My Own Mini Art Gallery

I'm not sure if y'all remember my post about Eric hanging some frames for me in the den and me laughing at him because they were ceiling height.  That stuff happens when you get a 6'4" man to hang pictures, I suppose.   Anyway if you want a before picture you can check out that post here, it's OK it's a small post.  Go on, I'll wait for you to get back here before I reveal the new look.

Is anyone else humming the Jeopardy theme song?

I decided I needed something different in my house that wasn't just the same old, same old when it came to displaying photos, art, prints, etc.  I tend to follow the safe routine of asymmetrical wall hangings, everything being level... you know the drill.  When I stumbled upon an idea on the P site that I thought was pretty awesome, I realized I had an answer to my desires.  It helped that I had the perfect wall space to enact my own version too!

Before, after readying it for the paint job.

The mirror after painting it pink!

I was a little bit excited to pull it together, but once I got started it was more daunting than I had anticipated.  I still had to paint the ornate mirror I had picked up at a garage sale last summer for $3.00 and I wanted to hit Value Village to see if I could find some ornate frames to use for display purposes.  When we were there though, Eric found a tacky, but still so amazing, clock for $5.00.  I decided I'd paint the clock the same colour as the mirror.  I picked bright pink because it would compliment my Twisted Sister album that I had planned on incorporating into the scheme. 

The clock, before of course.

And after!

We were able to find 3 frames at V.V. that I used, and only one I had to actually paint.  I wanted to use some of the prints my friend Syx had given me last year of a photography project he did on Graffiti he found around Vancouver:  NoGraffito. 

This was an ugly brown frame before I painted it with left over green paint.

A pretty cool gold coloured ornate frame.

Things work in mysterious way... it's pretty interesting because not two days before I planned to start my project, I was cleaning out Roan's backpack for March Break (sometimes he leaves his left over lunches in there and a week of festering food is no good!) and I literally stumbled upon a folded up large piece of art he had completed at school.  A couple of years ago he brought a similar piece home and I had it framed and it now hangs on my wall in my office at work.  I was pretty stoked to find this masterpiece and immediately came to the conclusion that it warranted a spot in amongst my new wall display.  Funny enough I had a frame that fit the picture perfectly.  It just needed a paint job. 

So, now that I had my main pieces sorted out I knew I wanted to include some personal photos of the boys and Eric and I.  I can't believe that up until this past week I haven't had a photo of Eric and I displayed in my house.  I'm a terrible girlfriend.  But now I do!!  And it's in a pretty awesome gilded frame I got at Value Village for a buck. 

I then rounded out my project with the taxidermy frames that were the original pieces on the wall.  I still think they are crazy cool so I couldn't bring myself to part with them.  I'm still not sure I'm content with the placement of everything but it's working the way it is, and I know my laziness will probably take over and I'll just eventually be totally content with it as it currently stands.  

And here's my finished art wall.

I was digging the character the wall added to the den so much I forced Eric to just sit in there with me for a while to take it all in.   I don't think he felt the energy like I did.  I'm pretty pleased overall even if I make a few changes here or there.  I've never been brave enough to hang pictures that low or that high or in that quantity, but I'm glad I went out on a limb and took a chance.  Sometimes venturing out of my boring comfort zone brings excellent results!  Have you done something you wouldn't normally have thought you would do and been pleased with the results?  I'd love to hear about it! 

All You Need Is Love, and Epoxy

Last summer in my seasonal tour of garage sales I stumbled upon a stunning, faux fur, simple, metal stool for one dollar (yes, I think it warrants that many adjectives).  Yes, ONE dollar!!  I had an idea of what I'd like to do to it and actually had the parts to create my vision (that I'd scored at yet another garage sale for 1 dollar as well).  It's taken me until just now to get around to it.  I'm kind of kicking myself because the actual craft itself hasn't taken long at all. 

 

I decided that I would use it as a side table in a little corner of the den that is tight on space and skimpy on light, yet close to a wall plug.  So I (rather Eric did it 'cause I was at work) took the faux fur and padding off which left us with an MDF thick circle of wood - perfect for the base of the soon to be table.   I then painted the base a glossy black (I have had the paint for about 5 years from a school project of Gage's, so that cost me nothing!).  Upon drying, I glued a Beatles album onto the black base with an epoxy (I tried a glue gun first, failed miserably.) and reattached the whole thing to the metal legs.  Et voila!  A new mini side table perfect for my little lamp that I recovered in twine months ago! 

