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    T Tuesday: seeing red edition

    September 17, 2018 - By 

    Mini-me and I are continuing to redo her new room aka J’s old room. Since he won’t be using his 9 months of the year, his stuff and my sewing machine have taken up residence in there. Sewing machine is only temporary. 🙂

    Speaking of the sewing machine reminds me that I posted about my handmade journal yesterday. I even made a video of a flip through of the journal…check it out.

    Back to the room makeover. Mini-me has lots of black and white accessories with splashes of red such as this painting she claimed.

    As you can see it doesn’t look great on the blue walls.

    So she is auditioning some paint colors.  Oh and check out the candelabra. I picked it up at a rummage sale a while back. It was in need of a bit of sprucing up. I removed the dangling beads and sprayed everything…including the beads and faux crystals black. They turned out really good!

    I had also picked up a white vinyl cushioned vanity stool a while back. It evidently was so ugly I didn’t take a “before” photo.

    I removed the cushion and upholstered it with that splash of red she was looking for.

    And these great vintage buttons from my mom’s sewing box.

    Doesn’t look great now with a fresh coat of black paint and the new cushion!?!!

    The room seems to be coming together. The paint will be the biggest thing to contend with. Time is always a factor. She also wants fairy lights for soft lighting to hangout in. When it done I’ll have to take some more photos.

    dark coffee or coffee in the dark

    And of course since this is T stands for Tuesday I am sharing my morning cup with you…

    T stands for Tuesday

    What are you doing today?

  • Around home - Art - Blog - Crafts - Creativity - Outdoors

    T Tuesday: washi confession edition

    September 10, 2018 - By 

    Last week I learned that having a washi obsession isn’t exactly front page news…and that it might be fun to share our collections.  Ok Eileen…you ready to share too?! 

    Mini-me organized the tapes for me. I love how they look but have no patience to make it happen. Lucky for me she loves to both craft and organize. My paint drawer often gets a makeover as well. 🙂

    This set of blue tapes I love!! A couple of them look like sun prints and one like shibori.

    My black tapes get used a lot. They give that pop on a page or card that just helps me say “DONE”.

    I love this bin as well. Bright yellows, orange. pink and red.

    The polka dots in this bin have gotten a lot of use. I love polka dots! Did you notice the tape with the coffee cup and beans? I’m sure you’ll see that one again in a salute to T stands for Tuesday.

    This last bin is random. Ones that didn’t physically fit or were just too colorful to categorize.

    I guess it wasn’t quite as shameful as I thought. Mini-me likes to use washi in her smash book and also in her notes for school. I use it pretty much anywhere. If fact I’m putting together a new journal. More of a junk journal/smash book type idea. I plan to do more writing on a personal level. I’m not sure how much of it I will share here after I start using it to journal. 

    I’m using random papers from my stash but keeping them in a Fall color scheme. I’m all about Fall right now. It is my favorite season.

    I survived my first week of school. I had very tired feet a couple of days but have since toughened up. As expected I was able to accomplish way more while working than I ever thought I could.  Like starting the above journal. Learning at least 60 kids names and faces in 4 days. Paint and reupholster a vanity bench for Mini-me. Paint 2 shelves and candelabra….also Mini-me(I’ll have to share those projects later). Work 2.5 hours of concessions at a volleyball game after working all day.

    Oh yeah and pull up my gardens.

    after collecting my last harvest of the season.

    Welp…now I’m tired…after recalling all those things.

    T stands for Tuesday

    What are you doing today?

  • Around home - Blog - Crafts - Creativity - Outdoors

    T Tuesday: eco dye edition

    August 13, 2018 - By 

    Last week on T stands for Tuesday I had mentioned that I had attempted some eco dyed papers. Today I thought I’d share my results with you.

    Last we left off I had bundled my papers and my cooking pot was way too small….

    One trip to Goodwill later, I found the perfect size pot in which to cook my paper bundle. 

    The bundle wanted to float since it was pine boards that acted as the presser boards. A couple rocks worked well to hold the bundle down in the vinegar and alum spiked water. I boiled on the side burner of our grill for about and hour. Thank goodness I did this outside because it was not pleasant smelling. Also I learned that the pine boards had a lot of sap left in them…what a mess.

    After boiling I drained off the cooking water then added cool water which I salted quite heavily. Once everything was cool enough to handle I started the unbundling process.

    Then set the pages to dry on the hot concrete. I was surprised at what did and didn’t leave an impression. The marigolds and lemon grass had the greatest color from the experiment.  But that wasn’t my favorite.

    It was these….the baby maple trees I pulled from my lawn were lovely ghosted images.

    A few freshly turned leaves from our service berry tree gave a slightly rusty, vein like appearance as it’s only impression. Pretty as well but still not holding my interest like those baby maples.

    I think I’ll try this again…but perhaps with other sources for dyes. Purple cabbage and onion skins are the first to jump to my mind. I think perhaps I’d get some nice color out of those.

    Speaking of color….

    I enjoyed a colorful sort of beer this summer. Grain Belt came out with a limited edition Blueberry infused beer. I had to buy some…its local and we like to support our local business. That’s my excuse and I’m stickin’ to it. It was pretty in color and pretty tasty too. Not that you’d really want to drink more than one…too sweet for that.

    Anyway…this Tuesday I will be late in visiting…

    Next week I may miss all together unless I prepost. We are taking J to college!! Move in day is the 21st. Crazy!!

    T stands for Tuesday

    What are you doing today?