Recent Reads

Checked out Big-Ass Book of Crafts by Mark Montano is a fun book! Lots of kitschy crafts. Switch plates, hanging lamps, punk plates, Japanese hand-mirrors, Warhol litho-pillow, ultra-suede covered containers, fabric covered hangers and so many more. It is a big ass book of crafts but lots of fun.





Another I am reading right now is Home Hints and Tips by Rosamund Richardson. It is very interesting but also making me a little batty. It is a guide to living in modern times naturally, safely, leaving less of a foot print on the planet and just over all more healthy. Talks about all the toxins in paints, wax on foods, plastics leaching and so on - so making me a little sick to my stomach when I think about it all. It has great tips and resources though.

I would like to have both on my bookshelf.

Gratitude Friday

I am thankful...
1. that my cold finally went away
2. that I heard from a friend I was worried about
3. for Frank & JoAnne giving us their wok that. They didn't use it so asked if wanted it. I said: YES! And I have used it twice this week and plan to use it again tomorrow night.
4. for the wonderful gift that my friend Jessica gave me. It just made me smile and was so much fun! (pictures below)
5. for having several good movie nights with Michael this week
6. for getting my list together for spring cleaning - starting spring cleaning next week. Which probably isn't somethign to clook forward to but I am looking forward to cleaning the house out.

I recognize that I have much more to be thankful for in my life.

I got a present from a friend that was so much fun....it was a big ball of yarn that had a little tag on it that said: "unwind me...all the way" and then as I unrolled it little gifts appeared wrapped in it - buttons, beads, charms, stickers & other little emblishments. In the very center there was a teeny tiny handmade book.








The purple/blue one is mine that Jessica made! It was really the coolest gift. I want to do it for someone sometime.

**photos are Jessica's she said I could use them since I was just so excited to unroll it that I forgot to take pictures!

Homemade Christmas Gifts

This year I did lots of homemade gifts as we had a big investment in our business recently. My other criteria was I needed simple just like the clothes pins and little notebooks as I didn't have a lot of time this year as we were so busy with work.

So here are a few simple gifts I made...

Two frames - one for each set of parents. The frames I picked up at Dollar Tree. They were really flat plain wooden frames - perfect for embellishing. The ripped up paper is layered and glued on the frame. The paper is from a daily meditation/devotion book - and I used all the love, marriage and companionship type entries.


A frame for Michael's parents with a photo he took of them at their 50th Wedding Anniversary party. I rubbed antiquing tint on it with a sponge and then turquoise blue as it is a favorite color of Michael's Mom. And then they both really enjoy scrabble so I used scrabble type letters to spell out love.


This one was for my parents. The photo is one that Michael took of them when they were here for my birthday in October. On my parents I rubbed with antiquing tint again but then used white over it instead of the blue like Michael's parents frame. I embellished with scrapbooking elements.


And then I made this for my Dad. It is a clipboard that I picked up at again Dollar Tree. It has a little slide hanger on it so it can be hung up. I just basically did a scrapbooking layout on it. I glued down 3 different papers, then 3 photos on top were again from October when my parents visited that I roughed up around the edges. I embellished with tags and other little bits.

Crafts @ Christmas

We get peanuts at Sam's in the BIG tins. I have thought there has to be things I can do with them. And I have used a couple for art supplies. But then I thought for Christmas they might make good treat tins. This is the tin I did for Michael's parents.


I had 2 simple little crafts I did this year that I included I think in everyone's Christmas presents. The first is what I was calling gratitude journals. Just little journals to jot down gratitude as you think of it or need. I then expanded it to wish journals, simple pleasure, everyday moments, ideas, memories and so on. So the next 2 pictures are just a sampling of a few of them.





The other craft that was so so simple. I painted clothes pins and then used rubber stamps on them. On the back of the clothes pins I attached magnets. So little magnet memo clips....