Here it is in its forever home.  I took the red version of the album and made my own record bowl to hold our remote controls and stuff.  This entire project literally cost me TWO measly dollars.  Pretty decent if you ask me!  The more I look around my den as it starts to come together, the more I realize most of the stuff in there is a garage sale score, Kijiji find or thrift store purchase.  I'm kind of amazed at myself.  Because up to a year and a half ago, I poo-poo'd the smallest notion of a garage sale and I never would have imagined I'd be furnishing a room in my house with those kinds of finds.  I should probably take a moment to thank my best friend, Margie and her mom for taking me with them garage sailing two summers ago. 

 

Gazing Garden Globes

I've been sitting on a couple bowling balls for just under a year now with the intent that I was going to paint them to look like bugs for my garden.  Haven't come close to getting there though.  I also stumbled across a huge bag of flat glass beads at a garage sale for like two bucks or something so I grabbed them (knowing I'd find a use down the road).   In due time all things became clear to me and the idea of a homemade "gazing ball" was formed in my head. 

So a couple weeks ago, after Roan was done being "SO angry" with me for dumping his Lego into his toybox, he and I got down to brass tacks (well glass beads rather) and went to work making a gazing ball for Grandma for Christmas (He'd already made her a 'touchy' card and this was to go with it.)  Whether it will weather the weather remains to be seen (since it's currently 1 degree with a foot of snow on the ground, we shall not be able to test out its durability until May or so.)  

Here's what we used (though the glue may have been the wrong choice, only time will tell.  It was fun making it though.)

Bowling ball
Hot glue gun and lots of glue sticks
Flat bottom glass beads (multi-coloured would be fun but use what you have)

Then I think it's pretty obvious what you do next right?  But if it isn't, you basically put some hot glue (not too much!) on the flat part of the bead and then you secure it to the surface of the ball.  Simple is as simple does.  Don't make it harder than it is.   Continue to do this until all the surface is covered and PRESTO!  You have a homemade 'gazing ball' or at best, a heavy lawn ornament that will blind you when the sun reflects off of a bead right into your eyeball. 

Sorry I couldn't do a staged shot, but use your imagination will ya?  We got snow last night remember!??!  And lots of it!  Let's gaze into the ball and long for spring.  Maybe with lots of eyes looking into it we'll be able to will the snow away.  Good luck.  Ready?  Aim....stare. 

A Side of Suitcase?

I made a piece of furniture!  No for reals I did.   This one right here.  Well not here exactly but right there below this sentence is a picture of it! 

I've run across a couple very inspiring 'suitcase' pieces through Pinterest and I've always wanted to make something.  I had originally purchased my blue hard case suitcase at Value Village last year for $5.00 with the intention of turning it into a chair like that one posted below.  But I just haven't been feeling it lately. 

Besides, I really don't have a spot in my house at the moment to accomodate a suitcase chair which is really about appearances and not about practicality.  Frankly it would just be a "neat-o" clothes holder or kitty chair.  Let's be real.  So when I stumbled across two nesting tables on Kijiji for $20.00 I thought, "EUREKA!  I've finally found a match for my suitcase."  And fit perfectly, they did. 

I ended up spray painting my little table a glossy white to match the room it was intended for.  It took me 4 coats of paint to get it even.  I didn't bother to waste paint by spraying the top, because well, that's redundant since you won't see the top!   Then I, put the suitcase on the floor with the bottom side up and I put the table on top of the suitcase table top down and I let Eric drill four holes.  (It makes him feel like a real man when I let him do stuff like that.  Trust me.)  Then we  he jammed the bolts through the holes and tightened it all up nice-nice. 

Then I flipped that bad boy over and VOILA, a suitcase table that looks like a professional made it.  And it cost me, maybe, $25.00 for all the supplies including the bolts and spray paint.  Now don't try to fool me by suggesting I could find a sweet bad boy like that pre-made for 25 bones cause I just won't believe you!   You wanna know the sweet bonus?  There were two keys inside the suitcase for locking and unlocking purposes (funny how keys do that) so now we have a lockable storage compartment built into my new kickass table for my den!  BAM BAM!  Double the pleasure! 

