Category : Blog
1714 posts
Just checking in again after a 2 month hiatus. Life happens but blogging doesn’t. :)
Last time I posted Mini-me and I had just gotten back from our cabin adventure. We were trying to get in as much as we could while she was job searching and I had the impending back to school dates looming ahead.
I was happy to get something canned this summer since my garden wasn’t super prolific this year. I was able to harvest enough hot peppers to make some cowboy candy aka candied jalapenos. I don’t need to make very much as I’m the only one who really enjoys it.
I’ve also been slowly working on using the supplies that I have accumulated. It does no one any good sitting collecting dust. I used the better part of a paper pad from my stash to create gift sets of blank notecards. It’s always nice to have some gifts on hand…and bonus that they are handmade!
Mini-me suggested that we go to the MN state fair on opening day this year. I’ve rarely turn her down when she wants to go somewhere since she tends to be a bit of a homebody. Wowsers was it busy! That day set an attendance record with 138,875 people!
We couldn’t leave without getting a bucket of these! We didn’t eat them all there. Only enough to jam the lid on the bucket after using some elite tetris skills. I froze cookies in small batches to enjoy for the future. In fact, I ate the last two cookies today.
On the bus ride to the fair, Mini-me got a phone call that she got the job she’d interviewed for a couple days previous. This was amazing news! Now she needed to find a place to live in and start work in 12 days. Yikes! It was a whirlwind… She is an admissions counselor for her alma mater. So cool! The only trouble she had was trying to find someplace to live in a small town at the beginning of the academic year. Everything is scooped up! However, between her heavy travel schedule on the college fair circuit and some temporary housing, it all worked out and she got an apartment after a couple weeks.
I had fun finding some furniture for her like this amazing vintage table and chairs at a garage sale!
Her place isn’t ideal but it’ll do for now. She’s hoping to get a roommate since she has a 3 bedroom all to herself. Again…that was all that was available!
So now we are really empty nesters. It’s so strange converting your children’s rooms to another use because its even more sad walking past an empty room. The smallest bedroom has become a sewing room, craft room. And now we have a guest room as well. So strange.
Another good update was that my most recent scans show no recurrence of lymphoma! Remission is a wonderful word!
I continue to walk in the morning before school as much as I can. The sunrise over the new parking lot pavement is lovely.
Last week was only three days which was great. I travelled to see Mini-me for a bit. I’m soaking up all the moments I can since I know they are fewer and farther between. Unfortunately my breaks from K-12 school only mean a busy time for her since that’s when people want to visit the university.
We went out a couple times in the brief time I was there. This place had really awesome coffee and a darn good Reuben sandwich. Eat local.
I’ll leave you with Marvin enjoying the “new” vintage quilt on the spare bed. I brought the comforter up to Mini-me so I’d have some blankets on the airbed. :)
Today had me back to work with an early meeting. No walk before school. :(
Mini-me and I went on our “annual” girls trip last week. We really try to do one each year. This year we were able to stay at my cousin’s cabin in what is sometimes referred to as “lake country”. I grew up at this cabin…it’s a huge part of my childhood. I love being able to share it with my daughter.
The area had gotten significant rain the day before so the gravel road we took in the cabin was not a good choice. We made it but it was not a fun drive. The mud and gravel was really caked up under the van.
We had a good laugh later after the adrenaline wore off about on our Montana girls trip where we really did get stuck in the mud.
When we arrived the lake was like glass…virtually no wind. We immediately changed into our swimsuits to get as much time in the water as possible knowing that the weather wasn’t supposed to hold out for us.
We had a great time on the standup paddle boards. Neither one of us fell into the water. We left our glasses on shore just in case though and wore lifejackets.
Because of all the rain we’ve had this summer the lake is really high…as you can see we had to wade out about knee deep to get onto the dock. As I waded into the water I noticed all the minnows swimming in the shallows just like when I was a kid. So many memories.
A campfire reheated hotdog was a perfect end to our first day.
Our second day was a rainy one. We decided to drive into town. Mini-me was interested in a used book store which happened to be on the same block as a couple antique stores. We both found some treasures.
After eating lunch at a favorite place alongside a lake, we stopped by 22 Northmen to pick up a 4 pack of my favorite summer beer.
I brought a bag of crafting supplies since we knew the weather wasn’t going to be perfect. I’ve been on a card making kick lately.
I managed to create 20 blank cards ready for sentiments. I love working with scraps and challenging myself to use what I have on hand. 
