me ideas of other little things to place in the container to make it more interesting and to help with watering so it didn't splash by adding moss to the open areas.

she had such fun interesting plants that i ended up buying enough plants for two gardens....(she was a great help! ;) but, it was fun coming home and putting them together and setting out in my house.

so here is my second fairy garden with help from harmony gardens in jasper, mn. she sadly doesn't have a link i can add but, if you are ever in SW minnesota and in need of indoor or outdoor plants and cool flower pots- stop by her place on the curve of hwy 75- she has the most wonderful spot! oh, yeah- and i did manage to buy my bulbs and get those into my containers as well yesterday....

turning "finds" into charms

in town we have these clothing collection metal bins. someone apparently did not understand the "clothing only" and there was stuff outside of the bin. so when i ran to the grocery and had come to the stop sign and glanced, over....my eye was caught by this sparkling item that had been left there. the junker in me kicked in, and going around the block gave my mind just long enough to think of the potential that this item may hold. so i went back and grabbed it.

i wish the pieces there straight across at the bottom, but, hey, sometimes you need to roll with the punches and not look a gift horse in the mouth! so this is the first mixed media "charm" i made. i am not sure about the book paper, but, i definitely like the diamond napkin and the black and white polka dot washi tape.

yes...definitely like the diamonds....can't wait to make more charms. my plan is to hang the charms with ribbon. what are your thoughts on this charm? let me know what you think! thanks for visiting and comments!

it's apparently all about the facial hair

since i can remember, our youngest son has been dreaming and waiting for facial hair. he turned 14 in the last week, and has grown some peach fuzz. we got to talking about facial hair and his "mustache" versus his older brother who's sideburns were in full force by the time he was in 8th grade. so, he decided a cartoon was in order....all drawing here today and storyline are being provided today by our youngest son.

he was emulating his older brother here with his "*artist interpretation of world famous......"

the whole story line made me laugh last night when he showed me! he truly has been talking and waiting to grow facial hair since i can remember. he has to be happy that he is finally getting closer.

signs of my favorite season....fall

in our backyard, i am finally seeing signs that fall really is coming. our trees are barely turning except for one branch on one of our maples. i  love the red stem and the warm yellow reds of this leaf especially with the contrast of the concrete.

as i looked at the rest of the tree still green and trying desperately to stay that color, the one branch sticking out, working hard at changing colors is easy to spot. i can't help but think that sometimes you  need to be the different one. the one ready for change, just a bit ahead of the curve. my mind is spinning with ideas and "wants" for an occasional sale here in my small town.

i also found one apple i missed on the tree...and noticed the delicate web at the stem. the fragile weaving to allow it to even happen....hoping that all of my pieces may come together as well to weave this "sale" web.

wanting my own "occasional" sale

i live in a small town in the midwest of the united states and "occasional" sales have popped up everywhere! i have a few examples: the market in davis , kanaranzi creek, and tattered treasures . i went and visited 2 yesterday afternoon. what i have decided is that i like most of this stuff that i see at these sales (and i probably already own one of whatever it is....) and that i want to host my own occasional sale. these sales consist of main vintage items that can be repurposed but don't have to be; some of the charm is the item's wear and tear. i probably don't have enough stuff to have my own sale though....i would need to find a couple other people with a passion for junk and vintage items to pull of my own occasional sale. here is to finding some other peeps for an occasional sale....i am also hoping to visit another sale on tomorrow. happy friday to you!! are you into occasional sales? do you like junking?

book binding project

our daughter had "lit" term cards that were supposed to be bound. my daughter did not tell me this fact so i just sent the 3 packages of note cards to school with her.

until, one of her classmates asked her, isn't your mom an artist? can't she do this for you?!

which then of course lead to my wheels turning to be creative, and get these note cards bound.

thank goodness, i have done other book bindings before, so, i knew how to proceed. a little glue, some paper, and any extras i wanted.

oh, and some washi tape to inform our daughter that she will "like it a lot."

and maybe throw in some napkins....(recognize the diamond napkin?- love that!)

hopefully, these newly bound note cards will live up to the expectations of not only my daughter, but, of her classmate. i do expect that nobody will have note cards that will look as cool as these.

collaging/ art journal- feeling creative

i was on a roll yesterday afternoon/ evening and was grabbing and gluing paper tidbits off my counter as fast as my eye was spying them....this is the start of one of my new art journals that i purchased from Kasia over at czekoczyna. she made this amazing journal with eclectic papers for me. she makes very inspiring pages!