Table Lamp Make-over

It's so hard to find a lamp.  Well a good, loyal, loving lamp is often hard to find.  I'm glad this kitty found one.

I'm a lucky girl myself!  Last weekend at my sister in law's fundraising garage sale I saw across the stretch of yard a sweet, little lamp hoping to make contact with me.  It was touch and go there for a while because he's pretty little and he was buried amongst a whole lot of goods and ware, but kindred souls we are, so it was meant to be.   The adoption fee was a mere two dollars so together we left it all behind us.  I brought him home and gave him a little makeover.  He's feeling useful again with his new lot on life. 

 

 

I was in need of a table lamp (or two) for the new den, I bought one at a garage sale a while ago for five bucks and covered the throwback to the 80's with twine.  But it's been sitting on a shelf in my craft area because I haven't found a shade that I'm satisfied with.  Since I still had some twine left over from this project I decided to do the same makeover with this little guy.  Now if I can just find a similar shade for the larger one, I'll have two matching lamps.  A girl can dream right?  I mean who doesn't long for a unified lamp family? 

Priceless Crafts

Eric came across a posting on IMGUR.com which said the following:

"My Uncle passed away this weekend. He left me this in his will... a first pressing of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. 1000 of these were made before they changed the stickers that came with it as Floyd did not have the copyright to the images on them."

 

I picked up that exact album at a garage sale for $1.00 and made it into a record bowl that Eric's brother Chris now has.  D'oh!!  Luckily Gage still has the stickers and poster from the album.  You just never do know what you'll find at a garage sale do ya? 

 

Oh me or my!  I wonder how much that thing was actually worth....I mean it was actually outlined in that dude's WILL for crying out loud.  I'm a doofus.  A crafty doofus.

Edit after researching on EBAY:

FUCK ME!!

 

Do ya feel lucky, punk?

I've never been a recipient of too much good luck.  Just not meant for me I guess.  I have gone through lengthy periods of time where I thought if I didn't have bad luck I'd have no luck at all.  I felt like a black cloud was always lurking over my head.  Then I gave up thinking about it and the world shifted.  Not in any "I just won the lottery" way, but it shifted in 'the bad shit seems to happen to others now' way.  My life is mundane...lacking of excitement and I'm completely ok with that.  Good excitement would be nice but if it means I have to give up the chance of good excitement to lose the bad excitement then I'm willing to sacrifice. 

Until last week...well I suppose a little while longer, but mainly last week.  Let's venture back a couple of months, because that's when this kinda, sorta started. 

I went garage sailing with my mom one weekend and came upon a 60" Sony Wega flat screen television.  At first I wasn't entirely sure that it was even for sale as it was on, and playing the Terminator.  I first assumed the owner was merely watching it to help pass the time during the sale,  but upon closer inspection I noticed a little "for sale" sticker on it.  So I inquired, pretty sure that it was going to be out of my spending range.  He told me that the picture was starting to darken on it but that he had a brand new bulb for it that just had to be put in and he wanted to sell both of them together.  So again, I asked, "How much?".  His reply?  Thirty bones.  Yup, you read that right, I wasn't missing the hundred in front of that thirty.  Thirty measly dollars.   "I'll take it!", I shouted and then proceeded to try to cram it into my car with no success.  I mean it is 60 inches after all.  So other means were taken and the tv eventually came home with me.  To Eric's lovely surprise.  And it was all I talked about for days months.  Who am I kidding?  I still talk about it.  It was hard not to blog about it but I was waiting.  Waiting for what I'm not sure, but I suppose for just this post. 

See how big it is next to the chair and my attic access?  Oh sweet score...

Anywho, fast forward to last week.  Eric and I were working some more on the new 'den' which is taking forever to complete (but that's an entirely different post)!  We got to talking about what tv we should put in there as this 60" is way too big for the space.  We decided a nice 40 or 42 inch flat screen would be a perfect size.  And then the conversation was over.  Later that afternoon Eric's brother shows up for a visit bearing mail from the parental unit's house for Eric.  Upon opening it we discovered a lovely $700 from Revenue Canada that we were not expecting.  Oh hello!  What a nice surprise.  That surely never happens to us. 

