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T Tuesday: posts collide edition

Last week the cold won…it got me…although I didn’t miss any work. Wished I had but I made it there each and every day. Wasn’t good for much else though. I never made it around to any T Tuesday posts. Sorry about that. I’ll do better this week.

Today I’m doing a twofer with my posts. One because they fall on the same day and two because I’m ill-prepared to post anything else. How’s that for brutal honesty. Besides…I really like the graphic I created for the twofer post way back when…

Take a look….

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Two posts are colliding this week as T stands for Tuesday and Second on the 2nd fall on the same day.

collage

Thankfully Elizabeth gave a little heads up at the end of her post that reminded me before I finished writing up my post. Time to switch gears.

We’ll start with the fun packages in my mailbox from two fellow T stands for Tuesday bloggers.  So fun to get mail…friend mail, not so much on the bills or junk mail. A little while back I had commented on Krisha’s blog about the winery she had visited. She was so kind to offer me some extra wine labels they picked up as collage fodder. I was so delighted to see an envelope in my PO Box the other day. Look at the great craft fodder and lovely card. Really love that card!

happy mail day

This package helped inspire this journal page.

beginning to blossom

Thank you Krisha!

I also received a box of goodies along with a 3rd anniversary ATC for T stands for Tuesday from Patty @ Magpie’s Nest.

happy mail day

She knows my love of bottle caps.

happy mail day

So many fun bottle caps and a bunch I’ve never seen. Too fun. Patty also included some bits of collage fodder as well. Can you see the beautiful ATC that precipitated the package in the first place?

happy mail day- patty's atc

Isn’t she lovely?!?  So many tiny details. I keep noticing more and more little things that I didn’t see the first time around.  Thank you Patty!

And now for the Second on the 2nd portion of today’s post.

Three years ago I took a quick photo of a hostess gift I was bringing to our annual Independence Day gathering. Little did I know this post would eventually become the most visited post on my blog. (More on the at the end.)

Take a look…eyes

July 5, 2013

We spent Independence Day, as we have the past several years, at a friend’s house along the parade route in town. It’s always a great time.

I wanted to do a little something extra for our hostess who puts so much time and effort into making sure everyone has a good time. She’s a big fan of Rum and Coke. It ended up being a centerpiece on the buffet table.

Rum and coke

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I’ve seen over the years that the re-pins of this image on Pinterest have multiplying but it wasn’t until an update in their software did I notice that all of the re-pins now count up on the original. Check out this screen shot I took last night.

run and coke cake

Amazing! When I look at my blog analytics it definitely shows that people are visiting from that pin as well.  Not 24,000 pages loads but a significant amount especially given the fact that this is a 3 year old post.

For today I’m going to try and stay cool while running an errand or two. I really need to do some baking and canning but…ugh…not in this heat!

What are you doing today?

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T Tuesday: journal edition

I cannot even begin to tell you how many times I have thought about and even started a personal diary or journal only to abandon it within a week after basically forgetting about it after day 2.  I would either think I had nothing to say, be paranoid about someone stumbling across my inner thoughts or perhaps just was intimidated by the hundreds of stark white pages ahead of me.

So l started actually using my newly created personal journal. I’ve discovered that it is much more inviting to write in than a blank page for me. I actually want to sit down to write. I even think during the day about remembering to write something down later. I’m rather excited about this new phase in my creative journey.

Watching the growing community of Hobonichi users was very inspiring as well as generous journal folk who share their videos on YouTube. So many ideas to put to use. I feel as if I pulled together the things that will work for me from the plethora of information I’ve absorbed. That being said, its important to me that I am authentic in what I do…not just copy ideas verbatim. What fun is that!? Besides this is my personal journal…if I can’t be real on those pages, there is really little hope.

I think I might do another video after a while to share some progress and interesting tidbits or techniques I’ve used in the journal.

I did a little before school refashion for Mini-me last week as well. We’d picked up this sweater at Goodwill but she didn’t like the length it was on her…she’s very petite aka short. So she asked me if I could do something about it…15 mins before we left for school. What do you think?!

