From flea market to horse meet.....

Another fun filled Saturday......first we hit the Flea Market and for less that ten dollars I thought I scored "pretty dang good". 

A quilt square, two spice tins, four other tins, a box, ruler and set of Speedball Calligraphy pens nibs.

Love the "Ladies toilet pumice stone box", threw the pumice stone away...the box is the best part.  Nifty blue pipe tobacco tin and under them is a very cool French cigarette box.

  No one should be with out a tin of Nature's Remedy Laxative...I'm not sure how to tie that into pen nibs and a ruler except....great junk is truly in the "eye of the beholder".  Then I found all of these medals.

I forgot to take a picture of the lovely crystal rosary beads that came with the medals.  Some great jewelry making items here.

A who could live without this.........

this little contraption was used to roll your own cigarettes, back in the day.....my how times have changed! 

We finished off the day at the Fairgrounds in Salem, watching our Granddaughter compete in the Oregon High School Equestrian Team District meet.

This is Nicole and her best buddy, Oreo.

Nicole and her team participating in Team Penning.  The meet started yesterday and goes through tomorrow, lots of sitting in the cold and waiting for the next event.  But, the kids have fun and learn new skills.

Fun way to start the weekend, I am hoping, for a little quieter day tomorrow, however. 

Thanks for stopping by, I'm going to link up with Masterpiece Monday at Boogieboard Cottage and Sue's Rednesday.

Signs of Spring......

This morning there was, finally, a break in the rain and wind, so I took the dog for a long walk and took my camera along with the hope of capturing some signs that Spring was on it's way!

What better sign than the bright yellow-gold daffodil......

I wish this pretty pink Current bush was in my yard, I would cut some and take them in the house to force those sweet blossoms open.

I found delicate white Snowdrops blooming away in a weedy patch....

A big bright yellow Forsythia threatens to overtake the side of this house.

Oregon's rain doesn't do Camellia blossoms much good.....about the time the bush is in full bloom a big rain storm will hit and ruin the flowers but they are so lovely while they last, it is worth it.

Found these tiny blue blossoms on Vinca minor or dwarf Periwinkle...

LOVE this Andromeda japonica, commonly called Lily of the Valley Shrub.

My crocus have bloomed out but the neighbors are just beginning to open.  These are a beautiful dark purple and light lavender with dark purple veining, yummy!

We walked over a mile, all the while I was diligently looking for a white Candytuft, or Iberis, with no luck.....until I was almost home....when I, finally spotted one, in my next door neighbor's front yard.....geez!

Spring would not be spring without a few Dandelions......it's too early for Daisies!

Western Oregon has seen more rain than usual this winter while many parts of the country have been buried in snow, I think we are all ready for spring and some sunshine.   

I hope the snow is melting where you live and we can all start to enjoy the fresh green sprouts and the oh so distinctive smells and sights of spring!

It was so encouraging and uplifting today to see  "earth laugh in flowers"! 

"But each spring....a gardening instinct, sure as sap rising in the trees, stirs within us.  We look about and decide to tame another little bit of ground".  (Gantt)

                                                                       

Thanks for stopping by, please come again and for the first time I am joining the Pink Saturday at How Sweet The Sound and Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch. and, a place I haven't been in a while Southern Daydreamer's Outdoor Wednesday and this great, new to me, blog Fishtail Cottage's Cottage Flora Thursday.

I've outfitted the entire family....

It started with this little dress......

For Lucy and then this little dress for Emma.......

So, what to do for Mom and Dad?  Mom is a SHAM who loves to sew, cook and is one "crafty mama".....so I decided she needed an apron..

  Each piece has a surprise under it....Granddaughter reads this blog, so I'm not sharing......hehehe..........

Well, Dad is a plumber who moved from Florida to Oregon, as a child, thus the piece of the Florida map and under his blue jeans......

He's, also, a major Steelers fan.....a little disappointed, but a faithful fan none the less.  I wanted to address his plumbing profession, so I added..

a piece of a ruler, for measuring, and a water faucet handle to turn the water off and on!

I've, truly, outfitted the family and had very good time doing it. 

The girls dresses are on 12x12 deep canvases and Mom and Dad's are on 6x6 deep canvases.  The canvas was collaged and the clothing made with plaster and gauze over canvas.

In between, I'm working on an Altered Books about hats...Page 1!

Using an old photo album and wonderful vintage photos of men and women wearing the fabulous head wear of the late 1800.

I love the look of this....using a old photo, I copied it onto a clear transparency and placed it over a postcard from the 30s.  Women of mystery about to embark on a journey to see the world!

In my spare time, I've been playing and experimenting in my journal....

On the left, the brown "splotch" is really a piece of a bee's nest, wonderful material.....it's like very thin, fragile paper.  This photo doesn't show the striation....lots of shades of brown and cream...very lovely gift from a friend.   On the right page, I painted a tulip with watercolor and trimmed it out to glue on a background of strips of scrapbooking paper, then added some highlights with paint and pens.

