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    The lost art of bartering

    I don’t know about you but I love it when I am able to barter for something. It truly is becoming a lost art. People now days just go buy or hire someone when they need something. I feel it stems from our lack of community. People don’t know their neighbors. They come home, park in the garage and never step into their yard except to perhaps finely manicure the grass. We are lucky here as we DO know our neighbors and have a good sense of community at least on our block.

    So with that in mind, a friend is finishing off their basement and is starting to buy accessories to match the rustic style of the decor they’ve chosen. She’d been telling me about wanting feed sack pillows for the couch but was overwhelmed by the price on Etsy. She purchased feed sacks at an antique store but then was stuck. She was afraid to cut them plus she didn’t have a sewing machine. I told her to bring them on over and we’d get it figured out.

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    Marvin decided he really needed to “help”.

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    After getting him interested in some toys we were able to cut them down and stuff the  pillow forms inside. I left the hand stitching to my friend to do at home.IMG_5348

    Look how awesome they look!!

    So what does this have to do with bartering…well they had leftover stone veneer from their fireplace. I got to take it home.

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    I’m hoping that I’ll have enough to build a fire pit. The rain is supposed to clear out tomorrow so then I can lay things out to make sure before buying the materials to complete my project.

  • Blog - Crafts

    T Tuesday: post birthday week edition

    Welcome to another edition of T stands for Tuesday.

    T stands for Tuesday

    Last week I was lucky enough to stretch my birthday celebration out over several days. On Tuesday (which is one of the reasons I missed last week) I was treated to lunch with friends. We actually celebrated two birthdays. We had a great time although I never snapped any photos. I did receive this wonderful violet from the other birthday girl.

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    On my actual birthday. May 5th, I was running errands in the morning and picked up my free drink from Caribou…the best chain coffee shop in my humble opinion. (not affiliation…just a very happy customer)

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    Since it was a hot day, I decided on a cold press coffee with room for cream.

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    Mr. G surprised me by not only coming home early that day but also with a lovely bouquet of flowers. I have no idea what the orange ones are but they are so cool! I was really worried Marvin wouldn’t be able to resist them but he was surprisingly restrained after a few initial attempts to get to them.

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    The look of innocence.

    I did see a very strange sight during the week as well.  I was taking J to the eye doctor when we saw the Mystery Machine from the Scooby Doo cartoon.

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    Stranger yet was the very old police car ahead of it. It was as if it had rolled off a movie set or something. I’d guess late 1950’s classic black and white with a single cherry light on top.  When I shared this photo on FB, my cousin suggested that perhaps they were on the way out to Paisley Park which was just another mile up the road. No clue…just one of those things that really makes you do a double take. Glad I had J to quick snap a photo for me.

    On Saturday, Mini-me and I went shopping using some of the birthday coupons and specials I had received then picked up yummy sushi to bring home. It was a really nice cap to a great week of celebration.

    I actually have done a bit of crafting…

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    I used a skein of cotton yarn to make 4 small dish cloths. I like them small so they can fit down inside skinny glassware more easily.

    I’m also continuing work on the commissioned scrapbook album. I’m half done with the pages. Eventually I’ll show another little peek at it. It’s always a tough endeavor to show a scrapbook without showing photos.

    I’ve got an outdoor project in mind with some leftover fireplace stone veneer I was given. Hopefully I have enough to do my plan. When the rain stops, I’ll have to lay things out and see.

    What are you doing today?

  • Blog - Crafts - Creativity

    Catching up…again

    I feel like I’m always behind in posting lately. Not sure why that is but it happens all too often in my opinion.

    Last time at craft club,  I was trying to replicate this card that I had found many years ago in my dad’s room at the nursing home. It was such a sweet card with a clever design. I knew one day I wanted to try it for myself.

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    I decided to use a pack of cards from Michael’s that were color-coordinated as my base.

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    Of course this is just a start.

    I’ve also started work on a commission. I’m making a scrapbook album from a children’s board book.

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    I started by ripping the printed images off all the pages.

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    So far I’ve only gotten the outside background papers in place. I realize that I can’t force it…either I’m feeling creative or I’m not. Evidently I’m not feeling scrapbooky right now. 🙂

    Mini-me and I were out of town this past weekend for our annual mother daughter retreat. More on that tomorrow.