Then Monday after work I took Gage to the mall to buy some new shoes.  After visiting three stores umpteen number of times he finally settled on a $90 pair of shoes.  Groan.  But when they were rung in at the cash they came up as $50.  Quick, let's pay and get the hell out of here!  What I think happened is whomever keyed the code into the register keyed in the wrong price because not only was the shoe marked $90, but the ledge it was sitting on was also marked $90.  It was pretty clear that I was supposed to be paying $90.  Sweet score!  We were both pretty happy about it.  Frankly I'm surprised he didn't try to convince me to buy him another pair. 

Upon arrival home following our good luck I walked past the den on my way upstairs and spotted out of the corner of my eye a 40" Samsung flat screen television sitting in a completely sealed up box looking all pretty.  At first I was taken aback that Eric would just go ahead and buy something like that without me around.  And then I had a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that he did, as that just isn't like him.  I asked the boys if they had seen him leave to buy this, they hadn't.  Then we just stood there staring at it like it was a dead body.  We might as well have had sticks to poke it.  Later that night Eric called me from work (which he only does if he's in the hospital) to ask me if I'd ordered a tv on line.  I was shocked silent because if he's asking me that, then he clearly didn't go buy it.  Did we seriously just have a 40" flat screen show up randomly at our house?  Why crazy kids, yes we did!  Thank you Purolator TV Gods!   We figured they'd show up (or someone would) sooner or later to retrieve it but in the backs of our minds we were hoping Walmart would just send the purchaser out another one.  We were willing to leave it untouched for two weeks, after that squatters rights kicks in doesn't it?  Doesn't matter, the point is moot.  The tv was picked up and taken to its rightful home two days later.  Boo-urns.  And thus we return back to the land of "meh".  It was fun while it lasted though. 

Psst, you gotta "J"?

Words...big words, little words, me likes words!   During the past couple of years I've really gotten into playing Scrabble on the computer.  Last summer I scored a Scrabble game at a garage sale for $1.00 so Eric and I have spent countless hours playing out on the back patio, enjoying the summer days.  I'm not going to be modest here, I've gotten somewhat good at it.  Finally having figured out the strategic moves that land me the most points, utilizing the bonus squares and high point letters.  I'm also secretly enjoying that Eric is figuring it out as well.  Makes for a much more challenging game.  And who doesn't love a challenge?  I bring all this up because I'm gearing up to fill you in on my latest craft project. 

Sometimes when I craft I amaze even myself.  I stumbled across this idea on, you guessed it, that "P" website a few months ago and pinned it to my board immediately.  I loved the idea for myself but most importantly it immediately made me think of my friend Tess.  I just knew she'd totally appreciate the idea if I could find all the components.  I wasn't quite ready to sacrifice my $1.00 Scrabble score just yet.  So this summer I've kept my eyes peeled at garage sales in hopes of again stumbling across a Scrabble board.  Last weekend my luck came in.  I found a decent (doesn't even look like it's been used) set for $2.00.  This new find was going to replace my old set from last year that was now missing an "i" tile.  So that now left a whole bunch of wooden tiles to be creative with.  This is probably my favourite project to date.  If not my favourite it's right up there in the top 3. 

I was able to buy a sheet of cork for 50 cents at a garage sale in the spring.  I knew I would eventually get all the components together so I snagged it up immediately with the idea that I would make this craft eventually.    And since then it's been patiently waiting amongst my crafting supplies for the right moment.  That right moment came on Saturday when I was finally able to donate my $1.00 Scrabble game to the cause.  I had some glue left over from a previous project so I immediately got to work cutting out squares of cork from the sheet.  I had enough letters to make 6 coasters.  Once I had everything ready to go, I started gluing the tiles onto the cork.  Upon completion (about 20 minutes) I clamped them all together between two boards of wood so they'd dry flat and straight.  The next day I went out and bought some high gloss shellac (I can't remember what it's really called but you know what I mean) in a spray can and went to town covering them in two coats.  What I was left with is a pretty awesome pack of coasters, all shiny and amazing. 

This entire crafting project cost me $1.50 for the supplies and $6.00 for the spray coating which I'll be able to use on future projects no problem as there is tons left.  Pretty decent if I do say so myself.  I'm actually kind of sad to part with these but I know Tess loves Scrabble probably more than I do, so I hope she'll actually use them.  If she doesn't use them I hope she'll at least put them out so other people see them.  Cause they are that great.