Last week simply flew by. Volleyball games during the week, a tournament that both Mini-me and I worked at then a short trip to a small apple orchard with friends. I finally tried a couple of varieties of apples that were developed by the University of Minnesota; honey crisp and sweet tango. Both were so good! The orchard also had a few pear trees. I’ve never been a fan of pears but I took a slice when offered since it was the polite thing to do. I was actually surprised at the difference in taste than typical grocery store pears.

Thank goodness we got some nice apples because I really need those. You know the old saying “an apple a day keeps the doctor away”… well, I am fighting a cold. I was hoping it was just allergies but I fear it is a cold. Those darn germ covered kids and surfaces at school. Just can’t seem to avoid it. So my beverage today is an immune boosting drink. Fingers crossed that it does the trick.

Work and volleyball still dominate our schedule.

T stands for Tuesday
What are you doing today?

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T Tuesday: seeing red edition

Mini-me and I are continuing to redo her new room aka J’s old room. Since he won’t be using his 9 months of the year, his stuff and my sewing machine have taken up residence in there. Sewing machine is only temporary. :)

Speaking of the sewing machine reminds me that I posted about my handmade journal yesterday. I even made a video of a flip through of the journal…check it out.

Back to the room makeover. Mini-me has lots of black and white accessories with splashes of red such as this painting she claimed.

As you can see it doesn’t look great on the blue walls.

So she is auditioning some paint colors.  Oh and check out the candelabra. I picked it up at a rummage sale a while back. It was in need of a bit of sprucing up. I removed the dangling beads and sprayed everything…including the beads and faux crystals black. They turned out really good!

I had also picked up a white vinyl cushioned vanity stool a while back. It evidently was so ugly I didn’t take a “before” photo.

I removed the cushion and upholstered it with that splash of red she was looking for.

And these great vintage buttons from my mom’s sewing box.

Doesn’t look great now with a fresh coat of black paint and the new cushion!?!!

The room seems to be coming together. The paint will be the biggest thing to contend with. Time is always a factor. She also wants fairy lights for soft lighting to hangout in. When it done I’ll have to take some more photos.

dark coffee or coffee in the dark

And of course since this is T stands for Tuesday I am sharing my morning cup with you…

T stands for Tuesday

What are you doing today?

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Handmade journal

As promised last Tuesday I am sharing the handmade journal I created. I was going to take a crazy number of photos of pages then edit and decided that was just way too much work!! Instead I recorded a video showing the journal page by page with some babbling narration from me.

I’m sure I am not the only one who doesn’t enjoy the sound of their own voice so listening to this over and over was a little hard for me.

Enjoy!

Handmade Journal

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T Tuesday: washi confession edition

Last week I learned that having a washi obsession isn’t exactly front page news…and that it might be fun to share our collections.  Ok Eileen…you ready to share too?! 

Mini-me organized the tapes for me. I love how they look but have no patience to make it happen. Lucky for me she loves to both craft and organize. My paint drawer often gets a makeover as well. :)

This set of blue tapes I love!! A couple of them look like sun prints and one like shibori.

My black tapes get used a lot. They give that pop on a page or card that just helps me say “DONE”.

I love this bin as well. Bright yellows, orange. pink and red.

The polka dots in this bin have gotten a lot of use. I love polka dots! Did you notice the tape with the coffee cup and beans? I’m sure you’ll see that one again in a salute to T stands for Tuesday.

This last bin is random. Ones that didn’t physically fit or were just too colorful to categorize.

I guess it wasn’t quite as shameful as I thought. Mini-me likes to use washi in her smash book and also in her notes for school. I use it pretty much anywhere. If fact I’m putting together a new journal. More of a junk journal/smash book type idea. I plan to do more writing on a personal level. I’m not sure how much of it I will share here after I start using it to journal. 

I’m using random papers from my stash but keeping them in a Fall color scheme. I’m all about Fall right now. It is my favorite season.

