Monday, October 18, 2010

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!

Thursday, October 14, 2010

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.



Copy and Paste Code
Party on dudettes:

Quick Cards

"Oh mom, do you think you could make me a couple of Thank You cards?"
"Sure. When do you need them?"

You know the answer was tomorrow right? Just kidding...I mean the answer really was tomorrow but when you have a mom who makes cards it's really not that big of a deal. It's also OK if your child thinks it is :)

So he needed these for school which meant the school colors which I don't love. Red and yellow. Fine on their own and with other things. Hate them together. Sorry. I won't actually make him choose a college based on colors I like but the thought did occur to me.

Stamp: INKADINKADO...Paper: red cardstock and DCWV "Indian Summer" Stack
Another time sensitive card...a condolence card...but more my style:
DCWV "Natural" Stack; Floral paper, Magenta Silver Peel Offs, Chipboard Embellished w/ clear sentiment sticker

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Thank You Blue Cricket Design and Moselle Design! Easy Peasy!

If you have been thinking about making a Halloween banner but don't have the time to pull one together, get yourself over to Blue Cricket Design where you will find one 90% done for you which you can download for my favorite price of FREE thanks to Moselle Design. Got your attention?

Download. Print.Cut.Hang. Even if you don't think you're crafty, you can totally do this! I decided to give mine a black border so I mounted on black card stock and trimmed with decorative edge scissors. Connected each piece together with brads, but you could use tape, staples, gum, OK just kidding on the gum. Mostly. I already had a banner on my fireplace so I put this one up on my stairs.
And if you want to add more to your banner? Well go over to BCD and see for yourself!

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Having Fun With Rub-Ons!

Thanks Meg!
A Little Knick Knack
Have you ever used them? So. Easy. And, addictive. I haven't always loved them because when I first tried them they were, to quote Julia Roberts character in "Pretty Woman" when she's trying to eat escargot: "Slippery little buggers".  But I think they've gotten loads better and they don't come off the backing stuff as easily or shift around so much. Any that I've used in the past couple of years have behaved.

I was at Michaels this weekend searching for some that I'd seen used at Jessica's blog "Craftily Ever After"  where she did a great makeover of a key rack. She also has some awesome downloadable Halloween art which she's been sweet enough to share. Go visit and follow her! She'd mentioned she got the rub-ons she used at Michaels. I was so bummed when the Michaels I was in had dismantled their $1 section ( oh yeah..they're a DOLLAR) but all was not lost, I found a really cute pack of DCWV rubons. Still, it was nagging at me ,so when I had to go to Costco last night, which was right next to another Michaels, well you can probably guess the rest but just in case....THEY HAD THEM!!! Yippee!

First I did this:
Which started out as a plain wooden trinket box that I painted cream, dry brushed with tan, Mod Podged some scrap sheet music pieces, applied some of the DCWV ( Die Cuts With a View) rub-ons. You can't tell from the pic but these rub-ons have some glitter to them. Here's a link to the ones I used: Mariposa collection

I was liking the finish on the box . I picked up this scrap piece of wood at a salvage place so I painted it the same way and will use it for a key rack (have to go get the hardware for it) and got to use some of the $1 rub-ons from Michaels. I think I bought 12 packages. Oops.
They have keys, birdcages, eyeglasses, watch / timepieces...see...you get why I bought 12 packs. They were a DOLLAR and there are an average of 8 images per pack!

And with the rest of my Mariposa DCWV rub-ons, 'cause I was still liking this paint finish, I did a frame:
Linking Up At:
A Little Knick Knack
Fine Craft Guild





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