lucky, again...

As I was searching for some Easter things to show you, the first thing I saw was this little chalkboard hanging on the front of my house - on which I had written the word "lucky" a few weeks ago. Each time I have entered my home the last few weeks, seeing this word has been a nice reminder to myself. I'm not a naturally optimistic person, it's something I really have to work on. I've had ups and downs in my life, like everyone else, but I try to put the downs aside and appreciate all of the good things in my life. So many good things... "lucky" seems to be a recurring theme on this blog, a great theme for spring, which to me is a season of hope and renewal. Wishing you luck and happiness today and always...

boy stuff...

I just wanted to tell you that I really am a girl of my word. I have been telling you about lighters and bullets and other deadly boy stuff that I have allowed my son to purchase. I promised to find a shadowbox to contain it all and I did. I found this great box, in a junk shop of course, and I set to work getting it filled and hung. I opened it for the picture, but it has a nice door that closes (no lock, but I trust him!). After I was done, I got to looking around and noticed some other cool stuff. Boys really do have cool stuff. It was hard choosing just a few items to show you. Right under the box of deadly weapons is the box that his live ammo came in, framed nicely by some deer antlers found in our forest and under that is another shadowbox that I made last year. These are all bugs that were found in our yard (too close for comfort if you ask me) and yes, I really did touch them all to get them pinned in the box. Under that is a cool old trophy that the boys dug out of our stream and finally a neat box, decoupaged by Liam. It is actually one of those thin wood boxes that brie cheese comes in. Liam loves brie cheese! My favorite part of the box is the fortune to the left, it says - Dessert CAN make you happy. Isn't that so true?

these boots were made for walking...

My new favorite mug that I picked up at the goodwill today
for a quarter.

A red painted flower from my art journal.

A tiny little book of poems by Robert Browning - 95 cents.

Perfectly tattered...

An old bowling pin that I bought the last time I went antiqueing

with my kids.

I was filling in my walking journal today (yes, I keep a journal for that too, I'm very organized!) when I realized that I passed the 500 mile mark last week. Woo Hoo! I have been walking since last May and at one point I was up to about 18 miles a week. Winter slowed me down a bit and I haven't been loving the walks as much. I am down to about 12 miles a week, but I'm working my way back up. It's a lot harder to stay in shape now that I'm past 40 (slightly) and I really like sweets and desserts, so I gotta exercise. Seeing that big 500 is pretty exciting and it actually makes me want to go out and take a long walk right now (except it's raining out). So I guess it was a good idea to keep track of it. The best part of the whole walking thing, is my 9 year old son decided he wanted to start walking too, so now I walk him to school every morning (it's almost a mile). And he just yaks away the whole time. But it's nice, special mom and Jake time that I will treasure forever.

what time is it?

I have a thing for clocks, they're all over the house. So you would think I would always know what time it is, but not all of my clocks actually work. Some of them I keep simply because I like them. Last time I visited, my mom gave me a bag of old jewelry bits and inside were two old broken watches. I made some necklaces out of them and even though they don't tell time anymore, I love them and wear them. The third picture is an old pocket watch necklace that my mother-in-law gave me. It was handed down from her aunt. It works when I remember to wind it and I love it. The other pictures are of two of my favorite clocks. The little gold one works, again, when I remember to wind it and the round silver one does not. I was going to stick a few more pictures in here, but wow, so many clocks, so little time. Another day...

painting...

I've been a rather neglectful blogger lately. Sorry about that. I have been focused on painting my bedroom in the most lovely shade of blue. It was a very ugly yellow and it improved vastly with just a coat of primer. But now that I have the blue done, I love it - it has a very calming effect. As I was cleaning up, the purple vase and purple flowers (which were just plopped there by chance) caught my eye and I had instant inspiration. Most of the bedding is in shades of ivory, but there are some pillows and cushions that will need to be changed. As I was cleaning up, the purple vase and purple flowers (which were just plopped there by chance) caught my eye and inspiration struck. I hadn't thought of purple with the blue. Quickly to my sewing machine to stitch up this purple velvet cover for my neck pillow. I like it - now for some more purple stuff...

lucky day...

There's some magic happening at our house today... I found this adorable twine ladder leading all the way up to our mantel where I found a pot of gold nuggets, left by a leprechaun perhaps??

