A Merry Christmas to All and to All a Good Night

I wanted to say Merry Christmas to you now while I have a quick second.  My dear trusty computer died today quite unexpectedly.  Luckily I am blessed to be married to an IT guy who got me up and running again with a new computer.  He will kick me off soon because he knows I worry.  Can access my old files? My pictures? My Photoshop?? 

Thank you all so much for following along with me for another year!!  I really have no idea where I am heading, no grand plan for the upcoming year...but that's ok...we will just take it as it comes.

Be safe, Be well, Be happy.

Angie

Potential

Ideas like seeds sprout and grow in their own time, then before you know it you're working on a project that you think has nothing to do with Christmas preparations.

Back in November, while at our scrapbook weekend,  I coerced Debbie into a walk with the intention of picking up bunches of little acorn caps(Isn't she is a good sport!). We collected quite a few and my mind swirled with visions of colorful polymer clay acorns using real caps. Those caps sat in the bag, and sat, and sat.

Now here it is the end of December.  I'm in the middle of shopping, wrapping, cookie baking and such, but the last two evening I have lost myself into figuring out the best way form perfectly imperfect colorful little acorns charms...why now??

Then last night, around 9:30, it dawns on me...I forgot all about teacher gifts (today was the last day of school before break).  I made a batch of acorns in school colors and added them to some chain to make necklaces...done!

Cheers!!
Angie

A time to give

(Interstellar Pyramid- by Sparrow Salvage- one of my first ever Etsy purchases)

The news is spreading about dear Sparrow Salvage.  A tragic car accident took her mothers life and left Sparrow in the hospital recovering for weeks.  Fanciful Devices has started the Sparrow Fund to help, your donation will also enter you into a giveaway for one of her amazing necklaces.

Getting back in the groove

Back into the groove of listing items onto Etsy. I made new pieces for the craft show last weekend, brought home the unsold items and they sat in a box for days..tsk, tsk.

New little assemblage pendants made from polymer faces and old keys .

Victorian cones made from old french postcards.

Each one is filled with theme and a magical fairy.

Listing on Etsy has actually become much easier, I'm happy to say. For me the delay comes from setting up the camera and then photo editing. I am almost always happy with the end result but it is the time it takes that seems to frustrate me to the point of inaction.

Today was a good day!

Thanks for looking,

Angie

Spreading Joy

A couple weeks back I was a lucky winner from Katie's blog *explanation required, I was able to get 25 free photo cards from Shutterfly. It was hard to decide..so many choices..but this is the result!

Thanks Katie!!

Stationery card

View the entire collection of cards.

This post is sponsored by Barb

Barb, Bless her heart, joined me for a couple hours at the Holiday Craft Sale in Oakley. She is such great company and so resourceful...she brought a camera and snapped shots of the day.

Read all about it here:

http://artandsoulcreations.blogspot.com/2011/12/my-saturday.html

Thanks Barb!!!

I am trying to finish up local custom orders, then I need to re-open the Etsy shop and get some new listings out there.

~Angie

Holiday Crafting

I am over the moon about Red Tree's Holiday Craft show this weekend. I received a last minute invitation to participate in the event, so I opted to pause on unpacking the house (told you I was slow) and got into production mode.

I am a bit green at doing shows but my fears eased up when I saw that Pam @ Frippery was attending, we had fabulous fun at the Burlington Antique show this summer. I can' t wait to see what vintage goodies she creates for the sale.

If you live in the Cincinnati area be sure to stop by to shop and get a cup of coffee!

Angie

Presto Chango

Do you have one of these? An oak entertainment center from the late 1990's? We do!! We also have matching bookcases, I remember being so excited about the set. Bob and I picked them out after we bought our first house, but now I'm pretty sure the unit is obsolete since TV's made today wouldn't fit in that square opening. Thinking 'green' and 'cheap', I scoured the internet for an idea to transform it into something else. Surprisingly there were no good DIY projects...so I had to go it alone.

I knew the bookcases would get reused in the office, so I decided to turn this piece into a desk. I removed all the doors and hardware then got into changing the color. I really had my heart set on swapping the antique oak color for a stained black finish(though I'm sure in another 20 years I'll be priming to hide it..lol) If you curious, I used Minwax Polyshades in Classic Black Satin ($12) ... took 2 coats but wow that stuff is fantastic!

