A Little Imagination and a Pile of Junk

spray paint + masking paper = art tip

This afternoon I dropped by Sherwin-Williams to pick up some paint for the desperately-needing-to-be-painted living room and noticed some rolls of craft paper, cheap, that looked promising for journal making. I picked up a few and immediately drove home to try them out. Maisey and I had fun experimenting with spray paint and our new paper rolls until the mosquitoes forced us in. The smaller rolls varied in width from about 4 in. to about 10 in. The paper itself is pretty thin but still strong enough to stand up against latex paint. Much stronger than newsprint but about the same thickness. These were labeled as "General Purpose Masking Paper" and, best of all, they were only about $3-5 a roll.

 

 

 

 

 

The store also had large rolls of "Builder's Paper"--which you may be able to find at your local hardware store, too. It's quite a lot thicker than the masking paper and about a yard or so wide. It absorbed a bit of the spray paint leaving a more delicate coloring, but also worked great with Maisey's finger paints and acrylics. And it was a steal at $9 a roll.

 

 

 

I love finding a new inexpensive paper source! So, go check it out. Then come back and share your own experiments--I'd love to hear about them!

the perfect gift

You can't go on a fabulous vacation without a new journal. My goodness, no. I attempted to add some new pages to another travel journal but then my bff--who knows me best--suprised me with a journal she made herself. Just for me. Have you ever made or had someone you love make you a journal? You should. Everyone should.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Isn't it amazing?? And so perfect for me! Next time I'll show you what I've done with it so far. I have to admit, it was a little difficult making those first marks in this already-perfect-in-my-mind-journal. But I knew she'd kill me if I kept it as a little shrine to her memory and didn't actually use the thing. Friends are great motivators.

saturday market is...

Operating since 1974 the Portland Saturday Market is the largest continually operating outdoor arts and crafts market in the nation. Centered in Portland’s historic Old Town the Market is one of the most popular shopping destinations for local handcrafted goods. --from the Saturday Market website

 

~ For interesting photo ops:

  

 

~ For a wierd guy making balloon animals.

~ For tie-dye. (No artisan market is complete without it.)

 

~ And for dreaming.

 

I wish I had taken more pictures of the actual booths--so many talented people and soooo many beautiful things!--but I was too busy digging out money and pleading with my husband for just one more thing.

portland highlights

 

 

hope

The early beginnings of a small town homestead....

~~The willingness to make a change: check.

~~A plan: check.

~~A little work, $24 dollars, and 7 abandoned pallets: check.

~~A new compost bin: check.

 

~~Raised beds for a garden: check.

 

~~Roma tomatoes, banana peppers, rosemary, and basil: check.

 

~~Patience: check.

~~Fresh from your own garden veggies and herbs: ...to be announced....

i understand if you don't ever want to come back

If you're on Facebook, then you know about the memes that go around just like in the blogging world. Right now, it seems like everyone I know is posting 25 Random Things About Me and since a guilty conscience and nothing to do one night compelled me to spend about 3 hours coming up with these 25 highly fascinating tidbits, I thought I might as well post them here too. So you can point and laugh at me like everyone else. And once you've read them, I will totally understand if you don't want to associate with me again. If I had a choice in the matter, I'd probably chose the same thing. Unfortunately, though, I'm stuck with me. But just in case you're on the fence about it, I'm throwing in a couple of random pretty pictures at the end in hopes of luring you back. 

25 Random Things About Me

1. I have one paranoid, irrational, completely embarrassing and ridiculous fear that controls my life daily. And it’s not just me—hey, Latane!
2. I freak out if I have more than 1 or 2 things that I have to do in a week.
3. I wasted 4 years of my life learning French to live in the Rio GrandeValley and struggle with Spanish.
4. I had a miscarriage last September and don’t ever want to go through that again.
5. I’ve had my artwork on the cover of 3 magazines and inside numerous others.
6. 25 is a really big number to me.
7. I could live contentedly for months with my art and my books and never speak to another soul—as long as I have Internet access, of course.
8. Two things that I’m most proud of having accomplished: graduating college and giving birth (twice!)
9. Why can’t this be 9 really fascinating things about me?
10. I was initially attracted to my husband because he reminded me of the lead singer of the Human League. (I was 16 at the time…but I still stand by it.)
11. When I spend time with other couples or read about others’ marriages, I am fall-on-my-face grateful for the wonderful husband I have and am in awe at our really great relationship.
12. I’d be thrilled to live in rural Mexico if I could live near my bff and have a/c.
13. I pray regularly that I won’t have to live here in the Rio GrandeValley for the rest of my life. I want to live somewhere with 4 seasons. Sooner than later.
14. I have a headache almost every day.
15. Are we to 25 yet? I’m just not that interesting….
16. I can’t sit still without doing something with my hands (notetaking, doodling, knitting, etc.)
17. If I could get my way, I’d take a 2 hour nap daily. And then stay up to 1 or 2 a.m.
18. With a very few exceptions, I hate talking on the phone. I’d rather miss out on something really great or lose contact with someone I truly care about than have to call them on the phone. Pathetic, I know.
19. I like to drink a glass of wine while I cook. And really probably cook much better this way.
20. I’m a crappy friend. I can keep a secret, but that’s about it. I will not return your phone calls, or come to your get together, but please don’t take it personally, because it has no bearing on how much I really love you!
21. I can’t stand the sound of the TV in the background. Watching TV makes me feel like a lazy bum (but taking a 2 hr nap evidently doesn’t) and I can’t stand to do it, unless it is movies with my sweetheart after the kids have gone to bed.
22. Reading 25 random things about myself makes me depressed and want to go to bed.
23. I’m sitting here trying to think of positive things about being me…and I just can’t….
24. I’ve developed a sense of humor over the years, at least that’s what my husband tells me.
25. It has just been in the past year or so that I’ve become comfortable actually calling myself an artist.