Classy Glassys

Here are the redneck wine glasses that I made for the contest I previously ran.  I did the draw for two winners because I only had supplies for two, but I found another candle stick at a garage sale recently so I made a third.  I figure to give it to my aunt who has made it crystal clear that she wants one and is not going to stop bringing it up until I put one in her little hands.  (Edit since this has been sitting in my drafts waiting on a photo:  My aunt has already laid claim to hers.)

That's just grape pop and a bottle of homemade Italian dressing.  Whatevs, it's all about the staging no?

This craft is actually quite simple if you can find the two major components.  All you need is a mason jar, a glass or crystal candle stick and a good glue that dries clear.  Make sure the glue you use will work to adhere glass on glass.  I also wouldn't recommend putting them in the dishwasher.  But if carefully hand washed, they should be pretty resilient. 

I think these are a great gift idea for a wedding (for someone with a sense of humour at least) or house warming gift.  Maybe even a birthday gift for your girlfriend who loves herself a glass of wine.  My brother is having a White Trash birthday party for his 40th this year.  I would love to find a butt-load of candle sticks and make a bunch for his party, but I doubt I'll be so lucky.   I found a box of different sized and styled mason jars at a yard sale for $5 and I got each candle holder for 50 cents at different garage sales.  So all in all, a pretty cheap craft.  I hope the recipients enjoy it and feel inclined to be creative themselves and make an entire set!

One Man's Junk...

Is my friend Lesley's gain!  Not kidding, one Friday night I went for beers with my friend Lesley and at some point in the evening she questioned why I hadn't made her a craft yet.  I told her I specifically had something in mind that I wanted to make for her, but was lacking the 'base' of the project.  I had stumbled across one at a garage sale a week or two prior but it had mold on it, and even though I planned on painting it, I thought it best to wait.  I was pretty sure I'd eventually stumble across another one sooner than later.  And luck would be on my side.  The very next morning while out sailing through people's garages I came across TWO of the said bases I was looking for for a measley two bucks!  And I also got a pre-lit 7' Christmas tree for ten bucks at the same house, but that point is completely irrelevant to this post.  Double score! 

So to work I went transforming one man's junk into Lesley's treasure (hmmm, that could be a title for an adult movie too!).  I did a light sanding on the table just to help the paint stick a little better.  Then I used a primer spray paint and gave it a good base coat.  Eric was a doll and drilled four holes for me for the, what are those things called, round screw thingys, which I didn't put in just yet.  Then I gave the table a good four coats of navy blue gloss spray paint (2 cans in case you're wondering). Once they were all good and dry, I hot glued some twine around the bottoms of the legs and then screwed in the round thingy's.  Then I took a thicker twine and ran it through the loops securing the ends with some hot glue and then a thin (almost like dental floss, but a little thicker) string wrapped around the ends to hold it all together.  I kind of wish I had the expertice of tying a nautical knot, but no such luck. 

So voila (I really wish I was more saavy on the who photo editing aspect of things, as the colour doesn't really show up in the real hue)!  A nautical inspired table without being too 'in your face' obvious!  Perfect for my nautical loving friend Lesley and her new house that is screaming for more furnishings.  I think she completely dug it too when she saw it.  I hope she thinks it was well worth the wait.

I followed Beyonce's advice...

I put a ring on it.

Wanna see my new ring that I got at a garage sale for ten bucks?  Ya you do (and frankly Eric's tired of me showing him and continuously talking about it).  It's big and it's pretty and it's made out of quartz and it's pink.   There she be!   I hope I never break her. 

Retro Bowls

So today while I was roaming the aisles of Value Village looking for inspiration for craft projects (and black pants and t-shirts for Gage to wear to work), I came across some vinyl records.  Eureka!  I had seen a few projects on Pinterest involving old LPs so I thought I'd browse the selection and work on a new craft idea (I'm starting to run out of corks).  Record bowls!  How retro!  So here's how I did it.  It was super easy and fun. 

First I picked out four records, each one kind of reminding me of a certain person.  So in the end, four of my friends are getting record bowl gifts from me.  I'm still not sure if my friends 'like' getting my crafts or if they are just humouring me but giving them away still hasn't lost its novelty on me yet so it's going to keep happening.  One day it's going to be you!  I know you're probably anxiously waiting...don't worry your time will likely come.  And I am pretty sure that once I finish my den, I'll have one of these retro record bowls on display on my coffee table. 