I drilled four new holes at 29" and moved the shelf down that used to hold the DVD player. That shelf now supports the left hand side of an Ikea desk top ($20) . On the other side is 2 Ikea legs in black ( a whopping $3.50 a piece) ..and the magic is complete...green and cheap!!

Now if I could just use magic to get all the clutter off the floor, then I could share a picture of the bookcases!

Angie

A twenty year work in progress

Ok we are officially moved in, making it livable is a whole other issue. Please don't laugh too hard at our disaster.

Here is the front entry and hall. Most of the homes in the neighborhood have this open concept where you can see up to the 2nd floor.

This home has a living room and family room on the first floor so we are opting to make the living room into an office. We have bookcases in storage that will need to be emptied out by the end of November.

This is just sooooo sad...yes I really am using the blue plastic tote as a desk chair...but thanks to Bob I am 'connected' and that makes me happy.

A would-be dining room, if we actually owned dining room furniture. Briefly thought about closing in this space in as a studio but decided against it because I am too messy and have too much stuff to fit in here. In the meantime I will be working on polymer clay up here because the studio is months from completion (you'll see).

There is a bit of order in the family room, it's just lacking in decor or sense of style.

Turn around to see the kitchen and eating area. That kitchen is TINY, would love to bust through that wall into the dining room...maybe one day...far...far off in the distant future.

Upstairs hall with all bedrooms spoken for. That little door on the left may have sold Bob on this house...

A 2nd floor laundry... seriously that man is in heaven. You would think I'd be in heaven, but nope. Here's a little known Angie fact...I rarely do the wash, Bob has always spent Sundays watching sports and doing laundry.

Traveling down into the basement, it is partially finished with terrible lighting and a massive 1990's wet bar. It is so outta here...eventually.

There is a nice window and walkout to the backyard which was high on my wish list.

So you have seen all the clutter right?? I actually love organization, I'm just slow about getting it done. With a partially finished basement and me using part of the unfinished portion to carve out a studio you have to get creative with storage. Luckily there are little nooks and crannies. I did get this finished, all my holiday storage is neatly tucked into the the cavity by the hot water heater.

Now if the same could be said for all this!!! Ugh it is going to be a LONG process.

I am currently accepting any volunteers who don't mind getting down and dirty..lol.

Angie

Sparkle N Sprinkle “It’s a Cultural Thing” Blog Hop

Welcome to the Sparkle N Sprinkle “It’s a Cultural Thing” Blog Hop. If you have arrived here from Shona’s blog then you are in the right spot. If you happened by , you can start back at the Sparkle N Sprinkle Blog to get all the details on prizes that will be given away .

For this blog hop I choose to use stamps from the Brocade Backgrounds Set and tie in other items that represent my family’s cultural heritage.

Here are two altered French Journals using book pages, ephemera, ribbons and buttons. The stamped images add texture with SNS flocking.

Click HERE for directions on how these were made.

My husbands’ mother was from Germany, she arrived in the United States in the 1960’s. Though we never had the opportunity to meet, Bob often says she had quite the crafty side and he thought we would get along famously. I had her in mind when I made this Altered Wood Block Art with German text.

Click HERE for directions

Thanks for stopping by, this was a fun theme and I’m sure you will want to hop on over to Barbara’s blog next to see her creations. Don’t forget to leave comments at each stop to become eligible for prizes.

Angie

86 Days

It has been 86 days since the Indiana State Fair Stage Collapse. Several wonderful people asked how Shannon and Jade were doing. Today I saw this interview of Shannon on the local news. It is very touching.

WCPO link

Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers, I know the family feels incredibly blessed by them.

Angie

Possibilities

Storage area in the new house:

Nice shelving and work table, but barely any lighting and no electric outlets.

This will be my new studio space, I love a challenge.

Have to give a huge shout-out to my cousin Debbie and her family. They spent a good chunk of their day helping us move some seriously heavy furniture!!

