I'm still here!

Hello, friends!  It has been too long. Thank you so much for your emails and for keeping in touch. All is well. I just found myself very, very busy with home and work this past month.  Each of you have taught me over the years that blogging friends understand sometimes you need to take a break, so that is exactly what I did.

Where to start?! How was your Mother's Day? Mine was great. My friend Jodi surprised us with this little treat. That is homemade sangria in that adorable mason jar that she decorated.  We had both of our moms over on Sunday for a cookout. Yes, I shared the sangria! 

I spent my birthday in April with this bunch. I love these guys. My husband planned a great night for us at The Historic Edgewater Hotel in Winter Garden, Florida. The area is starting to fill up with cute little antique shops and restaurants. The hotel is now a bed and breakfast and is the home to three great restaurants. We enjoyed The Tasting Room.  So good!  I highly recommend.

 

Here's a fun shot of the girls checking out the original front desk. I loved the old "hotel" sign, the postal cubbies, old phone and the original elevator.  There is even a little ice cream store in the lobby if you are visiting with the kids (and a bar two doors down with karaoke on Saturday nights if you don't have the kids...but that is another story...lol). I want to go back during the day and explore the shops. Anyone else been there before?

I'll share some fun rooster inspired gifts in my next post.  Hope to be around to visit each of you this week too.  Thank you so much for stopping by and for your sweet comments and follows.  

Spying on you!

Hello, friends. I've missed you! My father-in-law has recently been gifting me his old cameras to add to my collection. I'm so excited! The latest is this Minox spy camera. Remember these from old movies?

They work something like this.  I bet there were plenty of blurry pictures and plenty of fingers in the photos too!

It really is a cool little camera.  It comes with an exposure meter, pictured above right. The camera and exposure meter are each on a metal snake chain and have their own leather case.  Everything is in great shape.

Yup, he has the original owner's manual and some film left. I would love to try to use it but have no idea how we would get the film developed. I may have to do some research on that.

Thank you for stopping by. I've been so busy lately with work and the kids sports schedules. I miss visiting you and miss my studio.  I have projects in the works though.  I'll be back soon! Take care.

Kitchen cubby redo

I love constantly redecorating my PB cubby in the kitchen.  I usually decorate it for each holiday. Today though, I've decided to decorate it with some vintage kitchen items, including some old recipe cards that I found at an estate sale.

This cubby is my best excuse for all those little pieces of junk that I have to have when we are out antique shopping or hitting the garage sales!  Hope you have a great weekend, my friends!  xoxo

Chocolate Roo and PicMonkey

Is it me or does the title to this post sound a little like a Disney movie? lol  Take a look at this beauty.  My sister-in-law, Mary, gave me this delicious chocolate rooster last week as a thank you for dog sitting.  Looks yummy, huh?

Anyone else devastated that Picnik is going out of business?  I love storing my photos on Picasa and the quick upload option to Picnik for photo editing is a breeze.  Well, after next month that won't be an option, so I did try a new photo editing site today.  The new site is Pic Monkey and it is very similar to Picnik. Try it...you'll like it.  Here's a photo that I played with today.

So easy.  The site is free for now.  I'm happy to have another quick photo editing site for blogging.  I hope everyone is having a great week. I'm enjoying making the rounds again to say hello and catch up.  Thanks for visiting.  xoxo

Fun Easter Egg project from Scarlett Clay

My friend Scarlett posted these adorable eggs this week and was kind enough to give me permission to link up and steal a few of her photos.  I knew you would love it!  Her inspiration was Martha Stewart. She posted the project about five years ago on her site.  Aren't they adorable? 

You can find these little wooden eggs in your local craft store.  They are very inexpensive and fun to paint or decoupage. Scarlett covered these in her husband's former stamp collection.  How fun!

You can see the entire post here.  What a fun and easy project to do for Easter. Thank you, Scarlett!  Lately I've seen eggs painted, jeweled, covered in lace and all kinds of paper. I really love the postage stamps though. I think an old children's book would be fun to use too.  Enjoy!  Be back soon.  Hope all is well.  xoxo

Vintage images to share

I discovered some old receipts in a book I picked up at a rummage sale. What a treat! For a girl like me, this can feel a bit like winning the lottery.  This is an old electric bill. I love how it says for your convenience you can come down to the office to pay your bill...so convenient.  lol

Here's the front.  I do love envelopes and have quite a collection.  I just need to find a way to use them in my artwork. I think it is time for a glue book or some collage work. 

This one is a tag from a gun store.  Not full of sugar and spice and everything nice but it certainly is a beautiful color and it would work well in a more masculine piece.  Thought I would share.

Here's another vintage image...a friendship that is nearly 20 years old.  Meet my friend Vicki. We were roommates for years and formerly know as "The Vickis."  She surprised me with a spontaneous visit, and you can blame her for my lack of productivity in the studio this week!  I enjoyed every minute though. She was such a trooper tagging along to three different basketball games, volleyball practice and even helped me host a team party at the house.  I can't wait to visit you in wine country soon, Vic.  Safe trip home.

As for you my friends, I have some fun things to share this week so stay tuned! Hope all is well. xoxo

New project to share

Well I finished the book page matte or frame from my previous post here.  I used it in my latest project.  I found this vintage holy card and roof tin on my shopping trip to Deland. The reds in the card were a perfect match for the painted tin.

I plan to display this on an easel in the house .  I'll show you that vignette soon. The book page matte turned out well and makes a nice background for the holy card. I like the texture it creates and paper on paper made it easy to assemble. 

The top is finished with some scrap fabric and a vintage earring. I felt it needed a bit more too so I wrapped two twigs in twine. I like how it brings a little nature into the piece. There are trees in the background too of the holy card  illustration. I thought it worked. 

The pearls at the bottom are hand sewn on to a scrap piece of lace. I really like working with found objects, scraps and contrasting textures.

Thanks for visiting!  I can't believe I have rolled over 1000 followers. Look for a giveaway very soon sweet friends. I appreciate your support, follows and comments so much! See my previous post for a quick tutorial on how I made the torn vintage book paper "frame" or matte.  Hope you are having a great weekend.  xoxo