The following day was very windy. Also not great to water sports so we decided to go hiking. Inspiration Peak isn’t too far from the cabin, so that was our destination.
The hike is fairly short but steep. The view was gorgeous.
Since it was still early, we checked out surrounding area map for another destination. We found a state park we’d never been to before. We did a bit more hiking there before returning to the cabin to enjoy a relaxing afternoon.
We had a wonderful time quietly enjoying each others company. I’m so thankful my cousin let us use the cabin.
Today has boring household chores on the agenda as well as some shopping for interview clothes for Mini-me. She has a second interview on Thursday…this one is in person.
What are you doing today?
A couple weeks ago I mentioned that I was doing a bit of coffee dyeing. The heat and humidity were high. The papers took a good while to dry. I had to flip and rearrange the stack multiple times.
The Results
These were my favorites of the batch. I definitely learned some things about how the types of paper reacted. Some really thin paper that I thought would be great, really didn’t hold onto the coffee. I bought a vinyl lace tablecloth at the thrift store this winter for the purpose of coffee dyeing papers…do you think I can find it?!?! UGH! So frustrating. I’m sure I’ll find it in the dead of winter when I’m not able to easily coffee dye.
Vintage finds
I went to a vintage tractor, car, machinery, etc show with my neighbors on Friday. They have been telling me for years that I’d love it. They were right! So many things to look at. I have enough photos to do an entire post about it. But I couldn’t wait to share the items I bought at the flea market that was also on the grounds.
I instantly fell in love with this little drawer. I love using interesting vintage items for storage. The color was what got me. I have a decorative wooden box the same color.
Don’t judge me for the poinsettia tablecloth. It stays on our game table year round simply because it fits perfectly and I like the color in the space.
Look at the adorable price tag. The booth that I purchased this from had all fun handmade price tags made from recycled boxes. Mine was a Raisinets box.
I found some vintage papers that will be great for junk journals. 
And this amazing box of postage stamps. Some are sorted into small glassine envelopes but most are piled in the box and other envelopes. It’s a massive amount of stamps really. 
Look how fantastic the glassine envelopes fit in the drawer. It was meant to be.
I fixed myself a hardy breakfast this morning. I had cooked way too much broccolini yesterday but it was great warmed up alongside the eggs. I used some Trader Joe’s Crunchy Chili Onion on top for a flavor boost. I love that stuff on eggs and was really good on the broccolini too.
Today has me trying some new recipes for dinner. I love trying new things but I hate having to measure and follow directions. I’m more of an intuitive cook but I try to follow recipes at least the first few times.
What are you doing today?
I really enjoyed putting this page together mostly from scraps. I chose the main image first from this ephemera book I ordered on Amazon over a year ago. Then I went about pulling out pieces from my scraps that spoke to me. 
The pink scrap wasn’t long enough but I decided to use it anyway and embrace the imperfection of it. The overall page still measures 7×10. I used layers of organza ribbon, lace harvested from a shirt and a bit of curtain scrap to help with the illusion of a full length page. 
I used a bulb pin to attach a pretty vintage button for even more texture and a bit of bling.
I added a ticket cut from scrapbook paper along with a couple other random scraps to my design as well as the postage cancelation sticker. With that I felt I was done and stamped the date. As I was setting up to photograph the page for the blog, I decided it needed a bit more. I found a Tim Holtz butterfly that made me happy. I seem to be all about the butterflies lately.
This may be my last page for “I’ve got a notion”. Time will tell.
Today’s page for “I’ve got a notion” over at Art Journal Journey (which I happen to be hosting this month) is a departure from what I’ve have done so far. All my previous pages have been loose leaf style and have went into my planner journal. I decided to go back to my roots with art journaling. This book is nearly filled to the brim with journal pages. It kind of got lost in the shuffle and I forgot it even existed…until now.
I once again used sewing pattern paper in the background. It always provides good texture as a backdrop. I did some simple layering of scraps to form mini collage areas ripe for text.
I also used some flowers I stamped on book page and fussy cut. The words came from a Tim Holtz sticker book, but what really cracks me up and I only noticed when writing this post…there is a spelling error. The i is missing from possibilities. Makes me feel a bit better about my own typos and grammatical errors that inadvertently get published.
This is definitely not my favorite page of the bunch. But I’m ok with that. It’s about the process sometimes. Muddling through. Practicing. Honing your skill.
Won’t you join me for I’ve got a notion .