Angie

Faux Peppermint Sticks

I wanted to share these with you, I know it's a bit early for Christmas but as soon as the weather gets nippy I start thinking of hot chocolate with a peppermint stripe sticks.

The other day I cut a few dowel rods down to 4 inch pieces and painted them white. Once dry I wrapped them with 1/4 inch double sided tape. Red-line tape is my favorite for projects like this. It took a bit of practice to figure out the most realistic looking angle for the stripes. Once they were taped up I pulled up the backing and sprinkled on glitter, that's it. A super cute, super easy holiday decoration that I can't eat.

Have a great weekend!

Angie

Marie's Giveaway

Have to share this... Marie of Spun by Me is celebrating her 1000th post with a giveaway!!!

If vintage goodies are right up your alley then you will love what she has put together. Go check it out and enter her giveaway HERE

Angie

New work

Block ornaments

...using up extra faux slides

...feeling productive

...must be all the stress

...possibly closing on the new house tomorrow.

Angie

Tricks & Treats

Time is moving at a rapid speed!! I'm so sad that Halloween has come and gone. No carved pumpkins, no house decorations (with the house for sale the decorations were in storage) and barely enough time to scrape together costumes.

Robert decided he wanted to be an Army man. Fate worked with us as we came across an Army surplus store a few weeks ago after apple picking. Maria decided on a corpse bride, she likes the haunted stuff for sure! I found an oh-so-cheap $3.00 white dress-up gown at the thrift shop, perfect price since I knew she'd want to shred it and drag it in the mud (I was reminded more than once that she is dead and clawed her way out of the ground). We fashioned a headpiece, then added some white and black makeup to complete the ensemble.
Luckily I have an Army man to protect me from the undead.

Happy Halloween!

Angie

Eeek!!

We closed on our current house yesterday...we are moving!!! Hoping to close on a new-to-us house one day next week.

At our closing yesterday the gal who bought the house couldn't help but comment that it will take 3 days just to clean out the studio...oh my!!

Angie

Halloween Giveaway

**Congrats Susan!!! You are the winner**

This little clown has been on my studio table for weeks just crying to be assembled. Today I decided the perfect motivation would be to know she had a happy home.

Just leave me a comment on this post. If you mention it on your blog let me know and I'll enter your name twice! It's going to be a quickie.. Friday morning at 8am I'm randomly going to draw a name!!

Good Luck,

Angie

Cover Girl ...Almost

It's always a happy day when an issue of Cloth Paper Scissors is in the mailbox. Today, my heart skipped a beat because it was the Home Sweet Home reader challenge issue.

Is it silly to be so excited that part of my house made it on the cover?

Here is my little home, it was one of 95 in this hand crafted village.

This was such a fun challenge!! I'm looking forward to spending the evening taking in the rest of town.

Angie

Stress Relief

Being off work really couldn't have some at a better time. Our home inspection last week, which resulted in me waiting around for a garage door salesman today. Tonight is a home inspection for the house we would like to buy...hoping for no surprises.

In between the appointments I've been de-stressing and making new messes with these little block dolls. The blocks were found at a flea market last year, there were only three of them and on the back of each is a portion of poem Twas the Night Before Christmas. I have the last one in the works, maybe I'll finish her up tomorrow before I have to get out the the house for the appraiser.

Angie

Party Girl

Weekend treasures

Maria and I got a late start to our day at the the Burlington Antique Show. We came across a great vendor with ephemera and mixes game pieces for cheap!

Found a few more treasures too, some were half price..I guess it pays to head out to the last show of 2011.
Our Indian summer continues, at 3 o'clock today the van display said it was 81 degrees...how lovely!

Angie

Fall is for...

...soccer tournaments.

Working hard and...

...scoring goals!

Have a great weekend,

Angie

Treating myself

A gift to myself, it has been too long since I've worn my own jewelry. A sweet picture of the kiddos from apple picking last weekend was the perfect inspiration.

We have a contract on our house and the home inspection was last night. Today is "make or break" I suspect. A house that's 50+ years is bound to have a few blemishes. We have spent 7 years here fixing it up all the problems we knew about ...now I find myself worrying about the stuff I don't know about. Does that make sense or am I nuts?!

Angie