I'm A Guest Star On A Sitcom!

Welcome to those stopping in from:


Yes I'm awake, and no, I haven't been drinking or taking heavy doses of cold medicine. Imagine my surprise when Suzy, from Suzy's Artsy Craftsy Sitcom, asked ME for an interview and told me I was going to be a guest star in her recurring Wednesday feature ?!


If you've never visited Suzy, you need to fix that. Not just because she has my interview up but because she is hilarious and why she's not actually writing for a sitcom ( or is she???) I don't know. And, as her blog name suggests, she's Artsy Craftsy so there are some great projects to accompany the humor. Oh and Tom Selleck. Just sayin'. 

I'd like to thank the Academy ( I don't care if "we" haven't won an Emmy yet) and of course Suzy!

There's A Tag For That

So my husband said to me one day that he didn't really get the whole tag thing. Then, we had a get together to go to the other night and decided to pick up a bottle of wine on the way and lookie here...tucked a tag I happened to have on hand into my bag to put on the bottle :) See sweetie...they come in handy. So I decided to make some more to have on hand because you never know when you'll be picking up a bottle of wine or something. Remember I went "funky junkin" ? I bought a bag of this stuff because it looked really cool and I knew I would use it for something:

It's almost like paper yarn. Hard to describe but it was one of those "you'll be sorry" if you walk away moments.

I ran out of my stash ( see I busted it) of manila office tags so I cut some (two sizes) with my Cricut. I know...welcome to planet obvious...me, not you. Sometimes I forget what that thing can do!

For the smaller ones here, I covered with torn paper and used copper Magenta Peel Offs  in these funky leaf shapes. Added a copper eyelet and my very ethereal papery yarn.

Did something similar with the larger ones but used K&CO scrapbook borders (Blossomwood collection) that have a lot of copper foiling. Again, finished with copper eyelets and my funky yarn.

I stamped on some of the tags before embellishing. See stamps? I haven't totally forgotten you!

 

Linking Up At:

 

Coffee (Filter) Filled Center...Includes Tute

Nope it's not a yummy candy with a coffee center. OK now I'm craving a mocha. Back on task. I know everybody and their sister in blogland has made a book wreath, but as some non-crafty friends remind me "not everyone lives in your world". True, true. Since I'm making stuff for a craft fair next month, I figured maybe there will be people who aren't sick of book wreaths, especially since I saw one recently similar to the technique I'm going to show you that was waaaaaaayyyyy overpriced (IMO).

Here's my finished project:

 

The book pages are mounted on a circle of cardboard from a leftover box. I prettied it up by covering the back w/ some scrapbook paper. But the tutorial is on the center: 

I used an old ceral box for my base and went "old school" ( would take longer to load my Expression) and drew circles and cut out. Then I made a bunch of coffee filter clusters. 

Fold in half, then in half again and gather the bottom into a stem. This will naturally form a ruffle / flower. Staple about 1/2 way up the stem. Turn on glue gun. Start gluing bundles ( I didn't count but make at least 20-25 for a medium sized circle). I started in the center and worked outwards

I put the first two back to back and then the next two on either side and just kept working around until the cardboard circle was covered:

As it fills in, you can fluff along the way to determine how many more of your bundles you need to add.

Glue in the center of your book wreath!

Linking Up At:
 

 

Funky Junkin'

I was so excited that I got to do some "funky junkin'" this weekend. The Funky Junk Sisters had their semi-annual "Junk Salvation" show in the PNW on Friday and Saturday and it was so much fun!

I got so excited by all of the wonderful vendors that I stopped taking pictures basically right after I got there but here are a  couple:

You can visit their fun blog here. They are two sisters who love to go junkin' and turn things into fabulous stuff but this show showcases a bunch of vendors with a mix of raw materials and transformed wonderful works of art. I was inspired by the latter, but went for the former. 

The show took up two sections of a warehouse

I was restrained, but here's some of the stuff I came home with:

Ignore the background mess. I do! I got this fabulous birdcage WITH the curly willow included for $12. It's already re-painted white but I may just Oil Rub Bronze it. The candleabra was $5 and haven't decided yet if it will stay shabby white or ORB. The two other stand thingies I'm going to use for ornaments and they will definitely be painted to match.

This is a jar full of wooden thread spools which I think I'm going to use for tassels.

This is one of a set of 10 vintage cups...I bought the set but didn't want to unwrap them all. I'm not sure if they were cordial glasses or what but I'm going to use them on my Christmas dinner table with battery operated tea lights inside.

This won't rotate the right way but it's a sterling silver leafed French "thingy" that I have no idea what I'm going to do with but after making a complete fool of myself, thinking that the price tag said "$.10", saying: "I'll take 20" and having the very understanding vendor say: "Oh sweetie, they're TEN DOLLARS each", I had to buy at least one of them just to save face. Oops!

KT Tunstall Interrupts Our Regularly Scheduled Artsy Blogging

But in a totally good way ! I don't do many review type things on my blog but once in a while I will have the opportunity to because of my affiliation with One2One Network. One such, was a chance to receive and review KT Tunstall's new CD: "Tiger Suit". If you aren't familiar with her by name, you may recognize some of her Grammy nominated hits such as: Black Horse and the Cherry Tree, Suddenly I See,Other Side of the World or Hold On.  The first single from Tiger Suit: "Fade Like A Shadow" is already a top 20 hit!


If you like a blend of bluesy pop, good lyrics, danceable ( which if you have a teenager, you are NOT allowed to be caught doing with  their friends around) and a great voice, this is definitely a CD to check out. I listened to it during my long drive to "Junk Salvation" on Saturday and it put me in a great mood for some funky junkin' :) More on that to come but back to KT. To put it in terms I think we all relate to, I would describe her as musical "Anthropologie".  Contemporary, stylish, fun, funky. 

 We now return you to the regular programming of "what was she thinking" artsy-fartsy stuff.

October Open House And The Winner Is....

Thanks to everyone who linked up to my October Open House! It was fun seeing what everyone's been working on and getting to meet some new bloggy friends! ALL of the projects were great and here are just a few of my favs:
From Samantha's Accessories, who wouldn't look cute cooking up a Halloween feast in this:

and you could decorate your Halloween table with this, from Haley at The Autocrat:

And if you're birdcage obsessed like I am lately and have trouble finding one, make your own! Polish the Stars shows us how:

OK I'll end up linking all of the projects if I don't stop, so how about you go check out the links if you haven't already?

And the winner of the Breast Cancer awareness bracelet as selected by random.org is:

Caroline from Atelier Caroline. She describes her blog as:

How crafting (and blogging about it) took over my basement and my free-time and how it makes me a happier person

which I think describes a lot of us! Congratulations Caroline!

October Open House Link Party

Welcome and thanks for coming to the October Open House at The Answer Is Chocolate! Rules are simple...Link up whatever you've been working on...Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Fall...home dec, DIY, crafts, decorations, sewing, jewelry, recipes ( chocolate ones especially, but any that you like!). Just please no advertising or etsy etc. Link to your specific blog post and not your main blog.

 In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, one of my followers will be chosen to receive this bracelet:

It may not be Tiffany, but it was made with love, by me, for you. Chain, pink fire polished glass, opalite, and findings. To be eligible to win you must be a follower and you MUST LEAVE A COMMENT so that I can easily use random.org to select. That's it. Follow. Comment. Winner will be selected on Monday October 18.

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