So all in all it took me about 20 minutes to complete all 4 bowls.  Pretty easy and not time consuming at all so it's an ideal craft idea if you have A.D.D.  I suppose you should take precautions and make sure you have your exhaust fan on or a window open when doing this.  However, I didn't notice any fumes at all as they were 'baking'.  Though, since the day was so beautiful, my kitchen window was already open. 

You are going to need a record(s) that you no longer use or listen to.  You will need an oven safe bowl (different sizes and heights are going to yeild you different shaped bowls, so have fun and play with some different sizes).  In my case, I used two different bowls, so I ended up with two versions of the finished project.  You will also need a cookie sheet (just to play it safe, you don't want to be scraping harden vinyl off the bottom of your stove). The cookie sheet sure makes it so much easier to get it out of the oven when it's firey hot too.  That's probably the main reason to use a cookie sheet as the records aren't in the oven long enough to worry about them melting all over your stove, unless of course you walk away and get side-tracked and forget about it (which could happen if you have A.D.D. and took my advice that this would be an ideal craft). 

You want to preheat your oven to 200 degrees.  Not too hot or you could end up with a hot, stinky mess on your hands.  And like I said, I was done all four bowls in probably 20 minutes so even at 200 degrees it still moves along quite nicely.  You want to place the bowl upside down on the cookie sheet and centre the record on top of the bowl.  Place the sculpture into the oven as shown in the photo (probably would have been nice of me to clean my over first but I was too excited to melt records to bother).  Depending on how good your oven works you might need to leave it in there for up to 10 minutes.  Trust me, you'll know when it's done. 

After taking it out of the oven you can leave it on the bowl and let it cool (the vinyl cools so much faster than the bowl or cookie sheet so be careful of those when handling) and use it as is (that's what I did) or you can then flip the bowl over immediately and place the soft record inside the bowl to get a more defined shaped.  You'll only have a window of about a minute before the vinyl really starts to cool off, so be quick if you want to go this route.  If you can't get it done in time you can put it back on the upside down bowl and throw it back in the oven for a few minutes to get it soft again. 

Once it's cooled off, it's ready for immediate use.  And you'll get an immediate sense of pride and usefulness (I did anyway).  You can use them for so many different things...

Fruit bowl. (Hard, dry or fake fruit, not fruit salad silly!)
A flower pot!  (You won't be able to see the label but you could use it as a planter since there is already a drain hole in place.)  
Key bowl.  (A place to put your keys and sunglasses when you get home or if you are a swinger you can use it as the key bowl when picking partners!  I shall not judge.)
Just a decoration or conversation starter.
A homemade gift for Christmas (if you do that sort of thing).
I suppose you could just hang it on your wall as art (but that kind of defeats the purpose of vinyl record BOWL).
Candy dish.  (Wouldn't jelly beans look so awesome in that? You could also use it to store your Halloween candy that you hand out to trick or treaters.)
Anyway, you get the idea.  So versatile and cool all at the same time. 

The records cost me a buck each at V.V. but I'm sure I can score some for cheaper at garage sales this season so I can assure you I'll be making more.  It was quick and fun and the finished project is pretty rad. 

Pop the Cork

Yesterday was Saturday.  In other words, GARAGE SALE day!  After dropping Gage off at work, Eric and I headed out to check out neighbourhood garage sales.  We made some pretty sweet scores (I'll post about them as they become relevant in my life).  The last garage sale we hit up netted me a pine calendar holder thingy.  No, I don't want to display my calendar in a pine country style frame, but I did envision it being a most amazing cork board.  Remember in my last post I still had about 200 corks left over?  Well here we go people!

So I started with the calendar display and I sanded it all down to smooth out the edges and clean up some of the wear and tear it had endured.  Then I wiped it down to rid the surface of dust.  I added a foam letter "R" to represent the last name of the recipient and a couple foam flowers.  It just seemed to be lacking something and I thought so three additions did the trick.  I then gave it two coats of white gloss paint and allowed that to dry. 

I laid out the corks to ensure they'd fit with ease (which thankfully they did, as cutting corks isn't entirely thrilling).  I then pulled them out once I had a basic pattern thought out and started gluing them into place with my hot glue gun. 