i was loving the vintage hangar paper- "lord baltimore" ....you don't see those much any more; or maybe it's because i don't use the dry cleaners much. i am a wash n go girl...maybe i shouldn't be if they still give you those cool papered hangars.

i am still very much in love with my stencils...the diamond shape, and i had picked up the circles- which i also love! the other side of that page is a conversation with our daughter- it was very funny. she likes to add things in the middle of a conversation that mean absolutely nothing- like "pink larry bananas." i love her carefree whimsy that she still has at age 15 by some grace of the good Lord.

i love the little blue edge of paper off to the left. it was a painting that i had cut up and i couldn't bear to throw away any scrap from the painting away (silly,i know)...the vintage pic of the ladies was screaming for some hats, which of course must mean that they are important- thus the queens. everyone wants to be a queen for a day. the back ground falls onto the next pages which are not finished, but, i wanted to show this page anyway- the queens were making me laugh.

this is beginning collage in my other art journal. i was loving the vintage "work" papers that were lying around in my studio and had to put them to good use. i can't hardly throw away any vintage paper- every scrap must be used for something. i think this page needs some color now that i see it in a pic, but, has a good base.

here is a sneak peak at my new painting. my best friend and i scored these wooden board things, and i of course took a pile. i left some at her studio space and only brought home a small stack. i did confess to my husband when he took them out of the back of my truck that i had another pile and he offered "of course you do sweetie." 22 years....he knows everything. :)

treasures from junk bonanza!

alrighty...do not pay attention to my creepy look...i was trying to instruct our youngest son on how to use my camera; but, it is the best pic of my new hair tie. literally- this gal at junk bonanza yesterday handmade the cutest hair ties, out of recycled mens' ties. she also made hats out them that were super cute. yesterday, i saw the most sewing forms i have ever seen in one spot, and ALL were already sold.

i managed to haggle a bit and asked for a few dollars off...and got it! yeah!

especially when i realized it was for coffee- jeez, it was almost a given that i would want this. i did an "american pickers" trick and packaged this tin with the accounts book a few pics below and got those dollars off.

i loved this gauge and it was super cheap.

here is my new accounts receivable book that will be awesome altered! i cannot wait to get started on this.

this was my first purchase of the day. go figure- a clock. i tried several times to get you a good look, but, the picture is a steamboat docked waiting for people to load; which i thought was very unusual. i am not sure i have ever seen a clock similar to this. have you? let me know if you have or maybe there are other backgrounds?

had to pick up some religious pieces to put into my jewelry. there were quite a few booths that had this type of stuff- some more expensive than others....i needed to do some looking around first before purchasing; but, scored here.

this booth was pretty cool and i loved the way this gal packaged and displayed her stuff. i also managed to score an optical piece in my one grab bag.

i scored some some stamped canvas pieces and hope to sew these into something else cool.

i got a variety of paper stuff and old pics from this booth. the pic is so darn funny! the gal who assisted me laughed out loud when she saw the pic and was counting up all my findings yesterday. i had a great time yesterday- if you live in minnesota and are close, and love junk...better go! it was packed there in the morning, and my motto was the path of least resistance- if the booth was packed i avoided and kept moving. i did go back later and managed to get through those booths that i had missed early on in the afternoon. i wore my overall bibs yesterday, and if i had a quarter for every time someone told my how awesome my bibs were- i would have come  how a few dollars richer!

results: Pinterest sharpie/ mug

this was the precooking....

this is the post cooking, with me washing with water and light rubbing. please keep in mind too, i did not see anywhere that colored sharpies were used. almost every image i saw was with a black sharpie. the only color i saw posted anywhere was a brown....so the fushia color- not too good, but, that was the only color that actually rubbed off.

the colors also changed just a bit, the yellow circles (i had two yellow circles towards the top of the mug- reference first picture above), are now a light peach/ flesh color.

this is the side of the cup that i made for my girlfriend....she will laugh out loud when she sees what options i made for her. :)

and a face to go with her zombie juice....sometimes this is how i feel; but, overall, this experiment worked fairly well except for the fushia color. every other color seemed pretty stead fast.i would recommend gentle hand washing. this was super fun and the possibilities were whirling in my head...as they were countless.