Happy St. Patrick's day! Even though I wasn't born Irish, I am now, after marrying into a very Irish family. Our secretive little leprechaun usually makes a visit every year, though we've never seen him. Also, one of my favorite charms purchased from Sally Jean a few years ago, it says "lucky" on the back, which I really am. And one of my tiny cards, that I sometimes leave around for somebody to find like this.

guns and lighters and bullets

The kids were off from school on Friday and it was very rainy, so we decided to visit a couple of our favorite antique shops. The top picture is a Barbra Streisand Album that I scored for 25 cents. I think I may hang it in my art studio. I love the butterflies on this old doily. The salt and pepper shakers are tiny - an inch and a half. More books, of course. And just to keep things interesting, I allowed Jacob to purchase this old toy cap gun and Liam bought some more lighters for his collection. Oh and also a few old bullets (not live this time). I swear I really am a good mom (at least my kids think so). As soon as I get the bullets encased (along with the last bunch he bought), I'll show you. And since the lighter collection has really taken off, I am now looking for something to contain them. I just finished a cool art journal out of one of the cabinet cards from my last post. You can see it to the right in my shop.

Serenity

I finally finished my old book project. The book is super old and very fragile and I faced quite a few challenges while working on it. It took me days to tear the paper just so and apply gold to all the edges, but I really like how it turned out. And while I am on the subject of old, I included a few pictures of some other old items that I will be incorporating into my art very soon. My art has been so varied this past year, but I like to think of it as part of the learning process. I'm still working on my artistic style and that is quite a journey. I've noticed that everything works out better when I don't overthink things and I just go with it. But sometimes, that is a hard place to get to. The words in my head say - relax, stay true to yourself, work from your heart...

the passing of time

one of my projects today

a bird I made a while ago out of some metal junk

some pretty flowers my kids picked for me yesterday (I do love those kids)

Did you ever notice how time seems to pass so quickly when you are doing something you love and so slowly when you're not? I have several projects started right now, but not enough time to finish them all. The inspiration keeps on coming and that is so good, I just don't want to stop. A dream of mine is to have a whole week to just do what I love best. Kind of like a vacation, only at home, with someone else cooking dinner, doing the laundry, cleaning up... How cool would that be?

still nesting...

Another nest for my shop. This one is so me. I love the pale colors, the vintage feel of it...I didn't have any pastel wool to make eggs, so I poked around a bit and found this pretty little white bird. I am going to paint and revamp my art studio soon and I'm thinking about the colors of this nest - ivory and pale pink and beige. Also working on this journal today that I got here. I'm using it as a purse journal, for when inspiration strikes. It is old and lovely as is, but I couldn't resist adding some bits of this and that to make it pretty.

nesting...

Fiber nest.

Found this in the forest behind our home. It's very tiny.

Spied a few of these sprouting in the yard today.

Even our fairies seem to be doing some spring cleaning.

Been doing a bit of nesting around here...making nests, that is. I've listed my little fiber nest in my etsy shop if you are interested. I am making them in some different color combinations as well and I should have them up in a few days. While photographing the nest yesterday, I took a few pictures of my hand holding it. Well, when my daughter came home and saw the photos, she said, who's hand is that, it's so wrinkly. Needless to say, I deleted those photos and used her lovely young hand instead. Other than that, just enjoying the beautiful sunshine today. I hope you are having a beautiful day as well!

happy music

Isn't this doll head beautiful? I think so. I got it here. I have a few ideas for it and I will show you once I figure it out.

Some spring goodies I am working on for the shop. Should be ready in a few days.

The design process - slow. Kind of looks like a voodoo doll at this point.

Crunching on some candy today. I love Easter candy and since it was right after Easter last year that I discovered chocolate was giving me migraines, I am looking for alternatives - hey, a girl needs some sugar.

Had a great weekend. I took my youngest two to see a musical, Peter Pan, that was put on by one of our local high schools and it was awesome. The teens were all so talented, it just blew me away. It really makes me sad to hear all the talk about budget cuts and cutting the arts from schools. School (and life) would be so dull without music and drama and art. My own kids have really benefitted from the music programs at their schools. The learning and practicing and performing have given them confidence in themselves and their abilities and that confidence carries over to all the other parts of their lives... The other day, a neighbor commented that our house sounded like a band and that it was such happy music. A beautiful compliment...music to my ears.