All in all the project took maybe 2 hours start to finish and I did it while watching tv so it went pretty quickly.  I'm finding crafting kind of cathartic.  So double win.  Looking at the finished project I'm positive I could retail that for at least $25-$30.  Rather I, as a consumer, would be willing to pay that (and maybe more) if I'd stumbled across it during the holiday season and I had the right person in mind (as we know, I clearly do!).  The actual pine calendar display thingy cost me $3 and I had the corks, the paint, the glue sticks and the foam letters from prior projects.  So $3.00 and the end result is this:

Sarah seemed genuinely pleased with her crafty gift.  And while I was there she showed me a brilliant Pinterest project she herself had just completed.  One I'll be storing in the back of my mind for my house (Which looked eerily like her house when I drove up to it.  Strange...)!

Anyway, another craft under my belt.  I'm really digging this new hobby of mine.  I've never really had one before so this is extra new to me.

Each cup of tea represents an imaginary voyage.

I'm in the process of creating a working space for me in Eric's office because I'm feeling the desire to tackle a larger scaled craft.  I have some ideas and I've got some materials waiting in the wings for me to get inspired to work on.  I figure with a nice neat and tidy crafting space I shall find that inspiration. 
For now my little craft projects are doing the trick of keeping me busy.

I made another teacup bird feeder.  This one was done with a twist.  I had an old candle sconce that I no longer used, as I'd hung photos up in it's place and didn't really have the proper wall space for it any longer.  I thought with the somewhat flat candle spot on the sconce it would be ideal for a sweet little teacup and saucer.  And I was right it turned out pretty good.  Eric's mom Jill was the recipient of this particular craft.  Funny, she had no idea I had made this for her or that I happened to be bringing it to her on Sunday but she had an entire box of tea cups and saucers waiting for me to take home if I wanted more for crafting.  I did.  So now I'll make some more of the stake bird feeders for my garden at different heights.  And I'll probably give some away too.  I think that's the part I like the most about crafting...giving it away.  The recipients probably aren't as happy about it as I am, but so far they've faked it nicely! 

Sailing Away

So when I made my list up of things I wanted to do this summer I added garage sailing with Margaret to my list.  More so to spend more time with Margie as I was really and anti-garage sale person.  I went out with Margaret and her mom the first time in July and continued to do so for a few weekends following the initial outing.  I have actually found some really, truly, sweet scores on my adventures.  I should have taken pictures of every garage sale find I have (and maybe I still will)...

The past few weekends I haven't made it to Welland but I did try to go garage sailing one weekend with Roan.  Eric decided to join us.  I scored a couple sweet things for my nephew Sebastian and then Roan proceeded to barf all over himself.  So after making him sit in his puke (he volunteered, I'm not that terrible of a mom) while I hit a couple more sales enroute home we cut the morning short.

BUT, let me tell you about this morning's trip!  It's the absolute best one yet.  And it was totally spontaneous.  We've had my friend Tess here for the weekend with her three boys.  We decided since the boys wake up super early anyway we might as well hit this garage sale we saw advertised earlier in the day.  It was promising to be BIG.

Her one son Hank did not want to go with us.  He wanted to go to Walmart and buy a HALO toy.  I said maybe they'll have HALO toys at a garage sale (knowing I've yet to come across one in my travels) and he said not likely.  I did agree and say he's probably right, but you just never know....

So the first sale we hit I stumble across a sweet wooden antique sled/toboggan that would be lovely for our nephew Felix (and when he's done with it and they give it back to me it will make an awesome planter box), and an amazing wooden naked woman nut cracker for Eric.  I walk over the the neighbours as they too had a sale on and immediately spot a HALO toy (not even out of the box!).  I call Hank over and he's crazy stoked.  Then I notice they have a BBQ marked Free at their sale and inquire if it works as mine just shit the bed three days ago.  It does and I lay claim to it.  We then move on to another sale and Roan walks away with three light sabres and I spot a four drawer filing cabinet that would be perfect for work for $5.00.  I call work and make arrangements for them to come retrieve it and carry on our way.

We got the BBQ hooked up and my broken one out to the curb.  Came home from a day playing tourist to find my old one gone from my lawn and sparked up the 'new' one and it works like a charm.  Much better than my old one ever did!!! 

I'm so crazy excited about my finds today.  Less than $20. spent on everything.  Can't beat that!!!