   

 

 

 

carelessly slinging on my destiny

After 8 days or so of lazying around the house, I'm ready to get busy again. Or at least feel slightly productive. Despite the tepid temperature outside, I'm determined to move my body around and get some energy. Except for a few stray blasts of cold, the weather has been downright obnoxious: damp, sunless and warm. The perfect environment for growing bacteria (and a bad attitude), but not much else. Blech. But I complain enough about that around here as it is....

 

Something colorful that cheers me up: my Christmas presents! My Betsy Johnson handbag from John and the kids. I don't even have to tell you how much I love it. And the crochet strawberries--it came with those--sweet!

 

And a cutie-pie Oililyhandbag! Which was really a pre-Christmas gift to myself. The funny story that goes along with it is that we were Christmas shopping at a local outlet mall and I spied this bag in the window of the Oilily store and immediately fell in love. (Yes, we don't have 6 restaurants within a 100 miles with decent food, but we have Betsy Johnson and Oilily outlet stores. I'll take what I can get.) Of course, I rushed in leaving the kids and husband pacing outside while I tried on the entire sale rack and came out with a $7 shirt, this purse and a big grin. Once we got in the car, I tore into the package and realized my new purse is actually a diaper bag. Soren thought it  was hilariously funny and practiced telling the story over and over to his friends all the way home, except he added a bit about finding a dirty diaper inside. Boys! After I let Maisey have the, ahem, changing pad for her baby dolls, she defended me at least, telling her cracking up older brother that girls don't care if their purse is actually a diaper bag. If we like it, it doesn't matter what it is supposed to be! That's what I say.

   

And John got me this very cool painting by local artist Gabriel Trevino. I love the painting, that we're supporting local independent artists, and that the colors go so well with my blue wall. Art to hang and art to wear--what more could a girl want?

friends help friends do art

While I was working on making art journals recently, some friends stopped by and saw them. Since then, they've become addicted to journal making and even bought a sewing machine to bind them up! That's my kind of addiction. I couldn't wait to show off the amazing work they've been doing because I knew you'd appreciate it. First, Aaron's book.

 

The boy sewed right through the hard front cover of the book--yeah! As if that wasn't enough, he crocheted his own tie closure. How cool is that??

 

Did I mention the pen pocket in the front of the book? Take a look at those creative pages.

 

 

 

 

Are you amazed? Now just take a look at Lorren's book!

 

This simply elegant cover gives no hint of the intricate beauty inside...

 

 

 

 

Can you believe that this is the first time they've ever made anything like this before?? I am so proud of them, not just because of the excellent journals they made but also for thinking "I want to do that!" and then just jumping in and doing it. So many times we let fear of failure, of trying something new, or of not being good enough stop us from taking a chance with art and we miss out on so much.

Is there anything that you've always wanted to try but haven't because of that little voice telling you you can't do it?

another reason to love mexico

Some pretty fabrics I picked up just over the border. And I probably don't have to tell you how cheap these were compared to US prices. The brown and blue has a suede-like texture. It will be a tablecloth eventually. The yellow stripe makes me think I need new pillows for the patio furniture; and, maybe, some embroidery to make it shout out my name.

 

 

 

And my favorite: Mexican oilcloth. I got 4 yards of this first pattern for about $9 US. If I didn't love it so much, I might actually feel guilty about it. The pink was a gift from a friend. Does she know me or what?

 

 

These came from Matamoros, but I think we're going to try going over to Progresso this week to do a little Christmas shopping. It makes up for having no good thrift stores in town.

a little virtual tour

Welcome to my virtual home tour! This time, just a few of my favorite things so you can see some of the changes we've been making around here lately.

 

I'm madly in love with these Anna Maria Horner fabrics. I just want to drape them all over the house. And I did for a while. I chose Centerpiece in teal to recover my $1.99 thrift store chair. It may be painted eventually but, right now, I'm liking the worn wood. I'm wishing I had painted the embroidery hoops red, though, before I stretched and hung them, but I'm too lazy to go back now. Gotta move on to the next thing!

 

 

A random display of treasures: pretty patterns, one of my collages with an image of my grandfather and his twin sister, a photo of me and my dad when I was a child, John's grandfather's pocketwatch, my grandmother's glass pitcher with her handwritten note tucked inside.

And then there are birds and more birds. Here's another thrift store find, a metal hanging planter spray painted the perfect blue. It is happy here for now, but once I get the rest of the walls painted, I'll probably move it so it contrasts with the wall behind it, whatever color that may turn out to be. I'm also thinking about decorating the top of the basket with twisting crochet ribbons. The perfect tin star from Mexico was a gift from a friend.

 

And if you're starting to feel a lot like Christmas, check out the 12 Days of Xmas Exchange blog, Lelainia is posting a new wrapped gift each day until the 13th and then comes the best part: the unwrapping!