Still aiming to "Create Every Day", doing alright so far.  I hope you are finding time to be creative, as well.

Thanks for stopping by, hope you enjoyed.  I love comments, feel free.

I am linking to Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch and Creative Everyday.

Teenage craftsman!

Last summer, our 14 year old Grandson told Grandpa "the woodworker" he'd like to make his own guitar and ask him to help. 

So, Gramps armed with wood and tools and Vincent armed with plans and ideas on how he was going to build the coolest  of solid body electric guitars EVER, were off and running.

Finding two pieces of pine, they planed, they measured, then they started cutting, trimming and sanding the wood, then the two pieces were glued together.......and looked like this.....

Holes were filled, holes were drilled and in between lots and lots of sanding!

Vincent lives about a half hour from us, so much of the sanding he did at home.

From about this point on, it was all up to Vincent and his sanding arm. 

A few weeks later, they were at this point....drilling more holes and fitting the electrical pieces.....

More sanding and fitting......

   By the end of summer....here is Vince holding the neck on with his hand but the body is ready to have the components installed.

Vincent's dad, Brett, cut and polished a piece of stainless steel to cover the front and back.  Vincent painted, sanded, stained, sanded and finally, varnished.

A fellow, Brett works with, helped them with the installation of the components and the wiring.

Finally, Vincent proudly shows Gramps the finished product.

Look at that beauty......

I know, I'm the proud Grandmother and all, but.....believe it or not most of the work on this project was done by a one talented, hard working 14 year old who had the determination to see this project through! 

Sure the adults helped and he couldn't have done it without them, but, I'd be willing to bet....he could now!

I've linked this post to Strut Your Stuff Thurs. at Somewhat Simple and Tickled Pink Friday at 504 Main and Creation Corner's Friday Link Party,  Tatertots and Jello's Weekend Wrap Up Party, Funky Junk Interiors Saturday Nite Special, Masterpiece Monday at Boogieboard Cottage

Little dresses...........

I use to sew A LOT, but I don't enjoy it so much anymore!  But, have I found a way to make dresses for little girls that I love doing!

I mentioned my new stash of art books in my last blog, well, I'm still talking about "Art at the Speed of Life", Pam Carriker is the talented author of the book.  What has inspired me, the most, is a project designed for the book by Sue Pelletier in a chapter called "Papier-Mache Dresses Collage". 

Last blog, I showed you the one I had completed for Great Granddaughter Lucy.

  This is a little better picture, I think.  You can see the little wire hanger.....well, the dress is a separate piece that is attached to the wire hanger and then wired to the canvas.  So, the dress stays attached but can be moved from side to side, so I tried to put something interesting under the dress, too.

Lucy's has a sentence cut from a book that reads "I use a small cup when at tea".

Here is Emma's, I just finished yesterday.

I added paper lace to the sleeves but used real lace on the bottom and topped it off with a ribbon bow.  The background is collaged with a tape measure, a piece of a dress pattern, a flash card and....

a little bee button and some fabric.

The dresses are done by cutting out a form from a piece of canvas and covering it with plaster of paris and gauze.  On the first one, I added cheesecloth as the top layer, this one I used tissue paper.  I have plans for a couple more of these.....there is so much you can do to make each piece unique.

Here's the happy couple....all ready to go live with their new owners.  Lucy's first birthday is coming soon, I think I might TRY to save them until then.

Always remember I appreciate your comments and love Followers!

I am linking to Metamorphosis Monday, Make It Monday,

Amaze Me Monday at Dittle Dattle and Sue's Rednesday and Common Ground's Vintage Inspiration Friday, Passionately Artistic's Linking Party

Inspiration heaven......

That's where I've been for the past couple weeks!  Used my Christmas gift cards to buy art books...four really, really good ones plus a Stampington Journaling magazine.

I have been inspired to try some new, and some old, collage and painting techniques.

One of my favorite of the four books is Pam Carriker's "Art at the Speed of Life".  This is what that book has inspired me to do.....so far. 

This is a 12"x12" canvas, the background is collage and acrylic paint, the little dress is canvas covered with gauze, cheese cloth and plaster then collaged and painted.  So fun to do!

Join me at Vintage Inspiration Friday,  The Answer is Chocolate's Open House Link Party.

New journal pages......

Wow!  I have played with paint and paper A LOT this week....worked on a painting, some envelopes for the swap and my journal pages.............like this....

Be a little more interesting AFTER I write on the pages...

  experimenting with pens, paint and pages from the phone book....

detail of left-hand page, facing page below says "let them grow"..........

"Creativity takes a leap, then looks to see where it is".

Makein' use of some fabric "yo-yos", that I have in my stash!

Totally, loving how this page turned out!

Live well, laugh often, love much and eat blueberries!  Oh, yeah!

This is it for now....but there are many pages left in this book to cut and paste and paint and write and, and, and.  

Join me at Boogieboard Cottage's Masterpiece Monday and Creative Everday