I survived my first week of school. I had very tired feet a couple of days but have since toughened up. As expected I was able to accomplish way more while working than I ever thought I could.  Like starting the above journal. Learning at least 60 kids names and faces in 4 days. Paint and reupholster a vanity bench for Mini-me. Paint 2 shelves and candelabra….also Mini-me(I’ll have to share those projects later). Work 2.5 hours of concessions at a volleyball game after working all day.

Oh yeah and pull up my gardens.

after collecting my last harvest of the season.

Welp…now I’m tired…after recalling all those things.

T stands for Tuesday

What are you doing today?

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15 Comments

T Tuesday: completed journal recap edition

I am finally finished….as in completely finished with another journal. The inside pages have been done for a month or so but I had not been inspired on how to pretty up the outside until now.

As you can see this was a big improvement from the original.

The pretty paper came from a flower Mini-me received at the end of her first campus tour.

They have a cool tradition there that every Friday local florists bring single flowers for the students to purchase and place in each others mailboxes. Since it was a Friday, each of the kids on the tour got a flower. Hers was wrapped in the lovely pink floral kraft paper.

I wanted to keep the original inscription so I used washi tape to adhere the paper like a book jacket. Remember covering textbooks with grocery bags…same concept. Just prettier.

Mini-me and I are both a little obsessed with washi tape. Sometime I’ll show you our collection.

I received some happy mail from a dear friend of mine the other day. She was doing a major purge and thought of me. Yay! Thank you!!

On a recent thrifting excursion I picked up a couple goodies for my stash. The journal is really cute but a little small. Not sure if it would work for me to art journal with as my original thought was for it. I’m always on the lookout for a new book to journal since I don’t work cover to cover in a methodical manner. I tend to jump between several journals. The one I shared today was started Nov 2016 and considering there are only 8 spreads…I definitely jump around.

Mini-me and I had our first taste of Fall with a Pumpkin Iced Crafted Press. So yummy!!

Tuesday we both head back to school. I’m ready for the schedule. I almost feel more productive at home when I’m working.

T stands for Tuesday

What are you doing today?

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T Tuesday: eco dye edition

Last week on T stands for Tuesday I had mentioned that I had attempted some eco dyed papers. Today I thought I’d share my results with you.

Last we left off I had bundled my papers and my cooking pot was way too small….

One trip to Goodwill later, I found the perfect size pot in which to cook my paper bundle. 

The bundle wanted to float since it was pine boards that acted as the presser boards. A couple rocks worked well to hold the bundle down in the vinegar and alum spiked water. I boiled on the side burner of our grill for about and hour. Thank goodness I did this outside because it was not pleasant smelling. Also I learned that the pine boards had a lot of sap left in them…what a mess.

After boiling I drained off the cooking water then added cool water which I salted quite heavily. Once everything was cool enough to handle I started the unbundling process.

Then set the pages to dry on the hot concrete. I was surprised at what did and didn’t leave an impression. The marigolds and lemon grass had the greatest color from the experiment.  But that wasn’t my favorite.

It was these….the baby maple trees I pulled from my lawn were lovely ghosted images.

A few freshly turned leaves from our service berry tree gave a slightly rusty, vein like appearance as it’s only impression. Pretty as well but still not holding my interest like those baby maples.

I think I’ll try this again…but perhaps with other sources for dyes. Purple cabbage and onion skins are the first to jump to my mind. I think perhaps I’d get some nice color out of those.

Speaking of color….

I enjoyed a colorful sort of beer this summer. Grain Belt came out with a limited edition Blueberry infused beer. I had to buy some…its local and we like to support our local business. That’s my excuse and I’m stickin’ to it. It was pretty in color and pretty tasty too. Not that you’d really want to drink more than one…too sweet for that.

Anyway…this Tuesday I will be late in visiting…

Next week I may miss all together unless I prepost. We are taking J to college!! Move in day is the 21st. Crazy!!

T stands for Tuesday

What are you doing today?

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